Growing up in the South, the dog days of August were very real. The weather was hot, humid, we stayed around the house most of the day until the sun set. We drank a lot of ice tea, ate a lot of watermelon, and barbecued. They were days of reflection, and of looking ahead to the coming year.
In reflecting this year during this time I think of our countries psyche and my own life. For me I have discovered within my life, and with what is happening in the greater world similarities.
I have discovered that my own desire to connect can sometimes become an inordinate attachment to receiving praise, love, and acceptance from others. I often struggle with sacrificing integrity and authenticity to orchestrate attachment to others. There is a phrase from the Henry Rollins album, “weight”, which says: “Loneliness will make you throw your sins away.”
Loneliness eats at our very souls, and I have found I will throw away everything to have a friend, and always it is in vain. The same in our country, we are so afraid we are going to lose the freedoms and rights we have gained, that we “throw our sins away,” losing our sense of respect for the dialogue of other people who differ from us.
Doing these dog days of August I am listening to the Spirit, and am being reminded not to fear, to respond in truth and love and to trust. And that is my prayer for others—do not fear, respond in truth and love, and trust each other. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
Weekly Meals:
It has become apparent that personally I will not be able to prepare weekly meals alone. We are asking for volunteers who will put in 4-5 hours a week to package and help serve the meals on the street. Thank you.
We now have two new interns, they are Cale King and Aaron Olaya, Juniors in High School from San Rafael, CA. Both are passionate and caring about people, and find working with us rewarding.
Aaron Cale
Death Penalty Protest:
September 5, Noon-1:00 p.m. we will begin our weekly Death Penalty Protest. The Death Penalty is in humane, and makes of all of us murderers. Come join us!
We Are Beggars!
Our finances are very low. We are in need of socks, we are in need of money for food, and so we beg, for your support. We continue to minister to 500 plus young people a month through our pastoral care, socks, food, and needle exchange. And so as you reflect during these dog days we pray you will remember us. Please give:
Wear Orange on June 2 Symbolizing Every Town for Gun Safety!
Sirach 42:15-25: says all is beautiful: “even to the spark and fleeting vision.”
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Many of us are past full bloom now. Presently we’re on a new quest: to make peace with our diminishment. Sirach tells us we all are beautiful! It was glorious to be young, but there is glory in our aging, even with its losses, aches, pains, disabilities.
Nothing’s made in vain, Sirach insists. Each in its turn is good. Embracing the splendor of youth is easy. We must also make friends with the graceful, gracious surrender of our lives to aging, and of our wishes for a changed universe to the slowness of time as well, and to struggling generation after generation.
All aspects of creation is a changing universe! Thus we are changing in every way!
We surrender in the sense of seeing life as a part of one great universe and seeing ourselves as a part of one Great Rainbow.
As Eric Fromm says:
“Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.”
As we enter Pride Month, and remember tomorrow wearing orange to symbolize “Gun Safety in Every town let us remember love is an “act of faith!”
I am a “grocers” son, and I learned from my dad the lesson of not practicing “othering”.
He ran a grocery business and Dad told me from the very beginning that we did not talk about religion, race, and political views in the business or outside on the street. He said: “All who come through our doors are equal and deserve the same service.” At his funeral were people of all races, economic status, and religions. He did not practice “othering”.
The word “othering” is a trendy term in academic circles, an updated version of words such as prejudice, discrimination, difference, bias and scapegoating.
Othering defines and secures one’s identity by distancing and stigmatizing another. Its purpose is to reinforce notions of our own “normality” and to set up a difference of an “other” as a point of deviance. It is a process of being ‘other-ed”, meaning marginalized, dis empowered, and excluded socially.
Othering is very visible in our nation in all of our divisions. We see it now in the political ads. The “haves’ and the “have nots”, all racial discrimination and so on.
In San Francisco it is seen as bright as the sun in the treatment of homeless, poor, people of color; especially in the Mayor’s statement on the drug use in the Tenderloin: “It is time we throw out compassion and use force to solve the problem,” not looking at the causes around drug use, and compassionately working in that realm.
In the Haight my young adults are simply and completely ignored. Personally I experience “othering” day in and day out.
We begin “Pride Month” the first of June, raising up the LGBTQ and Questioning community. I will wear a LGBTQ tee shirt each day to remind others of our “othering”.
So what can we do to bring us into a circle of differences, caring for each other, and working out all of the problems, from climate change to extreme poverty?
A prayer by Justin McRoberts says the best way of action of all:
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. I have not been accepted as of yet, and because of the political situation it may be cancelled, but there is hope! Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
There is a motto on one of the buildings at the Jesuit college in Santa Clara that reads: For the Greater Glory of God! I often asked my self the question: “What Doe It Mean to Glorify God! In our Gospel today Jesus talks of glorifying God.
