After I read Brenda’s post, I stopped where a man was standing by the street asking for money, with a homeless sign.

Inatead if driving by, I told him I couldn’t help him now (end of the month and AC won’t work) but maybe next week I could. He thanked me and I drove on.

When the baristas at Starbucks or Aroma Joes drive-thru greet me with a smile and a pleasant demeanor, it makes my day a little better.  Waitpersons indoors could do thst too before Covid started keeping us out of restaurants.

So I always give these people a generous tip and they always seem surprised –

 

On my comment on the peculiar thread, I thanked everyone hwre for their posts but i made a typo and messed up Susan’s name.  Susan, it came out “Siam” and I couldn’t fix it.

Thanks to all of you for being here .

Siam, Adeline, Linda, Tomanfness222, Kathleen.   Thank you for your posts.  No words for now.

Like Carolyn I still see through a glass darkly except for those rare moments of grace, when I am open  and consenting.  Most of those have been when I was alone outdoors or in an empty chapel.   When I’m around people the false self is in charge, the bondage of self.

Thos week’s  intention – hmmm.  We’ll see

Thanks Brenda – I like the decision vs emotion distinction.

In the last chapter of  of johns gospel when Jesus asks Peter “do you love me?”  In the original greek, Jesus uses a verb based on agape while  Peter first replies with a verb based on Philios, which is the emotion we have when we hang out with our close friends.

Agape is what St. Paul writes about in Corinthians 13.

And the Good Samaritan is Jesus’ example of love your neighbor.  But the Samaritan doesn’t become buddies with the robbery victim.  He just pays his hotel bill and goes on his way

How did the experience of being loved  change your life?   I’m going to be careful to define being loved.  Just one example: a colleague in the university angered and I cussed him out in the phone when I was drunk.   We were obviously not friends who like to hang out with each year.

After I got sober, I had a terrible bicycle accident – my bike crashed and I landed  on my head.  This same guy found me lying in the street, got an ambulance, made sure june knew where I was, and later visited me in the hospital.  He told mid better get a bicycle helmet.

We didn’t ever become friends, but this was an act of love.  He probably saved my life –  by seeing that I got medical attention immediately.  Afar I recovered, I bought a helmet and made sure he saw it.

And I got a lesson in humility.

Thank you Julie for this guided meditation.   And thank you for  posting this Pamela. I didn’t hear it end…time passed.   I was quiet.

Thank you for that story, Susan.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Adeline, thank you for your story of reconciliation with indigenous people in Canada.   May the USA follow your example</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”></p>
 

Several reactions to this reading.

-“our egos create divisions between the privileged and oppressed, between human em beings and the rest of creation.”  I’m so glad to see Fr Keating remember “the rest of creation.”  I grieve as I see my own community gobble up natural habitat, wooded areas clear cut to make room for condos.  I have a space outside where I can stand in a circle of trees and feel more energy from their lives in thst spot than I can in a church service – hmmm,  maybe I’m being too divisive in the other direction.

As for oppression others, June and I are reading now with dismay about how our own Episcopal. Church has in the past embraced class and race privilege in so many ways.  One of our seminaries was founded in 1859 specifically to promote the superiority of “Ango-Saxon” people.

Is anyone here also getting Spiritus? As we discuss Fr K’s  warning about hearing voices, it does seem that Dr King had a strong premonition

 

Thank you Kathy.   I sent you a

pm.    If I were awake I’d key in the close  from God’s Grandeur

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