Homesick

Pentecost +25 – Year A

Questions carry within them little mini-answers. Who is Barack Obama? What is the connection between George Bush and John McCain? Should health-care be a common-wealth issue? What about the tie between the Perizzites and Iranians? Are you saved? Among the redeemed of the Lord? Do you remember how hard we toiled for you?

While good power rhetoric, we are still looking for opportunities to respond rather than answer and to investigate together rather than ask a divisive question.

Here is a significant arena for delving deeper into the matrix of the universe – finding and appreciating healthy ways in which G*D might demonstrate solidarity with humanity. The old ways of dividing into clean and unclean, chosen and rejected, and upright and blamed don't seem to have much in the way of relationship between the created order. Of course this may simply be the way life is intended to be – survivalist, being on some pre-determined correct side. In the end, however, the vision of heaven this portrays is one heavily reliant upon hell.

At the end of the week we are left with one overarching question – what are you homesick for? What is your greatest yearning? and a desire beyond that? May you find a kernel within that question that will lead you beyond satisfaction to joy.
 

1 Thessalonians 2:9-20

Pentecost +25 – Year A

1 Thessalonians 2:9-20

From whom have you been effectively orphaned?

Who do you long, with great eagerness, to see?

These direction-setting questions, mission-orienting queries, are as relevant today as they were in Paul's day. These are also questions that can be applied all along an election campaign, whether for secretary of a service organization or president of a small or large constituency.

What Paul is not catching here is that he is as orphaned from those he terms "Jews" as from those he knows as "Gentiles". His language further enhances his distance from those who do not see the world as he does.

What would you advise Paul about his blinders or decision to draw such a sharp distinction?

What would you then advise yourself regarding the separations and gatherednesses in your own life?
 

Psalm 107:1-6, 33-37

Pentecost +25 – Year A

Psalm 107:1-6, 33-37

Today we will sing verses 1 and 15 of our next hymn. We will also only pay attention to the 2nd and 10th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Of particular concern will be commandments 4 and 6 (depending on how you count).

In these selective ways we can avoid responsibility for the whole of life or the benefit of another if it competes with my own desire. We can divide up and set one important part of life against another.

In this case the elided verses are pretty repetitious. They are also looking for G*D to take responsibility for our hard times and going back over old hurts.

What this condensation leaves us with is an image of bringing the destitute to a place filled with potential. The response looked for is a return to being stewards of current resources, not revengers of past harm.

We end with Eden revisited. Now the decision on our part of how we are going to practice stewardship in our current setting - how we are going to invite the hungry into the bounty we have and join us in a next cycle of sowing and reaping? This not a "when" question, but a "how" question.
 

Joshua 3:7-17

Pentecost +25 – Year A

Joshua 3:7-17

Beware of being exulted, even when such purports to come from da Lord. You may be in line for upping the ante from killing the first-born (bad enough) to genocide (bad to some undefinable exponent).

There is an interesting picture here of priests standing where water once flowed (often termed living-water) and now drier than a bone. Given the number of folks to get across the Jordan it must have been backed up for some time. Given the relative narrowness of the rift valley, the extra must have seeped into dry, dry ground or established a new wetland or been like a dam-burst when finally the priests moved their dryness on.

This story is not meant to stand up to that kind of scrutiny. But as precursor to the official line of "my-god-is-so-much-bigger-than-your-god-that-you-are-now-nothing" approach to presidential campaigning or manifest destiny or pre-emptive doctrine or chosen people or . . . , this is not a healthy place from which to bring forth much in the way of heaven on earth.

Suffice it to say that Joshua's better angel might have responded to the "Master of the entire earth", "you go on ahead, this wilderness is a better place to be." But, then, once you have committed yourself and your house to serving, no questions asked, there may not be the same opportunity to bargain as a partner or remind the Master of the House (Les Misérables reference) to cool it.

Beware spectacle, even holy spectacle, especially holy spectacle.
 

Matthew 23:1-12

Pentecost +25 – Year A

Matthew 23:1-12

In what guise will the Messiah appear today?

My learning is going to be impacted by the clarity and breadth of my ability to see beyond the surface of Messiah regalia to the variety of ways a beloved community is revealed.

