The Grace of One Who Hears Our Voice

A couple of weeks ago I welcomed my first and only assistant dog. Since an accident two years ago, where I more or less lost my eyesight, I have been waiting for the dog.

Last Sunday we heard the words where Jesus talks about himself as a good shepherd who takes care of his sheep. In the Gospel of John chapter 10, Jesus tells us how he calls out for his sheep and leads them to good pastures. The sheep follow him because they recognize His voice.

It is pretty amazing how I can see this happen in the relationship between me and my dog. When I call out for her, she instantly comes. As with the sheep she recognizes my voice.

For the sake of the dog my husband and I have built a fence around our garden where the dog freely can play. It reminds me of the image of the green pasture.

All of this makes me think of how Jesus takes care of us. He calls out for us, to lead us into freedom and play.

So in my own prayer, I feel an invitation to reflect on:

· what is it that makes us recognize the voice of Jesus.

· in what circumstances becomes his voice clearer to us?

· In the Gospel Jesus says that he leads the sheep to freedom. This makes me wonder how this freedom looks like in our own lives?

When I am with my assistant dog and feel her willingness to be close, it helps me to feel gratitude to God who uses the image of the nearness between the sheep and the shepherd to try to tell us about the love for us, which is Gods own. — Hillevi Bergvall

God sends help in many forms.

Of Dust and Stardust

Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return. (Gen 3:19)  

Many of us heard these words on Wednesday as our foreheads were smudged with ashes. It is meant to remind us that we humans are made from humus, dirt.  It points to our mortality as well as the mortality of every living thing. It also points toward our interconnection with all matter. The atoms that make up my body will someday be part of the soil, clouds, plants, and animals. It is a fitting way to focus our attention at the outset of this time we dedicate to moving closer to God through prayer, fasting and almsgiving: remember our fragile humanity. It is no coincidence that humus is also the root word of humility. 

And yet, although formed from the dust of the earth, we are also made in the image and likeness of God. What if we said, “Remember you are stardust and to stardust you shall return”? For me it changes everything. We are humus, dirt, but inspirited dirt – stardust. We are the result of God pouring God’s self into the cosmos.  We came from God’s outpouring of love and will go back into God’s great love. Maybe, rather than remembering how sinful we are, we are called to remember our true nature – made in the image and likeness of God.  Perhaps the sinfulness we are called to remember is that we don’t recognize our image and likeness, how beloved we are. We focus on our sinfulness, the ways we have failed. “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”  The question we might ask is: Does this bring us closer to God?  I don’t think so. Perhaps the invitation is to savor that, though I am a sinner, I am beloved just as I am. Maybe I need to recall that I am made of dust and stardust. 

-Suanne Reed

The Way is Made by Walking -- A New Year's Meditation

Yesterday I read this passage from Christine Paintner's THE SOUL'S SLOW RIPENING, which mines the meaning of my word-for-2024: WALK.

"'Wanderer, there is no road. The way is made by walking,' The Christian scriptures speak of a "way," but it is not the path of our expectations. It is not the ten-step plan for inner peace. Instead, this way calls us to deeper and more radical trust to realize that the way is made by walking." -- Paintner

Like many of us, I can get knotted up in the past, or convinced that just a little more effort will lead to the proverbial greener grass of some imagined future. But life is a pilgrimage of small discernments and everyday graces. I used to love writing novels (who knows, maybe I will again one day :) ), and there's always that moment about 2/3 of the way through a draft when you think "Holy crap, what have I been doing? What was I thinking?" And any experienced writer knows..... you just keep writing. So it is with our dreams when life seems to press in from all sides.

There is always some small shift to bring us closer to our dreams, no matter how fixed the everydayness can feel. I love Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, because she invites readers to brighten up one corner of a room, or install that birdfeeder, or whatever it is that enchants your living space just a bit. If you want to hang a string of fairy lights in your meditation corner -- do it!

So today, just for the heck of it, change one little thing -- just because it makes you happy. Take a step in the direction of something new. Enchant your own life. Trust in process, not product. Trust that one day you will be amazed at how far you've travelled. And in the meantime, you might also embrace this stretch of road. — Alison Umminger Mattison