A Few Interfaith Expressions of Gratitude

And when the darkness comes, and with it the cold, let us remember where the warmth can be found- in being together, as families, as friends, as a community…

Let’s us dedicate our time together this day to know that we stand in the dark of an unknown, yet seeking a certain abundance, if we allow our hearts to warm and inform us…

Before being flung out into the season of cold and darkness, let us give thanks for the light and the warmth we can bring to one another…. PEL

 

Some World Religious Prayers and Reflections

I thank Thee, Lord, for knowing me better than I know myself… Make me, better than others suppose that I am, and forgive me for what they do not know about me… Amen   Islamic Prayer

I am thankful that all the darkness of our world, has not put out Thy light… Anonymous

May all Thy children unite, in one fellowship, to do Thy will, with a perfect heart… Ancient Hebrew prayer

 

For rest and the shelter of the night

For health, for food, for love and for friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends…

We are grateful! AMEN

R.W. Emerson

 

adapted from A Native American Blessing

Let us not forget that there would be no Pilgrim holiday, no Thanksgiving in North American culture, if it were not for the Native Americans…. From the story and myth of the first Thanksgiving we are told of a coming together of Native Americans and Pilgrims from Europe, and how they put aside cultural differences, their religious prejudices, and any fear of the unknown or any xenophobia, and they sat down to eat together, thereby practicing interfaith hospitality, cooperation, and peace.

It is out of respect for the Native Americans, that I now offer this Offertory prayer:

Let us, for this moment, become aware of the beauty of our lives, and the grace that attends to beauty…. Grandfather, we are thankful for the gifts of the Sun, and Grandmother, for the gifts of the Earth … We give thanks for the times of meaning, the times of purposes, our times together…

Let us reflect on our struggles and how they have enabled and ennobled our growth; If we but shut our eyes, even for a moment, we can awaken to wonder;

And then we see with new eyes, the land, the sea, the creatures, one another…

And if we can feel a sense of gratitude, that grace will grow corn in our hearts, then we know beauty, then we know you, O Great Spirit … Ah Ho…

Matake Owassion- We are all connected to the earth… We are all relations…..

 

Come, O Lord and sit with us.

May our talk, Glow with peace;

Come with your love to surround us.

　

 

An Interfaith Thanksgiving Prayer:

God of Love,We pray that we may be truly grateful for the many, many blessings we enjoy this day. The air we breathe, the fresh water to quench our thirst, the beauty of this world where we live.

In the world around us there are many who are hungry, some without homes, suffering health problems, experiencing war, lonely and without direction.

We pray for your guidance and protection for those people who are giving of their time and money to help these hurting people.

We pray for our service men and women who are giving their time and even their lives serving their county working to make a better place in your world for thousands of people. We ask for protection for us and our country.

Guide us towards peace.

We ask your blessing on the food that has been prepared for us.

Thank you for the hands that have prepared it.

Help us to live a life of cheerfulness and have faith in all that is good.

May we be worthy of your love. Amen

 

　

　

From Shinto teachings, we are given this reflection that finds a spiritual resonates throughout the world faiths:

All life is given to us by God; lent to us enough to last lifetimes… Nature, our bodies, the sun by day and the stars and moon by night- all are freely given to us by God…

As gifts that are intimate and ultimate, they contain qualities that are eternal; they are given freely and deserve our respect and our gratitude.

So much of our lives we can take for granted- so much we can treat harshly,, we gratefully recognize God’s world of human compassion and kindness, the gifts of making and giving, where our best and most constant response is “Thank you”

 

A Composite or Inclusive Prayer

Life consists of daily and lifelong blessings… How could we exist without the favor, the kindness and the gifts of everyday life that God bestows on us ? Even when we fail to recognize it clearly, how could we exist for even a day, a night, an hour of the next moment without God?

As the Suras teach us, God is closer to us than our juggler vein, and there is a Pakistani prayer that speaks of how we owe our very existence to God’s grace. The oldest prophet in Hebrew writings, Job, declares that it is the Spirit of the Almighty that gives us life, and as Solomon advises, it is wisdom that teaches us humility, reverence, and thanksgiving…

In The Bhagavad Gita, we are given our assurances:

Those that seek Me will see me; they will see Me everywhere… So it is that I will never be out of sight, out of touch… I will always be nearby… I will never lose my hold, even when you feel that difficulties in your life make you feel as if you had let go…

The Early Christian Coptic Church recognized our need for one another and the gratitude that can be found in belonging to a group that honors the God of many names, for a community does not exist without a sense of mutual respect and a sense mutual gratitude for being together.

