Moving to the Whole

With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognize that it was you who sent me, and that you have loved them as you have loved me.  John 17:23

Because You Loved Me
by Celine Dion
Listen Here

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
you were my eyes when I couldn't see
you saw that the best there was in me
You lifted me up when I couldn' t reach
you gave me faith cuz you believed
in everything I am because you loved me

 You gave me wings and made me the fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
 I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
you said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
 I had your love I had it all
I' m grateful for each day you gave me
maybe I don't know that much
But I know that this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you

Through a life time of direct experiences, many of us will encounter both the beautiful, the unpleasant and the truly ugly. Some will learn it by travels to other parts of the world; some through missionary activities either at home or abroad. While we often recoil from what we perceive as ugly, the old saying, 'a face only a mother could love,' rings true here. Why only mothers? Don't many of us have the inclination and the capacity to face the ugliness of the world, to dig deep within our selves and see that our reactions, our notions about what we have witnessed are not sprung from true guilt or shame, but from false imagination?

Now confronted with what is real, what is suffering, poverty and absolute destitution, we no longer can take comfort in so called humanitarian initiatives on the Internet or the little bake sale fund raisers around home. Our enlarged horizon calls. Plumbing our own hearts first and foremost, we may discern gratefulness for what we have and become more grateful for what we can share and spare. Carefully questioning our needs and discerning them from our desires, many find previously unharnessed abundance. Some of us are  already engaged in the myriad aspects of humanitarian relief through our churches or place of worship; some through professional experience as social workers or teachers, for example. Don't feel sorry. You cannot help those you merely pity. Engage yourself in the wider world, their world.

Still awareness is only the first step, and discerning our feelings from what we may have imagined is the next. So now we know; we are more aware; must our next step be to jet off to another part of the world? Can we make a real difference in our communities, one step at a time? Can those of us already engaged in the helping professions deepen our commitments to fairness, equality and social justice? Each must consider the matter for themselves.

In my own community of Champaign-Urbana for example, there are a great many needs. While those here may not be destitute to the degree of those encountered on the streets of Calcutta, India or those within the African bush, their needs are palpable and real. Like persons every where, there is the need for access to clean water, good food; self help in the areas of acquiring food, housing and education. There is also spiritual poverty in equal proportion. Will you refuse to sit at the table with those whom some might consider lowly?  Was not the Christ born lowly, in a feed trough of a stable? Can you grow a vegetable garden and share produce with your neighbor through a food pantry? Many students young and old are locked out of education due to personal or intellectual barriers. Can you consider developing and/or participating in activities such as art, creative, self growth experiences, or reading recovery to help those achieve educational success, some for the first time? How about tutoring in the local GED program an hour or two a week?

There are many things each person can do in their own community to advance and better their neighbor. And the mutual rewards from positive, active contribution may be enormous. So consider your own heart, your talents and gifts, then get busy! Find out how and where to use them. It is your own gift.

Kingdom Come

"All those dumb, old Christians--when will they figure that he ain't never, never gonna come?"


This week, Holy Week to many Christians around the world, comes on the heels of the election of the new Roman Pontiff, Pope Francis. This is the week in the calendar year set aside to usher into our consciousness, the greatest event of the Christian calendar, the death and resurrection of the Christ.

For those whose belief stops at their intellect, indeed this annual event is unintelligible. How stupid is it to think year after year that some dead guy is coming? Very stupid if one does not see themself in the process. The annual event is a time for reflection, for meditation upon the self and others and the ultimates in life, like what it is to live, to grow in love, to believe what we cannot easily perceive, to friend and befriend others, to commit ourselves to our communities and the common ground they can produce.

While these are identifiable Christian values, they are not limited to those persons who identify themselves as Christian. Many, many others will take part in just those same tasks under different names, in different seasons.
What makes the Christian focus on "the dead guy" so identifiable is that the story we learn is that he came at the behest of the Father, Lord Creator, that We, as his children, participate in those very same acts of Creation, and that from this the Holy Spirit guides, influences and maintains certain truths throughout the ages so that we, each one, may grow in love.
The love that was demonstrated on the dying cross by the Christ to "Love one another--love your neighbor as yourself,' and to do so at times is: to 'give up your life for a friend."
Here is the time of year that we are reminded by example that we have a friend in Jesus, no matter what our identified faith community is. The Christ comes for all persons, not just for the Christians.
Rejoice as he rises; for his rising raises us too.

