tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60603195240665293222024-03-12T20:14:40.763-05:00Wheels Turning InwardSaint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-61532012278222274062011-12-04T07:48:00.004-06:002011-12-18T08:00:03.408-06:00Śūnyatā - “Emptiness is Form; Form is Emptiness”<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ohQODbKuYRc/Ttt5b9Eu5zI/AAAAAAAAAVk/x-l80--MMD8/s1600/129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ohQODbKuYRc/Ttt5b9Eu5zI/AAAAAAAAAVk/x-l80--MMD8/s400/129.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><i><br />
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<em><br />
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<i><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">emptiness</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">is a cupless cup</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">without shape</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">formless and lucid</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">luminous with light</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">precisely positioned</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">between</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where the space within</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">is completely transparent</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">unspoken, without words</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">a single raindrop</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">fragile and compliant</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">essential in form</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">falling quickly or gently</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">may be caught</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and collected</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to be seen</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">as a reflection</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">unstated in its purity</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">as a thought</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">arising out of</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">of our beingness</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">coming into being</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">faintly glowing at first</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">as the vividness</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">of daybreak</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">becomes brighter</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and brighter</span><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">as we awaken</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to each day</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">each thought, understood</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">explicitly expressed</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">guided by wisdom</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in the mystery, which is God</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">which is creation</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">which is infinite</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">which is reality</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">which we create</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">from ourselves</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where we hold</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">with breathlessness,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">many new beginnings</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">being and becoming</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where we hold</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">each new creation</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in the holiness</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">of the heart</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">arising out of</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">each sacred moment</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">of the day,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in the smallest of things</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in kindness freely given</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and unasked for</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">accepted with graciousness</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in compassion found</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in the strangest of places</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">almost alien in encounter</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in grace given</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">out of our desire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to heal and repair</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">each human heart</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where all people</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">are one</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where we empty</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ourselves</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to become</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">as one</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Copyright 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0070c0;">The Kenosis Hymn - </span><span style="color: #0070c0;">Philippians 2:5-8</span></span></strong><br />
<i><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Kenosis is the Greek word for emptiness.</strong></span></i><br />
<br />
<sup><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>5</em></span></sup><em><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,<br />
<sup>6</sup>who, though he was in the form of God,<br />
did not regard equality with God<br />
as something to be exploited,<br />
<sup>7</sup>but emptied himself,<br />
taking the form of a slave,<br />
being born in human likeness.<br />
And being found in human form,<br />
<sup>8</sup> he humbled himself<br />
and became obedient to the point of death—<br />
even death on a cross.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></em><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sunyata">In Buddhist philosophy, Śūnyatā (shoon-yuh-tah) is the voidness that constitutes ultimate reality. Śūnyatā is seen not as a negation of existence but rather as the undifferentiation out of which all apparent entities, distinctions, and dualities arise. Its full implications were developed by the 2nd-century Indian philosopher Nagarjuna and the school of philosophy founded by him, the Madhyamika (Middle Way), is sometimes called the Sunyavada, or Doctrine That All Is Void.</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<em><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=KJ21">Genesis 1 (21st Century King James Version) - 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 God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.</a></span></em><br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-48805069181178069482010-05-16T06:44:00.020-05:002011-07-26T17:04:47.801-05:00A Mockingbird's Song<div class="Section1" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">There are moments,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">like this morning,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">when my heart is so full</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">it has become the song of the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Mockingbird singing outside our windows.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Who may sing at any time day or night, its song</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">of wonder and making.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Who is binding the world together</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">with each single and heart-making note, whose</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">songs are as bright as God's love for all of creation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">It is 4:42 AM precisely now,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">at such and such longitude and latitude.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>(29° 48' 22'' N 95° 23' 47'' W)</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And I am sitting in a chair</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">typing as quickly as I can these </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">words arising out of the emptiness</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">of my own being, alive with wonder.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">So that no single word may escape the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">gesture of my mind, which in this</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">moment is like a razor's edge,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">sharp and clearly defined</span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The Mockingbird is still singing its song,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">which you may easily imagine moving up through its</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">gentle heart, and throat, and out through</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">its voice, to spin again and again</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">up and around this fragile world, our home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The song of its being is still winding its way</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">into the many mansions of my heart,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">opening my heart to the mystery of its word and voice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">On Friday afternoon our neighbor delivered to Joanne,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">a bouquet of lilies from her garden, Easter Lilies in May.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, more than a dozen I can picture now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And then yesterday Joanne brought home</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">even more flowers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Carnations and mums for church today,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">so the house is full of their fragrance,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">along with the smell of my morning coffee.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">If the self is constantly changing,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">from one moment to the next</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">as my Buddhist friends tell me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">If the self is so impermanent as</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">to be not-self, or no-self, anattā <i>(uhn-uht-tah)</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Why is it then that I feel so</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">completely and utterly</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">alive in this very moment?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Why is it that I can still</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">hear the song of the mockingbird</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">entering my heart?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Raising it up again and again</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">like a sacrament,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">to the wonders of creation,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">to this gift we call life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Why is it that this one song never</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">seems to leave me from</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">one hallowed moment to the next?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Why is the song more, much more,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">than a vague and distant memory?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe as the Buddha suggests, this is</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">a question we should put aside for now, not to worry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And just to be as we are, to answer or say neither</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">yes or no, to live in the mystery perhaps.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Still, wherever you may be this morning, whatever</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">you may be doing, stop now. Stop and take one</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">deep breath, breathing in slowly and fully, and out once again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Stop, and realize if nothing else, that you are alive.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And that within your own heart is the same song, of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">the same mockingbird, in the very same tree outside our window</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">that is singing through our own hearts, binding us</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">together as one human family, a family of humanity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Let this one moment become a beginning, a healing,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">a grace, a passage from one human heart to the next. Where</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">the world is made new and whole, where we know who we</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">are with a certainty marked by compassion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Where we come to see Christ, and even the Buddha, alive in one another. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html"><i>Here is a link to an article on the Buddhist concept of not-self. It's not what you may think</i></a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-79262219222140991112010-05-06T05:42:00.019-05:002011-03-11T07:00:52.695-06:00Mockingbird Morning<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
