a prophetic voice-

just when it seemed... just when it seemed    winter was never-ending just when it seemed    that springtime was a myth    and new life a far-off         dream just when my spirit had    almost succumbed to    barren despair suddenly there were violets    blooming in my yard amidst the detritus left    by ice storms and wind lifting hopeful heads to    feel the sun and    fill my heart with         purple joy

Spent the morning as part of a writing workshop at the Servant Leadership School of Greensboro. Ten of us were part of this "One City, One Prompt 2014" experience which is taking place in communities all over the country. This year's theme is BEGIN AGAIN, creatively addressing the questions of how do I begin again- personally, professionally, relationally? How can my community begin again? How does beginning again relate to humanity's needs and to the needs of our planet? and How shall we begin again to connect across faith, race, ethnicity, and class? Our gifted leader, a young woman by the name of Jacinta White, led us into several creative writing exercises, using a variety of "prompts" and it was a great joy to feel my creative juices flowing again...to be in the company of others who, like me, take pleasure in the creative expression of our thoughts and feelings through the venue of words, painting word-pictures as surely as my artist-f

This is my life here and now at this place at this time This is my life and i can wish it away daydreaming something else Another place another time seeing greener grass in pastures far away Or i can live IN it IN this place IN this time cherishing every moment Relishing and savoring the taste of today and here and now finding it delectable And satisfying this life i'm living here and now the choice is mine, always and ever mine  

As Lent began a couple of weeks ago, I had the humbling privilege of marking the foreheads of those attending the Ash Wednesday service with ashes, both as a reminder of our shared mortality and of God's unchanging, unlimited love and grace, speaking the ancient words, "Remember you are dust, to dust you will return." T hen I preached about the call to love, that call which Jesus taught and embodied as he cared for and welcomed all people, without exception...seeing them all as children of God. And since I usually find myself preaching what I most need to hear, I spoke honestly about the need, the challenge in our world, in our daily lives, to see ALL people, everyone we encounter, as a beloved child of God... which means caring about them, praying for them, even those we consider our enemies. So much easier to say than to do... Fast forward to Sunday last, when I read on the Huffington Post site about Rev. Fred Phelps being near death in a Kansas hospice..

Multitudes of thanks From an overflowing heart Spill over onto my path This holy day This day of grace This day of life Multitudes of blessings Flow- to those I love To those I will meet Making of every encounter Holy Ground Multitudes of wonder Fill my eyes and mind and heart As, wide-open, I enter Into this day This holy day This day of grace This day of life          In the name of the Creator           and the Redeemed           and the Living Spirit. Amen

I've been watching the snow falling, the wind blowing, aware that the temperature  has been falling all day, and marveling that at this  time yesterday, the thermometer  outside the kitchen window read  almost seventy degrees. Unbelievable...yet this is the oxymoronic pattern our weather here in the Piedmont of North Carolina has been following for the past several months. And my poor daffodils which had bravely and brazenly begun to bloom are now bent in seeming abject surrender to the assault of the elements today. Just a few days ago, as I drove home from Charlotte, again on a lovely, nearly balmy day, I was noticing the delicate green which was creating a lovely aura around the previously-bare and barren-looking trees which lined the highway...found myself thinking that surely Spring was on its way, only to find myself confronted by today's return to winter, as temporary as it likely will be.  All of which reminds me yet again of the strange and mostly ou