A Taize Kind of Day

On a recent visit to the very important pilgrimage center in Europe-- Taize, France, as a simple mind I was brought into direct experience with what it is that makes this monastery Taize tick, bringing more than 80,000 pilgrims each year. But after a week there, I can explain it no better than frere Paolo who has made Taize his life: the simple way, the way of Saint Ignatius Loyola is his way.

 Frere or Brother and monk of Taize, Paolo is quoted as explaining their lives at Taize:

“The monastic commitment is to three things: to celibacy – to say as a life commitment that you are not going to have any one person in your life to whom you belong or who belongs to you. To simplicity – not having bank accounts, not always looking to acquire more things. To obedience – accepting the decisions made in community, not looking out for your own career, not living together for convenience: trying to take part in the same creation together, the same work, ministry, whatever you want to call it. 

 

Those three things, which are questions of sex, money and power, are the very things which human beings want to be able to control. And the thing is, that, if you live it well, and wholeheartedly, it quite often leads you into times when you feel very, very empty, lonely, at a loss. And you wait there, in the Prayer, in the silence, in the singing of the psalms, in these songs that go round and round, and you wait and you discover that it is actually there, when it is very empty, that the roots of your life arise again.

And the thing is that I actually think that this resonates with the experience of young people It is young people’s experience that life is empty and they want it to be filled, and they wonder where that fulfillment is going to come from, where they are going to discover the direction for their lives, and so I think there is something here in our life at Taize that resonates for them.”


Some 'song-prayers' of Taize: Ubi Caritas, the words are a simple chant: 'ubi caritas, deus ibi est'; where there is charity, there is love, god is.
There are many others such as Stay with Me.... and the chant   Oh, You, You Are Everything  whose sound and images record the simple beauty of the monastery herself.

The voices you hear are not those of professional singers. They are the voices of the many, simple pilgrims who come each day to pray in chant at the worship center. Praying as one voice, chanted in many different languages, the prayers are often spontaneous and many linger an hour or more chanting after the monks have retired to their other tasks, in addition prayer.

Beginnings are Strange

Confused
by Persian poet Rumi*

Reason says, "I will beguile him with the tongue;"
Love says, "Be silent. I will beguile him with the soul."
The soul says to the heart, "Go, do not laugh at me
and yourself. What is there that is not his, that
I may beguile him thereby?"
He is not sorrowful and anxious and seeking oblivion that
I may beguile him with wine and a heavy measure.

The arrow of his glance needs not a bow that I should
beguile the shaft of his gaze with a bow.
He is not prisoner of the world, fettered to this world
of earth, that I should beguile him with gold of the
kingdom of the world.

He is an angel, though in form he is a man; he is not
lustful that I should beguile him with women.
Angels start away from the house wherein this form
is, so how should I beguile him with such a form and likeness?
He does not take a flock of horses, since he flies on wings;
his food is light, so how should I beguile him with bread?
He is not a merchant and trafficker in the market of the
world that I should beguile him with enchantment of gain and loss.
He is not veiled that I should make myself out sick and
utter sighs, to beguile him with lamentation.

I will bind my head and bow my head, for I have got out
of hand; I will not
beguile his compassion with sickness or fluttering.
Hair by hair he sees my crookedness and feigning; what's
hidden from him that I should beguile him with anything hidden.

He is not a seeker of fame, a prince addicted to poets,
that I should beguile him with verses and lyrics and flowing poetry.
The glory of the unseen form is too great for me to
beguile it with blessing or Paradise.
Shams-e Tabriz, who is his chosen and beloved - perchance
I will beguile him with this same pole of the age.

--translation by A.J. Arberry, University of Chicago Press 1991

One should not think that all is in the mind. Mind may be the start, but the world is influence, and thus beginnings may often seem strange. They are so because what we may think and what we may feel are independent of others. It is in the interactions, the relations with others that our thoughts are tested, our ideas melded. 

In the melding process, the initial transaction may feel strange, for it is the maiden voyage of our interior thought sprung into the world; the world may see thru to its reception, or it may not. Then we modify to conform with our fellows, with our community, or we don't. 

At this point, it may be that despite a perception of strangeness, a decision is made to go it alone, in the face of the other and to continue on a path, as it were, alone with our first, interior thoughts now announced to the world.

I know of someone who once made the comment that 'first days [beginnings] are strange.' While initially charmed by the observation, I was unsure of its meaning. Along the way it has become more clear. It is in this instant when we first speak or interact that we are most vulnerable, that the thoughts we've nursed, the ideas we've held may be wrong, out of sync, ours alone--not shared by any other. Sometimes it manifests as an anxiety, an intense fear of not being heard, of not what we meant. And there it lies, out there for all to know and to evaluate.

