Sin

One of the disconcerting – and delightful – teachings of the Master was: God is closer to sinners than to saints.
This is how he explained it: God in heaven holds each person by a string. When you sin you cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot – and thereby bringing you a little closer to him. Again and again your sins cut the string – and with each further knot God keeps drawing you closer and closer.

from Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom

Run Through the Rain

She had been shopping with her mum. She must have been six years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.
We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the shop. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the havens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in. "Mum, let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" Mum asked. "Let's run through the rain!" She repeated. "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mum replied.
This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mum, let's run through the rain." "We'll get soaked if we do," Mum said. "No, we won't, Mum. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mum's arm. "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?" "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'"
The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mum paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mum said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories. So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories every day! To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN!

Irrelevance

All the questions at the public meeting that day were about life beyond the grave. The Master only laughed and did not give a single answer. To his disciples who demanded to know the reason for his evasiveness he later said, “Have you observed that it is those who do not know what to do with this life who want another that will last forever?
“But is there life after death or is there not?” persisted a disciple.
“Is there life before death? – that is the question!” said the Master enigmatically.

from Anthony de Mello, S.J., Prayer of the Frog

The Wise Woman's Stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable this stone is, but I gave it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone".

Peace on Earth

One night in a dream, a man noticed a new shop in the High Street. He went in and saw an angel behind the counter. Nervously, he asked what the shop sold. “Everything your heart desires,” the angel said. “Then I want peace on earth,” cried the man. “An end to sorrow, famine and disease.”
“Just one moment,” said the angel, “You haven’t quite understood. We don’t sell fruit here... only seeds.”

Solving Problems

Men decide many more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion, or some similar emotion, than by reason (veritate) or authority or any legal standards, or legal precedents, or law.

- Marcus Tullius Cicero -

How Long, O Lord?

(an adaptation of the Thirteenth Psalm)
How long - how long O Lord how long?
Is it forever you forget?
How long - how long O Lord how long?
With sorrow is my heart beset.
O hear my prayer; consider, Lord,
My eyes grow dim with darkling death.
And those that trouble me, O Lord,
Rejoice to hear my failing breath.
But in your love and mercy, Lord,
My heart finds harborage and peace;
And in your healing grace, O Lord,
My praise and faith shall never cease.
My soul shall sing and praise my Lord
Rejoicing, raise her voice above;
For, many blessings on me You have poured,
And lit my lonely life with love.

by Kerry Elizabeth Thompson

Crazy Thoughts and Sayings

• I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
• 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
• A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
• OK, so what's the speed of dark?
• How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
• Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
• I intend to live forever - so far, so good.
• If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
• All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
• The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
• I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.
• If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
• Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
• When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
• Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
• Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
• A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
• The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
• The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
• The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
• It's a good thing we have gravity, or else when birds died they'd just stay right up there. Hunters would be all confused.
• Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

The Apparent Triumph of Evil

I sometimes feel appalled at the thought of the sum total of human misery all over the world at the present moment: the millions parted, fretting, wasting in unprofitable days - quite apart from torture, pain, death, bereavement, injustice. If anguish were visible, almost the whole of this benighted planet would be enveloped in a dense dark vapor, shrouded from the amazed vision of the heavens! And the products of it all will be mainly evil - historically considered. But the historic version is, of course, not the only one. All things and all deeds have a value in themselves, apart from their "causes" and "effects." No man can estimate what is really happening sub specie aeternitatis. All we do know, and that to a large extent by direct experience, is that evil labors with vast power and perpetual success - in vain: preparing always the soil for unexpected good to sprout in.

from the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

The source of Peace

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

- Dwight Eisenhower -

A Prayer for Peace Today

Lord, hold all troops, and civilians, in your loving hand, regardless of race or creed.
Protect the weak and innocent.
Bring justice with love and love with justice.
May compassion and grace rule over might and power.
God of all nations, let YOUR kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven....
Bless Saddam Hussein, George W Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard. Build a Coalition of those willing for peace, justice and freedom for all humanity.
Disarm all those who are committed to imposing their will on others.
May Your will and grace be the only source of freedom.
In the name of that Middle Eastern Preacher I pray...
Amen.

written by Gary Heard

Back In My Day

In my day, we didn't have any rocks. We had to go down to the creek and wash our clothes by beating them with our heads.
In my day, we didn't have hand-held calculators. We had to do addition on our fingers. To subtract, we had to have some fingers amputated.
In my day, we didn't have water. We had to smash together our own hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
Kids today think the world revolves around them. In my day, the sun revolved around the world, and the world was perched on the back of a giant tortoise.
In my day, we didn't have virtual reality. If a one-eyed razorback barbarian warrior was chasing you with an axe, you just had to hope you could outrun him.

