Every Grain Of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

Copyright ©1981 Special Rider Music / Bob Dylan

Tolerance Is a Moral Value: My Thoughts on Legislating Hate As a Value

As a Quaker I believe the movement to isolate and scapegoat homosexuals, to promote hatred against them, and to impose in law one group’s religious beliefs on us all, is blatantly immoral and contrary to Jesus’ teachings.

With half of marriages ending in divorce, unquestionably the right thing to do is to strengthen marriages. But diverting the question to whether two people of the same sex can have legal rights together completely loses track of the problem of frail marriages.
The now, sadly passed, constitutional amendment really had nothing to do with marriage; but thinly veiled attacks on gays and lesbians, part of a pattern of discrimination and institutionalized hatred. It is a strategy of power practiced by would-be tyrants throughout history.

Some have portrayed persecution and hatred of gays as a Christian thing to do. Nowhere is it found that Jesus said anything about homosexuality. Nor did Jesus ever suggest encoding Christian teachings into a Sharia-like law to force religious beliefs on society.

I believe that God loves us all equally, and that we are called to treat each other with the same love in which God created us. We have no need to hate, or to discriminate against, any group for any reason. It is simply not Christian to do so.

Several Quaker meetings have married gay and lesbian Quakers, and many other meetings have passed minutes affirming their willingness to do so.

Quakers have often appeared at the forefront of social change in the United States. Just as Quakers abolished slavery within their communities long before the Emancipation Proclamation, so have many Quaker meetings recognized gay and lesbian marriage in advance of our nation's courts. Let us hope that soon, history will not fall so far behind its conscience.

Girls For Obama

This is great and fun and moving. Take a look.

Meet and Greet

In certain cultures people greet each other with a little bow and their hands pressed together in a prayer position. This is meant to convey that one acknowledges the divinity in the other. In our culture we greet each other by shaking hands, a gesture meant to convey the cheery thought, "See? I'm not holding a weapon." Personally, I like the divinity "hi, how are ya" a lot better. In fact, sometimes I like to walk down the street and remind myself that each and every person I see is of divine origin and on a journey that is unique, profound, tragic, joyous and, to them, immensely important (I'm sure airports are also good for this exercise, if only I didn't have a preternatural fear of flying since 9/11).

Now that's not to say that I don't often consider others as being mere speed bumps on my little drive through life. I just find that when I make the slightest effort to acknowledge that spark of divinity in the people I meet, I feel better. Life is less threatening. I feel safer. More inclined to being open and loving. More inclined to leave the safety on.

Remember

Photos That Changed The World

These are just some of the photos you'll find at Photos that Changed the World. Go there and be inspired, outraged, awed and humbled. It seems that most of the comments on the site have been invaded by Trolls leaving nothing but hate and invective in their wake. Please do not feed the Trolls, it only makes them stronger and happy.

 

 

 

 

 

Quaker Singer Carrie Newcomer: In Word and Song: Saturday, July 19th

Be sure to catch Carrie Newcomer and Philip Gulley at St. Lukes United Methodist Church Saturday July, 19th., 100 West 86th Street, Indianapolis, 46260.

Quaker singer Carrie Newcomer leads When the Soul's Great Joy Meets the World's Great Need: Exploration of Faith, Vocation, Activism and Art from 2:30-4:30 pm then performs with Philip Gulley from 7:30-9:30pm. Times and Ticket info below.

• Philip Gulley & Carrie Newcomer: In Word and Song
  Meets: Saturday, July 19, 7:30-9:30 pm, Sanctuary
  Tickets $15 available on Sunday mornings in West Passage beginning June 22, at the door, or call 846-3404 x480.
• Acclaimed singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer and award-winning author Philip Gulley come together to present an intimate evening of story and music. Their stories and songs reflect their communities (Bloomington and Danville) and encourage us to create and strengthen our communities.
  
