Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
—Mark 4:39–40 

Episcopal bishop Rev. Barbara Harris (1930–2020) invites us to rely on Christ’s peace:   

In the midst of uncertainty and swift transition, in the midst of personal and institutional upheaval, and amid the “fightings within and fears without” that separate peoples, races, and nations, we desperately need to hear a little good news. And this passage from the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which relates how Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, is exactly that: good news.  

Who among us … having lived through a tornado, hurricane, or even a violent thunderstorm, can fail to be moved by this account of the terror-stricken disciples, convinced that at any moment their boat would capsize and they would be swept away into the sea. And who could fail to be moved by the image of Jesus standing up in that frail vessel and speaking to the storm: “‘Peace! Be still.’”… 

What they did not understand, and what many today do not understand is that although we may panic in times of stress and distress, God does not share our panic.  

That sense of panic that gripped the disciples out there on the Sea of Galilee is pervasive in our church and in our society today. When people panic, they tend to act desperately and unreasonably. Nations panic and go to war. Then they try to get God to sanction their actions as “holy.” In panic, people choose up sides in controversies and take irrational stands…. Few, if any, say, “Come, let us reason together.”  

Harris relies on Christ’s presence and wisdom:  

If Christ is at the center of our lives, we don’t have to rush into irrational action that often leads to impractical solutions. “Peace! Be still!” These can be our watchwords as we wait for the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.  

Often as we sail over the tempestuous sea of life, our world is in storm on a personal, national, and global level. But not only is Christ on the ship, Christ is in command—even when he seems to be asleep. “He who keeps watch over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:3, Book of Common Prayer). And what a comfort lies in the simple thought: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me” [see Matthew 10:29]. 

Jesus hears us when we call, but he refuses to jump when we push the panic button. We are afraid to rely on that presence and the saving power. In our haste and our anxiety, we tend to rely on what we can see, count, touch, and feel. We forget that such things will pass away. We need, in the words of the old hymn, to “build our hopes on things eternal and hold to God’s unchanging hand.” 

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Note: Following is the ending of “The Last Battle” which is the final book of CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. The evil Calormenes have just been finally defeated by the righteous army of Aslan, the Christ figure in the fantasy novel. The Calormene general acknowledges defeat and expects execution for following the deceiving Tash, the Satan figure, for his whole life. He is in for a surprise……..

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“Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, though knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

Faith in God is not just faith to believe in spiritual ideas. It’s to have confidence in Love itself. It’s to have confidence in reality itself. At its core, reality is okay. God is in it. God is revealed in all things, even through the tragic and sad, as the revolutionary doctrine of the cross reveals!  
—Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love 

Father Richard Rohr reminds us that we are never separate from the love of God:  

We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God’s love is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another breath, it means that God is choosing us now and now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.  

To become aware of God’s loving presence in our lives, we must accept that human culture is in a mass hypnotic trance. We’re sleepwalkers. All great religious teachers have recognized that we human beings do not naturally “see”; we have to be taught how. Jesus says further, “If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light” (Luke 11:34). Religion is meant to teach us how to witness and be present to reality. That’s why the Buddha and Jesus say with one voice, “Be awake.” Jesus talks about “staying watchful” (Matthew 25:13; Luke 12:37; Mark 13:33–37), and “Buddha” means “I am awake” in Sanskrit.  

All spiritual disciplines have one purpose: to get rid of illusions so we can be more fully present to what is. These disciplines exist so that we can see what is, see who we are, and see what is happening. What is is love, so much so that even the tragic will be used for purposes of transformation into love. It is God, who is love, giving away God every moment as the reality of our life. Who we are is love, because we are created in God’s image. What is happening is God living in us, with us, and through us as our unique manifestation of love. And each one of us is a bit different because the forms of love are infinite. [1]  

May we pray together:  

God, lover of life, lover of these lives,  
God, lover of our souls, lover of our bodies, lover of all that exists: 
It is your love that keeps it all alive…. 
May we live in this love.  
May we never doubt this love.  
May we know that we are love,  
That we were created for love,  
That we are a reflection of you,  
That you love yourself in us and therefore we are perfectly lovable.  
May we never doubt this deep and abiding and perfect goodness.  
We are because you are. [2]  

Love Beyond

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. considers the power of love that Jesus revealed at his death:  

Few words in the New Testament more clearly and solemnly express the magnanimity of Jesus’ spirit than that sublime utterance from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” [Luke 23:34]. This is love at its best.… 

The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of revenge. [Humanity] has never risen above the injunction of the lex talionis: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, [people] continue to follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path.  

Jesus eloquently affirmed from the cross a higher law. He knew that the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy would leave everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with [forceful] love.  

What a magnificent lesson! Generations will rise and fall; [people] will continue to worship the god of revenge and bow before the altar of retaliation; but ever and again this noble lesson of Calvary will be a nagging reminder that only goodness can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate. [1] 

Brian McLaren invites us to practice revolutionary love:  

Revolutionary love means loving as God would love: infinitely, graciously, extravagantly. To put it in more mystical terms, it means loving with God, letting divine love fill me and flow through me, without discrimination or limit, as an expression of the heart of the lover, not the merit of the beloved, including the correctness of the beloved’s beliefs.… 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t teach a list of beliefs to be memorized and recited. Instead, he teaches a way of life that culminates in a call to revolutionary love. This revolutionary love goes far beyond conventional love, the love that distinguishes between us and them, brother and other, or friend and enemy (Matthew 5:43). Instead, we need to love as God loves, with non-discriminatory love that includes even the enemy.…  

We’re used to thinking of the real differences in the world as among religions: you are Buddhist, I am Christian, she is Jewish, he is atheist. But I wonder if that way of thinking is becoming irrelevant and perhaps even counter-productive. What if the deeper question is not whether you are a Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, but rather, what kind of Christian, Buddhist, or atheist are you? Are you a believer who puts your distinct beliefs first, or are you a person of faith who puts love first? Are you a believer whose beliefs put you in competition and conflict with people of differing beliefs, or are you a person of faith whose faith moves you toward the other with love? 

