Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. e.e. cummings                         

Meditation: Middle and High School years are tough. Only the popular kids seem to believe in themselves, or at least they act somewhat like it. However, maybe they are anxious too. Anxious about possibly losing their position, losing their admirers or their privilege… The other kids, who are not popular, usually struggle with believing in themselves. Their anxieties are more about exclusion, loneliness and judgment. It is hard to believe in yourself when others do not believe in you. My prayer for all teenagers, popular or not, is that their anxieties will be transformed into faith and trust in themselves. The challenge to believe in ourselves does not end with High School. Again and again, even as adults, we have times when we lose self-confidence, or when we don’t feel congruent or at peace with ourselves. It is helpful to focus in those times on the Source of Strength outside of us and within us. When we get in touch with our human spirit, we also get in touch with God’s Spirit. And God’s Spirit is the creative energy that helps us take risks. God is the source of wonder and of spontaneous delight. God’s Spirit delights in us, so that we can delight in ourselves and in others.

Prayer: Gracious God, may we all be strengthened in our belief in You as the Source of all creativity and life energy. May we all be strengthened in our belief in ourselves, so that we can be curious and filled with delight and wonder. May we strengthen each other and see God’s Spirit in each others’ spirit. May we delight in each other. Amen                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                outheSourceofMaI I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

I have been thinking about the notion of perfect love as being without fear, and what that means for us in a world that’s becoming increasingly xenophobic, tortured by fundamentalism and nationalism. bell hooks

Meditation: What does it mean to grow up? What does it mean to grow up in love? It seems that one sign of “being a grown up in love” involves confronting our own prejudices. It means to explore and overcome our fears of the foreign(er), to confess our tendency to set ourselves absolute and to admit our limitation of idealizing the culture we were born in. When we become mature enough to reflect in such a way on ourselves, when we admit that we are afraid and suspicious of that which we do not know or of those we have not met before, then the time has come that we have a chance of maturing in love. Embracing the stranger, exploring other cultures and ways we have not known before requires courage and love. Jesus was a Jewish man who overcame the exclusionary ways of his culture and religion. He embraced people of other cultures and backgrounds. He embodied the love of God, our Creator, who made us beautifully diverse, and who holds our diversity in love.

Prayer: God, as Christians let us rebuke xenophobia, fundamentalism and nationalism. Let us to follow Jesus’s example so we venture out beyond our own cultural and religious comfort zone. In a time of hatred, prejudice and oppression of neighbors who come from other cultures than our own, let Your church become more mature. Let each of us grow up in love, so that Your Church’s ways become counter-cultural and represent Your perfect love. Amen

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear is by suspicion, but he who fears is not grown up in love. 1. John 4:18

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do. Pope John XXIII

Meditation: Today one of my daughters talked about her frustration that her twin sister has it so much easier than she does. She is afraid that she won’t be able to succeed in reaching her goals, and she worries about some of her grades that have been rather low lately. As parents it is easy to allow anxiety and frustration to take us over as well. Then we start staring at and become paralyzed by our child’s moments of failure. Though this is human and understandable, by reacting like this, we make our child’s fears, frustrations and sense of failure much worse. When we, however, take time out to tap into our spiritual resource of hope, we remember the moments in our own life when somebody held the future open for us, and when somebody had hope for us. We recall the times when somebody believed in our ability to turn things around.  And so, as we remember God’s human agents of hope in our own life, we can shift perspective. We are able to respond and not only react. We are able to become ourselves a hope filled agent of God for our children. We become able to encourage our children’s hopes and dreams, and we hold the future open for new possibilities. We do not obsess about their failures, but we are able to see and call forth their potential. It is a gift of the Spirit when we are able to hold our children’s emotional turmoil and offer them the soothing balm of hope. It is, indeed, an amazing gift of the Spirit when our fears are being calmed, our frustrations are being held and our failures are being put into a larger perspective.

