Interfaith Services of the Lowcountry

Patient Trust In Ourselves
And in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God…
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end
Without delay.
We should like to skip all the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown,
Something new,
And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made through some stages
Of instability…
And that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you…
Your ideas mature gradually- let them grow, let them shape themselves
Without undo haste.
Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be that today… What time
(that is to say, what grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
Will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Given our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

One of the central messages and abiding secrets of the spiritual life,
If we are to make progress in gaining any depth of understanding or make
any progress in our quest for meaning and wholeness, is learning to give up
in order that we might receive.
In the season of the year, in the various quests and journeys of our hearts, we are asked, and sometimes we are compelled to let go, give it up, release or surrender.
We submit willingly in order to make room in our hearts and minds for a new reality- to make room for a new kind of blessing, a new kind of freedom, a new way to participate in genuine family, authentic community.
There are so many new things that need to occupy our hands, fill our embrace,
And once we empty ourselves of our previous pre occupations and concerns, we make our hearts the home of a new hospitality, and we make our minds capable of welcoming new possibilities and realities.

Those who make themselves ready, those that willingly release, give room, energy, will and spirit to new directions… Directions that would transform our lives…
Whenever we risk letting go, we make it more possible to open ourselves to a larger hope, greater dreams….
PEL

“I am endeavoring to see God through service to humanity, for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor is God down below, but God can be found in every one.” Gandhi

There is a certain courage that comes when we greet the dawn, our shadows and uncertainties fade when we respond to the growing warmth, the glowing promise of the light.
At first, we can be startled by the entry of more light into our lives, and wistfully
Try to hold on to sleep, dreams, and solitude. We seek to preserve the darkness, for there is a strange comfort to be found there… Strange and true. Yet the light of day, the light of consciousness and the dawning of a true community beckons and entices us…
To rise from our darkness and to stand face to face with whatever the day promises to us. It is in this call to be who and what we truly are, to be willing to stand fearlessly and to respond openly, that we can find that which is essential to self and to our community… A way of being together that brightens the daystar of our souls.

May the light around us guide our footsteps, and hold fast to the best and to the most righteous we seek.
May the darkness around us, nurture our dreams, and give us rest so that we may give ourselves to the work of our world.
Let us seek to remember the wholeness of our lives, the weaving of light and shadow in this great and astonishing dance in which we move.
The Rev. Sally McTigue

Sanity and Sanctity
How do we learn about our differences, and how one person’s talent or skill is not to be envied, just as another person’s spiritual beliefs are not to be shunned or put down? Here is a story form the famous Black theologian, Howard Thurman that offers us an answer:

“I dreamt that God took my soul to Hell. To my right, there among the trees, were men and women hard at work making a garden. And I said, looking at them, ” I should like to go and work with them. Hell must be a very industrious place, filled with lots of personal success and much individual accomplishment.”
Then God said,” Nothing grows in the garden they are making.” Together we look more carefully: And I saw those people working among the bushes, digging holes, but instead of planting anything, there was nothing to fill these holes. The workers covered the holes with sticks, straw, leaves, and earth, and I noticed that each man as they walked back behind the bushes, they watched their footsteps very carefully, then the men hid themselves and intently watched their holes…

I asked God, “What were they doing?” And God said, “Oh, they are making pitfalls for any man or woman to fall in.” I said to God,” Why do they do it?” And God said, “Because each person who lives in Hell thinks when his brother or her sister falls, then they will more easily rise or succeed.

And then I asked, ” How will he or she rise?” God said,” They will not rise, but instead, they will fall into egotism and fail to truly succeed”
And I asked God,” Are these people sane?” God replied, ” They are not sane; there is no sane person in Hell.”

As I understand it, life requires us to accept with gratitude, the gifts and talents of others, and not seek to feel superior or inferior. Also, we are to honor all the different ways of understanding God, or what is good or what is considered to be Holy- We are not to sharply criticize the differences, but we are to compare, and to appreciate so that we can learn from them.
After all, if we are to trust the intent of World Scripture, we are given the view that God created humanity so that we can bless and care for one another, not so we could harm or judge each other- No one truly gets ahead when another person fails, and no one is made better by trickery or deceit, envy or revenge.
In fact, it could be said that only as we learn to tolerate and accept one another’s differences, and not try to create pitfalls, can we begin to find a genuine and lasting sense of inspiration within the diverse communities that we build, …
And only then, does even a glimpse of heaven become possible.

