Use the form on the right to contact us.
You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.
116 West Bellevue Street
Leslie, MI, 49251
United States
5179628733
Each day of the week we will post a YouTube link to our Journey through Holy Week short videos.
Check back all through the week and discover the deeper story of Resurrection Sunday.
The thematic focus for these videos is the notion that Resurrection Sunday, without the truth of the Cross, becomes nothing but a cute Easter bunny.
Richard Rohr can help us dive into this discussion of the Eternal Divine: The here-and-now has the power to become the gateway and the breakthrough point to the universal. The concrete, the specific, the physical, the here-and-now—when we can be present to it in all of its ordinariness—becomes the gateway to the Eternal.
In the heaven and hell dualistic way of thinking, eternal life begins after death. Quite succinctly, heaven is to come if we do the right things now, in this life, we can earn eternal life. Even as this worldview is not unique to Christianity, it has been a part of and continues to permeate much of Christian theology.
Richard Rohr helps us see a more inclusive, expansive, and experiential understanding, the connection within all of time and space. We are all part of the eternal web of life now and as well as the one to come: The Universal Eternal Now. (my summation).
So that in terms of humanity, humankind in history, we are all part of the eternal now: one long journey of time within the Eternal Divine.
If only we could see it. If only we could live it.
Maybe if and when we can understand that time is not something that begins and ends with us. Think of the cycle of life that we witness. Our ancestors dealt with life and death and went about the business of creating institutions, secular and religious, to answer the deepest questions of life and death.
As a matter of fact, since the beginning of humankind and human thought, life and death have been the subject of endless conversation. This is the basis of Christianity really. To wrestle with life, death, God, and community.
If we can understand that time and God are eternal, then we may begin to understand that we are all part of the web of the eternal Divine. We may see the different strands of the One Eternal Web of the Divine as separate. If we look closely at the web however, in the right light, we may see that it is all connected. Time, space, us and God, we are all stuck together within this web, connected by time and space.
If the wind blows the web to swaying, we all sway with the movement of the Spirit.
If only we could see it. If only we could live it.
No matter where we may find ourselves on the different strands of the web, we are all connected within the eternal Divine. If and when we can realize our connectedness we may begin seeing each human as part of the Divine creation. This seeing may help to stem the tide of mistreating each other.
If only we could live it.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is one the most well known sayings in the world: The Golden Rule. Not just in Christianity from Jesus. But in all faiths this is expressed in different ways and languages. This rule, or spiritual truth, can help us see how connected we are. That to treat the world as we wish to be treated is a much better way to live together on this tiny little dot in the universe we call earth.
It is even deeper than that. Our well being is collective much more than individualistic. We are tied together much more than we are seperated.
This is the lesson of the Eternal Web of the Divine. When we understand, learn as then to live as if we are our neighbor. Not each others neighbor. But we are the neighbor. What we do to others we do ourselves.
If only we could see it. If only we could live it.
Then we may be able to live and thrive together in peace, love, compassion, and thriving for all of human kind.
Love God, neighbor, self. Not one or the other. All three in loving harmony.
This is the design of the universe.
This is the design of the Eternal Web of the Divine.
I spent my childhood vacations camping on an island in the middle of the Mississippi river and I grew up in Michigan from the time I was a teenager. So, I have been lucky enough to spend time on the shores of the Mississippi as well as lake Michigan. My soul is at its most peaceful when my toes are in the sand next to a body of water.
Very recently we were on vacation recently in the Dominican Republic. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and peace while we spent time walking along the beach under sunlight as well as moonlight. During the whole time we were there the sound of the ocean, the sound of the wind moving in the palm trees and over the water was rumbling in the background. It never got quiet. The wind and the ocean were never at rest.
From my experience both Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river rested at night. As a matter of fact, when the earth turned away from the sun the calm, quiet water glistened under the light of the moon. The sound of the ocean constantly rumbling was not something I had experienced before, especially at night.
On the first night of our return a thunderstorm was brewing. It was unseasonably warm during the evening hours and into the morning. We decided to keep the windows open for the night and enjoy the fresh air.
I had awoken for some reason. While I lay there, I listened to the sounds of the evening hoping to get back to deep sleep. For the most part it was a quiet evening outside accept a few cars could be heard coming down our road.
I could hear a sound off in the distance. I thought I had unconsciously kept the sounds of the rumbling ocean in my head. I thought that’s what I was hearing even though we were hundreds of miles away from an ocean or any body of water for that matter.
It took me a minute to decipher the sound as the wind moving through the trees ahead of the coming thunderstorm. I could hear the light breeze, almost none at all, in the distance and then a quiet roar as the wind moved over the trees closer to the house.
I kept going back to the sound of the distant roar of the ocean until I realized that it was the sound of the wind moving over creation. Both over the water and among the trees. Both were Ruach, the Spirit of the living God.
In the ancient Hebrew text God is known as wind, Ruach. The spirit of God (Ruach Elohim) moved over all the formless creation.
God loved us into being and breathed life into all of creation. The breath of God moves among us, within us. If we listen, hear the spirit in our hearts, we can hear Ruach, the breath of God calling to us.
When we are at rest, at peace in our hearts, we can hear the breath of God moving within us. God’s voice is like the constant roar of the ocean and the quiet wind in the distance.
Sometimes we can hear God speaking to us. Sometimes we can barely hear the whisper of God far off in the distance. Sometimes it takes resting in a deep sleep to heart the voice, Ruach, of God moving in our lives.
May we find quiet times in our lives to sit and be still to hear the voice of God moving, brooding, breathing, among all of creation. May we find quiet times to breathe; to let the Spirit of God fill our lungs and fill our spirit.
Quiet down.
Listen.
It may be a whisper at times.
It may be a roar.
Ruach, the wind, the Divine voice is constant.
Even if we are hard of hearing at times.
The Spirit of the living, loving God never ceases to be on the move among us, within us.
Asé
Church, we need to talk.
I invite you to pull up and ear, open your hearts, and listen. Take a breath. Breathe in the Holy Spirit of Love everlasting. Breathe out all preconceived notions. Let us talk.