Prayer: God of Hope, Your Spirit helps us when we become overwhelmed by fears, worries, judgments and a sense of failure. You turn our eyes towards the future. You give us hope that the past was just the beginning of the story. You invite us into the joy and peace that in relationship with You nothing has to define us other than Your compassionate and hopeful Spirit that holds the future open for us. And we are grateful. Amen

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

The psychopathology of the masses is rooted in the psychology of the individual. Carl Jung

Meditation: How in the world did our country end up in the situation we are in? Did our individual mental condition become manifested in a collective psychopathology? Our current time in the US can maybe best be described with the words of a trauma survivor. Eve Ensler said: “I think culture is where things change in us deeply. But right now, I think that people are very traumatized. They are very scared. Having grown up in a house with a perpetrator who was violent every day and terrorizing every day, I feel like that this country is suddenly very much like the house and the family I grew up in. Every day we are glued to our phones, glued to our television; “What is this psychopath going to do next? How will he embarrass us? Who will he bully or hurt or humiliate today? It’s so easy to get locked into a syndrome where the perpetrator is ruling your life.”

Prayer: God, our country is going through a severe mental illness. Collectively we have experienced several traumatizing external events in the past months, and then we experience also severe traumatizing reactions and handling of those events. We are afraid. We are feeling trapped in a “family situation” that traumatizes us daily. God have mercy on our country. Restore us to health. Free us from all oppression. Amen

There are six things the Lord… detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19

I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it’s time America was run like a business. Donald Trump

Meditation: The business model applied to American politics with the bottom line of making as much money as possible for the already rich is a devastating philosophy. Tough decisions do not mean to declare not to pay the laborers their fair wage at the end of the day while saving the investor from having to pay taxes. Tough decisions do not mean to do away with programs that care for the survival of the people on the bottom of society while putting money in the pockets of those who do not even know what the “bottom line” of survival looks and feels like. Perhaps, no…perhaps, yes, it’s time to expose the shady games of people who abuse their status and money making tactics. Perhaps it’s time to call the last nine months a disaster, a failed business and an insult to all ethics and morals that this country stands for.

Prayer: God, in Jesus you decided that the bottom line for You are people, not money. Jesus always had his eye towards those people who live at the bottom of society. They are the ones who have full access to Your care and “kin-dom”. Not business that sacrifices the well-being of people “on the bottom” shall reign the world, but love and justice shall prevail. Your “Kin-dom” shall reign. Your Kin-dom as all those who are kin to You, God, and, therefore, who are kin to each other. May Your “Kin-dom” come. Amen

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14

We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square. Michelle Obama

Meditation: The theme of the day is: “truth matters”,“integrity matters” and “honesty matters”. Today the legal branch of our democratic government took leadership after months of quiet investigations. Honesty and integrity still matter! Illegal activities are still being found out. Our legal system matters and works! There is a sense of relief that there is a third branch in our country that has been created to correct when the other two are breaking down in any way. God, you are the One who has given and who is upholding the law to establish justice for all. Your commandments are meant to protect humanity from its dark and destructive sides. Today we are especially grateful for the power of Your law, for integrity and honesty!

Prayer: God of justice, we are grateful that in our democratic country the legal branch is functional and independent. There are countries where this third branch has been taken over by the other two and has been shut down. Not so in our country. God, we are grateful for a functional legal system. We are grateful that law, truth and integrity still exist and will have the last word . God, we are hopeful. We are grateful. Amen

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Proverbs 10:9

 

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism. Howard Thurman

Meditation: Our country in the past nine months has shifted into an experience of a race and class “war”. The language and expression of hatred have suddenly become acceptable. The current president ignites and condones hate language. He also uses shaming, blaming and defaming behavior to overcome his declared enemies. Anybody who dares to tell the truth about the current war and this president’s role in it is being labeled as unpatriotic. The abuse of presidential power has become an everyday occurrence. The president is at war with all who do not “hail” him and who endanger his personal goals. Many people in the US are stressed and even traumatized by what is happening. The level of trauma is similar to what people feel during active war times. The current “war” byproduct is that basic rights are being eliminated, especially for the poor and vulnerable. The president has positioned himself and his small winning class of the rich and powerful to take over this country. Can you believe that there are daily Bible studies in the White House? The ultimate distortion of the Christian faith has reached the White House. Self-anointed pastors are being paid to hold daily Bible studies to legitimize this president based on the so-called “Prosperity Gospel”. Capitalistic and in prosperity believing “Christian” figures proclaim to “love God”. Really?

