Reflection 5.26.12

05/26/2012

“Rabbi” he exclaimed, “That whole you-don’t-have-to-be-wrong-for-me-to-be-right thing, I’ve never heard anything like that before! Now there are so many more things I gotta ask you.”

I didn’t explain that I had never said it quite that way before — I didn’t see how that would help. I was struck however by the fact that in many ways, much of my life and work had been leading up to that formulation for most of my life. It was, it turns out, a momentous occasion for both us.

Read the rest of this great story by clicking here.


Reflection 5.24.12

05/24/2012

Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into humanity,
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in God’s world,
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings–
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.
~Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207-1297)


Reflection 5.23.12

05/23/2012

[Pentecost] is a delicious time. A shaft of light has come to pierce the uncertainties of the seeking. We are living now with a torch in our hands, however dark the darkness.

For the early Christians — and for us now — it is a matter only of allowing the Spirit to transform us so that our life and the life of Christ do finally merge, do really melt into one another, do truly become one, are united both here and hereafter.

~Joan Chittister, from her book The Liturgical Year


Reflection 5.19.12

05/19/2012

Humility consists in being precisely the person you actually are before God.

~Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander


Reflection 5.18.12

05/18/2012

Bible texts are best read with a pair of glasses made out of today’s newspaper.

~Dorothee Sölle, German theologian and writer


Reflection 5.17.12

05/17/2012

The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything. The difference ain’t in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows it and who don’t.

~Wendell Berry, The Wild Birds


Reflection 5.15.12

05/15/2012
We have imagined that Christianity itself is a religion of virtue. But no, Desmond Tutu reminded us, ‘Christianity is not a religion of virtue; it is a religion of grace.’ And there’s a difference. A religion of virtue says, ‘If you are good, then God will love you.’ A religion of grace says, ‘God loves you.’ God loves you despite your foibles and failures, not because you’re so good but as a sinner in need of mercy. God loves you; live then as one who is beloved, who has been forgiven.
~Anthony Robinson

Mother’s Day Poetry + Poesía para el día de las Madres

05/14/2012

Immanuelle

God was present in my mother
God came in the flesh in my mother
With unconditional love
Forbearance and forgiveness

Listening to my confession of faith-
My lack of faith
Weeping as I poured out my soul
My doubts my disbelief
Sharing my pain, suffering for me
Offering me redemption

Comforter of the wounded-
John back from Vietnam
Consoler of the weary-
Martha from off the streets
Counselor of anyone who turned to her
In need…

She died and ascended into heaven
I long for her resurrection

~Rev. Dr. Chuck Robertson

______________________________

Immanuelle

Dios estaba presente en mi madre
Dios vino en la carne de mi madre
Con el amor incondicional,
Tolerancia y perdon

Para escuchar mi confesion de fe-
Mi falta de fe
Llorando al ver mi sufrimiento,
Eran tantas mis dudas, mi incredulidad
Compartia mi dolor y sufrimiento
Y me ofrecia el perdon;
Consuelo de los heridos

Mi hermano John regresa de Vietnam,
Consolador de los cansados.
Mi hermana Martha regresa de las calles,
Consejera de todo aquel que se volvio a ella,
En necesidad ….

Mi madre murio y ascendio al cielo
Y yo, yo desespero por su resurreccion

~Rev. Dr. Chuck Robertson, traducción para José Haro

_____________________________

 

Mom’s Sunday Dinner

Roast beef and string beans
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Cole slaw and sweet desert
At mom’s Sunday dinner

So get the sermon over
The roast is in the oven
We all want to get home
To mom’s Sunday dinner

It was put in the oven
The heat set at slow roast
Vegetables on low stewing
For our Sunday dinner

So let’s sing the last hymn
Roast beef is awaiting
We all want to get home
To mom’s Sunday dinner

Roast beef every Sunday
It is mom’s special blessing
There’s either pie or cake
At mom’s Sunday dinner

So pronounce the benediction
Our tummies are a rumbling
We all want to get home
To mom’s roast beef Sunday dinner

~Rev. Dr. Chuck Robertson

______________________________

 

Celebrando a las Madres

Lasagna y ensalada de pollo
Agua fresca y pastel
Dejemonos de tanto rollo
Las madres ya quieren comer

Asi que acabemos con el sermon
Vayan sirviendo la ensalada
Despues a pedir perdon
Ahora a tomar limonada

Destapen ya la champagna
Las madres quieren celebrar
Saquen ya la lasagna
No se nos vaya a quemar

Cantemos la ultima cancion
Que ya quiero tomar agua fria
Cantemos con emocion
A las madres en su dia

Pastor dennos la vendicion
Dennosla sin mas retraso
Y demos con emocion
A la madre un abrazo

~José Haro, inspirado en el poema de Pastor Chuck


Reflection 5.10.12

05/10/2012

We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with God at this very moment. But being happy with God now means:
Loving as God loves,
Helping as God helps,
Giving as God gives,
Serving as God serves,
Rescuing as God rescues,
Being with God twenty-four hours,
Touching God in God’s distressing disguise.

~Mother Teresa of Calcutta


Reflection 5.2.12

05/02/2012

If we hate ourselves, we can never love others, for love is the gift of oneself. How will you make a gift of that which you hate?

~William Sloane Coffin


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