Howard Thurman reminds us that the spirit of Christmas is a year around affair. Even as we take down the decorations and put away the tree, Christmas is an all the time mind set of empathy and caring. Sometimes, all too often maybe, we forget to carry the spirit of Christmas with us throughout the year.
When the song of the angels is stilled When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated each year on his birthday. All too many times, in too many places and spaces, folks bring out his I Have a Dream speech and forget about the history of racism and white supremacy that led to that speech. All too many times, in too many spaces we forget about his dream of the Beloved Community. We try to forget about the history of racism that grew and continues to prosper and stems from a white supremacist world view.
I gave a sermon a few weeks ago and expressed to those gathered that a bullet may have killed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but white supremacy, backed by a white supremacist theology, loaded the gun and pulled the trigger. In many instances the violence that befell Martin Luther King Jr., along with hundreds of thousands of others, is the natural violent end when white supremacy is challenged, especially when that challenge comes from Black Indigenous People of color.
Church. We need to talk!
We must wrestle with our past complacency with racism and white supremacy. We need to reckon with our past racism if we are ever to realize God’s dream of human unity, or the Beloved Community that Martin spoke about and what we ask, yearn for, in our Lord’s Prayer: Thy Kingdom/Kindom come on earth as it is in heaven. In this heaven to come, which we pray breaks through in our time and place in history, racism doesn’t exist.
In heaven, if all humanity is united in peaceful harmony, if we ask God to break in, now, how can we imagine that we are called to be a white supremacist creation. If heaven is a place of beauty and harmony, if heaven is the beloved community, then how do we work to sustain, ignore, and even create a white supremacist, racist, and violent community? How dare we? How dare we be so arrogant to deny the Image of God in all of creation?
Let Us make them in Our Image, in Our Image let Us make them.
Church. We need to talk!
We do not need to be active in creating, sustaining, or defending a white supremacist world view, nor do we need to be actively violent in our racism. But to deny our racism and the history of white supremacy in our churches is to be complacent and complacency only allows racism to flourish, and a white supremacist theology continues to infect our churches and communities.
We are all being infected with the poison of racism. Either we believe a white supremacist world view and work to sustain it, even to point of violence, or we are being oppressed and killed, or we are complacent, or we are actively doing antiracism work. The more we are complacent, the more white supremacy and racism flourish, and people are dying due to racist policies and theology.
Racism is the poisonous water which is poisoning our collective soul. We all, especially followers of Jesus, must do the difficult and courageous work of confronting racism in ourselves, in the institutions where we reside, pray, and work.
It is only through visiting the physician of truth that we may be healed.
Alas Jesus tells us that we are not left alone in our work: Remember, I Am with you always, to the end of the age. These are the last words spoken to the Disciples of Christ as reported in the Gospel of Matthew.
God joins us in this co-creation of the beloved community so that all of humanity, each an expression of the Divine image, regardless of our outwardly expression, may thrive.
It is only in the truth telling, that we may be healed.
It is only in the healing that we may live as one humanity.
It is only living as one humanity that the Beloved Community, Thy King/Kindom may come, and may be realized in our here and now of history.
May we remember that the work of Christmas is a year around affair, a way of life, a way of empathy and care for ever more.
May we join in the co-creating, with God, the beloved community.
May we hold tight to the hand of Jesus, lean on and into the Divine Christ in our midst.
May we follow the Spirit of God towards human unity: one humanity created in the Image of the Divine.
May we honor the Divine Spark in others as we honor the Divine Spark in us.
May it be so!
Ashe.
I Love Church!
I know how difficult church can be just as I realize how difficult family can be at times,.
I love my family. I love every one of them, even as I remember some of the most difficult and hurtful times in our lives together. Family isn’t easy, and I am no different. I know I had my own times of difficult, and even hurtful behavior.
As I think about getting together with my brothers, our families, and our momma, I smile from ear to ear. I love them and we have fun together. We have a lifetime of memories to share.
I love my church family. I love every one of them, even as I remember some of the most difficult and hurtful times in our lives together, over the years and multiple churches where I served in various capacities before being ordained and called to my current congregation.
I love the feeling of walking into the empty sanctuary, sitting in a pew to get a different view from the one I usually see from the pulpit as pastor and preacher. I especially love listening as the church fills up on Sunday morning with the spirit of love and community. I love to see old friends hug, smiles shared, prayers lifted, songs of praise and lament sung. I love to feel the energy of a sanctuary that comes to life in the Holy Spirit.
I have come to love the spirit of a church that wrestles, discerns, prays and loves together as a community of people gathered by a common faith. Not a right faith. Not a correct tradition. Not an exclusive path to some distant land. But a community of people who gather in varying ways and in varying spaces, to learn from one another and lean on one another.
Church, when church does church well, is a place of community. A place of learning, stretching, and exploring a common faith that pulls us closer to God’s presence. It is a place to experience the Divine within all of creation and to then share that goodness with a world in need.
I love church.
Recently we invested in statues based on the Gospel of Matthew’s reporting of Jesus saying: I was hungry, you fed me; I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink; I was homeless, you gave me a room; I was shivering, you gave me clothes; I was sick, you stopped to visit; I was in prison, you came to me.
It hit me. Sitting as I arranged the statues in our fellowship room.
I love a church that centers Jesus in all that it does.
Not the Jesus of exclusiveness but the Jesus of inclusion.
Not the Jesus of right/wrong beliefs and extreme dualistic worldview. The Jesus that shows us the expansive Spirit of God in all there is.
Not the Jesus of only that time and place in history, but the Jesus that shows the Divine of our own time and place in history now, just as He did then.
The Jesus that invites us to see His Divine Spark, The Christ, so that we can witness that same divine spark in all of creation, even those who society and cultures consider the “least of these” as He says. When and if you do it to anyone, any human, any piece of Creation, you do it to all of humanity: Me, Jesus, the Christ, the Divine, the Human one who lives, walks, and proclaims the divine within each of us.
A church that centers the person of Jesus who still to this day shows us the Sacred, Universal, Cosmic Christ is a church that lives in discernment.
A church that centers Jesus is a church that wrestles with how best embody, as He did, the Love of God in the world.
A church that centers Jesus is a church that explores the depths of God among us. Not just in Jesus but in all of creation.
