the sheen.

"He has come. He has given all there is to give, and he has done it because we need him totally. To understand this is to seek his glory and praise. It is to let the sheen wear off everywhere else."


-lisa fleischaker.

the gentle One.

this piercing gentleness.
this uncompromising pursuit.
this relentless reminder, 'I am here, I am here.'

oh Jesus, i do not deserve you.

gethsemane.

"Jesus said, wait with me. and maybe the stars did, maybe
the wind wound itself into a silver tree, and didn't move,
maybe
the lake far away, where once he walked as on a
blue pavement,
lay still and waited, wild awake.

oh the dear bodies, slumped and eye-shut, that could not
keep that vigil, how they must have wept,
so utterly human, knowing this too
must be part of the story."

-mary oliver.

mysteries, yes.

"let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

let me keep company always with those who say
'look!' and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads."

-mary oliver.

resources.

"our hunger for signifigance is a signal of who we are and why we are here, and it also is the basis of humanity's enduring response to Jesus. for he always takes individual human beings as seriously as their shredded dignity demands, and he has the resources to carry through with his high estimate of them."

-dallas willard.

every moment.

"to be grateful is to recognize the Love of G-d in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of G-d. for the grateful man knows that G-d is good, not by hearsay but by experience. and that is what makes all the difference."

-thomas merton.

living words.

"he (moses) was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on mount sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us..." -acts 7.

-----

living words.

words alive with the breath of God, the power of God, the wisdom and the promise of God.

words spoken long ago and carried for thousands of years, moving and creating and establishing and upholding until this very day.

words that do not return void.

words bound up in a holy book, every moment available to us.

LIVING WORDS.
LIVING WORDS.
LIVING WORDS.

the very words of GOD!

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow!

praise the L-RD,
praise the L-RD,
praise the L-RD!

113.

who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap.

praise the Lord.

psalm 113.

story.

"your story is that you have been created to praise and glorify God - all moral life derives from that truth."

-stanley hauerwas.

feast.

sin comes from the mistaken belief that God withholds goodness from us, that he hordes away blessing. but our God does not withhold. He opens up His arms with super-abundance. He wastes nothing.

this is made especially evident in the ceremony of the Eucharist, for in order to best articulate his message and work, Jesus did not leave behind a textbook, he left a meal.

in this world we may not be given all that we desire, but we most certainly have been graced with all that we will ever need. we are called to the communion table to eat and be satisfied, to FEAST on the goodness of God.

'this is my body, given for you...'

within the Eucharist we acknowledge and celebrate the fact that we are forgiven and that we are invited and that we are lifted up to the table of God.

our God does not withhold.

our God gives unto death,
and He loves, and loves, and loves.

'I am the bread of life. this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world...'

He beckons us to eat and be refreshed, to come to this mighty table full of joy, restoration, nourishment, light, and partake.

come.
taste.
see.

taste and see that the God of this world is so very GOOD.

(thoughts from the teachings of ian morgan cron).

bound.

I have loved you with an everlasting love. -jeremiah.

I have led you into the wilderness, where I spoke tenderly to you. -hosea.

My loyalty will never move from you. -isaiah.

I have betrothed you in faithfulness and grace. -hosea.

I have summoned you by name,
you are mine. -isaiah.

2012.

the Lord is gracious and righteous;
full of compassion.

when i was in great need, He saved me.

in my anguish, i cried out to the Lord,
and He answered by setting me free.

be at rest once more, o my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

excerpts, psalms 116, 118.

i will wake the dawn.

my heart is fixed, O Lord;
my heart is firm;

i will sing, i will chant a hymn.

awake, oh my soul!
awake!

i will wake the dawn.

i will praise You among the peoples, O Lord;
i will sing a new song to You among the nations;

for Your loyalty is as high as heaven,
Your forebearance reaches to the sky.

-psalm 57.

forgiven.

"then he turned toward the woman and said to simon, 'do you see this woman? I came into your house. you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. you did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time that I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. you did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - as her great love has shown. but whoever has been forgiven little loves little." -Messiah Jesus, luke 7.

----

"but to me this is a slight matter, that i am judged by you or by any man. i do not even judge myself." -brother paul.

----

"be strong in the grace of Jesus." -brother paul.

here am i.

i want to be like elijah,
full of zeal.

i want to be like isaiah,
undone by the high and holy vision of God,
answering, 'here am i.'

i want to be like leah,
turning my wounds into praise.

direction.

"no other area of observance required such strict adherence to formalities as the ritual at the temple in Jerusalem. the description of the rules and customs according to which the ceremonies of sacrifice were conducted occupies almost a whole section of the mishnah. significantly, however, the two main tractates of that section begin with a statement about the inner attitude of the priest, stressing the principle that the validity of the ceremony depends first of all upon what goes on in the mind of the priest. having set forth all the minutiae of the priest's performance, the editor of the mishnah resumes the original principle and concludes the second tractate with a statement that almost sounds like a proclamation:

'it amounts to the same, whether one offers much or little - provided one directs his heart to heaven.'"

-abraham joshua heschel.

to make alive.

"I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is broken in spirit, to make alive the heart of the crushed." -the Lord, isaiah 57.

כִּי כֹה אָמַר רָם וְנִשָּׂא, שֹׁכֵן עַד וְקָדוֹשׁ שְׁמוֹ--מָרוֹם וְקָדוֹשׁ, אֶשְׁכּוֹן; וְאֶת-דַּכָּא, וּשְׁפַל-רוּחַ, לְהַחֲיוֹת רוּחַ שְׁפָלִים, וּלְהַחֲיוֹת לֵב נִדְכָּאִים.

Blessed are You, Oh LORD our God, Master and King of the Universe, for You keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. (amen).

"but now comes the greatest wonder that the world has ever known. in the very place where we have fallen away from God, where we have become dead and unreceptive to God, in our guilt, God's goodness searches us out, and is revealed to us again as the eternal promise of God, in Jesus Messiah, which far surpasses all guilt and all life. only the person who, in the darkness of guilt, of unfaithfulness, of enmity towards God, has felt himself or herself touched by the love which never ceases, which forgives everything, and which points beyond all misery to the world of God, only such a person really knows what God's goodness means."

-dietrich bonhoeffer.

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as God slowly leads me away from my murky fog of guilt into the piercing and gentle light of Jesus, my soul begins to live and move and find its being in His atmosphere of goodness.

and my heart beats, He is good, He is good, He is good.

amen.

undeserved.

A truth so universal: God is One.
A thought so consoling: He is with us in distress.
A responsibility so overwhelming: His name can be desecrated.
A map of time: from creation to redemption.
Guideposts along the way: the Seventh Day.
An offering: contrition of the heart.
A utopia: would that all people were prophets.
The insight: man lives by his faithfulness; his home is in time and his substance in deeds.
A standard so bold: you shall be holy.
A commandment so daring: love thy neighbor as thyself.
A fact so sublime: human and divine pathos can be in accord.
And a gift so undeserved: the ability to repent.

-abraham joshua heschel.

words.

"my heart is astir with gracious words; i speak my poem to my King..."

the Word wraps itself and manifests itself amid human bone and sinew.

we are born into LIVING HOPE.

we shout. we sing. we dance and leap for joy.

the time has come.
the kingdom is near.
the whole earth is filled with the brightness of His glory.

Blessed are You, Oh Lord our God, who causes salvation to flourish.