Expectation

I expect we expect too much of the wrong thing. Expectations dashed, we are regularly disappointed with the failings of our idols--and fail to be in awe of the God who Is.

Not the noblest...

"God does not necessarily select the noblest or most deserving person to carry out divine purposes."

--Gail Godwin

But each to fulfill the purpose to which we are called...and to realize the humility and hope that allows each to be true self before God and others.

Watching, Waiting

As I walked down the hill this morning, trying to be a fraction mindful, in the near dark I saw two deer ahead crossing the road. I tried to move quietly and looked carefully to see if they would still be along side when I passed the place where they had crossed.

My watchfulness was rewarded. There in the meadow the two stood. From my perspective, they were watching and waiting for me. We stood looking at each other for a while--in the dark still I was appreciating this early morning gift. (Was I gift to them--or just another potential danger?)

In setting out on the journey that would prove to be the beginning of the Maryknoll Sisters Missionary Congregation, Mother Mary Joseph Rogers said, "Let's just go and see what God has in store for us."

Advent invites us to this watching and waiting for the mystery of God's love revealing itself every day.

Advent Seeking

The Advent sense of waiting and preparing calls us to a sense of awe and mystery. It's all around us if we look for it...train our eyes to see it...call our hearts to faith and hope.

Paulo Coelho says the whole universe will conspire to help us. It's there to be seen in the grain of sand. It's in the moon and the stars.

God's love and presence are always waiting for our eyes and hearts to see.

This reflection from ScratchyNotes on The Moon Followed Me Home says it nicely.

Advent Action: Darfur

There are words and then there are words. What can we DO to change our world while we watch and wait through this season of preparation?
There is contemplation.
There is prayer.

And sometimes, we may want to act. "Think globally, act locally."
Advent Actions:

Extremely locally (adjoining offices and thanks to the Advent Calendar suggestion) "self-charging" of fines for uncharitable words and actions has produced more than $3.00 for the local food pantry.

Internationally: why not Save Darfur?

Advent Conspiracy

Spread the word...

Advent Conspiracy

How can we live differently?

One view

As we prepare the way during this season, here's a little inspiration.


Inspirational Quotes

Blessings in Advent.

One of Them

A magnificent piece by Madeleine L'Engle, "A Sky Full of Children" inspires the morning.
(part of it here)

Each of us is one of those stars. We are all in the stars. All those stars are in each of us and all of us.
In all
All in
All One.

May Advent be a time of blessing, peace, learning, growing.
Becoming more and more part of the One in whom all is One.

World AIDS Day

Forty Hours Devotion for People Living with HIV/AIDS





So many years and we are still struggling with this disease that affects lives.

Blessings on people living with HIV/AIDS.
People live with it in many ways:
fear
caring
accompanying
seeking preventive measures, treatments and cures
helping pregnant and nursing women
educating

Blessings on people living with and changing the face of living with HIV/AIDS through courage, compassion, strategy, organization, reaching out.

Knowing compassionately

[The writer's] job is to see people as they really are, and to do this, you have to know who you are in the most compassionate possible sense. Then you can recognize others.
Anne Lamott, pp. 97-98

We are called to be kind. Love others as you love yourself may not be so easy. In knowing ourselves in the most compassionate way, we open the door for authenticity and trust. We are also invited to take the risks associated with speaking and living truth.

In humility, I might come to have a better sense, some day, of what that means. I am grateful for the companions who help show the way.

I desire to write

I am loving the book by Anne Lamott that I cited earlier this week. She is reverent, irreverent, fun. She speaks to writers and stimulates the desire in me to write (rather than just accumulate the accoutrements thereof--piles of paper, boxes of pens).

Write down a word that is beautiful to you
Stare at it
Let it seep
Add a word that cracks the beauty
Look at it and see inside
Hold it
in your ears
in your eyes
in your heart
until you know it differently
then add a word that heals it
add a word that shadows it
add a word that illuminates it

Yes, I desire to write. And little by little I learn and do.

Stripped bare

It's autumn and the leaves are falling/have fallen. Once again we can see the river from our hilltop perch.

When you write about your characters, we want to know all about their leaves and colors and growth. But we also want to know who they are when stripped of the surface show.
--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, New York: Anchor, 1995, pp. 82-83.

Stripped of image, frills, leaves, labels, security, resources....what's left of me under the surface?
I don't always like what I see, and that is a good challenge.

There are lots of things I need less of: food, anger, talking, clutter, stuff, ...
and some things I need more of: water, exercise, prayer, listening, writing.

Manfred MaxNeef makes an interesting distinction between needs and satisfiers--or false satisfiers. It raises questions: what do I really need? What do I accumulate for the wrong reasons? I would like to live more simply in many different ways.

You can see the underlying essence only when you strip away the busyness, and then some surprising connections appear. Anne Lamott, p. 84

Sometimes I lose sight of the connectedness of all things. It is good to strip away the things that make it hard to see/experience/live a connected life--in which we are all one in the one Body of God.

Quest for God

"Human persons don't just ask questions: we are a question in search of the fullness of truth."

Elizabeth Johnson, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God.
Podcast

All the mystics seem to come to know that what is important to know is beyond knowing.

But they had to give up a lot of false knowing to approach the true unknowing.

I want to know beyond knowing, but lots of things get in the way.

Seek the Lord.
Be holy, be courageous.
And seek the Lord...who is beyond knowing. "We are a question in search of the fullness of truth."

Widow's mite

"Philanthropy could be defined as an investment in a meaningful cause by one who has funds left over after personal (and family) material needs have been met."

Julia Ingraham Walker, Major Gifts, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006

But I am moved by those who donate not from what they have left over, but from what they need--the widow's mite. (Luke 21:2) Though it be less, it is a gift of self, a sacrificial offering.

When we receive donations, many times there are special prayer intentions included. People--young and old, men and women--give. They find time and resources to prepare an envelope in spite of the illnesses of family members, job losses, relationship conflicts.

May I also put in, from my poverty and my blessings, all that I have to live on.

After

We wake up this morning either excited or disappointed at the results of the US elections. Both John McCain and Barack Obama were masterful in making the more important point: it isn't this result that matters as much as the choices we will all make after.

Many years ago, I read a book by a Jewish philosopher. I have tried to locate a certain passage again, never successfully. Now I can't even remember the philosopher's name. But I remember this image: the nuclear holocaust has taken place, the last living man on earth contemplates his next action. What does he do? He goes out to turn swords into ploughshares. Even if his messianic faith has been destroyed, he serves the bigger vision.

What was the right thing for any one of us to do last week, is the right thing to do today, tomorrow:
to act justly
to love tenderly
to walk humbly with God.
(Micah 6:8)

Both John McCain and Barack Obama invite us to serve a cause greater than ourselves--a dream bigger than ourselves, a hope that inspires and challenges us.

God bless all the newly elected leaders in their future service. And God bless all of us who have to exercise our responsible citizenship every day--each contributing our gifts and talents to serve that bigger vision. We are all the people of God, called to serve the body of Christ.

Humility and service in seeking God.

Phil 2:5-11: humbled himself, becoming obedient
Ps 22: I will fulfill my vows
Lk 14:15-24 Invited to the feast

Show up

• show up for the wedding feast
• show up to be a responsible citizen
• show up to knock on God's door and allow God to knock on mine

Be courageous and seek the Lord. Be courageous and seek your mission, your purpose.

Be courageous and serve the people of God.