Category: Sacramental Mystic

No Fool

No Fooling

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Only God Gives Happiness.

The Path Following Jesus

is Soooo Steep,

We Cannot On Our Own Make It,

Not At All.

Psalm 146:5-7

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free ….

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2 Corinthians 9:10

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

When we think we can …

we can make things better for ourselves, and our loved ones, and those like us …

we can do God’s Will …

we can do God’s Will, not like yester-years, but now more completely, better, more blessedly …

we can make the world right with our judgments and efforts …

When we think we can

we take the first step into foolishness

and disaster

for ourselves and everyone effected by us.

Only when we turn,

helpless

hopeless

exhausted

hungry for life

thirsting for truth

starving for love …

Only when we turn, saying I can NOT,

Only when we turn to God, and cry for help,

do we start the day well,

reading ourselves to shared the gifts of God,

being Jesus’ hands and feet executing justice for the oppressed; giving food to the hungry,

making, by Grace alone, things better

for all creation.

Dwelling In

Or Letting The Word

Monday, March 31, 2025

Dwell In Us

Some Can Choose Where to Live.

Most Live Wherever They Can.

Only God Can Bring the Word to Dwell In Us.

And Bless Us Where We Live.

Psalm 145:10

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.

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Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

With Gratitude, always Gratitude

for all God has given to us, all God has done for us, for life, and forgiveness, and renewed life

again and again.

Thus we give thanks always, in every way, reading, meditating, singing, and always sharing God’s gifts with those most in need.

But

contrary to popular un-wisdom,

we cannot dwell in the Word

to any good result.

Confession starts our daily relationship with God,

and we must confess,

not that we have sinned and will do better, not that our efforts will make a difference.

No.

We confess

that we cannot. We have tried and tried and tried and always failed. Only God can bring good out of us. We confess we cannot.

We cannot dwell in God’s Word.

We pray that God’s Word will dwell in us, written on our hearts, etched in our minds, and emblazoned on our foreheads.

Only God can do this.

We cannot.

We cannot dwell in God’s Word.

We pray, God dwell in us

today.

God’s Holy Temple

Defiled

Saturday, March 29, 2025

All Creation Holy and Defiled

All Is Holy,

All Of It,

Wonders And All

Habakkuk 2:20

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!

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Mark 11:17

He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

So often we think of God as being there,

over there,

in that place,

that one holy place,

or one of many holy places.

Like churches, Temples, etc.

We make rules of how we are to behave in those special, holy places.

Good rules and traditions of hallowed places of prayer, worship, singing, giving thanks, feasting, welcoming all and sharing with everyone.

Which frees us to behave otherwise in all our places.

And that we are so good at that even in those special hallowed places we have behaved horrendously.

But!

God is everywhere in all creation.

All our places are first and foremost God’s places.

Our behaviour in ‘holy places’ as well as everywhere, should be governed by our following Jesus example, and the example of many, many saints who have gone before us, and who walk among us even today.

Reverence, prayers of gratitude, prayers of intercession, and acts of selfless love, acts of justice, acts of bringing equality to all.

Keeping God’s hallowed places holy, means keeping all creation holy, us included.

Hovering Overhead

Protection? … or Drones!

Friday, March 28, 2025

What Do We Hear/See?

See the Drone Threat, Or Is It The Moon Reflecting Christ’ Light?

Isaiah 31:5

Like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it.

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Matthew 10:6-7

but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Hovering overhead these days,

one thinks of drones, loaded with missiles of destruction used against targets, against enemies, against … too often, innocents.

Who protects them, and us

from Drones – including the metaphorical drones of crazy voices threatening our very lives, livelihoods, sovereignty?

Reset one’s mind to hear/see first the promise long ago given, that God will protect us, that God will bless us, that God will walk with us even when the way is troubled with our earthly demise, laden with minefields of unknown threats and disasters.

Knowing God’s love

unconditional love

for us

and for our enemies,

and remembering it first,

then

the drone threats are

nothing

in comparison to the blessings God already pours out on us, so we have so much to share with others.

Fear not.

Move with the Light,

The Kingdom of God is here!