A church that centers Jesus welcomes all faith traditions as spiritual conduits which allow us, humanity, to experience, explore, and wonder with awe as to the Divine presence, no matter the person, symbol, or tradition that pulls our collective spirit towards deeper love for all of creation and our deepening relationship with and within God.
A church that centers Jesus is a church which sees Jesus in in all of humanity, not just “Christian believers.”
Church is not easy all the time. As a matter of fact, many people have been spiritually, emotionally, and physically hurt by churches proclaiming to be “Christian” but operate far from a Jesus centered faith. In some instances, churches like church more than they like Jesus.
But I love church. The idea of a place where love guides the life of the gathered community can be a good place to find God present and alive in the world. It can be a place to find Jesus, and a catalyst for moving our communities toward a more loving and caring way of being in the world, so that the world may be a more loving and caring place for all.
A good church is a place that replenishes our spirit, a place where we feel cared for, and a place of exploration and expanding our welcome to include all of God’s people.
We may not need more churches in order that people find God. Maybe not.
But a church that invites others to experience God in community and to share that love with the world and one another...O Boy!!!
Those churches are important and have important things to do and say.
I love church!
As they say in ministry, a word landed on my heart recently: cherish.
Cherish is to hold something dear, to protect it. To cherish something or someone is to love, revere, care for, look after, tend, protect, preserve, keep safe, nurture, and so on.
This idea of cherishing someone on a spiritual level sunk deeper into my heart when my wife and I started our family and I realized that when they hurt, I hurt. When they feel joy or healing, I feel joyful and healed myself. The relationships in my life have become something which I hold dear to my heart, in my soul.
When I think of the most wonderful times in my life, moments of deep joy, it has been when these relationships connect my spirit, my soul, my heart, and mind to deep love. The type of love that will both crease a smile of joy across my cheek and water a tear of awe in my eye at the same time.
I cherish these moments and relationships. They have become the most important things in my life. I want to protect these loved ones. I hold them dear in my heart. I want to keep them safe and nurture their thriving in life.
This idea of cherishing reminds me of the season of Advent as that time each year when we mark, with anticipation and longing, the arrival of the Child, the Christ incarnated in Jesus. The Divine come to be among us. Born human to point us all to the Divine among and within. To help us understand the paradox of the finite and the infinite. To help us see and live into the space of the material and the spiritual.
In the church we spend this season anticipating with longing the coming of the Christ child. We end up cherishing the child Jesus during Christmas time. We hold Him dear in our heart through our gathering for worship.
Jesus is our Christian reminder that God cherishes us so much that They needed to come be among us, to teach all of humankind the importance of relationship. They cherished us so much that They became one of us to remind us that we are all connected to each other and the eternal Divine. Jesus is the reminder that God came by here then and comes by here now and will continue coming by here, showing up for all to witness and experience.
Jesus grows up to challenge any system that tramples one human being in order that some may have at the expense of others who go without. Jesus grows up to say NO to the empire of greed and power. We, humanity in history, stop cherishing the child Jesus when we disregard Jesus the adult and His earthly ministry.
If we cherished the child in Jesus, we would simply stop killing one another.
If we cherished the child in Jesus, we would stop oppressing others as less than for our own greed.
If we cherished the child in Jesus, we would cherish everything that Jesus cherished. Which, when we read the text and look for the deeper meaning contained in the Gospel, is all of creation. Each piece, part, and person.
If we cherished the child in Jesus there would be no other to oppress or devalue as less than fully human.
We cherish the child in Jesus when we witness HIs presence no matter where He shows up.
If we can learn to fully grasp the concept that Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine, we may be able to learn to cherish Jesus not just during Advent and Christmas. We may be able to cherish the child Jesus who is alive as the Christ in us and all of creation, as was alive in the universe prior to the Child born in Jesus.
This all means that we cherish each child of creation, even as we are all children of the Creation. It means that the child in any space or in any time is worth our spiritual cherishing.
When we cherish the child in Jesus, when we listen for His voice, we hear God saying back, We/Us/They/God cherish these moments, these relationships. They are the most important things, and We want to protect these loved ones. We hold them dear in Our heart. We want to keep them safe and nurture their thriving in life.
When we cherish each piece, part, and person of creation we are cherishing Jesus as God so cherishes each of us.
Holding the Christ Child in Jesus within our hearts reminds us that God is holding all of creation within the Heart of all that was, all that is, and that will ever be.
In the midst of yet another senseless bombing and kidnapping of innocent people and the ensuing war, we are all aghast as we watch the killing and displacement of innocent families and children.
This is not unique to the people of Israel and Palestine. We have seen this play out many times during the history of humankind. Each time the loss is human life, and nothing is gained.
In every instance war is a failure of humanity. Each time we witness the killing of innocent people, the loss of life and home, and the displacement of families and children, we are witnessing a break down and a breaking apart of our shared humanity. What we witness is the dehumanization of our neighbors who we are called to love as ourselves. Dehumanization does not just happen in times of war.
Dehumanization happens every day. All we must do is tune in to our social feeds or most 24 hr. news channels. Or simply click on any headline. It seems that all the forces of nature and our world are aligned with the singular agenda of winning at any cost and doing it with hateful rhetoric. I wrestle with this behavior myself. Allowing my frustration to become anger in me. Even if I direct that anger in hateful behavior or words towards an injustice, I allow that anger to live in me and ruin who I am in the world.
You see I believe that I am called to be love in the world. In my Christian tradition my template for how that happens is the person of Jesus. Who, guided by the Christ within, did stand up in moments of anger. But it did not overtake him to the point of revenge. Instead, his devotion to all of humanity cost Him his life. Jesus, led by God’s spirit within his soul, the Christ, did not allow the ways of the world to ruin His spirit.
That’s a pretty good template for life.
But it can be difficult.
I refuse!
I refuse to allow the world to ruin who I am, what I am called to be and do in this lifetime.
I refuse to believe that war, death, hate, anger, and rage are the ways of the world.
Or more to the point…. the ways of God.
If we see and live the Way of Jesus, we see that the realm of God, the heart of the Divine is not anger and rage. I realize that differing interpretations of our sacred text, which we call the bible, may hold other beliefs. Even the people who shared the stories had differing views of God.
