Month: March 2012

Inspiration:

One must say Yes to life, and embrace it wherever it is found – and it is found in terrible places…  For nothing is fixed, forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock.  Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.  The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us.  The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out. –James Baldwin

“Bumper Sticker Hope”

Someday this life for all of us will be completely over, so why not hope beyond reason, beyond the logical, beyond the chains of history? I would have never been able to lose over 150 lbs. (without surgery) and keep it off for ten years (and counting) without the ability to choose hope every day over despair at the state I had allowed my body to degenerate into. Making hope possible rather than despair convincing seems to be a better choice for me…I spent a lot of early life making despair convincing and I decided when I was 18 years old that without any logical reason that I would embrace hope that I could be different and this world could be different, if only so that I could just feel better about waking up every morning that I have. It may, as my bumper sticker says, be radical, but it is also just the only way I’ve been able to make it through my life so far—choosing to embrace hope over despair and doing so again and again and again….

 

Inspiration:

 

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
–Anton Chekhov 

 

 

“You Are the Light of the World”

Jesus and Buddha looked at the crowd and saw light.  They were not speaking to people who already knew this. Notice that Jesus did not say, “Blessed are the powerful, the wealthy, the popular. Blessed are the handsome; blessed are the cool.” He was speaking to the rest of us. You, whose marriage failed, or who remained single in a world where people are expected to be married—you are light. You with a jailed child, you are light. Your child is, too. You who work at a job you hate, you who lost your job—you are light. You are light when you don’t like yourself very much, when you have failed. That’s the miracle of the light—God in you—it’s still there and it can be there even against your will.

Hiding it makes no sense; why waste something so precious? And yet we do. They didn’t say you could be light some day if you worked hard at it, were good enough, or did something worthwhile with your life. You, now. Make of yourself a light…You are the light of the world.

 

Inspiration:

 

 

When I am alone today, may I bring fullness to my solitude. When I am with others today, may I make room for the fullness of what each person brings.

 

“Coming Out In a Conservative Family”

I am honored to be a part of a inclusive religious tradition that values not only the worth and dignity of all people but that also actively seeks to affirm and invite diversity, which is not always the case for those of us who grew up in more exclusive religious paradigms. There are, still, many religious institutions which cling to a dying worldview that people who are not heterosexual are not normal. Or they take it a step further, and say that lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered persons are an abomination to God. This is a sad and harmful stance, and it leaves a trail of pain and suffering for those who have endured such teachings. Some of us have been able to escape the bonds of belief systems that condemn us through religious hate-speak. As an “escapee,” I offer you words of comfort: You are not an abomination. You are not flawed. You are good and worthy, and you deserve to live life in an unfragmented fashion—as who you are, knowing that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” that you are loved, and that you deserve to be happy and whole—as well as confident that you deserve to walk your own spiritual path with authenticity.

by by Mary Frances Comer, Pastoral Care Associate, Church of the Larger Fellowship
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Inspiration:

If you break a bone or tear a muscle or ligament, after the healing has begun you are likely to engage in physical therapy to regain strength and flexibility. What do you to regain strength and flexibility for a broken heart or a torn spirit?

 

 

 

Mending

How shall we mend you, sweet Soul?
What shall we use, and how is it
in the first place you’ve come to be torn?
Come sit. Come tell me.
We will find a way to mend you.

I would offer you so much, sweet Soul:
this banana, sliced in rounds of palest
yellow atop hot cereal, or these raisins
scattered through it, if you’d rather.
Would offer cellos in the background singing
melodies Vivaldi heard and wrote
for us to keep. Would hold out to you
everything colored blue or lavender
or light green. All of this I would offer you,
sweet Soul. All of it, or any piece of it,
might mend you.

I would offer you, sweet Soul,
this chair by the window, this sunlight
on the floor and the cat asleep in it.
I would offer you my silence,
my presence, all this love I have,
and my sorrow you’ve become torn.

How shall we mend you, sweet Soul?
With these, I think, gently
we can begin: we will mend you with a rocking
chair, some raisins,
a cat, a field of lavender beginning
now to bloom. We will mend you with songs
remembered entirely the first time
ever they are heard.

We will mend you with pieces of your own
sweet self, sweet Soul — with what you’ve taught
from the very beginning.

by Nancy Shaffer, associate minister, First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Inspiration:

 

What is broken in me can offer healing to others – and to myself.

 

 

 

Finding Healing Through the Mail

Many UUs don’t realize that the CLF ministers to over 350 incarcerated members through its Prison Ministry Letter Writing Program. Rev. Patty Franz matches incarcerated members of the CLF with freeworld UUs for the exchange of friendly letters. Members of my own family don’t understand why I do this. “If a person has done something terrible then they deserve to suffer, so why bother?” Why indeed? …

I never in my life would have believed just how much having a pen pal would change me. When I receive his letter and devour the words, I think deeply on how best to respond. I find myself doing some reading so I have a better understanding of the topic, but sometimes I just use my gut, and intuit what he’s really asking or questioning. The most important thing is to let Alex know that he is special to me, and that we are equals in sharing this adventure of spiritual and intellectual growth. The letter exchange provides him the opportunity to escape the mental numbness and negativity that prisons seem to nurture, and being a letter writer gives me the opportunity to practice my faith regularly in a way I know makes a difference.

by Beverly, CLF Penpal
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Join us at 1:30 pm ET today for our service of Reflection & Connection: http://www.livestream.com/questformeaning