worth reading from Byzantine Texas.
My mother told me once…
“The mill of God grinds slow but exceedingly fine”. Everyone has agendas. Everyone has the face they put out to the world and the secret life inside. People accuse and respond. Rumors circulate. Insecurities get masked as religion. Only God exists with omniscience. Only God fully knows the secrets of our hearts. Nothing is hidden to God and there is nothing that one day, some way, will not be made manifest.
Pondering this changes everything.
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Sometimes…
we forget that the older people in our parishes, the ones who struggle to hear or come to the Eucharist with a walker are also often the ones that bequeathed us the gift of our church. Theirs was a time when they paid the bills, sang in the choir, taught the children, and kept the community together through thick and thin. Consider them quaint sometimes, or a relic from another era and we miss the point. They did what they could in the time when they were strong and we owe them at least the thanks of our acknowledgement for how their lives have blessed ours.
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Next gig…
will be this Thursday, August 18, at St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church. The show starts around 6 p.m. and its support of the Hallie Q. Brown Food Shelf. Reformation Lutheran is on the corner of Dale and I 94 in St. Paul, MN.
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When I sing…
for God, to God, about God, during the Liturgy, on the stage, or even while I’m alone in the car I feel like I’m giving God back the breath He has given me as an offering. I’ve been conscious about this recently, the idea that everything that comes out of my mouth is rooted in the breath of life that God has given me. How this will work out remains to be seen, but the reality of it has been with me as I serve the Liturgy these past few weeks.
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For your consideration…
Dr. Lynne Pappas: What you are saying presupposes that psychiatry and the systems have a real notion of what normalcy is. Outside of God, and we live in a godless society, no one really has a sense of what is normal, and so they make it up, they make it fit what they want it to be. That is why we have what we have. They have made a new definition of what normalcy is, and tomorrow they will make another one, based upon whatever urge they have at that point in time. And God is nowhere in the picture. It all comes back to that, and so we have redefined what a family is. We no longer look at what God created and said is a family, what God created and said is the “order of things”. We have thrown Him away, because we don’t need that, we don’t even know that He exists, and we are determining our values according to what “feels” good… So, the momentary passions and lusts are now what defines normalcy.
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Interesting…
Yet in spite of the social pressure, a growing number of brave singles are making the promise to wait. Still others who have been sexually active in the past are committing to what might be called a “second virginity.” Regardless of their history, they’re making a commitment to start over, to live as “virgins” until they make a lifelong commitment in marriage.
The reason is not that they’ve got crooked teeth, bad complexions, or don’t bathe. Rather, they’re choosing to wait because they believe the Judeo-Christian tradition holds the best insight on building strong relationships and durable marriages.
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I'm dating, in a way…
but not in that way because it’s about football. The Vikings, specifically, our local NFL team.
After living here for decades I decided to give the Vikings a one year trial as a fan. In my life I’ve rooted for the Packers, the Dolphins, the Lions, and for some reason teams with interesting uniforms. I even have a jersey for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. I’ve just never quite gelled with the Vikings.
Actually its the Vikings’ fans that seemed to bother me the most. They seem so mercurial, hot and cold, on and off the bandwagon. Win one and they’re up. Lose and the whole thing is going to hell. Don’t even talk to me about the whole Favre thing. Vikings’ fans are so hungry for that Super Bowl that no one wants to hold on for the day-to-day for fear of being heartbroken when it doesn’t happen, or even looks like it couldn’t happen.
And something changed, as well, when they moved down town. The old Met Stadium had its flaws but what a parking lot, what tailgating. The games were more than four quarters, they were an event. Who can forget the pictures of the Purple People Eaters, cold winter Sunday, steam coming from everywhere, waiting for the shivering victims from LA, Dallas, or Tampa Bay? How different it is playing in a sterilized dome, parking in the same lot you use for work, and not even having room for a decent sized grill.
Still, I would like to give them a chance. The new coach is a Tony Dungy style man of character. I’ve lived here for most of my life. They finally took steps to get rid of some people who forgot that playing professional football is a privilege. I’m a sucker for strays, cats, dogs, people, and football teams (hence last year’s rooting for the Lions).
Who knows? I might get lucky and back a winner. I’ve got a jersey, on sale of course and I vetted the player. The games will be on TV. It would be good to see a decent man like Leslie Frazier have success. But we’re just dating, the Vikings and I, nothing permanent, no commitments, not even fans with benefits. Come January we’ll see.
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I can't remember…
where I heard this and probably can’t also quote it well but I heard something a few days ago that makes sense. “Among the most significant problems of our age is that we interpret the past by the present rather than interpreting the present by the past.”
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Prayers by the Lake…
Anoint my heart with the oil of Your mercy, my most merciful Lord.
May neither anger against the strong nor scorning of the weak ever erupt in my heart! For everything is weaker than the morning dew.
May hatred never make a nest in my heart against those who plot evil against me, so that I may be mindful of their end and be at peace.
Mercifulness opens the way to the heart of all creatures, and brings joy. Mercilessness brings fog to the fore, and creates a cramped isolation.
Have mercy on Your merciful servant, most Tender Hand, and reveal to me the mystery of Your mercy.
The Ultimate Man is the child of the Father’s mercy and the Spirit’s light.
All creation is merely a story about Him. The mighty suns in the heavens and the smallest drops of water in the lake cany in themselves one part of the story about Him. All the builders of heaven and earth, from the exceedingly mighty seraphim to rulers and the tiniest particle of dust, tell the very same story about Him, their fore-essence and fore-source.
What are all the things on the earth and the moon except the sun in stories? Truly, in this way all visible and invisible creation is the Ultimate Man in stories. Essence is simple, but there is no end or number to the stories about essence.
My neighbors, how can I tell you about essence, when you do not even understand stories.
Ah if you only knew how great the sweetness, the expanse, and the strength are, when one reaches the bottom of all thestories—there, where the stories begin and where they end. There, where the tongue is silent and where everything is told at once!
How boring all the lengthy and tedious stories of creatures become then! Truly, they become just as boring as it is for one who is accustomed to seeing lightning to hear stories about lightning.
Receive me into Yourself, O Only-Begotten Son, so that I may be one with You as I was before creation and the Fall.
Let my long and weary story about You end with a moment’s vision of You. Let my self-deception die, that would have me think that I am something without You, that I am something else outside of You.
My ears are stuffed with stories. My eyes no longer seek to see any display of clothing but You, my essence, overladen with stories and clothing.
The Beautiful Path 