from the ginge

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People usually aren't trying to be dicks: there is often something else going on for them

Dr Fiona Crichton, “Practising the art of self-kindness”, Zoom Webinar

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We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible. To have real conversations with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion, but it involves courage and risk.

Thomas Moore

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“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts: it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No sermon says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very, very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.”

- prayer associated with Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision. We ac

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A Prayer For When Worried Loving God, This past year has taken its toll And I bear the marks and scars of this time Like so many others, I am afflicted with worry Worried for family and friends Worried about work and financial pressures Worried about any kind of return to ‘normal’ It has been so long since anything felt normal And now we stand at the cusp Of some new opportunity Some bright new future Rather than subsiding My worry is compounded I am worried for the implications of stepping back into such a public world I am worried for the period of readjustment needed to be prepared to let down my guard and be vulnerable I am worried that the vaccines won’t work I am worried that things will never feel safe again, Loving God meet me in my worry and hold me, Bring me your peace, Help me to trust in you, To lay my burdens down before you Amen.

The Long-promised return? Tim Watson, https://proost.co.uk

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Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human.

Paul Tillich

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The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Abraham Lincoln, December 1, 1862: Second Annual Message to Congress

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Contemporary theologian Scott Bader-Saye has written, “Following Jesus will mean surrendering the power that masquerades as security in order to love the neighbor and welcome the stranger. It will mean avoiding the safe path in order to pursue the good. But in a culture of fear, we find such risks all the more difficult since our natural inclinations lead us to close in on ourselves when we face danger. How can we maintain the posture of the open hand toward a world that scares us?”

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“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

“La primera responsabilidad de un líder es definir la realidad. Lo último es dar las gracias. En medio el líder es un siervo. "

― Max DePree

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To the ones who are left behind

Hard to believe after our extended stay here in NZ, but we return to Colombia in less than 3 weeks time. From here on in it is goodbyes and more goodbyes - the hardest part of leaving which feels like tearing and is full of tears. Here is a great article I came across recently that I hope helps those of you that we once again leave behind.

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“We tend to want a Christian life with the dull bits cut out. Yet God made us to spend our days in rest, work, and play, taking care of our bodies, our families, our neighborhoods, our homes. What if all these boring parts matter to God? What if days passed in ways that feel small and insignificant to us are weighty with meaning and part of the abundant life that God has for us?”

— Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren

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A vida é a arte do encontro, embora haja tantos desencontros pela vida. [La vida es el arte del encuentro aunque haya tantos desencuentros en la vida] [Life is the art of encounter though there are many disencounters throughout life]”

Vinicius de Moraes en su Samba da Bênção en el disco Encuentro en Al bon Gourmet (1962, n.215)

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Visit Original Link

Un poema escrito para un  Colombia en medio pandemia y masacre, agosto 2020.

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The Spirit loves us and knows everyone’s place in the grand scheme of things: for him, we are not bits of confetti blown about by the wind, rather we are irreplaceable fragments in his mosaic.

Pope Francis https://aleteia.org/2020/05/31/we-are-not-confetti-blown-in-the-wind-but-pieces-of-a-mosaic-full-text-of-popes-pentecost-homily/

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Today

Acencion Sunday

The day jesus started working from home

Zooming in by his Spirit

Battle of Pichincha

An independence victory in South America

Aldersgate Sunday

The day Wesley felt "strangely warmed"

Also my birthday

So got my Wesleyan DNA sorted!

But

I am strangely cold here in Palmerston North

Its not the eternal spring of 25degC in Medellín, Colombia

'Cause no international flights there 'til the end of Aug.

Working from home

Moodle, zoom

And the power of the interwebbs

May the 24th be with you

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Winter morning Haiku

Cold with crunchy grass

Birthdays in new ze-aland

See you in the spring

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"Sectarianism is belonging gone bad" - Pádraig Ó Tuama

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Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

Bono