THE COVENTRY CAROL One of the most beautiful and poignant English Christmas carols sung over Christmastide is the “Coventry Carol.” Traditionally performed in Coventry, England, as part of the medieval Coventry Mystery Plays from the 16th century. “Coventry Carol” depicts the Massacre of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18). The carol was first performed in The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors and is the only carol to survive that historical time. These are the modern verses from the Episcopal Church Hymnal (Hymn 247). On the Christian liturgical calendar, the carol is associated with the Feast of the Innocents, which occurs on the Fourth Day of Christmas. Burden or Refrain: Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child, bye-bye, lully lullay. 1. O sisters, too, how may we do for to preserve this day this poor youngling for whom we sing, bye-bye lully lullay? 2. Herod the King, in his raging charged he hath this day his men of might, in his own sight, all young children to slay. 3. That woe is me, poor child, for thee! And every morn and day, for thy parting nor say nor sing bye-bye, lully lullay. [Burden] Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child, bye-bye, lully lullay. First recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (2:16-18), the biblical story covers the time after the birth of Jesus when King Herod ordered the slaying of all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem. Today the story is considered only a legend by many biblical scholars. It is believed to be folklore inspired by Herod’s cruel and violent reputation. Modern scholars tell us Matthew’s account of slaying the newborn Jesus, whom Herod saw as a threat to his rule, was most likely modeled after the story of Moses and Pharaoh from the Book of Exodus. Flavius Josephus, the first-century Roman-Jewish historian, does not record the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. There are no other historical accounts. As an allegory, the story reminds us of how children may needlessly suffer from the politics of falsehoods, fear, enmity, and war. The carol is often associated with the 16th-century religious wars of the Reformation and the death of millions. After Coventry was bombed in WWII, it was brought to a broader audience when it was featured in the BBC's Empire Broadcast at Christmas 1940. The broadcast concluded with the singing of the carol in the bombed-out ruins of the Cathedral. The carol itself is a lament written in the voice of the mothers of Bethlehem, mourning the loss of their innocent children. The lyrics are full of sorrow and grief as the mothers plead with their children to "lullay, lullay, thou little tiny child" and ask God to have mercy on their souls. One thing is for certain at any time; it is a heartbreaking story. As a present-day allegory, the terrible, tragic irony of singing this beautiful carol at Christmastide while families and their children gather at our southern border in pain and misery must not be ignored. Their suffering must not be overlooked. Such heartache in our own time must be seen when considering the story of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, fleeing as refugees to Egypt, seeking safety and asylum from Herod’s violence. Still, we must remember that “Coventry Carol” offers hope and redemption amid great suffering and loss. God's love and grace are present. God provides comfort and healing to all grieving people. God’s expectation is for us to do the same. God's love brings hope and healing to even the darkest times and circumstances. The promise of Baby Jesus is made to all humanity. We must not deny His promise to anyone. This, too, must be part of our celebration. Christians observing the Christmas season must hope and pray to find the inner strength, compassion, comfort, and peace given by Christ to make the Reign of God — actualized for all humankind, with no exclusions. Amen. 1. Facts for Kids: https://kids.kiddle.co/Coventry_Carol 2. Religious Wars Spawned by the Reformation: https://classroom.ricksteves.com/videos/the-religious-wars-spawned-by-the-reformation Ron Starbuck Publisher – CEO Saint Julian Press, Inc. AN EPISCOPALIAN SPEAKS OF MYSTERY AT CHRISTMAS Ron Starbuck – Saint Julian Press – © December 23, 2022 Of the Father's Heart Begotten Every poet and writer I know has a story to tell and tells their story through the formation of personal mythology. As we travel through life, our life changes. Our identity shifts, and our sense of who we are as a person turns with the seasons of events and people who enter that life. This is the impermanence of the self, which Buddhist philosophy teaches. It is a vital theme and awareness at work throughout and within Pratītyasamutpāda — Dependent Arising — Interbeing. In Buddhist thought, Being – Becoming – Existence: The infinite possibilities of all things held within creation and how everything in creation depends upon everything else. “If this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist.” Buddhism directs us toward the concept of Sunyata–Nirvana–Emptiness–Openness, celebrated in the Heart Sutra. The general principle of pratityasamutpada is complementary to the concept of emptiness (sunyata). Buddhist thought on impermanence teaches us that our sense of self as permanent is false and limited since we are ever-evolving and our lives are ever-changing and dynamic. The self, whom we actively identify with, is empty of such permanence. We are not the same person we were a year ago, twenty years ago, or before. Buddhism refers to this impermanence-illusion or false association as not–self, or no–self, anatta (uhn-uht-tah). It is an ego-clinging self, leading to suffering, misperceptions, selfishness, hubris, and deceitful projections. In the Christian tradition, there is a similar concept, kenosis, the Greek word for emptiness. Kenosis is ‘self–emptying’ one’s own will in becoming receptive to the divine, to be in unity and union with the divine. Christ emptied himself to become a servant of all humankind (Philippians 2:5-11), as revealed in the devotional language and poetry of the scriptures and this ancient hymn. We empty or let go of the self to emulate Christ and become servants to humanity. Of the Father's Heart Begotten Divinum Mysterium – Aurelius Prudentius He assumed this mortal body, Frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created, Might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced In the depths of hell to lie, Evermore and evermore. Translation by Roby Furley Davis for The English Hymnal (1906) Both heaven and nirvana are alike when we understand them as a spiritual path towards non-duality, to this union with the ultimate divine mystery of God from which all things arise. Creation is ever-expanding and evolving. In a poem, the poet goes through multiple stages and feelings, crafting their words together until the poem ends. As any poet knows, the poem is never quite finished. It is almost always incomplete in some sense. The poet has to let go of it and trust that the creative process goes on within the people who may read their humble efforts. I offer this thought in a spirit of humility. All our works as poets and writers are a continuation of other works that came before us, the voices of humanity passed down from one generation to another. We are simple gatherers, gathering from those poets, writers, and storytellers who came before us. Even the greatest among us have been inspired by learning and reading the literary works of humankind. And we, we humble few, are following in their footsteps. There is something more going on, of course. Each poem begins in silence, stillness, emptiness, an open place waiting to be filled, on a blank page, or as an even deeper divine memory. And we, we are total participants in its creation. There is a more profound mystery at work here, an inspiration. To be creatively inspired is to be filled by the spirit of something more, something beyond the mundane and ourselves. Please let me share this thought with you. As much as any poem you write is your work, it is also not yours. You have been inspired. You have heard the whispering of the gods, of God, or the muses of antiquity. And now you are modestly returning to humankind the voices spoken before in a newer voice. There are no accidents in life, merely a continuation of one life into and with another, in a continuation of consciousness grounded in the divine. Grounded in the great mystery of creation, we cannot quite name it, written within us. The Holy Spirit may pray in and with us when we do not know how to pray. The words you speak or write are not your own; they have been fashioned before. They abide and rest in a universal divine consciousness and spirit that dwell within us each. They were written upon your soul, deep within your core, heart, and mind, long ago. And now, you have been inspired to return them to humankind in healing for humanity. The poet within you has heeded the stillness and silence of creation deeply. From such a listening comes a word, a verse, a poem. Each poem is composed as an act of creation, a loving act of giving, healing, and repairing the world. Let me leave you, please, with these opening words from the Gospel of John, with an understanding that they, too, are a poetic metaphor and a symbol pointing us toward a more profound mystery in which we reside and that dwells within us. The Word Became Flesh 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. – (NRSV, Anglicised) You, too, are this light. And then there is this great Christmas Carol that touches on the Mystery of Christ. Why did God come in human form to serve humankind with an open and humble heart, to empty himself? This is one answer in the Anglican Spiritual tradition's mystical language and poetry. Of the Father's Heart Begotten, alternatively known as Of the Father's Love Begotten, is a Christmas carol based on the Latin poem Corde natus by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius. Of the Father's Heart Begotten ~ Divinum Mysterium – Aurelius Prudentius~ Translation by Roby Furley Davis for The English Hymnal (1906) Of the Father's heart begotten, Ere the world from chaos rose, He is Alpha, from that Fountain All that is and hath been flows; He is Omega, of all things, Yet to come the mystic Close, Evermore and evermore. By His Word was all created He commanded and 'twas done; Earth and sky and boundless ocean, Universe of three in one, All that sees the moon's soft radiance, All that breathes beneath the sun, Evermore and evermore. He assumed this mortal body, Frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created, Might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced In the depths of hell to lie, Evermore and evermore. O how blest that wondrous birthday, When the Maid the curse