• When the Soul's Great Joy Meets the World's Great Need:
  Exploration of Faith, Vocation, Activism and Art
  Leader: Carrie Newcomer
  Meets: Saturday, July 19, 2:30-4:30pm, E107/109
  Registration required, fee:$30 (or $40 for both workshop and concert).
• Using music, reflection, writing exercises, discussion and Quaker clearness method, Carrie will help you claim your gifts so you can go out and change the world.

A little about Carrie Newcomer from her Rounder Records Bio:

Newcomer, a Quaker, cuts across secular and spiritual boundaries and is one of a relatively few well-known singer/songwriters working within the progressive spiritual continuum. The Geography of Light was in part influenced by Newcomer’s friendships and recent collaborations with influential authors and theologians, including Parker J. Palmer, Phillip Gulley, Jim Wallis, Scott Russell Sanders and Barbara Kingsolver. Many of the album’s tracks examine compelling ideas and questions arising out of her relationships within this community—the idea that things are not always as they appear; that good exists at the center of things; that life is a process of transformation; that there is value in simple things; that wholeness is not beyond our reach. Through her songs, she asks: What is the nature of justice? When is it finally time to forgive or let go? Where do we turn for strength?

Photo: The Geography of Light, courtesy Carrie Newcomer's Electronic Press Kit page.

searching for the light

Having a bit of a bad week here in the existence known as my life. I won't go into details unless someone asks.

I've just been handed several things that test me as a person, impact my income, my home, my children and my self-worth. All fairly totemic qualities, eh?

How do I handle it? So far with an appalling lack of sleep, teeth grinding (it's baaaaack) and hair falling.

*Warning: Spiritual stuff coming up! If ya don't like it then go read someone else.*

I've been a Christian a long time. All of my life. I even contemplated going to CTU and becoming a minister. I grew up in the Baptist Church. It's hypocrisy and narrowness caused me to loose a lot of faith, but not my belief. I've always been a seeker. I studied and devoured my comparative religions classes at IU. I've studied Zen much to my betterment as a person. I've been a Methodist. It was fine, with very good people (shout out Old Bethel) but when a sermon was preached on the evils of Evolution and nearly all the congregation agreed, I knew it was my time to go.

[Just a note on Evolution. I URGE you to go look it up!! The Theory of Evolution is not a theory in the sense, "I have a theory that my socks get sucked into a parallel dimension while in the dryer." It is a proven, quantifiable Scientific Theory. Which means a group of like or similarly known facts that are related or relatable to one-another. A group, a family, a pride, a Theory. Preaching on the wrongness of God's creation of Evolution makes about as much sense as preaching against the evils of the Theory of Gravity! It exists, deal wit it!]

Anyway, back to my subject... I was invited to go to a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) meeting and found it was where I needed to be. Where I was supposed to be. I will write about that someday.

So to answer my earlier question, how do I handle it? I'm trying my best. I know several things about my God. God loves me un-conditionally, guides me and teaches me. I know God loves me. I'm convinced God has no commitment greater than love. The Bible doesn't say God can be loving or God is often loving or even God is usually loving. It says God IS love.

I don't believe God is testing me. I think God can help us through our tests and bad times, but doesn't initiate them to test us. That strikes me somewhat of a cat toying with a mouse till the mouse submits to it's fate as his lunch. My God is not willful or vindictive. Our path is our own, but He is there, if we care to call on him to help us down it.

Russian author, Vasily Grossman once wrote:

Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness. But if what is human in human beings has not been destroyed even now, then evil will never conquer.

That kernel of human kindness is, I believe, what Quakers call the Inner Light. The guiding presence of God within us that can never be extinguished. Whether it's in an unprogrammed Meeting where one sits in silence the entire hour waiting for the Light to shine or for 15 mins of silent worship as we do in our Meeting led by a pastor, we wait patiently and silently till the message is received, if ever.

I've meditated on it and searched deeply for the Light. My life is in turmoil right now and it unnerves and distress me, but I know God's Light and Grace are in me. That Light shines on and on and on. Peace.