 This sudden intensity may lead to feelings of combativeness or a desire for isolation, especially when we're not confident of the listeners' concern for our vulnerability. Let's face it, when we speak, we all want to be received as we mean or think we mean to be. And finally, beginnings may be strange because of two vital ingredients: giving and receiving. Love is like that too. And first days often are strange.

 * more by poet Rumi here

We Are Not Salamanders

The Summons
by John Bell and Graham Maule
performed by unknown
Listen Here

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Will you go where you don't know? Will you let the blind see? Will you let the prisoner free, and will you love the "you" you hide, if but call your name?
Faith is a thing of experience rather than intellect. As the lyrics say, let me turn and follow you and never be the same.

Today in this world of science and technology it is the heart which is often plowed under; the heart is a child innocent and bright. We are analyzed, critiqued, judged and most of all, made less than our full selves with labels of all sorts. The descriptions are often scientific or psychological as if we have no heart; they are often comparing us to animals such as salamanders and the like... Sorry, I'm not a salamander.

Will "You use the faith you find to reshape the world through sight, touch and sound in you and in me? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same..." Yes, it 's true by all measures subjective and objective, I am not a salamander, a monkey nor a bird or any other animal. The Creator has seen to that and given the mind and spirit of a human being which makes me whole; something that science will not always think to do.

"Lord, your summons echos true when you but call my name."

Wisdom Builds Her House

Proverbs 9:1-6

Wisdom has built her house,

she has set up her seven columns;

She has prepared her meat, mixed her wine,

Yes, she has spread her table.

She has sent out her maidservants; she calls

from the heights out over the city:

“Let whoever is naive turn in here;

to any who lack sense I say,

Come, eat of my food,

and drink of the wine I have mixed!

Forsake foolishness that you may live;

advance in the way of understanding.”

Sometimes, when I think I don't understand, I really do. If we are willing to open our ears, our hearts and even our minds, understanding is available to all. In the great wisdom of the world, we have been provided naturally with the means to make sense of our surroundings and the environments in which we find ourselves. This Proverb makes clear some of the ways to understanding.

Being "open" is simply a matter of being present and available just one more time than we are "closed." Just once more.

Art and Love, Existentialists in a World of Change

"Art is love." Somerset Maugham

Waiting on the World to Change

by John Mayer

Listen Here

me and all my friends, we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and there's no way we ever could.
now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it.
we just feel
like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it
so we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change.
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change

it's hard to beat the system when we're standing
at a distance so we keep waiting. waiting on the world to change
now if we had the power to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door and when
you trust your television what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want that's why we're waiting
waiting on the world to change.

we keep on waiting.
waiting on the world to change
it's not that we don't care, we just
know that the fight ain't fair.
so we keep on waiting waiting on the
world to change and we're still waiting,
waiting on the world to change.
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change

Author and poet, Somerset Maugham a prominent, early-mid twentieth century writer and poet most famous for the 1915 novel, Of Human Bondage, tells a tale of a young man, Philip Carey, orphaned and raised by an aunt and uncle. He grows in their home and leaves to find his way in the world. He has many experiences. The book is set in England and quite lengthy, coming in at about 600 pages. By about page 200, we find its young subject deep into the quest for meaning, purpose and love. Philip sets himself to learn the purpose of his life, what love is to him. After struggles and some failed attempts to start a career, Paris calls out like a Siren to him. He feels the pull of Art.

Not long after he arrives, Philip finds himself drinking it all in; the Left Bank, the people, the French culture, the free spirit of the Parisian capital is in stark contrast to London; the reader follows him through his  adventures there. He meets many persons, some odd, some bold. Many set him to thinking. One tells him, 'art is love.' He considers this in light of the more familiar, 'god is love.' The reader learns that this novel is actually something of Maugham's autobiography. 

Philip recounts his own early experiments in life, and what he discovers is what Maugham called, 'the artistic temperament.' Emotionally the young man comes to see not a desire to be invisible; he more wishes to risk for freedom in both the emotional and physical planes to engage in his art. Art, he finds, also requires courage and honesty in the pursuit of beauty, the thing he craves. The book is also an exploration of 1915 Europe in which society was for many, personally constricting.

This novel is striking in the Simple mind; it was written by someone who lived a century before and still, today, many of the themes examined are current and intently debated by artists. There is a strong spiritual theme throughout the book with the linking of love and art. It brings to mind the vast Vatican collection, a trove of art so large.
'Let us love one another; for in love, there is god. God is love.'

