MORNING GREETING AND EVENING BLESSING
SELL has adopted the following reflections and is using as a form of greeting and blessing in the morning and evening respectively;
MORNING GREETING
In the morning, the sun rises over the horizon. (The left arm beneath the right, while the right arm is gently raised upward in angle 90 degrees to the left)
And after the dream time (you open your hands facing them downwards), comes the day light. (Your open hands are raised a little high towards the chest to the sky)
From the depth of my heart, I thank all of you in this circle, (Both hands to touch the chest around the heart then wind it round the circle looking at everyone)
And I include the whole universe. (You open your arms round in a circular manner greeting the world)
And here where my feet are, is my place. (you open your hands facing them downwards)
Shalom, Peace, Salama
EVENING BLESSING
In the evening, the sun sets over the horizon. (The left arm beneath the right, while the right arm is raised upward, the right arm falls gently on the left)
And after a full day (you open your hands), comes the time for rest and integration. (Your open hands are raised a little high towards the chest)
From the depth of my heart, I thank all of you in this circle, (Both hands to touch the chest around the heart then wind it round the circle looking at everyone)
And I include the whole universe. (You open your arms round in a circular manner greeting the world)
And I know that in the dream time, I will be well cared for. (Put your hands together as if in Prayer on one chick)
Shalom, Peace, Salama
CREATIVE PRAYER SPACES DURING THE 2ND PROVINCIAL TRAINING IN NIGERIA
During the 2nd Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) provincial training which took place on the 11th to 20th February 2011 at the Youth Formation Centre Bauchi state, Nigeria, two units of the SELL programme were treated with the participants and they were; the Spirituality and Peace Building units of the SELL Programme. Under the Spirituality unit, a session called ‘Expression of Our Spiritual Life’ was explored by the participants and members of the SELL Resource Team and this was what came out of it. Participants were grouped into 5 groups with the SELL Resource Team making the 6thgroups. Each group was given a theme to create a prayer space out of it. Below were the themes:
The Earth
Religious Diversity
Light/Fire
Ancestors
Water
Unity
Each group used the resources they found at the centre and within the environment to create their prayer space and they came up with these;
During the 2nd Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) provincial training which took place on the 11th to 20th February 2011 at the Youth Formation Centre Bauchi state, Nigeria, two units of the SELL programme were treated with the participants and they were; the Spirituality and Peace Building units of the SELL Programme. Under the Spirituality unit, a session called ‘Expression of Our Spiritual Life’ was explored by the participants and members of the SELL Resource Team and this was what came out of it. Participants were grouped into 5 groups with the SELL Resource Team making the 6thgroups. Each group was given a theme to create a prayer space out of it. Below were the themes:
The Earth
Religious Diversity
Light/Fire
Ancestors
Water
Unity
Each group used the resources they found at the centre and within the environment to create their prayer space and they came up with these;
THE EARTH (one of the four elements) - items that forms the prayer space include; plants, flowers, cross designed with stones, water in an earthen ware, incense and the bible.
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY – items that forms the prayer space were the Muslim prayer bead and prayer mats, symbol of the African Traditional Religion (carved images), water in an earthen ware, candle light, rosary and a bible placed on a stone, image of a kettle that is used for ablution.
LIGHT/FIRE (one of the four elements) – the Items are; red cloth, candle light, bible, broken sticks for fire in an earthen ware.
ANCESTORS – earthen ware with broken sticks in it, dry grass, local musical instruments, broom, caved images of human faces, water in clay pot and incense.
WATER (one of the elements) – the items that form the prayer space are; images of some aquatic life, water in an earthen ware, bible and candle light.
UNITY – the items are 3 empty seats signifying people that are affected positively by the SELL Programme, people that are made poor and people of the past generation (ancestors), other item are the unity symbol and the candle light kept on it, air capture in a balloon and a blue cloth signifying the mass of water body.
Other prayers that may be helpful when working with a group:
BELOVED I AM THERE
Do you need me? I am there.
You cannot see me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.
I am at work, though you do not understand my ways.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.
Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know me as I am,
But then as a feeling and a faith.
Yet I am there. Yet I hear, Yet I answer.
When you need me I am there, even if you deny me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.
Though you fail to find me, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in me is unsure, my faith in you never wavers
Because I know you, Because I love you.
Beloved I am there.
CELEBRATE YOU
I am worth celebrating.
I am worth everything. I am unique.
In all the whole world there is only one me.