If we take Jesus seriously as our guide along this new Way of being and doing in the world, we see someone who expresses his frustration towards the empire of greed and power yet lifts not one single finger towards revenge. As a matter of fact, some of Jesus’s last utterances; “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”, Luke 23:34, is a radical way to live free of a vengeful heart, even in death.
In today’s world it may seem difficult to see the goodness of humanity. We are witnessing senseless killing and dehumanization of others as a way of communication, not just war. This way of being in the world is ruinous to our collective soul.
We can all do our part to be the goodness of God and to put God’s goodness back into a hurting world. We can all do our own little part to take a stand on the moral arc of the universe and bend it towards justice.
If we look around we can see the goodness of God alive and thriving in our time and place in history.
Take a look around.
When we can see and feel the goodness of God within all there is, within us, within all of humanity, then we can express that innate goodness in all that we do so that the current disfunction, war, and dehumanization don’t take over our soul. So that our spirit is one of goodness for all the world to witness.
There are millions of little moments of goodness happening every day, all around us. If we look for them, we can see them when we turn the eyes of our heart towards the goodness that exists.
Can you see it?
See the smile on a child’s face.
See someone hugging another.
See someone open the door for another.
See someone paying it forward.
See the generosity of your neighbor.
See the twinkle in the eyes of your partner.
See the smile on your face as you witness the goodness in the world.
See the smiles on the faces around you.
Can you see it?
See the sunset.
See the sunrise.
See the trees moving with the wind.
See the birds in the sky.
See the twinkling of the stars.
Can you feel it?
Feel the love in your heart
Feel the compassion you posses.
Feel the Divine spark within your soul.
Feel your innate propensity towards goodness.
Feel the Spirit moving within.
Feel your love.
Feel the peace that exists deep within.
Feel the love of God for all of creation.
Feel the love of God for who you are.
May we see the innate goodness within
So that we can witness to the innate goodness of the Eternal God
Who breathed us into creation and loved us into being.
May we reflect our goodness
Back into a world yearning to see the goodness of God.
A few months ago we started using the word Asé (Ashe) at the end of our written prayers during worship on Sunday mornings: Amen and Ashe.
After the first Sunday a young child in our church asked what does Ashe mean? Then more folks began asking. That prompted this Pastor’s Porch.
Just like all other aspects of life, religion, and faith, it is about the exploration of God and community much more than it is about concrete answers. Ashe became a wonderful teaching moment for me as Pastor, the one who began using the term in the first place, and our church.
The word that comes to us as Ashe comes from the African word Asé and has multiple meanings. It stems from the Yoruba language, which originated in Nigeria.
In most western, and or American, churches it is used in the same vein as Amen. In that context both words have the same or similar meaning; may it be, we pray it, and we ask that it be so in our lifetime. Amen and Ashe can also mean a way of expressing affirmation. As in, we need more peace in the world and less war. Let it come to full fruition in our lifetime. Amen and Ashe.
Ashe also carries the meaning of the life force that is within each of us. The connection of all that is in the world through this life force.
In my spirit I began using the word, after hearing it used in black church worship services, to expand our understanding of the world. I believe that too many times we forget about the big wide world that exists outside our tiny little communities.
The world is a vast and diverse place that we live in. Even with the world available and accessible with a click or a scroll, sometimes we tend to live within our own little window of experience.
Ashe and the discussion which followed allowed us the spiritual space to remember that our window of experience is a fraction of both time and space.
Ashe recalls and celebrates the vastness and diversity of the universe along with our connection to one another, across land and sea, across cultures and languages.
One of the aspects of sharing Ashe along with the Amen is that we get to remember that we are all connected by our faith in the Divine, our yearning for connection and peace, and our one shared humanity.
Amen and Ashe open the heart of our collective spirits and allow us to experience a posture of celebration and remembrance.
The world is vast, even if it feels small within our connections in our local communities.
The world is diverse, even if it seems everyone one around us is the same.
The tapestry of God’s creation is a beautiful work of cosmic art.
Amen and Ashe.
Everything and everyone, when we allow it, aims the eye of our heart towards the Divine Presence in our lives.
Amen and Ashe
Every piece of creation, every human form of expression bears the image of Divine creativity.
Amen and Ashe.
The table is set.
This table stretches on throughout eternity, even into the heavenly realm, that space on the other side of the veil. At this table we can eat, be merry, and interact with all those we wish to invite, those here and those who have gathered on the other side of the veil.
We have traveled through this house, this home within our hearts, within our spirit.
Here is the secret.
The table is the point of it all. The table is where we find the spiritual nourishment of God and the truth that, not only is there enough for everyone to be fed, but that we are enough.
All our contemplation, each step of our journey deep into the heart of our home within the heart of God, found in our soul, has been a journey that brings us to this eternal table.
We are called to set this table for everyone who is hungry in the here and now. We are called to share from a place of abundance instead of hording from a place of scarcity. We are called to set this table and invite all to come, have a seat and be fed. We are invited by a God who bids us come and be fed so that you may feed others.
All of our wisdom and the wisdom of our ancestors leads us to this table where our bodies and spirits can be fed. Too many times in our lives we are fed by other influences that continuously tell us we are not enough. Those influences, wherever they come from, push us away from the central fact of life: We are enough.
Each of us bear the image of God and carry within us that divine spark that was imbued within each of us, even before we were born: The image of the Divine, the Christ.
The point of meditation and contemplation is to remind ourselves that no matter what the world may say, God invites us through constant reminders that we are enough.
This is the place where we remind the injured part of our human spirit that there is a seat for us all at the table of God’s eternal love. We are not required to bring something to this feast. All has been provided, everything has been prepared. We are free to relax, let go, in order to more fully enjoy the presence of God.
Come, pull up a chair, take your place at the eternal table of God’s love.
Come, pull up a chair, take a look around and see all the smiling faces, take in the feast that is set.
Come, pull up a chair, everyone is here, ready to enjoy the meal and the conversation.
Come, pull up a chair, breathe in all the fragrances that surround the table.
Come, pull up a chair, everyone is welcome.
