At each journey’s ending point
There exists forgiveness space
Which invites us to recall
Love’s transforming power and grace.
The idea of a second coming of Christ is a mystery, if not explicitly controversial. Jesus’ followers apparently believed he would return during their lifetime after he was crucified. When that didn’t happen, later followers gradually changed the belief into an indefinite “someday.” After two thousand years of waiting, most Christians no longer look for it to happen in their lifetimes and acknowledge that Jesus may have been speaking metaphorically about his return. It is just as likely that those words were put into Jesus’ mouth by the gospel writers themselves. Wishful thinking?
read moreWhen we feel all weighed down with guilt *
And find forgiveness out of reach
We take your hand, O tender Christ,
And walk with you along life’s beach.
I am told that God answers prayer.
Always.
But then a few caveats are added,
meant to temper my expectation
for a quick and positive response.
Structured for Lent, but practical for any time of the year, this new resource examines the lament psalms for their connections to contemporary experiences. The introduction acquaints the reader with Dr. Walter Brueggemann’s analysis of the psalms into the categories of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. A contemporary psalm/poem for each entry discerns the emotional tenor of the psalms and makes it relevant for the challenges of contemporary life and relationships.
read more Not every day shall Earth’s bright rainbow colors
Arch over Earth’s clear sparkling, sparkling skies;
Not every day shall rainbows light our vision
But every day heart’s rainbows can be made.
Thank you, thank you, thank you God
For the gift, the gift of life.
Thank you, thank you, thank you God
For the peace beyond all strife.
One breath; one breath at time.
A breath-on-breath is all we get,
and you cannot take it with you
Spirit within us, Spirit we call Holy,
With us, not of us, God’s own self with ours.
Presence of power, Spirit to spirit given,
This be our prayer now:
Through us your will be done.
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
That is translated through you into action,
And because there is only one of you in all time,
This expression is unique.
Most noble of creatures on Earth are we
Yet gifted with power to both hurt and kill.
Are money and things our most sought for goal?
Or Earth and its life what transforms our will?
Holy Spirit as you speak
To both challenge and console
Every church and all the world
To empower and to make whole
“The meek shall inherit the Earth” said Christ
But what could this mean for the people today?
While corp’rates and rich folk gain more and more land
The poor live in slums where they’re still forced to stay.
In his classic Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg takes the reader on a journey through the afterlife, describing the spiritual world in intricate detail. Our Life after Death is a collection of writings from that volume that focus specifically on what happens to us as we cross over and what we experience as new souls in the world of spirits, where we prepare to find our soul’s permanent home.
read moreRepaying force with counter-force,
Can this deliver peace?
Revenge for death, revenge for loss
Is this how wars will cease?
When the picture haunts my mind
Of a starving child who dies,
When my silence is disturbed
By the mother’s plaintive cries
How dear God shall I respond
To the tears that flood my eyes?
