Midweek Faith Lift
April 18, 2018
Poetry Selections
Hello Friends,
We did not have church this past Sunday, so there is not a regular Faith Lift Talk for today. The April 15 talk will happen on May 6 as we complete the 9th and 10th Commandments. In the meantime, please enjoy the wonderful poetry of our very own Larry Claus and a Daily Word written by Larry Westberg.
People Pass by Larry Claus
People pass each other
in desperate silence
for fear of saying something
that crosses too far
beyond the center
of routine conversation
and really touching someone
for the very first time.
Predictability by Larry Claus
I used to deny growth
in favor of
predictability,
but I got tired
of winning
all my bets
and still losing.
You Have Done It All by Larry Claus
You can smile;
you have done it all
and you have the confidence
to know you will do it all again.
What does it take to make things move?
What does it take to make your own groove?
You smile that “I have got it” smile
Won’t you share it with me for a while?
You Cannot Take Tomorrow by Larry Claus –
You cannot take tomorrow for me
because I never owned it.
Sometimes I have wished
it was here;
sometimes I have wished
it would never come,
but I have never owned it.
So you cannot take it from me
You do not need to;
it has a way of disappearing on its own.
This was written as our Daily Word for Sunday, April 8, 2018 at UCOA by our own dear Larry Westberg.
It's springtime in the Rockies: Columbines are blooming. New life symphony sights and sounds are in the air. Buzzing Cicadas and Katydids in the treetops are luring mates. Crickets in greening grass are chirping for mates. Meadow Larks sitting on a fencepost are singing their song of love. Doves and Robins are busy building nests.
And I am contemplating the new life of Spring through eyes that have witnessed this awakening world, through eyes that are nearly 100 years old. What can I offer you from my aged heart that might touch your young soul? This...simply: to Love. to Give. to Rest. and to Look. These will sustain you. And to praise God by use of your imagination that your were blessed with. And finally....to Let Go each day and be with your Creator.
And finally, I came across this last week at a meeting of the Contemplative Leaders group that I attend. In these days of conflict and confusion in our collective consciousness, it is important to make space for our deep dreams and that life is not broken.
Everything Has a Deep Dream
-Rachel Naomi Reman
I've spent many years learning
how to fix life, only to discover
at the end of the day
that life is not broken.
There is a hidden seed of greater wholeness
in everyone and everything.
We serve life best
when we water it
and befriend it.
When we listen before we act.
In befriending life,
we do not make things happen
according to our own design.
We uncover something that is already happening
in us and around us and
create conditions that enable it.
Everything is moving toward its place of wholeness
always struggling against odds.
Everything has a deep dream of itself and its fulfillment.
Note: Prose passage in My Grandfather's Blessing (p. 247) redone as a poem by Meg Wheatley in Finding Our Way.
May you be blessed as you are a blessing to all,
Rev. Deb