<br />
<br />
Early this morning, I listened to the sound<br />
<br />
of two Mockingbirds singing a duet, <br />
<br />
with the composition of their song twisting<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and spinning through the air <br />
<br />
like brilliant streams of light.<br />
<br />
When I looked up to find them, <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I saw the waning moon bright with the<br />
<br />
promise of dawn, framed by the branches<br />
<br />
of our neighbor’s pecan tree, <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
heavy with new leaves from the spring.<br />
<br />
On any morning we can go out<br />
<br />
to one of our two porches<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and listen to the clever and soothing songs<br />
<br />
of Mockingbird, Dove, and Sparrow.<br />
<br />
The Robins have returned as well, for now; <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
they always fly on when the heat of summer comes.<br />
<br />
It is early May, and the warm humidity of Southeast<br />
<br />
Texas is just beginning to edge up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Each cool morning now is a gracious gift<br />
<br />
we treasure, knowing that the hot days<br />
<br />
of summer will soon be coming.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
What I want to do most today is to<br />
<br />
sit for the longest time listening to the<br />
<br />
sounds of the morning, arising out of<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
the quiet emptiness of the earth. To simply close<br />
<br />
my eyes and meditate on each song moving up<br />
<br />
through the bones and marrow of my body, <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and out again through my breath, binding together each<br />
<br />
stray particle of my being into one coherent symphony. This is <br />
<br />
what God must feel each moment across one universe to the next, <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
as endless galaxies and solar systems move timelessly through<br />
<br />
the deepness of all creation, spinning out the<br />
<br />
one clear song of this, his divine design.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If God, as many believe is love. Then I believe<br />
<br />
it must be that our love added to others, is helping<br />
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to fashion his one song of creation.<br />
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And that if we ever stopped loving, really<br />
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stopped loving one another, then the world would<br />
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truly end suddenly and sadly with no warning at all.<br />
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This is why Christ gave us his two greatest<br />
<br />
commandments, and Buddha taught compassion,<br />
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because they knew and wanted us to know too.<br />
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As long as one single person remembers how<br />
<br />
to love and forgive anew each morning, like a child,<br />
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then the world is saved again and again.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Each morning becoming a new creation,<br />
<br />
as God’s Holy Spirit moves across the waters<br />
<br />
of our life, and we find our way home to Eden. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Ron Starbuck<br />
Copyright 2010</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style'; font-size: small;">Hear what our Lord Jesus saith: </span><br />
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Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with<br />
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great<br />
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt<br />
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments<br />
hang all the Law and the Prophets.<i><span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';"> <span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';"> Matthew 22:37-40</span></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style'; font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';"><span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';">Book of Common Prayer - The Holy Eucharist Rite One </span></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style'; font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';"><span style="font-family: 'Goudy Old Style';"> </span></span></i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-40973745619185271662010-05-03T16:53:00.000-05:002016-06-23T09:03:13.478-05:00Saying Yes to Jesus (Waiting with an Expectant Heart)<div style="border-bottom: 1pt solid; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; color: black; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0.65in; padding-bottom: 4pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">
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<b>Luke 1 (21st Century King James Version) – Annunciation and Magnificat</b></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women." 30 And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. 31 And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS. 32 He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, 33 and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end."</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">46 And Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Saying Yes to Jesus (Waiting with an Expectant Heart)</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It’s the Christmas holiday season again Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Help us to know that it’s all about saying yes to you Jesus,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">isn’t it; as your mother Mary said yes to God?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">And it’s all about learning to share your love with others</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">and learning to wait for your coming</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">with an expectant heart.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">How can we find the strength within ourselves</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">to give you that yes Lord?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Every day we wake up and there is always one more</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">thing that someone has added to our long list of</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">things to do, and the holiday season only</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">makes it worse you know.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Here we go again Lord, off to buy our families’ things</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">they can’t seem to live without; our spouse the</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">newest iPod, or our children the latest video game.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">We rush around during the week and the weekends far</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">too much and far too fast to even hear</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">the announcement of your coming birth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It’s a wonder we don’t miss Christmas Day in the rush of it all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">This year Jesus, will you please help us to slow</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you help us to hear the announcement during Advent</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">that you, the long expected one, are</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">coming now?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you help us to wait with expectation? Emmanuel – “God with us.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you help us Jesus to see that now, here deep inside our hearts,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">not tomorrow, but now; now is the time of your second coming</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">and that if we blink too fast we’re going to miss it all Jesus,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">we’re going to miss it all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">And when Christmas comes, will you help us to hear the sound</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">of your voice crying as a baby and the sound of</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">angels in heaven proclaiming that birth?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you help us once again to understand the miracle and</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">mystery of your birth and what your birth actually</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">means to a world broken by sorrow?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you help us to say yes to God, our Father, as Mary said yes?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you even help us to give birth to God’s love within ourselves,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">as Mary waited so long to give</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">birth to you in the little town of Bethlehem?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Will you please help us Jesus to feel and come to know the</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">holiness of this holiday season, from</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Advent to Epiphany, and beyond?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Amen.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Ron Starbuck</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Copyright 2007, 2010</span><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="color: black;">Wheels Turning Inward</span></b></i><br />
<a href="http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000000649053/Ron-Starbuck-Wheels-Turning-Inward/"><span style="color: black;">http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000000649053/Ron-Starbuck-Wheels-Turning-Inward/</span></a><br />
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Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-13330461256437654652010-05-02T06:19:00.006-05:002010-05-08T05:26:09.831-05:00Which or That<div class="Section1" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ve almost always<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">preferred the word Which<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">over That.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I know it is in<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">writing a most<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">grievous sin<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">causing all sorts<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">of confusions and confessions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">So, I’m wondering once more, again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Why I wish for Which, instead of That<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">and that is simply, well, and you know what <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m going to say next,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">don’t you, instead of,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Just That!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">If we could all be clever, beyond<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">all telling, then one would<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">think that we could invent a new<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Word, for both, like<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">‘Wthat’ or ‘Twhich’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Or even ‘Whichthat.’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And let all of us pick<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">one or another, of course<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">that leaves us where we started.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">So, I’ll stay this old and weary<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">argument, at this, or is it That?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Tell me <i>simply</i>, which one to use.