“This would be a very important small service. Though many people feel sad, angry or lonely during the holidays, not many wish to focus on it. But the ones who come to pray their heartbreak with other people really need the space a Blue Christmas service provides. So I was keen to get everything right….
It was not to be.”
“A religious icon is a window into the realm of heaven. When I write an icon, I often think of myself as the glass. The ego part of me creates all sorts of smudges, nicks and dust. It’s inevitable to the human condition that this would be so. I try to get as clear as possible by sitting in prayer, but I have to resign myself to never being completely transparent.”
“Waking up means getting better at serving others. Waking up also means that we keep growing. Christ needs us to keep growing because he reveals himself to humanity in ever evolving ways. There is nothing static about a relationship with God. If it is static, it is atrophying.”
“Our kingdom is not of this world. It is a vast, ancient, living being that grows and transforms with each life that is born into it. It heals us and cares for us as we reach out in care for the world. It is the Truth.”
“So I take a walk. I take a walk, and I notice how blustery and windy it has gotten while I have been huddling inside the house. My ears are cold; so is the tip of my nose. It is cloudy, but soon the sun breaks through, and bronze leaves swirl and leap in the street. I notice little patches of foliage still erupting green into the afternoon light.”
“It’s a vision meant to be lived-out while we are alive. It’s supposed to give us the courage to embody the Way of Love, growing ever more discerning and wise as we go on. It’s supposed to show us the upside down reality of things — how the first are last and the last are first.”
“Loving like that is simple and ordinary. Maria and her friends are doing it every time they build something of quality for a customer. I hope that I am doing it whenever I sit down to listen to one of my spiritual companions in spiritual direction and when I put together the worship aids and communications materials that my church needs.”
“How foolish I was! God was telling me my job didn’t matter. The Holy water is within me. In all my moments, even the most block-headed ones, I am an aquarium, a place for relating to Holy water.”
“This happens sometimes. And, it is always very unnerving to be disconnected from the way I think my life ought to go. What I do, the promises I keep, my work, my vacation plans, the well-being of my relationships — all these things are part of what defines me. Without them, I feel an emotional free fall.”
Each of us must find the practice that works best for us today. The practice is our wings, drawing us out of the river of conflict and strife and into the place where we are most clearly and profoundly who we are – a creature in relationship with their Creator. May you find your way into the quiet pools in the midst of the river, drawing near to God, who always draws near to us.