There is only one person with my talents, my experiences,
my gifts.
NO ONE CAN TAKE MY PLACE!!
God created only one me,
precious in his sight.
I have immense potential to grow, to love,
to care, to create, to sacrifice – if I believe in myself.
It doesn’t matter, my age or my colour,
or whether my parents loved me or not,
(maybe they wanted to but couldn’t).
Let that go. It belongs to the past. I belong to the now.
It doesn’t matter what I’ve been,
the wrong I’ve done,
the mistakes I’ve made,
the people I’ve hurt.
I am forgiven, I am accepted. I am ok.
I am loved in spite of everything.
So I love myself and nourish the seeds within me.
Celebrate me.
Begin now. Start anew. Give yourself a new birth. Today.
I am me and that is all I need to be.
I cannot deserve this new life; it is given freely – a gift.
This is the miracle called God who loves me.
So I celebrate the miracle and I celebrate me.
Compassion is………
Compassion…….is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world.
Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.
Sharon Salzberg.
DIFFERENT DRUMS
FOR
DIFFERENT DRUMMERS
If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me that my want is wrong.
Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.
Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more, given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.
Or yet if I act or fail to act in the manner of your design for action let me be.
I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will come only when you are willing to give up trying to change me into a copy of you.
I may be your spouse, your parent, your child, your friend or your colleague. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that someday these ways of mine may not seem so wrong and finally might appear to you as right – for me.
To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness and in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and far from seeking to change me you may desire to preserve and even nurture those differences.
David Keirsey 1978.
DREAM GOD’S DREAM
I myself dream a dream with you
Good dreams come from me
Sometimes they seem impossible
Not too practical
Not for the cautious man or woman
A little risky sometimes
A trifle brash perhaps
Some of my friends prefer to rest more comfortably
In sounder sleep
With visionless eyes
But from you who share my dreams
I ask a little patience
A little humour
Some small courage
And a listening heart
I will do the rest
Then you will risk
And wonder at your daring
Run and marvel at your speed
Build and stand in awe at the beauty of your building
You will meet me often as you work
In your companions who share your risk
In your friends, who believe in you enough
To lend their own dreams
Their own hands
Their own hearts
To your building
In the people who will find your doorway
Stay awhile and walk away
Knowing that they too can find a dream
That there will be sun-filled days
And sometimes it will rain
A little variety
Both come from me
So go now
Be content
It is my dream you dream
My house you build
My caring you witness
My love you share.
GOD COUNTS ON US
Only GOD creates,
But we are called to enhance that creation
Only GOD gives life,
But we are called to cherish life
Only GOD makes to grow,
But we are called to nourish that growth
Only GOD gives faith,
But we are called to signs of GOD for each other.
Only GOD gives love,
But we are called to care for each other.
Only GOD gives hope,
But we are called to give each other reason to hope.
Only GOD gives power,
But we are called to get things going.
Only GOD can bring peace,
But we are called to build bridges.
Only GOD brings happiness,
But we are invited to be joyful.
Only GOD is the way,
But we are called to show the way to others.
Only GOD is light,
But we are called to make that light shine in the world.
Only GOD makes miracle happen,
But we must offer our loaves and fishes.
Only GOD can do the impossible,
But it is up to us to do what is possible.
One day, God took a walk across the earth, disguised as an old tramp. He made his way through the fields, where a
group of friends were working, and decided to have a little joke with them. He put on a hat that was red on one, white
on the other, green at the front and black at the back.
As the friends walked home to their village that night, they talked about the old tramp:
‘Did you see that old man in the white hat walking through the fields?’ asked the first.
The second replied, ‘No it was a red hat!’
‘Don’t tell me that’, retorted the first. ‘It was definitely white!’
‘No, it wasn’t’, argued the second. ‘ I saw it with my own two eyes, and it was red!’
‘you must be blind!, said the first.
‘There’s nothing wrong with my eyes,’ snapped the second. It’s you! You must be drunk!’
‘You’re both blind,’ chimed in a third. ‘That fellow’s hat was green!’
What’s the matter with you all?’ rejoined the fourth. ‘It was a black hat. Anyone could see that! You were obviously half
asleep when he walked past. What fools you all are!’
And so the argument continued, and before they knew what was happening to them, the group of friends had become a band of enemies. And the strife continues. To this day, the descendants of those former friends still go on arguing. The White Hatters versus the Red Hatters, Green Hatters versus the Black Hatters - each party believing that it knows, beyond any doubt, the colour of God’s Hat.