St. Cyril writes:

The blessings of God rest upon all those who have been kind, upon all those who care about their sisters and brothers in their faith and on those who seem to live outside faith’s door. The blessings of God extend themselves from every kind heart- towards those who serve God from many faiths, many directions.

So as we gather today, we ask our merciful God, to reward their faithfulness and compassion as living proof, that we understand their holy books, and that we are growing in our understanding of You. AMEN

PEL

　A grateful attitude is a creative one, because, in the final analysis, opportunity is the gift within the gift of every moment– the opportunity to see and to hear and smell and touch and taste with pleasure.

 

There is no closer bond than the one that gratefulness celebrates- the bond between the giver and the thanksgiver. Everything is a gift! Grateful living is a celebration of the universal give-and-take of life, a limitless yes to belonging.

Can our world survive without gratefulness? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: To say an unconditional yes to our mutual belonging of all beings will make this a more joyful world. This is the reason yes is my favorite synonym for God.”

Brother David Stendahl-Rast OSB, Ph.D.

　

 

 A circle of friends is a blessed thing.

Sweet is the breaking of bread with friends.

For the honor of their presence at our table

We are truly grateful O God.

Thanks be to Thee for the friendship shared;

Thanks be to Thee for the food prepared;

Bless the Cup; Bless The Bread;

May God’s blessings rest on each and every head! AMEN

Walter Rauschenbusch Protestant Theologian

 

O great Spirit; Creator and source of every blessing;

We gather to pray that you will bring peace to all our sisters and brothers in this world.

Give us wisdom to teach our children how to love, how to

respect, and how to be kind to one another.

Help us to learn how to share our world, and how to share all the good things that you have always provided for us.

Bless all who have come here, to eat with us today; especially our children who are the hope of a new world and a more peaceful future.

We ask for your help in being just, being unselfish; being kind- for the world needs to honor differences and to discover

how best to live cooperatively and compassionately- to live together, praising God with an open heart.                         Anonymous

Notice, that the more you become a connoisseur of gratitude, the less you are a victim of resentment, depression, or despair. Gratitude can transform us into being generous and loving beings… The sense of gratitude produces a genuine alchemy- a change of heart that is good for the largeness of one’s soul. …   Sam Keen

 

During this time of the year, Jews from every nation and sect gather together in their temples and synagogues to celebrate Yom Kippur– The Day of Atonement. This day is the highest and holiest day in the Jewish religious year; it is a day of prayer, reflection, and fasting. It observance marks the end of the 10-day New Year period that started with Rosh Hashanah. It is the year 5768 by their traditional calendar which is considered to be the first day of the Creation, and it is when a record of the soul of the Jewish people began.

It is a time that is greeted with solemnity and gratitude, for Yom Kippur prepares and proclaims a special oath, covenant or promise. The promise is twofold: That we can come closer to the presence of God in our lives, and that we are assured of the forgiveness of our sins. This twofold promise translates into a twofold theology much akin to our traditional understandings of a Unitarian God and a Universalist doctrine of salvation.

The Jewish people, according to Evelyn Underhill, the renown religious scholar, states that:

The Jewish soul, as it discloses itself to us in its records, was,

from the beginning, peculiarly sensitive to God.”

As recorded, these early Jews possessed a rare and almost absolute devotion to the leadership of Yahweh. This dedication, expressed through its sacred holidays and ritual observances, became the focal point and the rhythmic life’s blood of the Israelite society. This devotion to their God and the noble almost defiant resolve they maintained even through many centuries of persecution, created a unique and intimate relationship of a people with their God, which was then collected into inspirational and ethical teachings that became known as the Hebrew Scriptures. These writings and subsequent Rabbinical commentaries created the picture of a people with a distinctive moral fiber. It is a quality of fiber that, when it was woven together, understood and practiced, gave each believer a spiritual and ethical quilt of meaning and purpose for their whole lives.

The twofold message of the Jewish understanding and practice during Holy Day of Yom Kippur finds its greatest and most lasting meaning in the atonement and in the forgiveness of sins. This outlook and commitment becomes for us, the key point for our understanding and for our appreciation of the Jewish religion as a whole– to understand how, and in what way, forgiveness and absolution are given and received.