retrieved, Brought to birth mankind's salvation By the Holy Ghost conceived, And the Babe, the world's Redeemer In her loving arms received, Evermore and evermore. Sing, ye heights of heaven, his praises; Angels and Archangels, sing! Wheresoe’er ye be, ye faithful, Let your joyous anthems ring, Every tongue his name confessing, Countless voices answering, Evermore and evermore. This is He, whom seer and sibyl Sang in ages long gone by,; This is He of old revealed In the page of prophecy; Lo! He comes the promised Saviour; Let the world his praises cry! Evermore and evermore. Hail! Thou Judge of souls departed; Hail! of all the living King! On the Father's right hand throned, Through his courts thy praises ring, Till at last for all offences Righteous judgement thou shalt bring, Evermore and evermore. Now let old and young uniting Chant to thee harmonious lays Maid and matron hymn Thy glory, Infant lips their anthem raise, Boys and girls together singing With pure heart their song of praise, Evermore and evermore. Let the storm and summer sunshine, Gliding stream and sounding shore, Sea and forest, frost and zephyr, Day and night their Lord alone; Let creation join to laud thee Through the ages evermore, Evermore and evermore. Of The Father's Heart Begotten (Sir David Willcocks) Ely Cathedral Choir To Be ~ Fully Human & Fully Divine If you grew up celebrating Christmas, as I did, one of the questions you may have asked yourself as you grew older is who is Jesus to you now? And even if you were not raised as a Christian and practice another faith or follow another spiritual tradition, this is still a good question to ask. I believe it needs to be a more profound question and answer than what you may have been taught as a small child in Sunday school. And it begins with the story of the Nativity, with the Christ child born in a manger and watched over by an ox and ass. There is a beautiful aspect to Jesus we so often forget and don’t focus on, as much as we ought, the humanity of Jesus. The story of Christmas is only the beginning. The story begins with Jesus, as the Incarnate Word and First Born of Creation, who emptied himself, being born in human likeness and form, and all this means. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, God with Us. To be human is to be vulnerable. To be human is to endure pain and suffering. To be human is to discover love. To be human is to learn forgiveness. To be human is to live for others as much as for ourselves. To be human is the gift of life. To be human is to live our lives, and to live them fully. When we see Jesus as fully human and divine, it is “meet and right” to stress his humanity as much as his divinity. As found in the words of the Sursum Corda, Latin for “Lift up your hearts" or to have our "Hearts lifted" in the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer. Eucharistic Prayer The Lord be with you. People And with thy spirit. Celebrant Lift up your hearts. People We lift them up unto the Lord. Celebrant Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. People It is meet and right so to do. And come to understand that the gift of Christmas is transformational because ultimately, this gift opens up to the People of God an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, you may see the Spirit at work in your own life. As fully human as we are, it opens us up to an indwelling of "God the Father" as Divine Mystery, an indwelling of Christ and the Spirit, and it awakens our fullest human potential to love. The literature of scripture and liturgy, the poetry, psalms, parables, images, and symbols of all our sacred stories and liturgies are pointing us towards a way of understanding the Divine Mystery that cannot easily be named or wholly described. These stories are intended to be internalized, to stretch our imaginations, to help suspend our sense of disbelief, to believe in something beyond ourselves, to teach and reveal the truth, to see beyond the story into a deeper and richer mystery that is true, which is real at the inmost levels of the self and soul. To see beyond our earthly sight, to see with insight the invisible and unseen power of God at work within the world. The Holy Spirit at work within the world. To see God’s love actively at work in our lives and the lives of others, transforming creation. God as a Verb; God as Spirit; God as Truth; God as Divine Mystery; God as Love; God as an Indwelling of the Spirit within each and every one of us in this world. God as InterBeing (Thich Nhat Hanh), and God as the "Connecting Spirit" to paraphrase theologian Paul F. Knitter, as an interconnection that flows in and with and through all creation, bringing us into a relationship with one another. Kenosis Hymn from Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSVA) 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. In Buddhist and Christian traditions, we are taught to be mindful and mind our thoughts. Christmastide offers us an opportunity to be mindful from Christmas Eve through Epiphany and beyond. We are what we think and how we view the world. We are shaped by the people we love and by loving them in return. Practicing (praxis) wakefulness allows us to see how valued we are by God.
The Dhammapada - Translated by Thomas Byrom 1. Choices "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable." 2. Wakefulness "Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps As if he were already dead, But the master is awake And he lives forever. He watches. He is clear. How happy he is! For he sees that wakefulness is life. How happy he is, Following the path of the awakened." Ron Starbuck Saint Julian Press SLEEPERS AWAKEN Awake, the voice is calling us. Matthew 25 - Authorized (King James) Version Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
O Sleepers Awake — to be “Woke” is to be awakened, to be as we are called to be in all our humanity and full human potential to love. Conversations on being roused and awakened touch on the very ground of our being and the greater mysteries of creations. Too often, we let our collective and communal vocabulary, our language, divide us in unseen ways. The poetic metaphor in the – “Parable of the Ten Virgins” is a greater mystery. Let us awaken to the world around us and the people we are blessed to know, love, and are called to serve by God's greater consciousness. To awaken is to "Rise-Up" for all humanity, as Christ once did in his ministry of faith. This is what the parable teaches us; we are more than we imagine. We are more than we may imagine to one another, beyond all the mysteries of creation arising within this world. The politics and rhetoric of a nation dismiss this with harsh brutality, with a cruelness we cannot often see, and we should. To be "Woke" - Is to be Awakened. O Sleepers Awake! Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 — Awake, the voice is calling us.
TATIANA
From — SONG OF THE REPUBLIC By Kevin McGrath from Saint Julian Press 2020
In “Tatiana,” Kevin McGrath paints a picture of the natural world in the final moments of dusk. With their soft noise and hundred wings, the geese are described as descending onto the lake like something “greater than we ever were, and the sky as “primitive.” The half-moon and white planet in the sky add to the sense of grandeur and otherworldliness.
The poem touches on the idea of human life being a reversal of the natural world, with the poet suggesting that humans often think they are inventing things that have already been done before. “Tatiana” is a contemplative and poetic reflection on the natural world and the cyclical nature of life. Through its language and imagery, the poem invites the reader to consider their place in the world and how human life is connected to the larger cycles of nature. The poem employs several literary devices to convey its themes and create an atmosphere. The repetition of the long “o” sound in "goose" and "moon" makes sense of unity between the natural elements in the poem. The use of personification, such as the moon "gaping" and the sky “primitive,” adds depth to the realistic imagery and suggests a sense of mystery and awe. The contrast between the noise of the geese's wings and the calm of the lake, as well as the distinction between the children playing inside and the natural world outside, adds to the sense of contrast and balance in the poem. The final stanza shifts the focus to the children in the house, who are “imitating a tune” as the last rays of pink light disappear into another world. This contrast between the grandeur of nature and the smallness of human life emphasizes the idea of a reversal as if the natural world is a trustworthy source of power and inspiration. In contrast, human life is just a mere imitation. The poem’s final stanza introduces the image of children imitating a tune in a house and the sky transitioning from pink to black as sleep fills the hemisphere. This brings the focus back to the human experience, suggesting that even as the natural world continues, humans continue to go about their daily lives. The final line, with the owl gliding from its wood, adds to this sense of the natural world as a timeless and eternal force. The repetition of the word “as” in this line also suggests a sense of continuity and cyclicality, as if the natural world is constantly moving and changing. At the same time, human life is stuck in patterns of imitation and repetition. Largely, “Tatiana” is a poem that celebrates the beauty and majesty of the natural world while suggesting that human life is small and insignificant. The poem explores the theme of the interconnectedness of all living things and how nature is both larger than and deeply intertwined with human life. The imagery of the geese, the celestial bodies, and the contrast between the natural and artificial worlds contribute to this premise. Through its vivid imagery and clever repetition, McGrath invites readers to consider their place in creation and how they interact with the natural world around them. TATIANA Geese landing upon a lake In the final red bars of dusk The soft noise of a hundred wings Mowing through cool dark air From over smooth hills they came Crying out in long formation Above a half-moon was gaping At a brilliant white planet Onto calm water descending Something greater than we ever were Rising and falling onto a lake Circling low in black emptiness Further off in a house children Were imitating a tune As the last thin pink rays went From a primitive sky to another world Reversal of so much human life We repeat thinking we invent Sleep fills our hemisphere as An owl glides from its wood
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Note: This literary analysis content was originally generated by the OpenAI-ChatGPT artificial intelligence service, edited, and enhanced afterward for grammar and writing style.