As for God, he still walks the fields in disguise, saddened now. But the Mad Hatters are too fiercely embroiled in their arguments to notice.
I FEARED AND LEARNED
I feared being alone until I learned to like myself.
I feared the past until I realised that it could no longer hurt me.
I feared the future until I realised that life just kept getting better and better.
I feared failure until I realised that I only fail when I don’t try.
I feared success until I realised I had to try in order to be happy with myself.
I feared ridicule until I learned to laugh at myself.
I feared rejection until I learned to have faith in myself.
I feared pain until I learned that it is necessary for growth.
I feared change until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly had to undergo a metamorphosis before it could fly.
I HAVE LEARNED
That being kind is more important than being right.
That I can always pray for someone when I don’t have the strength to help in some other way.
That you cannot make someone love you, all you can be is someone who can be loved.
That under everyone’s hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
That the Lord didn’t do it all in one day, what makes me think I can!
That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
That love, not time, heals all wounds.
That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
That it is hard to determine to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings, and standing up for
what you believe.
That when I am angry I have the right to be angry, but that does not give me the right to be cruel.
That you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes, and after that you had better know something!!
In Search Of A Round Table
It will take some sawing to become a round table church.
Some redefining and redesigning.
Changing a narrow-long church
Can be painful for people and churches.
But the cross was also a painful table to be laid out on.
It means giving, for some giving up, saying YES.
And from such death comes life,
From such dying comes rising,
And the continued search for a roundtable church.
And what would a round table church mean?
It would mean no thrones,
For there is only one ruler
And he was a foot washer – at a table in fact.
He was a healer of hearts
And a giver of disturbing peace.
Some of us have lost track of his footsteps.
But the times and the tables are changing and rearranging.
At a roundtable there will be no THEM and US,
We will once again be called followers of the way,
One people.
At around table there is no first and last, no preferred seating.
Lord lead us from long narrow churches,
Lead us from exclusive tables,
Lead us again to the upstairs room,
To a round table of equality and unity,
There we can again search for a kingdom, that is Yours not ours.
---Adapted from a reflection by Chuck Lathrop---
MARTIN LUTHER KING----I HAVE A DREAM
So I say to you my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream that one day all nations will rise up and live out the true meaning of life: that all people are created equal.
I have a dream that one day, sons and daughters of former slaves and sons and daughters of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of friendship and love.
I have a dream that little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope; This is our faith; With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of HOPE.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be able to sing a new song of the Lord.
And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every country, we will be able
to speed up that day when all of God’s children- black people and white people, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
MEDITATION AND PRAYER FOR AUTHENTIC POWER
To have without possessing is to be powerful.
To act but not attached to expectations is to be powerful.
To love without condition is to be powerful.
To lead without dominating or controlling is to be powerful.
To create and encourage creativity in others from within is to be powerful.
To be inspired-and inspiring- is to be powerful.
To accept without conditioning is to be powerful.
To touch the hearts of others with the authenticity of your own is to be powerful.
To handle all your feelings with integrity is to be powerful.
To forgive yourself for your mistakes is to be powerful.
To have the courage to look at and make peace with your shadow is to be powerful.
To love with all your heart is to be powerful.
To not know and not be afraid to find your way is to be powerful.
To act authentically with integrity is to be powerful.
To be in awe of the deeper mysteries is to be powerful.
To know that the more you share the wealthier you are is to be powerful.
To know we all make mistakes and be willing to correct them without punishment is to be powerful.
To guide without interfering is to be powerful.
Our Deepest Fear
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
We ask ourselves,
‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Our playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around us. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to manifest the glory of God
That is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated
from our own fear, our presence automatically librates others.
… Nelson Mandela
ON ENCOURAGEMENT.
It helps now and then to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom is always beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.
Archbishop Oscar Romero.
PATIENT TRUST IN OURSELVES AND IN THE SLOW WORK OF GOD.
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
We are, quite naturally,
Impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being On the way to something unknown, something new,
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability-----
And that it may take a very long time.
And so l think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually-
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time ( that is to say, grace and
circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new Spirit
Gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
---Pierre Teilhard de Chardin---
REFUSE THE GIFT
The Buddha once visited a village in India, where people flocked to listen to him. One young man became so spellbound
that he lost all sense of time, forgetting his duties on his father’s farm. The father sent his other son to find him, but he
also became captivated by the Buddha’s words. Soon another son was sent and the same thing happened.
