"The fight against injustice, oppression and brutality is a good fight; but it must be fought in a good way. It cannot be fueled by hatred or vindictiveness or a desire for revenge. As the Quakers say, if in fighting a beast we become a beast then Beastliness has won."
Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts
Friday, March 11, 2016
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
The Sublime & The Ridiculous
Rob's dear Aunt Lou died a couple of weeks ago.
She was his favorite aunt, and he said he learned love from her.
Still is, I suspect.
This colorful sight is what greeted me this morning
when I opened my computer.
WOW!
There Is Now a New Creation
Yes!
Great White Throne
(installed today after recurring maintenance house-calls)
Good Grief
Daily Lesson for March 8, 2016
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 50 verses 1 through 3:
Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
My boyhood pastor and dear friend Hardy Clemons literally wrote the book on grief. "Good Grief" is its title and it's a reflection on the process of grief he walked so many through during his long career as a shepherd for the bereft and weary of soul. The central message of the book is that grief is a process and needs to be given time to run its course.
I shall never forget Hardy telling me that after his wife Ardele passed away another close friend called Hardy and said, "Okay, big boy, I am wondering now if you just wrote that book of yours or if you read it also and intend to do what it says?"
Grief is a process that must be given its due time. We can't rush it, hasten through it, or "just get over it." Grief is a journey and everyone must give themselves permission to walk the journey at their own pace, without the pressure of needing to arrive too soon.
Joseph is on the journey of grief in today's lesson. It is not a quick trip. After his father died all Egypt wept for 70 days. And that was just the beginning stage. Next Joseph and his brothers and an entourage of Egyptian dignitaries and servants travelled back to Canaan from Egypt to bury the boys' father in the Promised Land. On the trip, they stopped at one place for a full week of lamentation. The Canaanites were so startled by the brothers' grief that they actually named the town "Mourning of Egypt". The point is the brothers took their time to grieve and grieve hard, and they didn't really care what others said about it.
Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
My boyhood pastor and dear friend Hardy Clemons literally wrote the book on grief. "Good Grief" is its title and it's a reflection on the process of grief he walked so many through during his long career as a shepherd for the bereft and weary of soul. The central message of the book is that grief is a process and needs to be given time to run its course.
I shall never forget Hardy telling me that after his wife Ardele passed away another close friend called Hardy and said, "Okay, big boy, I am wondering now if you just wrote that book of yours or if you read it also and intend to do what it says?"
Grief is a process that must be given its due time. We can't rush it, hasten through it, or "just get over it." Grief is a journey and everyone must give themselves permission to walk the journey at their own pace, without the pressure of needing to arrive too soon.
Joseph is on the journey of grief in today's lesson. It is not a quick trip. After his father died all Egypt wept for 70 days. And that was just the beginning stage. Next Joseph and his brothers and an entourage of Egyptian dignitaries and servants travelled back to Canaan from Egypt to bury the boys' father in the Promised Land. On the trip, they stopped at one place for a full week of lamentation. The Canaanites were so startled by the brothers' grief that they actually named the town "Mourning of Egypt". The point is the brothers took their time to grieve and grieve hard, and they didn't really care what others said about it.
Good grief is a journey. It's more for the turtle than it is for the hare. One, slow step in front of the other, sometimes pausing for long periods in the same place. That's not being stuck in grief; that's sticking it through. There's a difference.
And when the journey is completed, we like Joseph and his brothers come back. We come back, not to the Promised Land, but rather back to Egypt, back to the place we have learned to call home -- for now.
And when the journey is completed, we like Joseph and his brothers come back. We come back, not to the Promised Land, but rather back to Egypt, back to the place we have learned to call home -- for now.
Ryon Price, 2nd B
Monday, March 7, 2016
My friend, Kay
“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with a person;
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but to pour them all out, just as they are,
chaff and grain together,
knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then, with a breath of kindness,
blow the rest away.”
Thursday, March 3, 2016
I have enough.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
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