New Harmony

The Seven Bridges Road
performed by Dolly Parton
Listen Here

There are stars in the southern sky
Southward as you go
There is moonlight and moss in the trees
Down the seven bridges road
I have loved you like a baby
Like some lonesome child
I have loved you in a tame way
And I have loved you wild
Sometimes there is a part of me
Has to turn from here and go
Runnin' like a child from these warm stars
Down the seven bridges road

There are stars in the southern sky
And if ever you decide you should go
There is a taste of time sweet as honey
Down the seven bridges road
There are stars in the southern sky
Southward as you go
There is moonlight and moss in the trees
Down the seven bridges road.
Down the seven bridges road...

Recently a short weekend trip, not far from home, found me at  New Harmony, Indiana. A surprise find to say the least! It was remarkable for a number of reasons. Despite the sweltering heat of the day, we were delighted by the cool, greenness of the place; the quiet hum of welcome, the 200 years plus longevity of the town, the creativeness of the inhabitants and the tranquility of nature herself, alive in this place.

Some would describe it as an artist's colony; some would say it is the result of a utopian society founded there nearly 200 years ago; others would declare it to be a spiritual ground brimming with the Spirit of Creation. Indeed there are artists there; there is a town  melding the old seamlessly with the new, and the spiritual with the creative.

However it appeals, to one or another, there surely is a lovely calm pervading, an encouragement for the creative self and a relaxing small, country lifestyle tucked away in the unending green fields of rural Indiana. But more than anything, it's a surprise waiting to be discovered in the lovely lodgings, the cafes, the small spa, the roofless chapel dedicated to the Spirit and more.

In visiting the place, the music of Dolly Parton who performs "Seven Bridges Road"comes to mind. It answers the small, country side that is Indiana and New Harmony which is just that surprise, all the seven bridges roads 'runnin wild like a child... if you should decide to go, a time as sweet as honey... loved like a child...'

The Breath of Dawn

no confessions

I loved you before I knew your name
The first time I saw you
What be your name
Earnestly I wished to know

your voice like music
speaking first shyly
and then, later
slyly
softly humming a tune
bright

Eyes, liquid darkness
passing over me

like the sun, your smile
shines
kisses on my face
Sweetly, the moon
regards the sun
brilliant

lights
obscure lights
illumine

a touch
takes hold
time unfolds

days go by
all remains
All Rights Reserved 2008

Some thoughts about confession. Many hear confession and think law, think church, think oh-no. For some time the title of this poem did not click with me. I found the words and the meaning of the poem not consonant with its title. Seems like a "confession," but no, it's not. I recently read in Flannigan's book about transformations. She discusses the difference between apology and confession. The big difference according to her is that a confession is disclosure of something previously secret that another party would not or could not have had any knowledge of prior to disclosure. Makes sense.

On the other hand, an apology is acknowledgment of some 'no, not-good'  that both parties are aware of which directly affects their ongoing interactions. Love isn't a secret when both parties are in on it. This poem is not an apology nor a confession. When we approach the confessional in some church, the intent there is to bring light into our darker spaces, to open up breathing room, to free ourselves from the dark, deep burdens we carry, and to replace those weights with a new sense of self, and a renewed connection to the Spirit and the Creator. That's a confession, and it has a place in love, the breath of dawn.

Really an Everyday Thing, Isn't It?

Silly Love Songs

by Paul McCartney and Wings

Listen Here

You'd think

that people would have had enough
of silly love songs

I look around me and see it isn't so

some people want to fill the world
with silly love songs

so what's wrong with that?

I need to know b'cause

here I go again

I love you

I love you...

Many of us hear the word religion and all kinds of thoughts and reactions arise. We tend to make it complicated, intellectual, even. We like to think it isn't about politics, it's about god; it isn't about society, it's about spirituality, and so on. Well, it is about all these things and some more.

It's simple, really. Religion in another view is about lives, human lives living day to day. We all have thoughts, feelings and relationships. What and how we think about ourselves and the world which we are part of, vastly influences the style and quality of that human existence. So religion need not be icky or avoidable, because it's just about life. And all of us have some experience with that.

So a little help from others may just be what makes a community; for some, it sure makes an opening for a spiritual experience, like this song. Do we need to have an organ playing a dirge song to have a religious experience, do bells need to ring or incense waft upward? In my experience, I have discovered that most often I get out of something more or less what I put into it. If a church, temple or community doesn't move me, then maybe I haven't given much of myself. Maybe my pre-existing notions circumvent me from connecting. Sure, I didn't get anything out of it. But what else did I expect? Nothing gets nothing.

