Repairing the Foundations of Peace

It feels as if the world in which I live is increasingly hostile. Not so much to me, I’m well insulated in my, I admit, very lovely world.

But to so many others. That the conversation is always about others. That time after time I hear the Not Like Us invoked.

Those of us who live comfortably must stand for, stand up for, stand with the not like us folk of the world.

We must work at the foundations… on our own, and in an organized fashion. Peace is at stake here. Do we want it? In this world, we need to want it badly if we are to persevere.

All we are saying, is give Peace a chance… Everyday Peace. Every day, Peace.

Cows and Songs and Peace

Oh, minds are such delightful things. Who knows how they work?

Cows stroll across hills and I “hear music and there’s no one there.” But it comes from “Music Man.”

And that brings back family memories and sweet Joy.

That cows can somehow be connected to evenings on the sofa with Mom watching “Music Man” on the B&W TV, it’s weird and wonderful. And, yet, in my mind, obviously, they are.

And in my pastoral wanderings and my rememberings there is Peace.

Let us keep looking for the Peace. The Peace that grounds us and the Peace we want to share with the world.

Everyone enjoys the sight of cows in procession. Everyone cherishes the memories of special moments spent with families. We are just people. We must make Peace, together.

Peace. Every day. Everyday Peace.

Silly Preoccupations, Interrupting Peace

I love how delightfully loopy life is. You go along, earnestly working on Peace, content with Life as you know it, at as you lead it.

And VROOOOOOM, a 60s muscle car goes by, 457 engine, four on the floor (5s not yet invented!), candy apple red — and everything you know about the environment goes right out the window. All you can do is think, OOOH, I’d like me one of those!”

But hey, we’re human, right?

And I’m not driving one. (Why buy a car when you can buy clothes, right?)

But thanks to Heather for this fun reminder of a youth that was nowhere near as misspent as I might have liked it to be.

Peace, my friends. Enjoy the day dreams. And the Joy they engender.

Diamonds of Peace and New Pronouns?

Well! It is not easy to use these new pronouns. I can’t tell you how many times I read the posts to find whether I’d eradicated the he/she thing… Old habits die hard.

People have responded. Some have said, quite frankly, I don’t like the new pronouns, don’t want to change the language. Others, and this may have to weigh more with me, have said “thank you, I feel seen.”

As I said in my sermon, if I refuse to limit the Divine to a simple duality, why would I believe it’s ok do to that to people? If I see God in Everything, I am as Matthew Fox proposes not a Pantheist, but a Panentheist. So must I be with all creation.

And to those of us who fret about the language, this is what language does, it grows. We are, merci, le bon Dieu, not French in terms of language. We don’t have an academy removing foreign words from our language and forbidding their use. When we consider the words we have added, nouns, verbs and adjectives, thanks to technology and our new understanding of the world in only this century, why wouldn’t we think that people could be more than we had originally imagined? Because it’s hard? but zi-zir is simpler. Ten years from now, will it have lasted? Who knows, but if I don’t experiment, will I see people?

Thee and Thou is a much bigger stretch for me. Maybe because there has been a time when I have heard it used. However, I am deeply convinced by Buber’s argument that we leave behind an I-it relationship for an I-Thou one, that we engage intimately with the world.(Unbelievable, I just looked and there are SparkNotes for I and Thou). Buber is so dense that he’s difficult to follow sometimes, but at the heart of his work is an incredible reverence for creation. To move to the intimate form of address demands a deeper engagement — a deeper vulnerability. Can I go there?

It will certainly take some faltering. Is it to precious for words or is it what is asked of me — to be intimate with the world and humanity. To keep good boundaries even while welcoming people’s deepest humanity. It all sounds quite scary doesn’t it. Zi and zir seem remarkably easy, at least to me, compared to thee and thou.

I love that I explored this first on my friend the English teacher’s fabulous photos. She wrote when she sent it about how she always looks for fields of diamonds in the water. And she found it! But Pete has always had a relaxed relationship with English and loved to watch it evolve!

So here’s to sunlight sparkling on water. Here’s to the Peace and Joy it engenders. So many individual bits of dancing beauty. Can I see that and bless that? Can I allow Beauty and Love into the most private recesses of my soul? And how about Peace? Can I do that with Peace? What about thee? Can thee?

