Thanksgiving prayer

Holy, generous God you provide nourishment for our bodies, our senses, our minds and our hearts. Bless the food we are about to partake. Tune our hearts to an appreciation for all the factors, conditions and people needed to produce this harvest. May we invest the energy this food provides to follow in the footsteps of Christ by showing charity to our neighbors near and far, providing them with the necessities of life, as well as respect, kindness and justice. In your mercy, bless our families and friends and continue supporting us on our lifelong journey. You who live and reign with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Touched by Love

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Here we are at the beginning of another church year. A very good time to think about our "roots", about the Old Testament. In the beginning there was God. Period. And then God made... lots of things. Creationists and Evolutionists can argue about how much and when it was all made. Suffice it to say something came from something which was above and beyond anything.

The extract from Isaiah above comes at the end of one of many tales of God giving and the people being forgetful, disrespectful, lazy, arrogant, fickle. God's patience seems to have run out and Isaiah is pleading to God for mercy. You made us, God. Even if we seem to have forgotten our relationship with you, please don't forget your relationship to us. You made us. You made ALL of us. You made us in love. Please don't let your anger block out your love of us.

Isn't it telling that it seems easier for us to impose human characteristics on God than Godly characteristics on humans?

In getting back to the basics there is some comfort in recalling that we were made, fashioned, in love by the hands of God. Touched by love in the very beginning of our known time. We started there, we are shielded there, we seek consolation there, we are lifted here and ultimately are drawn there at the end of our time in a loving embrace.

Fashioned by the hands of Love we await with expectancy the retelling of the time that 'Love Came Down'....at Christmas. O come, O come Emmanuel!

Thanks from DJ

I'm putting in a few personal lines here. Many wonderful people have written me wishing me well,assuring me of their prayers on my behalf and asking me how my recovery has been. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the notes and prayers. Being on the receiving end of this love is humbling and a wonder.

All my check ups have been very good. My stamina is not what I wish it were and that may take quite some time to come back. In the meantime, I have arranged to go to half-time @ St. Bartholomew's for a few months and have some fallow time the other weekends.

My new crop of hair is a hoot. My head looks like a fiber optic Chia Pet! The white and grey is everywhere and glints in the light. Saints preserve us!

Again, many thanks for your concern and support. I'll keep posting things here with the hopes that you can either use them or that these thoughts/pieces may encourage your creative process too. I encourage you to send in pieces you might wish to share with others. I hope to have a "Christmas play" here for you later in the week. Peace! DJ