It’s been almost four years since Denise and I left our beautiful mountain community of Estes Park, Colorado. There was something magical about the Rocky Mountain National Park which was literally in our backyard. There was something mystical and breathtaking about getting to know our neighbors like the fellow above who spent a lot of time in our condo complex. He recognized us by sight and by our scent… we recognized him by his unique set of antlers. Mature bulls are easily distinguished by the number and placement of the “points” on their rack. Such awe and wonder were almost a daily occurrence for us and included an official excuse to be late for a meeting. An elk jam as the herd crosses the church parking lot and street as they made their way from the golf course to Fish Creek was my excuse, along with half of our session (church governing body), for being late to my first session meeting!
After we left Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies in August of 2020, I served two more Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations in a specialized capacity as both a Designated Minister and Interim Minister. Now we are settling into our new home here in Alabama as we try our hand at retirement.
Even though we live in the midst of the city of Mobile (in the Midtown neighborhood) we are finding wonder, magic, and beauty as we walk quiet streets of our neighborhood where Southern live oaks and magnolia trees are all around us. While some might believe that it is more difficult to find the same sort of quiet and silence here that we had in Estes Park, we have found spaces of silence and quiet in Mobile that brings a similar sense of awe and wonder.
During some study and reflection this morning, I re-discovered this March, 1952 journal entry written by Thomas Merton:
When your tongue is silent, you can rest in the silence of the forest. When your imagination is silent, the forest speaks to you, tells you of its unreality and of the Reality of God. But when your mind is silent, then the forest becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God. — Thomas Merton (Journal entry, March 17, 1952) A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals
As Denise and I begin this next chapter in our journey and as we gradually unpack and make our new house our home, I am finding more time for reading, reflection, and silence. And we will continue to explore our new home and neighborhood, looking forward to experiencing what Merton calls “the Reality of God” here in this place.
The inspiration for this reflection came from day one of the self-study retreat, Monk in the World, offered by the “Abbey of the Arts” and led by our online Abbess Christine Valters Paintner. For more information about the Abbey and other course offerings, I invite you to click on this link and begin to explore what it means to be a monk in the world.
Let Your God Love You. Be Silent. Be Still. Alone. Empty before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you. That is all. God knows. God understands. God loves you with an enormous love. God only wants to look upon you with love. Quiet. Still. Be. Let your God love you. — Monastery Mornings: My Unusual Boyhood Among the Saints and Monks by Michael Patrick O’Brien (p. 73)
Verse of the day
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
– Psalm 23:6
Voice of the day
Migrants and refugees, despite the pains and losses that come with our displacement, can rejoice. We, the displaced, are not alone. God is with us everywhere — in both the old country and the new, in both lamentation and praise, in both rootedness and displacement.
– Hannah Keziah Agustin, “What Does It Mean to Follow God in Our Displacement?”
Prayer of the day
You are the God of the displaced. Thank you for the promise that you will never leave us or forsake us.
“The communities that are grappling with the highest rates of gun violence are the very same communities with the least resources and are often the most policed. As city and state leaders recognize that a heavy-handed, law-and-order-style approach is not only ineffective, but also harmful to those who are disproportionately affected by gun violence, I am hopeful that we’ll start investing in the things we know reduce violence as a whole: Economic stability, health care, and education.”—Cicely Thrasher, Moms Demand Action activist
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”—Rosa Parks
“If we want to save our democracy, there is no substitute for an organized mass movement of people in the streets. Political and business elites are intolerant of dissent and use law enforcement to squash it. However, throughout history, in this country and elsewhere, social movements have challenged elite power—sometimes facing violence and repression—and won. If they hadn’t, Jim Crow segregation would still exist in the United States, the British Empire would still control South Asia, and South Africa would still be subject to apartheid.”—Basav Sen
Verse of the day
And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.
– Titus 3:14
Voice of the day
A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent.
– John P. Kotter, “Leading Change” (1996)
Prayer of the day
Rid us of our complacency and fill us with a sense of urgency for justice. May we devote ourselves to good works and meeting each other’s needs
“Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his* grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge—from which new sorrows will be born for others—then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.”—Etty Hillesum
Verse of the day
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
– Matthew 5:4
Voice of the day
It is impossible to grieve in the first-person singular. We always grieve for someone and with someone. Grieving connects us in ways that are subtly and candidly material. I am not yet sure which group I should join, where to envision myself, on whose shoulder to cry.
– Cristina Rivera Garza, “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country” (2011)
Prayer of the day
May we mourn with those who mourn. Give us wisdom and patience to know when to grieve and when to comfort.
“War is unreality itself.”—Simone Weil
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