Promposal Problems

Dear Bartender and Priestess,

I am a senior in high school. Since the beginning of this year I’ve held a part-time job, and put most of my money into a savings account. I’m going away to college in the fall on a partial academic scholarship, and my parents and I decided it would make sense for me to work now and save everything so when I go to school I can focus on my studies, and still have some spending money. We don’t have a lot of money, so maintaining my scholarship is really important to me, and to my parents. Continue reading →

Every Day, Beauty; Every day, Peace

Every day, there is something about that day’s unfolding that is beautiful. Actually, there are many things, if we just look.

But we need let go our assumptions that there is only one kind of beauty or we miss what the world has to offer.

Every day the world unfolds. To miss that is to miss life. We don’t have life to waste, wishing it away. Life is so precious; and it’s so damned fleeting. So many people I’d like back for a bit longer… So many people I’d have missed if I hadn’t had that grey fall or that long winter. Beauty is there on offer and it’s there to discover and it’s there to make. Same with Peace. It’s up to us. See it or waste it. Make it, or shorten our engagement with Peace and Beauty.

Beauty every day. Peace every day. Because every day matters.

Peace in Food Fun

My friend Terri and her guy George make wonderful food. Then they eat it. They really enjoy both parts of that equation. Now once a week, we get to enjoy not only their beautiful food but also what the food engenders in us.

Today? Laughter. Every time we see something like this it enchants us. Nothing like a face.

So folks, let me introduce you to the potatoes… and where’s Waldo… or whoever the imp is…

Peace. have a great day and remember to smile at your food.

Solitary Sabbath Peace

Ah, the duck and the Beauty she’s sailing into. Captivating!

We don’t head toward Beauty often enough, I fear — not in the world and not in ourselves. Even when things are in a terrible mess, our job is to head toward Beauty, to head toward Peace. This photo suggests what many of us lose sight of. Dawn offers opportunities for Beauty — and for departure — that the procrastinators among us often miss.

Whether we leave for a day at work, or a walk in the woods, or for our life’s big journey, why not leave in Beauty on the way toward Peace? Why not give ourselves a full day of the road ahead?

Here where I am, it’s a misty, mysterious morning. There is time for quiet and tea before I join my community for work. ahhhh. I’ll take that blessing and then I’ll drive along the foggy river and hope to catch the fog dancers at their spring training — and perhaps a few of this duck’s noisy friends. Have a day filled with Peace, foggy or otherwise. Find the Beauty and move toward it. Find the Peace.

Peace at the End of the Day

There are those days, those lovely busy weekend days, at the end of which your reward is to gather around the table and catch up with your friends. There was something about this photo that brought that to mind.

Sometimes the food is the focus, but often it’s a casual meal, and laughter is the bottomless dish. There are periods in your life when those meals are more common than others, but whenever they happen, they’re grand.

Community is such a delicious joy. The friends and family who people our lives on a regular basis sustain us and deepen life’s experience. It’s hard to write about without being trite and hokey.. But oh… So, when the sun goes down today, I hope this finds you with friends… If not, remember how fun it is and plot for an upcoming weekend.

The Peace of Community be with you…with us all.

Peace Dogs — We’ve Got Lots to Learn

It hadn’t struck me before that many of us spend a lot of time wishing that someone would look at us the way our dogs do… They’re pretty clear about the I love you. They don’t do snarky. They may look sad when we are, but as soon as we turn it around, they’re ready to embrace us again.

It struck me that we might all use a little more of this in our lives. It would be lovely if it happened to us, of course, but what if we learned to occasionally look at the people in our lives as if they were a miracle?

What if we were just a little less judgmental about our reactions to people? It’s not that people aren’t annoying. But why does that have to be the first thing we notice?

After all, people are a whole package of traits, but that’s the miracle. They’re individual and astonishing. Don’t think I’m pointing fingers at other folk, here! Because I have long styled myself as a critic at large! What if I were to become an appreciator at large?

Is it in me? Is it in me to find the miracle in everyone? Is it in you?

Life would be so much better. I’ve long known that we respond to strokes rather than criticism in office life. Why is it so novel that our beloved and even our acquaintances do as well?

It’s a good thing I have a long drive ahead of me. I’ve got a lot to puzzle out. Peace, oh come let me adore you! Let me adore Peace. Let me adore my beloved, well known and new… that will help with the Peace. And it will be true work, because you are a miracle!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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