Posts Tagged With: peace

Maundy Thursday: Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled

Posted on March 24, 2016 by backfromtheborderlands

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Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God. Trust also in me. (Jesus) John 14:1

 

What about when violence seems to be in the water we drink, in the air we breathe, the rule of the day?  What about when lives of children are taken without a second thought, gunned down on beaches, in airports and by drones taking out whole families?  When a president of a private christian university encourages students to arm themselves and take out people of a different religion?

 

How do we live in these days when politicians skew all decency and accusations fly through the air waves thick with fear and racism?

 

Do we pull back and hide, stockpile goods and arms?  Protecting ourselves and a few others perhaps?  I seem to recall One saying “if you choose to save your life you will lose it”.

 

This terror, this fear is like a vortex, spinning out of control,  if you get too close to it will suck you in and down.

 

There is another way.  It is a way that refuses to lump people into categories of other, evil, enemies, or sub- human.  It chooses instead to pray for, to bless, yes even love our enemies. It chooses to reach out across barriers to the other, the one who is different, has a different hue to their skin, or language on their tongue or culture I do not understand.  It chooses to seek understanding and to bridge the gap rather than build another wall.

 

This is the path of peace, the way of love, the road to life.  

 

Here we are today Maundy Thursday, approaching Good Friday, before we can get to Easter.  What lessons are still here for us to learn as we see Jesus throw off his robe, tie a towel around his waist, pick up a basin of water, and wash his fearful, doubting, even betraying disciples’ feet? This, a precursor to what was to come the next day.  He laid down his life for all.  He calls us to follow Him.

 

“Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”

 

There is a way through these times.  One deep breath, one step, one prayer, one cry, one embrace at a time.  It is a humble path and no one is saying it is easy. Is it possible?  Well, what is impossible with man, is possible with God.  Let’s choose this path of peace instead of participating in the destruction of our planet.  

Categories: Faith, God, Good Friday, Hope, Lent, Life, Love, Peace and Reconciliation, Prayer, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Good To Center Down! by Howard Thurman

Posted on February 9, 2016 by backfromtheborderlands

Passing on a beautiful poem/meditation I read this morning from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart.  In our over full, over stimulated stressed lives, this is a good reminder. Perhaps a good way to start the Lenten season. 

 

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How Good To Center Down!

 

How good it is to center down!

To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!

The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;

Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,

While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment

    and the resting lull.

With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense

    of order in our living;

A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion

    and bring meaning in our chaos.

We look at ourselves in this waiting moment –

    the kinds of people we are.

The questions persist:  what are we doing with our lives? –

    what are the motives that order our days?

What is the end of our doings?

Where are we trying to go?

Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?

For what end do we make sacrifices?

Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?

What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?

Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.

As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence,

   there is a sound of another kind –

A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.

It moves directly to the core of our being.  

Our questions are answered,

Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round

With the peace of the Eternal in our step.

How good it is to center down!

 

Howard Thurman

Categories: Faith, God, Hope, Lent, Life, Paths, Poetry, Prayer, Seasons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Little Child Will Lead You

Posted on December 29, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

This poem is dedicated to a little girl, (8 years old) my friends’ daughter, who befriended another little girl, a Muslim child in her class and invited her over to play and have dinner.  Another morning her parents found her boiling an egg to take to school. Her friend was embarrassed about her lunch being so different from everyone else’s lunch. My friends’ little girl noticed she had a boiled egg in her lunch. She decided to boil herself an egg, so her friend would not be embarrassed.  She brings me great encouragement. Peacemakers are being raised up quietly right in our midst. She gets my first chocolate bar.

https://backfromtheborderlands.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/lets-trump-evil-with-good-and-win-a-big-chocolate-bar/

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When darkness gathers as winter settles in

with black clouds surrounding

what little light we have left

Hold tight to the hope in your heart

It is buried deep within

 

Faith, Hope and Love

will not be extinguished

…and the greatest of these is love

It is love which is the greatest

and most powerful of all

not fear, nor revenge, anger or hate

 

Let love ruminate and perfect

through the night, through adverse circumstances

because joy will come in the morning

and when it seems utterly impossible

…let a little child lead you.

