Sit down
Let go
Breathe in deep
Exhale slow
Unclench
Unwind
Ease up
Free the mind
No rules
No goal
Light heart
Quiet soul
Spoil the child
Spare the rod
Give up
Rest in God
All posts by Our Beloved
Keeping Quiet – A poem by Pablo Neruda
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
Source: translated by Alistair Reid in Extravagaria
Advent reflection from DeJuana McCary
The season of Advent is full of promise and surprises of joy where you least expect it. Last year at this time I was on the eve of a new beginning in starting a new job, living in a new state, and sharing a home with a stranger.
She/He had created a path..all I had to do was listen..to the Voice..learn not to panic, but to rest on the promise of always being guided just as the wise men were. They were led to a stable..I was led to the VA hospital and to a home of grace and love.
A stranger made a home for me..and changed my life.
A stranger gave a stable for the baby of hope and promise to be born.
In this last year my life has given birth..to a wiser and more intentional lifestyle.
Jesus shared the story of come unto me..and I will share great love and compassion that will change your life. He has changed mine..even when I was resistant..I learned to let go and let life.
I am thankful and have a quiet resounding joy..will you join me..learning to walk by faith and promise day by day.
BE JOYFUL!!
-DeJuana McCary
Lenten Reflection from Pam Pouncey
I have always known God.
As a small child, Jesus loved me, this I knew. I prayed the Lord my soul would keep and if I died before I woke, I prayed the Lord my soul would take. I obeyed my parents in the Lord, for this was right, regardless of what they did or said to do. Singing give me oil in my lamp keep it burning and there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide, I learned to accept what I was told, even if it had no meaning.
As an older child, God would take me to heaven at the rapture if I was saved; otherwise I would get left behind. When everything was quiet, I would frantically find someone still around. It never occurred to me that the person I found may have been an infidel who got left behind. Good thing I wasn’t taught to think things out, or I may not have survived the fear.
The God of my teenage years knew my every move; my every thought. It was impossible to sin without His knowledge. I sang blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Why was I so blessed to have Big Brother for a Jesus?
As a young woman, I knew God as a way of life. He was always right and His code was my code. I knew Him so well that I knew when others were wrong. My judgement
was swift and sharp as a sword. God led the battle and I was a soldier in the
Lord’s army.
God’s Holy Word was my guide and I certainly knew God’s Word because I was given it at church each week and on Christian radio each day. I didn’t have to search for God or for truth, because it was done for me. If I walked down the isle, I was instantly saved from hell.
God never changes. That is what I was taught. I learned the Bible said if I spared the rod I would spoil my child; that interracial marriage was a sin; that God punishes the wicked and Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality. Funny how I can’t find those things in my Bible now. Did God change after all? No, God didn’t change, but God changed me. By grace. God is my journey. He is my neighbor’s journey. I don’t have to be perfect; I just have to wait on God. I let go of trying to know God and, instead, let God be in me. The rest takes care of itself. God set me free to know Him. Jesus taught this and His example changed the world. I follow Christ, but it is hard for me to call myself a
Christian. And that really doesn’t matter after all.
Our background and circumstances influence who we are, but it doesn’t have to
dictate who we become.
Love and peace during this season of Lent,
Pamela Pouncy
Lenten reflection from Brian Bennet
Stars of Amber Shining
In the deep drifts of Pentathalon,
Borrowed from the spheres of the far North,
A timely immortal basks in the shade
Of ice ridges painted blue thru time.
The stars send down their savor;
The moon pants her blessings in
Ancient elemental glee. The snow
Will fall while all claim the low
Endeared path of approaching Divinity.
Soon as the January storm is past
All see a star of amber shining in nativity -\
Blessing the regions of the wind, at last
To outblush the overflowing aurora Borealis-
For he too was a child of earth once,
And felt the vissitudes of humans,
He wandered the far reaches of this
Rugged earth, until his goodness
Was replete with all that God desired;
So was he lifted into the deep blue
Of heaven, to shine upon the lowly and worn
With care, that they might have a companion
Both in suffering and gladness – to ,.
Rest in their days and ways.
-Brian Bennett
A note from LaDonna
For Lenten Reflection I’m presenting an email letter from LaDonna Smith sent to Angie Wright, Neko Linda and Laura Secord the morning after she attended the spoken word and music event at Beloved Community Church on Wednesday, March 30. The Sister City Connection presentation at Beloved Community Church had over sixty people attending. The cultural, creative, racial diversity of perspectives presented by the Sister City Connection group of women writers/performers was extraordinary beyond description. Appreciating all those who presented, attended, helped with and inspired this happening at Beloved. -Neko Linda
Just wanted express appreciation for you and BELOVED for your generous opening up of the community through cultural events as we’ve experienced with the movie series and the poetry events, and now the ALARMING FEMALE! Last night was electric.
“I know you can also feel the energy and excitement, as you facilitate the love and understanding that is being fostered in your safe and friendly environment, that transforms church into cross-pollination of community, and good will.“You lie in the heart of the ‘cross-roads,’ and you know how to truly share and reach out to a community hungry for the touch of heart and creativity.Thank you all so much!” -LaDonna
Lenten reflection from Greg Wood
If love is a blue-berry pie
to be given to all your neighbors
and friends and family:
what in the heck do you do
when all of the pie is gone-
except go around to all the
places you can think of, to
ask for another Blue-berry-Love pie.
Well, at the New Year, that’s what I did
Only I decided to
Look for love in all the most unexpected of places,
and to ask for it with boldness
And courage and pure honesty and truth.
I was not too thrilled when I only received
A few slivers of pie that added up to less
Than even a modest piece, quite frankly:
And I kind of belly-ached (no pun intended).
Now, months later once Lent came around I knew I’d have to
Give up something significant, so I decided, well,
To give up belly-aching
Only that created
A kind silence, a void to be filled;
So I began Celebrating:
Every little morsel of those
Pie slivers, as if each bite
were a pie in and of Itself.
That’s when the love began filling me up inside
Like the best home-made blueberry pie you’ve
Ever tasted, a little piece of heaven.
This is what Lent can do:
It can give us the opportunity to celebrate
Every sliver and morsel of life:
Giving up a little somethin’, in order to receive somethin’ more,
The Light of God, the splicing of a Ray,
that shines in us, through us, around us
The Sweetest of Gifts: An Electric Celebration.
-Shared by Greg Wood