Can our everyday coming and goings be a small part of the whole of life? If so, then this and many other songs may too. They touch us in some meaningful way. A simple song can create an awareness, an appreciation that we had not the sense of before. It's all religion, and like an artist, it's a part of my day. Everyday.

Hitting the Skids

In some places the skids means to be in an unenviable place, as in one step forward, two steps backward. Does it have to be like that? Does that one step back place one on the skids, like a hamster on a wheel? The unenviable turning of the wheel, why?--when just recently there seemed to have come a place of calm, a peaceable and livable state where we might all prosper. Ouch!  People generally don't like what they don't know, what they don't understand or half-understand. Even if there is not direct, immediate conflict between individuals, then there is conflict elsewhere. And where dignity is lacking, respect is absent too.

That brings conflict to you and me. (We're Only Human After All) I've seen this picture before... and suddenly the new made good is punctured by those around who would be the critics. And what the hell am I talking about, you ask? Well, in the short of it, it's about that much used term dignity. Many like that term; they like what it means. The UN likes that term; they use it as part of their human rights doctrine. Do they extend themselves to others?

The Church uses that term too. She really likes that term; matter of fact, she likes it so well, she teaches it every day. Hmm. The dignity of a human person is what primarily distinguishes it from others. All are deserving of their dignity. The sidebar of this blog even has it on there-- affirm the force and value of a person. Each deserves respect...respect them in the place they are... so as to create a more unified and harmonious world. Some of this may require patience. And yes, it works, this more harmonious world. And very well when we all sing the same song. Does that make sense? Can we talk?

Diane Rizzetto writes in her book, Waking Up To What You Do, a story about a Peace Corps worker in the chapter, Taking Only What is  Freely Given:  After pedaling miles and miles with a passenger upon his bicycle in rural Africa on a very hot day, they arrived at her destination. He had gone out of his way to take her. "He was exhausted. I was giddy and in awe of him." It was, she says, an act of dana, giving freely and generously. It is not the simple act of giving help, writes Rizzetto.
Instead practicing dana over time teaches openness; this can be profound in working our way through to a more open heart, a heart that sees past anger, jealousy, fear or rejection.

 The woman on the bike recounts that looking back to that day, moments before the man offered her a ride on his bike, she felt stranded. But still a part of her was calm because she knew where she was in that place, and then the stranger came and offered her his help. She accepted in the spirit of dana. We can learn.
John, the disciple of the Christ writes:

See what love the Father has bestowed on us

that we may be called the children of God.

Yet so we are.

The reason the world does not know us

is that it did not know him.

1John3:1-2

Sense and Sensibilities

SONNET 116
by William Shakespeare

view video1
view video2

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

admit impediments. Love is not love

which alters when it alteration finds, 

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever fixed mark
that looks on tempests and is never shaken;
it is the star to every wandering bark,whose worth’s unknown,
although his height be taken.

Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
within his bending sickle’s compass come:
love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

Compare the original above with a modern version here for meaning:

"I hope I may never acknowledge any reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn’t be joined together. Love isn’t really love if it changes when it sees the beloved change or if it disappears when the beloved leaves. 
Oh no, love is a constant and unchanging light that shines on storms without being shaken; it is the star that guides every wandering boat. And like a star, its value is beyond measure, though its height can be measured. Love is not under time’s power, though time has the power to destroy rosy lips and cheeks. 
Love does not alter with the passage of brief hours and weeks, but lasts until Doomsday. If I’m wrong about this and can be proven wrong, I never wrote, and no man ever loved. "

While casting for a topic, I came upon an intriguing video composition combining the famed novelist, Jane Austin's (there are three novels in the series), Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare's sonnet 116 and the modern, English soprano singer Sarah Brightman performing This Love. Phew! quite a combination.

Even a simple mind doesn't easily put it all together. But further consideration gives the idea from Jane Austin, that in the middle way, a temperate mood is beneficial to one's life and happiness.There is something to the idea that a calm, steadiness lends itself  to prosperity when standing on shifting ground.
The plot of the novel (written in 1811) illustrates this value, strengthened with Shakespeare's words that a true love is real, and remains, unfoundered. And while I can't ascertain the logic or philosophy engaged by the maker of the video, nor the sense or appropriateness of its music or lyric combined with the novel, I think it attracts because of the strong soprano voice of Sarah Brightman and an emotion she conveys when paired to the visuals of the movie. It forms a sort of synthesis which says more than either alone.

