GATHERING
REFLECTION
This is our God. Not a distant judge nor a sadist, but a God who weeps. A God who suffers, not only for us, but with us. Nowhere is the presence of God amidst suffering more salient than on the cross. Therefore what can I do but confess that this is not a God who causes suffering. This is a God who bears suffering. I need to believe that God does not initiate suffering; God transforms it.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, p. 114
I love Pentecost because it is a celebration of the Holy Spirit, and I find myself relating much more deeply to the idea of the Holy Spirit than to the traditional Christian images of God. In Christianity, God is often portrayed as a distant, judging, male authority figure. The Holy Spirit, by contrast, feels to me like a more intimate and nurturing presence — the divine within us that inspires, guides, and transforms us. Also, to me the Holy Spirit is the female aspect of the Trinity.
In April I had the fortune of participating in Jeanne Marcus’ wonderful School for Christian Growth class on Interspirituality.…
Holy One, we rejoice that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia has been vindicated of wrongdoing in the case of human trafficking so unjustly brought against him. Our joy knows no bounds for him and his family, yet our hearts remain heavy for all those falsely imprisoned simply because they are not white skinned and born in the U.S. We who know that all are born of the same blood of your making look to you for solace and justice as the sense of superiority and greed fuels horrid and unjust action against our brothers and sisters being persecuted, sometimes to the point of death.…
GATHERING
REFLECTION
REFLECTION
We are the vessels of God’s voice, her words blowing through us, bidding us to tell the tales that only we can speak.
Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom’s Path
