On The Inside of St. Patrick's Breastplate

Meditation:  My Shepherd Is The Lord

Christ be with you, Christ within you,

Christ behind you, Christ before you,

Christ beside you, Christ to win you,

Christ to comfort and restore you.

Christ beneath you, Christ above you,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love you,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

   -Amen

Something to look at when times are hard;

In Life’s Cycle, Lessons

Meditation:  Provision for charity

God brings forth his bounty

Fruit hangs on the vines

In preparation for winter

For much colder times

Go, pick and eat

Harvest and store

It’s a blessing from God

When the earth brings forth more

In kitchens and pantries

Ferment and preserve

In store-rooms and barns

God’s bounty conserve

In life’s cycle, lessons;

Plant, harvest, store

Setting aside in the light;

So when the dark comes, there’s more

The Wonder of Naming

Proposed Antiphon: Take time to understand

The men and women sit around on plastic chairs
They wear boots held together with packing tape
Their socks mostly don’t match

Their pants are dark and worn, but not torn.
You won’t get sent out, if your pants are torn.
They are washed and clean shaven
You won’t get sent out, if you are scrufty.
The bosses don’t like it.
There is soap and razors if you need them.
Soap and razors for those who can’t afford them.

One or two of them will talk – will talk a lot
These are the new ones, the ‘I have a dream’ ones
The egotists, the scammers, the ‘cover-it-with talk’ ones
The rest say only what they must
They are silent, and mostly still
They are here to work

They sit around and wait for someone to call their name
It may be the only time they hear their name all day
Unless someone at home speaks it
Whatever home is for them
Wherever they go at night

Other than that, they are nameless

It is bad to make attachments
A waste of time to litter your mind with names
Names of people who don’t want to be here
Names of people who don’t want to be remembered here
Names of people who will go, and you will never see again
Names of lost people, people like you

Oh they have names
Names that are important to the bosses
Names that are called out sometimes to go work
Names that must appear on checks or vouchers
And in reports and tax forms
And sometimes in legal documents
That take what little they earn

But mostly they have bodies
Legs and arms to lift and carry
Hands to grasp and open and close
Brains are not required
And names are just labels anyway
They could just as well be numbers

But sometimes life breaks through;
Someone stops, and smiles, and the smile is returned
Someone speaks a name
A name for no reason
A name that shows someone remembered
A name that shows that someone cared
Enough to add your name to the list
To their personal litany of remembrance

Whether you are lost, or not.

I am a jumble of broken parts that know nothing of each other.

Antiphon: We Will Meet Again, The Wolves, The Fire, And I.


I am a jumble of broken parts that know nothing of each other.

It is as if a farmer opened his seed bin and found;
An acorn,
Seventeen rusty machine screws of unmatched sizes, some covered in tar,
Three quarters of an inch of bailing wire,
Half of a stale cookie,
Four ants,
And a dead mouse.

Or maybe it is as if a householder planted squash in the garden;
and watched the plants sprout, and grow and put forth leaves,
and blossom, and begin to set fruit;
only to come out one day and find them all blackened and shriveled with a blight.

Or maybe it is like a merchant who plotted a trading route;
And built a ship and set out;
And travelled for leagues and leagues,
Only to look through the glass and find his destination laid waste.
And planned a new route, a new destination,
And travelled to within sight of shore,
Only to be driven off by pirates.
But being unwearied and unbowed, he plotted yet another course
To a new destination, and sailed strange waters,
Only to be halted by impassible reefs and inhospitable masses of land.

So I sit with the fragments of the lives I have lived,
And wonder what to do, and where to go;
And I remember not long ago,
When these mismatched parts,
Somehow lined up and made a perfect and remarkable machine.

A plan of goodness;
A pathway to a new place;
The seeds of a new life.

And today
With my water running low
And my sails ragged
And my options limited;
I pray for inspiration to God;
Who knows how these broken, jumbled parts
Are remarkable, and
Can made to work together
Once again

-LE

I like this.

Perhaps related: A worn courderoy kind of life

My Shepherd Is The Lord (Reprise)

My shepherd is the Lord
For nothing shall I want
In pastures green I rest
From waters still I drink

My soul my God restores
In fear God gives me strength
When lost God leads me home
And keeps me as God's own

God names me as his child
My sins for me forgives
With oil anoints my head
And sees to all my needs

My home is with the Lord
With God I'll always be
In joy God leads me out
With love God leads me home

In dark I have no fear
In trouble I have peace
In God I put my trust
For God is always near

In faith I have my life
and rise when life is done
The Lord keeps me each day
In life eternaly

(prior entry)

Seek Her

Wisdom tires of being mocked
She tires of chasing you down twisting alleys of lies
She tires of calling and having you run instead away
Of stretching out her hand and being rebuffed
Of having her counsel ignored

Attend, lest She abandon you
And laugh at your calamity
Lest She mocks when panic strikes you
When the storm sweeps you away
When you find yourself and all you hold dear
Lost in pain and anguish.