OpenAI Website: https://openai.com/about/ BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE
In the poem “Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive,” from Anne Babson’s poetry collection MESSIAH, the poet presents a conversation between a nurse and a young pregnant girl who is seeking guidance and support. The title of the poem refers to a biblical passage from the book of Isaiah and Matthew, in which a virgin gives birth to a son who will be named Immanuel, which means "God with us." The poem begins with the nurse describing her shift at work and her encounter with the pregnant young girl. The nurse expresses her shock at the girl's age and lack of knowledge about how she got pregnant. There is a distinct sweetness, innocence, and mystery to the girl. Despite all this, the girl is determined to keep the baby and has a boyfriend she hopes will help her raise the child. The nurse notes that, in their state, parental notification is not required for the girl to seek medical care, and she speculates that the girl's father may already know about the pregnancy. The nurse describes the girl as elegant and not easily scared, despite her difficult situation. The nurse is struck by the girl's sense of expectation and joy, despite the challenges she will face as a single mother. The poem ends with the nurse reflecting on the girl's resilience and the difficulties young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds face. Overall, the poem presents a poignant and thought-provoking portrayal of the challenges faced by young, pregnant girls and their resilience and determination in the face of adversity. The biblical reference in the title adds a layer of religious and spiritual meaning to the poem, highlighting the idea of hope and divine intervention in difficult circumstances. The story helps us imagine what it would be like for the Virgin Mary to give birth to Jesus in these modern times. It asks the question. What challenges would Mary face today in 21st-century American society? Would anyone believe her? Would she be treated with compassion or be judged harshly and with indifference? Will wise men suddenly appear? Will she find the expected joy of giving birth to the Baby Jesus? BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” –– Isaiah 7:14 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” –– Matthew 1:23 A rough shift this evening, darlin’! I worked graveyard again. This girl came in. Was she even fourteen? Pregnant. She claimed she had never done a dang thing that would Get a girl in trouble. She barely knew about Birds and bees. So young, sweet really! I told her all Her options. She’s keeping it. She says she has a Boyfriend who’ll help out – so she hopes. Thank God Parental notification isn’t required In this state! She thinks her father already knows. I bet he does, the bastard! What those girls go through! Sure didn’t come from the right side of the tracks, but She had this air about her, kind of elegant. Nothing I said scared her. They most times cry. She was – how can I explain it – expecting joy. “Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive” was first published in 14 Magazine in the UK. Anne Babson © 2019
MESSIAH, a post-modern bop through our culture set in diverse elements of the American landscape— from a Manhattan subway station, to mills of rural Louisiana, to the mean streets of Detroit, to the wilds of the American Northwest, to Yankee Stadium, to the hills of Bellaire — writes back to the Bible passages with which Handel composed his Messiah Oratorio without challenging their theological meaning but setting them, as most sacred art does, in the contemporary. Anne Babson’s poetry isn’t “churchy,” but it is replete with passionate exhortation, delighting in Americans in their imperfections and calling for a subversive conspiracy of love and a new era of compassion. The book is set to a soundtrack of American music, where the rapture trumpet is blown by Louis Armstrong, where the angels sing in doo-wop chorus, and where Handel’s “Chorus: Hallelujah” turns into a Southern Rock anthem. The work is about us and our needs, our playlist, our delights, and the possibility of radical forgiveness and a return to hope.
Note: This literary analysis content was originally generated by the OpenAI-ChatGPT artificial intelligence service, edited, and enhanced afterward for grammar and writing style.
OpenAI Website: https://openai.com/about/ LONG JOURNEY OF THE MAGIAdvent is the liturgical season when Christians are called to contemplate the approaching birth of Christ. In Advent, as did the Virgin Mary, we prepare our hearts and souls for the birth of Jesus on Christmas morning. We say yes, to God, and we say yes to humanity. We encourage ourselves to give birth to God’s love within the world. In Advent, as did the Magi, we journey to find the newborn Christ child. The 20th-Century theologian Paul Tillich reminds us that “Advent is a time of hope and expectation, of waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises. It is a time to remember the longing of the prophets, the faith of the patriarchs, and the struggles of the people of God throughout history.” And so we await Christ’s coming. In the Nativity Story, we are reminded of the prophet Isaiah, who spoke of a time when “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2). This light is the light of Christ, who came into the world to bring salvation, renewal, reconciliation, and redemption. As we await the coming of Christ, may we turn away from all our estrangements, our separations, and our many divisions and seek the light of Christ within us. Help us, Lord, to remember who we are as a people of faith, help us to see one another again as your people. In his poem “Journey of the Magi,” T. S. Eliot wrote these solemn words—that illustrated the long journey of the Magi. Such spiritual journeys are never easy. They are harder than we may imagine or recognize at the time. And yet, the journey prepares us for something new. ‘A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.' And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling And running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky, And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. But there was no information, and so we continued And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death. The final verse reminds us that we must be glad of another death, our own death. The death of an old life we can no longer live or tolerate. The death of enmity. The death of fear. The death of the violence we project towards one another. It is a reminder and an admonishment that we must no longer be at ease under our old ways of thinking and acting, our old indulgences, which turn us away from God and from one another. We must stop the death of dwelling in a land of deep darkness. We must never be comfortable living in the illusion and dimness of our estrangements but endeavor to follow Christ and live in the light of love. As we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth this Christmas, may we pray for the grace to follow him, our Lord, more closely. May this Advent season be a time of renewal. May it be a time of reconciliation and healing, and unity. A time to prepare, a time to let go of the old and embrace the new, before we receive and celebrate the coming of our Savior. “So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” I JOHN 4:16. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” JOHN 13:34-35. God's abiding in us, making within us a dwelling place for God's Spirit, is the same as our abiding in love, where love is the the domain of our dwelling place. God and love are not two separate realities; they are one. Amen. Ron Starbuck Saint Julian Press, Inc. Publisher-CEO-Executive Editor Note: This content was originally generated by the OpenAI-ChatGPT by posing a question to its artificial intelligence service, and enhanced extensively afterward for grammar and writing style.
OpenAI Website: https://openai.com/about/ |
THERE is always a story within a story, a tale within a tale. This is one of the myths told by the angels and archangels that watched over the Nativity on the first night of Christmas.
A myth is a fairy tale that is truer than true; it is a story that grows stronger and stronger inside your heart as you mature in faith. A myth is a legend that inspires humanity.
It offers us a lesson in wisdom and an inward change that brings our souls closer to God and creation. In truth, it is a story we know in our soul, one we have known forever and forgotten.
This is still true even today, especially today, now at this moment. It is true yesterday, too, as it will always be true tomorrow. And in all the yesterdays and tomorrows, we may try to imagine in a world without end.
EMMANUEL means “God with us,” and in Spanish, so does the name Manuelo. So, Jesus and Manuelo share a similar name. Do you remember these words from an Advent hymn we sing yearly, VENI EMMANUEL?
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
AS GOD’S special gift to the Baby Jesus, Manuelo was so happy to become his friend. Manuelo’s mother, Isidora, wisely and humbly carried Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to Baby Jesus.
ISIDORA’S name means a gift of God in Spanish. The angels and archangels will tell you that Isidora and Mary knew each other when Mary was first born. Manuelo and Jesus thought of this as God’s magical circle of love. Do you believe in the magic of God’s love?
WHEN the three wise men who traveled from the East came with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they looked at Manuelo and Jesus and knew they would become best friends. Manuelo and Jesus were so happy to be with one another as extraordinary friends.
Manuelo and Jesus played, ate, and prayed with and for one another. Sometimes, they even fell asleep together like two innocent lambs. When Jesus first started school, Manuelo carried him from home to the schoolyard and back again.
In the Jewish Temple, Jesus sat among the teachers listening and asking them questions. They were all amazed at his inborn knowledge and understanding. Manuelo watched and heard as well and saw how Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.
AND MANY YEARS later, after Jesus was baptized in the Jordon River. When led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, Manuelo was still beside him, helping Jesus to make the journey.
MANUELO was there through all the years that Jesus lived, when Jesus ministered to the poor, healed the sick, visited people in prison, and loved everyone heartbroken or in pain.
WHENEVER Manuelo traveled with Jesus, he told all the other animals they met about who Jesus was and how he loved them. He explained to all who would listen how our heavenly father sent his only-begotten son into the world to save the whole world.
Everywhere they went together, children gathered, drawn towards Jesus, who loved them so dearly. And towards Manuelo as well, whom they hugged and petted and felt a special love for, as Manuelo loved them all.
WHEN Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday, Manuelo holding his head high with pride, carried him into the city. They were together before and after the Last Supper. When Jesus prayed all night long in the Garden of Gethsemane, Manuelo prayed with him. And on the darkest day of their lives, Manuelo was with Jesus. As Jesus was beaten and crucified on the cross, he committed his spirit unto our heavenly father and died.
AND yet, Manuelo knew in some mysterious way, as our animal friends often know things we do not, that this was a part of God’s plan to save the world. As each teardrop touched the ground, wherever Manuelo’s hooves had carefully stepped, something wonderful happened. Every tear turned into a beautiful and priceless pearl, a symbol of God’s love for the whole world and the people in the world.
