Good morning everyone!
The power of welcome — so positive, inclusive, life giving for all. I hope you enjoy this music by Brother Sun Sister Moon
Some words of wisdom for you to ponder in your heart from the Rev. Forrester Church (September 23, 1948 – September 24, 2009) as printed in the March 19 reading from AN ALMANAC FOR THE SOUL by Marv and Nancy Hiles. I suggest you read this slowly and aloud to yourself. I hear these words as a magnificent expression of faith. All Souls Church, a great name for a church, is where Forrest served for over 30 years.
“The power which I cannot explain or know or name I call God. God is not God’s name. God is my name for the mystery that looms within and arches beyond the limits of my being. When I pray to God, God’s answer comes to me from within, not beyond. God’s answer is yes, not to the specifics of my prayer but in response to my hunger for meaning and peace.
Choose life and trust life
Grow in service and love
Take nothing for granted
Be thankful for the gift
Suffer well
Dare to risk much
Consecrate your world with laughter and tears
And know not what I am or who I am or how I am, know only that I am with you.
This is God’s answer to my prayer. There are times when God is not with me, many times. Times of distraction, fragmentation, alienation, brokenness. But when I open myself to God, incrementally my wholeness is restored. Perhaps that which I call the mystery of God is no more than the mystery of life itself. I cannot know, nor do I care, because the power that emanates from deep within the heart of this mystery is redemptive. It is divine. By opening myself to it, without ever hoping or presuming to understand it, I find peace. The mystery of God will remain a mystery. That, I suppose, is as it should be. Anything less would fail to do justice to the everyday miracles of consciousness, of love and pain, of life and death. Responding to these miracles, responding to God’s yes, I can do no other than to answer yes in return.”
If you have a moment, you might really appreciate the below. Especially those of us who are well onto the back nine of life. Forrest Church shares this final part of his journey with us.
Every moment is a holy moment — Every breath is a sacred gift — Do not squander a moment.
Let you heart take courage –Celebrate the sacrament of life moment by moment.