Yom Kippur demonstrates our universal human need for the both reverence and repentance; that without a willingness to devote yourself to something and/or someone, and to the equally important need or willingness to accept each other’s brokenness and trials, and to offer forgiveness, we humans can easily give in to sins of self importance, vanity and pride, and miss the opportunity to live our lives with inner peace.

This reciprocal ideal is the basis of Judaism. It translates directly into the later Rabbinic wisdom of Jesus, and helps to form the basis of Christian thought and making its way down to us as the roots of our Western standards for morality.

Originally, in the era of Jewish history that predates the establishment of the local temple or synagogue, animals sacrifices were substituted for personal repentance. Not until the later time of the Prophets, did the concern for individual conscience take priority over the group consensus.

In those earlier times, a bundle of sticks would be attached to a goat and then the goat was either sacrificed or sent off into the wilderness. Each stick represented a known or confessed sin, and symbolically, the animal carried them all away, thereby absolving the sins of the transgressors. This practice was the origin of the term- scapegoating: It was a ritualistic way of transferring or projecting the flaws and sins, the guilts, fears and shames of a tribe, a group, or any family onto a sacrificial target so that the offending people can start again with a clean moral slate.

Now, as this practice has changed over the centuries of culture, this scapegoating procedure now primarily refers to projecting an excuse for rightful blame; We are all familiar with the therapeutic abuses of this practice… Such as in early Freudian understanding, we could indict our parents: ” I blame it all on my mother! Or as the great comic theologian, Flip Wilson, used to exclaim: : The devil, the devil made me do it!”

In a more convincing and compelling understanding of the practice of scapegoating states that it is a spurning of reality and responsibility for what we, as individuals, and as adults what we choose to do! Unfortunately, or tragically, we often scapegoat what we, as communities, groups, and nations are willing to deny and then accept about ourselves; What we are willing to tolerate from our leaders, or what we can easily justify and condone in our daily or social life! All the avoidance of personal and corporate responsibility negatively affects our interpersonal behavior, lowers our cultural reputation or can serve to corrupt our national consciousness. That might be the truth behind the popular statement: We get the government we deserve!

Back to the development of the idea of forgiveness…

Historically, when worship became more localized in temples and synagogues, the expiation of sins and trespasses that a person had to atone for became more individual and communal. In this shift of emphasis, the faithful would enter the place of worship and be instructed to be quiet, to meditate and to rest or to wrestle as they continue their introspection.

They were told to fast from food, and more importantly, to fast from their frantic pace of life in order to allow space in their thought … To give themselves a space and a time for reflection … To give themselves more time to the consider their lives and to appraise or evaluate their current motives and ethical directions. This thoughtful, thorough, and sometimes agonizing assessment of one’s behavior, ethics, and values would eventually lead the person to a heartfelt contrition.

This time, having been set aside at the beginning of the Jewish New Year, holds many valuable lessons for us today. Jew and Gentile, agnostic or mystic alike, can each benefit from an examination of their values, their goals, their ways of relationship, and to evaluate those areas of their lives that are in need of improvement or redirection. It is time set aside to recognize their next steps, their best steps towards wholeness.

Like the devout Jew, we can find profound benefit in a periodic personal and communal struggle to find workable answers, and in the renewed willingness to resolve our own personal and communal shortcomings. Because of the power and the benefit of this practice, modeled by Judaism for the world, I will ask you these introspective questions:

Do you give yourself least a day each year to take a good look at your life? When did you last take a moral inventory or give yourself a spiritual assessment or schedule an ethical check up?

When did you last consider your motives and acts, your habits and patterns, your vices and values?

Since cultivating both forgiveness and repentance are the central concerns for healing any lingering emotional problems any of us might have, how do you provide yourself with this opportunity?

How do you use your spiritual ideals and beliefs to examine your motives and values, so that you can let go, and free yourselves of any past negative patterns or difficult feelings?

When these problems plague us, it is often beneficial to express them in confidence, and with seriousness to a caring and appropriate person; someone who will understand you and place them in a healthy spiritual and/or psychological context for our greater understanding.

It is often problematic if or when we keep our feelings to ourselves, and then by our all too human tendencies, we wind up dwelling on them, so then they become intensified! Because such rehearsal can make us angry or bitter, in fact, it can paralyze us emotionally by becoming an obsessive concern and become, in our minds and hearts, overwhelming!

As I have learned personally and professionally, when we keep our negative feelings to ourselves, we can become attached to them- as it is said psychologically, we over-identify with our problems- so much so that we miss the whole purpose of letting go- of losing them and freeing or forgiving ourselves!