IT is as if Jesus shared a secret with Manuelo, telling him that he shouldn’t be afraid and that they would see one another again soon. So, even though this was a time of great sadness for Manuelo, all his sorrow was balanced out by a great sense of joy. Manuelo knew then, as he knows now, that Jesus is always with us, even unto eternity and across all of God’s creation.
AS for Manuelo, his story continues up until today. He travels across creation, always as an angel of light, telling his tale to all the animals and children he meets. You may see him appear as a Unicorn, a symbol of Christ. Jesus is forever a part of Manuelo, just like Jesus is forever a part of you.
JESUS lives within us each and is with us forever now. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, praying in and with and through us, especially when we don’t always know how to pray on our own.
"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
“That very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us.”
Many Blessings ~ Ron Starbuck.
A White Colt’s Tale: A Children’s Christmas Story
Copyright 2022 ~ Ron Starbuck & Saint Julian Press © 2022
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH MIDTOWN HOUSTON
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS
IS AMERICA A DEMOCRACY OR A REPUBLIC?
When many people voted during the 2022 election cycle, they understood that the United States Constitution defines America as a democracy and a republic. Our Constitution was meant to nurture an intricate form of majority rule, not enable minority rule by any political party or person. We rejected all monarchies and authoritarian autocracies long ago in 1776 and then enshrined these values in the Constitution.
Many of our public buildings have engraved on them this phrase in Latin — “Vox Populi, Vox Dei.” Translated into English, the words mean — “Voice of the People, Voice of God.” As an ancient proverb or aphorism, the phrase is intended to validate the wisdom of the crowd or the wisdom of the people. Today, it is worth remembering the value of this heritage.
The historical roots of its meaning go back to ancient Greece and Roman times and to England and the early 1700s during the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that sought to improve society through fact-based reason and inquiry. It arose from the religious and political wars of the Reformation, fought over competing interpretations of Christianity. There was a diversity of religious and theological thought then, as there is today. A variety of faiths and multiculturalism existed in that time, as it does today in America and Europe, as it exists in all healthy democracies.
The “Age of Enlightenment and Reason” brought new ways of thinking and knowledge to Europe and America. The Enlightenment reshaped how people understood liberty, equality, and individual rights. And it integrated the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century that revolutionized intellectual thought through research and empirical methods. It introduced the separation of church and state and gave us new ways of understanding ourselves as people of faith, many faiths. Today, these ideas are the basis of the world’s healthiest democracies.
The United States Constitution harmonized and merged democratic and republican models of government so that they might act in concert. We are, therefore, a Constitutional-Democratic-Republic with a separation of powers shared by our executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. In short, the United States is both a democracy and a republic.
Whenever politicians claim in their rhetoric that “we are not a democracy” or “we are a Christian nation,” they reframe history and redefine our historical perspective for their political agendas. They are wrong to do so, especially when seeking greater political power and influence. Democracy matters and each generation of Americans must rise to protect our democratic heritage—the wisdom of the people rules.
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei” — “Voice of the People, Voice of God.”
Poets and writers who create literature have a different relationship with words than the legal and justice communities where lawyers, lawmakers, courts, and justices live and work. One thing seems inevitable, the best poets and writers rarely suffer a failure of their imaginations. Imagination is their livelihood; imagination is their bread and butter; it is what inspires them to rise in the middle of the night or early morning to create and write.
In 2012, the following poem – “Tonglen For Newtown (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep),” was first published in a new collection of poems titled When Angels Are Born. At the end of this essay is another poem – “A Season of Sorrow” from a more recent collection, A Pilgrimage of Churches, nearly ten years after the Newtown, Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and only a few months before the Uvalde, Texas shooting at Robb Elementary.
TONGLEN FOR NEWTOWN
(Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep)
You have known this one
prayer by memory since
you were a child,
it's a good place to start.
"Now I lay me down to
sleep if I should die
before I wake, I pray
the lord my soul to take."
There are times
like this,
when you just have
to stop doing
whatever you are doing
and simply pray.
Practice some tonglen,
like the Buddhist do
or light a candle
as a Christian does
in church, kneeling
before some sacred altar.
Tonglen is the taking of another's
pain and the giving of love.
We begin by taking on
the suffering
of a person we
know to be hurting, of
the world even as Christ did,
and whom we wish to help.
This takes the greatest
compassion; it is breathing in
all the darkness.
And then letting the love
of your heart turn it
instantly into the light
of a billion stars and suns,
and then breathing out
again all that love
into the world,
the light brightening
the world, turning
it again and again.
It's true you know,
love makes
the world go round,
even when, perhaps
especially when it
has stopped making
all sense. This is when
we need such
prayers
and praying
the most.
Ron Starbuck — When Angels Are Born
ISBN-13 : 978-0988944701
On gun safety and new ways to address gun violence and mental healthcare in America. American children deserve the same protection as Supreme Court Justices and members of Congress. Why would we offer anything less to a child?
We must protect the future well-being of our children and the schools where they learn. The GOP's resistance to any change, to doing nothing, is unsustainable and unconscionable. Always saying no, does nothing to make anyone, especially our children, safer. This is a sacred trust we must not dismiss. Lord, forgive us for what we DO NOT DO; inaction is a sin.
The Bill of Rights, with it, the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, was written by James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” and the fourth president of the United States. As one of the founders, he was a brilliant student of the law, an esteemed scholar, and a philosopher of his time. His early studies at Princeton included Latin, Greek, theology, and the works of the Enlightenment. He later read and studied the law in even greater detail.
The Enlightenment encompassed a range of philosophies centered on the value of human life and happiness, the pursuit of knowledge through reason and empirical knowledge, and the principles of liberty, social progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and the separation of church and state. The views of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of autocracy known in its time under the Western institutions and rule of monarchies and the Church. The Age of the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, arose from the European religious wars of the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries, which resulted in the death of millions.
The first wave of immigrants to America came to seek a new life and opportunities, peace and safety, and social and religious freedom without conflict, violence, and war. They came to America as refugees with new ideas and the intention of creating a better society formed on these values. And in the process, they made the world’s oldest democracy. A democracy that is now threatened by an insidious erosion of those shared values of enlightenment and reason.
It is not beyond reason to imagine that the founders could never have foreseen the future Americans live in now. It is a failure of the imagination for Constitutional originalists to consider a more thoughtful scholarship and approach in the 21st Century, with the military weapons and arms manufactured in massive amounts today. This cannot be what the founders intended in the Constitution and the pre-industrial age.
We must look at the tragic and complex social dynamics and the death of American children. No one, not one of our nation’s founders in the late Eighteenth-Century, could have foretold this future and these tragic deaths. We may easily imagine that they would be horrified at this chaos and death. And the loss of law and order, grounded in the rule of law and God’s two greatest commandments.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution is a straightforward sentence: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” We can look at what the Framers meant in their time's historical and social context and the heritage of militias first established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636 and other American colonies for their common defense.
The organization of these state militias was preserved and maintained after the founding of the United States, and the ratification of the Constitution under Article I, Section 8, Clause 15 and 16 giving the President, Congress, and the state government the authority to call “forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” A clear and distinct line of military command is present, where the Militia reports and answers to the United States Government.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 15:
[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 16:
[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
We may also look at what is written first and the sequence of words used in the Second Amendment. “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
The first clause declares the presence and existence of a well-regulated Militia, with the word Militia capitalized as a proper noun, indicating a formal name or organization. This implies that any Militia is a part of the organized armed forces of this country and the government, which may be called upon in an emergency. We see what the Second Amendment guarantees at work in America today through the presence of citizen soldiers serving in the National Guard as an essential part of the United States Military.
The second clause tells us that an organized Militia with a capital “M” is defined as — “being necessary for the security of a free state.” The following two clauses are dependent upon these first two. “The right of the people to bear arms” is dependent upon the formal association within an organized and sanctioned Militia associated with the nation's Armed Forces. And when that condition exists and is the case, as it was during early American colonial and frontier times, to “keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
In the United States v. Miller, decided on May 15, 1939, the Supreme Court “reasoned that because possessing a sawed-off double barrel shotgun does not have a reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, the Second Amendment does not protect the possession of such an instrument.” How much more could this apply to weapons designed for war and used exclusively by the military?
The Second Amendment does NOT protect any citizen's unregulated and unfettered ownership of dangerous and unusual military weapons. In the District of Columbia ET AL. v. HELLER case, decided on June 26, 2008, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. Although the ruling did affirm that Heller may possess a handgun for self-defense within the home, there were requirements associated with that ownership, and the District did permit Heller a license.
