Thursday, May 27, 2010

Reflection for May 26, 2010

THE RHYTHM OF EACH


I think each comfort we manage—

each holding in the night, each opening

of a wound, each closing of a wound, each

pulling of a splinter or razored word, each

fever sponged, each clear thing given

to someone in greater need—each

passes on the kindness we’ve known.


For the human sea is made of waves

that mount and merge till the way a

nurse rocks a child is the way that child

all grown rocks the wounded, and how

the wounded, allowed to go on, rock

strangers who in their pain

don’t seem so strange.


Eventually, the rhythm of kindness

is how we pray and suffer by turns,

and if someone were to watch us

from inside the lake of time, they

wouldn’t be able to tell if we are

dying or being born.


Mark Nepo

poet laureate of Bread for the Journey

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Reflection for May 19, 2010

Musing On the Seen & Unseen

Martha D. Peterson

March 18, 2010


Recently I had time to kill while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, so I bought a coke at the hospital lunchroom and decided to sit outside in the sun. Hovering above me was a fruit tree in full bloom. The white fluffy blossoms rested against a pure blue sky, causing me to think there was a message for me in this beautiful tableau of Nature.


Then the words came...” The seen comes from the unseen.”


Immediately I started to ponder...Where do the roots, blossoms, bark come from? I know the DNA has the plan, but what about the substance, where does that come from...to form leaves, blossoms, bark ...and all the seen objects ...and...babies...and planets. I could go on and on. The answer is: all that appears comes from the invisible. Then Bible verses started pouring through my mind. It’s all in the Bible, the Book of wisdom.


Einstein could only take his numbers so far, then arrived at the wonder of the Invisible which he acknowledged as God.


Here are the verses to ponder upon:


Hebrews 11:1, 3 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen....the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Isaiah 44:2 and Isaiah 49:5 Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb...


Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.


Genesis 1:3:26 And God said, Let there be...and there was... light, firmament, waters, grass,stars, moon, fruit trees, creatures in the seas and sky, and Man, created in His own image and likeness.


Psalm 139:15, 16. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet thee was none of them.



Ecclesiastes 11:5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.


Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet...


see also I Corinthians 2:9 eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.


Matthew 15:13. Every plant , which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.


John 1:3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.


It seems that the intangibles, Faith, Truth, Love the Word, have the power to bring forth whatever is needed. Those blossoms came forth from the vast Invisible Substance. Isn’t it wonderful!


So let the mind of Christ be active in you to learn the mysteries of Life.


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Reflection for May 12, 2010




The Master sees things
as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go
their own way,
and resides
at the center of the circle.


Lao-Tzu. Tao-te-Ching


Music from the CD 'Unwind'


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Reflection for May 5, 2010




Listening to God with Taize Chants

Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually permeates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God.

From the booklet "Taize: Songs for Prayer"