We can ask: How is it that you still find some value in holding on to the thoughts, feelings, or experiences that promote the three great spiritual and psychological poisons: Regrets, remorse, and lingering resentments? Ask yourself: How is that attitude working for you? How does holding on to it help you to live more completely and love more fully?

Now does that mean you should openly share everything, with everybody? You know, “wearing ones heart on one’s sleeve?” Or does it mean that we are to be so open that you allow the cruel and insensitive people in our world to dump on you? Does it mean because you have been hurt, you allow yourself to be used as someone else’s punching bag? Of course not! There is a definite need for privacy, and an abiding respect for disclosure and discretion, and that certain ethical boundaries should always be maintained. …

Additionally, and vital to our well being is this corollary: While we are encouraged to forgive, we are compelled not to forget what others do to us, but to use whatever the painful wisdom of those lessons have given us. By refusing to forget, we can promote self esteem and self respect by avoiding the tendency to fall into the same traps or patterns. As I see it and practice it, forgiveness and tough love effectively work together.

When forgiveness is taught as a genuine spiritual approach its full or lasting emotional benefit is not given through a quick pious formula or is to be used as a convenient rationale that gives easy permission for your ego to feel justified- and then keep on doing what it pleases- be it an addiction, a self punishment, or simply continuing to do anything that is hurtful to ourselves or to anyone else.

Forgiveness does not come from just bluntly airing your differences, or causally telling or complaining to someone about your troubles. Equally true, is that forgiveness surely does not come from just logging time in the pews, or sitting piously through a religious service, or from going through the enforced church instruction or the expected motions of repentance without truly understanding it deeply. It is not some pious magic ritual that gives you instant salvation or can satisfy you easily with some form of cheap grace.

In my research and understanding, in my life and professional practice, forgiveness has four general ways it expresses itself- two are self defeating and unproductive, and two are positive and in religious language, they are more redemptive.

Briefly, the less positive ways we express forgiveness center themselves on how and to what extent we will avoid conflict, try to keep the peace, etc., because we are afraid to lose the friendship or partnership, so we often too quickly forgive. …

We forgive without expecting a change in the behavior of those who have hurt you… Guess What? They will do it again!

The second self-defeating approach is found in the refusal to forgive- when we continue to rehearse the hurt, hold on to grudges, remain stuck or refuse to move on emotionally from slights and insults we all might receive over a lifetime…

The two more positive ways combine a willingness to forgive with the expectation of behavioral reform, or true contrition by the offending person. The first way is simply known as Acceptance. Accepting what has happened to us, knowing what our roles in it was, and understanding both the offense and the best response of wisdom and then moving or getting on with our lives. We have to accept that we might never receive a sincere apology, but we have learned from the situation, and now choose to let go…

The last approach is Genuine Forgiveness. It involves not holding a grudge, not lording over another in some pious way, but clearly expecting behavioral changes that restore trust and intimacy, that give or help to regain respect and equality to the person who is willing to offer forgiveness…

Forgiveness is accomplished only when it is understood in earnest, and then reinforced by one’s community’s or one’s personal and family values. Forgiveness is then affirmed in one’s heart or received by one’s conscience. And when it is genuinely experienced, it is a powerful and often transformative way to find a release from any burdens and toxic beliefs that troubled us for so long.

In the Kol Nidre Service, which comes at the culmination of the High Holy days, there is a prayer of forgiveness…

As it is a long prayer, I would like to share a short portion of it with you now…

If you have trouble with the concept of a God, please interpret it as Truth, Spirit, or the Source of whatever is good, right, fit or true for you…. you might like to sit quietly and use this as a prayer for yourselves, or just listen as it is an example of the Jewish promise of peace and release….

“[May it be your will, dear God, that I fall short or sin no more, that I do not revert to my old ways, that I do not cause anger or hurt by my actions.

Holy One, I ask that you wipe away any misdeeds that I might have committed with your great compassion. As it is said in the Psalms.... May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable before You, my God, my Rock and my Redeemer. Salat AMEN

So I ask you to understand that we are all in need of empathy, forgiveness, and respect; And even though you might wear the marks of physical pain, personal loss, some relational scars, or some secret shame, know, down to the depths of your being, that today you have been given a promise of release and relief upon your acceptance and repentance, and that the God or source of your understanding holds out its heart to you, and offers you this day, the soulful gifts of freedom and hope ....