You and I are in the business of building kingdoms and queendoms together- to build the realms of wonder and sustain the structures of integrity and worth in which all of our sisters and brothers of the liberal and lively spirit work together and dwell….
This is ideal of community- It consists of the blessings and grace we can experience in caring for one another, and the that can be found in sharing our life’s journey with one another, thereby enriching and supporting each other all along life’s way….

Because so many present day seekers have come from other, more conservative and conventional churches when they were young, many of us have been exposed to the season of Lent as having a historical and theological significance. In our Western religious culture, one cannot escape at least a superficial acquaintance with its meaning and purpose.
Lent is a time often described as a time for increased piety, extra prayer and worship services, and self sacrifice. Historically, Christians and particularly those Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans who were required to abstain from certain practices, habits, or activities and most often were instructed to fast or abstain from eating certain foods.
Now, the ideal or best practices associated with the Lenten season can be summarized as attitudes that encouraged retreat from the world’s fast pace and demands. Then to take that freed up time, and focus it on becoming more contemplative, looking at those areas of your life that might need improvement or reform, and to focus of new insights that can help to release you from habits and fears. The noble ideal behind the food restrictions was to help us to break our attachments, addictions, and pleasures- any tie we had to external material rewards and egotistical routines. The goal of these Lenten disciplines was to make the Christian more properly ascetic: that is, more able to give up their problems, in order to receive or claim more freedom, becoming more willing to release ego preoccupations and spend time in discerning their next steps and what sources of inspiration and guidance were available to them in their lives.
Classically, it is from our souls being more disciplined or aligned with God that we are freed to practice more loving self acceptance and more intelligent self control. …
2
Now, among those of you who were made to observe Lent when you were growing up, did anyone ever satisfactorily explain it to you in that way? Is there any lasting value in Lenten observance for you now, as U-U’s? I will venture my own interpretation, and I will offer to try to provide you with a viable alternative.
First, a little religious background for all of you who were ever curious about what your Catholic and other high school friends were going through… Originally, Lent was a brief and intense time that prepared a person for Baptism. It was that soul-searching time before someone declared themselves a Christian in the early, and often persecuted Church. Considered to be a time for deep reflection and profound decision-making, it was a momentous step in a person’s life. This time of Lent was originally only 40 hours long, to reflect the time period between Good Friday and Easter morning. However, then it was a time of complete fasting, and a rigorous mental discipline.
This practice went through many historical changes. The principal one happening during the Middle Ages, when the time period for Lent was increased or prolonged to reflect a correspondence to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. This extended time period was accompanied by a selected fast from meat and dairy products for all healthy people between the ages of 12 to 60; the only exceptions being nursing mothers. Unfortunately, or shall I say, predictably, this eclesial rule of a selected fast was dolefully interpreted as being a time for self-sacrifice and deprivation, rather than as a time associated with grateful remembrance and devotion.
The attitude of self deprivation, especially when enforced by a particularly dogmatic clergy and inflexible church structure has yielded some interesting and contradictory results. The most appealing begin the creation of of many preLenten revels, all-out parties, and celebrations… The most famous of these are French “Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras” or the Portuguese Rio Carnivale. … For you see, the words carnivore and carnival relate to the same kind of fleshly cravings and indulgences! Therefore, Mardi Gras and Carnavales were the reluctantly condoned revels or church-related orgies just before the days and weeks of required self-sacrifice. (Remember, the restriction of one’s diet is a common religious occurrence; for example, there are Kosher food laws, Islamic fasts during the month of Ramaden. Tragically, part of our misunderstanding of food practices has contributed sociological and psychologically in the development of dietary imbalances and psychological illnesses- from our society’s chronic pre-occupation over weight to the tragedies of bulimia and anorexia that are now affecting 20% of all young women (1 in 5) and is currently growing in older women (and in some men) being seen in increasing amounts in women of mid life Or ages 35-55…