The greatest among us will model their accumulated wisdom. They will lead us forth, teach us that which was too difficult until this moment. They are Spirit incarnated. From time to time they will be folks mutually affirmed as consistent sparks of new vision. From time to time they will be folks who surprise for their brief instant, not even fifteen minutes of fame, but, for a critical moment, an indispensable blessing.

Those who attempt to claim a spot without it arising from lived experience will be ambition personified. Even if it is I who so claims a vision from G*D, my posing will be revealed. And so Jesus reminds us about the importance of loving one another. For today I am Messiah, tomorrow, you, and in time after that the joy of another.

In what guise does Messiah not appear?
 

So Common

Pentecost +24 – Year A

what a delightful foreground
full of shiny things
baubles and bangles
and glimmering rings
vehicles latest and greatest
announcing status
leaving no doubt
shoes of exotic leather
timepieces unique
in all the world
there is nothing missing
against a barely discernable
background so common

warp of god
weft of neighbor
weave of self
 

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Pentecost +24 – Year A

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

It is always possible to make demands upon another. That is subtext to negative advertising – Don't!

At the same time it possible to refuse to work in a demand-based economy, politics, relationship. In this space we not only have content (sharing the gospel of G*D) but we have process (sharing our hearts, our selves).

The divide between accepting and not-accepting demand-based relationships is a huge divide between varieties of religions. It takes a huge conversion to move from one side of this divide to the other.

Such a conversion can be led by an invitation from a shared life or pushed by one demand too many. Our usual progressive process is to invite, to model, to share. Our temptation is to use the techniques of the demanders and in our hands it is particularly dangerous. Best to recognize that life is a slow process where we don't throw our weight around, but allow it be an attractor.
 

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

Pentecost +24 – Year A

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

Times have been tough.

Of course god has something to do with that. [wink]

We fear god will reverse engineer us into dust and mud.

So we appeal to god's patience with us.

Then we sort of blame god for having been away while we mice played.

We would rather be controlled than destroyed and we ask god to do so.

All of which ought to get us back to prosperity. [hooray! we tricked god again and live to see another day]

= = = = = = =

The above ain't very poetical but it is familiar territory as we whine and blame, blame and whine.

Given the first two passages for the week, what have we missed about "love" that goes in all directions? What have we missed about a vision larger than our disappointment?

If we could get our heads and hearts and hands and health around these questions we might not again end up rehearsing this Psalm. Blessings upon you as you live through the tough times without bargaining yourself away.
 

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Pentecost +24 – Year A

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

What are you seeing that you are not going to accomplish?

This is a most un-American, anti-positivist question. In places where kids are overscheduled and incessantly prepared for success, we don't catch a picture larger than ourselves. The same resistance to this question arises in religion precisely at the points where issues of tradition and salvation intersect. We yearn for a right answer from the past to care for our uncertainty and for a correct interpretation of signs to equate the present with the future.

To see beyond actually opens us to the unexpected ways in which we engage each moment along the way. Through all the dry times and hungry times and doubting times and unfaithful times we are strengthened. Through all the high times and satisfying times and times of certainty and surety come the next moments wherein we are humbled.

Can you catch a loving glimpse of G*D, of Neighbor? Just a snapshot? Just a quiet word? In that glimpse you have an insight into a larger world than expected. Such a quest is found in clarifying our expectations by looking again at our entitlements and finding them less than we had counted on; investigating again our hopes and finding in them more reality than we had first noticed. What is Messiah if not connected with my life? What is G*D if not a partner, a neighbor? What is a Neighbor if not a revelation of G*D? What is our Self if not connected with Christ?

Thank you Moses for setting a larger context. Thank you Joshua for attending to the details. Thank You for taking your part in gazing farther and carrying forward.

So, again, what are you seeing that you are not going to accomplish?
 

Matthew 22:34-46

Pentecost +24 – Year A

Matthew 22:34-46

It was quite the tag team match. Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Governors, and Kings all lined up against a refugee-raised, mystic prophet.

A question before us is who wins each round and who wins the match.

Yes, it will be important to define what a win means. To use a Dancing with the Stars image, the judges last word is not the last word – there is a spirit in the air, a zeitgeist that will not be denied. As a result, the results sometimes seem dumbfounding (hopefully the voting machines will not leave us equally perplexed).