Come, pull up a chair, be nourished in spirit, that we may all become the invitation, hosts at our own dinner table, so that everyone may be fed..
Come, pull up a chair, no one goes away hungry.
Within the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation. Or just by listening to the sights and sounds of life that surrounds us.
Here on Pastor’s Porch, we are discussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through this home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
After exploring these many rooms within our heart, the interior castle, we are invited to come into the kitchen of abundance. In this kitchen the cupboards are stock to overflowing. These cupboards are endless, and the kitchen is vast. The scents that we smell create in us a yearning to be fed in our spirit and in our belly’s. It reminds us how hungry we are to sit in the presence of a God who will feed us, who will fill our spirit to overflowing.
The aromas in this kitchen overtake us when we enter. They invite us deep into the heart of this place of creation, dreaming, remembering, exploring, and abundance. This kitchen, this endless supply of everything we need to be nourished in spirit and sustenance, invites us to remember the abundance of blessings in our lives. A reminder that God is an endless God who knows no bounds and breaks down all barriers that prevent human flourishing.
This kitchen reminds us that no one deserves to go hungry in body or spirit. It reminds us that there is enough, more than enough, an abundance of blessings to share. Within this meditation on abundance, we pull ourselves into a theology of more than enough and we push against a worldview or theology of scarcity.
This overflowing kitchen invites us to sit and experience what it is to be in the presence of God’s eternal plentifulness and abundance. It teaches us to sit in the spirit of gratitude and from that place of gratitude we are able share what has been given, freely and unconditionally. It invites us to dream of new and different recipes for sharing all that we have been given.
In this kitchen we are taught to prepare and openly share from an overflowing spirit of gratitude.
Come, pull up a chair.
Sit in the presence of eternal abundance.
Breathe into your spirit the aroma of plenty.
Relax as God prepares our hearts for sharing.
Look around, notice all that God has done.
Look around, notice all that God is preparing.
Explore all the ways that we can share.
Explore all the ways we can nourish our soul.
Explore all the ways that we can be nourishment for a hungry world.
The doors are open.
The kettle is on.
A meal is being prepared.
Come and be fed.
Come, no one goes hungry.
God is in the kitchen.
Within the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation. Or just by listening to the sights and sounds of life that surrounds us.
Here on Pastor’s Porch, we are discussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through this home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
Our journey began in the base of this home where knowledge resides within our own innate wisdom and the wisdom of our faith elders. The base of our spiritual home is our faith that sustains us. Faith that can be deepened through exploration, much more than certainty.
This is the room of creation. It is the room that may feel the most inviting as, for some of us and for me, time within the beauty of creation draws my heart to the peaceful presence of God. Whether I’m standing on the shores of a sandy beach listening to the crashing waves or deep in a forest standing on the edge of an inland lake, or a quiet field of grass, or deck sitting early in the morning, peace abounds when I am emersed in a spirit of appreciation as I witness the heart of God within creation, as it is within me.
This room is made of glass, inviting us to sit within the presence of God in all that we see. It is a warm place that allows us to even enjoy creation during the changing seasons, yes, even as the snow falls, we are sitting within the warmth of a caring God.
We can spend all of our time here, watching all the frolicking animals of the forest crinkle the leaves as they chase and play. The squirrels high in the tree, the tiny chipmunks chasing each other around the leaves, the deer moving about, the bear picking a few berries, and so on. In this place all of creation finds a home, living in harmony.
If we choose to venture out and about to put our feet on the ground, maybe laying down in the field of grass, we will be safe, never losing sight of our home or this room.
You see this room is endless, vast, and ever changing. One day it may be a forest and another day it may be a desert, or a wetland, or a lush valley, or it may be a mountain. The seasons change so that we can experience all of creation from all the different climates and terrains of the world.
This room teaches us as well: We are all connected, and creation is the blessing which is bestowed upon every creature of this world.
In this room we are taught through being present and among all of creation. We are taught not by a book or professor. We are taught by being within creation so that we can be within the heart of God and know that there is no hierarchy to creation. There is only being a part of the life cycle for a time.
In this room we realize that as we move through the seasons of our lives, the changing of seasons of this earth, God walks with us every step of the way, calling us to the home within our souls, the rooms of our heart.
In this room God beckons us, come, sit with me, and see the gifts of life.
Come, sit with me, my child, and know the beauty of who you are: a part of this creation that shows you Our presence in all there is, for all time, beyond time, and beyond space.
The heart of creation
Resides in the heart of God.
The heart of God
Resides within the heart of creation.
God resides in our souls.
Open the windows of your heart!
Listen to the vibrations of the heartbeat of God!
Open the windows of your heart!
Breathe creation in!
Exhale Creation’s love
Come sit with me She says!
Come be among Us
As we are among you!
Within the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation. Or just by listening to the sights and sounds of life that surrounds us.
Here on Pastor’s Porch, we are discussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through this home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
Our journey began in the base of this home where knowledge resides within our own innate wisdom and the wisdom of our faith elders. The base of our spiritual home is our faith that sustains us. Faith that can be deepened through exploration, much more than certainty.
Our next room within the home in our hearts is the room of conflict.
In this room we bring the wisdom of the elders, our faith, our own innate wisdom, and our most pressing conflict.
This conflict may be a personal matter or conflict that we see happening in our family, community, or world that may be weighing on our spirit.
I know that for a long time I was conflict averse. I didn’t like being in conflict with anyone. I could feel my heart rate rise and my anxiety spike as I anticipated stepping into any conflict. I also remember that if conflict arose, I was ready to react with anger and I had no problem arguing with someone. It took me a long time to be able to react to conflict with an attitude of curiosity, grace, my own innate self-worth, and a spirit of resolution finding.
This does not mean that I’m now attracted to conflict or some sort of master of conflict, free of my own triggers of self or other loathing. It means that within my spirit is an ability, when I’m in a healthy space, to remain fully present and available to the movement of the Spirit in most times of conflict that arise in me, my surroundings, or my work as the pastor of a church. Again, it is a continuous journey of learning and stretching.