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Starbuck<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">If you are still confused, please go to this page on which and that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-29754435042538795962010-05-01T05:56:00.006-05:002010-05-02T05:23:12.777-05:00Sadie Lin<div class="Section1" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Sadie Lin - Sadie Lin - Sadie Lin</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Is coming, she is coming today</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She is almost here you know</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She is coming with a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Host of angels from heaven</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Above, and will be guarded</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And loved by a host of angels</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Here on earth, and her name</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Means wondrous beautiful loving child</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Princess of light and love, and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She will have the smallest</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Of hands and feet</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">With fingers and toes to match</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And ears and nose and eyes to</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Hear, and smell, and see this world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">We call the earth and love so dearly</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She will come smiling into the world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">As God smiles on us all</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">With her mouth wide open</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">With a great cry and a shout</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">To let us all know that she has</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Arrived, and she will arrive as a blessing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">A blessing of love and a blessing of joy</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Her eyes will reflect the stars of heaven</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Her breath will be as sweet as heather</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Her cries a sound to mark</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The brightest passing of life</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">From the heavens above to earth itself</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She will change the world forever</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She will change your world and our world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She will rock the world with her</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Very body and being</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Even though she is one of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The smallest of creatures</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">To be born on God’s </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Good earth today</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And she will bring with her</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The brightest visions of heaven</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And a new love, unknown before today</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Because this is the day of her birth</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Because this is the day of her birth</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">And the world has taken note</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Of the miracle of life, of how this</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Gift of life always calls out to life</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">While all of creation waits</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">With bated breath, to see</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Her grow day by lovely day</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Into the graciousness of God</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Into the fullness of Sadie Lin</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sadie Lin Meek was born Saturday morning, May 1st, at 10:25. She is absolutely precious. She weighs 8 lbs. even and is 20 inches long. Mother and child are both doing great.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VcQ-4-IOtMk/S91RvMDsUFI/AAAAAAAAAC0/F0CFmhO6j3g/s1600/Sadie+Lin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VcQ-4-IOtMk/S91RvMDsUFI/AAAAAAAAAC0/F0CFmhO6j3g/s200/Sadie+Lin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VcQ-4-IOtMk/S91SZccMO_I/AAAAAAAAAC8/dyX8KUGnwOM/s1600/sadie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VcQ-4-IOtMk/S91SZccMO_I/AAAAAAAAAC8/dyX8KUGnwOM/s200/sadie2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-50402016419582904122010-04-18T07:16:00.027-05:002010-06-16T05:41:15.175-05:00Rumi<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
Beginning in the first moments<br />
<br />
after the Sufi poet Rumi was born<br />
<br />
pieces of him over time, began<br />
<br />
dissolving into all the elements of earth<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
like sugar in water, and to this very day<br />
<br />
he is with us still, we breathe his breath<br />
<br />
in the air, we taste his words<br />
<br />
in food grown from our good earth<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
we find the essence of his verses<br />
<br />
floating like seeds of light<br />
<br />
locked inside the molecules from his<br />
<br />
body and being in the very water we drink<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
his verses when spoken out loud<br />
<br />
are an invocation to the Holy Spirit<br />
<br />
they ripen us like wheat<br />
<br />
for a harvest of the heart<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
his words are written inside the chambers of our<br />
<br />
hearts like a holy sacrament, he who searched for<br />
<br />
God the beloved, or Allah if you wish, in church<br />
<br />
and shrine and mosque, to find him finally<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
tucked inside the pocket of his own heart<br />
<br />
can we as Christian, Jew, or Muslim<br />
<br />
do any less, to bring an everlasting<br />
<br />
peace unto the world, to be as one</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Luke 11:33-34</b> (21st Century King James Version)<br />
<br />
"No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Matthew 6:21-22</b> (21st Century King James Version)<br />
<br />
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-58657994850316081752010-04-17T07:26:00.043-05:002010-05-18T05:40:37.319-05:00Vassar Miller<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ah, Vassar, tell me that it</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">was only yesterday and </span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">not twenty five years</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">ago nearly.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When we were sitting</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in your living room together,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">while you listened to me</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">reading my first poor verse.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I loved our time together then,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">drinking Coca Colas in six once bottles, you with</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">a plastic straw because that was easiest. Sucking</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">up life as much as you could with quiet desperation.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And I loved how your little dog</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cricket, would look at us</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with the kindest of eyes,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">knowing how good the company</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">was for us both. He was wise in dog</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">years and understanding then, as I loved</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">how he reminded me too of Toto from</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the Wizard of Oz. Which was always</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">more than appropriate, since to the</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">world you were and are still</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">a wizard with words, spinning out</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">verse like golden threads and</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">weaving together each phrase</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">carefully and thoughtfully as if</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">they were made of fire and light</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">that could both burn and enlighten our minds.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You taught me how to listen, oh so</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">carefully, haltered as you were</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in your speech, grinding out each word</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with such loving labor, milling them down</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to the finest of flour. I could see how</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">quick your mind moved, and how slow</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the words would come falling out of your mouth</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">frustrating you beyond measure.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still, you continued, the work was</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">that important, wasn’t it? Passing on</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">whatever you could from one</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">generation to the next.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If heaven is as bright and wonderful as we</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">wish, then my wish is for you is to be an</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">angel of verse, whispering in our ears a word or</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">two that will continue to heal the world.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our world needs such healing still, we need</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">words that will lead us into the deepest</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">places of our being, where the stillness</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">waits with compassion and wonder. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pain was your steady companion</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">all your life, and you faced loneliness</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">each single day, like a back pew Christian</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">no one notices entering into God’s holy house. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And yet, I suspect now, with your many tongues untied,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">that you are shouting out verses across all</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the heavens. Stitching together lines like sutras</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and weaving together a tapestry of brightness</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and light, that causes all of creation to take note</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">of you, and your voice. You have come home you know.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You have come home to the cradle of Christ, holding</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the Incarnate Word like an infant close to your heart.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You who loved words and poetry so well, and spoke</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with eloquence I am still grasping for now. I wish</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">your words would enter my mouth, spinning out again</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and again a peace to repair the world.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">I first met Vassar Miller around 1987, when I signed up for a poetry writing class she held in her home on Vassar Street </span></i>(named after her mother, Vassar Morrison)<i><span style="font-size: small;">, close to the museum district of Houston. She lived in a small cottage, in a neighborhood that her father as an architect and builder helped to develop back in the 1930's. </span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Vassar suffered from cerebral palsy. Her body was bent and her speech broken, you had to listen to her very carefully to understand each word as it fell out of her mouth. She attended both St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and Covenant Baptist Church in Houston, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. These two sacred communities were her lifelines to the world. I took her to church once at St. Stephens, and she may have had some influence on me later becoming an Episcopalian.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">The last time I saw her was in 1991 or 1992, when I stopped by her home just to say hello and to share a new poem. She was always excited to have visitors, especially ones who were brave enough to share their poetry with her. Life has this way of picking us and taking us on new journeys and new adventures. I inevitably got caught up in my career at work and single life, until one day I met the woman I would one day marry. So, sadly, Vassar and I lost contact with one another in her final years. And that is something I still regret to this very day. Still, she taught me a love of poetry, her poetry especially; instilling in me a desire to write good poetry. Here I am years later, in another life outside the corporate world, trying my best to do exactly that and to write good poetry.</span></i></div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">I like to think that she is smiling at my efforts and cheering me on still, as she once did when we first crossed each other's path. My experience of Vassar as teacher and mentor was one of great patience and gratitude. Not so much from me, although I was, but from her. She loved the company and the chance to interact with others, to build relationships, for her that was a true blessing. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">If you would like to read some of the work of Vassar Miller, here is a link that will take you to several of her poems.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rinabeana.com/poemoftheday/index.php/category/vassar-miller/">http://rinabeana.com/poemoftheday/index.php/category/vassar-miller/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Wiki link: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_Miller">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_Miller</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">One More: <a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0005&article=000531">http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0005&article=000531</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>A Vassar Miller Reader</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Adam’s Footprint</i>. The New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 1956.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Wage War on Silence</i>. Wesleyan University Press, 1960.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>My Bones Being Wiser</i>. Wesleyan University Press, 1963.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Onions and Roses</i>. Wesleyan University Press, 1968.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>If I Could Sleep Deeply Enough</i>. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1974.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Small Change</i>. Wings Press, 1976.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Approaching Nada</i>. Wings Press, 1977.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Selected and New Poems, 1950-1980</i>. Latitudes Press, 1981.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Struggling to Swim on Concrete</i>. The New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 1984.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Despite This Flesh</i>. University of Texas Press, 1985.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>If I Had Wheels or Love, Collected Poems</i>. Southern Methodist University Press, 1991.</span></div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-67193423095729510982010-04-13T05:58:00.001-05:002010-04-13T05:59:30.803-05:00The Parousia (Divine Presence)<div class="Section1" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">how do you imagine it may happen<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">will it come all at once, suddenly<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">as so many say,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">with the echo of Gabriel’s trumpet sounding<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">through the ears of all humanity?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">have you ever anticipated<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you may be doing, at the moment<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">when Christ comes again<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">or is the Parousia something else<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">altogether, a newness of the spirit<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">we have never thought of before<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">something we can envision<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">and embrace even now<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">beyond all expectation, surprising<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">in the soft gentleness of its coming<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">O Lord, I have often imagined<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christ’s Second Coming<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">as something more than we may begin<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">to comprehend in this weary world<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">a binding of the Incarnate Word to<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">our soft flesh and hard bone<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">the inner meaning of God’s<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">deeper Word opening up within<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">the most vulnerable places<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">of the human heart<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">as tenderly and as wholly as a rose opens<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">under the warmness of sunlight<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christ is the rose then<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">blooming with brightness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">filling us up with a newer light<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">a revelation if you will<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">an enlightenment even, that<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">welcomes him as this Second Coming<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">O Christ, let the Advent<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">of thy Second Coming<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">come upon us all like a great brightness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">opening our hearts to your Word<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">the Word made flesh, this is what<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">we find in the celebration of the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eucharist, the Great Thanksgiving<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">where you come to dwell in each of us<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">and we in you, and we in you<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Starbuck<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-35124765187261724742010-04-01T06:51:00.022-05:002010-04-21T05:32:34.711-05:00A Healing Hymn (for Kylene)<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is a poem, a healing hymn</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a prayer most especially</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">for a friend with breast cancer</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a reader and writer of books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a teacher of teachers, of many children</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a wife and a mother of two</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it is a prayer not just for her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">but for all the women</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">who have struggled, again and</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">again with breast cancer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">my aunt was one of them</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and yet she lived a long and full life</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">generous in spirit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">generous in love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">generous in hope</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">there is a healing</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">there is a healing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">there is a healing</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I say this three times now</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">that we may all join in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it is a healing</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">of the heart, of the body</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it is a deep healing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">of the spirit and of the soul</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it is a healing found, through</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the compassion we give to others</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">to those we love and even the stranger</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I say this three times too</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">pray it with me, pray it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">out loud with a strong sure voice</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let the light of God’s love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the love within you each</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">be joined to flesh and bone</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let such a love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">enter into every cell and organ</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let it rush in passionately and fully</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">through every vein and artery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">through the blood and heart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">down deep into every molecule</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">into genes and DNA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">healing each single one</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">filling them with a light</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a light of healing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">that repairs the body</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and transforms the soul</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let this be a healing hymn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a hymn of praise and wonder, one</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">that echoes throughout creation</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let this healing be the next</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">great thing, let these words</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and thoughts shape such a reality</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and teach us all, of the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">infinite possibilities of love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">found in life, the blessing of life</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let life call out to life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and love call out to love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let it be so, always</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">this is my prayer</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I say this again, three times three</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">pray it with me please, sing it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">out loud with a strong sure voice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://kylenebeers.com/blog/" style="background-color: blue; color: magenta;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Here is a link to Kylene's blog</b></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">,</span> where she is sharing the story of her journey. If you read this please say some prayers and send some healing thoughts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As of Tuesday, 4-21-10, Kylene has been told by her medical team that she is 100% cancer free. </span></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-22543647350884096522010-03-30T09:01:00.001-05:002010-04-11T10:16:01.418-05:00Life is a Conversation<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<br />
more than anything<br />
<br />
life is a conversation<br />
<br />
a coming together<br />
<br />
of all our longings<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
a youthfulness of<br />
<br />
knowing and being known<br />
<br />
are you ready<br />
<br />
for the next step<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
are you ready<br />
<br />
to speak up, to sing out loud<br />
<br />
with the voice of a<br />
<br />
mockingbird, whose brightest songs<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
are spiraling out joyful threads<br />
<br />
of light, mending together<br />
<br />
the deepest sorrows<br />
<br />
of the world<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
are you ready<br />
<br />
to speak up, to listen to<br />
<br />
a single child’s<br />
<br />
cry of loneliness, or<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
an old gray haired woman’s<br />
<br />
gay laughter, do you know now<br />
<br />
how to look and to see<br />
<br />
how the thread of each thought<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
leads you inevitably to<br />
<br />
the next moment of your life<br />
<br />
there is gathering<br />
<br />
within me a great gratitude<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
of the earth (and all she teaches)<br />
<br />
in these<br />
<br />
early morning hours<br />
<br />
when the world is<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
stillness itself<br />
<br />
when unspoken words<br />
<br />
begin forming the day<br />
<br />
it is in these moments <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
of sanity where I begin<br />
<br />
realizing the salvation<br />
<br />
found in silence<br />
<br />
I am the stillness then<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
singing out loud<br />
<br />
from the quiet depths<br />
<br />
a song which marks<br />
<br />
the bright passing<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
of the self into the<br />
<br />
world, becoming its own<br />
<br />
kind of blessing, as the<br />
<br />
earth breathes in once more<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Ron Starbuck<br />
<br />
Copyright 2010</span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-46522772603579702612010-03-19T18:39:00.061-05:002010-03-26T09:44:59.148-05:00For The Sake of Ten (A Poetic Midrash)<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
once a long time ago, I can't really<br />
say how long, a man and his wife<br />
welcomed three strangers<br />
<br />
by the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron<br />
and in true hospitality prepared a simple<br />
meal of milk and curds, with<br />
<br />
bread and tender calf<br />
and received in kind<br />
a blessing of life<br />
<br />
a promise of pleasure<br />
and a son to come<br />
too wonderful to believe<br />
<br />
the woman when hearing this<br />
laughed to herself and wondered<br />
at such a marvelous claim<br />
<br />
she <em>(Sarah)</em> who was old and barren of life<br />
beyond all memory of delight, of<br />
youth filled joys and sensuous nights<br />
<br />
it was a promise kept, within a year<br />
he who will laugh <em>(Isaac)</em> with joy<br />
was born, as the Lord had spoken<br />
<br />
then the story of the passing stangers<br />
continues, and this may be my<br />
favorite part of the tale to tell<br />
<br />
when the three men passed on to leave<br />
the man <em>(Abraham of the Good Eye)</em><br />
went with them for a while<br />
<br />
only to question again and again<br />
first for fifty, then forty five<br />
then forty, then thirty<br />
<br />
then twenty, and finally<br />
for the sake of ten<br />
righteous people<br />
<br />
moved by his own sense<br />
of justice, mercy<br />
and compassion<br />
<br />
he questioned the Lord of Hosts<br />
as advocate, even in his fear he questioned<br />
how can we do any less?<br />
<br />
and yet, God who heard the outcry<br />
was teacher here as well as judge<br />
one who would know the truth<br />
<br />
God invites such dialog<br />
you see, he does not hide<br />
he chooses to be engaged<br />
<br />
and by doing so<br />
seeks to guide us in<br />
transforming our world<br />
<br />
by the plains of Mamre<br />