To pick up on Eugene Peterson's translation in verse 46, literalists and legalists are stymied by metaphor and creativity. This shows up in whether you are trying to split hairs or find an organizing principle.

In the first scene, regarding Commandments, the detail folks were trumped by a context setting and then, in the second scene about Messiahs, the literalists were out-literalized. We may need to not so much take away a correct answer from this interaction as to un-focus our eyes to see the love shining through – to see every loving line of "you" (line from a Judy Fjell song).

You are hereby given permission to follow where the spirit of love leads you – sometimes seeing the big picture and sometimes attending to a detail. Enjoy the choices as they come your way.
 

existential joy/angst

Pentecost +23 – Year A

From time to time a reader poses a question or offers a comment in regard to these postings. Yesterday brought this question: "Would taking great joy from the Holy Spirit have an inherent risk of leaving the Holy Spirit joyless?"

There is the joy of play in the question and the writer continues: "I am still working on a construct in which an 'existential joy' lens would be as readily embraced as the 'existential angst' lens. I, of course, am admitting to the power and pervasiveness of the latter in my own life by having even posited the above question. It may well be the unspoken existential joy that enables us to be willing to continue in the face of existential angst."

I am going to leave the initial question alone, as any koan should be respected. In response to the existential joy/angst comment, here are some words from a book I am currently reading, That which Transpires Behind that which Appears: The Experience of Sufism by Pir Vilayat Inayat Kahn. I do recommend it.

"You do not have to look for beautiful music, or beautiful churches or painting. You can find beauty in a face that for all intents and purposes does not appear particularly beautiful. Behind the mask you can see beauty. Jelaluddin Rumi said If only you could see your face through my eyes, you would realize how beautiful you are. People can see themselves through your eyes. You can help them in one of the most important aspects of the personality: their self-esteem. It also confirms your utopic thoughts that, in fact, there is beauty behind whatever appears at the surface of the universe.

"So you are continually guarding your emotional attunement from slipping into a low-key condition. At the same time, you are outraged by any offense against honesty, and outraged against rank selfishness. In a way, you are exalting in joy and, at the same time, enduring terrible suffering. Your heart is broken, there is so much suffering in the world.

"You are so full of joy; yet, as you become aware of the suffering of people around you, it is very difficult to maintain that level of jubilations which you encountered when you lifted your consciousness upward. You find that you are being tested in life: are you able to be full of joy and, at the same time, have a broken heart?

"You may also find that you feel precarious and strong at the same time. As Pir-o-Murshid says, Be able to reconcile the perfection of your divine inheritance with the imperfection of your idiosyncrasies. He calls it the aristocracy of the soul, together with the democracy of the ego-- both together, not one or the other. If you tilt too much in the direction of your personal dimensions, you have a sense of inadequacy; you have a bad self-image. If you tilt too much in the direction of your divine inheritance, you could become sanctimonious; you might think of yourself as superior to others. It is very difficult to reconcile these two."

[Note: This is a way of viewing the pericopes of the week. How do you hear the conversations between Jesus and some Pharisees, Moses and G*D, Paul and some Thessalonian converts? Can you experience them as internal conversations within yourself?]
 

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Pentecost +23 – Year A

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

In days gone by early Methodists were engaged by a question: What must I do to escape the wrath to come?

Many responses had to do with lowering one's tax (sin) burden. On the love G*D end was camp meeting praise, emotional and awakening. On the love neighbor pole were issues of simplicity to be able to give more charity and all manner of mercy acts around healthcare, education, and mission.

In a full-bore capitalist society, instead of being at its industrial revolution beginning, with a focus on present profit, concern about a wrath to come, a significant credit crunch, seems to hold no traction. If there is going to be a rescue it won't be from a prophetic moralist like Jesus. Rather, there will be any number of bailouts tried on the basis of capitalism's idol – Mammon. If we can just infuse enough cash into a roiling economy, its invisible hands will pull itself up by its own bootstraps. [Imagine that position, if you will, and you will soon see why one should never trust a fart and how messy things can and will get.]

A question worth struggling with in our day is: what will engage people's lives in the same way the old question about escaping from wrath did in the early days of Methodism as a reflection of an older time in Thessalonica? What would that be in your own life?