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Learning from the Mystics: Julian of Norwich

Quote of the Week: “Our beloved God wants us to gently accuse ourselves, clearly perceiving and genuinely recognizing our faults and the harm that comes from them, setting our intention to repair the damage and not repeat it, while at the same time acknowledging the everlasting love he has for us and taking refuge in his boundless mercy.  This is all he asks of us, and he himself helps us to do it.” – Chapter 52, p145 Reflection: Humility, which comes from the Latin root humus for earth, means to be grounded.  Humility, humor, and humanity are all related to each other etymologically.  To be a faith-oriented person demands that one be grounded in their humanity by integrating humility and humor toward oneself. Julian advises us here that we should, in fact, “gently accuse ourselves” long before anyone might harshly accuse us.  To watch one’s life and choices is a main concern for each of us.  We all have the ability to deny, repress, justify, judge, joke, and use any number of other defense mechanisms to avoid confronting our own issues.  To sin is not as serious of a problem as to sin and not “repent well.”  The mark of a faithful person is not that they live rightly at every moment, but that they respond rightly to when they do wrong.  Again, Julian’s advice is that we “gently accuse ourselves.” However, Julian is like most prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Judgment is understood as “assessment” and that “assessment” exists to turn one’s life around and restore it.  The prophets do not end on a note of damnation, they end on a note of hope.  To “gently accuse oneself” is not to berate oneself, as if the quality of faith is correlated to how poorly one thinks of oneself.  To have such a mindset is counter to the understanding of humility that Julian receives in her visions of Jesus. Julian would advise each of us to: Gently accuse ourselves,look honestly at our lives,recognize our faults,recognize the harm caused,choose to repair the harm we have caused,choose to not repeat those same faults,and remember that we are endlessly loved.  Prayer Lord, grant us the courage and the wisdom to look honestly at our own lives.  Help us to learn from our mistakes more than repeat them.  Help us to recognize and repair the harm we have each caused to others, and help each of us to “gently accuse ourselves” only to fall back into the hands of Divine Love each time.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Life Overview:  Who Were They: Julian, also known as Juliana Where: Norwich, England When: 1343-1416AD (During the Bubonic Plague) Why She is Important: She is the first published female in the English language and is known for her incredibly hopeful, intimate, and tender theology of God. What Was Their Main Contribution: The Showings (or Revelations) of Divine Love

Friday, November 1, 2024

All Saint’s Day 

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.  
—Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History  

Esteemed CAC teacher and colleague Dr. Barbara Holmes (1943–2024) draws wisdom from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: 

Reinhold Niebuhr’s words ring true. Although we wish it was otherwise, the struggle for justice is never completed in one lifetime or one rebellion. The shifting of systems, the turning of hearts, the forgiveness of oppressions and the dissipation of anger (righteous or not) takes time. It is not easy to confront injustice. It requires solidarity and the inevitable loss of life. It requires that each generation aver, “we are ready to be free by any peaceful means necessary.” [1] …  

No matter how desperate our personal or communal situations seem, we are oscillating at both high and low frequencies between the good and the grotesque. We cannot always see the path toward the common good; often it seems that evil has won the day, and sometimes the leap of faith required to bridge chasms of disagreement seems to be a [desperate] choice.  

And yet, even during our worst times, there are opportunities to facilitate human flourishing through the creative exchanges of ideas, authenticity, culture, and religious expression. The contemplative turn is necessary because the illusion of reality that frames our everyday life limits the in-breaking of Spirit and dims discernment. [2]  

Holmes connects spiritual practice with the common good: 

For me a spiritual practice that matters includes social renewal. Instead of blaming others about the state of our union, instead of blaming one political party or another, we can reflect on our own complicity and support of systems that abandoned the poor, warehoused our children in failing schools, and failed to provide adequate health care. As a spiritual practice, we can wake up to the possibility of building a new order. We can improvise those possibilities; try them out in the creative microcosm of a shared public life, realizing that our way of life could be improved so that all members of society thrive…. 

I quote from an article I wrote titled “Still on the Journey”: I believe that as a spiritual practice we can imagine and create “a political system responsive to the people and respectful of global neighbors, a health system that is comprehensive in scope and not profit driven, an educational system shaped by innovation, improvisation, technology, and practicality.” [3] Can we be honest now about what is not working? Can we re-envision new options? I believe that we can, if we want to. [4] 

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Jesus Calling: November 1st, 2024

Jesus Calling: November 1st

Do not be discouraged by the difficulty of keeping your focus on Me. I know that your heart’s desire is to be aware of My Presence continually. This is a lofty goal; you aim toward it but never fully achieve it in this life. Don’t let feelings of failure weigh you down. Instead, try to see yourself as I see you. First of all, I am delighted by your deep desire to walk closely with Me through your life. I am pleased each time you initiate communication with Me. In addition, I notice the progress you have made since you first resolved to live in My Presence.
     When you realize that your mind has wandered away from Me, don’t be alarmed or surprised. You live in a world that has been rigged to distract you. Each time you plow your way through the massive distractions to communicate with Me, you achieve a victory. Rejoice in these tiny triumphs, and they will increasingly light up your days.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Romans 8:33-34 (NIV)
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)
Jesus the Great High Priest
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

In his book Do I Stay Christian?, Brian McLaren highlights solidarity as a universal value supporting of our common life: 

There may be a way to draw the best resources we can from all our traditions, not to cure us of being human, but to help us become humane, because in the end, we humans are all connected, woven, as Dr. King said, in an inescapable web of mutuality. [1] …. If we are to avoid self- destruction, it will require solidarity across all our traditions.…  

If you choose solidarity, instead of pulling away from those you once suspected, avoided, vilified, or rejected, you see them as neighbors. You smile. You talk. You try to collaborate for the common good in whatever ways you can. When you disagree, as you must, you do so boldly but also graciously, not burning bridges, not breaking solidarity. They may be your opponents for the moment, but you don’t write them off as enemies.  

