I have been consumed this past week by sadness at the death of Pope Francis who represented a merciful hope in this often merciless world, and by a deep joy in realizing glimmers of resurrection life all around in this Easter season. Merging this sadness and joy is the contemplative stillness which I have been blessed to experience along the coast with expansive beaches, changing ocean turbulence, and glistening sunlight. All of this felt somehow held together in a divine rhythm like the certainty of the tides and the phases of the moon.   As I was working my way through these feelings of grief and joy I received an unexpected text from a person I had visited over a year ago in the hospital prior to cancer surgery. In that hour when strangers meet and are held by presence we found a common prayer and a sacred space. In that space grief and joy, loss and hope, reside in peace. We have not spoken since yet something remains… So imagine my gratitude, not to mention awe, when ou...

  It is not cataclysmic It is not just a moment or sudden discovery It is not merely a feeling, though deep feelings are certainly evoked Easter is a process a verb and a noun a movement of awakening awakening to unfathomable possibility When we can extract ourselves from debates about bodily resurrection, proof of miracles and what really happened, We might discover a truth so eternal as to permeate and tether our very existence. Easter is a promise fulfilling itself Easter is about hope once buried now kindling often burning even flaming No empire No evil act No oppression or grief can extinguish On Easter, the day,  And every day We might realize the courage and power  of rolling away the stone of injustice And be surprised and comforted by a shimmering hope.

  Mary Oliver says: Pay attention/Be Astonished/ Write about it so here it is: And a Little Child Repairs A family heirloom is shattered… Shards of legacy lie scattered across the tile A diaspora of remembrances The exquisite urn was thrown in anger A misunderstanding born of irreconcilable difference Terminated by misused power Force because expeditious As the combatants went to their respective corners They might have missed the child in their preoccupation Who silently and practically imperceptibly collected the fragments  She held two previously conjoined pieces to the light then gently placed them on a table adjacent to each other very close touching in spots As the “adults” returned to self righteousness Her tears fell into the jagged crack between the remains blessing the beginning of repair.                                                   ...

  Blessed be God who animates our lives and breaks our hearts open that we might anoint God with our deep love and devotion. AMEN If this is Lent 5 then Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and Holy Week begins. Some of us ask are we ready? Some ask ready for what? We know intellectually that Easter is around the corner; we just have to hold on. And we know in our hearts that this is when the wilderness journey gets even tougher. We think we may have done enough, prayed enough, fasted enough, and yet our lectionary this morning calls us to ponder not just a counting off of days until Easter, but to contemplate any glimpses of a fullness of time which we might have encountered and to risk embracing them. Our Gospel today reminds us that before death and before the Passion there may be an outpouring of precious tenderness to anoint resurrection life. Marking calendars doesn’t change us; staying in this space and turning toward Jerusalem with a deeper devotion and resolve does. And so I was str...

  Blessed be God who animates our lives and is the God in whose image we are made and is of Love always and eternally. AMEN In these difficult times in which we live I am reminded on a daily basis, even now a moment by moment basis, of two things: the world is filled with violence and injustice AND there are glimmerings of Love, God’s Love, God who is Love, which appear and fuel a fervent hope for peace, restoration and reparation and wholeness. I am also reminded that these are times not dissimilar to Jesus’ time and thus His divine teachings are ever relevant and essential. We come to church each Sunday and pray on a daily basis for God to take away our fears and restore our souls, to extend mercy upon mercy, grace upon grace.   Who are we to be to become that we might receive and offer such love ourselves?   The gospel answer is always…always LOVE. We are to become Love. We might need more than ever to develop deeper understanding of the how to and the power of divine ...

  “…without an ethic of love shaping the direction of our political visions and our radical aspirations, we are often seduced, in one way or another, into continued allegiance to systems of domination - imperialism, sexism, racism, classism.” bel hooks In these times of daily, hourly, lawlessness and cruelty, I feel battered, sad, and breaking. I believe in my deepest soul that the only answer is love…the only answer is love in its abundant and various forms of kindness, mercy, patience, charity, generosity, empathy, etc. And yet, I cannot help but feel no matter how convicted I am that seduction of greed and abusive power are winning.   They are not!   The global canvas may be cluttered with cruelty and irrational behavior but there are gentle strokes which abide and I choose to focus on blessing them and learning from them.   bel hooks’ quote jumped off the canvas and while I admit I am not sure what an “ethic of love” actually looks like, I believe in the power of...