So it is that my last thoughts on Yom Kippur for you is this: Shalom and Shalem... Peace and wholeness; peace and restoration ... May there always be enough... Enough forgiveness, justice, empathy and compassion for us all. So BE IT

　

　

Opening Words:

The irreverent and antiestablishment psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz encapsulates the teachings of forgiveness in these pithy and declarative words:

The stupid neither forgive nor forget

The naive forgive and forget

The wise forgive but do not forget....

Children and Forgiveness;

When we are young, we learn from our parents...

When we are older, we judge their actions...

And when we are old enough, and wise enough,

we learn to forgive them... . Adapted from Oscar Wilde

Closing Words:

"[We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Any of us who is devoid of the power to truly forgive, is also devoid of the power to truly love.

It is true that there is some good in the worst of us, and there is some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate, and more open to life and love.]” From Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hearing The Prophetic Call and Affirming The Prophetic Within Us

From the Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah: For surely you can know the plans I have for your good, and to rid you of any harm, and how I desire to give you a future and a hope… When you search for me, you will find me, if you seek me with your whole heart.

In our Western heritage, there are two main streams of thought and action that comprise the spiritual life. These two complementary and supplementary streams are the mystical or prayerful and the prophetic or the ethical. the first, the mystical, concerns itself with what theologians and mystics call sanctification, that is, the process whereby we can become or realize ourselves as being more godlike; the second path or stream within spirituality, the prophetic and the ethical centers on the need to promote justice and compassion, equality and truth within society and within ourselves. The modern mystic, Thomas Merton once described these two approaches to the Holy in these words: “[ Prayer is seeking a union with God through the path of personal transformation; justice is seeking the community of God through the path of social transformation.]”
Thomas Merton made this observation that comes from his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, in the chapter Truth and Violence,
page 83:
“Christian social action must liberate [man] from all forms of servitude, whether economical, political, or psychological. These words can be easily said. Anyone can say them, and [many well intentioned preachers over the centuries have!]

And yet, in the sake of liberty [man] is enslaved. He frees himself from one kind of servitude and enters into another. This is because freedom is bought by obligations, and obligations are bonds. We do not sufficiently distinguish the nature of the bonds we take upon ourselves in order to be free.
If I obligate myself spiritually in order to be free economically, then I buy into a lower form of freedom at the price of a higher one, selling my soul for the sake of money, and what money can buy.
Today, as a matter of fact, there is very little real freedom anywhere because everyone is willing to sacrifice [his or her] personal integrity
(spiritual liberty) for the sake of security, or ambition, or pleasure, and just to be left alone in peace.”

Today, I want to reintroduce you to the other side of being a spiritual person, that is, becoming the prophet. Being a prophet is simply defined as being willing to become a living testament to the need for change, and to be a vital witness for justice, peace, compassion and truth in your world, and in your life.
In general, prophets are the part of our Western religious heritage we find to be the most troublesome. They are the risk takers, troublemakers, radicals and conspirators against the status quo..( Hmmm.. come to think of it, they might feel right at home here, after all…) their targets have always been complacency, security, apathy, and ego-driven disobedience. One of the main purposes of the prophet is to reinforce that we are all in this world together- we are so interconnected as to our fate and our future that we can say that there is no personal salvation- there is only all of us or none of us.
We are reminded by them that the Kingdom or Queendom of God is the place for those who love, and for those who serve. The prophets emphasize that we are indeed our brother’s and our sister’s keepers, and that we are also stewards of the Earth, and all its gifts and resources. Prophets remind us that we are everybody else’s caregivers, lovers, and healers and that is as it should be in humanity- that we are all one, all equal, all a part of the family of God.

The way of the prophet is not always a gentle way, but it is always sincere and deeply committed to discovering and proclaiming that which is just and true. The prophetic stands defiantly- he or she makes the commitment to act fiercely as a warrior of the heart- to be uncooperative with oppression and evil, while remaining steadfastly compassionate towards those who have been oppressed, toward the truth of our humanity and the dignity and worth of all life.