The father furiously made his way through the village to find them himself. Pushing his way through the crowd, he
confronted the Buddha with an angry tirade of abuse, accusing him of enticing young people away from their
responsibilities instead of teaching them the value of hard work and loyalty to their parents.
The Buddha smiled and said “My friend, if I came to visit your house bearing a gift and you accept it, whose is it?”
“Mine of course, the father replied, a bit taken aback.
“And if you were to refuse the gift, who would it belong to then?” The man was irritated by this point but replied, “Yours,
but what has this to do with anything?”
Buddha then said, “Your gift to me right now is anger, and I refuse to accept it. So it remains with you.”
THE ABBOT’S DREAM
The story concerns a monastery, set in a beautiful wooded countryside that had fallen on hard times; once a great order,
but now all its branches were closed down remaining the mother house, with only a few monks left. The Abbot and four
others, all over seventy years of age. Clearly it was a dying order. One night the Abbot had the most vivid dream, an angel
in the dream said to him, “THE MESSIAH IS ONE OF YOU”, that was all and it left him with a lot to think about. At the next
community meeting the Abbot shared his dream with his fellow monks and each began to reflect on it seriously,
pondering upon any possible significance to the abbots words. The Messiah is one of us, if that is the case, which one?
Do you suppose it means the Abbot himself? He has been our leader for more than a generation; on the other hand it
might refer to brother Thomas, for he is certainly a holy man. But could it refer to brother Elred; he gets moody
sometimes, but come to think of it, when it comes down to it, he is always right. But what of brother Phillip, he tends to be
very passive about things but when a job needs doing he is always there on hand. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. Of
course there is always me; I don’t think so, knowing me as I do, I am just an ordinary person yet suppose it does refer to
me, suppose I am the Messiah, O God, not me, I couldn’t be that much for you, could I?
As they reflected in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extra-ordinary respect on the off chance
that one among them might be the Messiah; and on the off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they
began to treat themselves with extra-ordinary respect.
Because the monastery was surrounded with a beautiful forest, people came from time to time to picnic there and enjoyed
the grounds and their little chapel for its peace and quiet. Over time, without even realising it they sensed this aura of
extra-ordinary respect that now began to surround the old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the
atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling about it; hardly knowing why, they
began coming back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play and to pray. They began to bring their friends, to
share with them this special place of peace, and their friends brought their friends. Then it happened that some of the
younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks; after a while, one asked
if he could join them. Then another; and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving
order, and, thanks to the Abbot’s dream, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the land.
THE LIVING SPIRIT
I was HUNGRY and you formed a Debating Society to discuss it
I was IMPRISONED and you just COMPLAINED about the crime rate
I was NAKED and you debated the morality of my appearance
I was sick and you thanked GOD for your health
I was homeless and you preached to me about the shelter of God’s love
YOU SEEM SO HOLY AND SO CLOSE TO GOD; BUT I’M STILL HUNGRY, LONELY, COLD AND IN PAIN. DOES IT MATTER?
(Graffiti seen on a wall in New York)
People Don’t Get Along…….
“People don’t get along because
they fear each other.
People fear each other because
They don’t know each other.
People don’t know each other
Because they have not properly
Communicated with each other.
----- Martin Luther King.------
MARTIN LUTHER KING – Part of his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.
“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture
for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centred men have torn down,
other-centred people can build up. I still believe that one day humanity will bow before the altars of God, and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and non-violent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land. And the lion
and the lamb shall lie down together and very man will sit under his fig tree and none shall be afraid. I still believe that we shall overcome.”
SELL Team Note – It is very likely that if Martin Luther King, given his sensitivity to Justice, were writing this speech today he would have used inclusive language.
LET US NOT RUN THE WORLD HASTILY – A Nigerian Prayer
Let us not run the world hastily,
Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently,
What should be treated with mature judgement
Whenever we arrive at a cool place,
Let us rest sufficiently well;
Let us give prolonged attention to the future,
And then let us give due regard to the consequence of things,
And this is on account of our sleeping.
--Prayer in the religious traditions of Africa, p 101
Other prayers that may be helpful when working with a group:
BELOVED I AM THERE
Do you need me? I am there.
You cannot see me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.
I am at work, though you do not understand my ways.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.
Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know me as I am,
But then as a feeling and a faith.
Yet I am there. Yet I hear, Yet I answer.