Prayer: God, a war is swiping over our country. It is increasing in intensity every day. Tweet storms of blaming, shaming, and defaming are daily occurrences. The air is being poisoned. Lies reign, and truth is being buried. The poor and vulnerable are being abandoned with one single signature. False prophets have colluded and have sold out Your Word to those in power. God, we pray for Your Spirit to come and stop this madness. God, have mercy on our country. Have mercy on this world, on all who are being sacrificed on the altar of war and hatred. Have mercy. Amen

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1. John 4:20

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive. Maya Angelou

Meditation: Sometimes we cannot control what life throws at us. However, most of the time we do have a choice about what influences us and who and how much we allow into our personal space. I have gotten pretty sensitive to the toxins that people and social media leave with me after they invade my space. The “discernment of the spirits” as the Bible calls it, which means gaining clarity about what are positive and life giving what are negative and destructive energies, is more important today than ever before. We are intentionally and constantly being bombarded with negative and manipulative images and words. And they increase constantly. Learning to set clear boundaries when the energies are negative or toxic is an important step to remaining emotionally and spiritually healthy. Realizing that everything we are taking in will remain with us consciously or unconsciously is an important message to our children. They might not realize how their exposure to certain images and certain language remains with them and is toxic for their soul. Let us adults be role models as how to set boundaries by not allowing certain persons into our life and by cutting off the TV or phone when the influences are too negative.

Prayer: God, teach us and our children the discernment of the spirits. Help us focus on the life giving and positive energies in and around us. We are bombarded every day with manipulative and destructive energies and spirits that want to get us on their side, be it people in power, philosophies or ideologies, “isms” and certain worldviews. God, help us to focus on You and on Your life giving Spirit. Protect us and our children from all spirits, images and words that destroy, manipulate, lie, over simplify, stereotype and make us paranoid. You are the life giving Spirit. And we are grateful. Amen

Finally, brothers (and sisters), whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment. Eckhart Tolle

Meditation: For the past months, every Saturday morning,  I am attending a Yoga class in the community center close by. It is the highlight of my week. A busy week as a counseling director and as a Mom lies behind me, and I am not yet needing to prepare the sermon for Sunday. It is this beautiful in between time. It is this “being” time in between the “doing times”. Every time after stretching our bodies with peaceful music playing, we end the time with “Savasana”, a resting pose where we are lying calmly and peacefully – all stretched out, all warm and deeply breathing. The yoga teacher then says a prayer of peace. I am truly feeling “calm, quiet and content like a weaned child.” Often I allow myself to hold on to this feeling a little longer by taking a long nap in my car right after class. This is why I always have a blanket and a pillow with me. And so, Saturday mornings are those hours when I am allowed to “be” instead of “do”. I practice stillness in my otherwise quite noisy life, and I joyfully feel and rest my body and my soul.

Prayer: Gracious God, those moments of uniting my body and my Spirit, of calming my mind and of allowing myself to “be and to rest” are priceless. I am so grateful for the Yoga teacher’s peaceful spirit. She creates this space where those who come can connect with their bodies and with You, as the Spirit of Peace. Thank You for saving us from our never ending “doing”. Thank You for the freedom from having to function at all times. Thank You for being present when our minds get still and our body, soul and spirit get realigned. Thank You for making us feel calm, quiet and content in Your care. Amen

 I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Psalm 131: 2

 

 

 

 

I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness – and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I’m a human trying to make it through in this world. Ellen DeGeneres

Meditation: I have those days. Do you? When fifteen minutes is all I have to ground myself and to catch a moment of stillness or inner peace. In those minutes I drink my tea quietly in the morning before everybody else gets up, and I read a few words of inspiration. Or I sit in my favorite corner on the couch after the kids went to bed and my husband has not come home yet. Then I have those moments of deep breathing, maybe of saying a prayer, and maybe of reflecting on the day with gratitude. Fifteen minutes is all I often get before the kids get up or the garage door opens. And yet those fifteen minutes are holy minutes. They anchor me. They remind and reassure me whose I am. So that the rest of the day is “held” by arms stronger than mine and accompanied by the Spirit that is more peaceful than I often am.

Prayer: God of holy moments, thank You for those minutes of breathing, of praying, of reflecting and inspiration. Thank You that even in my busiest days, You are ever present, even though I often only find those fleeting moments of conscious connecting. Thank You that Your Spirit continues to move in my unconscious and in my Spirit, as I am trying to make it through in this world. You want peace for me and for those I meet today. And I am grateful. Amen

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5