When you embrace solidarity, you embrace humanity, including Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, humanist, and atheist humanity, and including the humanity of those Christians whose behavior consistently prompts you to ask if you can stand staying Christian for even one more second. 

McLaren describes the new friendships that are possible when we embrace the inclusive message of Jesus:  

If you choose solidarity … in the way modeled by Jesus, then you don’t have to stop being Christian. In fact, you may have just become a better Christian than you’ve ever been…. You may have some old friends reject you, and you may struggle to keep accepting them anyway. You may have to find new teachers and mentors who can walk with you toward Christianity’s deeper, wider heart…. If you dare to follow that summons deeper into the darkness of unknowing, eventually you will come into a new place, a good place, a place not of elite religiosity but of shared humanity.  

You will look around and feel that all are welcome here. They have come from different places, but by the same path, the path of love. Muslims have come in their caravan of love. Jews have pursued the Torah of solidarity. Buddhists have followed the noble truth of compassion. Sikhs have learned to see no stranger, and Hindus have descended into essential oneness. Atheists and agnostics have discovered in humanism a path into our common humanity….  

When you find that this option of solidarity is open to you, this option of going to the deepest and most genuine core of your Christian tradition and there finding a love that connects you to everyone and everything, everywhere … you don’t need to go anywhere else. Of course, you can if you want to. But here is a way of staying Christian that connects you to others in a quest for solidarity rather than separating you from them in a quest for innocence, dominance, or supremacy. This feels to me like the way of Christ. This feels like the way of life.  

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Sarah Young

Jesus Calling: October 31st

Learn to listen to Me even while you are listening to other people. As they open their souls to your scrutiny, you are on holy ground. You need the help of My Spirit to respond appropriately. Ask Him to think through you, live through you, love through you. My own Being is alive within you in the Person of the Holy Spirit. If you respond to others’ needs through your unaided thought processes, you offer them dry crumbs. When the Spirit empowers your listening and speaking. My stream of living water flow through you to other people. Be a channel of My Love, Joy, and Peace by listening to Me as you listen to others.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Exodus 3:5 (NIV)
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

1st Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

John 7:38-39 (NIV)
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Additional insight regarding John 7:38: Jesus’ words, “come and drink” alluded to the theme of many Bible passages that talk about Messiah’s life-giving blessings (Isaiah 12:2-3; 44:3-4; 58:11). In promising to give the Holy Spirit to all who believed, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, for that was something only the Messiah could do.

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.… If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?
—Matthew 5:43–48 

In a 2017 homily based on this Scripture passage, Father Richard reminds us of the foundational requirements of Christian living:  

As Christians, we proclaim that this scripture has authority over our lives, but I am hearing from more and more pastors from all denominations that they are afraid to preach the gospel in this country because they know half the church will walk out. You know what I’m talking about. We are in a state of such deceit, dishonesty, and lack of love for anybody but ourselves that is almost impossible to preach the gospel. The ancient Israelites were told “to love your neighbor,” but Jesus takes it to the nth degree. He says, “No—love your enemy.” 

Is there anything happening in America today that would make you think we believe we should “love our enemies”? If Christians do not decide to finally be like Jesus, then let’s just give up on this whole Christian thing. It doesn’t mean anything! If it’s just going to church on Sunday, then we have to stop pretending we’re following Jesus, because we’re just like everybody else—we are into power and money and deceit and war. If we do not preach the gospel, if we do not begin to live the gospel now, then let’s stop pretending that we care about Jesus or about following Jesus. 

We are in a very scary position in the United States, and the whole world sees it. We are called to engage in a great mobilization, recognition, conversion, and transformation, because now the issues are too big, too real, and too right in front of us every day.  

We cannot be silent any longer. Do not expect me to be silent, and I won’t expect you to be silent, either. It’s going to take courage. It’s going take each of us making little decisions in our little worlds to love, not just our neighbors, but even to pray for our enemies, to pray for our president, to pray for our country. If we can’t do these little things, what does it all mean?  

Every one of us in this room has power. To pretend we don’t, so we can just be silent is to say what’s happening is OK and it isn’t! I just read the gospel aloud and held the book above you. You stood up and you said, “Thanks be God,” so now let’s say thanks be to God with our lives. Thank you for allowing me to preach the gospel. 

