Keeping Our Balance

"Rabbi Simcha Bunam, one of the great Hasidic masters taught that each of us should have a scrap of paper in each one of our pockets. Upon one scrap of paper should be written the words taken from the Talmud: Bishvili nivra ha’olam – The world was created for my sake (Sanhedrin 37a) and on the other scrap of paper should be the words from Genesis (18:27), V’anochi afar va’ayfehr, – I am but dust and ashes."

"... Rabbi Bunam teaches us balance – balance between extreme humility which could literally leave us in the dust, and extreme ego-centrism which could lead us to believe we are the center of the universe. We live with this paradox: even though we will perish, the world was created for us. The idea that the world was created for us must underscore the questions that we pose to ourselves about our lives. For if we believe that the world was created for us, then we are charged with making a difference in this world."

Words: From Kol Nidre 5767, by Rabbi Susan Leider

Image: Blue Music by Virginia Wieringa

Music Of The Spheres 1

in circles, the poetry of light
wraps itself with spirit to
become music

Seen above: "Music of the Spheres 1" by Virginia Wieringa

It Is Happening

"That's really the surprise of Easter. We don't have to wait until we get to heaven to experience it. It is happening all around us.

But of course, the problem is that because it is not fulfilled at every moment, we don't see it because of what's going on in the world. There's a chance that we could miss it by simply not being attentive and aware to the possibilities of reconciliation and peace… "

Words: from Easter Moments by Robert Hansel and Renée Miller

Image: Icon by Virginia Wieringa (based on an icon by The Rev. Peter Pearson in A Brush with God)

This Art

"In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest where no one sees you,
But sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art."

Words by Jalal al-Din Rumi

Image by Virginia Wieringa

It Is The Same Life

Icon of St. Francis of Assisi
by Virginia Wieringa

Stream of Life
by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Canticle of the Sun
by St. Francis of Assisi

"...Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
and clouds and storms, and all the weather,
through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten the night.
He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs ..."

And you must see:

"Dancing" video
by Matthew Harding

Please note that all credit for this inspirational and fresh combination of "image and spirit" goes to Virginia Wieringa.

Advent Night

"We are in a season of contradictions. Lights glitter from every structure; meanwhile, the days lengthen, and darkness begins to come earlier, stay later. A little shiver runs through our pre-electric-light primordial selves. The ancient human family viewed this time of year with trepidation. They lit fires for warmth and light, and wondered what the winter would bring. No longer concerned with a lack of food and shelter during the freezing winter months, we turn on the central heat, put on a fleece-lined parka and wait for the weather report.

Yet underneath our civilized response to the season, we may sense our human roots. We may look at the dark velvet dome of the night sky laced with stars, and wonder. It is a season that mysteriously brings together death and birth—death of the old season, the old year, the growth from last summer's garden; birth of the new light after December 21, the Winter Solstice, and birth of the community that is formed as we turn inward with the season. It is the season when Christianity celebrates the birth of Jesus, also called Immanuel or God-with-us." By The Rev. Mary C. Earle in "A Celtic Christmas: Celebrating the Sacred in All Creation."

Seen Above: Advent Starry Night #2 (2006), by Virginia Wieringa

Mary's Song

Mary's song is her response to her cousin Elizabeth's spirited greeting, but it is more than that. It comes from deep inside her. It knits together in a new way the sacred experience and language and hope of her people like pieces of a quilt transformed from scraps to splendor.

Nowhere in this song do we hear the name of her child, but somehow he is there in every phrase. Mary's song is not hers alone; it is the song of the child who wants to come, who comes to do the will of God. This song echoes in the events of her son's life, his death, and his exaltation. The song celebrates the God who keeps promises -- not only to Abraham, but also to us.

The Church has picked up this song and sung it often, particularly in daily evening worship. Mary's song, The Magnificat, is a central text in the liturgy of the historic Church. Who knows what number of settings musicians have composed for it through the years? Who knows how many voices have joined with Mary’s in singing her song through the centuries? From "The Song of Divine Triumph" by the Rev. Charles Hoffacker. Read it all HERE.

Image: "Magnificat" by Virginia Wieringa