I can remember meatless Wednesdays and Fridays all through my Catholic youth. At that time, I considered it quite a hardship, and its rationale was a perplexing, obtuse mystery. ( It was much later, when reading anecdotes in church history that I discovered that the Pope, in the 1800’s, instituted the eat fish laws in order to help out the Italian fishing industry!
These eating restrictions were was told to me as something we all have to do! I really did not like the idea at all, and I wasn’t a member of the Big Mac/Whopper generation of today! After all, my traditional fare of lentil beans, cornmeal, and some fish, no matter how nutritious, got a little boring, and even I could get tired of pasta! (When I was 10, My Father & Mother went off to an FBI school, so my Aunt Frances had to care for me feed me. Every Wednesday and Friday night she said that I could have my choice: I can have pasta and beans or beans and pasta! Story about the Statues around her home; St. Anthony; ; dialogues; turning him around! Also I have included a more serious and somber reflection on Ash Wednesday and Lent on my webpage)
So you see, the idea of Lent was related to me as a time to be endured, not understood. An almost morose pallor engulfed my family during the week. We all looked forward to the big Sunday meal, our weekly indulgence.
That was a big feast with all the chicken, sausage, and meatballs you could stuff in! Some quality religious observance that was!
One time, my family held a ravioli eating contest… I came in second, or first in the junior division, having eaten 48 raviolis (big squares!) Of course, there was a lot of Pepto Bismal in my future, as I could not eat another thing for the next two days!
When I look back on the prevalent family attitude, it was far from holy or reverent. Now, I find that it is all too ironic,that as an adult, I have sharply reduced my eating of any meat without any overtones of religious persuasion … but that would involve another sermon on world hunger, ecology, and proper nutrition…
Needless to say, much of the original intent, the symbolic and spiritually based reasoning behind Lent was never adequately explained, and that has resulted in generations of people playing out empty, self-defeating rituals. So I have had to ask myself, if there is any lasting value in Lenten remembrance for us today, if so, what might it be?

As I see it, the lasting principle found in a sincere Lenten observance is the time when each of us can reflect on having more personal motives and consequences, and the human need to learn greater objectivity and self control. Stripped of its pious baggage, Lent can become a time, for setting new priorities for one’s life, and for cultivating purposeful actions that free us from any negativity, and that assist us in accomplishing our higher goals.
Many of us who shared a similar dutiful childhood, and as a consequence, later, as adults, we have become religious liberals because we balk at the imposition of sanctions and limits, especially when enforced by some restrictive irrational and unexplainable moral code. However, when these disciplines are of your own devising, we can use them to focus our willpower and to develop greater inner peace and self-control. Rather than just going the way of all of our inner cravings, Lent can be a time to remedy or reduce these faulty inclinations all of us have, and we can apply ourselves to the task of greater self understanding.

I believe that every one of us has some demon or habit or character trait that is unflattering, that has to be faced and overcome. Therefore, because it is human and universal, there can be no judgment nor room for arrogance; no need for any lasting remorse or endless regret. Instead, Lent can be that personally bestowed gift of time and focus we give to ourselves to help us clarify and release the emotional or personal struggles any of us, and all of us might have.
In truth, we must, in some measure, agree or be willing to accept the consequences of some behavior in order to continue it. Even if that conduct is self-defeating, risky or unhealthy, we have to agree to it or else it would soon disappear. In that way, Lent is a time to reacquaint yourself with your own limits and to energize your own potentials and to begin positive steps towards growth, freedom, and greater awareness.
And yes, sometimes what we are faced with are issues and problems in our lives that are unsettling, awkward, and often damn difficult! Yet, that self admission is no grounds for being severe, hateful, or unkind toward yourself or any one else. These steps toward greater responsibility and freedom for one’s mind, body and spirit, for one’s health, relationships, and ideals, bringing us to of humility and to the advocacy of compassion. As Jesus put it, “Only those who are without sin can cast stones.”