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Confusing Creature and Creator

Click Here for Audio If the first of the Ten Commandments is about keeping God first, the second commandment is about keeping God separate. The Lord said, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath . . .” This command is not a prohibition against artistic works, which is how some have understood it. Traditional Islamic art, for example, usually features plants, words, or geometric patterns, but no animals or people out of an abundance of caution. Islam, which is adamantly opposed to all idolatry, doesn’t want anyone to interpret God as a person or animal even accidentally. But within the context of the Old Testament, it becomes clear this is not what the second commandment intended. Remember, the tabernacle that God himself commanded his people to build as the centerpiece of their worship included many images of animals and angels. Rather than a prohibition against certain forms of art, the second commandment establishes an absolute barrier between the uncreated God and the rest of creation. It accomplishes this by forbidding the representation of the Creator as a mere creature. This is the basic error of all idolatry—it confuses the Creator with the creature, the eternal with the temporal, the non-contingent with the contingent. It was a radical idea at the time. Other ancient cultures depicted their gods as animals, human kings, or celestial objects. When we equate God with some element of his creation, however, we diminish his glory and limit his grandeur. Thomas à Kempis in his classic work, The Imitation of Christ, spoke of the utter uniqueness of God. He wrote, “The difference is great—yes, very great, indeed—between delight in the Creator and in the creature, in eternity and in time, in Light uncreated and in the light that is reflected.” This cosmos, its creatures, and the works of human hands are marvelous, but their glory is at best a reflected one. To be against idolatry doesn’t mean diminishing the value of God’s good creation. It doesn’t mean eliminating the beauty of art or the delight of beautiful things from our lives. Instead, it means recognizing the glory we see in creation is not from itself. It is the indirect radiance of the Creator. Therefore, when we marvel at any created thing we ought to offer our praise and gratitude to God, rather than to the thing itself. The second commandment invites us to delight in the One who cannot be contained by space or time, nor by the human mind, and certainly not by any craft of mere human hands. DAILY SCRIPTURE HABAKKUK 2:18–20 ROMANS 11:33–36 WEEKLY PRAYER Leonine Sacramentary (the fifth century) Almighty God, who did wonderfully create humanity in your own image, and did yet more wonderfully restore them, we ask you, that as your Son our Lord Jesus Christ was made in human likeness, so we may be made partakers of the divine nature; through your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, world without end. Amen.

In an interview for the Daily Meditations, Sikh activist and author Valarie Kaur places love at the center of our ability to bring about wholeness in a divided world:  

What does it mean to return to a kind of wholeness where the way that we love informs what we do in the world and what we do in the world deepens our love?….

What I want to remind us all is that as much as we must fight for our convictions and stand for what is just, remember that all those people who vote against you are not disappearing after Election Day or Inauguration Day. We have to find a way to live together still. The only way we will birth a multiracial democracy is if we hold up a vision of a future that leaves no one behind, not even our worst opponents. So you might be in the position to have that conversation with the neighbor down the street or the uncle at the family table or the teenager who doesn’t want to vote because she’s too cynical. What might happen if you leave them alone? [Philosopher] Hannah Arendt says isolation breeds radicalization. [1] You might be the person to puncture the [social media] algorithm, to sit in spaces of deep listening—and deep listening is an act of surrender. You risk being changed by what you hear. 

We don’t see those spaces modeled in the world around us. We have to create them in the spaces between us. Oftentimes it means listening over time, being in relationship. Human beings mirror each other, so if you come with daggers out, they’ll come out daggers out. If you come out and you really wonder “Why?,” beneath the slogans and the soundbites, you’ll hear the person’s story and you’ll see their wound. You’ll see their grief. You’ll see their rage. You might not agree with it, but I’ve come to understand that there are no such things as monsters in this world, only human beings who are wounded, who act out of their fear or insecurity or rage. That does not make them any less dangerous, but once we see their wound, they lose their power over us. And we get to ask ourselves: How do we want to take that information into what we do next?  

I invite people to take their wounds [and] their opponents’ wounds into spaces of re-imagination—of imagining an outcome, a policy, a relationship that leaves no one outside of our circle of care, not even “them.” This kind of labor, this kind of revolutionary love, it’s not the sacrifice of an individual, it’s a practice of a community.  

When we invite people to practice revolutionary love, we always ask, “What is your role in this season of your life?”…. Whatever you choose, it can be a vital practice of love, of revolutionary love. And if all of us are playing our role—not more, not less—then together we’re creating the culture shift that we so desperately need. 

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We Are All Idolaters

Click Here for Audio The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Some of us read that and think, “No problem. I’m a committed monotheist and have never been tempted to worship another god. Let’s move on to the more difficult commandments.”Not so fast.Our reading of this commandment depends entirely on our understanding of the word “gods.” We may understand a god to be an object, a function, or both. For example, a chair is both an object and a function. A chair is made for sitting, but a chair is a chair whether I sit on it or not. Its chair-ness is inherent. A box, by contrast, is not a chair. Yet, if I sit on the box it may function as a chair. The box’s chair-ness is defined by how it is used, not by what it is. The same goes for gods. Some gods, like a chair, are clearly recognized for their god-ness. The word “god” brings to mind deities like Ra in Egypt, Zeus in Greece, and Ganesh in India. But there are many other things that are not gods but may nonetheless function as gods just as a box may function as a chair. Strictly speaking, power, wealth, fame, and pleasure are not gods. Neither is the United States, the Chicago Cubs, nor Nike shoes. And yet, any of these may functionas a god in a person’s life. Therefore, if we read the first commandment as a prohibition against worshiping other deities, it seems like a pretty easy law to obey. If, however, we read it as a warning against allowing anything other than the Creator to function as a god in our life—well, suddenly the commandment becomes more difficult.The theologian Paul Tillich declared that faith is “the state of being ultimately concerned.” He argued that because each person has something of ultimate concern that defines their life and identity, all people are religious—even the atheists. Every person has something in their life that functions as their god. For some, this god-function is occupied by a recognizable deity attached to some religious tradition. But this is increasingly not the case. Instead, the god-function is filled by something else like ambition, self-actualization, a dream, a goal, a social movement, or perhaps a political or cultural tribe. Few of us, in obedience to the first commandment, actually put our Creator in this all-important place in our lives. The truth is we are all idolaters. We all find ourselves bowing to and giving our lives to false gods with stubborn regularity.Ask yourself, what is my ultimate concern today? What occupies my imagination? What do I daydream about, and what motivates my actions? The first commandment is a warning to not give this precious, life-defining position to anything or anyone unworthy of it. It belongs to your Creator alone. DAILY SCRIPTURE EXODUS 20:1–3 MARK 12:28–31 WEEKLY PRAYER Leonine Sacramentary (the fifth century) Almighty God, who did wonderfully create humanity in your own image, and did yet more wonderfully restore them, we ask you, that as your Son our Lord Jesus Christ was made in human likeness, so may we be made partakers of the divine nature; through your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, world without end. Amen.