What organizing principle is needed in your life and the life of the world around that would lead to your taking "great joy from the Holy Spirit! – taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble"? [The Message] This present-oriented perspective may well be connected with escaping a more troubled future?
 

Psalm 99

Pentecost +23 – Year A

Psalm 99

The following paraphrase raises several interesting translational/perspective questions that can lead to good conversation.

- Is G*D's greatness a one-way street from G*D to humans/creation? What is the role of interdependence when dealing with issues of holiness?

- What is the relationship between honoring another and groveling before them?

- How warranted is the reference to "humus" in lines 5 and 6? Can we take this back to Creation or is it simply a matter of the line of Abraham's faithful?

- In verse 8, are "wrongdoings" by the Israelites to be punished while also being forgiven or is the reference to "wrongdoings" about those of others?

= = = = = = =

Psalm 99 - paraphrased by Jim Taylor

Though we have climbed earth's highest mountains, the peaks remain as
inhospitable to our life as outer space. Ancient peoples saw these fearful
heights as the habitation of the gods.

1           Like a halo of holiness, the spirit of God envelops the earth.
In the stillness of space, God's spirit gives life; let us acknowledge our
insignificance.
In the emptiness of infinity, God's spirit creates life; let us acknowledge
our interdependence.
2           Look up if you would see God;
raise your sights beyond your repetitive routines.
3           But do not attempt to face God as an equal--
Fling yourself face down on the earth
Before the creator of the heavens.
4           Almighty God, you love to do right.
In your dealings with your creation, you are always fair.
5           We humans grovel before your greatness.
Humbly, we kiss the humus from which you fashioned us.
You are holiness itself.
6           The humus holds the recycled cells of those who came this way
before us;
Step by step they searched for you, until you found them.
7           By the pillar of fire and the whispering breeze,
by bonfire and whirlwind, by prophecy and parable, you showed them your way.

8           Because they tried to follow you, you forgave them their
failings;
But those who laid traps for them, you did not tolerate.
9           So pledge allegiance to our God!
Gather at the foot of the mountain, where even the rocks reach up towards
our God.
Our God is holiness itself.

= = = = = = =

From: Everyday Psalms
Wood Lake Books.
For details, go to www.woodlakebooks.com
 

Exodus 33:12-23

Pentecost +23 – Year A

Exodus 33:12-23

Goodness can be blinding. This comes from both the sparks of new life that burst forth as a result of goodness and the turning away from goodness by those who fear it will lead them where they would fear to tread.

So the understanding of goodness being too much to look upon directly or in advance. Goodness is best dealt with after the fact.

When we begin to attribute goodness as an expected quality, it isn't long before we are disappointed. Likewise, when we intend goodness to flow from a present action, we are soon discouraged by the number of unintended consequences that also come forth.

Would that we would temper our anticipation of someone good arising to lead us out of our current situation all too clearly connected with our past decisions. That goodness will not be forthcoming. Likewise to come at decisions more humbly, doing the best we know at the time without universalizing it. Decisions always take place in the gray areas of life or they wouldn't be decisions.

What we are left with is the backside of goodness. We can recognize it by what comes to pass. This leads us to simply rejoice at the presence of goodness in the midst of so much that isn't. As folks made in G*D's image, having Glory within us, we are called to doing all the good we can, with all the folks and all the time we have. This, however, needs to be carried out with the humility of backsides. May it be our everyday life to sow seeds of kindness and tend them as they sprout. Much later there will be stories told not only of John Chapman but (your name here) as the fruits of simple goodness mature and nourish.
 

Matthew 22:15-22

Pentecost +23 – Year A

Matthew 22:15-22

Flattery is an excellent entrapment process. It works in both directions. Flatterers become less than themselves, knowing all along that they are untrue. Flatterees becomes more than themselves, ready to stumble, top heavy, with their head bigger than their britches.

The appropriate use of taxes continues to be on of those problematic issues. We can't live with them when they are separated from the commonwealth and we can't live without them as long as we are in community.

Taxes reveal our balance or imbalance between an individual's responsibility for themselves and a community's responsibility for those not up to that task and those infrastructure matters that benefit all.

So, what is a religious obligation to participate in a community beyond said religious' tenets?

Do you use state money? The state does have a claim on it. Charity, helpfulness, love, care, neighbor, widow and child, also have a claim on it for they have a claim on every part of my life, our lives.