The Gathering Masses

Of Messes

Thursday, March 27, 2025

or Solitude, anyone?

Some People Fish,

To Get Away From it All.

Others Live Joyfully

in Solitude.

Psalm 68:26

Bless God in the great congregation

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Acts of the Apostles 2:46-47

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Gather.

Gathering Together.

A mess of humanity getting together.

Singing and praising God, sharing the meal with all with grateful hearts and active minds.

Of course the ‘adding to our numbers’ has long since not been in the works. We’ve been bleeding people for decades now.

So the great congregation is no longer so great, just 2 or 3 gathering, maybe a dozen or so.

But the best are the blessed ones who can live joyfully in the solitude of a hermitage with the basics all in place, able to give God praise with readings and songs.

Most of the faithful can still gather, one way or another, to share a meal (and diseases rampant), sing and praise God, and be grateful for all God provides.

The mess of humanity, as God knew we’d be, living out the promises of God,

blessed.

Cries and Truth

We’re all in trouble

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

blessed as Jesus walks with us

Saying We Will Be Saved From All Trouble

Is Like Saying

The Badlands are Flat!

Psalm 34:7

This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.

.

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

If I tell you I’m hungry

You’ll tell me to eat.

If I tell you I’m tired

You’ll tell me to sleep.

If I tell you I’m sick

you’ll tell me to see a doctor.

If I’m sick and tired of being hungry even after I eat

I can’t tell you because

You’d tell me to eat better, sleep more, see a doctor, and get a psyche-eval.

So I’m OK, OK? I’m just fine!

It’s the world’s that going to hell in a hand basket

again.

But me, I’m just fine. Don’t pay me no mind.

…

And I just know it’s like that for nearly everyone else who is alive. It’s the state of being human and sinful.

We’re all in the same boat.

Well in the same ocean. Some in cruise ships and yachts, others in submarines and sea going sailboats, but most of us are in dinghies not meant for the sea, hanging on to flotsam, or just swimming with or without life jackets, hoping the sharks stay away.

…

Now Jesus, Jesus knows I’m how I am which is not OK or fine, and He pays me great mind, calling to me, weary and burdened as I am, to come and find rest.

‘course I don’t know about that other fella, who cried to God and God saved ‘em from all trouble. Now that sounds like a dream or a wish, and there ain’t no way that’s true.

We’s all got troubles, and no angel gonna save us from ‘em.

But Jesus walks through ‘em with us. Yes he does.

And for that we’s ever grateful, yes sir. We’s all greateful to the bottom of our hearts.

It is the Lord

No question about it

Monday, March 24, 2025

the surprise for all but mystics

Fishing,

Seeking,

and Being Found.

Surprise!

First Samuel 3:18

So Samuel told Eli everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’

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John 21:12

Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

while mystics hear, see, smell, and feel God, and know it!

Most of us get surprised over and over again

(if we pay any attention at all

to how God is present in our mundane lives)

how God shows up

like when God called to the boy Samuel, and he thought the priest Eli who raised him as a son was calling for him

like the disciples on the road to Emmaus

when Jesus shows up to walk with them after his resurrection

and opens to them the meaning of the old scriptures and his death and resurrection and then asks them to join him for breakfast.

Are you ready to encounter God today?

At least be open to the possibility?

It’s a sweet surprise, a joy that lasts a lifetime.

Singing and Saying

To Be Known and Loved

Sunday, March 23, 2025

By God – Nothing Is Greater.

See the Light? The Light Sees You!

Psalm 59:17

O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

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Acts of the Apostles 26:22

To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place:…

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

We all have a basic need to be seen, known, and loved for who we are, just as we are, warts and all.

When we accept that God sees, knows and loves us, just as we are

Then life becomes very interesting, very challenging, very rooted, and wildly unpredictable,

for God not only sees, knows and loves us, but also

sends us

to engage all kinds of people, to see them, know them, and to love them as God does.

Engaging with others does change us at our roots, and gives us a little better view to God’s perspective on us (all people), our lives, on this planet, and on the entire universe.