near Hebron, he came<br />
giving birth to a nation<br />
<br />
a people of God, chosen of God<br />
through which all the nations of earth<br />
will become blest<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Ron Starbuck<br />
<br />
Copyright 2010</span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-21829025738863713282010-03-19T06:51:00.012-05:002010-03-20T17:19:37.354-05:00Azaleas II<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">this year our azaleas </span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">have come late</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">or </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">right on time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">depending </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">on how you look at it </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">it has been a long winter</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">for Houston,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">for me.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">The azaleas </span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">quiver in the air, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">Like can-can dancers </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">their pink and fuschia skirts held high</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">their stamen legs kicking</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">corralling my attention</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">and beckoning me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">to come closer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">and inhale this solid mass </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">of buzzing blooms.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">do you remember</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">that each flower has both</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">both male and female parts?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">horticultural hermaphrodites.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">there are two types of flowers:</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">imperfect and perfect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">the imperfect ones are always</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">either all male or all female</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">while the perfect ones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">have both male and female parts. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">Our azaleas are perfect.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">Their silky magenta petals </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">Puff and sing their way through our home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">revealing spring </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif";">in a chorus of floral angels.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Julie Macksoud and Ron Starbuck</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Julie Macksoud is an internet friend of mine who is at </em></span><a href="http://www.colby.edu/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Colby College</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em> up in Waterville, Maine. We’ve been friends for quite a while now, since before Joanne and I were married in 1997. Our initial connection was due to Nanci Griffith, we’re both fans of Nanci. Julie was inspired with my original poem about our azaleas at home and came up with this lovely version that I wanted to share with folks. She asked me if she could revise it some, as a gift. At the end of the poem, I put her name first, because ladies should always go first, and because she did such a lovely job of adding something special to the poem, with a certain touch of femininity. It’s fun to look over the difference and a lesson for me, I say this humbly, in how to compose good poetry. I say compose, because writing poems is probably more like writing music, than prose. Although, I do think that well written poems and prose, can both call to mind the feeling of a well performed symphony. </em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>I get impatient with myself or the poem at times, and rush too quickly into print and publication. Perhaps that has something to do with instant gratification, something we all suffer from these days. There is a lesson in that too.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>The original version is here. > </em></span><a href="http://ronstarbuck-poet.blogspot.com/2010/03/azaleas_13.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>http://ronstarbuck-poet.blogspot.com/2010/03/azaleas_13.html</em></span></a><br />
<br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-44858200494622147782010-03-13T08:30:00.004-06:002010-03-20T17:15:17.078-05:00Azaleas<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">this year our azaleas </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">are coming late</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">or right on time</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">depending on how</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">you might want to look</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">at it all</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">it has been a long winter</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">a cold winter</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">here at home</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I love the colors</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">they give off</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">floating there</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">in the air, like</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">can-can dancers with</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">their skirts held high</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">their stamen legs kicking</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">freely into the secret</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">spaces of our hearts</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">do you remember</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">that each bloom has both</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">both male and female parts</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">stamen, anther, filament <i>(male)</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">pistil, stigma, style, ovary, ovule <i>(female)</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">then petal and sepal <i>(shared)</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">and did you know that</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">there are two</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">types of flowers</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">imperfect and perfect</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">the imperfect ones are always</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">either all male or all female</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">while the perfect ones</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">have both male and female parts</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m happy to report that</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">our azaleas are perfect, and I wonder</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">if this is not some hint from God on how </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">we are to each reach godly perfection </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">you should also know that we have</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">the bright pink and deep fuschia</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">electric magenta ones, whose colors each spring</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">sing through our home, a chorus of brilliant angels</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright 2010</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
</div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-35523175798631415632010-02-10T09:35:00.007-06:002010-03-18T13:41:21.880-05:00Falling the Third Time<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jesus falls again, for the third time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">the dark skin of his hands and knees</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">raw and broken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">blinded by blood</span><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">from the torn flesh of his brow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">still, he moves on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">so that we may be forgiven</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">loving us that much</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A final kenosis, embracing emptiness</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">emptying himself completely, his blood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">poured out upon the streets</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">of Jerusalem, for you, for me</span><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">this is what I want to know from you now</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">when will we do the same for one another</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and I know you may say that it isn't needed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">but I tell you that it is, at least in our hearts</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">we must learn again and again, how to die</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">for the sins of the world, how to give birth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">to Christ's compassion, if the Resurrection</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">is meant to mean anything at all</span><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">we too must walk</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">the same hard and bloody road</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">through Jerusalem, as did Jesus</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">his road to our forgiveness</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-56990627341373661992010-01-31T20:21:00.009-06:002011-01-28T04:47:12.513-06:00Trinity Jazz Fest<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Trinity Jazz,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I know you’ve heard that</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>some like it hot, and some like it cool.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>But, how do you like your jazz?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Can you imagine it at all,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>as Hot, Cool, and Holy too?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Another Trinity of sorts,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>where the music sends and </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>lifts you to jazzy</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>states, sublime in the divine.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Can you imagine J.C. on piano or</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>tenor sax, transcendent, banging and blowing out</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>the clearest and cleanest notes</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>you ever heard?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>With the Archangel Gabriel,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>trumpet in hand, snapping his fingers and</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>cheering him on, saying “blow Jesus blow,”</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>sounding out notes, both high and low.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>This is no prelude to the</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>last judgment I’ll gladly say,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>but rather a celebration and an awakening,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>a call to holiness and to life here and now.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>This is a prayer, a mighty invocation of the Holy Spirit</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>who comes dancing through the air</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>and spinning into our ears, setting the</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>hearts of God’s chosen people a flame.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Here is salvation and enlightenment,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>wrapped up in each single note</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>blowing through the sanctity</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>of the human spirit, tuning up our souls.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Here is a voice to set us on</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>fire, a personal Pentecost</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>if you will, from which we are moved</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>to transform the world.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Here is God, stretching out arms</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>so wide and loving, gathering and embracing</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>us all into one musical arrangement, in a sacrament</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>of spirit and sound.</b></span><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>A blessing of blessings in every note.