Father Richard Rohr recognizes how a focus on religion as a matter of personal belief has discouraged some Christians from engaging in political action.  

For many people, politics and religion are so personal that neither topic is deemed appropriate to discuss publicly. While separation of church and state is an important protection for all religions, it doesn’t mean we as people of faith shouldn’t engage in our civic duties and the political process. The idea of “staying out of politics” doesn’t come from God. My sense is that it arises from our egoic, dualistic thinking that has a hard time hearing a different perspective or learning something new. [1] 

Christianity in its first two thousand years has kept its morality mostly private, personal, interior, fervent, and heaven bound, with very few direct implications for our collective economic, social, or political life. Politics and religion remained largely in two distinct realms, unless religion was uniting with empires. Yes, we looked to Rome and Constantinople for imperial protection, little realizing the price we would eventually pay for such a compromise with foundational gospel values.  

This convenient split took the form of either the inner or the outer world. We religious folks were supposed to be the inner people while the outer world was left to politicians, scientists, and workers of every stripe. Now this is all catching up with us, as even the inner world has largely been overtaken by psychology, literature, and the huge world of self-help. Fewer and fewer people now expect religion to have anything to say about either the inner or outer worlds! But if we do not go deep and in, we cannot go far and wide.  

In my opinion, the reason we lost our Christian authority is because we did not talk about the inner world very well. We were much more focused on believing doctrines, practicing rituals, and following requirements, which are not, in and of themselves, inner or deep. Frankly, Buddhism spoke to inner transformation far better than the three monotheistic religions. We Christians did not connect the inner with the outer—which is a consequence of not going in deeply enough. Christianity now has become increasingly irrelevant, often to the very people who want to go both deep and far. We so disconnected from the political—the welfare of God’s aggregated people and the public forum—that soon we had nothing much to say.  

I am not talking about partisan politics here, but simply the connecting of the inner world with the outer world. We have allowed the word partisan to be the first and sometimes only meaning of the word political and so people don’t even allow us to preach a purely gospel message from the pulpit—as it might sound “political”!  

Here is my major point: There is no such thing as being nonpolitical. Everything we say or do either affirms or critiques the status quo. Even to say nothing is to say something: The status quo—even if it is massively unjust and deceitful—is apparently okay. This “nonpolitical” stance is an illusion we must overcome.

A Politics Rooted in God’s Love

When deciding how we want to act in the public sphere, Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson reminds Christians to begin with the personal experience of God’s overflowing love for the world: 

Our temptation is to begin with politics and then try to figure out how religion can fit in. We start with the accepted parameters of political debate and, whether we find ourselves on the left or the right, we use religion to justify and bolster our existing commitments…. 

But what if we make the inward journey our starting point? What if we recognize that our engagement in politics should be rooted in our participation in the Trinitarian flow of God’s love? Then everything changes. We are no longer guided or constrained by what we think is politically possible, but are compelled by what we know is most real. At the heart of all creation, the mutual love within the Trinity overflows to embrace all of life. We are invited to participate in the transforming power of this love. There we discover the ground of our being, centering all our life and action. 

This was revealed most fully in Jesus, as God’s Son. His love for enemies, his non-violent response to evil, his embrace of the marginalized, his condemnation of self-serving religious hypocrites, his compassion for the poor, his disregard for boundaries of social exclusion, his advocacy for the economically oppressed, and his certainty that God’s reign was breaking into the world all flowed from his complete, mutual participation in his Father’s love. Jesus didn’t merely show the way; he lived completely in the presence and power of God’s redeeming, transforming life. 

Granberg-Michaelson envisions a future based on God’s desire for the world: 

Transformative change in politics depends so much on having a clear view of the desired end. Where does that vision come from? Possibilities may be offered by various ideologies, or party platforms, or political candidates. But, for the person of faith, that vision finds its roots in God’s intended and preferred future for the world. It comes not as a dogmatic blueprint but as an experiential encounter with God’s love, flowing like a river from God’s throne, nourishing trees with leaves for the healing of the nations (see Revelation 22:1–2).… 

Such a vision strikes the political pragmatist as idyllic, unrealistic, and irrelevant. But the person of faith, whose inward journey opens [their] life to the explosive love of God, knows that this vision is the most real of all. It is a glimpse of creation’s purpose and a glimmering of the Spirit’s movement amid the world’s present pain, brokenness, and despair. This vision also recognizes the inevitable journey of inward and outward transformation—the simultaneous, continuing transformation of the inward hearts of people liberated by God’s astonishing grace and the outward transformation of social and economic structures liberated by God’s standards of justice. 

Note to CO Few: This is from Mark Longhurst. He assists Richard Rohr with writing, compiling and editing. This is his comment about a book he has written. DJR

A Holy, Ordinary Invitation

What if mysticism is for everybody?