As I see it, to live, is to be involved in a continual, evolutionary and ethical process, for each person has to deal honestly with their personal banes and come to know and be grateful for their individual blessings. Each of us has to understand how, or in what ways they might need to explore, change, or transform their lives.
I would propose two healthful measures that have been useful to me. They come from two diverse sources: from training in Gestalt therapy, and from training in Buddhist philosophy. The Gestalt or psychological format asks us to appraise our behavior patterns without censure. It simply states that we are to evaluate our feelings and actions by whether they are nourishing or toxic to us.
When behavior is nourishing, it give us dignity, awareness, understanding and self-respect. When because is toxic, then it is harmful to our self-esteem, our health, our families, to our well-being. I find that to be a simple and effective measure or standard to apply for greater self-awareness that is free of punitive conclusions and self righteous moral judgments.
The second guideline I would recommend is from Buddhist teachings. It emphasizes justice and sobriety, balance and the avoidance of excess; be it dietary, financial, relational, mental or physical. It states that we are to act without any feelings of self-denial nor act in ways that are self-indulgent. We are simply, to think ethically, act soberly, and speak broadmindedly. It emphasizes justice over judgment, equity over imbalance, moderation in thought, feeling and behavior. In this way, our tendencies and habits, problems and pressures, do not or will not control or victimize us. It can be summarized as this: That it our shared human need to establish inner personal guidelines so that we can overcome our actions that can lead to addiction- which is simply defined as the human tendency to try to get too much of what we don’t truly do not need.
This Lenten season, try to take some time each day to reflect on various virtues and principles you would like to see manifest in your lives. Then look at your lifestyle, your choices, your patterns for living and then try to notice if there is anything that could use some improvement, some further balance, some greater empathy and understanding.
Be willing to examine your goals- decide for a more positive, creative, and inspired approach to living. Maybe you can begin to keep a dream log, start a journal, or an exercise program, attend a class, or be aware of how your sacred intentions or prayers can bring new insights and empowerment to you with persistent progress.
And remember to begin soon, because according to the consensus of opinion in psychological circles, it takes at least three weeks to break a negative habit, establish new learning, or develop a lasting initiative that can span this Lenten season.

Lent can become a holy time- a gift your give to yourself as a time when you can discover who and what you are, and with inner guidance and grace, all that you can truly be.
Amen, So Be it!

Towards A New View of Lent:
Giving up what… to get… What?
Chalice Lighting:
There is a tale for Lent that comes from a far-off place… One day, the Devil decided to close up shop in a certain part of the world, and so he decided to hold a fire sale and an attitude auction. Some evil people were pleased to get his tools like fear, ignorance and prejudice and be able to play his infernal games at half price…
But one person seeking to be more spiritual and caring, wandered into the shop. Intensely curious, he looked around at all the tricks of deception and the tools of malice, until he spotted the quality on the highest shelf that had the highest price. Boldly, he asked the devil what that quality was, and why was it so expensive. The devil replied, “That is discouragement. Why is it so expensive? That’s simple. It’s my favorite. With the tool of discouragement, I can pry into any person or any group and cause all kinds of havoc and damage.”

Let us light the chalice this morning for hope, for compassion, for the courage to look deeply at ourselves. By not being discouraged by life’s challenges, we uncover the diamonds among the dust, to find new insights and opportunities, and learn how best to accept ourselves as being love-worthy, just, and kind.

Invocation/Opening Words:
Our religious world seems to governed by two kinds of people with two different attitudes; there are those who love only themselves, and then have a disdain for God or goodness, and there are those who love God or goodness, but depreciate themselves. In truth, we can only truly love and appreciate ourselves as we love and as we appreciate God or what is good. St. Augustine -adapted

Children’s presentation: Believe it, Achieve it!
How many of you know about Star Wars?
Here is a lesson from Luke Skywalker to each of you… In the Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke flies his X-wing star-fighter to a swampy planet on a personal quest. He landed safely, but his jet got stuck in the swamp and soon it started to sink. There he seeks out a Jedi master named Yoda to teach him all the secrets in becoming a Jedi warrior. Luke wants to free the galaxy from the oppression of the evil tyrant, Darth Vader.
Yoda reluctantly agreed to begin to train Luke and started by teaching him how to lift small rocks with his mind, just by thinking about them. Then, one day, Yoda instructed Luke to lift his space jet out of the swamp, where it had sunk. Luke complained that lifting rocks is one thing, but lifting his star-fighter is quite another matter! But Yoda insisted. Luke makes a quick valiant attempt, but fails in his attempt.
Yoda then focuses his mind, and lifts the star-fighter up out of the swamp with ease! Luke, being discouraged, exclaimed, ” How did you do that?” I don’t believe it!”
Yoda replied, “exactly. That’s why you couldn’t lift it yourself. You didn’t believe that you could.”