When you need me I am there, even if you deny me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.
Though you fail to find me, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in me is unsure, my faith in you never wavers
Because I know you, Because I love you.
Beloved I am there.
CELEBRATE YOU
I am worth celebrating.
I am worth everything. I am unique.
In all the whole world there is only one me.
There is only one person with my talents, my experiences,
my gifts.
NO ONE CAN TAKE MY PLACE!!
God created only one me,
precious in his sight.
I have immense potential to grow, to love,
to care, to create, to sacrifice – if I believe in myself.
It doesn’t matter, my age or my colour,
or whether my parents loved me or not,
(maybe they wanted to but couldn’t).
Let that go. It belongs to the past. I belong to the now.
It doesn’t matter what I’ve been,
the wrong I’ve done,
the mistakes I’ve made,
the people I’ve hurt.
I am forgiven, I am accepted. I am ok.
I am loved in spite of everything.
So I love myself and nourish the seeds within me.
Celebrate me.
Begin now. Start anew. Give yourself a new birth. Today.
I am me and that is all I need to be.
I cannot deserve this new life; it is given freely – a gift.
This is the miracle called God who loves me.
So I celebrate the miracle and I celebrate me.
Compassion is………
Compassion…….is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world.
Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.
Sharon Salzberg.
DIFFERENT DRUMS
FOR
DIFFERENT DRUMMERS
If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me that my want is wrong.
Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.
Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more, given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.
Or yet if I act or fail to act in the manner of your design for action let me be.
I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will come only when you are willing to give up trying to change me into a copy of you.
I may be your spouse, your parent, your child, your friend or your colleague. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that someday these ways of mine may not seem so wrong and finally might appear to you as right – for me.
To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness and in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and far from seeking to change me you may desire to preserve and even nurture those differences.
David Keirsey 1978.
DREAM GOD’S DREAM
I myself dream a dream with you
Good dreams come from me
Sometimes they seem impossible
Not too practical
Not for the cautious man or woman
A little risky sometimes
A trifle brash perhaps
Some of my friends prefer to rest more comfortably
In sounder sleep
With visionless eyes
But from you who share my dreams
I ask a little patience
A little humour
Some small courage
And a listening heart
I will do the rest
Then you will risk
And wonder at your daring
Run and marvel at your speed
Build and stand in awe at the beauty of your building
You will meet me often as you work
In your companions who share your risk
In your friends, who believe in you enough
To lend their own dreams
Their own hands
Their own hearts
To your building
In the people who will find your doorway
Stay awhile and walk away
Knowing that they too can find a dream
That there will be sun-filled days
And sometimes it will rain
A little variety
Both come from me
So go now
Be content
It is my dream you dream
My house you build
My caring you witness
My love you share.
GOD COUNTS ON US
Only GOD creates,
But we are called to enhance that creation
Only GOD gives life,
But we are called to cherish life
Only GOD makes to grow,
But we are called to nourish that growth
Only GOD gives faith,
But we are called to signs of GOD for each other.
Only GOD gives love,
But we are called to care for each other.
Only GOD gives hope,
But we are called to give each other reason to hope.
Only GOD gives power,
But we are called to get things going.
Only GOD can bring peace,
But we are called to build bridges.
Only GOD brings happiness,
But we are invited to be joyful.
Only GOD is the way,
But we are called to show the way to others.
Only GOD is light,
But we are called to make that light shine in the world.
Only GOD makes miracle happen,
But we must offer our loaves and fishes.
Only GOD can do the impossible,
But it is up to us to do what is possible.
One day, God took a walk across the earth, disguised as an old tramp. He made his way through the fields, where a
group of friends were working, and decided to have a little joke with them. He put on a hat that was red on one, white
on the other, green at the front and black at the back.
As the friends walked home to their village that night, they talked about the old tramp:
‘Did you see that old man in the white hat walking through the fields?’ asked the first.
The second replied, ‘No it was a red hat!’
‘Don’t tell me that’, retorted the first. ‘It was definitely white!’
‘No, it wasn’t’, argued the second. ‘ I saw it with my own two eyes, and it was red!’
‘you must be blind!, said the first.
‘There’s nothing wrong with my eyes,’ snapped the second. It’s you! You must be drunk!’
‘You’re both blind,’ chimed in a third. ‘That fellow’s hat was green!’
What’s the matter with you all?’ rejoined the fourth. ‘It was a black hat. Anyone could see that! You were obviously half
asleep when he walked past. What fools you all are!’