And I suppose one must read "between the lines" to find the meaning in it all. Finally, it is the music--maybe-- surely (maybe minus the lyrics) that seems to offer some kind of answer.

Gracious

"The scent was intoxicating; it filled me full, madly, wildly, deeply and I was transported still again"

Because You Loved Me

by Celine Dion

Listen Here

For all those times you stood by me 

For all the truth that you made me see 

For all the joy you brought to my life 

For all the wrong that you made right 

For every dream you made come true 

For all the love I found in you 

I'll be forever thankful baby 

You're the one who held me up 

Never let me fall 

You're the one who saw me through through it all 

You were my strength when I was weak 

You were my voice when I couldn't speak 

You were my eyes when I couldn't see 

You saw the best there was in me 

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach 

You gave me faith because you believed 

I'm everything I am 

Because you loved me... 

Maybe I don't know that much 

But I know this much is true 

I was blessed because I was loved by you 

You were always there for me 

The tender wind that carried me 

A light in the dark shining your love into my life 

You've been my inspiration 

Through the lies you were the truth 

My world is a better place because of you 

I'm everything I am 

Because you loved me

Gratitude. There it is; I've said it and many, many others have also. Maybe it's not been said as poignantly as the song lyrics state, but all the same, it's there.
Just yesterday a wind suddenly blew cool and clear; I inhaled and was filled with the merest whiff of a scent, borne on the wind. It recalled to me the times when I was needing a hand up and help from a kindred soul, one more alike than different.
The scent was intoxicating; it filled me full, madly, wildly, deeply and I was transported still again to the first meeting years ago to one who would be, for me, my help. I could not have known it then, but the winds of change were there, unmistakably there. Like it or not. And most of us tend to the 'don't like it.' The world is not static. It changes, sometimes quite rapidly. Sometimes we're ready to meet those challenges, sometimes not so much. 

For others changes mean depression, lasting and deep; yet it was through the saddest of eyes that my heart first leaped and the sense of hope rose. It rose high, like a kite soaring through the sky, and you were there. Even when against the wind, you were. In the end, after all was done, done mostly well, my life changed for the better because of you, a voice, an inspiration, because I could see through the lies to a truth that was always there.
And because you never truly let me fall. Listen carefully; the words are there. They've always been there. There is one who is come into the world, one who sees and who redeems all. We are blessed and truly innocent, starting anew.

Faithful in the Company of Angels and Children

Sadeness part 1

by Enigma
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Let us go forth in peace
In the name of Christ, So be it

We shall find the faithful in the
company of angels and children

Lift up your heads and your glorious gates,
and be lifted up your everlasting doors,
and the king of glory shall come in.
Who is the king of glory?

Sade, dis-moi,
(Sade tell me)

Sade, donne-moi 

(Sade give me)

We proceed in peace
In the name of Christ, 

I believe.

Sade tell me
what are you going to seek?
The rightness through wrong?
The virtue through  vice?
Sade tell me 

why the Gospel of Evil ?
What is your religion? Where are your faithful?
If you are against God, you are against man

Sade tell me, why blood for pleasure?
Pleasure without love?
Is there no more feeling in the worship of man?
 

Sade are you diabolical or divine?
Sade, tell me.
Pray for us.

Sade, give me.
Pray for us

Sade give me
Hosanna

Sade tell me
Pray for us.
Sade give me
Pray for us.

In the name of Christ.

I believe.

The very popular song Sadeness, written in Europe in the early 1990's was a phenomenon for several reasons. First it is due to its lyric, then its content, and then inclusion of overtly secular and sacred song into a single composition. Apparently intended to co-exist, ' the two-as-one' sounds of chant and modern beats, serve to reinforce the simple thought that the world is one. There is not one world for Sade, and another for the angels. 

Angels, for that matter, tradition teaches have no physical bodies, therefore are limitless. And just as importantly they have a will which does not always incline to the good. As the song concludes: Hosanna, Pray for us! Amen, I believe.

Dying For Apple

There are disturbing reports coming persistently now from China about the conditions of many Chinese workers, indeed workers from throughout the industrializing world, who make the products Americans are using every day without a thought. There are reports of workers dying, unsafe conditions, conditions of near immobilization as workers are restricted to their dormitories by policy and heavy workloads of more than 60 hours a week. We, in America, have long recognized that this treatment of workers is wrong; that workers have natural rights and that likewise child labor is inappropriate.