Being a prophet, or more accurately, feeling called and then being wrenched out of your complacency and resistance’s to act courageously is not a gift that most people want or seek. It contains very little personal glory, but much heartfelt satisfaction. Usually, there is a large price to pay when one chooses God, and for the willingness to stand up for what one believes. Most often, the mark of a true prophet is found in one who won’t volunteer, who is not eager to serve, but found in someone who is reluctant. looking over the lives of these people, there is a good reason for this. Q: Who, in their right mind wants to put themselves out there in front of family, friends, the media, and then become an easy target for either ridicule or criticism?
And yet… something truly happens to those blessed ones, something inside them that to others seems like madness, and to the ordinary way people look at their strange demands- to follow God more closely, it does seem impractical, if not downright insane! From somewhere deep within them, they hear a call, something awakens them, and urges them to accept a divinely inspired mission. Then they are compelled to write, speak, and lead for righteousness sake- for the sake of humanity, for decency, for equality, for the need to establish justice on earth and among nations, among neighbors, and in our own households.
A prophet is constantly on guard and warns us about following or falling into any of the traps of conformity and comfort, routine or apathy and especially to the belief that we are helpless to create a better reality, a better world through our own actions. They advise us strongly, asking us to rally our convictions and our faith in ourselves and in God to prevention defamation, abuse, exploitation, and conflict. On a personal and a social level, they warn us against indulging in any passions or preoccupation’s, idols or addictions- anything that can act as a substitute or counterfeit spirituality. They implore us to stop any behavior that can take us away from identifying ourselves as connected, ethical, and responsible.
A prophet asks each of us to make choices- choices as if the reality, power and grace of God really mattered to you, and to how the world needs to change to respond to those blessings that truly sustain us. A prophet or prophetess is a man or woman whose mission it is to be very protective of their community, and reverent toward the Council of All Beings on earth. They are willing to be very effective, front-line workers for justice, dignity and equality for us all. They see themselves as protecting the value of maintaining a spiritual identity in a world that discourages any serious regard for it.

Are you a prophet, in waiting??? Let’s see…
The classical description of a prophet is the one we get from the Jewish examples in the Hebrew or Old Testament. It goes like this:
First, there is a call to one’s conscience- a compelling, and a welling up cry to come out and serve your God in the highest way you know how, or in a way that God will reveal to you…
Second, there is an assurance that you will never need to be afraid, for you are becoming a servant of a holy purpose, a channel or an instrument, a current for God’s desire to uplift and reform that which had been downtrodden, abused or enslaved.
Then, you are told what the task ahead is, and you might balk, and then finally see that the world has need of you and so you risk, reach out, and declare, in God’s name, what needs to be said and done.
Hear, now, the prophet’s call… God’s call to you… To each of us… Learn of its wisdom, look at your life, and prepare to heed its message and mission for you, and for the world you want to see…

You! You out there, sitting in those chairs! Come Out! Rise Up ! Be the person of God that you were meant to be !
Don’t be afraid… I will never give you a task or a responsibility that I feel is too big for you, and besides… you believe that with God you can do anything, don’t you? That one on my side, on the side of God is a majority!

I have a job for you… a simple task really… but it is also my special gift to you by which you can bless all your brothers and sisters , all your relations on this planet… I want you to be my voice, my heart, my hands…

Now, I warn you… expect to be misunderstood; you might be maligned, ridiculed, made fun of- but… Hey, it just goes with the territory… Human ego and human culture doesn’t like to be corrected, and both are very resistant to change! Read the Beatitudes again… especially that last part!

Besides, there is a certain kind of enjoyable freedom when people think you are crazy- you can get away with a lot, while still teaching them many things!
Speak earnestly and honestly… Speak from your heart… Offer the people a choice and a hope- ask them to change for the sake of their lives, for our children’s sake, for the planet, so that the Earth has a chance to heal…
Meet any resistance you find with courage- teach them the promise of justice; give them the belief in equality, ask them to work for dignity, and to never neglect the suffering they see.
Tell them to stop; stop cooperating with evil, stop being passive, letting sick and evil people in their lives control them or have it all their way. Stop playing it safe; stop trying to be secure in a sick society or secure in your own family dysfunctions. Stop being afraid of judgments; stop your soul-robbing addictions, and seek out a place for God as alive, strong, loving and free within you.
Know, above all, that you are precious to God and that God has need of you- and that the time for you to answer the Divine call and for making peace and justice come into really is here… And NOW. AMEN

Meditation: The Current
from Anthony De Mello’s Wellspring

I pray to God that the Divine will choose me and use me-creating in me a channel for holy love, justice, and peace.
Yet, two things that most prevent me from being a channel of God’s grace are noise and sin.

So I begin my journey God ward by first seeking the silence- learning to quiet all the chatter of my own mind, and to silence all those haunting thoughts and caustic words about not being good enough, not being worthy, honest enough or true.