And so the argument continued, and before they knew what was happening to them, the group of friends had become a band of enemies. And the strife continues. To this day, the descendants of those former friends still go on arguing. The White Hatters versus the Red Hatters, Green Hatters versus the Black Hatters - each party believing that it knows, beyond any doubt, the colour of God’s Hat.
As for God, he still walks the fields in disguise, saddened now. But the Mad Hatters are too fiercely embroiled in their arguments to notice.
I FEARED AND LEARNED
I feared being alone until I learned to like myself.
I feared the past until I realised that it could no longer hurt me.
I feared the future until I realised that life just kept getting better and better.
I feared failure until I realised that I only fail when I don’t try.
I feared success until I realised I had to try in order to be happy with myself.
I feared ridicule until I learned to laugh at myself.
I feared rejection until I learned to have faith in myself.
I feared pain until I learned that it is necessary for growth.
I feared change until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly had to undergo a metamorphosis before it could fly.
I HAVE LEARNED
That being kind is more important than being right.
That I can always pray for someone when I don’t have the strength to help in some other way.
That you cannot make someone love you, all you can be is someone who can be loved.
That under everyone’s hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
That the Lord didn’t do it all in one day, what makes me think I can!
That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
That love, not time, heals all wounds.
That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
That it is hard to determine to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings, and standing up for
what you believe.
That when I am angry I have the right to be angry, but that does not give me the right to be cruel.
That you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes, and after that you had better know something!!
In Search Of A Round Table
It will take some sawing to become a round table church.
Some redefining and redesigning.
Changing a narrow-long church
Can be painful for people and churches.
But the cross was also a painful table to be laid out on.
It means giving, for some giving up, saying YES.
And from such death comes life,
From such dying comes rising,
And the continued search for a roundtable church.
And what would a round table church mean?
It would mean no thrones,
For there is only one ruler
And he was a foot washer – at a table in fact.
He was a healer of hearts
And a giver of disturbing peace.
Some of us have lost track of his footsteps.
But the times and the tables are changing and rearranging.
At a roundtable there will be no THEM and US,
We will once again be called followers of the way,
One people.
At around table there is no first and last, no preferred seating.
Lord lead us from long narrow churches,
Lead us from exclusive tables,
Lead us again to the upstairs room,
To a round table of equality and unity,
There we can again search for a kingdom, that is Yours not ours.
---Adapted from a reflection by Chuck Lathrop---
MARTIN LUTHER KING----I HAVE A DREAM
So I say to you my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream that one day all nations will rise up and live out the true meaning of life: that all people are created equal.
I have a dream that one day, sons and daughters of former slaves and sons and daughters of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of friendship and love.
I have a dream that little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope; This is our faith; With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of HOPE.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be able to sing a new song of the Lord.
And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every country, we will be able
to speed up that day when all of God’s children- black people and white people, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
MEDITATION AND PRAYER FOR AUTHENTIC POWER
To have without possessing is to be powerful.
To act but not attached to expectations is to be powerful.
To love without condition is to be powerful.
To lead without dominating or controlling is to be powerful.
To create and encourage creativity in others from within is to be powerful.
To be inspired-and inspiring- is to be powerful.
To accept without conditioning is to be powerful.
To touch the hearts of others with the authenticity of your own is to be powerful.
To handle all your feelings with integrity is to be powerful.
To forgive yourself for your mistakes is to be powerful.
To have the courage to look at and make peace with your shadow is to be powerful.
To love with all your heart is to be powerful.
To not know and not be afraid to find your way is to be powerful.
To act authentically with integrity is to be powerful.
To be in awe of the deeper mysteries is to be powerful.
To know that the more you share the wealthier you are is to be powerful.
To know we all make mistakes and be willing to correct them without punishment is to be powerful.
To guide without interfering is to be powerful.
Our Deepest Fear
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
We ask ourselves,
‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Our playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around us. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to manifest the glory of God
That is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated
from our own fear, our presence automatically librates others.
… Nelson Mandela
ON ENCOURAGEMENT.
It helps now and then to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom is always beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.
Archbishop Oscar Romero.
PATIENT TRUST IN OURSELVES AND IN THE SLOW WORK OF GOD.
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
We are, quite naturally,
Impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being On the way to something unknown, something new,
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability-----
And that it may take a very long time.
