A word from us...
The Living Spirit - August 11th
I wish so much that you could get hold of the idea of what perfection is in this world consists of. It is not like going up a great hill from which we see an ever-widening landscape… It is more like an overgrown path we cannot find; we grope about; we are caught by brambles; the lose all sense of the distance covered; we do not know whether we are going round and round or whether we are advancing. We are certain of only one thing that we desire to go on even though we are worn and tired. That is your life and you should rejoice greatly because of it, for it is a true life, serious and real, and on which God opens his eyes and his heart.
Abbé de Tourville Living Water
2 Corinthians 5.4, 8-10
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
I wish so much that you could get hold of the idea of what perfection is in this world consists of. It is not like going up a great hill from which we see an ever-widening landscape… It is more like an overgrown path we cannot find; we grope about; we are caught by brambles; the lose all sense of the distance covered; we do not know whether we are going round and round or whether we are advancing. We are certain of only one thing that we desire to go on even though we are worn and tired. That is your life and you should rejoice greatly because of it, for it is a true life, serious and real, and on which God opens his eyes and his heart.
Abbé de Tourville Living Water
2 Corinthians 5.4, 8-10
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
The Living Spirit - August 4th
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Please don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here have my seat.” “Go ahead, you first.” “I like your hat.”
“Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Lameris
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Please don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here have my seat.” “Go ahead, you first.” “I like your hat.”
“Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Lameris
The Living Spirit - July 28th
Why does God not spare the innocent?
The answer to that is not in the same world as the question, so you would shrink from terror if I could answer it
Les Murray
From Ezekiel 33:
"As I live says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back and, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? And you, son of man, say to your people, the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Thought I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteousness deeds shall be remembered, but in the injustice he has done, he shall die. Again though I say to the wicked, 'you shall surely die' yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, restores pledge, gives back what he taken by robbery and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die, none of the sins he has committed shall be remembered against him."
Why does God not spare the innocent?
The answer to that is not in the same world as the question, so you would shrink from terror if I could answer it
Les Murray
From Ezekiel 33:
"As I live says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back and, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? And you, son of man, say to your people, the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Thought I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteousness deeds shall be remembered, but in the injustice he has done, he shall die. Again though I say to the wicked, 'you shall surely die' yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, restores pledge, gives back what he taken by robbery and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die, none of the sins he has committed shall be remembered against him."
The Living Spirit - July 21st
God, whose love and joy are present everywhere, can’t come to visit you unless you aren’t there.
Angelus Silesius
From Nehemiah 8:
"So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the law and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them 'this day is holy to the Lord you God, do not mourn or weep' for all the people had been weeping as they listened to the law. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks and send some to those who have nothing. This day is Holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
God, whose love and joy are present everywhere, can’t come to visit you unless you aren’t there.
Angelus Silesius
From Nehemiah 8:
"So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the law and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them 'this day is holy to the Lord you God, do not mourn or weep' for all the people had been weeping as they listened to the law. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks and send some to those who have nothing. This day is Holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."