I  saw Change coming and I ran so fast the other way that I didn’t even notice what she was wearing. It was pretty clear from that familiar feeling of upset that she was heading for me. I never mistaken her for someone else. I fear her because I like things the way they are, comfortable and predictable. She doesn’t have a lot of friends, but she can get some immensely powerful things done. When I decide to embrace her, it’s never as bad as I expect.   Change is capable of brilliant innovation as life goes from “black and white” to “living color”. She is masterful at reuse, recycle and renew challenges, always creating something from nothing. She once decorated her entire bedroom with old water bottles, using them in the most unique way. She loved the conversion, but a year later decided to put things back the way they were. She is always trying something new and for her, that works, it brings out her creative side, but she doesn’t feel it’s necessary to keep even the things ...

  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

  Mercy came confidently knocking at my door around noontime. I wasn’t expecting her. Dressed in a green suede shirt with holes in it, she seemed so unassuming that I nearly missed the importance of her visit. I invited her in, unsure I should allow myself the luxury, but she, in her enormity, wrapped herself warmly around me. She came to teach me to forgive myself before forgiving others, “It makes you more believable” she said.   I was glad she came and joined her near the window, where we bathed in sunlight. She likes the light. She didn’t want details, but gently moved me toward a distant hope I had not imagined. Mercy knows so much about people; she realizes that sin and emptiness are born from uncontrollable fear. “This was the reason, she says, that “Jesus repeated the phrase, “fear not”, more than anything else he stated.   I asked her if she had a best friend, she said “sure”, and told me her name is kindness.   Kindness and Mercy are always togethe...

 There he is - there’s Simon, with that familiar look of condemnation in his eyes.  He is staring at me, just the way he did last week when I anointed the feet of the master while at his house.  Look at the way he judges me with his glaring, hateful gaze.  If looks could kill, I would be dead for sure. I have been following Jesus for a while now.   I am so drawn to his mercy, the look in his eye is so different, it shows so much compassion,   He listens to people, he seems to have all the time in the world.   It is as if he gazes right in at the center of your soul.   These two men are so different.   What is Simon afraid of?   Why did I set him off so much when I anointed Jesus’ feet?   What did I do that was so bad?   Jesus’ feet were so blistered and cracked from the rough roads he walked, they were swollen and red and I just wanted to give him a bit of comfort- doesn’t he deserve it after such long hours teaching in the...

  John 4:46 -54 There he is… anxious, fearful, troubled Capernaum’s royal official no city matter or political riot, but a sick child triggering his panicked heart to throb   My child is sick…O dear God my child is dying… I cannot lose him…  every parent knows the  helpless, desperate hope a mother, a father ready to do whatever it takes There HE IS…              who makes water wine            the subject of everyone's debate            can he really do what they say?  Jesus speaks only ...  “ Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." – What signs? What wonders? What must I believe?  What will this Jesus do to my child? Is he a quack?  But, will I not try anything for my son?    I hear inside me a voice not my own..  "Sir, come down before my child dies."   Jesus responds only,  "Go… your s...

  My dear friend and I are partners in prayer.   We unite in prayer for each other and regularly pass to each other our intentions for others for whom we are praying. It doubles the energy they receive.    Frequently we talk about “our list”, remembering the people we are holding close.   This morning after bringing her up to date on someone at the top of our list, she replied, “on the top of my heart list.”    Let that sink in……..    Not a prayer list…… a heart list. Lesson done…  

  Today, join your thoughts, prayers and works with those who are carrying burdens that are just too heavy.    

    Somewhere in the world today, Monday isn’t going to be an ordinary day.   It may be a day full of grace as Mother Mary’s Annunciation Day.   It may be a day of pain and suffering as a parent loses their only child. Horrific weather could bring a cyclone or flood, and somewhere it will be yet another day of a war that has gone on too long with no end in sight.   It could be the day you get a well-deserved, much needed raise; or maybe your child will be accepted to their first-choice college; it might be your long-awaited retirement day or the birth of your first baby.   It will likely be a Monday of nothing special, but everything filled with God’s love.  Today will begin like any other Monday, with no promise of a serious threat or special surprise. But, it could be the most important day of your life. A day you will remember forever.     It is amazing that time is lived one moment at a time, no amount of planning or plotting...

