Blog
Remembering
Remembering, O Light, that your sign of mercy is my sign of trust,
from horizon to horizon, sunrise to sunset, mountains to seas.
Taking a deep breath in, letting trust reach down to my toes.
Remembering, O Life, that your time of patience is my time of wilderness
through tumult and transgressions, and at last into the care of angels.
Releasing a long exhale, reaching wide for the nearness of angels.
Remembering, O Love, that your torn heavens are my torn heart,
breaking logic and sense and explanation for a moment of delight.
Receiving the fragments of heaven, shaking loose the need for repair.
Be generous with signs in the wilderness
and mercies in the morning, O Promise,
until remembering is a steady blessing
that flows like a wide river toward peace.
on the Revised Common Lectionary readings,
cross-posted at RevGalBlogPals
Restraint
The LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” – Genesis 2:16-17 (NRSV)
When the new year dawned last month, my social media feed was filled with people saying goodbye: “I’m letting go of disappointment and picking up joy.” “I’m forgiving last year’s failures and welcoming the new year’s courage.” “I’m muting unhealthy friendships.”
There’s wisdom to these choices … and plenty of songs to accompany them, for those of us who lean on music to bolster our determination.
“Wave your little hand and whisper ‘So long dearie,’” is a personal favorite, à la Bette, Barbra, Pearl, and Carol, in Hello, Dolly!
“Let it go, let it go; turn away and slam the door,” via Idina Menzel in Frozen. (And I thank God that my children were too old to obsess over this movie when it was released.)
To say goodbye, in the healthiest sense, is to claim and proclaim a boundary. It’s to say, “I am here, you are there, and our paths are not identical.” It’s to identify our “yes” and our “no.” It’s to recognize that not everything is ours to have, not everyone is ours to hold, not every mystery is ours to know.
God tells the human that the garden is full of sustenance for the mind, body, and spirit … but not every provision in the garden is meant to be consumed. Not all knowledge is meant to be known—not all knowledge can be known—by the human. To resist the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to accept this boundary.
Prayer: Deliver my spirit from craving, “Mine! Mine!” and soothe my heart with the good news of boundaries.
written for the Daily Devotional
Wild Things
Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps; wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! - Psalm 148:7, 10 (NRSV) Listening to a 45 RPM vinyl as a child, I learned from the Irish Rovers why there are no unicorns in the world: they...
Christmas Praise
"Let there be rest for the weary, O God Most High, rest and peace to the brokenhearted, peace and pleasure for the despondent, and let freedom come like an angel to the earth." So sing the stars and constellations, the leviathan from its depths and the dragon from its...
Love
What we have confined, O Love, you have exploded. What we have defined, O Love, you have confounded. What we have constrained, O Love, you have released. What we have diminished, O Love, you have overflowed. What we have cast in stone, O Love, you have made to dance....
Song of the Prophet Mary
Let this breath be an insight into your glory and this flesh be alive with your joy -- for who else is so powerful yet so merciful as to be revealed through me for the sake of blessing? It is the same One whose name is told through generations and whispered in...
Cry Out!
How long, O Peace, will we hold one another hostage?How long will we demand endless penalty for every debt? "Make straight and wide a path in the wilderness so that all might travel safely in God's presence,"said the prophet -- but no, we insist, it can't be so easy....
Rock Bottom
O God, the nations have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food. - Psalm 79:1-2 (NRSV) The bleakness of early Advent – these first few days when the lectionary readings...
Riotous Reign
The Lord reigns! Let the earth rejoice! Clouds and thick darkness are all around the Holy One. Fire goes before the Lord, consuming adversaries on every side. God’s lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the...
In the Wee Small Hours
On that day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon; and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took...
As Far as the Western Sea
Not me, O Life, but us. Not mine, O Life, but ours. As far as the eastern horizon, as far as the western sea, all that is and all that can be. Not us or them, O Life, but every. Not us or theirs, O Life, but all's. From the first wisp of dust to its final sighing...
