Monday, December 31, 2012

Blessings

Bloor & Avenue #1 (2012,11.7) by rchoephoto


Like a star should your love be constant.
Like a stone should your love be firm.
Be close, yet not too close.
Possess one another, yet be understanding.
Have patience each with the other.
For storms will come but they will go quickly.
Be free in giving of affection and warmth.
Have no fear and let not the ways of words
Of the unenlightened give you unease.
For the spirit is with you.
Now and always.

Source unknown,
Courage to Love: Liturgies for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Community, edited by Geoffrey Duncan



Saturday, December 29, 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

True Civilization

Masjid 1 by rchoephoto
Masjid 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

Will Rogers, A Cherokee, 
Quoted in The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

Thursday, December 27, 2012

God's Paintbrush

RIC_3297 by rchoephoto
RIC_3297, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     Sometimes on a bright day 
     when I close my eyes real tight,
     I see all kinds of colours —
     green and purple and red and blue.
     I think these are just like God's colours.

     I know God's colours are in me, too.
     And I can paint with God's paintbrush. 


        Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, God's Paintbrush

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Lessons

RC1_0082 by rchoephoto
RC1_0082, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.



My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

John McCutcheon, Christmas in the Trenches


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Birthing

_DSC5275 by rchoephoto
_DSC5275, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


What good is it to me,
if the son of God was born to Mary 1,400 years ago
but is not born in my person and in my culture and in my time?

Meister Eckhart

Monday, December 24, 2012

Haitian Angels

Haitian Angels by rchoephoto

Haitian Angels, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The Church – the body of Christ.
Christ who dined with tax gatherers and prostitutes.
Christ who affirmed women and respected them.
Christ who praised the Samaritan and the Roman.
Christ who stretched out his hand to the lame.
Two Thousand years later, when will we learn?

Jean Mayland,
Courage to Love: Liturgies for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Community, edited by Geoffrey Duncan


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Enthusiasm & Humility

Candle 1 at J&J by rchoephoto
Candle 1 at J&J, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


No act of generosity was ever accomplished
without two things: enthusiasm and humility.

Michael Powell, A Thousand Paths to Generosity

Friday, December 21, 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Service

Candle (12.14,'12) by rchoephoto
Candle (12.14,'12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     You will truly serve only what you love
     because service is love made visible.

        Stephen Colbert

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

Science

Star (12.12, '12) by rchoephoto
Star (12.12, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Science cannot take away the ultimate mystery of life,
nor can it detract from the spiritual component of healing. 

James Oschman

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Universe Story

RCC_9953 by rchoephoto
RCC_9953, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Everything tells the story of the universe.
The winds tell the story, literally, not just imaginatively. The story has its imprint everywhere, and that is why it is so important to know the story. 
If you do not know the story, in a sense you do not know yourself; you do not know anything. 

Thomas Berry, The Universe Story

Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Book to read

Books, office by rchoephoto
Books, office, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The book to read is not the one that thinks for you
     but the one which makes you think.

        Harper Lee

Friday, December 14, 2012

As it is

RIC_1854-1 by rchoephoto

RIC_1854-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.



We cannot change the world as it is,
but by opening ourselves to the world as it is,
we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available – 
not only to us but to all human beings.

Chögyam Trungpa, Shambhala: The Sacred path of the Warrior


Thursday, December 13, 2012

Cry of my heart

RIC_1837-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_1837-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     My Lord,
     You have heard the cry of my heart
     because it was
     You Who cried out within my heart.


        Thomas Merton, Dialogue with Silence

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Hope

RIC_1847-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_1847-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
     but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of
     how it turns out. 

        Václav Havel

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Radical Welcome

Linus 1 by rchoephoto
Linus 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Radical welcome is a process. It is a process by
     which isolated parts of a whole community are
     brought together in creative and compassionate
     way to generate a more integrated, balanced and
     dynamic mixture.

        Steven Charleston

Monday, December 10, 2012

Science & Spirituality

RC1_9613 by rchoephoto
RC1_9613, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Science explores the world as it is offered to the five senses
and the brain, while spirituality considers the universe to be purposeful and imbued with meaning.

Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow, War of the Worldviews

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Peace

Fallen by rchoephoto
Fallen, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Our capacity to make peace with another person
     and with the world depends very much on our
     capacity to make peace with ourselves.

        Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

Friday, December 7, 2012

Growing Edge

Flowers (Oct. 24, '12) by rchoephoto
Flowers (Oct. 24, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Look well to the growing edge.
     It's the basis of hope in moments of despair.


        Howard Thurman

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Knowing

Lamp (2012, 12.2) by rchoephoto
Lamp (2012, 12.2), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We can learn about others by studying ourselves.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Choose Hope

RIC_8644-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_8644-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Between hope and despair
     choose hope:
     it will be harder to bear.

        Boris Novak, Decisions (tr. Dintinjana)

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Real Dialogue

Masjid 2 by rchoephoto
Masjid 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When we have peace within,
real dialogue with others is possible.


Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

Monday, December 3, 2012

Decisions

View 1a by rchoephoto
View 1a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Between two words
     choose the quieter one.


        Boris Novak, Decisions (tr. Dintinjana)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Watchful

Candle and Stones 1 by rchoephoto
Candle and Stones 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


       We all live for the Light
             that the lowly born, a glimmer, lead
     the way

     and you wake up, still in the dark
     but watchful and ready now.

        Sandra M. Tully, When You Are a Child

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Way of Love

Sick Kids 1, Toronto by rchoephoto
Sick Kids 1, Toronto, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The way of love is indistinguishable,
     moreover, from the way of freedom.

        Wendell Berry, Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Friday, November 30, 2012

Abundant Life

Night 16(2012, 11.21) by rchoephoto
Night 16(2012, 11.21), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


To be free of indifference would be
to have life more abundantly.

Wendell Berry, Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Quarrels

Created with ToonCamera by rchoephoto
Created with ToonCamera, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric;
     out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.

        W. B. Yeats

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Monday, November 26, 2012

Love

Toon Iona Cross by rchoephoto
Toon Iona Cross, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

James Baldwin

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Friday, November 23, 2012

Mirrors we use

Bloor & Avenue #5 by rchoephoto
Bloor & Avenue #5, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


What we don't see is that
the mirrors we use are distorted.

Mark Labberton,
The Dangerous Act of Loving your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus

Thursday, November 22, 2012

The Enemy of the Moment

Crown of Thorns by Tune by rchoephoto
Crown of Thorns by Tune, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


War had been literally continuous, thought strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. ... 
The enemy of the moment always represented 
absolute evil.

George Orwell, 1984

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Myth of War

RCC_9693 by rchoephoto
RCC_9693, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The myth of war is essential to justify the horrible sacrifices
     required in war, the destruction and the death of innocents.
     It can be formed only by denying the reality of war, by turning
     the lies, the manipulation, the inhumanness of war into heroic
     ideal. 

        Chris Hedges, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

We

Humber Valley United Church 55 by rchoephoto
Humber Valley United Church 55, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The word we names our sight-lines.
We refers to the boundaries of a way of seeing.
It's true, each of us can only live life in the first person.
But we is not neutral. We share with some other a lens
that may be built into every frame of reference.
Experience, categories, personality, gender, language, 
race, culture combine to form why and how we see.

Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Loving your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus

Monday, November 19, 2012

Action

East Plains United Church 3 by rchoephoto
East Plains United Church 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     All that is necessary for evil to triumph is
     for good men (and women) to do nothing.

         Edmund Burke

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Reflection Questions

La Cage Aux Folles 2 by rchoephoto
La Cage Aux Folles 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


What words capture your social and spiritual location
in the world? Which aspects of your social or spiritual location do you think are the most influential in your life? 

Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Loving your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Faith

Iona Cross 3 by rchoephoto
Iona Cross 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Faith is an indispensable component or dimension
     of every human life and has to do with the absolute source
     of meaning and values. 

        Juan Luis Segundo, Faith and Ideologies

Friday, November 16, 2012

Political Theology

DSC_8765 by rchoephoto
DSC_8765, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Political Theology.
This does not mean reducing theology to politics;

it does mean making theology more conscious of
and intentional about its political function,
bringing out the political meaning and implications of every aspect of faith.

Harold Wells, A Future for Socialism?

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Journey

Rosetta McClain Gardens 6 by rchoephoto
Rosetta McClain Gardens 6, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If you only walk on sunny days,
     you will never reach your destination.


        Paulo Coehlo, Aleph

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Love of Neighbour

Face 1 by rchoephoto
Face 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Love of neighbour is especially love for those who are most oppressed and most in need.

Harold Wells, A Future for Socialism?