Liturgies

REFLECTION

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.

Rumi, The Diwan of Shawms of Tabriz, number 3090

 REFLECTION

We are the vessels of God’s voice, her words blowing through us, bidding us to tell the tales that only we can speak.

Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom’s Path

GATHERING

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.

Robert Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things

REFLECTION

There is always the temptation in life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is all so self-conscious, so apparently moral to simply step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage. I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.

Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p 274

REFLECTION

Many people today agree that we need to reduce violence in our
society. If we are truly serious about this, we must deal with the
roots of violence, particularly those that exist within each of us. We
need to embrace “inner disarmament,” reducing our own emotions of suspicion, hatred and hostility toward our brothers and sisters.

Dalai Lama XIV

Quoted in the Washington Post

Sunday, October 21, 2007