This is where the room of conflict can help us. In this room we bring, not only the Spirit of the still speaking God with us, but we also bring the wisdom of the other rooms to bear on the conflict we are wrestling with. We bring lament, relaxation, our spirit of listening, our own faith, and the faith of our ancestors into this room within our heart.
What we learn in this room is that conflict doesn’t have to be an anger filled argument. In this room, we bring our fully human selves to bear on the conflict and we learn all that there is to learn about life: Even conflict can provide some wisdom and teaching.
This room teaches by holding the conflict with us. In this room God listens to our wrestling heart. When we allow the room to do its job, we can learn that there is wisdom to be gained during times of conflict.
In this room we ask God to sit with us. We approach God with our vulnerability so that we may realize that the Spirit of the still speaking God is also an ever-listening presence in our lives.
In this room we are allowed the space and freedom to leave the conflict, even if only for a few moments, and find ourselves.
We are reminded in our soul.
Much like the water holds the lily
God holds all, cares for all.
God beckons us.
Come!
Let Me sit with you.
Let us enjoy a moment of sharing.
Leaving any conflict.
To find caring.
We are here to remind the soul.
You are life.
Wisdom your teacher.
A poetic sharing from Michael Young
If the forest is my mother
The river my father
If the tree my brother
The leaf my sister
If the dandelion is my cousin
The grass my auntie
If the lake is my neighbor
The creek my teacher
If the hungry is my father
The stranger my mother
If the thirsty is my brother
The naked my sister
If the sick is my cousin
The prisoner my auntie
If the giver is my neighbor
The receiver my teacher
If the Holy is crying
Creation weeping
If the Holy speaks in love
Creation yearning
If the Holy is divine
Creation smiles
If the Holy is within
Wind blows joy
If the Holy rains grace
Creation blossoms
If Love is our parent
Creation our family
If the Spirit moves among
Caresses all hearts
How can I deny
The spark in the tree
Humanity in the stranger
Grace in the prisoner
Holy in the hungry
Joy in the naked
Strength in the leaf
Yearning in the river
Teaching in the creek
Neighbor in me
If Love be true
Who am I to deny
The heart of the Divine
Alive in all of creation
If love be true
Who am I
But lover
Of the One who loves
If Love be true
Who am I
But a poet of the spirit
Singer of the song
Teller of the story
If love be true
Who am I
But love alive
Within the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation. Or just by listening to the sights and sounds of life that surrounds us.
Here on Pastor’s Porch, we are discussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through this home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
Our journey began in the base of this home where knowledge resides within our own innate wisdom and the wisdom of our faith elders. The base of our spiritual home is our faith that sustains us. Faith that can be deepened through exploration, much more than certainty.
Our next room is the music room. Where we are invited to listen and maybe even sing a song as a vehicle to realize how tuned we can be to the vibrations of creation.
The strings of the guitar are struck, and the vibrations make a sound that is pleasing to our ears. The singer comes in and shares a story from their soul. Other instruments join in and make music together. All the sounds that make up our favorite songs are vibrations that spread out for us to hear, reverberating in our ear drums.
In the room of music our favorite songs can be called up just by a fleeting memory. I know that for me Rubber Band Man by the spinners takes me back. I can still remember the little white radio with a Chewbacca sticker affixed playing on WLS radio in Chicago Illinois.
This room is a bit different.
The room of music in our hearts helps us sing of the goodness of God in our lives. It offers us the opportunity to learn how the vibrations of creation echo throughout time and place.
This room helps in two different ways. It helps us to match the vibrations of creation by offering music of our memories and invites us to sing.
When we really break it down all sound is vibration.
All of creation has a song to sing.
In this room we are free to join in the singing and add our own song to the world. We can sing of joy, lament, pain, sorrow, laughter, and even anger. We are free to sing the songs of our soul and listen to the vibrations of our spirit.
For in this room we are reminded that we tune in to the sounds of our lives and we can join in the chorus of humanity and sing of God’s presence deep in our soul.
Can you hear it?
Can you hear the harmony of God?
Can you hear the song of God?
Take a seat in the room of your spirit.
Listen.
God is singing the song of our hearts.
In the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation. Or just by listening to the sights and sounds of life that surrounds us.
Here on Pastor’s Porch, we are discussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through the home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
Our journey began in the base of this home where knowledge resides within our own innate wisdom and the wisdom of our faith elders. The base of our spiritual home is our faith that sustains us. Faith that can be deepened through exploration, much more than certainty.
As we move through the home the stairs creek with the knowledge of old bones. But these stairs take the creaking in our bones and give us peace and strength to move about the inner dwelling of our soul.
In this home of many rooms, we began in the room of relaxation.
The next room we will explore is the room of our ancestors.
This is the room where the veil is lifted between the physical and spiritual realm. This is the room of deep listening for the wisdom of our elders, which echo off the walls and reverberate back to our soul as the voice of those we love, who have passed, share their eternal spirit. The tears we may feel in this room within our soul remind us that our loved ones come to say hello in many and varying ways.
This is a room of deep listening. It does not take anything away. Instead, it reminds us that we are eternally sitting within the presence and spirit of God’s love and care.
Some, as I do, find comfort that we can enter the depth of our soul and feel the peace of a conversation with someone on the other side of the veil (traditionally what we’d call heaven), even if their voices or touch are no longer a regular part of our lives.
In this room, within our souls, we are free to sit quietly through the tears of sorrow and loss until we get to the other side of the veil and hear the wisdom of our loved one’s echo in our hearts. In this room we don’t sit in the sadness, we sit beyond the sadness and let the voices of our elders speak into our existence. Even if it may be through tears of loss.
In this room our hearts are tuned to the vibrations of life that may be expressing themselves as the movement of the wind, a voice, a tingle in our fingers, a line from a song, memories, tears, a sense of leaning in for deeper listening, or the feeling of peace, even a smile.
Even if it may be true, even comforting, that the wisdom of our elders is eternal, death is so very hard. And in many cases it may feel too soon and too final. This may be how the spirit of our loved ones lives on in us and how our spirit will live on in our families and communities, through the sharing of wisdom, on both sides of the veil.
Just as the stairs receive the creaks of our aching bones and return strength, this room takes our sorrow, stirs in a little grief and returns spiritual wisdom.