 

Categories: beauty, Faith, God, Hope, Hospitality, Life, Love, Peace and Reconciliation, Poetry, Seasons, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In This World…

Posted on November 27, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

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I came across this fitting poem by Wendell Berry in “Farming, A Hand Book”. It reminds me that this generation is not the only one that has seen the world on fire.  I read it to our guests at our Thanksgiving table.  We had a beautiful, but small representation of our world with Central Asians, Libyans and Americans, Muslims and Christians breaking bread together and giving thanks. The phrase “In this World” comes from the New Testament.  Jesus to his disciples:  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

 

Here is the poem.

 

The hill pasture, an open place among the trees,

tilts into the valley. The clovers and tall grasses

are in bloom. Along the foot of the hill

dark floodwater moves down the river.

The sun sets. Ahead of the nightfall the birds sing.

I have climbed up to water the horses

and now sit and rest, high on the hillside,

letting the day gather and pass. Below me

cattle graze out across the wide fields of the bottomlands,

slow and preoccupied as stars. In this world

men are making plans, wearing themselves out,

spending their lives, in order to kill each other.

 

Wendell Berry

 

Categories: beauty, Faith, God, Hope, Hospitality, Life, Love, Peace and Reconciliation, Poetry, Seasons, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Booties on the Ground

Posted on November 19, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

Reading to us

Booties on the Ground! My daughter shouted up the stairs as I was looking for my grandbabies little shoes before we headed out on an outing in some wet, cold weather. I found the little booties on the ground as she had instructed, but all the while thinking of the other phrase: “Boots on the Ground!” The meaning of going to war sending our young people in the path of bombs and bullets to send out their own bombs and bullets on “the enemy”.

 

The world  continues to ignite in firestorm after firestorm. Horrific acts of terrorism and war.  Violence in our streets and in our schools.  Natural disasters leaving misery and grief in their wake. It would be easy to lose hope, but that is one thing we cannot afford to lose.  We could do with losing some anger, hate, bitterness, revenge, fear and the like.  Those really need to go, because if we continue to feed them they grow and we suddenly become the very thing we hate or fear. There is a spiritual law that is not unlike the natural law of sowing and reaping.  You plant an apple seed you get an apple tree.  You plant the seed of hate, that is what grows.  I do not think we can stop the wars and violence in our societies with more violence. It is not working!

We continue to have more war and violence instead of less.  I heard a short clip by  Nobel Laureate

Shirin Ebadi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-sZIl_R_BE

 

She said if we would have thrown books instead of bombs we would not be in this place we are now with ISIS.  Well we didn’t throw books we threw bombs on Iraq and Afghanistan.  Is it too late to undo this?  What can we do to stop this violence?  

 

Back to the Booties.  Are any of us adults considering what we are doing to the children of this world?  What if those in Booties could vote?  Make war or make peace? Have you seen these compelling photos of where Syrian children sleep?

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lynzybilling/where-syrian-children-sleep#.saOnqG2Y7q

 

Please take some time to look at these photos.  What would their vote be?  Make war or make peace?

 

Making peace is not easy.  It is easier to flow on tides of hate and revenge. It takes great effort and humility to make peace.  It takes searching of our own hearts.  Where have I errored? Where have I disregarded another people different from my own?  It takes great courage to walk towards our enemy unarmed.

 

The bravest man I know did not arm himself to the teeth with weapons, or call in a numberless army to surround him on his assault against evil.  Instead, he picked up his cross and headed toward a hill.  He did the hardest work of sacrificing himself to make peace for his enemies to know God’s love. In doing so he stopped the spiritual forces of darkness arrayed to destroy mankind.  He was the same wiseman who said, “If we live by the sword we will die by the sword.” At another time he put a little child in the middle of his followers and asked: “Do you want to be great?  Then become like this little child.”  

 

This is my call today.  “Booties on the Ground!” Let us become like children and choose what is best for them.  I think we all can agree that peace rather than war is best for our little ones.

 

Categories: borderlands, Faith, God, Hope, Life, Paths, Peace and Reconciliation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Remember Me (Communion Song)

Posted on October 23, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

Sunset After the Rain

This is my body – broken for you

I gave it freely – for you

Remember Me

This my blood – poured out for you

I gave it freely – for you

Remember Me

As the Father sent me – so send I you

As I laid down my life – lay yours down too

Remember Me

Freely you have received – freely give

I am Emanuel – always with you

On your journey towards Home

Remember Me

In your struggle to make sense – In your struggle to make peace

Remember the poor, the sick, the imprisoned

In all that you do – in the work I have given you

Remember Me

Categories: Faith, God, Hope, Love, Paths, Peace and Reconciliation, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Summer Chimes

Posted on July 18, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

Poplar

 

Along ancient paths

newly surfaced again and again

poplars, descendants of

the Aged Ones,

are whispering

in the warm summer breeze

 

Will i stop and listen?