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-89216194002464492592010-01-29T05:46:00.025-06:002010-03-31T13:25:50.924-05:00the thing about gravity<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">the thing about gravity</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">as we all know so well</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">is that it grounds us to earth</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">as </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">an absolute truth</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">just ask newton</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">who was knocked on the head</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">and who dropped an apple</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">time and time again in wonder</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">and yet</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">the bright spaces within us</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">the places already</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">filled with God's light</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">and the clear transparent air we</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">breathe, calls to us each</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">calls us in spirit</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">to stretch out widely</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">to spread our wings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">and take flight</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">from morning till night</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">until we rest from our labors</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">even our dreams</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">are lessons in flying</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">feeding flights of</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">our imaginations</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">you may not think so</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">but we are meant to</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">fly and fly and fly</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">and fly again and again</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">beyond all possible</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">worlds and realities</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">yes, we are meant to fly</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">forever</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Go Go Go</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and spread your wings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">take </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">flight</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">into the highest heavens</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Copyright 2010</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-39038453283850786262010-01-23T08:19:00.020-06:002016-06-23T09:02:45.568-05:00When I Was a Boy<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">when i was a boy</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it was easy for me to imagine</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">living the cowboy life, like John Wayne</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">somewhere in Kansas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">which is where i was born and mostly raised</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">or even further out west among the mesas and cactus</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">southwest of home by only a few hundred miles</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">my imagination ran rowdy in those days</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">we lived in the far suburbs of Kansas City</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">but on the close edge of a cultivated countryside</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">where small farms and ranches</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">were stretched and scattered between subdivisions</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">creeks and streambeds were our favorite play fellows</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">they were the wild companions and places of our childhood</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and of my heart i believe still</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">there was a small field i once walked by on occasion</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">where two horses grazed, and where</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">i would often stop to say hello, they weren’t shy at all</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">about galloping up to the fence, anxious for me</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to pet their broad foreheads and dive deeply into the</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the black pools of their pupils</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">where sunlight and stars floated forever</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">speaking out loud with a neigh and a nod</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">whispering horse sense to my ear</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">my maternal grandfather and grandmother were farm folk</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">all their life, wedded to the land and the changing seasons</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the rhythm of their lives guided</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by the movement of earth and moon</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and Sunday morning church at St. John’s Lutheran</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">where relatives and neighbors gathered weekly, some still do</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">i can still see my grandmother’s face and her secret smile</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">like Mona Lisa’s, knowing more than any child may imagine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and her soft loving eyes, wise with wonder for the world</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">her hands bent with arthritis, but never a complaint</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">as she snapped snap beans for dinner</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">or kneaded dough for bread</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">i can still taste the delight of those farm days</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">especially the strawberries and shortcake in summer</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">vine ripe juicy tomatoes exploding with flavor</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">into the back of your mouth and throat</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and i can still see my grandfather too, so clearly even now</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">his hands especially, so strong and so sure</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">calloused from years of work on the farm, but so very gentle</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">i can remember as a small child, crawling up on his lap</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">as he sat in his rocking chair by a pot bellied stove, truly</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and how he held each of us in turn,</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">all his grandchildren, joyfully patient</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">eyes twinkling like some dime store Santa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">even though he was bald and beardless</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">wearing blue jean overalls with</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">brass buttons and snaps we’d play with</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">there was no safer place in the entire world you know</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ron Starbuck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Copyright 2010</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-1625443932100571422010-01-18T17:10:00.036-06:002011-12-02T19:08:32.380-06:00Winter Pays a Visit<link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CRon%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CRon%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CRon%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Early this January, winter paid us a visit<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">in Southeast Texas, quite cold for southern folk<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">as you may imagine,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">temperatures plunged well below freezing to<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">some twenty two degrees or less overnight.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Literally landing on our door step<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">where several large terracotta pots sit on a side porch,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">nursing delicate yellow and white pansies<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">along with purple kale.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Each plant wilted and drooped for days afterwards<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">and then by some miracle of nature <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">or divine design<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">came back, resurrected if you will<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">as healthy and wholehearted as before.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There was no fear of death<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">or dying involved<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">just life calling out to life, life does that you know<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">life calls to life and in doing so<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">makes death a terrible liar.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">On warmer days you may <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">often see a squirrel or two<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">digging in our pots upon the porch,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">to deposit or withdraw<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">some small treasure they have buried there,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">cheered on by the local mockingbirds<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">and our dogs of course.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Who worry so, barking away at the window,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">aching in their bones<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">to rush out the door<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">and chase their tormentors back up a tree.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Oh, how they do go on<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">with their antics and agitations.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Death may be long, forever even<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">or not perhaps,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">but life I think is stronger still.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Life is always calling us back to life,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">even back from death,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">life belongs to life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ron Starbuck <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Copyright 2010<o:p></o:p></span>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-91608272769297160242010-01-17T09:09:00.014-06:002010-05-05T05:22:36.117-05:00Eternal Life<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you believed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> if you really believed, in eternal life</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> what would that mean?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think it would mean</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> that you live each moment of your life now </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> fully aware, completely awake, without hesitation</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think it would mean</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> that you see the world as it is</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> without a veil or tinted glasses</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">An echo of each single thought</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> flowing from a mind far too busy, to stop</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and to see, the wonders of heart beat and breath</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The wonder of relationships, and how each one,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> forces us to find the other in our truest self, to see that we</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> are not two, or three, or four, or more, but one body</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Flesh bound to flesh, bone grafted to bone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> organ paired to organ, rib joined to rib</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> neuron matching neuron, our DNA dancing together </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think it would mean</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> celebrating each day as a Great Thanksgiving</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> a Eucharistic feast, hosted by God in top hat and tails, smiling</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As we each smile back.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 3in;"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 3in;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Copyright 2010</span></div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-51477181614838306922010-01-16T07:13:00.012-06:002010-03-20T06:55:31.645-05:00Poets of Creation<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
<strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">a friend once told me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> that each artist must </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> develop a new language</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">this is true of poets too</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> words are more than words</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> as thoughts are more than thoughts</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">the power of poetry</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> comes through how each</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> word turns into a subtle reality</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">if I am to understand</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> the mystery of creation</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> then I think it is found</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in the pain of others</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> in their own humanity and inability</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> to release themselves from desire</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and to learn the language of poetry</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> to grasp it so fully and so completely</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> that they then become someone beyond themselves</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">they become a vessel of light and compassion</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> a torch burning brighter and brighter</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> a gentle flame moving from sun to sun</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">lighting up the visible universe <i>(28 billion light years in diameter)</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and beyond, becoming starlight that travels and bends</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> beyond all the distant horizons of time</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">creating new realities, infinite in scope</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> our imaginations can do that you know</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> as our lives move in a motion of poetry</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">becoming the first poem ever spoken by God</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> as such a poem God uses us to make and sustain creation</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> we are the poet and the poem out of which each moment arises</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Ron Starbuck</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Copyright 2010</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-85709395621708435652010-01-09T07:54:00.002-06:002010-01-16T18:12:26.932-06:00A Trinity of Thoughts<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><i></i><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Genesis 2:7 –“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”</span></a><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">God’s Holy Spirit travels upon each breath we breathe,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Breathe deeply my friends, breathe deeply.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With each breath, let light spread inside yourself,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As morning spreads in luminous waves across the heavens at daybreak.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Or as light refracts through the prism that is ourselves,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Revealed in rainbow spectrums brilliant with primary colors.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Mirroring the mind and thought and vision of God</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As that vision pierces the mystery found in a human heart,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To fully comprehend each isolated soul.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And where we, we who are born from a word</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Spoken from a tongue flaming with divine desire,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Become the intention and the passion and the sparks of creation</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Meant to maintain and give birth beyond all measure.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Breathe deeply, and between each breath we breathe</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Illuminate each passing whim and desire</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Rushing unclearly through the mind, </span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With a radiant ray of transcending light,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Holding it there with calmness,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Until we discover the miracle in a fleeting moment.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To see with such a clarity, that we may arrive knowingly</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Where the stillness of heaven begins and time is born,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">From the emptiness of creation before thought is formed.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Let each thought like highly polished seeds, suffuse our hearts with joy</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And bloom as a rose blooms with a radiance brilliant as a diamond, overflowing with</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Wisdom and compassion, shaping our deeds and actions</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To help repair and redeem a world broken by sorrow, </span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As God redeems the world through a divine word who dwells in us.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><b></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">II</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">God’s Holy Spirit travels upon each breath we breathe,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Breathe deeply my friends, breathe deeply.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Let God’s sacred breath blow upon us and</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With each inward breath we breathe feel light</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Pour inside the body as a balm poured from the hands of God,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ardent with anticipation, filled with love</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">From crown to foundation,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Clearing the mind.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Let light stream through</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Every nerve and vessel</span><b></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Flowing up and down the spine,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Transforming the cosmic dust of our souls</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Into unimagined colors,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Shimmering across galaxies unending</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In a universe of infinite possibilities.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Where illumination composes consciousness,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To expand from there,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Like the swelling of a symphony.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Entering each cell and organ,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To dance with luminous precision</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Through nucleus, chromatin</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Genome and DNA, renewing life itself.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Breathe in the breath of God,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Being and becoming children of the Most High,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Holding the light of a new creation</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In the palm of their healing hands. </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">III</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">God’s Holy Spirit travels upon each breath we breathe,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Breathe deeply my friends, breathe deeply.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With each outward breath feel energy spring</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">From the stillness of creation, </span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Rising up through the silence</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To encircle and enclose ourselves</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Like coronal auroras surrounding the heavenly stars,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Reflected in the eyes of a thousand angels gazing into</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A calm dark sea above a midwinter’s sky.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Witnessed by constellations beyond counting</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dancing across the deepness of space.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">May the breath of God’s Holy Spirit rush in with a mighty force</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To guide and fill us with such an illumination.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Let God’s righteousness be laid upon us</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Layer upon Layer, Light upon Light,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Becoming vessels made from the dust of creation,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Fired with passion, filled with compassion.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">O Lord, as such a people,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As a people born in the baptism of your Holy Spirit, and</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As people shaped by thy Word.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Let us enter into thy Heavenly Kingdom</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Here on this earth, at this time.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In this place where we learn,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not only of love, but how to love.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And let your love grant us the courage and strength</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To transform this world,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Filling it with thy justice and peace for all people,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Everywhere, Forevermore.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">O Lord, help us to make …. “Thy kingdom come,</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Copyright 2007</span><br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-53418429720401460472010-01-09T07:46:00.007-06:002010-03-20T06:51:07.119-05:00Hannah's Smile (For Hannah who is wondrous gift of God)<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah has a smile,</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah has a smile,</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah has a smile</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">as wide as the world!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">When Hannah smiles, she</span><span style="color: black;"> smiles with the</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">smile of God. Hannah all by herself</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">is a perfect reflection </span><span style="color: black;">of all creation.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: black;">(Bright with heavenly promise.)</span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah is her own heaven,</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">a heaven of playing, and laughter.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">A heaven of running and </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">gleeful <i>(soul-filled)</i> squeals spilling</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">out of her whole being.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah’s smile is an infinite</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">smile arresting all sense of time.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah’s smile makes time stand still</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">and angels bow with grace.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah’s smile is a healing smile that</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">heals a tender heart.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Her smile is a joyful smile, boundless </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">beyond all measure, that</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">fills you with the delight of life.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah is a heaven of kisses, of</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">small hands and feet</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">and gentle hugs </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">and arms to hold you tight with love.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Hannah is the love of two </span><span style="color: black;">people</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="color: black;">falling in love <i>(always, may they fall further still)</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">who brought her <i>(as God’s astounding gift)</i> </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">into this world.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">As a blessing for you, </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">and for me, and </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">for all the earth to see.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Copyright 2010</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><em>Hannah, just so you will know, is my great niece. The daughter of my niece Heather and her husband Darryl who live in Houston, Texas.</em></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-74283782460147509412010-01-02T11:10:00.017-06:002010-05-30T15:49:48.097-05:00The Person Who Is Awake - A Christian comments on the Dhammapada and the Psalms<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Person Who Is Awake</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">has conquered the world.