  Beloved Is Where We Begin If you would enter into the wilderness, do not begin without a blessing. Do not leave without hearing who you are: Beloved, named by the One who has traveled this path before you. Do not go without letting it echo in your ears, and if you find it is hard to let it into your heart, do not despair. That is what this journey is for. I cannot promise this blessing will free you from danger, from fear, from hunger or thirst, from the scorching of sun or the fall of the night. But I can tell you that on this path there will be help. I can tell you that on this way there will be rest. I can tell you that you will know the strange graces that come to our aid only on a road such as this, that fly to meet us bearing comfort and strength, that come alongside us for no other cause than to lean themselves toward our ear and with their curious insistence whisper our name: Beloved. Beloved. Beloved. —Jan Richardson

  The Dinner Party   " And then all that has divided us shall merge And then compassion will be wedded to power And then softness will come to a world that is hard and unkind And then both men and women will be gentle And then both women and men will be strong And then no person will be subject to another’s will And then all will be rich and free and varied And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance And then all will care for the rich and the weak and the old And then all will nourish the young And then all will cherish life’s creatures And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.”   (Judy Chicago)  For what I have done to cause others to leave the garden, I need mercy.    For failing to see Love’s power in the young and failing to listen to the old, I need mercy.    ...

  Hasidic Jews practice one of my favorite religious rituals. They carry two slips of paper in their pockets. On one is written:   “I am only ashes and dust.”    The other reads:  “For you, the universe was created .”   This is a great practice for the Lenten season, which invites us to right view of ourselves and God.   I daresay even doing this practice for a week during Lent will help balance your self-image, seeing yourself as God does. For to God, we are at once beloved and immature, wandering, wayward toddlers.   Undoubtedly there are times when we need to heed one or the other of these messages to balance our self-perception. Surely, bold conceit and a poor self-image are two sides of the same coin.   On days when pride and arrogance have gotten the best of us, knowing we are made of dust, brings us back to reality. Conversely, when we are feeling dejected and worthless, there is no greater remedy than realizing the fullness of...

  - driven into wilderness .... we shall overcome –   Spirit provoked into dusty emptiness alone with the Alone scorched by evil thoughts encircled by beasts blistering daylight vacant darkness   in this meeting place of angelic luminosity the ah ha moment   Divinity's Presence    Jesus, you embraced your ministry in the desert, confronting evil and the temptations of the world as angels loved you, therein did you experience Divine Love and Truth. You the risk-taker, the one who ran toward struggle, not away from it; help me to meet my temptations with the help of the angels. Help me find Divine Truth in my willingness to face the dark corners of my heart and the evils of the world. Amen.     Read Matthew 4:1-11.

  Blessing the Dust                            by Jan Richardson All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the four corners or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial— did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust? This is the day we freely say we are scorched. This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning. This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within the ancient ashes, that makes its home inside the soil of this sacred earth. So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame. Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made and the stars...

  Hello my dear Lenten friends, Although 2020 seemed like a very long year, I cannot believe how quickly Lent 2021 has come upon us.  I have already heard a couple of people say they are skipping any Lenten Observance this year because they feel the last year has been one long Lenten season. True as it may be and as much as I would love to take the year off, I welcome you to this year's Lenten Blog, which will contain a variety of styles, approaches and themes.   One thing I am doing is a daily reading of a book with a friend.  I strongly recommend it.  It is styled with a daily reading from Ash Wed through Holy Week, one reading per day.  Here is the information:  The Emptiness of Our Hands: 47 Days on the Streets    In 1999 Phyllis Cole-Dai and James Murray lived by choice on the streets of Columbus, Ohio, the fifteenth-largest city in the United States. On Ash Wednesday they went to the streets with a single intention: to be as pres...