I’m not being falsely humble when I say I wrote The Holy Ordinary as an aspiration rather than a lived reality. I feel drawn to a life of spiritual depth, but I’m not a monk, nun, or even a professional pastor serving a church anymore. I’m just an ordinary dude, working a job I am privileged to love, raising boys who play soccer, going to the movies, reading, and spending time with my wife. I also, frankly, am not very good at slowing down and appreciating the holiness of the ordinary. I have an anxious and task-oriented psyche that leads me into obsessive thought patterns more than it does a trusting posture of enjoying the moment.

But as I write in the book, I’m convinced that “underneath the rhythmic contours of each day are deepening roots that sip from mystical streams.” I sit in silent meditation or chant morning psalms—which is something monks and nuns have been doing for centuries—and I’m reminded at some level that my true life is not found in the things that I’m doing and that my belonging lies in a deeper, divine love in which I am invited to participate.

Here’s the thing: once you know that there’s a deeper love pulsing behind and through all things, you can’t unknow it. It doesn’t mean I’m special; I’ve just glimpsed something beautiful that I believe is true, and I know I’m not the only one. I meet so many people (many on Substack!) who are living regular lives on the surface, who are perfectly ordinary in our wounds and failures, many of whom do not go to church or find belonging in traditional religious structures but who have glimpsed something deeply loving about reality—and can’t unsee it.

This is the call that the “mystic” has traditionally responded to. For about 1,500 years, the “mystical” meant monastic—but we’re living in a time where this is no longer true. In our ecumenical era, the divisions that once caused wars between Protestants and Catholics are no longer ultimate. Lots of people are leaving Christianity altogether, and often with good reason—but lots of people also realize that there are treasures hidden in Christianity and that they don’t need to belong to one denominational group or the other to enjoy them. So, in today’s religious landscape, you could run into evangelical Christians praying Psalms like monks, liberal Protestants singing songs from the French monastery Taizé, or thousands of people who don’t belong to any tradition hiking a former medieval pilgrimage path—the Camino de Santiago. Christians practice silent meditation and yoga now, practices traditionally reserved for Christian monks, Buddhists, and Hindu renunciates, and the Trappist monastery a few hours away from me in Spencer, MA, makes jam and beer.

I’m asking through this book: What if mysticism is for everybody? What if it’s not for those special people but for me—for us? And what if following a path of deep spirituality in this way helps us discover the radical “holiness” of ordinary life?  

So, what is the holy ordinary—and what is mysticism? Well, how do you begin talking about the ineffable? I don’t have a specific answer, but I can tell you what I’ve learned from others. One medieval scholar, Jean Gerson, described it as “the experiential knowledge that comes from God through the embrace of unitive love.” So, it’s experiential and not something we learn from reading books. That’s extremely difficult for someone like me who loves reading theology and spirituality books. I often can trick myself into believing that because I’ve read or thought something, I’ve experienced it fully—but that’s decidedly not the case. Mysticism comes from God, or ultimate reality, whatever word you want to use, through an embrace of love. Mysticism has everything to do with knowing, feeling, and trusting that an embrace of love is at the heart of it all. But it’s also “unitive,” meaning it unites us and connects us to God, each other, and the earth. It’s a love that heals and brings together and does not separate. I’m convinced that that’s what we most need today.

This loving, uniting embrace is available to me in all our ordinary moments, from standing waiting at the bus stop to doing the dishes to working on a deadline for our jobs. It’s available when cooking, walking in nature, or playing with our kids. This loving, uniting embrace is also available as a resource to me and each of us in the hard moments. It holds us in the grief of our heartbreaks, diagnoses, and deaths, ever prompting us to solidarity with those who are most suffering and are marginalized. Discovering the “holy” ordinary means living a life that trusts this loving embrace.

Wisdom Will Come 

Friday, October 25, 2024

Earlier this week, we shared with the CAC community that our beloved teacher Dr. Barbara Holmes passed away. As CAC Executive Director Michael Poffenberger expressed with deep sadness, “we lost a giant in our community.” “Dr. B.,” as many referred to her, has now become a spiritual ancestor. In the video series Wisdom in Times of Crisis, Dr. B. reminds us that we can draw on the wisdom of our spiritual ancestors to guide our actions: 

Jesus, Muhammed, Buddha, and others—their stories of resistance, survival, and faith inspire and guide us. We have to know that we’re not alone. Despite a concerted social effort to convince us that we are radical individuals, that our motto should be “I’ll get mine, you get yours,” a deeply communal spirit arises when we least expect it and when we need it most. According to author James Baldwin, we are a community of witnesses with responsibilities to the next generation. He says, “Nothing is fixed forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.” [1]  

So, visionaries, prophets, and Jesus have all warned us that this journey that we are on will be beset by troubles. In this life, you will have trouble. How we handle that trouble is our witness to future generations. An old order is passing away. A new order is on its way, and we do not have the power to stop or slow the transitions that we encounter, but we can live through it and help one another.…   

What I want to say about the wisdom that matters now is that this wisdom often comes from discernment of Divine Spirit in our midst. Hearing and heeding the voice of the Divine is critical during difficult times. But sometimes, with all of our media distractions and our own boredom, it’s difficult to hear the voice of the Creator. So, I’m going to suggest that if you’re hoping to hear beyond this realm into the next, remember that the key is newness. The Creator does not come as we expect. The Spirit does not move under our command. When we expect divine intervention in one way, it usually comes in another. We expect the warrior king to set things right, God sends a baby in a manger. We expect wrongs to be punished, God extends grace and mercy to all.   

Read 1 Kings 19:11: “And the Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” So, where is the Divine One in the midst of crisis? I suggest that God is in the whispers of the heart, and the love of neighbor. Rejoice, beloved, you are not alone.  

