“Even today many young men and women, finding their souls bound to the soul of another of the same sex, have to be duplicitous. Unable to give themselves fully to a heterosexual relationship and equally unable to remain celebate, they live out their most meaningful relationships in darkness. Some suffer such horror and despair that they take their own lives.”
“I wonder what sorts of dreams David had before Samuel’s arrival. He was a poet and a musician. Did he play for his brothers and for the sheep he tended, thinking that would be his greatest gift? Did he envision a lifetime of caring for the family flocks on the Palistinian hillsides?”
“The will of God is Love. The will of God is love, a love that crosses boundaries and stretches the limits of our definitions and expectations. It opens us up, makes us feel joy and peace and all the other gifts of right relationship with the Holy.”
“There is so much to love on this planet. Leviathans, earthworms, gentle-eyed deer, geese with their fuzzy babies, owls, pelicans, squirrels — each is a being, a ‘Thou” as Martin Buber would say. And God, as Artist, loves when we fall in love with one.”
“The consciousness of being born of God is not constant in me by any means. Often I act selfishly. But the more conscious I am in the dance of creation the more torn open by love I am. There is nowhere I have to go, nothing that I must become.”
“But, more than that, in the moments of life as they tick over, God has simply shown me God’s presence. In the Way of Love of Bishop Curry, he calls it ‘Turning.’ God infuses the world, and at every second we have the opportunity of noticing God, turning to God.”
“The examination of your life, and, hopefully, sharing your shortcomings with another trusted person can do wonders for the soul. In humility we accept our place in the ranks of other flawed humans. This allows us a larger and more flexible compassion.”
“Most importantly, God is love. Learning what that means is a life-long study. It isn’t warm feelings and the removal of stumbling blocks from our paths. It is a profound showing up for the essence of who we are.”
What is your response to meeting the risen Lord in the Upper Room of the Soul? Have you wrapped your mind around the fact of his wounds? Christ has conquered death through going all the way through it. What does that mean for each of us? What does it mean for you?
“Easter is a gradual awakening. We do not need to fear death, because Christ has conquered death. But how does that work? The things of this world have no hold on us, for we belong to the Good Shepherd whose kingdom is not of this earth. But what does that mean when we really take it on board?”