The Court also provided other clarification in its ruling. The SCOTUS brief explicitly states, “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” It reaffirms the following.
“The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.”
Dangerous and Unusual Weapons — covers a lot of semi-automatic weapons, and new laws could be written and implemented to provide a greater level of Public Safety. And those laws would be Constitutional without negating the right to bear arms for self-defense, hunting, and sport, or components unconnected to military service.
Such laws on dangerous and unusual weapons would not change how the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a functional firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. However, they could help to control and regulate the possession of more dangerous and unusual military-grade weapons designed to inflict maximum damage upon the human body. At the very least, we should move towards a compromise that embraces middle-of-the-road gun reforms, which include raising the minimum age for purchasing most semiautomatic rifles to 21 and banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, along with more extensive background checks and red flag capabilities. None of these common-sense actions would be unconstitutional.
We are doing something wrong in America, and our local, state, and federal leaders are paralyzed. They are incapable of movement, and far too many are beholden to the NRA and special interests. In the day's politics, they have lost something we should all hold dear, a sense of honor associated with the practice of true servant leadership that protects and embraces human life. America, we are better than this; let compassion guide your consciousness and conscience to protect the children and families of this nation.
A SEASON OF SORROW
PSALM 31 In te, Domine, speravi
1 In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Incline your ear to me;
make haste to deliver me.
In our deepest grief
Earth’s fairness fades
And removes itself
From all suffering
Within the world
Becoming a season of sorrow
Where impassive signs
And forebodings
Begin to reign as
We fail to remember
Whom we are
Our brightness gone
Our gardens longing
For heaven’s light reflected
Once in a decency lived
In this darkness
We witness our death
Through a single loss
Amid the hardness of life
We do not know how to live
Among the dead
In the anguish
Of our complacency
Remorse haunts us
An illusion steals
Our breath away
In our inability to breathe
In such rigidity
And fear we lose
The point of living
As if it too has moved
Elsewhere and is lost
While heaven bears witness
Watch now — we are being
Transformed through
A deeper memory at work
Within the world
At a point which comes
Much later — when a season
Of hope restores the light
Ron Starbuck — A Pilgrimage of Churches
ISBN: 978-1-7330233-9-9
To learn more about gun violence in America visit these two great organizations.
Everytown for Gun Safety
Giffords Law Center
Lord forgive us, for what we do and do not do. Lord forgive us, for not protecting the children in our schools and across the country. Children in America are living in fear, our schools and places of worship and where we gather as a community should be the safest places in America.
America is weeping once more . . .
We are doing something terribly wrong in America and our local, state, and federal leaders are all paralyzed. They are incapable of movement and far too many are beholden to the NRA and special interests. In the politics of the day, they have lost something we should all hold dear, a sense of honor associated with the practice of true servant-leadership.
This is NOT what the founders intended in the Constitution. We need to look at the tragic social dynamics taking place today. No one, not one of our nation’s founders in the late Eighteenth-Century, could have foreseen this future. Constitutional originalists — please take note, that this could never have been their intention, far from it I believe. Your positions on the Second Amendment require a more thoughtful scholarship and approach.
Allowing anyone to buy an assault weapon without a comprehensive extended background check and thorough screening via adequate gun safety laws, has nothing to do with supporting a well-regulated militia as written in the Second Amendment. It is the opposite. It is chaos! It is the death of too many!
The Second Amendment to the Constitution, is one simple sentence: “A well regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” We can look at what the Framers meant in the historical and social context of that time.
In their time, to “bear arms” meant to be part of an organized militia licensed and supported by the government as an agency of the government to protect the frontier. We see what the Second Amendment guarantees, at work today, through the presence of citizen-soldiers serving in the National Guard as an integral part of the U. S. Military.
The Second Amendment does NOT protect the unregulated ownership of military style assault weapons, nor I believe unlawful irregular-aberrant militias. In the District of Columbia ET AL. v. HELLER case, decided on June 26, 2008, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. "Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."
There are states that regulate and ban assault weapons, and all these laws have been upheld by the courts. Such laws once existed at a federal level from 1994 until 2004, when it ended with a sunset clause. Several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by the courts. There were multiple attempts to renew the ban, but none succeeded.
If people want to see real change, the only way to create that change is to vote for caring folks at a local, state, and federal level who will do what is needed to protect our children, and who will embrace a broader understanding of what being “Pro-Life” means. Being “Pro-Life” goes beyond the womb too, it should extend across the fullness of a life given to us by God.
Comments from many political leaders on the deaths in Uvalde, Texas — are full of compassion, care, and wisdom. But when I listen to some of our more conservative political leaders on gun rights, I must wonder where their moral backbones have dissolved. They are not protecting our children and they are NOT practicing “Pro-Life” in its fullest meaning. And they cannot claim in many opinions and ways of knowing, to be upholding the intention of the Constitution in its fullest moral meaning and guarantees of liberty.
A Prayer for a New Paradigm of Pro-Life Living & Practice
Dear Lord — In these terrible times please open our hearts and minds to make protecting our children our highest priority. Teach us how to practice being "Pro-Life" in a new paradigm that makes our schools, our places of worship, and the public places where we gather as a community the safest places in America. Help us to love one another as you have loved us in the life and lives we are given to care for and share. Amen
For Those Who Watch & Weep
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give thine angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for thy love's sake. Amen.
For the Care of Children
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
For Young Persons
God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Our Country
O God our Father, whose beloved Son took children into his arms and blessed them: Give us grace to entrust your beloved children of Uvalde to your everlasting care and love, and bring them fully into your heavenly kingdom. Pour out your grace and loving-kindness on all who grieve; surround them with your love; and restore their trust in your goodness. We lift up to you our weary, wounded souls and ask you to send your Holy Spirit to take away the anger and violence that infects our hearts, and make us instruments of your peace and children of the light. In the Name of Christ who is our hope, we pray. Amen.
(This last prayer was originally shared by Bishop Andy Doyle - Episcopal Diocese of Texas.)
Ron Starbuck
Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor
Saint Julian Press, Inc.
Houston, Texas
Out of Many, One
Someone from somewhere else in the world was trolling a posting I made on social media and left this statement.
— "America is so fragmented and disunited now, that Americans are incapable of getting behind their national leaders in this crisis when it comes to coordinating a critical response on the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
They see America as fragmented, weak, illiberal, and disunited by our culture wars; a nation at war within itself and across the land. They were referring to comments made by many from the far-right media and some political leaders in support of Putin's actions towards Ukraine, as well as such comments on social media. These are folks who are echoing Russian talking points, propaganda, and misinformation. There is a lot of noise out there and some very bad players in the media and political body, hoping to capitalize on this crisis. They are wrong.
I want to believe that in the end America's resolve and love for liberty will always be present, and that we will come together as a people. Historically, this is who we are as nation and as a democracy. This is who we are as a people. This is who we are as Americans.
E Pluribus Enum - Out of Many, One.
Liberal Democracies, also known as Western Democracies, hold in common values based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. Liberal Democracies operate under an elected representative form of government. They are marked by elections between political parties, a separation of powers, branches of government, the rule of law, an open society, a free market economy, private property, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, voting rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all people regardless of sex, race, or our ethnic and cultural origins.
Democracies are messy and by their very nature always seek a consensus, and consensus simple takes time to build. This is no less true across and among the 30-member nation states and democracies that make up NATO, and the broader European Community - European Union (EC/EU).
Building that consensus and collaboration takes enormous diplomatic skill sets and statecraft; the fine art of conducting state affairs. The United States has done an amazing and remarkable job of uniting NATO during this Ukraine crisis. The whole world has been watching how we have come together in unity. This unity has not gone unnoticed or been lost by our allies or our adversaries. We need to do more; we need to stand together in an even greater unity. We need to support American leadership and readily embrace a servant leadership role within the world.
As a reminder, NATO's Article 5, commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state, in Europe or North America, to be an armed attack against them all. Article 5 has been invoked only once in NATO history: by the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Our NATO allies stood beside America in that terrible time of grief and need. Now they face the possibility of a similar threat, we need to be there for our European allies and for what democracy means to humanity.
It is not beyond reason that Putin will eventually target the Baltic nations and former Warsaw Pact nations to create a new Russian Empire. We must stay watchful and vigilant on what new steps Putin may take. His goal is to keep democracy from spreading into Russia. His goal is to see democracy fail, wherever it exists within the world.
As U. S. citizens it is our job to understand this dynamic and its importance to our national and world security, and to honor our global alliances and commitments. By doing so, we practice and stand by our democratic values, and make the world a safer place in which to live and for democracy to thrive and flourish. Knowing full well that democracy, as messy as it can be at times, offers humanity something more, an inclusive plurality and human diversity, something worth preserving and sustaining for future generations and the world.