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Oct 25, 2024, Skye Jethany Psalm 149: Expecting Softballs but Getting Curveballs

A few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attack, I was invited to be a guest speaker at a college and young adult ministry at a very large church. The pastor asked me to teach a series over multiple weeks on the book of 1 Corinthians. I was still a seminary student, and these opportunities were rare, so I was eager to accept.The pastor knew I had studied Islam as an undergraduate, so before speaking to the group on my first night, he pulled me aside and said, “We’re going to do some Q&A after your message. Because of the terrorist attack, I may throw you some softball questions about Islam.” That made sense to me, but his questions turned out to be curveballs, not softballs.After a few questions about 1 Corinthians from the group, the pastor shouted his question from the back of the room. “Skye, you’ve studied Islam. Can you explain why it’s a religion of violence, but Christianity is a religion of peace? ” That’s a common stereotype,” I said, “and the attack on 9/11 has reinforced it. But it’s important to remember that there are over one billion Muslims in the world, and the overwhelming majority believe that God has called them to live in peace. And while Christ clearly preached a message of peace, we shouldn’t ignore the terrible violence that has been done in his name throughout history.”The pastor was not happy with my answer, so he tried again. “But doesn’t the Quran command Muslims to kill their enemies?” he said.“There are verses in the Quran that have been interpreted that way,” I said. The pastor smiled and nodded. But then I continued. “Of course, there are also verses in the Bible that have been twisted and used to justify violence against non-Christians as well—particularly in the Old Testament.” I then read to them from Psalm 149. “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples” (Psalm 149:6-7).The Q&A time came to an abrupt end after that.After the service, the pastor was furious with me. “Look!” he said pointing his finger at my chest, “there are people here struggling with God. They’re questioning everything, and you had a chance to explain why Christianity is better.” I told him that I would gladly speak all night about Christ, the gospel, and why I’m committed to the Christian faith after studying many others. But I’m not going to do it by misrepresenting other religions or disparaging my Muslim neighbors. And I’m not going to hide or whitewash the mistakes Christians have made in the past. To no one’s surprise, the rest of my series on 1 Corinthians was canceled and I was never invited back. I share this story because it illustrates the common tendency to emphasize the parts of the Bible we like and diminish or ignore the parts we do not. Likewise, we quickly point out the specks of violent history, weird doctrine, or troubling verses in another religion’s eye, and ignore the same specks—or truckloads of lumber—in the Church’s eye. For me, Psalm 149 is one of those troubling parts of the Bible—particularly the part about praising God with our mouths while inflicting violence with a sword in our hands. Historically, Christians have tried to erase the violent imagery of this psalm by reinterpreting the “double-edged sword” through a New Testament lens. In both Hebrews and Revelation, a double-edged sword is used as a metaphor for the Word of God (see Hebrews 4:12 and Revelation 1:16). Therefore, some try to argue that Psalm 149 is figurative; it’s about wielding Scripture not slaying enemies. Honestly, I remain unconvinced and I continue to grapple with how to understand and apply this psalm. Pop Christianity wants us to believe the Bible is a book of softball answers, but passages like Psalm 149 remind us that the Bible is full of curveballs. DAILY SCRIPTURE Psalm 149:1-9 Hebrews 4:12-13 WEEKLY PRAYER From Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1975)Lift up our hearts, O Christ, above the false show of things, above laziness and fear, above selfishness and covetousness, above whim and fashion, up to the everlasting Truth that you are; that we may live joyfully and freely, in the faith that you are our King and our Savior, our Example and our Judge, and that, so long as we are loyal to you, all will ultimately be well. Amen.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev describes how the ancient prophets listened for God’s liberating word:  

At its heart, the prophetic witness was a way of listening, listening beyond the social norms of the day, listening to the word of the liberating God. The prophets urged the people to listen to God’s word because the discourse of the king, princes, and wealthy landowners was too narrow and was limited to the interests of these elites. This conversation did not include the voices of suffering people. The prophets, in God’s name, offered a much broader discourse, a conversation that listened to and addressed the needs of the poor and the disadvantaged…. 

The prophetic listening tradition is alive today to inspire people to listen beyond the established conversation. The prophetic tradition challenges us to listen especially to the cries of those who suffer and to listen to the voice of alternative possibility, to the voice of God.  

Ward-Lev shares that the living presence of God is still calling to us today: 

The Living Presence also speaks within our lives, wordlessly calling us out into life, encouraging us to grow beyond our current limitations. This Presence breathes into us desires and visions of whom we might become. Listening to the word of God is opening to the often-wordless speech of this Presence, allowing the transcendent to touch us, to inspire us, to beckon us across boundaries, to take the next step in our lives. Listening well to our inner lives—to the thoughts, inclinations, images, and emotions that arise within us—is an important practice along the liberation journey. Listening is essential in relationship to the Living Presence and in mutual relationship with people….  

In my life, listening is a prime spiritual practice. Throughout the day, I seek to listen. I find that I sometimes hear the words but do not bring my full attention to listening. A friend is speaking to me; am I listening with a quiet mind? I see the beauty of the roses in my garden. Am I listening internally, taking a moment to notice the effect that the beauty of the roses has on me? I hear an undocumented immigrant in my community describe how her family lives in fear. Am I listening with a responsive heart? I read a story in the newspaper about heroin addiction in our state. Am I listening? I study a passage in Scripture. Am I paying attention to the details in the passage? Am I providing the time and attention to notice what the text might be stirring up in me?…  

Listening is an essential practice along the liberation journey. Deep listening challenges our internal status quo and exposes us to new possibilities. The world is full of possibilities for healing and wholeness, for well-being and joy. Like the biblical prophets and contemporary people who live in their lineage, all those of us on a liberation journey are called to listen, to learn, and then to act to bring a more fruitful future into the world. 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: October 24th