Call upon Her now
having trampled Her word
having ignored Her histories
having spat on Her offerings
having scoffed at Her reproof
and She may not answer

She may leave you to your own devices
Twisting on a gibbet of your own design
Trapped in a cage of metal and spikes
Food for the carrion birds
A warning to others

Should you not eat the fruit of your way?
Should you not find yourself at the end of the road you have chosen?

Wisdom still calls - but you are far from Her
Her voice is faint - but can be heard

Perhaps you can return, retrace your steps
Do not listen to the loud voices around you
Hustling you onward to bad ends
Resist the pushing and jostling of those around you
You still need not be lost

You still, perhaps, can be found.
I write this for you, you yourself

Seek Her!

Emily Dickinson on Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

May God bless your hopes and prayers with love and peace.

LE

Hope for the Hopeless

I found myself in a valley, and the floor of that valley was strewn with bones.

Human bones.

Dry, dusty, no life in them, nothing in them that anything could live on.

And a voice said to me: “Can these bones live?”

Live? They are the essence of death!

“Prophesy over these bones! They shall live!”
“Sinews shall grow, flesh and skin shall cover them, breath shall enter them and they shall live!”

So I spoke the word of the Lord, and flesh came upon the bones, and breath entered them, and they stood upon their feet, a living multitude.

And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD. -Ezekiel 37:1-14

Photo Credit Rob Wakefield

Tell Your Story

It has been a while since the passing of Madeline L'Engle, but thoughts of her and her writing keep coming to mind, and so maybe, in this meditative season of Lent, contemplating the following words from this spiritual woman is appropriate:

“Why does anybody tell a story?” Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.
“It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

So, my guests and friends, share your stories. It will help us all, more than we can know.

Peace,
LE

All Lenten Thoughts

Words of Comfort

There are many who feel rejected and judged by the faith - judged unworthy - found to be reprobate - irredeemable and vile, doomed to torment, cast out of community, shunned.

It is for them I copy out the following words of comfort. May meditating on them bring you joy in this Advent season:

From John 12:

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.


From John 3:

God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life.


From 1 Timothy 1:

This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.


From 1 John 2:

If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.


From Romans 8:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [...] I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


From 1 John 1:

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


May you find joy in your path this Advent season, wherever your wanderings take you.

-LE

Good Grief

'Good Grief' seems to be a catchword for me lately. This piece is inspired by the passing of a great man, who we mourn. Certainly this is 'good grief'; to remember and miss those who have gone on to their reward, to honor their place with us, and share our memories:

They push off from here most every day
And for the farther shore
The saints sail onward to the place
Where head those Christ adores
The journey there is not so long
The river is not wide
They do not suffer on the trip
To Jordan’s other side

We wish them peace
And pray their souls
Into our Maker’s care
We will miss their presence here
And the all they used to share
A goodly crew sets off each day
From ports around the globe
To take up crowns and find their place
Beneath God’s mighty robe

We miss them all, so very much
And this grief is good.
Our lives are short and worth a lot
In death it’s understood.
So shed your tears and hold your friends
As tightly as you may
Because this world is not a place
That we may always stay.

And wait for joy, for it will come
Least on the other side
When all our hard day’s work is done
And we with the saints abide.
And there with our beloved saints
We’ll see the Lamb upraised
And cast our crowns upon the ground
May Jesus Christ be praised!

For Frank, and the great company of all the saints,

LE

My Shepherd Is The Lord

My shepherd is the Lord
For nothing shall I want
In pastures green I rest
From waters still I drink

My soul my God restores
In fear God gives me strength
When lost God leads me home
And keeps me as God's own

God names me as his child
My sins for me forgives
With oil anoints my head
And sees to all my needs

My home is with the Lord
With God I'll always be
In joy God leads me out
With love God leads me home

In dark I have no fear
In trouble I have peace
In God I put my trust
For God is always near

In faith I have my life
and rise when life is done
The Lord keeps me each day
In life eternaly

Inspired by The 23rd Psalm.

Peace to you;

LE

Joy

You are not yet so joyful as I mean you to be!

So Live-
And live in joy!
And share your joy and love with those you meet-

Be not dauted;
but daunt with love-

Let your heart expand;
Let your love flow;

And live in joy-
Mourn no more;
And regrets leave behind-

But share and give;
And love;
And live!

Let your blood flow;
And let your love grow-

And all you are;
And all you can be;
And all you are with;

Give
And Give;
And Give;
And Give!!!