This is not a division between G*D and Emperor, it is a question of proportion. G*D works through Emperors as well as against them and so questions of discernment are always in order. Are you going to keep your taxes to a minimum? Voluntarily double them? Use them as a tool of resistance?

The Pharisees left too early and easily. Their amazement protected them from a reconsideration of their own question, showing that starting with flattery keeps learning at bay. They'll be back.
 

invitations to life

Pentecost +22 – Year A

invitations to life
banquets galore
come and come
in the midst of distractions
and other calls

anger for being asked
matches anger
at invitations refused
and on anger's unstable ground
we blindly build

unspoken expectations
thinking all is resolved
rear their heads
and lead into another round
of off with their heads

a heavenly presence
is like a wedding
but one without trappings
just joy in relationship
that radiates an excellent harmony
 

Philippians 4:1-13

Pentecost +22 – Year A

Philippians 4:1-13

I'm intrigued with verse 5 – "let your gentleness be known" (NRSV)

John Wesley's Notes indicate: " Yieldingness, sweetness of temper, the result of joy in the Lord." Here we can play with simple joy and specific joy in the Lord. Wherein do these signify the same thing and something different?

Is "moderation" (KJV) a better way to come at this text? How about "forbearance" (ASV)? What about the extended form in The Message, "Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them"?

When we find joy in moderation, rather than just moderation for its own sake, or forbearance or being for others, there is a switch that is thrown in our perception of our own experience. Then our honor, purity, pleasingness, excellence, and praise not only grow from G*D's peace, but lead to it. In joy these circles come round right and we find ourselves in a place just right, a valley of delight.

May you Syzygus others, yoking them together (their better fate) than allowing a separation to grow between two, oh so similar, folks.

Along with your daily bread, may you daily en-joy.
 

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Pentecost +22 – Year A

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

An unsung superhero: The Deflector.

In the presence of a gap between the powerful and the un-powerful, the privileged and the un-privileged, and the holy and the un-holy, The Deflector simply stands.

This seemingly inconsequential act of standing does make a significant difference. It keeps all the un-people from being utterly abolished or annihilated. This is an honorable task for a super-hero. In fact it is a quite doable act by anyone.

First, The Deflector has open eyes to recognize gaps between people.

Second, The Deflector analyzes the relationship.

Third, The Deflector moves into the gap and turns to face the more powerful, privileged, holy to hold their passion and purpose at bay.

Fourth, The Deflector at some point transforms into The Reflector. By this shift the powerful catch a glimpse of what schmucks they have been and the un-powerful catch a glimpse of how pathetic they have been. In this manner the powerful pause and the un-powerful perk up – the field and relationship is leveled.

How are you doing in being recruited as the next Deflector/Reflector in your community? If not yet acknowledged, are you at least practicing? When this post is not filled, a lot of people are hurt and social injustice runs rampant, personal injustice rears its head.

Who do you know who is calling you to stand before them thinking you will be deflecting injustice away from them and will be surprised to see their own power revealed to them so they too can stand? If you have only a hint, it is enough to call you to the ranks of Holy Moses and Saint Syzygus and carry on the tradition of doing your best for the un-people.
 

Exodus 32:1-14

Pentecost +22 – Year A

Exodus 32:1-14

G*D had a second thought that caused a change in G*D. Hooray! Is this not a sign unto us as significant as rainbows and pillars of fire and manna and circles within circles and mangers?

Evil threatened turned out to not be evil done. A disaster was averted through a second-thought.

In the midst of the current economic "disaster" (as perceived by some or many) we might wonder how many second-thoughts were allowed to come to fruition and how many died aborning?

In the midst of whatever personal "disaster" (again, perception is significant here) we are experiencing we would benefit from a reflection on our second-thought process. The same goes for a congregation or other institution.

One of the blessings of the progressive movement is its ability to see beyond what is purported to be common-sense or orthodoxy. We are freed through a second-thought process to visit any number of situations again for a first time. In such a manner are idols best rooted out and extraneous baggage (then and now, gold) let go of.

In this case Moses and G*D sharpened each other. May you continue to sharpen your second-thoughts by honing them against your current "opponent" (again, . . .).
 

