Bend First Presbyterian Church

Tagore: The sandal tree as if to prove how sweet to conquer hate by love perfumes the axe that lays it low.

Heschel: Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.

What is life’s heaviest burden? To have nothing to carry.

This is another day, O Lord.

I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord,

For whatever it may be.

If I am to stand up, help me stand bravely.

If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.

If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.

And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly.

(“Acedia and Me” by Kathleen Norris)

If you would like to read more of yesterday’s sermon, please follow this link: http://www.bendfp.org/.docs/pg/10770

It’s the tale of a mighty giant and a weak little tailor who were forced into a contest to determine who is the more powerful.

Specifically, the contest was to see who could throw something farther.

As the story has it, the giant is extraordinarily strong and has been practicing for weeks. He’s sure he can best any other contender.

He steps to the line and with every ounce of power in his muscular body thrusts a stone into the air with an extremely high arch.

It soars nearly out of sight and finally comes to the ground at a great distance with a thud that nobody can even hear.

Then the tailor steps to the line, a frail little man with no expression in his face. He lifts his hands into the air and releases a little bird that flies away into the sky, higher and higher, much higher and much farther than any giant might throw a stone.

A stream was working its way across the country on its way to the open sea.

The stream experienced little difficulty as it flowed around the rocks and through the mountains. But then it arrived at a desert. The little stream tried to cross the desert, but it found that as soon as it met the sand, its waters dried and disappeared.

After many attempts at success, the stream became discouraged. Then a voice came from the wind: “If you stay the way you are, you will never cross the desert. You cannot become more than a quagmire. To go further, you will have to lose yourself.”

“But if I lose myself,” the stream cried, “I will never know what I’m supposed to be.”

“Oh, on the contrary,” said the voice, “if you lose yourself, you will become more than you ever dreamed you would be.”

So the stream surrendered to the drying sun. And the clouds into which the stream was formed carried by the raging wind for many miles.

Once the stream crossed the desert, it poured down from the skies, fresh and clean and full of energy that comes from storms, whose waters flowed into the waiting arms of the wide, open sea.

A blessing to contemplate today by John O’Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us.

A BLESSING FOR THE COMMUNITY

In these times when anger

Is turned to anxiety

We easily loose vision

Of the horizons and mountains

Around us.

The media wraps everything

In a cellophane of sound

And the ghosts of the virtual world

Suffocate the real and breathing earth.

The industry of distraction

Makes us forget

That we live in a larger universe.

Community for us

Too often translates into something

Small and petty

Our private needs trumping

Sisters and brothers

With far bigger needs.

We have become converts

To the religion of stress

To the deity of progress

And to the bottom line

Of mere economic gains.

May we have the courage

To turn aside from it all

And kneel before the poor.

Then to discover what we must do

We can turn our anxiety

Into something productive.

Our communities

Will be transformed

Into home again

With room for every

Woman and man

Beggar and CEO -

For every

Priest, Prophet and King.

Amen!

Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew,

“If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.—Shine!”

Meditation

Relax with a few deep breaths, using the rhythm of your breathing to center your awareness here, now, in the present moment.

Breathing in—I calm my mind and body

     Breathing out—I let go of any tension

     Breathing in—I dwell in the present   moment.

     Breathing out—This is the only moment.

Imagine yourself being surrounded and immersed in the light of God.

Imagine breathing the light of God into every cell of your body.

Imagine this light penetrating your mind and blessing your heart.

Imagine this light refreshing you.

Now, envision the entire planet before you, imagine that small, beautiful, blue marble picture of the earth we have seen through the eyes of astronauts.

Envision the whole planet being bathed in light—being bathed in God’s compassionate love for all creatures—a great light that streams from above and bathes, heals, cleanses, nourishes and gives life to the planet.

Let this light envelop you also and join your own caring compassion with the flow of the Spirit’s love for the world.

Imagine all of those light-bearers who care, pray and work for the good of the world by imagining dots of light appearing like small stars all over the world.

Let these lights connect into a web of light that encircles the globe, reminding you that your prayer joins a stream of prayer already happening.

Be aware of any particular location or situation in the world where there is a need or trouble that speaks to your heart.