This room teaches us to sit in quiet patience until we can hear with our hearts and listen to the eternal vibrating wisdom of our ancestors, elders, and loved ones.
This is the room where we learn:
In the wind is the spirit of our ancestors.
In the sunshine is the smile of those we miss.
In the thunder is the voice of wisdom.
In the tears is the knowing of our soul.
That our loved ones say hello.
In more ways than we can ever know.
In the home of our heart are many rooms, castles, mansions, places that we can reach by contemplation, prayer, or other kinds of meditation.
Here on Pastor’s Porch we are disussing this notion as the home in our hearts. We are moving through the home and exploring these different rooms within our soul.
Our journey began in the base of this home where knowledge resides within our own innate wisdom and the wisdom of our faith elders. Here is where we tap into our life experience as well as that of those who share their wisdom through art and writing. The base of our spiritual home is our faith that sustains us. Faith that can be deepened through exploration, much more than certainty.
As we move through the home the stairs creek with the knowledge of old bones. But these stairs take the creaking in our bones and give us peace and strength to move about the inner dwelling of our soul.
In this home of many rooms, we begin in the room of relaxation.
In this room there is play list of our subconscious. Music from our life that holds meaning for us plays on a constant loop. Whatever music that relaxes our heart rate vibrates throughout and helps us simmer down and deeply chillax. (chill out and relax)
This is the room we can enter that will push the worries of life and world aside so that we can deeply relax.
A place of authentic serenity.
In this room is a chair. But it is a different kind of chair. This chair envelops us. We sink into its softness, and it relaxes us. This is a sinking chair.
As we take a seat in this chair, we sink deeper and deeper into its softness. It folds around us and pulls us deeper into relaxation. It wraps us in care and takas all our anxieties and stresses that we carry as body aches and pains. It remains supportive even as it pulls us deeper into its softness.
With every breath we take in this room within our hearts, the chair helps us deepen into peaceful living.
With every breath we take we sink deeper and deeper into our own peaceful existence in the world.
With every breath we take God, the Divine, the Great Spirit beckons us.
Come into the many rooms of your heart and soul.
Chillax and just be.
We will carry you and support you.
You are in our care
Always and forever more.
Come.
Sit with Us.
Let us hold you in Our care.
As we begin to explore the many rooms of our internal, spiritual mansion we must remember that this house is different. In this house the Divine Spirit meets our spirit., the Divine knows our pains, our joys, our smiles, and our frowns. God, the Divine, the Great Spirit, YHWH feels what we feel.
So, it would make sense that the stairs in this house are different because they creak with the sound of our presence. They know what it is to feel the crackling of old bones and bones that carry the weight of oppression, and trauma. They feel our pain as we make our way up and down, from floor to floor.
They carry not only our body’s, but they also carry our pain as well. These stairs feel the pain that we sometimes carry throughout our lives. However, in this house, on these stairs our lives feel free of burden, despair, trauma, and grief. This house and these stairs carry burdens for us.
With each crackle, creak, and screech our lives become more peaceful as the sorrows of life reside. Our own bones become silent as we no longer carry the load of life’s burdens that sometimes make our bodies creak and our spirit moan.
This home built in our soul helps us to let go and give all things over to the God who takes our sorrows and resurrects us to new life in Love.
This home, which is built on the strong foundation of our faith, contains many rooms that help us navigate the ebbs and flows of life. These stairs, that will help us move from the highs and lows of life, are a spiritual reminder that the home in our heart is a place that we may come and journey deep into our souls and find the peace of Divine Presence, within.
This home is a place to come, let go, and let God carry us when life feels to heavy, and our bodies ache and feel weary.
God beckons us.
Come to the home in your heart.
Allow me to feel your pain.
Allow me to carry your burdens.
Come journey with me to the depths of your soul.
Come home and find deep peace within.
In the Gospel of John Jesus invites us to understand that God has built a place for us within Their Presence deep within. He tells us that in the home of our soul, God has implanted spiritual spaces that we can access through quiet contemplation.
This place that Jesus talks about, expressed as, “in my Father’s house are many rooms”, can mean the deeper spiritual truth: through the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is a place located deep in our soul where we can go and find peace within ourselves and walk in a more peaceful way in the world.
Theresa of Avelia describes this as the Interior Castle.
Jesus invites us, come, journey with Me to a place of absolute peace within the heart of all that is, located deep inside the heart of who you are: “Where I am, there you may be also”
For the next few weeks Pastor’s Porch will take a tour of this home built into our soul. We will explore these rooms in the mansion of our being.
We begin our journey in the basement of the home. Most basements are places of storage or a place more akin to a family room. This basement is different.
This is where the foundation of the home is. This is the place where we start the tour of our house. This base of the home is where all the knowledge is stored. This is where we bring all of our questions and continue to build our home on a strong foundation of faith.
We start this tour deep within the home of our hearts, the deep soul of our being. All of our spiritual resources are stored here: wisdom of our elders, biographies of our faith ancestors., books of the prophets of justice of every faith tradition, all of the wisdom of time and space, most importantly this is the room where our life experiences are stored, our own innate wisdom.
In this room of enlightening, the most important part of ourselves that we bring with us are all those deep questions about life, God, and faith. We can even ask whether or not God indeed exists.
The base of our home is a place of strength. A fortress that is impenetrable by the ways of self-doubt or self-loathing. This is why we start in the base of the house, within the foundation of a faith that supports all of who we are: made in the image of the Divine, born into the blessed eternal relationship.
The Christ in Jesus bids us, come, explore these many rooms of who you are.
The journey begins with the simplicity of quiet, stillness, and presence in the moment.
Prior to his conversion to the Paul who wrote letters to various churches, Saul, who would become Paul, stands and holds the robes of the ones who are stoning Stephen to death as he cries out to God, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” This is similar to Jesus’s last words on the Cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”.
58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Even as Stephen is being stoned to death, even as Jesus is being crucified, they both advocate for those who are killing them. What a lesson for us. What a difficult example to follow.
I mean seriously!
As they are being killed by the empire of greed and power, they are asking God to forgive those who are killing them. Whew!
