Shining Spirit

Light takes many forms,
just like the containers that hold it.
Tall, short, slender, chubby, prominent,
in the background.  But Light fills them all,
well, almost all.  And even when you
feel like Light has gone out, you’ve got lots of
Light around  you…the same flame in others who
are there to comfort, encourage, console, and to share
their Light so that you may shine once again.
It’s call Community, the Community of the Light,
the Body of Christ.
Let your Light shine so that others may know,
and if your Light grows dim or vanishes,
don’t worry.  We’re here.

A new decade just around the corner?
You bet.  Hang on.  Life gets more interesting every day.

Through all the mountain tops and the dark valleys of 2019,
it is good to acknowledge some of life’s consistencies.  Like
family, friends, church…there are too many inconsistencies to name,
and inconsistencies are not our focus, anyway.
We are people of the possible.
So I encourage you to take a look at 2019 with a sense of curiosity
and gratitude.  Cherish the good.  Learn from the not-so-good.
But in all things be thankful.
Bring with you into the new year the strengths you developed
in the past months, the hope that sustained you, and
a determination to cause good to happen in the months ahead.
Do these things to honor the One who calls you forward
and for the blessing of your neighbor.

And have a bowl of black-eyed peas on me.

The rosebud has the inherent ability to become a
beautiful rose.  Bud to blossom.
It’s a rose now, but its full development
is yet to come.

So it is with human beings, with me and you.
We have the seed of possibility planted within us by our choice
to follow the Way of Jesus.  The seed awaits the nurturing,
but that is our responsibility.  No one can make the nurturing
decisions for me.  No one can take the practical steps that lead
to the fullness that Jesus promised.  We have received a precious gift,
but now it is time to unwrap it.  Imagine carrying one of your
Christmas gifts around all year without unwrapping it.

We have the gift, the ability, the resources, even the
clear instructions to become “children of God.”
Great joy, insight, wisdom await our efforts
to blossom into the spiritual beauty that
is our inherent nature.
Go for it!

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name,
he gave the power to become children of God.”
John 1:12

“And what does the Lord require of you?
Do justice.
Love kindness.
Walk humbly with God.”
So says the prophet Micah.

The best time to begin is now.
Christmas Eve, 2019

If you look closely you will see a little
“flaw” here and there.

Nothing is perfect.
No one is perfect.
So, don’t try to be.

Just be your beautiful self!

Sometimes the edges of night are indistinct, like a
muffled sound or a photograph slightly
out of focus.  Shadows play tricks.
Things are not exactly as
they seem.

Clarity wears no badge of certainty,
I have been clearly wrong.
Precision can be a guess with a PhD.
But what of love?
“Perfect love casts out fear”
“Love is patient and kind.”
“The greatest of these is
love.”

But love loses something in the transmission
from perfection to people.
I am the problem,
a cracked container.
You, too?

My hope is for my cracks to be mended;
is that what redemption is about?
Is that the Story and the final
solution?
But what if love was never meant to be
stored in perfect containers?
What if I’m supposed to leave a trail of it
behind?
Maybe to be fully human is to have a chip or two,
and a crack here or there
in order for Love to nourish a thirsty creation.
What if redemption is not patching for perfection,
but refilling again and again
for a walk in the world?

Roger Pierce  December 13, 2019

Soaring Spirit
help me today to rise above
all pettiness and hurtful words.
May my motives be honorable,
my actions consistent with what I say.
May I be aware of comfort needed
and then provide it,
sensitive to my neighbor’s need
and respond with helpful hands
and a willing spirit.
May I forgive as I am forgiven,
love as I am loved.
Amen

Here is your day.
It is beginning to unfold into something
beautiful and fragrant.
It has the potential to bless those
who pass by and to announce
that in the midst of divisive voices,
amazing things can happen.
Treat the day thoughtfully.
Tend the unfolding beauty.

Spirit that watches through the night,
I wake with gratitude for your presence
as I slept in peace.  I rise to meet this day
with confidence in your counsel and in your
compassionate indwelling.

Lead me into the brightness of day.  Guide my feet and
my mind into ways that are just and true,
my hands to extend sacred caring and helping
service.

When I turn out the light tonight, may I gladly
affirm this day shared with you,
source of all that is good and
all that is possible.

Take my hand now as I rise to meet the breaking dawn.
Walk with me side by side, lest I lose my way.

Amen

“So I pray that God, who gives you
hope, will keep you happy and full of peace
as you believe in him.  May you overflow
with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Hope is falling all over the place this early morning.
Downspouts are gurgling, puddles dot the asphalt street,
it sounds like the Rocketts are dancing on the skylights.

I am happy and at peace as I think of friends
who enlarge my life, the work I do that contributes
meaning in these otherwise quiet days of remembering
and celebrating, and the hope that sustains me because
of a Sacred Mystery that I can neither
understand nor explain.

May hope fall all over you today, too.
May it soak you to the bone.
And may harmony
with life reign.

“May God, who gives patience and encouragement, help 
you live in complete harmony with each other —
each with the attitude of Christ Jesus
toward the other.”

Romans 15:13         Romans 15:4