Moral Proximity

I recently contracted a nasty sinus infection that left me tired all the time.   An essential part of my recovery was afternoon nap and reading time.  So I hauled the works of Alexander McCall Smith from the library and he became my companion for two full weeks.

I’m struck once more by the theme of moral proximity—how his characters feel compelled to tend for another because of their contact with each other, whether that contact was intentional or not.  They don’t necessarily choose to be involved; sometimes they are distinctly reluctant.  But when they realize that there is something they could do for another, they are compelled to do it by a sense of moral duty. 

The other thing that is striking about his work is the kind of caring exhibited by the main characters in his two major series.  Mma Ramotswe and Isabelle Dalhousie rarely act out of the energy of control or busy-body-ness, but rather tenderness and compassion.

There are two good reminders for me here.  The first is that I am my brother’s keeper, and my sister’s keeper; and my sister and brother are whoever shows up on my radar.  The second is that when I find myself charged up by something, that’s not the energy that actually helps.  I need to find that more tender and quiet generosity that recognizes limits, brokenness, and love.

Therese desCamp

A story from Iona:

A story from Iona:

On Iona in the early days of the Iona Community, it was decided to commission a well-known glassmaker to make six glass communion cups for use in the Abbey. The craftsman was asked to engrave a suitable biblical text on each of the cups. 'This the blood of the new covenant', 'This do in remembrance of me', and so on. Now this craftsman, as it happened, was not a churchman, although he was sympathetic to 'Christianity'. And when he received the commission he made one request: Could he choose one of the texts to engrave on the cups? His request was granted.

And when the cups were delivered, the folk on Iona were intrigued to discover that the text he had chosen was from the arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, when Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. And the text that he had engraved on the cup was Jesus's question to Judas: 'Friend, wherefore art thou come?'

Let us hold that question as we willingly walk into Holy Week.

Blessings to all,

Lori Megley-Best

A Holy Week poem

This poem is a delightful expression of humility and being human, and being 'surrendered' to God's love.

i am a little church (no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying) children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope, and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church (far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish) at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring, i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

~ e.e.cummings

Deep Roots

If the roots are deep and strong, the tree needn't worry about the wind.

Blessed is the person who trust in the Lord...

God will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought and never failst to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Horticulturists tell us that letting the ground dry out throughly before watering deeply helps root growth and that light winds will strengthen the trunks of young saplings, the trees' root sink deep into the earth.

Years later, the trees will be huge, sturdy testaments to horticultural wisdom. They will be able to withstand harsh winds and water deprivation, because those little adversities will have made the trees strong enough to do so.

A life whose lttle problems have caused it to grow deep roots of faith in God is like a tree that stands strong, despite the storms that beat against it. It may bend and sway when pounded by the elements, but it only gorws deeper roots and a sturdier trunk as a result.

Little troubles send your faith deep-so you grow able to survive the big ones.

~The pocket devotional for Women

Honor Books 2002

Joy and Sorrow

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work, and you don’t give up.” Anne Lamott

“The most helpful discovery of today has been that right in the midst of my sorrows there is always room for joy. Joy and sorrow are sisters; they live in the same house.” Macrina Wiederkehr

Today pause and look at the history of your inner seasons. Is it possible for you to accept the difficult seasons along with the joyful, ones, to see each as an essential part of your spiritual growth.

Breathprayer:

Breathing in: Joy and sorrow...

Breathing out:....living together

Scripture: John 12:20-26

“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24)

Journal:

Joy and sorrow together have taught me....

Prayer:

God help me accept both the joy and the sorrow in my life, help me know how they both strengthen and complete me.

Love pours out

but the broken cup cannot receive

too pained

too discouraged

too shamed

too broken hearted

too burned out

too lonely

too disenchanted

Love waits to strengthen

Love waits to nourish

Love waits to be received

Love waits to heal

in time the cup will be mended

in time the cup will be raised

in time the cup will receive again

in time

in time

- Joyce Rupp