Singing and Saying what the prophets and Moses did …

Singing and Saying what God does in the past, today, and promises to do in the future …

Singing and Saying like that reflects that when we engage with others, actually keeping silent and listening intently, there is nothing predictable about where, how, and why God will take us today and all our tomorrows,

only that God’s love will always be there, as God walks right beside us into and through it all.

Yep, that brings us to Singing and Saying, all day and all night long.

To Be Seen

To Be Known

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

And Loved

Especially When We Are Cast Out,

Cut-Off,

Alone.

Job 40:3-4

Then Job answered the Lord: ‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

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1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

There is nothing more frightening than to not be seen.

To have no one see one as a person, as a person of worth.

Or worse, to be seen and valued as worthy only for what one is not. To be a lie.

…

In the Psalm for this coming Sunday we read

 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Our hearts, minds and spirits know from where we have come, and they thirst to be seen and known for who we are.

Most often we seek to be seen and known by other people. This is not misguided, for God created us people to be for each other God’s presence, God’s voice, heart, hands, and feet, graciously sharing all God’s gifts.

And as Jesus taught, to be God’s loving presence especially for the poor, the ill, the lost, the outcast, the foreigner, and even for our enemies.

What does God do for those, like Job, whom all others have rejected and there is no one to be God’s presence?

God comes and makes God’s own self visible, palatable, healing, loving, and enlivening in mysterious ways, in ways mystics have spoken of for generations.

Just as Paul knew there was no danger in not being seen by other people, because God still sees us, and knows us.

We need not bring our protests to God for how terrible the world has treated us, though we may. God can take it. We can know that God is Great above all, and we are but dust given spirit as a gift from God,

and we therefore can, especially during our Lenten journey, remain humble and still, bending low before the wonders of God all around us,

witnesses to God’s steadfast love for us.

And when we pray it can be in thanks in words the Psalmist gives us this Sunday:

For you have been my helper, and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My whole being clings to you; your right hand holds me fast.

The Lines

Of Sorrow and Mercy

Monday, March 17, 2025

Are so long

Across the face of all creation.

Micah 7:18

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in showing clemency.

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Luke 1:54

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

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Words of Grace for Today –

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When God hides from us, there is nothing more than despair left.

Joy has taken wing, along with hope,

and the wear and tear of life eats away at our hearts, minds, and strength until nothing is left, except

a prayer of desperation.

Phillip John Hanseroth wrote it in The Story for us all.

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I’ve been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don’t mean anything

When you’ve got no one to tell them to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP0BZ9P4gdA

…

Then a year ago, @Malindams, told her story commenting under one of Brandi Carlile’s renditions of The Story: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8pQLtHTPaI)

“All of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am, so many stories of where I’ve been and how I got to where I am”.

These words saved me during many rounds of chemo and radiation. I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I had a kindergartener and a 4th grader. My boys were so young, I told my oncology team, bring it on, I can take it…I just have [to] live long enough to get them through high school.

The chemo took it’s toll and aged me so much faster than my friends, it was hard to deal with. Now I know the lines across my face tell the story of where I’ve been. 15 years out and one boy has graduated from college and one who is a junior…both are thriving and I celebrate life every day.

Thank you, Brandi for putting into words, what I could not.

So it is with many of us, and for me:

The grief engulfed us and took us down, as God hid from us,

or so it seemed.

What then, but to take the advice

what can you do when you find yourself in hell, day after day?

Just keep going.

And on the other side of the dark dark blue blues, there are the days of brilliant sunshine, and blessings that were there all along,

just hidden in the grief,

holding life out in all it’s wonder for us to be grateful for.

…

so we thank everyone who had words to help us keep going through the hell.

It’s still there, it never goes away,

but the promises are truer now than before,

for there is no better way to know there is light,

than to see it from the darkest moments of the darkest wildernesses.

…

Thanks to all those who had the honest words

of God’s love for us all along…

.

You see the smile that’s on my mouth

It’s hiding the words that don’t come out

And all of my friends who think that I’m blessed

They don’t know my head is a mess

No, they don’t know who I really am

And they don’t know what I’ve been through like you do

And I was made for you.

.

Special thanks to the few who were always there …

And God, full of mercy and steadfast love, who sent them …

For whom we were made.