I am sorry for being absent for so long. Advent, Christmas and a horrible cold virus got the best of me! I'm just starting to feel a bit more human. As I am emerging from the fog, the stuffy nose, the itchy eyes and all the general malaise of illness, I discover that the world around me is pretty much as messed up as it was before I went into my "cave." I'm most interested right now in the ways that conflicts so far away impact the way we treat each other locally. All of this occurs as I'm crafting a grant proposal for Worship Renewal that has a central theme and focus on justice within worship and worship that moves the worshipers into acts of justice. We fool ourselves if we think the matters and the conflicts of the world do not impact us. Furthermore, we cannot despair such global acts when we treat our neighbors, families, friends and strangers in ways that destroy, disrespect and literally tear each other apart. I suppose that I could say that I myself am both blessed and cursed by the ability to see both sides. It often leaves me looking wishy washy or uncommitted or cowardly. I so desperately desire for there to be a way for people to disagree with one another and not be mean, vindictive or hateful about it. Instead of wiping out hatred or war or disunity, it comes down to eradicating fear. And to do that, people have to have what they need to feel "safe." It's such a vicious circle.
All of this angst caused me to turn to Daniel Berrigan's book, Prayer for the Morning Headlines.
Here is one of his offerings:
Miracles
Were I God almighty, I would ordain, rain fall lightly where old men trod, no death in childbirth, neither infant nor mother, ditches firm fenced against the errant blind, aircraft come to ground like any feather. No mischance, malice, knives. Tears dried. Would resolve all flaw and blockage of mind that makes us mad, sets lives awry. So I pray, under the sign of the world's murder, the ruined son; why are you silent? feverish as lions hear us in the world, caged, devoid of hope. Still, some redress and healing. The hand of an old woman turns gospel page; it flares up gently, the sudden tears of Christ.
How might such miracles be realized?