Ukraine is not a member state of NATO, but if Putin-Russia were to cross into or threaten any NATO member state, Article 5 would be triggered and invoked. Showing our immediate resolve and unity at this time is something we can and should do together as a people. It is an act of patriotism and defending our shared democratic values, as surely as it has been at every critical point in our nation's history. Ukraine's pain, should be our won pain. Ukraine's story of democracy, is our story of democracy.
This is who we are as a nation and as a people, united under God, that many of us still hope and want to believe is true. However, we might imagine God to be at work within our own lives, our local communities, the nation, and within the world in a world without end.
This week I went to one of the early voting locations in Harris County to vote in the March 1st Texas primary. I picked the one closest to our home, Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Independence Heights. I did so intentionally, since it reminded me of being a Boy Scout, and earning the "God & Country" Scouting award some 56 years ago. I was practicing democracy by voting, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and all the other democracies in the world. For me, it felt like a sacred duty and act, especially at this time in the world.
Prayer for the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority
from the Book of Common Prayer
"O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that, being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to the President of the United States, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in thy fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen."
For Peace
"Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen."
For Peace Among the Nations
"Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen."
Whatever your faith or spiritual practice may be, these words echo a universal truth for all of humanity, across our shared human history.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
Publisher - CEO
Saint Julian Press, Inc.
#DemocracyMatters
#AmericanLeadershipMatters
#ServantLeadershipMatters
JOHN 3 — (NRSV)
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God
without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh,
and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Senator Bob Dole & Nicodemus, Kansas — An Editorial for Unity
When introducing to Congress the legislation Senator Dole offered this statement. “Too often, the tragic legacy of the Civil War was that blacks traded the chains of slavery for poverty, prejudice and persecution. The free soil of Nicodemus allowed blacks to flourish. In my view, it is important to preserve that rich heritage, so that future generations will understand the special place of Nicodemus in the settling of the west.”
If you were to travel HWY 24 from just north of Lawrence, Kansas, westward towards Topeka, St. Mary’s, Wamego, Manhattan, Clay Center, Beloit, Osborne, Stockton, and a bit beyond, you would arrive in Nicodemus, Kansas. You may also follow HWY 18 westward out of Manhattan, traveling through many of the small towns where my paternal first and second great-grand-parents settled and lived after the Civil War, including Lincoln and Barnard, Kansas. I have a third-cousin who still farms 360 acres just north of Barnard.
The value that Bob Dole embraced in the story of Nicodemus is one that we can all embrace, because it is the story of many American families and immigrants. A Pilgrimage of Churches was written as a celebration and a remembrance of the pioneers who settled across the Great Plains in the years following the Civil War. The final paragraph in the book’s preface offers this thanksgiving for a heritage that still endures today.
“A Pilgrimage of Churches is one person’s answer to the landscape of the Great Plains, flowing from Canada to the Coastal Plains of Texas, and the people who live there, who work the land, and who worship together in community on the Sabbath. These communities hold a rich heritage of faith and devotion that is an American story. It is a story we hold in common and share with many other Americans, whose families pioneered and settled the land generations before us. My desire is to tell it with a Quaker simplicity and sincerity that honors my own family’s legacy. The poetry draws from a rich literary, artistic, and liturgical language, which reveals people of faith, and their intimate connection with the land that flourishes still, caring for and cultivating the American plains and prairies to help feed a Twenty-First Century world.”
“Nicodemus Rises” is the eleventh poem in A Pilgrimage of Churches, and it is intended to honor a community of African-Americans who through their labor and lives are still giving back to the nation something of great value. They are maintaining a heritage of faith and community we cannot easily measure, but value as a treasure. A heritage that we can hope they will pass on to their children and grandchildren, and great grandchildren wherever they may go on their own journey of life. We remember the past and hold it dear as a remembrance because the past shapes us as a people and as individuals. Out this remembrance of family and faith we shape our identities, we add value to our own lives. This is why it is so important, as Bob Dole observed, for us to preserve the richness of that historical and cultural heritage.
We live in a divided land where it seems impossible most of time for us to cherish such a heritage and value one another as a people. We have forgotten that the American story, is a story that we all share and are writing together still. How we see one another matters, how we speak to one another matters, how we view and honor our common humanity and heritage matters. How we value the diversity of America and who we are as a Melting Pot & Fruit Salad of many people and cultures matters a great deal. Out of Many One — E Pluribus Unum.
As we take time to celebrate the life of a great American, who defended and honored American democracy his whole life, let us pause together in thoughtful accord. As fellow Americans; as one nation under God, let us make a new pledge of allegiance to treat one another with a greater respect and with a gentle openness the pioneer families discovered across the Great Plains and Tallgrass Prairies of America. This openness and freedom was and is still, the dream that is America and what we want for all America.
July 28, 2020 — Wall Street Journal Article on Nicodemus, Kansas
YOU ARE ACCEPTED
Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice
were saying: "You are accepted…” – Paul Tillich from The Shaking of the Foundations
There will come a time in your life
When what may be is a path
You must decide upon
Purposely and intuitively
Influenced by both your
Conscious and unconscious mind
One side of this will come from
What you already know
About yourself, how something
Makes you smile, in a world
That always makes sense
The other side will come from
What is sad and broken and
Askew within the world —chaos
Unaware of the self’s unlimited
Potential, and how your
Thoughts shape everything
The world you live in
Is coming from you
What I can tell you now
From my own experience is to
Not fret or feel threatened
Simply be —being itself
Is the reason you are here
It is the reason for living
Your life is a gift and your
Only obligation within it
Is to live that life fully and let
Everything else unfold graciously
Before your eyes —you do
Not have to question why
You do not need to fear
You simply need to accept
That you are accepted in
All that you are and will
Be by something greater
Than yourself —even if
Especially if —it is something
You cannot name now
Do not even try, for
Grace may strike when
Your need is greatest
You will name it later and do not
Expect that you will be
Better than before or
Believe more than before
It can happen this way
You can love your life
And be transformed
by the Ground of Being
(God if you wish)
The groundlessness and
Openness of all creation
Arising around us all
Being itself —this mystery
Ron Starbuck © 2018
June 12, 2018
You Are Accepted: Chapter 19, theologian Paul Tillich’s book of sermons entitled The Shaking of the Foundations published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1948.
Nirvana–Śūnyatā–Groundlessness–Openness: “Might be imagined as a process, indeed the process itself by which in which and through which everything has its being.” Chapter 1, “Nirvana and God the Transcendent Other” – Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian by theologian Paul F. Knitter.
Poetry Corner Book Review
Originally written by Carl M. Jenks
Reprinted and Shared from:
https://carlmjenkspoetrycorner.com
At the edge of blank reverie, there will always
be a field in sunlight, edged by woods, floating
several hills up from home, from the broken sidewalk
and grass of the first toddling footfalls that grew
in a few short years to running bursts across that field.
For each of us a field, a stoop, a street, a desert trail,
a box canyon, or concrete, concrete, concrete, a patch
of grass, all various and recognizable, the shaping places
before there was “before,” before we knew the dam
could be built or the dam could burst and our landscapes
would all change, no matter what of them we carried with us.
In my field, a brother and father walk alongside.
We are separate and together, each of us
finding our way in the company of the others,
and because of this, I know how to find my way
through uncertainties, no matter how long it takes.
Jane Creighton’s new book, Bone Skid, Bone Beauty (Saint Julian Press, September 1, 2021), is a stunning — and an almost completely unexpected — addition to the modern poetry bookshelf. For all practical purposes, this is Creighton’s first book of poetry (her only prior publication — Ceres In an Open Field (Out & Out Books, 1980) — appeared more than forty years ago at a time when Creighton was a very different writer). Put slightly differently, Bone Skid arrives in our hands with little or no prior warning almost fifty years after Creighton graduated from college.
It is well worth the wait. As our featured poem illustrates, Creighton is a poet of many talents, capable of evoking images with great economy (“the edge of blank reverie”, “the first toddling footfalls”, “the shaping places / before there was “‘before’”), while foreshadowing the pain and disappointment of life and giving us emotional nourishment for the journey.
Here she is in a delicate rhymed sonnet, imagining what it would have been like to be a mother:
It could have gone the other way. I could
have said: “I’ll have this baby,” lifted up
those heavy breasts — a song to life — and stood
to thicken in the heat, cursed and cupped
the pleasing turn of body into bearer
and helped myself to more of what I thought
my mother bore. So now some mornings rarer
than the moon’s fertile trace, I plot
elusive breath, a syllable, bare wit
and other things it might have said, its voice
skittery in breaking light, the kid
who’d mirror me, or not. Alert or coy.
I might have had a daughter, or a son.
I might have run my mother’s race, and won.