Then I seek to cleanse my heart from sin- all those ways I have tried to keep hidden from God or that can pull me away from the love, freedom, and dignity I deserve. To free myself, I willingly surrender my feelings of resentment, anger, greed, and fear… and place them before God. I give over my feelings of apathy, false comfort, ease or security knowing that I am only true and secure and at rest when I am near to God and held close by those everlasting arms that also strengthen me. …

Now, being filled by that sense of release, and supported by God’s presence that rededicates my spiritual renewal, I begin to feel a stream of love, justice, and peace begin moving inside me; filling, flowing and flooding my being and then moving out in gentle ripples to touch everyone I know, everyone who is here with me… As this current grows, so does my heart enlarge itself with the courage to share these gifts with others, even those whom I disliked or had been hurtful toward me.

Finally, I let it flow abundantly, indiscriminately, to support and care for everyone of the living creatures on the Earth. For by this stream of justice and love, we are connected to every living being, all who have a need for dignity and freedom, and from our hearts we know that justice, healing, and love cannot be for just one, it has to be for every and all….. AMEN

A Story about Faith and Service:
“Closer to God? No greater than this…”
There once was a famous old Rabbi, known throughout Europe as a wonderful teacher. For his efforts, he received many accolades, yet he remained humble an unimpressed by them. He wore fine garments and received the admiration of many, yet he would disappear every afternoon for about two hours, and then return to the Temple as if by magic. They knew he was not there, but they never saw him leave, nor did they notice when he had come back.

One time, this great rabbi was given a student who was suspicious of his success. This student wanted to track all his comings and goings. Then, in a self-righteous tone, he proclaimed that he would report this rabbi to the chief rabbi and have him censored for his strange and unusual behavior. When the chief rabbi heard of what the student wanted to do, he said to him, “This is a good man, why do you question his activities? The young zealot replied, “people declare that he is almost perfect, that he occupies the second rung on the ladder of holiness, and that is blasphemy!” The chief rabbi heard this and then he reluctantly give the young student his permission to spy on the old rabbi, and to find out what he does when he is missing from the synagogue.
One day, the young student hid himself in the dim light and shadows of the rabbi’s room. When it came to 2 O’clock, the rabbi quietly went to his closet, opened the door, and took out some old, dirty, tattered and torn clothes, and began to undress from his fine linens and began to put on these old rags.
After he had covered himself with rags, he took some soot from the fireplace, and rubbed it against himself, then picked up an old sack, and walked to the servant’s door, opened it, and walked out into the town…
Curious and amazed, the young student followed him at a distance, careful not to let the old rabbi see him…
Eventually, the rabbi reached an old hovel, a shack on the edge of the forest. It was a place where the sick and the poor live.

Going inside, without a word, he began by sweeping and cleaning the floor. Then he began to build a fire for the night. After that, he started to make soup for those who were there with the food he had purchased and brought with him.
After he had finished, he stopped to say some prayers with the people, especially those who were halt and blind. And then he left, quietly, and returned to the temple, and changed his clothes.
The next day, he did the same thing, and the next, until the student saw that he did this every day and that the reason why people did not see him come and go was his tattered and dirty disguise.
Then the young student rushed over to the chief rabbi and told him everything that he had seen about what the rabbi was doing. Then he asked the chief rabbi , ” Is what people say about him true? that he is an almost perfect rabbi, and that he is on the second rung of the ladder to heaven?” and the chief rabbi said to him, ” O yes, its true, but I would place him even higher.”

Living in The Presence:
A Sample Spiritual Direction Dialogue

“What does it mean to live more spiritually?” Asked one of my former church members who had come in for her regular spiritual direction session with me. … Most often, she has arrived with a million things on her mind- all the usual list of duties or concerns- children, work, marriage, friends, church, etc., but today, it was different… I could sense that she was more pensive, introspective… Ready.
Once settled in her chair, she asked me the question again, “what does it mean to live more spiritually?” I paused for a moment, to listen… To discern and to make myself receptive to receiving a heartfelt reply. As I try to recall it, this is what I said:
“To live more spiritually is to be open to learning more about how best we can live in the Presence. ‘ She looked at me with a bit of a puzzled look, and offered a polite correction. “You mean to live in the present, right?” “No” I replied. I am sure that I did not get the two words confused.
After some silence, she asked, “What does living in the Presence mean?” I then offered an explanation:
“First we have to define and separate out what I mean from a lot of the New Age jargon. There is plenty of advice on the market today that urges us to live in the present moment- to avoid lingering over any regrets or not to be apprehensive about any future possibilities with their anticipatory anxieties. Over all, this is good advice… As far as it goes…