Against War

Our lives turning
On the edge of mortality
We look into the chasm,
Then turn away and grit our teeth.
Far from here,
Or so it seems,
Evil men call us to our deaths
Halfway 'round the world.
Bloated with their own importance,
Swollen with greed
They pride themselves
On their lack of humility.
We bow our heads,
Since they will not bow theirs.
No end of sacrifice
Will suffice.
What can turn their hearts of stone?
Can anyone reach them?
What will it take
To reason with them?
Is it better ten million die
Than they admit their guilt?
Is it truly such a hard thing
To fall on their knees?
Turn the other cheek!
Sage advice from one who knew
The only answer
Is to love them.

by Robert Bly

BUT SIR . . .

But Sir,
I have some questions:
Why,
If we're "the good guys,"
Does this feel so wrong?
It's not what
I grew up believing.
Why must these people die
So horribly,
Then their only crime
Was being born
In the "wrong" place?
Why must good dreams of finding love,
Having babies,
Planting a garden,
Owning a little shop,
Always fall victim to the tyrant's whim?
What makes us think
War is the "right answer"
This time?
Isn't it because you're all
Playing chess with our lives?
Until we learn
Not to live
By the world's way,
We're condemned
To reap its reward.
Dear God,
I pray for us all!
I know there's got to be
A better way!
Not this--not again!
Above it all,
Satan laughs.
We shoulder our bombs
And march away.

by Diane CadyMiller

Are You Ready to Take on a Lone-Gun Superpower?

The world struggles to fight global warming, and its biggest polluter thumbs its nose. The world calls for an international criminal court, and "the global supercop" rejects it out of hand. Now the world wants a firm but peaceful solution in Iraq, and America is beating the drums of war.
It's the new global arrogance. The White House is right. The rest of us are wrong. And like it or not, the world gets a war.
How do we - from Tokyo and Bombay to London and Los Angeles - take a stand against Rogue Nation USA? Here's an idea: we hit the superpower with a boycott the whole world can see, and that American power can really feel. For most of us, the clear symbols of American culture gone wrong are the corporate logos that make up Brand America. So we empty the McDonald's, the Niketowns and Hollywood cinemas. We clear out Disneyland. We turn off Fox, CNN and MTV. We shut down Esso and Texaco, Gap and Starbucks.
When you make the Boycott Brand America pledge, you make a public statement. You also add your email address to our secure list, so we can build the boycott into an international outcry on par with the peace marches. Watch for days of action on oil, fast food, sweatshop labor, the media - the intensity will build with every week of the war.
We face a historic turning point - and a need for new mass actions. Don't doubt that we can turn the tide; the peace movement is already 10 million strong and growing. That's enough consumer clout to make the Brand America Boycott a challenge heard round the world.
Ready for action? From personal choice to public protest, you can build the Brand America Boycott with the power of your own imagination. Whatever you choose to do, let us know (tell sadie@adbusters.org), and watch the site for updates, jams, photos and reports. Take on the global bullies and celebrate your freedom from commercial culture.
Copy of the pledge:
Because I am one of the millions of people against the war;
And because the American government has made it clear that it won't listen to world opinion;
And because the symbols of American power are its corporations and their brands;
I hereby pledge to boycott Brand America, from the moment the war begins and to the best of my ability until the empire learns to listen.
To sign go to: http://adbusters.org/

The Death of Democracy

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.

- Robert Maynard Hutchins -

The Value of Action

It's the action, not the fruit of the action that's important.
You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power,
may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit.
But that does not mean you stop doing the right thing.
You may never know what results come from your action.
But if you do nothing, there will be no results.

- Mahatma Gandhi

What is TRUE LOVE?

The late Father James Keller, founder of The Christophers, put it this way:

Love delights in giving attention rather than attracting it.
Love finds the element of good and builds on it.
Love does not magnify defects.
Love is a flame that warms but never burns.
Love knows how to disagree without becoming disagreeable.
Love rejoices at the success of others instead of being envious.

The War Prayer

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle - be thou near them! . . . O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead: help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief. . . . For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it in the spirit of love of Him who is the Source of Love, and who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all who are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen

(written by Mark Twain)

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day brings back memories of maternal advice and admonition. Picture the scene with these famous offspring:
Alexander the Great’s mother - “How many times do I have to tell you - you can’t have everything you want in this world!”
Franz Schubert’s mother - “Take my advice son. Never start anything you can’t finish”.
Achilles’ mother - “Stop imagining things. There’s nothing wrong with your heel”.
Sigmund Freud’s mother - “Stop pestering me! I’ve told you a hundred times the stork brought you!”