“Weight and Measure. 1.”
Several of her most successful poems celebrate the lives and personalities of those around her in unexpected ways. Here, for example, is a dreamscape poem of her deceased father — or is it someone else? — still running the show:
Though dead, he still directs the funeral. Always quiet,
he gets his way through suggestion, a gesture,
the tilt of his head. Before you know it
you find yourself scuttling down his path,
all business, ready to do whatever he says.
So here he is, skin and bones, his mouth
a toothless O, lifeless but for these last orders:
Put this box here. Arrange the folding chairs thus.
Those bowls of daffodils? Along the windowsill,
a hedge to natural light.
But as the place begins
to fill, he grows anxious and recedes
into the still air behind the Victorian couch
where no one ever goes. “Too many people,”
says the fading voice. “Get them out.” . . .
“Lake Dreams, Annaghmakerrig. 3.”
Creighton’s poems sparkle with exquisite bursts of magical description.
. . . Such is the rocky pasture of early evening. A mind
just hours ago paddling toward the riverbank path
that leads through pastel fields abundant with a soft
and satisfied wealth, now picks its pace
through a glimmering redness, burnt packages
of ideas that nevertheless court hope
in their rapid demise.
“My Village.”
What will be left of gravity
and bone once the road this girl walks
opens skyward? She’ll skid, vertiginous
to her toes (how she loves
that word), and if she floats
down a steep hill looking up?
You might, in the deep purple
jungle of your lungs, breathe out
a warning just loud enough
for her not to hear. Nobody
knows the rules. . . .
“The Woman You Once Will Be.”
Lurking in Creighton’s poetry is a sense that people are a bit of a puzzlement for her:
Not enough of them in these poems.
Always a random thought, or animal
or vegetable, or someone’s elbow shove,
the sprint around the corner, gone.
Where do they go, these people?
Why will you not summon them? . . .
It’s hard to tell about people, what good
they will try to do, or what ill. Or
what it feels to be one of them,
to be captive, to be captor.
“People.”
. . . Do not speak to the driver,
do not even notice him.
He has his job
and you have yours:
You are to look for the in-
between, borders and edges,
the postings between this life
and that, a woman hailing
a cab who calls forth, instead,
a storm of curses
from a frail and aging woman
who might be her mother
or yours, renamed as a stranger
to remind you that no matter
how well you think you know
someone, chances are
she’s holding something back . . .
“Lake Dreams, Blue Mountain. 2.”
But in the end, it is people — and her love for them — that carries Creighton through:
Let me have the love it takes
to live inside this dream where you
and you and you and you are walking
a road. It leads down to a lake
I know, banked by granite boulders
and pine, and I am also with you
and you and you and you walking
one by one and together, as if
we had all, always, been friends
who loved one another
in the same place, at the same time.
For Further Reading: Bone Skid, of course. (In case you are wondering, Creighton is Professor of English at the University of Houston — Downtown, where she has taught for 24 years.)
For Further Watching: Kirk Lawrence’s delicate reading of our featured poem. https://youtu.be/w0sUHJsFj9Y
“When you welcome the stranger, you welcome Jesus.” —
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church
Many Americans stretching across our wide political divisions, to the left and right and in the middle, are now welcoming Afghan refugees to America.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2
There are ways you can help through many organizations.
Give Something Today
Episcopal Migration Ministry Resources and Steps in the Process
Hurricane Ida - Helping the Stranger
To help fellow Americans impacted by hurricane Ida please consider another gift to Episcopal Relief & Development services.
Contribute
Responding to 2021 Hurricanes
HONORING OUR DEMOCRATIC VALUES
HONORING OUR DEMOCRATIC VALUES
The USA criticizes China, Russia, Myanmar, and other forms of authoritarian governments for being anti-democratic and illiberal, in the classical sense of liberal democracies. And yet, too many Americans refuse to see or acknowledge that GOP controlled State Legislative efforts are intended to restrict voting and in a significant way voter suppression and oppression under the false claim of “Election Integrity.”
They cannot claim voter fraud, it does not exist, so they create a new term, a novel vocabulary. GOP controlled state legislatures are trying to fix something that is not broken. They are creating a crisis where there is none. All this controversy is false. It is a controversy, which never had a basis in fact. Please recall, that audits and recounts confirmed the accuracy of the vote count in Georgia and elsewhere, and lawsuits there and in other states by the Trump campaign and allies failed to show otherwise. In case after case, they lost every one of those cases in a court of law, under the rule of law.
However, President Trump still sought to discredit the 2020 election, and is still doing so today. We are now eight months past the November 3, 2020, election and his hardcore supporters and base are still believing his lies. He unlawfully asked Georgia's Secretary of State to change the vote totals. This is the “Big Lie” he still repeats today in his public appearances.
In response, Georgia, Florida, Texas and other state lawmakers are moving to repair an electoral system that was never broken and proven to be secure. The 2020 election was the most assured ever. This is what authoritarian autocratic governments do to gain and retain power. This is what the GOP leadership is doing and supporting at a state and national level.
There is no election fraud, there is no rigged election, there is no stolen election. There may be though if we do not question what is happening now. These are all false claims, arising from State Lawmakers who cite public concerns about election security based on lies. Based on Trump’s "Big Lie."
These concerns were originally generated by disinformation that President Donald Trump spread week after week while trying to overturn the election. An overall effort that culminated in the events of January 6, 2021, when the Capitol was stormed, and Congress placed in danger. Please do not allow this history to be rewritten or reframed by others. Democracy needs friends, now, more than ever.
Why have people forgotten January 6th now and want to dismiss and discount what happened? Why are GOP leaders ignoring what happened on January 6th and the storming of the Capitol? Why are they trying so hard to revise this narrative and create a revisionist history?
Why is the GOP embracing and encouraging these anti-democratic and illiberal measures and means? Why is the GOP supporting autocratic authoritarian measures that erode our American values of democracy and our global leadership role as the world's oldest democratic Republic?
Why are GOP leaders willing to abandon this nation's historic role as the leader of the free world? Why are they abandoning and destroying our democracy?
It is important for us to remember that the protection of fundamental human rights, and certainly the right to vote, was a corner stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. That good work was always a work in progress. It still is today.
We must recall that since WWII and the formation of the UN, the central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been to promote and encourage a respect for human rights, embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”
We cannot embody and promote these democratic values globally if we are not willing to honor and protect them at home. To act in any other way, to pass laws that limit and restrict the power of any single person's right to vote becomes the highest form of hypocrisy. As Americans who value their democracy and the rule of law, we must not let it stand, it must not be so.
15th Amendment
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
I've heard arguments from various people, include our two Senator's from Texas, that this is a "States' Rights" issue, but the 15th Amendment still stands. It is still a part of the United States Constitution.
And the Voting Rights Act is still a law of the land, and a part of the Rule-of-Law we hold dear as a nation and within any democracy. The VRA still protects minorities, "languages minorities" included, and voting dilution actions from discriminatory voting practices.
Texas Democrats are well within their right to question and to prevent any steps to undo and undermine these values, to resist the passage of unconstitutional and anti-democratic restrictive voting laws in Texas, and to seek and support new Federal legislation that strengthens the 15th Amendment and Voting Rights Act. This is how democracies work and should work, and it is a part of our Democratic Republic representative form of government.
Critical Thinking Matters — History Matters — Leadership Matters – Character Matters – Democracy Matters — Truth Matters — Tell People the Truth
Tell them the truth...
FOR the last four years and more America has lived in a post-truth world, absent of truth. Our democratic republic has been assaulted on many fronts. We have now gone past a point where truth no longer matters too many. The truth is fluid, it is whatever someone claims, especially the ambitious politicians who would misuse and misdirect the anger and fear of many people to advance their own path to power.
DO not let them twist this time of anguish and angst to suit their own ends and gain that power to the detriment and destruction of America. Demand more of them now, today. Ask them to tell the truth and to honor the oath of office they took to defend and protect the constitution.
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So, help me God.”
What do these words, "I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same," mean to us as American citizens?
AS this new year advances, after we move forward from the tragedy of January 6th, and the inauguration of President Biden on January 20, 2021. Americans must seek a more insightful “Truth and Reconciliation,” process and tell it true. We must tell the truth to one another. We must seek this truth as a democratic republic. This truth telling is an accounting which will take us far beyond any possible criminal prosecutions and convictions.
IT is an intimate and integral process and a hallowed practice we must pursue as part of a greater national healing. In any “Truth and Reconciliation” process, we would be calling ourselves as citizens to a more thoughtful and prayerful account of our own actions and behavior. We would be doing this sacred-holy work of the people for the people.
WE need to understand our own role in how we came to be where we are today. And how our democratic norms became unraveled, broken, and this tragic travesty of events unfolded. How and why did our democratic values and practices break down, and how have our historical inequities played its part?