Autumn will come

soon enough

and lash these chimes,

winter will find them gone

 

Now in this warmth only

is their message heard

for this season,

later the falling leaves

and bleak branches

will have another message

 

Life presses in

with it’s pressures

do this, do that

and hurry up

you are late again,

fill every moment

with a call or a text

until the pulse races

and the poplars

playful message of

peace and joy

cannot be heard

for another year

 

© 2015 Julie Clark

Categories: beauty, Faith, Life, Paths, Poetry, Seasons, Trees | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Peace Is

Posted on April 1, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

Peace is

in the centering

by strong potter’s hands

amidst the

spinning whirling

world going by.

 

Then shaped

and formed

useful and

beautiful

ready for

glazed colors

and fire

to set and harden

to last

my life time.

 

Coming

again and again

to that place

of centering

peace

until

every piece

is given over

to be shaped

and formed

added to

the masterpiece

called me.

 

© 2015 Julie Clark

 

Categories: beauty, Faith, God, Hope, Lent, Life, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

For the Sake of our Children and Grandchildren

Posted on January 6, 2015 by backfromtheborderlands

 

I am novice when it comes to crocheting.  I’m making some progress in and learning new things slowly in what my daughter calls “Venture Crocheting”. That is the kind of crocheting where you don’t really follow a pattern just your instincts. Sometimes it works for simple things, sometimes it doesn’t. I am making a baby blanket for her new baby arriving sometime in February.  I got the basic pattern down for a nice little blanket for him.  The one thing I did not do, which I am learning now I should always do, is roll the yarn into a ball first.  I’ve had two incidents now where I have gotten my yarn all in knots and it has taken me much time and help to get it unravelled.

 

The other day we were visiting friends in their lovely mountain home.  A great time to bring out my blanket. It was cold outside, nice and warm inside, great conversation and food.  Unfortunately, I had one of those times where my yarn got all in a jumble.  It was bad. Fortunately, my friends kindly volunteered to help out.  Some of them more willing than others.  We we will not mention any names or gender here.  The interesting conversation we were having did not exactly stop. We were talking about peace and peacemaking.  How can we be peacemakers in our world filled with conflict?

 

As we were unravelling my knotty yarn, I thought about the knotty problems we were just talking about.  Wars, conflict, ethnic cleansing, apartheid situations that are happening today.  It was a great metaphor as we worked together and didn’t give up, hopeful that the yarn truly would be unknotted.  And finally it was.

 

I thought how for the sake of our children and grandchildren we must do this work and not let the world “go to hell in a handbasket.”  There are obstacles and often it seems impossible.  There are naysayers who don’t believe it is possible, just cut it off (the yarn)!  But how often do we want to cut people off?  Or worse?

 

What if we all were engaged in some way with bringing “peace on earth, good will towards men” and not just waiting for the angels to do it? What if we all have a part in the world we live in or we are called to serve? What if the great areas of conflict were addressed with “faith, hope and love”? What if we practiced forgiveness and truly learned how to “live in peace with each other”? I’m quoting lots of Bible verses here that some will recognize.  Sometimes we who claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace are missing a really important part of the message that He brought us.

 

I was encouraged in my little yarn fiasco.  I have learned a lesson about rolling my yarn ahead of time.  I also had faith and hope it could be worked out.  I had done it before. I want to have this kind of faith and hope when I approach conflict today.  “All things are possible for those who believe.”  It is hard work and takes time and perseverance.  For the sake of our children and grandchildren let us do our part, small or great in this good work of peacemaking.

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Categories: Faith, God, Hope, Life, Love, Peace and Reconciliation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary

Posted on December 1, 2014 by backfromtheborderlands

Not through the edict of a king or prince

Not through the strength of a warrior or general

But through the womb of a woman

The earth shook and changed for ever

 

She was humble, young and gentle

Yet given the power to carry

The Light of the World

Fragile as glass, at it’s first flickering

 

She simply said yes

And submitted to the Greater Power

The Blessed Will that desired

Peace on earth, good will toward all

 

Life was born

Conquered evil, brokenness and death

Once and for all

Through the womb of a woman

 

© 2014 Julie Clark

Categories: Advent, Faith, God, Hope, Life, Peace and Reconciliation, Poetry, Seasons | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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