… watching for the brushstrokes of God
Katangole/Rice in Reconciling all Things invite us into the ongoing process of confession and lament, “as we learn to go out of our way to draw near and tarry with the pain of the world in concrete places, the challenge is to keep naming the truth, keep being disturbed, keep remembering the awful depth of brokenness.”
Do confession and lament keep you going?
“In the deeps are the violence and terror of which psychology has warned us. But if you ride these monsters deeper down, if you drop with them farther over the world’s rim, you find what our sciences cannot locate or name, the substrate, the ocean or matrix or ether which buoys the rest, which gives goodness its power for good, and evil its power for evil, the unified field: our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here. This is given. It is not learned.” ~ Annie Dillard
How do you ride the monsters deeper?
Some say there is no hope,
but then I’ve always applauded the holy fools
who never seem to give up on
the scandalousness of our faith:
that we are loved by God……
that we can truly love one another.
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles. ~ Ann Weems
How foolish do you dare to be?
On the edge of war, one foot already in,
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles.
I pray that stone hearts will turn
to tenderheartedness,
and evil intentions will turn
to mercifulness, …
I pray that all the “God talk”
will take bones,
and stand up and shed
its cloak of faithlessness,
and walk again in its powerful truth….
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles. ~ Ann Weems
How far do your prayers go?
“The deep places in our lives — places of resistance and embrace — are reached only by stories, by images, metaphors and phrases that line out the world differently, apart from our fear and hurt.” ~ Walter Brueggemann
How do you find your way into those narratives?
“…History, despite its wrenching pain
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
This day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream. …” ~ Maya Angelou, On the pulse of morning
Spend some time gazing at the image. What draws your eyes? What memories or feelings does it evoke? What is your dream?
With the Eyes of the Heart 