FOR us to imagine that his election has saved the union would be naive. There is a higher calling we must answer. More work is required now from each of us. We must be ever vigilant and watchful. Such populism, such a cult like following of another firebrand, can easily rise again in America.
THERE are politicians like Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, bending the truth even now, so that they might rationalize and promote other falsehoods to gain the power and influence they seek. And who, in the words of Senator Mitt Romney, have "weighed their own political fortunes more heavily than we weigh the strength of our Republic."
AND in doing so, betrayed their oath of office, and failed to bear true faith and allegiance in defending our Constitution. Every American has a right and a responsibility to confront the actions and behavior of someone who holds an elected office in their name. We must hold them accountable in this time and place.
DO not accept these actions, call them each and all others who have promoted these falsehoods to a greater accounting. Ask them to seek, tell, and promote the greater truth of this nation. Just as Republican Senator Mitt Romney did when urging the unanimous affirmation of the 2020 Presidential election results.
AND if they will not honor these sacred obligations and oaths, seek their resignations or remove them from office in due time by electing those who will. Do not cede to them or to others this power, the power of the people to discern the truth. As conservative Washington Post columnist George F. Will wrote recently; “Trump, Hawley and Cruz will each wear the scarlet ‘S’ of a seditionist.”
WE need to consider and document how social media and mainstream media played a role in harming our democratic values. And how they helped to disenfranchising minorities, and in disrupting and endangering our political and electoral process through fear, misinformation, misdirection, distractions, false accusations, and blatant untruths. And then take the proper steps to help prevent this from happening again so that we can defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
PERHAPS we need a new variation of the “Fairness Doctrine.” Which was once a firm FCC policy that required broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues to the public in an honest, fair, and balanced way. A renewed standard of journalism and journalistic practices must be considered, as it was once before when Yellow-Journalism wreaked havoc in our history.
IN our fast paced and interconnected world, the truth is far too vulnerable to misinformation and misdirection. We must see clearly how this prevents a discipline of discernment. And how it then aids authoritarian and autocratic leaders who no longer value an open and honest democratic or civil discourse for the greater benefit of societies, nations, and the world.
AS Americans witnessed this recent history unfold, we have seen an attack on all our branches of government – justice, legislative, executive, as well as the core institutions and means of our democracy. We must be able to trust that these democratic values will be honored and held sacred by all the people and secured for future generations of Americans. And to ensure that the integrity of our American democracy and our place in it as a free people, will be preserved, if this nation is to long endure and form a more perfect union.
Ron Starbuck
Publisher – CEO – Executive Editor
Saint Julian Press, Inc. Houston, Texas
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
Beyond all our thoughts and words, there is something more, something full of mystery. Take a moment please and think of the Gospel of John, where it is written, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." In indeed, think about how God brought creation into existence, how God created your life and my life.
Genesis 1:1-3 (KJV) - In the Beginning
Before there was creation itself, there was a wordless nothingness, an emptiness waiting to be filled, a formless void. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light". And creation was formed out of the formless void, and there with God in this moment of creation, in the beginning of all things, was the Eternal Word, perhaps born from a single desire and thought of God.
"In the beginning was the Word." As a Christian, or even someone of another faith, have you ever thought of how your own relationship with creation is grounded in the Word or words, and how your life arises in and through all your relationships, with all creation?
This is certainly true for a Christian in their relationship with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Word Made Flesh; as well as words from many other sacred traditions forming the world, words, like sutras, binding the family of humankind together. When we take time to dwell on our relationships, even those beyond our immediate family and friends, we begin to see how life arises from these many interconnections.
Can you begin to imagine how you have touched my life, even if we have never met or spoken? Can you begin to imagine how you have touched the lives of other people too, and will continue to touch them? This is how powerful relationships are in the world. This is the Word, the Holy Spirit, at work within the world. And then imagine, please, how our own thoughts become words of our own, shaping our world, shaping our lives, our communities, our reality.
We are all interconnected, perhaps even more so now, as we listen and come to know one another within a sacred community, as we listen to or even read each other’s words. Words have a life of their own. They shape our lives, and they interconnect us in marvelous ways. This is why writers love writing and use words to express themselves. It is why people love poetry, good plays, a compelling novel or story, or any appreciable writing in which we form a connection with one another.
I’m sure that we have more than 300 books in our library at home, and at some level, there is a relationship with every single word in every single book, or even in the words I am typing now, hopefully making a connection with all of you.
In Buddhism, this concept of our interconnectedness with life, all life, reality itself, out of which our lives arise, is called Dependent Origination or Dependent Arising, Pratītyasamutpāda in Sanskrit. Dependent Arising is hard to wrap your mind around, unless you know and have the right vocabulary, unless you have devoted time and energy to understanding Buddhism's beautifully symbolic and complex language, its words.
For now, let’s simply say that it is a reality of shared interdependence and one that tells us, we are intimately interconnected to everything else in life, with one another, with all of creation. The Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, calls this concept interbeing, in his book, The Heart of Understanding, where he teaches that “To be” is to inter-be, and that “we cannot be alone, exist alone without anything else.”
In Christianity, there is a remarkably similar and beautiful concept, it is found in a marvelous Greek word used by the early church fathers and mothers, to describe the mystery of the Trinity. It is the word, Perichoresis (peri-kor-es-is). Perichoresis is an ancient term in Christian theology, which refers to the indwelling of the Trinity, of how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are so intimately connected within their unity as one that there is an indwelling between them all. And that this indwelling is shared with us, in and through Christ, in the Paschal Mystery of Christ as the Incarnate Word, the Word Made Flesh.
How appropriate, since not one of us can imagine living without words, living a life without words in some form.
Let me go back, please to the wordless beginning of things, ultimate reality perhaps, to the Buddhist concept of Śūnyatā–Nirvana, emptiness. I’m struggling for a clear image or a metaphor to use in this dialogue, and it’s hard for me to find one. This is why I love to write poetry, because poetry for me is a transformational and transcending language.
Perhaps it would help, as Jesus or a Tibetan or Zen Master might, to have you visualize the emptiness of an empty cup. The space that can be filled at any time, by anyone, by you, by God. This space, this emptiness, can be seen as the pure and infinite potential of all eternity, out of which all reality arises in a universe of infinite possibilities, or even of a given intimate moment within eternity, now in this present moment, in these words, even in the spaces between each word. You may also visualize it as an empty cup, a cup that is ready to receive the new wine of life or hot jasmine tea.
What I’m trying to say, with all these words, is that sometimes we simply need to let go of all our words, all our images, and all our thoughts, even becoming lost for a while. Becoming lost can be a goodly thing, a needful thing. Because in doing so, we can develop a whole new language, and new images, like an artist, does when they are creating, be it a new symphony, a beautiful painting, a poem, a play, or a photograph that takes your breath away and leaves you speechless.
I love that feeling of speechlessness, of emptiness, of being empty and ready to receive the next new thing. The secret I think is in understanding that each moment is the next new thing. It is a moment that is both, empty and full of infinite potential, a newness that is born out of every moment. I ended a poem once with these words.
“We are the poet and the poem out of which each moment arises.”
I know in my soul this is a powerful truth, one arising out of my own thoughts, words, and spiritual life. I love the dialog we may find within any sacred community, and the many gifts it brings us to discover such moments, to discover the newness of a moment, and to discover a new meaning in life within one another, new words even, words that God constantly shapes.
Words that arise from a single point of emptiness and words that help us to shape the life we live into a new language, a new life. Words that help us to breathe as one body, in one single breath, and in one spirit together. There is something truly sacramental and spirit driven, inspired, by such a dialog, by such relationships. It is an indwelling where we do dwell within one another, Perichoresis.
I'm thinking of Jesus now and the words we hear him say in John 10:10; "I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly." And I'm thinking how much your life enriches my own life; how we enrich one another in our lives that God has given to us each. I just want us to realize this fully, to appreciate it fully, and know fully that we are all a part of that gift too, and to be grateful for the sacramental moments we share together, where we come to know and be fully known by God, where we come to be blest.
I'm thinking that the Buddha would certainly agree with all this, in a sheer Buddhist enlightenment and wakefulness-practicing sort of way, practicing this way, this journey, this celebration of life.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press
Publisher-CEO
Houston, Texas
Publisher's Blog
RON STARBUCK is the Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor of Saint Julian Press, Inc., in Houston, Texas; a poet and writer, an Episcopalian, and author of There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian, When Angels Are Born, Wheels Turning Inward, and most recently A Pilgrimage of Churches, four rich collections of poetry, following a poet’s mythic and spiritual journey that crosses easily onto the paths of many contemplative traditions.
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