The Choicest Blessings (Sunday, November 11, 2012)

The Choicest Blessings

So often, instead of striding across the face of earth
with confidence and contentment,
we instead stumble through the hours of our lives
with that vague feeling of dissatisfaction;
a craving in our souls; hungering perhaps
for the empty calories
that pride, possessions, and position bring.

While all along, we have been graced
by the choicest blessings these days of living bring:
gifts of life so simple,
yet so profound and true.
There have already been given unto us
everything that will abide when our lives are finally reckoned
in God’s great book of days;
all that survives when we are gone,
or when even those we love are taken from us.

The remnant of our love that remains
tallies the true worth of our lives.
If this cup of life is bitter sometimes,
so, truly, its sweetness lasts forever.
To drink from this cup of life to the full
is the deepest and truest calling
for all of us, children of the earth, to answer.

 

jbs
4/17/02       4/15/07       11/11/12

Come to the Feast! (Sunday, October 21, 2012)

“Come to the feast!”

The real work of heaven is joy,
and our work here on Earth is to rescue
the children of God—and that means all of us—
from those sullen saints who
would have us mired forever
in despondency and fear.

So, let us open the doors wide
to these lives we lead; open them
and welcome all souls
to this, our banquet of love and joy!

You are invited as a guest
to my House of Love;
all you need to bring is
a ready smile, a laugh,
and a joyful heart;
bring along a hearty appetite, as well,
that yearns to taste the holy.

Come and feast at the banquet
life have set; provisions loaned to us
from the hand of the Eternal One,
who meets our needs so lavishly, and leaves us asking
and asks but a few crumbs of service in return.

So let us share this feast of joy!
Open your hearts and let the music burst through:
the music of heaven, forever guiding your steps
in this holy dance of life.

 

jbs
5/13/04        10/10/04        1/27/08        10/28/12

"The Smile of God" (Sunday, October 14, 2012)

The Smile of God

 The simplest smile upon a human face
is intimation enough of God;
all holiness radiates from there;

it is the holy foundation of our joy.
There would be no smile
were it not for the spirit that lay behind it;
there would be no reason for the joy that bursts forth
from the very heart of life.

Were there not really something deeper
that smile would not draw us close,
and set these wellsprings of love
flowing once again.
This is our purpose here:
to find the worth and goodness
of everything that dwells here with us:
to liberate all to the glory of God
and the service of the world.

This is our choice:
to dance, in joy, as part of all eternity,
or to cling rigidly, trying to control
the moment that is already dead and gone;
to dwell in the presence of the Eternal, 
or to spend our lives moving just a bit closer to death
with each passing day.

 

jbs
1/3/05          2/26/06          3/29/09         10/14/12

"Of Body and Soul" (Sunday, September 23, 2012)

 

Of Body and Soul

Doing all those big and very important things that are ours to do,
means doing well those little, closer things
which open our hearts and hands and minds
and set these love-catching soul in motion.

That means paying attention to these bodies of ours,
for whatever we think of them, they are, after all, the vessels of the soul.
We need to mind them, and honor them,
even when we might rather disengage and run,
and see ourselves jetting through the cosmos
as pure air and light and spirit,
which is, of course, something that we're not.

So Mary now meets Martha
and soul meets body and bliss befriends duty.
And in the holy union of the two

                 that who we shall be can yet be born                                                        

and through these selves of ours, both earthy and ethereal,
Holy Love can flow in all its forms,
a living spirit upon this living Earth.

jbs
11/28/98      10/16/05     9/23/12

"In Praise of Humility" (Sunday, September 16, 2012)

In Praise of Humility

Sometimes, our souls
are like watering cans full of holes:
holes where the humanness, the humility, and the humor
shine through.
But make no mistake about it:
there shines through as well
the most holy light, the very face of God.

When our (so-called) “lower traits”
are used for God, to glorify our Creator,
they, too, become holy.
God takes the most lowly among us
and raises us to a kingly priesthood;
God takes our limitations
and sanctifies them to divine service.

In this transcendence (this transformation),
the true miracle of life abides:
small daily miracles that warm our hearts,
and remind us of what a joy life can be;
great soul-stretching (sometimes heart-wrenching) miracles
that open wide the gates of our souls
to the heaven that dwells within (and beyond).

So, don’t be ashamed of your humbleness,
for it is your bridge to the holy.
Don’t be afraid of your humanness,
for in that image you reflect, every day of your life,
the love of God made flesh, and bone, and body.

jbs
7/30/04          10/3/04          9/16/12

A Prayer for Our Church School (Children's Sunday, June 10, 2012)

A Prayer for Our Church School

Now, another year in the life of this church family is hurrying to a close. So now, may we pause in quietness and peace, and think about the lessons we have learned, and maybe even get a glimpse of the road that is still before us.

.We are thankful that here, we have been able to open our eyes: to see the beauty and good in other people, and to help them see the beauty in themselves. We are thankful that we have been able to look beyond the small faults and limitations people have on the surface, to glimpse the real and true, deeper, divine beauty within.

We are thankful for the opportunities we have had to come to know ourselves better, as well: our strengths, as well as our weaknesses; to discover something of what we believe, and what we don’t.

We are grateful for having had the chance to hear the stories of those who have come before, those who have added light and warmth, wisdom and love, to this world that always needs those things. Though they are gone, may they live forever in our hearts, and walk with us, every step of our own journeys.

We are thankful for this Church—and this Church School-- this precious incubator of our spirits. A place where no one is too young and no one is too old, and each and every one is cherished as the great gifts of life that he or she truly is.

So, may we sing our songs, and sing them always at full voice. And even when we are absent from one another, may the music we have made together ring always in our ears and in our memories, till we are together once again.

Amen.

jbs
6/10/12

The call of conscience (Sunday, June 3, 2012)

The call of conscience

Conscience can make heroes of us all;
but that demands that we listen.
Conscience demands that we open our eyes,
look, and see what is around us.
Answering the demand of what we witness
is even another choice unto itself.

We are not automatic angels,
responding on cue to the signal of the Almighty;
nor are we mere groveling beasts
answering our bellies, organs, instincts,
and nothing more.

We are embodied spirits,
owning the blessings and the curses
of both body and spirit.
We are singular, unique beings,
yet intimately interconnected
one with another, and with all that is.

Our soul's realization comes through
accepting, then accentuating,
both that uniqueness and that interconnection--
not in some schizophrenic balancing act,
but in all ways and always,
in the very days we live
every season of our lives.

jbs
2/13/99    11/7/99       6/3/12