And so l think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually-
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time ( that is to say, grace and
circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new Spirit
Gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
---Pierre Teilhard de Chardin---
REFUSE THE GIFT
The Buddha once visited a village in India, where people flocked to listen to him. One young man became so spellbound
that he lost all sense of time, forgetting his duties on his father’s farm. The father sent his other son to find him, but he
also became captivated by the Buddha’s words. Soon another son was sent and the same thing happened.
The father furiously made his way through the village to find them himself. Pushing his way through the crowd, he
confronted the Buddha with an angry tirade of abuse, accusing him of enticing young people away from their
responsibilities instead of teaching them the value of hard work and loyalty to their parents.
The Buddha smiled and said “My friend, if I came to visit your house bearing a gift and you accept it, whose is it?”
“Mine of course, the father replied, a bit taken aback.
“And if you were to refuse the gift, who would it belong to then?” The man was irritated by this point but replied, “Yours,
but what has this to do with anything?”
Buddha then said, “Your gift to me right now is anger, and I refuse to accept it. So it remains with you.”
THE ABBOT’S DREAM
The story concerns a monastery, set in a beautiful wooded countryside that had fallen on hard times; once a great order,
but now all its branches were closed down remaining the mother house, with only a few monks left. The Abbot and four
others, all over seventy years of age. Clearly it was a dying order. One night the Abbot had the most vivid dream, an angel
in the dream said to him, “THE MESSIAH IS ONE OF YOU”, that was all and it left him with a lot to think about. At the next
community meeting the Abbot shared his dream with his fellow monks and each began to reflect on it seriously,
pondering upon any possible significance to the abbots words. The Messiah is one of us, if that is the case, which one?
Do you suppose it means the Abbot himself? He has been our leader for more than a generation; on the other hand it
might refer to brother Thomas, for he is certainly a holy man. But could it refer to brother Elred; he gets moody
sometimes, but come to think of it, when it comes down to it, he is always right. But what of brother Phillip, he tends to be
very passive about things but when a job needs doing he is always there on hand. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. Of
course there is always me; I don’t think so, knowing me as I do, I am just an ordinary person yet suppose it does refer to
me, suppose I am the Messiah, O God, not me, I couldn’t be that much for you, could I?
As they reflected in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extra-ordinary respect on the off chance
that one among them might be the Messiah; and on the off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they
began to treat themselves with extra-ordinary respect.
Because the monastery was surrounded with a beautiful forest, people came from time to time to picnic there and enjoyed
the grounds and their little chapel for its peace and quiet. Over time, without even realising it they sensed this aura of
extra-ordinary respect that now began to surround the old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the
atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling about it; hardly knowing why, they
began coming back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play and to pray. They began to bring their friends, to
share with them this special place of peace, and their friends brought their friends. Then it happened that some of the
younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks; after a while, one asked
if he could join them. Then another; and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving
order, and, thanks to the Abbot’s dream, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the land.
THE LIVING SPIRIT
I was HUNGRY and you formed a Debating Society to discuss it
I was IMPRISONED and you just COMPLAINED about the crime rate
I was NAKED and you debated the morality of my appearance
I was sick and you thanked GOD for your health
I was homeless and you preached to me about the shelter of God’s love
YOU SEEM SO HOLY AND SO CLOSE TO GOD; BUT I’M STILL HUNGRY, LONELY, COLD AND IN PAIN. DOES IT MATTER?
(Graffiti seen on a wall in New York)
People Don’t Get Along…….
“People don’t get along because
they fear each other.
People fear each other because
They don’t know each other.
People don’t know each other
Because they have not properly
Communicated with each other.
----- Martin Luther King.------
MARTIN LUTHER KING – Part of his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.
“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture
for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centred men have torn down,
other-centred people can build up. I still believe that one day humanity will bow before the altars of God, and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and non-violent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land. And the lion
and the lamb shall lie down together and very man will sit under his fig tree and none shall be afraid. I still believe that we shall overcome.”
SELL Team Note – It is very likely that if Martin Luther King, given his sensitivity to Justice, were writing this speech today he would have used inclusive language.
LET US NOT RUN THE WORLD HASTILY – A Nigerian Prayer
Let us not run the world hastily,
Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently,
What should be treated with mature judgement
Whenever we arrive at a cool place,
Let us rest sufficiently well;
Let us give prolonged attention to the future,
And then let us give due regard to the consequence of things,
And this is on account of our sleeping.
--Prayer in the religious traditions of Africa, p 101