Matthew 22:1-14

Pentecost +22 – Year A

Matthew 22:1-14

Might we be looking at a different kind of parable here – one that rehearses a bit of history? Imagine a stained glass kind of re-telling of Creation, Eden/Babel, Flood, Exodus, Exile by one understood to be a prophet who is raising an important question.

The presence of G*D may be compared to Creation. Is not a wedding a celebration of creation? (Mind, a wedding can become quite trivial in its cultural manifestation.) The honoring of differences in the context of a larger unity, sparks much that is new.

However it happens, celebrations do formally end. A drifting away happens when one celebration doesn't morph into a next celebration. Great is the fall thereof – whether in Eden or at Babel – when my difference is more important than your difference and there are better things to do alone.

O, the Flood of rage, as sending folks away grows and grows into murder most foul – into genocide.

O, the remorse, the rebound, to settle for a new people and an Exodus from our mutual crying and loneliness.

O, the heightened sensitivity when the new folks don't play according to the game and we are still not back at the joy of creation. A trial separation, an Exile, grows from any slight or disappointment.

Yes, we have here a slam of the religious leaders of that and every age who forget their place in this ongoing story of Paradise Lost and Paradise Yearned For. But, also a rehearsal of a vision of every prophet to reconnect Creation and Present.

Where was your emotional connection to this snapshot of G*D? Were you overjoyed to be included in with the good, the bad, and the ugly? Were your fears engaged that you would be the next one to make a slip or get caught by an unrepentant Miss Manners, one with no sense of comedy?

After the little moral at the end, did you find yourself feeling glad you were among the few? Was there a little niggling thought that you had one more opportunity to bargain to increase the few, to more, to many, to all? If feeling the former and recognizing the latter, what are you doing to advocate for those being told to go to hell in today's world?
 

Hear another story

Pentecost + 21 – Year A

Let's listen in on the opening of the four pericopes:

- Hear another story. Listen closely.
- G*D speaks story after story, word after word.
- A story begun in creation and
- confidently enfleshed in my story.

The latest G*D story, against the background of an acceptance by steadfast love, contains the specifics of your story, my story, our story. These are stories that need to be told in our day.

In these stories we will hear hard and easy things about ourselves. We will hear about killing those who are not duly deferent. We will hear a beautiful silence between stories. We will hear a yearning for resurrection in the present, not just the past or future.

As we listen we will have a choice of hearing how murderous we still are and responding to a call of prophetic change.

Our choice will define our meaning and shape the coming generations. If our response is to envision killing, Jesus will affirm that that is what we see and gently encourage us to stumble over an alternative lest what we prescribe becomes our fate. If our response is to pay attention to the gift of silence and resurrection, we will be encouraged to change our behavior in light of a better and larger vision, as bright as the sun and as inspirational as the moon.

Do you want to respond to the questions of life and not just stay on some conditioned message? Listen to your story and learn from creation's deep heart's core.(1)
 

Philippians 3:4b-11

Pentecost +21 – Year A

Philippians 3:4b-11

Again the issue of authority. What do we claim as our grounding? Is it time to take another look at it? As I wrestle with a vocational call to keep a pastoral authority going or hearkening to a cultural call of retirement (yes I made it to the magic age of 65 last week – just 5 years left on my biblical warranty), I am asking again what am I pointing toward and which route will best move me forward.

Given where you are on your life's trajectory, where you can place an "I Am Here" sign on your life map, where do you stake out what you are looking for. Can you phrase it like Paul, "I'm looking to attain resurrection from the dead"? Would you say the same thing in different terms and thus ground yourself somewhere to be able to achieve such? Would you say something completely different?

May you press on toward the prize of your call, your authority, in this day, in this age, in these circumstances.
 

Psalm 19

Pentecost +21 – Year A

Psalm 19

"God's Word is better than a diamond,
   better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You'll like it better than strawberries in spring,
   better than red, ripe strawberries."
          [The Message]

In this day we are reminded of basics. What is your better? Is it Resources? Is it Pleasure? Are they located in economic security and/or advancement?

What pulls our life together? What is the value of silence? of waiting? of a way to joy before joy is experienced?

There are so many different explanations of G*D's Presence, so many different measuring tools. Our work is to move beyond fear and beyond sound-bites. Our work is to test "unspoken truth".

May you be blessed in your investigations and sharing of what you have found.