The God of Many Names

Eternal God, we see that our understanding of you has been shaped and chiseled by the stories of many people. Indeed you are known to us by many names:
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you remind us that you are part of the human story, and have connected yourself with us in unique and surprising ways. You have allowed yourself to be shaped by our journey, connecting yourself with the lives of Moses, Elijah, and the prophets.
And you have surprised us through your interaction with and ownership of the life of Rahab the prostitute, the broken marriage of Hosea, and the deep grief of Ruth and Naomi. In succeeding generations you have touched and inhabited many lives, always adding to the story of our understanding, challenging us to accept you in the new and the old.
We confess that we find it hard to connect with their stories: you seem much more distant from us: the immediacy and intimacy of their relationship with you does not echo in our own experience. Help us to find comfort and hope from the past, rather than a prescription. You surprised Moses at the burning bush; Elijah in the whisper of a wind, Jonah inside a great fish, even Job in his deep turmoil.
Grant us a present and future understanding and expectation: grounded in the knowledge that you met others in their present and futures. Liberate us from prescription.
Encourage us to open exploration. That we might meet you afresh tonight.
Etch your name on our gathering, in our hearts we pray, and into our week.
Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

Through Violence...

Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that..

- Dr Martin Luther King -

Building a peaceful world

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the dischords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will - and determination - to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment

- Dr Martin Luther King -

Three Religious Truths

There are three religious truths:
1. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
2. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith.
3. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store.

Signs of War

An anti-war rally was held in Washington, DC. on Martin Luther King Day in the USA in January 2003. A variety of the hand-made signs held were by the protesters. Here is a sample...

Bush does for Christianity what Bin Laden does for Islam.
Brains Not Bombs
George Dubya: Weapon Of Mass Distraction
Beat The Bushes For Peace
Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Look Under The Bushes
Evolve! Work For A Non-violent Future
If War Is The Answer, We're Asking The Wrong Question
Killing Innocent People Is The Problem, Not The Solution
Save America, Spare Iraq, Make Texas Take Him back
Drop Names, Not Bombs
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease
There Is No Path To Peace - Peace IS The Path
Justice Or Just Us?
Tame The Tyrant In The Mirror, Then The One In Iraq
Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld: Axis Of Weasel
Go Solar, Not Ballistic
Who's The Unelected Tyrant With The Bomb?
Nonviolence, Not Nonexistence
A Village In Texas Has Lost Its Idiot
How Many Lives Per Gallon?
Make Alternative Energy Not War
How Did Our Oil Get Under Their Soil?
Regime Change Begins At Home
More MPGs, Less MIAs
Put The Peace Back In
God Does Not Bless Only America
Rich Man's War Poor Man's Blood
Has Anyone Seen Our Constitution Lately?
What If God Blesses Iraq?
Born To Kill, Born To Drill
Let's Try Preemptive Peace
Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War
If You Are Not Outraged You Are Not Paying Attention
Honk If You're A Terrorist
Smart Bombs Don't Justify Dumb Leaders
We Have Guided Missiles And Misguided Men

The Lesson

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathering them around him, he taught them saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are the meek...
Blessed are they who mourn...
Blessed are the merciful...
Blessed are they who thirst for justice...
Blessed are you when persecuted...
Blessed are you when you suffer...
Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven...

Then Simon Peter said, 'Do we have to write this down?'
And Andrew said, 'Are we supposed to know this?'
And James said, 'Will we have a test on it?'
And Philip said, 'What if we don't know it?'
And Bartholomew said, 'Do we have to turn this in?'
And John said, 'The other disciples didn't have to learn this.'
And Matthew said, 'When do we get out of here?'
And Judas said, 'What does this have to do with real life?'
Then one of the Pharisees present asked to see Jesus' lesson plans and inquired of Jesus his terminal objectives in the cognitive domain.

And Jesus wept...

Knowledge and Enlightenment

The poet Kabir says:
What good is it if the scholar pores over words and points of this and that but his chest is not soaked dark with love?
What good is it if the ascetic clothes himself with saffron robes but is colourless within?
What good is it if you scrub your ethical behavior till it shines, but there is no music inside?
Disciple: What’s the difference between knowledge and enlightenment?
Master: When you have knowledge, you use a torch to show the way. When you are enlightened you become a torch.

from Anthony de Mello, The Prayer of the Frog

Astronomy and Numbers

There are 10¹¹ stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

- Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel laureate (1918-1988) -

Pun Zone (be warned)

Two aerials meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much but the reception was great.

Effective Prayer

Mrs. Friedman, the third grade Hebrew teacher, needed some supplies from a supply cabinet that was seldom used and was secured with a lock. She didn't know the combination, and called Rabbi Weinstein to give it a try.
Rabbi Weinstein placed his fingers on the lock's dial and raised his eyes heavenward for a moment. Then he confidently spun the dial and opened the lock.
Seeing how impressed Mrs. Friedman was with this demonstration of faith, he smiled and confided, "The numbers are written on the ceiling."