Come to Me when you are hurting, and I will soothe your pain. Come to Me when you are joyful, and I will share your Joy, multiplying it many times over. I am All you need, just when you need it. Your deepest desires find fulfillment in Me alone.
     This is the age of self-help, Bookstores abound with books about “taking care of number one,” making oneself the center of all things. The main goal of these methodologies is to become self-sufficient and confident. You, however, have been called to take a “road less traveled”: continual dependence on Me. True confidence comes from knowing you are complete in My Presence. Everything you need has its counterpart in Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

John 15:5 (NLT)
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

Additional insight regarding John 15:5: “Fruit” is not limited to soul winning. In this chapter, answer prayer, joy, and love are mentioned as fruit (John 15:7, 11, 12). Galatians 5:22-24 and 2nd Peter 1:5-8 describe additional fruit: qualities of Christian character. Remaining in Christ means (1) believing that he is God’s Son, (2) receiving him as Savior and Lord, (3) doing what God says, (4) continuing to believe in the Good News, and (5) relating in love to the community of believers, Christ’s body.

James 1:4 (NIV)
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

We ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.
—Colossians 1:9–10 

For Father Richard, contemplation cultivates an ability to discern right action:  

Our goal consists in doing the will of God, but first we have to remove our attachment to our own will so that we can recognize the difference between the two. Throughout history, many people who did horrible things were convinced that they were doing God’s will. That’s why we have to find an instrument to distinguish between God and us. Paul calls this gift the discernment of spirits. We have to learn when our own spirit is at work and when the Spirit of God is at work.  

The most convincing social activists in our country were and are people of prayer, like Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., Sister Simone Campbell, John Dear, and Jim Wallis. It’s important that we bring the contemplatives and the activists together in the Church and in the world, because neither group is credible without the other. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days; only after that did he begin to preach the reign of God and to heal the sick. And along the way he kept reminding his disciples to withdraw and rest in quiet, peaceful places (see Mark 6:31).  

With this withdrawal and this emptiness, we are, so to speak, cultivating fertile soil where we can be receptive to the seed of God’s word. I don’t believe that Jesus dumps the harvest into our laps. Rather, he shows us a process of growth. He shows us a way we can learn to hear God, a path of self-surrender and forgiveness. He trusts that his followers, as they practice this way of prayer, will learn to hear the truth ever more clearly. The great truth will always lie beyond us. The great truth of God will never underpin a small world. This means that the Christian life must be a constant journey back and forth between the radical way inward and the radical way outward. [1]  

Dutch priest and author Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) views discernment as a gift that comes from our intimacy with God: 

I can see no other way for discernment than a life in the Spirit, a life of unceasing prayer and contemplation, a life of deep communion with the Spirit of God. Such a life will slowly develop in us an inner sensitivity, enabling us to distinguish between the law of the flesh [ego] and the law of the Spirit [soul]. We certainly will make constant errors and seldom have the purity of heart required to make the right decisions all the time. But when we continually try to live in the Spirit, we at least will be willing to confess our weakness and limitations in all humility, trusting in the one who is greater than our hearts. 

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OCT 23, 2024. Psalm 147: God Cares About the Immense and the Mundane Click Here for Audio In 1985, Ronald Reagan went to Geneva, Switzerland, for his first meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, to discuss nuclear disarmament. While in Geneva, the Reagan’s borrowed the chateau of a Muslim friend. The homeowner’s son, Hussain, left a note for the President asking him to please feed his goldfish, which Mr. Reagan was happy to do.On the first morning of the summit with Gorbachev, tragedy struck. A goldfish was dead at the bottom of the tank. The First Lady later said the President was so upset that he called his entire staff into the boy’s bedroom to figure out a solution. In the end, the summit with the Soviet leader was a huge success marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War. And before leaving Geneva, President Reagan personally wrote the following note to the homeowner’s son: Dear Friend,  On Tuesday I found one of your fish dead in the bottom of the tank. I don’t know what could have happened but I added two new ones, same kind, I hope this was alright. Thanks for letting us live in your lovely home. Ronald Reagan The President of the United States It’s a charming story, but what I find most remarkable is the contrast between the two challenges the President was facing. On the one hand, he was responsible for managing the fate of humanity by de-escalating the threat of a nuclear holocaust. On the other hand, he was concerned about one boy’s dead goldfish.A similar but far larger contrast is seen in Psalm 147. YHWH is described as having limitless cosmic power. He commands the earth and the heavens, supplies rain and manages the seasons, and governs the stars above and the nations below. Verse 5 captures this vision of God when it declares, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limits.”But this expansive vision of YHWH’s awesome power is contrasted by his intimate concern for those who suffer. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (verse 3). And while “he determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (verse 4), his thoughts are not so lofty that he cannot give his attention to those who are overlooked here on earth. “YHWH sustains the humble” (verse 6). The message of Psalm 147 is echoed by Jesus in the gospels. When speaking to his followers about persecution, Jesus offers comfort by reminding them of God’s intimate care. He counts every hair on our heads, and he knows every sparrow—and goldfish—that falls (See Matthew 10:26-31). For the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who is robed with immense power, there is nothing that’s too mundane to be beyond his care. DAILY SCRIPTURE PSALM 147:1-20 MATTHEW 10:26-31 WEEKLY PRAYER From Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1975) Lift up our hearts, O Christ, above the false show of things, above laziness and fear, above selfishness and covetousness, above whim and fashion, up to the everlasting Truth that you are; that we may live joyfully and freely, in the faith that you are our King and our Savior, our Example and our Judge, and that, so long as we are loyal to you, all will ultimately be well. Amen.