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">How can they lose the way</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">who are beyond the way?</span></div><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Like Christ and the Buddha,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">like all enlightened people,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">their eyes are open and</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">their feet are free.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Who can follow after them?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The world will not claim them</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">or lead them astray,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">nor the poisoned nets of desire hold them.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are awake. They are awake.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They find joy in the stillness of </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">prayer, contemplation, and meditation</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and in sweet surrender to the Lord of Hosts.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They seek the highest consciousness.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are free from fear. They are free to live.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They live in joy and in love.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They find their joy in love.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They live in compassion and loving-kindness.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They look within and are still.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They become still to know the Lord</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and are renewed with a right spirit.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are still, and know the Lord.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are exalted with humility.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Lord of hosts is with them.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They find refuge in the Lord.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are washed clean,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">whiter than snow.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Their flesh and bones, once broken,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">are made whole.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Behold, they have found Thy truth</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">in the deepest and inward places of themselves.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Through these hidden places</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">they have come to know Thy wisdom.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With a quiet mind</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">they open their hearts to compassion</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">feeling the joy of the Lord's way.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are delivered.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They are saved, and sing aloud</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">of Thy righteousness Lord.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Their broken hearts and spirits</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">are healed and made whole.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They rejoice. They rejoice.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Because they have seen the Truth</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">of Thy word, from the very beginning of time.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They rejoice, in seeking your pleasure Lord. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They arise. They arise.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And all about them the earth changes.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Compassion rules their actions.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Their hearts are open to one another.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They abide in love and</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">are known by the Lord.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They help to heal the earth</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and to restore Thy people to Thy ways.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They have found that we are one.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They have discovered we are all Thy people.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They rejoice in righteousness and</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">offer themselves before Thy holy altar.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Thy Holy Spirit dwells once again within Thy people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">January 2010</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I will not try to claim a proper copyright on these verses, I could not, since all are based on my interpretation of scriptures and translations taken from both the Old Testament Psalms (46, 48, 51) and the Dhammapada (14, 15, 26) one of the earliest masterpieces of Buddhist literature, ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is surprising easy to combine verses and ideas from these two sacred scriptures. This is essentially what I did by reading each one back and forth, which was part of the creative process. Some verses however are completely new, ones I added, inspired you might say by the Holy Spirit, or at least by my seeing how closely they align to one another. </span></div><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are several different sources and translations of both the Psalms and the Dhammapada found on the internet. For the Psalms, I used the 21st Century King James Version found on the BibleGateway.com site. For the Dhammapada I drew heavily upon the </span><a href="http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/dhammapada-01.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1993 translation completed by Thomas Byrom</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, which I found to be the most appealing, straightforward and easiest to read for a Western mind. On </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammapada"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Wikipedia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, there are several different sources for the Dhammapada, which I would encourage you to explore on your own.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">In exploring both Judeo-Christian and Buddhist concepts about God and the divine, many scholars will agree that they each conceptualize God quite differently. They both begin in different places, within a specific historical, linguistic, and cultural context that goes back thousands of years. As the world we know today grows smaller and smaller and as ideas fly at the speed of light across a worldwide internet, we are all challenged to re-imagine our relationship with the divine in new ways. Many people believe that God is changeless, and I would agree that this may indeed be true, but it also seems that creation itself is constantly changing as is one moment from the next. If God is endless, has "no end", is "unending", in which "there is no end"; if God is boundless, has no "boundaries;" if God is "ineffable;" if God is more than the Alpha and the Omega of all creation; is not all of creation and how creation is changing, also contained within God, as in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism">Panentheism</a></i>?</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I have intentionally used the word <i>Lord</i>, instead of God in the verses above, because the word <i>Lord</i> seems more intimate to me and can be widely applied to different religious and cultural concepts about the mystery of God and the path to enlightenment or salvation. But, in nearly all cases it also refers to a meaning of a monotheistic God, as in the <i>Lord God Almighty</i>, and the <i>Lord of Hosts</i> to put it into a more traditional Judeo-Christian conceptualization.</span><br />
</div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6060319524066529322.post-76250900849902878532009-12-31T10:24:00.030-06:002010-03-20T17:51:10.517-05:00Theosis<div class="Section1"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is hard work</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">this praxis of union with God</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">who knows how long it will take</span><br />
<strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">some say a lifetime</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Buddhists and Hindus say several</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">theirs may be the longer road it seems</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am afraid that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have no patience, of flesh and bone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">to wait that long, God calls unceasingly</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I know this</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">that each time I partake </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in Holy Communion, Christ comes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Each time I hear the Eucharistic words</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">of thanksgiving spoken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">each time I feel the mystery of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">the Holy Spirit descending</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Each time I open</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">my hands and heart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in stillness and sacrament</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Christ comes</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With a soft and gentle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">intensity beyond all words</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">to tell</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is not a simple thing to tell at all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">God it seems, is always waiting in the wings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">such divine grace is always given</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">as a gift unearned</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whenever I open my hands, even now</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in this very instant</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">as during Eucharist</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Christ comes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in this moment of epiclesis</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To land lightly in each palm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">held upward in reverence, in prayer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">becoming a reflection of holiness</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">that travels throughout my whole being</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">binding his spirit to my flesh and bone</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Opening my whole self</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">filling my own broken body with a light, that blooms</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">to transform all truth, reality itself</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Tongues of flame</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">burning brightly with a radiance</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">as on the day of Pentecost</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To become one with Christ</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">as Eve was once joined to Adam</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">“bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ron Starbuck</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Copyright 2009</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>John Calvin the 16th century Protestant Reformationist and French theologian believed passionately that the Eucharist or Holy Communion is God's gift to us. God is the giver and we are the receivers of this divine gift. As Christians we are united to Christ in his body and blood by the Holy Spirit. This union is so intense, so very real, that we can rightly say we are "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (Genesis 2:23-24)." We are embodied in Christ, as declared in Ephesians 5:30: "We are members of his body." Both our salvation and redemption as Christians is found in this union with Christ.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>When we look at Jesus as a teacher, revealer, and redeemer he came not so much to form a new religion, but to help us improve our relationships with God and one another. His two core commandments were to worship God, and to love and care for each other. And even though God has very high values, God understands that as human beings we can't always live up to those values. God still loves us all the same; God forgives us, and will let us make a new start, time and time again. Indeed, it is our common every day imperfections that make perfect our compassion. So too, must we learn to forgive one another.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Jesus teaches us that “Our Father (Abba) who art in heaven,” maker of all creation, who knows the position and state of every solar system and planet in the universe(s), every molecule ever formed, and even every subatomic particle dancing through space and time, cares deeply about us each. Christians believe that when Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Word, became human, he opened a door for us to become intimately connected with God. How this all happens is a divine mystery, but it does happen. It is happening now.</em></span><br />
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</span></div></div>Saint Julian Press – Ron Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02081325685810674808noreply@blogger.com