A Personal Lenten Remembrance : Ash Wednesday 1959
It was a damp, dreary and cold afternoon as I recall. Like many others, I knew we were dutifully on our way to church. It was a gray, late February day that was to begin another long Lenten season. It was Ash Wednesday, a somber day. We, the fearful and the faithful, assembled in the church, sitting in the foreboding shadows. Together, one could almost hear a dull, aching sigh come from our collective hearts. It was Lent; the time for inward sadness, a time when our spirits could become sullen and cold.
As I watched the others awaiting their turn to receive their mortal mark, I could feel the awkward tension, a deep desire among the people not to be there, yet there was this equally strong compulsion, a feeling of being riveted to this necessity and it s tradition.
Soon it was my family’s turn to kneel before the priest. Slowly, ever so reluctantly, each shuffled obediently up to the altar rail. People, feeling ever so small, wearing the lines of remorse and regret across their faces, knelt with apprehension. I began to hear the ominous words pronounced over each person as their foreheads were blackened with the charred ash of last year’s palms, to seal our human fate.

“Thou are dust,” The crucifix, the terse look on the priest’s face, the smell of ash in the damp chilly air, assaulted my senses and make my mind spin with questions. What was I to do? My indecision decided for me- an insistent nudge and I was before the priest.
Our eyes lock briefly in a severe stare. He stood over me and pronounced those awful words that hurt my ears. With a hard, cold imprint, he left a black smudge on my forehead- as a symbolic death mark within this time of self scrutiny and mourning. This was our mark of Cain, the imprint of our fleshly curse, all from a pessimistic church doctrine of control that enforced the belief that life must achieve death to allow the soul to be released from this all too weary world.

For a long while in my life, and before I sought to redeem and resolve those life experiences into the wisdom that would free me, because each Lenten season, I could easily recall those times of early anguish and negative emotional intensity. As I have worked to release myself in adulthood and provide others with new rituals that affirm positive meanings, I can begin to gain insight and value from the 40 days known as Lent. I am glad to be freed from any mandatory observances, and can welcome its arrival more each year as a time for thoughtful reflection, and a precious time when I could add to and deepen my self-understanding, personal growth and emotional healing.
Lent, this year, ends the wintry days of my soul. It begins to speak to me of new hopes, not far off. It is a time for preparing new beginnings, as surely as the Spring will soon emerge with its greening energy around me.
Yes, it is the time of Lent. …
May I continue to learn, ripen, deepen and discover more from it each year. May our collective hearts no longer groan, but become renewed through the message of becoming more soulful, compassionate and loving toward ourselves and others. Through reflection on our lives, Lent will help to make us ready for the next days of Spring, and living more fully in an increasing light.

Benediction/Closing Words:
Self-control- against which there is no law; for through having empathy and understanding of our needs and desires, and through a more calm, objective and invincible caring for ourselves and others, that which is best in us, that is truly good for us, can be attained and realized.
Meditations on being a Parish Priest

Being A Drum Major

“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. Say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things in life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he is traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.”

Triple Evils

The Triple Evils of POVERTY, RACISM and WAR are forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle. They are interrelated, all-inclusive, and stand as barriers to our living in the Beloved Community. When we work to remedy one evil, we affect all evils. The issues change in accordance with the political and social climate of our nation and world. Some contemporary manifestations are in italics below.