Imagine zooming in on that particular place or people bringing light, imagine that light penetrating the darkness.

Now, once again, imagine the whole planet from space, surrounded by a web of light encircling the whole globe.

Repeat silently to yourself for a few moments -

          God’s will be done,

                   On earth as it is in heaven.

Contemplate your holy calling as a light-bearer, where will the light shine through you today?

One day the Sufi poet Rumi asked one of his young, snotty disciples to give him an enormous amount of rich and delicious food. This young disciple was rather alarmed because he thought Rumi was living an ascetic lifestyle. Rumi used to pray all night and eat hardly anything. The disciple thought, “Aha, now I’ve really got the master – what he really wants is to go off somewhere secretly and eat all this food!” So he decided to follow Rumi. He followed him through the streets of Konya, out into the fields, out into yet further fields. Then he saw Rumi go into a ruined tomb. “I’m finally going to unmask his pretensions,” the young disciple thought. But what he found was a totally exhausted and starving mother dog withher six puppies, and Rumi was feeding the dog with his own hands so that she could survive to feed her children. Rumi knew that the disciple was following him, of course, and turned to him smiling and said, “See?” The disciple, extremely moved, said, “But how on earth did you know that she was here? How did you know that she was hungry? This is miles away from where we are!” Rumi laughed and laughed, “When you have become awake your ears are so acute that they can hear the cries of a sparrow ten thousand miles away.”

(Source: Andrew Harvey in The Way of Passion)

Blessed is the Source of Bliss who offers you a path to bliss. Make this be a moment for setting aside expectations and surrendering to the simple truth of what is that you may find your way to what may be.

Blessed is the Source of Wisdom who offers you a path to wisdom. May this be a moment for heeding the intuitive voice that whispers within. May you be open to what comes your way, trusting in Life and the One who manifests it.

Blessed is the Source of Understanding who offers you a path to understanding. May this be a moment for cooling your desires and seeing things more objectively. May you seek first to understand and only then be understood.

Blessed is the Source of Restraint who offers you a path to restraint. May this be a moment for holding back and making room. May you uplift others and find in their success a bit of your own.

Blessed is the Source of Grace who offers a path to grace. May this be a moment for reaching out to help and reaching out to be helped, for offering love and opening to it when it is offered.

Blessed is the Source of Balance who offers you a path to balance. May this be a moment of self-correction, listening to your needs and fulfilling them.

Blessed is the Source of receptivity who offers you a path to receptivity. May this be a moment for patience. May you resist the desire to change what is that you might first come to know what is.

Blessed is the Source of Victory who offers you a path to victory. May this be a moment for overcoming obstacles, remembering that some walls need not to be toppled, only walked around.

Blessed is the Source of Transformation who offers you a path to transformation. May this be a moment for doing things differently. May you seek out new ways of encouraging mutual fulfillment, joy, purpose and growth.

Blessed is the Source of Grounding who offers you a path to grounding. May this be a moment for slowing down and settling in. May you attend to what needs doing and do it with fullness of body, mind, heart and soul.

(Source: The Sacred Art of Lovingkindnessby Rabbi Rami Shapiro)

I am sharing this poem by Denise Levertov in the Contemplative Worship service tonight @6pm.

As swimmers dare

To lie face to the sky

And waters bear them,

As hawks rest upon air

And air sustains them,

So would I learn to attain

Freefall, and float

Into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace

Knowing no effort earns

That all-surrounding grace.

What are you passionate about? One could argue that nothing great is ever achieved without great enthusiasm and passion. George Bernard Shaw said, “The true joy in life is being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one…Life is no brief candle to me, rather it is a splendid torch that I have hold of for this moment in time. I am going to make it burn as brightly as possible before I pass it on to future generations.”

Martin Buber said, “Reality is new every day and every day it asks to be shaped by our hands and hearts.”

President Barack Obama, delivering the eulogy at the memorial service for Senator Edward Kennedy said, “We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials and misfortunes that will test us along the way. What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of other human beings.”

May your heart be infused with passion, enthusiasm and courage to use the gift of this day to not just make a difference but help make a different world.