What Matters

 The following is from Richard Rohr's post this morning (October 29).  I believe we are learning that evolution does not come easy, nor does it come quickly.  Yet, it will come for God is a beckoning God, impossible to ignore, and so much more than our finite minds can comprehend. For and from all of this, we learn. We exist to grow. What a journey.

Only the Divine matters,
And because the Divine matters,
Everything matters.

 Thomas Keating, “What Matters”

The simplicity of the final poem in The Secret Embrace speaks eloquently of what I (Richard) know more deeply to be true with every passing year. It’s the incarnational message at the heart of the Gospel: everything belongs! It is a Christ-soaked universe. As we near the end of this series, Cynthia Bourgeault shares her understanding of Thomas Keating’s final legacy to us.

In October 2018, two weeks before he died, Thomas Keating emerged briefly from four days in what appeared to be a coma to deliver an extraordinary final message beamed straight to the heart of the world. Acknowledging that “an extraordinary moment of civilization seems to be overtaking us,” he urged the human family to scrap old approaches based on religious or political dogma and “begin a new world with one that actually exists,” a world whose truth is guided by “silence and science” and whose heart is revealed in a universal resurgence of human compassion and creativity. “We need to find ways to make these really happen,” he said. “I leave this hope in your hands and hearts coming as a real inspiration from the heart of God.”  

  

Trusting

 Today, I contemplate impermanence with gratitude.   Because of impermanence, I can keep moving forward.  

"Contemplating impermanence helps us touch freedom and happiness in the present moment. It helps us see reality as it is, so we can embrace change, face our fears, and cherish what we have. When we can see the impermanent nature of a flower, a pebble, the person we love, our own body, our pain and sorrow, or even a situation, we can make a breakthrough into the heart of reality. 

Impermanence is something wonderful. If things were impermanent, life would not be possible. A seed could never become a plant of corn; the child couldn't grow into a young adult; there could never be healing and transformation; we could never realize our dreams. So impermanence is very important for life. Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible."      

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Living (2017), page 116   

    

photograph, San Leandro, Spring 2020 

Standing Up

 I dropped off our ballots at City Hall this morning about 30 seconds before they were collected.  No, I did not take a picture, but I did thank the two people who were tending to the ballot collection boxes  this morning.  This pandemic has me thanking people a lot because even the simplest acts seem heroic.  Yet, there are serious ramifications of this disease that may take a long time to heal.  Lives have been lost and people struggle in isolation.  As I drove to City Hall I noticed again the littered streets and shuttered businesses. I am certain there will be consequences for those who have had to go into early retirement.  Babies are being  born into a world where people are masked and children's play is restricted. The old and frail are sequestered from friends and family.  We were already a nation who probably spent too much time in front of a screen, but now that time has doubled or tripled.  However, I certainly give thanks for Zoom, and I know many of the people I worship with do as well.  I am reminded that we humans can be surprisingly resilient.  May this resiliency be used to bring healing, not more destruction.   

I admit to weeping when I returned to my car, and I am weeping now.  While I almost always vote, I am embarrassed to admit that I have profoundly underestimated how difficult it is for some people to vote and to have their votes counted.   I honestly believe I would have crawled to the ballot box if needed.  No, I am not exaggerating, although I am certainly over-estimating the strength of my knees.  However, and I am not sure why, my arthritic knee is in much better shape than it was before the pandemic took hold.  Whatever it is that God wants me to do next, it seems God wants me standing up.   I shall continue to try to do so.  

   

Please vote.  Let us not let apathy and fear have their way.  We can't afford to lose many more dreams.