POVERTY – materialism, unemployment, homelessness, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, infant mortality, slums…

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty … The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.” *

RACISM – prejudice, apartheid, anti-Semitism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia, ageism, discrimination against differently abled, stereotypes…

“Racism is a philosophy based on a contempt for life. It is the arrogant assertion that one race is the center of value and object of devotion, before which other races must kneel in submission. It is the absurd dogma that one race is responsible for all the progress of history and alone can assure the progress of the future. Racism is total estrangement. It separates not only bodies, but minds and spirits. Inevitably it descends to inflicting spiritual and physical homicide upon the out-group.” *

WAR – militarism, imperialism, domestic violence, rape, terrorism, media violence, drugs, child abuse…

A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war- ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This way of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” *

To work against the Triple Evils, you need to: develop a nonviolent frame of mind as described in the “Six Principles of Nonviolence”; and use the Kingian model for social action outlined in the “Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change.”

Source: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.

In a column of reflection on the American people and their politcal culture, journalist and political author, Thurston Clarke made this observation about our society… He said:

The last politican to risk a discourging word about our thin-skinned culture, about our behavior and our character as a nation was Robert F. Kennedy, forty years ago…
Writing in the New York Times ,condemning the Vietnam War he said this: ” Once we thought, with Jefferson, that we were the “best hope” for all mankind. But now we seem to have become something else.”
In California, he echoed these words when he said:
America had once stood for decency and for justice, for confidence and hope, but now we have become something else. Kennedy continued his cultural critique with this observation: There is a failing of national generousity and compassion, there is an unwillingness to sacrifice.”

Barak Obama (2008) picked up this theme of political and social introspection when he observed this:
” part of the reason (for our economic crisis) occurred because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. We all bear some responsibility for where we are now, as a country… And we bear our shared responsibilites for where we want to be in the future…

Homily/Reflection: Leadership and the Capacity for Hope 2009-

When addressing the young people of South Africa in 1966, Robert F. Kennedy made this observation about leadership and hope. It was the same passge that Ted Kennedy used at his funeral… It goes like this:

Some believe that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the array of the world’s ills. Yet many of the world’s great movements of thought and action have flowed from the work of a single person…

These individuals moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each person can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.

It is from numerous diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

… Those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mighiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

In part, one of the foundational reasons for a church community to exist is to be an active witness for justice; to be a compassionate alternative to inequality ; to be a voice proclaiming liberty and dignity, as birthrights; and to be a vigilant and insistent beacon of hope in an otherwise ethically dim, grimy, and often callous world.

As Time reporter Nancy Gibbs recently wrote about Obama, leadership, and the promising shift in political consciousness:

“Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope…..

We get the leaders we deserve. And if we lift them up and then cut them off, refuse to follow unless they are taking us to Disneyland, then no President, however eloquent, however historic his mandate or piercing his sense of what needs to be done, can take us where we refuse to go.

Scanning through all the media headlines, searching through various
political pundits, the only reality we can surmise is that he will give our nation a new, optimistic, and uplifitng new sense of direction… How do I know? I will take it from the President elect himself, when on the campaign trail in NH, last summer:
” We have been told that we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We been asked to pause for a reality check; we’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about having hope.”

There is nothing false about having hope! There is nothing weak about having a strong vision, and there is nothing timid about the necessity to lead by live up to one’s own values or sense of right…

Dr. King was far less concilliatory, far more strident, more insistent what his example does cogently life up for us is the dynamism of leadership, and the source and the force that authenticity gives to being a leader…

Reflection: MLK and The Qualities of Leadership

When a reporter once asked Dr. King about when he will stop in his war protests, or when he would stop standin gup for the poor, his response was this:

Sir, I am sorry that you do not know me. I am not a consensus leader. I do not determine what is right and what is wrong by looking at the budget… Or taking a Gallop poll.. Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus…

There comes a time when we must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but we must do it because conscience tells us it is right. …”

A Reflection of Your Image

I am your church, your congregation, your community , your family… Make of me what you will; I shall reflect you as clearly as a mirror. If outwardly, my appearance is pleasing and inviting, it is because you have made me so. If within my spiritual atmosphere is kindly, yet earnest; reverent, yet friendly; worshipful, yet sympathetic; it is but the manifestation of the spirit, outlook, and attituides of those whom belong to me.

But if you should, by chance, find me a bit cold, or dull, I beg of you not to condemn me, for I imitate the kind of life I receive from you. Of this you may be assured, I will respond instantly to your every wish that is practically and humanly expressed, for I reflect the image of your own soul. Make of me what you will.