However, it still misses the mark, because it remains on the psychological level or the it only addresses the ego need for assurance and confirmation. To live spiritually, needs to have a transcendent dimension, and it requires an intimacy that often escapes our everyday awareness, or even the best of psychological advice. To incorporate, literally to enflesh the holy, asks us to be not only mindful, but also to realize our connection, our relationship to that which is larger and greater than oneself. Life and time cannot be reduced down to the feelings we need to affirm or the fears we need to avoid. Instead, consciousness, or the dimensions of the soul, are better understood as what kinds of connections we can make, what kinds of intimacy we can share, what ways life both transcends and includes the ordinary.”
She nodded cautiously, as if to agree while having her doubts…
She spoke to me about how she gets the basic idea, but is unsure about the connections I am referring to or how we can be connected to life on a deeper and larger scale. I tried to explain further:

“To be a spiritual person, is to know and be aware that there is a much larger reality that what either our culture or even our creative media proclaims. Being spiritual is , at its essence, being a warrior or being courageous enough to face one’s own darkness and welcome what those aspects of ourselves can teach us. Through our awareness we become personal alchemists- turning our personal lead into the gold of refined awareness, virtue, and values that promote compassionate connections to nature, to the world around us, to one another, and with ourselves. Being spiritual is a lifelong quest to follow the light of consciousness, to experience healing, and to foster a sustained sense of hope for the future.
It asks us to live beyond our discontents, and then live and breathe into new definitions of relational, being wise, being free yet responsible for the consequences of our lives- how we participate with others, how we function in culture, who we trust, how we love, and in what ways can we find the sacred dimension that exists in all that we say, touch, and do.
She responded with both delight and amazement.” Wow, that means whatever I call God is with me always!” “Yes!” I agreed. “But its also quite important that you do not unnecessarily limit what you mean by God, or restrict yourself to only a few ways that what is holy or divine can be known or understood. Some people will call this idea of God as Author or Source, Some prefer more classical language such as being Christ like, Krishna consciousness, Buddha nature, Holy Wisdom or Sophia. Whatever words you chose, they become the expression of your higher and deeper reality.
Whatever you desire to call it, this Love-Intelligence, is something real- a presence or a power, an energy or an effect that exists in you, around you, and can be felt when you are with others- be it your children, your lover, a close friend, or in a true spiritual community. Personally, I call this presence The Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of divine guidance and a Holy love.
(more dialogue ensues, and she speaks of a time when there was an intimacy with nature, when she experience a protective empathy or connection with the trees and fields around her childhood home…
” Yes, it often can come to us through an experience in nature, and yet, what is necessary is to realize that it is omnipresent, and that it is an omnipresence- always close at hand, IF we are willing and open to perceive it, invite it, welcome its presence within and among us. I am convinced that this is the way we humans come to experience whatever is holy or sacred in our relationships, and how it is that we can receive healing, assurance and peace.”
We ended our session shortly after this, taking some time in silence to retain what we have said, and how our words have affected us and how new ideas and realities have penetrated our awareness. She promised herself to take in these ideas more wholeheartedly, and to continue to aspire towards being open, inviting, and willingly receptive to these glimpses of grace…
As she walked out the door, my last words, as I have tried to recall them were these: “Living in the presence is not easy, but it is necessary for our spiritual and personal growth.”

After reading this sample session, I now invite you to reflect on these wise words from the Creation mystic, Meister Eckhart, who wrote:
“Spirituality is not found by taking flight from the world,
not by running away from things or feelings, but by running
into them, and running through them.
We must learn to connect ourselves to the Presence there,
no matter where we are or with whom. We must learn to
penetrate our layers of darkness in order to find our core,
our true selves. In order to find God to find peace and love,
abiding there.]”

My Relatives,
Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations, eventually all will be affect from the oil disaster in the Gulf.
The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make.
I asked, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies.
I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth. As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother Earth (our Unc’I Maka).
We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on.
As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life.
So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer. Along with this immediate effort, I also ask to please remember June 21st, World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether it is a natural site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your own sacred space, let us make a prayer for all life, for good decision making by our Nations, for our children’s future and well-being, and the generations to come.
Onipikte (that we shall live),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe