I expect to pass through life but once.
If therefore, there be any kindness I can show,
or any good thing I can do to any fellow being,
let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it,
as I shall not pass this way again.

- - - William Penn

Creative and Divine Surprise

Life overwhelms us at times. We find it challenging to maneuver through the chaos the world imposes so that we might see the order God intends for our lives. Yet God’s intention is wholeness and peace. Peace is not the absence of chaos but the ability to persevere and thrive in the midst of the confusion.

-Connie Davis Rouse, Upper Room Disciplines, 2008

We must be the change we want to see in the world.

Note: The following was sent from Jerusalem to the District Office as District Superintendent Rev. Sharon Moe began her July trip with the Kids/Youth for Hope program.

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Dear Friends in Ministry,

Birds chirp outside my window in the courtyard of the Knight’s Palace Hotel. I was awakened at 7:00 am with wild and joyous pealing of bells. A car or two honk in the distance. Another bell telling me it’s quarter to 9:00 am–”better get a move on to church,” it says. Breakfast, with lots of hot coffee, rolls and zatar (look it up), boiled eggs and stewed fruit. Many other choices, but why take too much? Most of all, lots of hot coffee. This morning (our second here in Jerusalem) I began with praying the beads. My friend Peter makes such beautiful Anglican Prayer Beads and writes rituals for prayers that reach deep inside and span the needs and realities of the entire world. This morning’s prayer used phrases and prayers (adapted) from many current and ancient sources. The prayer for the Cross: ”We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

The prayer for the Invitatory Bead: ”Jesus said, ‘Come, follow me.’” The Cruciform Beads: ”For it is in giving that we receive; it is in forgiving that we are forgiven; it is in surrendering our lives that we discover eternal life.”

Then the prayer goes on for The Weeks:

Where there is fear, be – through me – Love;

where there is discord, be – through me – Unity;

where there is doubt, be – through me – Faith;

where there is grief, be – through me – Comfort:

where there is numbness, be – through me – Joy;

where there is despair, be – through me – Hope;

where there is conflict, be – through me – Peace.

The Prayer for The Weeks repeats four times, and then the prayer concludes with the initial prayer sequence, and finally: ”We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

Patient Trust (Part 3 of 3)

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

- - - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ

Patient Trust Part 2 of 3

And so I think it is with you.

your ideas mature gradually - let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don't try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances

acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

- - - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

Patient Trust (part 1 of 3)

Above all, trust in the slow work of God

We are quite naturally impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something

unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through

some stages of instability -

and that it may take a very long time.

- - - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

In the midst of my busyness, O Lord,
remind me to slow down and savor each moment
as a gift from you.

As I move frantically from thought to thought, project to project,
remind me that you are a God of abundance, to scarcity,
and there is time enough for all that you have called me to do.

- Katherine L. James, “Midday Prayer”, Alive Now, July/August 2011