On Life’s Purpose by Henry David Thoreau

I wish to begin this [year] well; to do something in it that is worthy of it and me; to transcend my daily routine; to have my immortality now; in the quality of my daily life. May I dare as I have never done. May I attain to a youth never attained. I am eager to report the glory of the universe; may I be worthy of it, for it is [only] reasonable that we should be more worthy [of life] at the end of each year, than at its beginning.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

[Nobody ever finds a life worth living. One has to make it worth living. All the people to whom life has been abundantly worth living have made it so by [making] an interior, creative, and spiritual contribution of their own back to life and to others.
Is life worth living? Most people seem to think that is a question about the Cosmos, or about God. No, my friends, that is a question about the inside attitude of you and me.]

It’s Time

It’s time that we understand our role as stewards of this planet,
That we respect and honor the delicate balance of our world

It’s time that we realize, “We are all one people”,
That separateness is an illusion and that, in truth, we are all connected.

It’s time that we see past the veil of illusion called separateness,
and understand just how connected we really are,

That we are all made from the same substance of the universe,
and by harming another we are only harming ourselves.

It’s time that we see past the color of one’s skin or the name of one’s God,
That we realize we are merely traveling parallel paths leading up the same mountain.

It’s time that we stop searching for happiness outside ourselves,
That we turn our attention inward and tune into the calm peace of our soul.

It’s time that we take responsibility for making the world a better place,
That we strengthen the foundation of our communities by being of good character.

It’s time that we ask, “how can I make a difference?”,
That we leave this world in a little better shape than when we arrived

It’s time that we listen to each other with empathy and compassion,
That we overcome the fear in our mind so that we can experience the love in our heart.

It’s time that we get past our ego and discover our innate spiritual essence,
That we realize our selfish desires and serve humankind unconditionally, with love.

It’s time that we “Love all, serve all”,
That we be at peace.

ITS TIME

Some Guidelines for Making New year Resolutions:

The basic ground rules for making effective and hope-filled resolutions is to avoid the extremes- to avoid making them too easy or too difficult. The first extreme asks too little or almost nothing more from us than going through the motions and being willing to receive a small satisfaction from their accomplishments. The other extreme of difficulty programs in failure, encourages disappointment, or excuse-making when most of us are in need of affirmation, more self knowledge, and a greater ability to empathize with what we most need to do for ourselves and our world. The best approach to resolution making is to choose ones that make us stretch, but that will not break us, resolutions that assist our growth and learning without intimidation or being too easy.
Some years, the tasks and resolutions we choose have a different theme or intensity to them. As a part of change, growth, and the cycles of our human experience, some years our resolutions will be intensely personal. Other times in our lives, our resolutions will be more community based or motivated by larger aims and goals. Some years will focus on personal behavior, relational shifts and changes, or career objectives. However you choose them or will choose to express them to yourself and to others, there can become an indication of what will be happening in your life this year.

As an exercise in fulfilling our hopes and dreams, be sure to choose no more than 3 things you wish to focus on in the coming months… Be sure to make your goals workable, and with sincere effort, attainable so that you can avoid unnecessary discouragement or failure…

Enlist the support of role models and trusted advisors… While receiving support and guidance from your family and friends, that choice is not without its hazards! In some of the latest studies, as just one example, having fat friends or chubby family members, helps you to gain weight! Unless you choose a “buddy” system, where both family members or friends commit equally to the goals, it could derail your best personal plans!

Choose people you truly admire, or people whose accomplishments are in the area you are trying to achieve, let them inspire you! Consult experts in the designated area, be they organizational people who help you with clutter or work routines, or nutritionists, or family therapists, or clergy and other spiritual guides… The best guidelines is this: If they have been able to do it for themselves, they will be better coaches or guides than if they only have the right words…

Lastly, no matter how you decide on change, growth, awareness, etc., in the final appraisal or result, its up to you- your perceptions, discipline, understanding, strength, etc…… Please remember, change or improvement is no an easy journey… there are often some side steps or fall backs along the way…. Don’t quit! rest and relax… take some time off if you need to, but stay with your vision of yourself, and the goals your heart wishes to attain! Blessings!