and save us from ourselves…
Category: Belief
“Death is what takes place within us when we look upon others not as gift, blessing, or stimulus but as threat, danger, competition. “- Dorothee Sölle, The Inward Road and the Way Back (2003)
Hidden Gems
“When you looked at me
your eyes imprinted your grace in me;
for this you loved me ardently;
and thus my eyes deserved
to adore what they beheld in you. . . .”
Let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty.
—John of the Cross, “The Spiritual Canticle,” stanzas 32, 36
This was in my email this morning from the Center for Action and Contemplation. Fr. Richard Rohr goes on to share his own paraphrase of John of the Cross’ poem…
“You give a piece of yourself to the other.
You see a piece of yourself in the other (usually unconsciously).
This allows the other to do the same in return.
You do not need or demand anything back from them,
Because you know that you are both participating
In a single, Bigger Gazing and Loving—
One that fully satisfies and creates an immense Inner Aliveness.
(Simply to love is its own reward.)
You accept being accepted—for no reason and by no criteria whatsoever!
This is the key that unlocks everything in me, for others,
and toward God.
So much so that we call it “salvation”!”
I grew up in a religious tradition that often failed to share the words of the early Christian mystics. I wish that I had brought their words to life earlier in my journey with God. Yet, everything comes in its’ right time. For that I am so grateful.
When a Pharisee came to Jesus, he asked the question, “what is the most important commandment?”. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. This is the most important on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: Love other as well as you love yourself. These two commandments are the pegs: everything in God’s law and the prophets hang from them.” (Matthew 22. 37-40 (The Message – emphasis mine).
Everything – just do these two and the rest will take care of itself…
“The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is not that we shall die and go home to be with him, but that he has risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, prisoner brothers with him.” – Clarence Jordan
The Urgency of Now
When is it time Lord?
For Your will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
When is it time Lord?
For us to be one as You and Your Son are one.
When is it time Lord?
To believe the Red Letters in Your book and act like it.
We said it was time when a young lady stayed in her bus seat because she was tired.
That your will could be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
We said it was time when thousands gathered on a hot August day to share a dream,
That we could be one as You and Your Son are one.
We said it was time over and over and over again,
But we still don’t believe the Red Letters in Your book.
The Red Letters are just too idealistic, too unreal,
No one can do that,
Why, you’d have to be a white Jesus.
‘Cause it’s just too hard to believe,
A brown-skinned Palestinian Jew…
If we really believed them, we’d be cut to the very core of our being…
Our sin would be laid bare,
And we might have to change,
And who in the world wants to do that.
“Ignorance is bliss”, so goes the old saying.
And we’re a blissful lot.
We hide behind our stained-glass windows,
and under our steeples,
and talk about how God loves us all,
except He loves some more than others.
You can tell by the color of their skin…
(as if blessings are determined by color)
We all worship You, Father, but “they” need to worship over there,
Maybe it’s just so white folks won’t have to look at themselves.
I don’t know Abba.
I don’t even pretend to understand anymore.
It’s our prayer that…
Pictures of a white man on a black man’s neck have opened our eyes,
Screams of “I can’t breathe” have opened our ears.
We can’t be blind.
We can’t be deaf.
But some of us still choose to be…
I know the time is coming.
when Your will is done on Earth as it is in heaven.
I know the time is coming,
when we will be one as You and the Son are one.
I know the time is coming,
When the words of Your Son shine as bright as the sun in our lives
When people will know of Your love by our love.
When men are “no longer judged by the color of their skin,
But the content of their character”.
I know the time is coming,
it’s long overdue.
To be silent is to be complicit.
It hurts too much to be quiet.
The time is now Father.
My time is now.
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