What Are Watchwords?

The daily Watchwords that you are reading are inspired by the Moravian Watchwords (“die Losungen”)  that the founder Graf Ludwig von Zinzendorf and his wife Erdmuth Dorothea introduced to the Moravian community in 1728. As the (8th generation) Granddaughter of Zinzendorf and as a pastor’s daughter, I grew up with the “Losungen”= “Watchwords”.
In the past 30 years I have been engaging in daily theological and psychological work and teaching. My multicultural children, my German background and my life in the US for over 27 years have shaped me. My engagement as an ordained pastor, as a hospital chaplain, as a chaplain educator and more recently as a marriage and family therapist are all influencing my perspective and my writing. My daily “Losungen” (Watchwords) are an attempt to integrate all those roles and influences of who I am into “inspirations for today”.
2020-2021 have been life changing years for our planet. Millions have died from the Corona Virus. Humanity shared in this suffering and many have lost so much. At the same time a new spiritual awakening has begun, which is emerging from the collective suffering. Since March 2020 my own spiritual journey has been new and different from before. The past years I have engaged daily in Yoga practices and discovered Thich Nhat Han as a teacher of Zen meditation.
2020-2021 have been painfully transformative and also liberating and life changing years for me personally.
In 2022 I will focus my attention mainly on dialogue partners like Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Han, Eckhart Tolle, Cynthia Bourgeault, Brene Brown, Deepak Chopra and Richard Rohr. What they share in common is their seeking of authentically being present in the “here and now” as a mystical/wisdom based way of understanding the world. This wisdom perspective includes the life and teaching of Jesus who pointed us into God’s realm. It is the awareness of “now” as the moment when the Spirit of God is fully and creatively present in us and in the world around us.
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