Yet as all these consumer goods are being made "out of sight, out of mind," so the consuming public remains largely ignorant of these egregious abuses to workers. As I sit here typing on an Apple computer, I am vexed and less pleased with my machine knowing now that Apple has gone abroad for some time now; just recently dust in Chinese factories has sparked explosions with many workers maimed or burned alive in the resulting fires. American industry has known for at least a century now how to prevent factory fires from dust: simple, adequate ventilation does the trick. And yet abroad they are dying by the hundreds so that millions here at home can have greater spending power, more consumption, and quite frankly cheaper goods. Meanwhile our national values about fair labor are eroding.

I don't feel any sense of social justice in continuing the status quo, nor the rightness that I should have a long, convenient life while young workers abroad are losing theirs for some savings to my pocketbook. There is a true cost to industrial safety that goes beyond the amount per hour paid in wages. It is a cost of ones' life and well being. There is now, I realize, a good reason why at least in sum, American goods cost more: the people who make them, for the most part, work in safe facilities and will very likely go home every night to their families. They will not be maimed or immolated while on the job. So now my reason for buying American, or at least from countries with strong worker safety records is clear. When I use something I bought, I can rest in the thought that not only my nation may benefit but also the individual who actually created the item on a far away assembly line who will likely be alive and well at the end of their work shift.

Join in a Simple life; make ethical choices about what and where you consume. Ask questions. Care about the environment and mankind in general. Advocate for worker safety world wide. Doing so will benefit you personally and the common good equally.

I Feel Fine

Something in the Way She Moves

lyrics/music by James Taylor

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There's something in the way she moves,

Or looks my way, or calls my name,

That seems to leave this troubled world behind.

And if I'm feeling down and blue,

Or troubled by some foolish game,

She always seems to make me change my mind.

And I feel fine anytime she's around me now,

She's around me now

Just about all the time

And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now,

She's been with me now quite a long, long time

And I feel fine.

It isn't what she's got to say

But how she thinks and where she's been

To me, the words are nice, the way they sound

I like to hear them best that way

It doesn't much matter what they mean

If she says them mostly just to calm me down

Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning

And I find myself careening

Into places where I should not let me go.

She has the power to go where no one else can find me

And to silently remind me

Of the happiness and the good times that I know...

If feeling troubled by something, with something which preoccupies the dark places of my own mind, "she is with me now... with me now for quite a long time", as the lyrics go, takes me to another plane.
As for the lyrics, some have said that the song was written as a result of drug use by the singer. But James Taylor himself reportedly has said he wrote the song as a young man about a person he was involved with. We can only listen to the song and perhaps guess where he went from there. Where have we all gone in our own lives, and in collective life as a community?

A long time ago I would have said he was my favorite singer, but as time has gone on, I think I have expanded my loves to include more than those few. Over time when confronted with life itself, like the traveling wise men in the christian story about the Messiah, the simple mind learns that there are more than just one love for a person in their life, more than just one sign indicating the way, that the facts prompting a story aren't always as important as how they are valued. We live a life over the long haul. How I saw things five or eleven years ago was the sum of my experiences up to that point; how I see things now is part wisdom and part of who I am today, as a result of what has come to me over the time of my life. "It isn't what she's got to say, but how she thinks or where she's been."

The Witness

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself; this I say is the greatest of Commandments." The Judeo-Christian Bible

Not long ago the 14th Dalai Lama accepted an award recognizing his work for Witness: witness to peace, to compassionate living, for social justice.
The holocaust survivor and author Elie Weisel, author of Night, wrote he said, because his survival of the Shoah, he felt was for those who perished, who not longer have voices to speak, who need those who can speak for them, to tell their stories, so to make a just and equitable world in which the dignity of a person is evident. Weisel uses his writing and lectures, to speak for all those who perished. Without the Witness, the one who speaks for those who cannot, their story and they, themselves, are valueless and forgotten. He writes, he says, to tell their story so they will not be forgotten.

 The 1985 feature film, Witness, starring Harrison Ford makes just this subject its focus. A young boy observes a murder in a public place. He becomes the first witness in the story; the detective, John Book (Ford), investigates, finds a link to corruption. Someone tries to kill him, he escapes to become the second witness in the story. Injured, he makes his way to the home of an Amish family who cares for him; the family becomes the third witnesses to the harm caused by others. Finally those responsible for the injury of the detective, the perpetrators, find him and are now confronted by many in this close community of Amish, all spiritual and religious believers. They, as a community, form the final and most significant act of witness, tolling the bell, confronting the killers, and like the disciples of the Christ, they stand for justice and the common good. Their significant acts of witness mirror the way of the Lord in whom they trust.

