My Compass

While in the hospital, I have worked on fine-tuning my spiritual compass. The following rings most true for me in the face of anxiety, fear and the unknown:

1) We will never empirically know whether God exists. So I will risk the possibility.

2) Think of all the blessings in our lives. Think of all the hopeful and positive moments. Those places and times belong to God. We, too, in our better and fullest nature, belong to God.

3) God listens. The mind may dismiss prayer and lament as foolish activities. That's ok. I will do them anyways. In the very practice of speaking with God, in time, God responds. I feel God's presence in the heart - it's the experience of warmth, comfort - of being held. It's deeper than knowledge.

4) I take the notion of imago dei seriously. God lives in other people - often most explicitly. Don't self-isolate. Laugh, play, be merry with others.

5) More specifically, I involve myself in the lives of others. This begins the construction of life's ever-sustaining web of connection and communion. Fellowship happens at many different levels and in many different circles. Holding others close is embracing God.

6) Do things, don't just think things. Reflection will only get me so far. I must choose a discipline (prayer, meditation, chanting, etc) and vigilantly perform it as a continuous ritual. In turn, it will grow part of me, and I will grow further into God.

7) Know that God is in control, and that I'm not. That's not to say that I don't have agency or input. On the contrary, I determine my actions. But the world is bigger than any single individual, and in turn more significant than the sum of individual actions. The surplus is God, and it's that extra little bit that keeps balance and order. I try to accept my finitude and embrace the many gifts that I receive that are beyond my own control.

8) Love life. Trust life. God does.I strive to daringly take on the disposition of affirming life - consequently, life will affirm me.

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Love is in the Air

And justice in its wake. All in a day's work:

D.C. Council votes to recognize gay nuptials

Vermont legalizes marriages of same-sex couples

President Obama invites LGBTQ couples to an Easter celebration

"Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice." (Proverbs 16:8)

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Reservoir or a River?

This past weekend, Rev. Carl Scovel (Minister Emeritus at King's Chapel) posed the following question during the UU seminarian retreat at Mt. St. Mary's Abbey: as a spiritual person, do you mimic a reservoir or a river? In effect, do you gather traces of the divine to share with others, or do you let them flow through you and dry up?

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King's Chapel Prayer

Transcription:

Gracious God-
Stir our solidarity, that we may save our world!
Rekindle our respect, that we may rejoice as one!
Trigger our tenderness, that we may touch the heavens!
Enchant our empathy, that we may exercise compassion!
Fire our fellowship, that we may follow brother Kiyimba!
Animate our altruism, that we may answer Jesus!
Wake up our warm-heartedness, that we may widen our gates!
Harvest our humanity, that we may have life – and have it abundantly!

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Four Truisms of International Engagement

From discussions with my field education supervisor, Rev. Eric Cherry, I have identified four distinct truisms that inform international engagement efforts:

1. Unitarian Universalist congregations are religious communities – their members may not agree on one exclusive theological position, but every worshipper yearns for an experience of the divine in community.

2. Personal theology informs the choices we make – contrary to the modernist division of social life, our convictions and commitments drive our actions and judgments.

3. Through reflection, we gain confidence and grow in new directions – failure should be welcomed as an opportunity to re-assess our world; intentionality must work hand in hand with action.

4. Becoming an effective inter-religious partner depends to a great degree on self-awareness – we are all located in specific contexts and must be held accountable for these locations.

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Walking Home

I was walking home the other day at dusk and penned the following:

Sweet silence-
Wisps of a lost sun streak overhead.
Dimming houselights spot the evening palette - confetti.
A nomadic leaf, brittle, skips across the pavement.
The biting wind nips my lobe.
A soft shadow nears-
Engulfed in blackness,
A cigarette tip burns orange.
God crumbles to ash, again.

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New Life

I have been absent from the 'interwebs' recently - which has afforded me some space to grow more present to and patient with the now. One afternoon, during sunset, I stumbled across a miracle, which I belligerently tried to record (above). As we near the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, it is empowering to witness to the fact that nature has not forgotten the promise of new life - which seemingly desires companionship.

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