Dear All,
We are back in ‘ordinary time’ in the liturgical cycle, but this Sunday the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins so you will find here something on Unity – not confined to Christian Unity but with a bigger canvas. Mindful of that desire we have for unity in all things you will find a sung version of Ubi Caritas – ‘Where there is love, there is God’.
As the pandemic rages amongst us, (& it seems it is much closer to home than it appeared earlier), we are sending you something on hope. May it encourage us all to hold onto hope despite all that is worrying us.
Lastly a blessing – this week it is from ‘Fire of Love’, one of Margaret Rizza’s CDs.
Love to you all,
Sensing a Vast Unity (Joyce Rupp)
As I stand in my own small space of the planet
revelling in the power and beauty of the heavens,
I feel a great unity with all beings.
I know that somewhere there is a herdsman
in the Sahara Desert who is also gazing
at the stars of our common universe.
I know there is a lamb in New Zealand
romping in sunlight that also bathes my skin.
I know there is a woman in India
who is going to sleep under the same moon I am.
I know there is a cactus blooming in Mexico
under the same sky as mine.
I know that all of us are drinking in the wind
and living under the beauty of the heavens.
I know that all of this is a dance of oneness
amid the bounty of the skies, and I am grateful.
Hope is a Decision (by Jim Wallis)
Week after week, we can take on the biggest issues we face as a society — from continuing racism, mass incarceration, inequality and poverty to gender violence and human trafficking, climate change — and just try to be hopeful.
Or we can start by going deeper, to a more foundational and spiritual understanding of hope — rooted in our identity as the children of God, made in the image of God, as the only thing that will see us through times like this.
I believe we should start there. Because the biggest problem we face — the biggest enemy at the heart of many of the issues we must address — is hopelessness.
And perhaps the most important thing the world needs from the faith community today is hope.
I believe that hope isn’t a feeling, a mood, or a personality type. Rather, hope is a decision, a choice we make because of this thing we call faith.
Hope is our vocation and our identity as the people of God. Let’s put it this way — when we confront the depth of things we address we must also understand our role. I am convinced now that hope is our job as people of faith.
Hope is our job.
Hope is the particular thing the people of God need to provide, and is the most important thing that every movement for change needs.