Be not single and small
But Live
And Live;
And Live;
And Live!!!

For living is about giving;
And giving is about living;
And loving is about living;
And loving is avout giving;

So Give;
And Love;
And Love;
And Live!!!

Joy!

We Are Alike

We are alike
We love
We care
We love beauty
We care for others
We are alike

Our hearts beat
Our blood flows
We can be hurt
We can cry
We are alike

We make friends
We like to share
We like to talk
We like to take food together
We are alike

We can walk
We can walk together
We can help each other
We can help others
We get joy from helping
We are alike

We can give
We can give to the needy
We can share knowledge
We can see justice done
We can comfort the sorrowful
We are alike

Our love can flow
Can flow out from us
Together it can be
It can be a river
A cataract
A torrent
A flood
An ocean
Covering all the earth
Filling every hollow
Rushing into every closed room and cell
Washing out every dark hole and sewer
Flooding the caverns and canyons of the earth with liquid light
We are alike
And together we can do wonderous things

Let us begin

After 2 Timothy 2

Remember Jesus in your sufferings, and if you are chained, remember that the word of God cannot be chained. Endure for the sake of the world, that the world may also obtain salvation, for if we die with Jesus, we will rise with Christ, and if we endure we will also reign with him.

Jesus cannot save us while we deny him, but he remains faithful to us, seeking us and consoling us when we despair. Even in our denial, in our guilt and sin, Jesus must remain faithful to us, because he cannot deny himself, and there is great hope in that. Jesus is our redeemer, and seeks our redemption, so seek to return to, and keep true to Jesus, even as he keeps true to you.

Yours in Faith
LE

For Sept 11, 2007

Dear Friends

Please do not spend this day in anger.

Do not spend it in foolishness.

Do not forget those who have gone before.

Do not forget that there is still much evil out there.

Be watchful and careful.

Care for those who are hurting.

Protect the helpless.

Create peace, as much as possible by being peaceful.

Share Faith

Share Hope

Share Love

And may you be filled with the peace of God, which passes all understanding.


LE

The redemption of Bully McFister

I looked up Bully McFister today
You know, the one that used to steal your lunch money, and hit you for no reason? Who liked shooting small animals with his bb-gun and bragging about it? At length? The one who liked to make fists with one knuckle sticking out and hit us as hard as he could in the bicep to give us bruises? That guy, you remember.

Well I felt like looking up the old crew and I 'Googled' his name. I thought I might at 'best' see a police blotter report of a robbery or a shootout, or even more likely nothing at all. But no, he pops right up, I see evidence of a creative soul, a sharp mind, an analytic, go-getting man who writes beautifully. I enjoy reading what he writes, and he is relatively prolific!

I squint at his picture in awe, trying to see the wise-acre who flicked boogers at us all from the back row, who enjoyed picking fights and causing trouble, who left us achingly writing our homework with bruised arms. A faint echo is all I get. Yeah, it's the guy. Who knew? Clearly my elementary-school self judged him prematurely, and I carried that predjudice forward. Somewhere inside the obnoxious troublemaker were the seeds of this new person. A person who contributes much to our world.

So Bully made good. I am glad that he did... ...it somehow seems redemptive. But I feel guilty for assuming he wouldn't, and wonder if we aren't failing many of our boys if they can be percieved as so futureless in school, and yet be so much once they hit the real world. I wonder what Bully's story is... Did he change all at once? Was there a series of transformative events in his life? Or did he just slowly start opening up, once he was away from the strictures, cliques and repressions of the school environment?

I wonder...

But I'm not sure I'll be reaching out to Bully to discuss all this. My arm is still sore.

Peace,
LE


'Bully McFister' is a fictional name that I made up to relate this story, but the story itself is true. For anyone who is actually named this, I pray your life is at least as redemptive as that of my 'Bully'. And for those working and suffering with today's 'Bullies' I ask you to take note. God is everywhere, indeed. Maybe your 'Bully' needs an outlet, a friend, a big brother, or a role model, maybe the investment in him is hard and painful, but he has real potential too. (And I reccommend thick sweaters to protect your arms.)

When We Fall

Hurtful things
Done again and again
Maybe not intentionally to hurt
But not avoided
And returned to
And repeated.

Things we shouldn't do
Things we should do in moderation
That we do to extreme
Things that harm ourselves
Things that harm others

We all make mistakes
We all do things that are wrong
And we often, too often repeat them
Minor addictions
Bad habits
Sins and crimes

Sometimes they sneak up on you
You don't realize you are slipping
Sliding
Falling into sin

Try to keep God first
Keep God in your mind and make sure what you are doing is good.
And when you slip
Apologize
Try to make things right
And start anew

"I Will, With God's Help"

LE