What these two scenes help us realize is that we are called to advocacy. We are not supposed to stand by and hold the robes of those who are oppressing, and or killing in order that the system of the status quo remains and the empire of greed and power flourishes.
We are called towards advocacy.
We are not supposed to stand outside a burning building only to ask if the people inside are worthy of our help and resources.
We are not called to stand by and hold the robes of the killers. We are called to stand and take the stoning sometimes. We are called to stand beside someone when they need a partner. We are called to stand for those who cannot stand on their own.
We are being called to scream at the top of our lungs to a world that is falling deaf to the lament of those who are being oppressed, bullied, traumatized and killed because they don’t fit neatly into the system of the status quo, that simply grows stronger as those in power begin to lose their standing. The more that sinful empire of greed and power begins to lose it’s grip on power the more hateful and violent it becomes.
Think of Shirley McLaine in Terms of Endearment as she screams for her daughter's medication to be given. As that iconic scene unfolds, we can hear and see the anxiety rising until the character must scream, “GIVE MY DAUGHTER HER MEDICATION!!!!, multiple times before the nurses begin to move.
Again, we can all understand sticking up for our own. Bruce Springsteen even wrote and recorded a song, We Take Care of Our Own. Some would even say that we don’t truly take care of our own much less those we don’t consider our own.
Jesus and Stephen expand our understanding of ‘our own’ to include all of humanity. We are challenged to realize that we are all, each of us, to advocate for those we may not even know. Jesus helps us understand our calling as humans and as Christians when we witness Him coming along side those who society would label as less than and not worthy of attention or love.
Jesus Christ advocates by presence among and within folks that society leaves behind.
I will advocate for my own child. I will advocate for my friends and family. That comes naturally. Not an easy act by any stretch. But it comes naturally to want to stick up for, advocate for, my child and loved ones.
I have learned that following Jesus means the sometimes uncomfortable act of advocating for those I do not know personally. This means challenging all systems of oppression that deny the full humanity of those deemed as “others” or those outside of so-called societal norms.
It may seem to be quite a daunting task to become and advocate and an oppressive system breaker. It is hard to be the one who stands up and calls truth to power and say this is wrong. It can cause anxiety and worry when we think about how our community will react.
It ain’t easy standing up to a bully. Especially when that bully is an entire system.
But stand we must and stand strong.
Even if our church, family, or community is telling us to sit down and shut up.
Maybe advocacy begins with the knowledge that at the end of the day we are all connected by the indwelling Spirit and Breath of Love: God.
In a sense the church must be loud and clear.
We will not stand by and hold the robes of oppressive systems any longer.
Instead, we will stand with Jesus and advocate on behalf of those who society is telling us are less than and unworthy.
Hope
We all want the Good News of the Gospel. We all want to have hope, to dream.
As we enter into the middle of of Holy Week it is easy to forget that the week begins with Hosanna!!!, then quickly turns to Crucify Him, Crucify Him!!!
It is a difficult task to hold these two realities together in our hearts. Our human inclination is to hold onto the Hosanna and the hope of Resurrection without the truth of the Cross and the Crucifixion. It is natural for us all to want to move from the palms of Hosanna to the empty tomb of resurrectin.
We miss the lessons of betrayal on the part of Jesus’s closest friends, the lesson in humility in the washing of feet, and the violent retribution of the empire when we jump from Sunday to Sunday and miss the opportunity for spiritual growth and transformation that Holy Week offers. It is a time of invitation for each of us to look honestly towards the human predicament and the Holy work of God. It is a time when we hold in tension the palms, the cross, and the empty tomb.
To hope is to dream and hopefully we are not done dreaming because God is not dreaming for us to be one human family.
John17: 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
If we can lose the eyes of our dualistic, extremely binary way of seeing the world, then we may move from believing, to knowing, to understanding, and experiencing the deep meaning of Holy Week. With the gaze of that indwelling Holy Spirit, we may come to understand that hope without lament and truth, becomes empty prosperity.
As we gaze upon the cross with our spiritual eyes, we may be able to see the sins of humanity in the body of Jesus that was crucified.
You see Resurrection Sunday without the truth of the Cross becomes nothing but an Easter bunny. The empty tomb sits in the shadow of the cross and in the tension of the human predicament as a symbol of the paradox of humanity: beautifully created within a loving relationship together with the ability to do great harm to one another.
Just as the ideal of America, which is still being realized, sits in the shadow of our violent history. The hope of America becomes empty and sinful prosperity for only a few when we fail to hold in tension the dream of our nation and the truth of our actions towards the first nations people, (the indigenous first inhabitants of the continent)’, and the original sin of slavery. The hope for America is only found when all know and can see and realize the hope of a new day, the freedom to thrive, and the ability to dream. We cannot slogan our way towards the one human family that Jesus prayed for in the Gospel of John, nor one united America. We cannot jump from the palms to the tomb, no more than we can leap over our honest history to America the Beautiful.
We all must face up to the truth that we, humanity, did that to the person of Jesus. We all hold the ability to seek new life or crucify. We all hold the ability to shout both Hosanna and Crucify Him. We all hold the ability to tear down or build up the Beloved Community. We all hold the ability to build walls and barriers or work to co-create the new Kingdom that Jesus tells us God is working on in our current time and place in history.
This is the lesson of Holy Week.
Hope without lament, without truth, becomes empty prosperity.
But alas!
The Tomb sits empty, and God has taken the violence of the crucifixion and has put the Body, which humanity broke, back together.
The body is broken,
The spirit has been spilled,
The Tomb sits empty.
Even in the shadow of the cross.
God says NO!!
You cannot take My love out of this world.
Holy Week is not a jump, or a leap, but yet another invitation into and within the journey towards transformation and spiritual awakening. It is the journey from the Cross to the Tomb. Within the journey is the deeper experiential knowledge of the expanding God of the universe who knows us by name and will never leave our side. Even if we think They look like the gardner.
Now that is hopeful! That is Good News, which we all carry within ourselves.
May we all know the voice of God who calls us, who beckons us forward towards our most beautiful selves.
Most of all we carry the message of hope for all those who feel forgotten and unheard.
May we all know that in the middle of the pain of the Cross, the healing has already begun.