In other parts of the world today there are those whose keenly felt sense of justice has driven them to revolution, to overthrow the unjust, the dictators and the despots of the world; they work for the common good, for freedom, for peace, and for love. Then there is the police officer, who in service and protection of his community, takes a bullet; the soldier who in defense of his country, of his comrades, comes under fire and those who suffered mightily in the Communist uprisings around the world during the previous century. The list goes on. Some we call heroes; some brave, and some wild-crazy. All are Witnesses for truth, for peace, and for social justice of all kinds. They include Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and so many more. Please add your own names here, and pray for the justice of this world. It all depends upon you.

The Breath of Heaven

Breath of Heaven

by Chris Eaton, Amy Grant

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I have traveled many moonless night
Cold and weary, with a babe inside
And I wonder what I've done
Holy Father, you have come
And chosen me now
To carry your son

I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone,
Must I walk this path alone?
Be with me now
Be with me now

Breath of heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of heaven
Breath of heaven
Light up my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
For you are holy
Breath of heaven

Do you wonder as you watch my face
If a wiser one one should have had my place
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan
Help me be strong
Help me be
Help me...

All of us at one time or another are looking for a "breath of heaven." In hard times we struggle for that break to make it right, to make the "babe" we carry inside bright, peaceful light. We hope and pray for that light, that we not walk the road alone, frightened by the loads we must all bear. Help. Help me be strong. Like Mary, it is a prayer for all.

Talk to Me like You Love Me

Kyrie Eleison

version by Mr. Mister

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The Kyrie: "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy; Lord, have mercy."

We talk on the internet; talking-- we do so much. We blog; we write and then write some more. But through all this talk there are some important things for me-- I've been thinking about this, and it's plainly, 'talk to me like I'm someone you care for, talk to me like I'm someone you love.' Everything else is noise.

This experience of talk--talking like we're someone loved, cared for, infuses even the most mean spirited exchange with a greater level of respect, and self-respect. It is centering for both parties. It is deeply loving, deeply healing. Many of us as children had experiences in our families where we did not experience the wonder of this type of talk.

Ordered around and imposed upon, we did not often receive messages from our parents, about our value and self-worth from they, who then loved us most. If it had transpired differently, many of us would have been the recipients of a most wonderful and valuable message: we might have experienced the connection of our self-worth and a connection to our parent. Instead the words were often wounding, often alienating. They were lecturing.

Now as adults we may consciously choose. With our free will intact, simply I ask, "talk to me like I'm someone you care for deeply, like I'm someone you love." In this thing we call a 'relationship,' how are we going to treat each other from this day forward? I have a thought that each one of us deserves to be treated lovingly, despite it all.


"There is no fear in love."
1John 4:18

I Just Have Met You Yet

I Just Haven't Met You Yet

by Michael Buble

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I'm not surprised

Not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times

I stopped keeping track

Talk myself in
I talk myself out
I get all worked up, then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out...
I just haven't met you yet
Mmm...

I might have to wait
I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing, And the other half's luck...

And I know that we can be so amazing
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility
Mmm...

But somehow I know that it'll all turn out...
And I promise you, kid, I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and,
We'll be united
And I know that we can be so amazing...

And now I can see every single possibility,
mmm...
And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get,

Than I get, than I get, than I get...

Ohh, promise you, kid, to give so much than I get
(I said love, love, love, love...)
I just haven't met you yet
I just haven't met you yet.

While trolling the internet looking at others' thoughts about these lyrics, I saw some who see this song differently. While most described it as fun, upbeat or hopeful, there were those others. They express doubt, frustration or general negativity. Where do these different, divergent views of this song come from? Apparently a person's experiences in the world can and do color their perceptions Often what we're thinking, someone else is too, but not always. Sometimes our feelings color the landscape and we view the world through "rose colored glasses." When we do this, do we ask others about their views, their experience, or do we assume that it is like our own? How do we know when ours is simply different? Is difference frightening or scary? Are we not all finally living under the one, great sun?

Over the weekend I went traveling to an amazing place, along the shores of beautiful lake Michigan. It brought back memories for me, but mostly me alone. I quickly learned that my companions had little or no prior experience with the power and raw beauty of this vast body of water. And that was okay by me; I could share a bit of my own experience with others: they perhaps viewed it for the first time; meanwhile, I viewed the scene fondly, in part from memory. It was the blending of the new, in the moment experience, and the recollection of the old, what we call reminisce.

The ties of old do bind themselves to the new. I found that it's all still there; it has always been there, the lake, the energy, the calm, the peace, the excitement and the desire; I am left with a newer, stronger version of what I already knew from before. It's all so loveable.