Is glorifying God simply singing praises or playing loud music?
What if we define glory in a different way? What if glory is the revelation of God’s inclusive love for all? Glory in the inclusive love of God for every creature!
If glory is clapping and joyous music we can glorify God in quiet ways. The purpose of the Church,to be the Church we pray, meditate and go forth and do justice.
We give glory by speaking to a homeless person, a neighbor, we give glory by sharing food with a person who has none, we give glory by our protests against injustice. We give glory by loving, and giving to someone in need!
There is no dictionary needed. Pentecost is God pouring out the Spirit of Inclusive Love to all! Good Mental Health is the ability to share inclusive love to another! Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God!
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. I have not been accepted as of yet, and because of the political situation it may be cancelled, but there is hope! Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
“But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.” John 2:14.
============
“Being a Ghost”–Have you ever thought of yourself as a “Ghost?” For each time we simply stop speaking to another we are a “Ghost”.
Before the word “ghosting” came into existence as “cutting people out of our lives by no longer talking to them and simply walk away without a word.” I experienced “ghosting” by a denomination, and have through the years here been “ghosted” by long-time “friends” simply ceasing communication.
It hurts, hurts like hell, and at first you never want to speak to that person again.
In John 2 we hear: “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.” John 2:14.
My approach is expressed in those words, and in doing so I can see the broken humanity as well as my own, and find healing and keep my heart open to always receive the person back with open arms.
You can be truthful with yourself. What is the truthfulness with yourself? It is you are an infinitely precious broken person. The infinite love of God permeates your brokenness through and through. It is with you unexplainably forever.
All of us “ghost”, sometimes we are unaware: when we walk past a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk outside Walgreens, and we come out with food and simply pass walk past not even seeing the person–that is being a “ghost”! How often are we ghosts in that way?
We are all broken human beings, we all need the infinite love of God, which starts with our love towards another!
The essence of good mental health is found in having a healthy relationship without judgement! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
“Good mental health is a state of well -being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” World Health Organization.”
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“Good mental health is a state of well being in which a person can cope with the stresses of being homeless, sleeping on the streets, not having family or have society to care for one as a person and is able to measure one’s worth not by successes or failures, but simply but by one’s ability to survive day to day ! (Fr. River Damien Sims).
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“But I do not count my life any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace!” Acts 20:24.NRSVeu
=======================
Good mental health outside of our present system is found in a quote used by me some time ago:
“Good mental health is a state of well being in which a person can cope with the stresses of being homeless, sleeping on the streets, not having family or have society to care for one as a person and is able to measure one’s worth not by successes failures, but simply but by one’s ability to survive day to day ! (Fr. River Damien Sims).
This is essentially the definition our author, Heather Masco, demonstrated in The Thread of Life through the poetry of her journey through the healing of sexual abuse.
Masco demonstrates how through her faith in Christ she begins the healing of her trauma, and learns to forgive the man who abused her. Her faith sustained continues to hold her in the arms of Jesus, and through that holding of her life finds wholeness.
As I looked at Heather’s story I thought of the mental health of LGBTQ kids and adults.
In my story on the our website of http://www.temenos.org, I glorify my years on the street, and coming out. The truth is the years on the street, and coming out have been pure hell, and it was Christ who is my foundation. I only found one therapist, a psychiatrist, that for ten years lead me through my coming out process.
There is so much homophobia in our churches, even the ones that pride themselves on being open and affirming that it is impossible to truly be open. I know of no church that have youth groups for LGBTQ kids.
No place in the institutional churches for their meeting to discuss their issues.
People often say “You are against the Church!” LOL! What I am against ARE churches not being open to youth,especially LGBTQ youth. I love the Church. I am a priest and very honored and proud to be one!
Today our ability, to “survive day to day” is the mental health gift we can give to youth and adults. Personally, for me that is enough!
Walking the way of the Kingdom is truly being open and in doing so assisting others on their journey of mental health
Like Paul, my time is coming to an end as all of our times are, and like Dorothy Day I feel each day that “I try”. So join together in that “trying”, and in walking, with others day to day. We are all clinging to The Thread of Life!”
“But I do not count my life any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace!” Acts 20:24.NRSVeu.
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
“Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” John 21:19.
——————————————–
The past few days I have spent in solitude reflecting on the death of Banko Brown, whom I have known through the years.
My sister, whom I have not spoken to in years, recently sent a text message, in which she spoke very harshly, with extreme judgment on homosexuality and me having a Satanic ministry. Her words hurt, even after all of these years. And I thought of all the people hurt by such views in the Church, one of which was Banko Brown.
A priest in the Roman Catholic Church announcing a rally for the coming Sacred of Heart of Jesus in June yells, “Let us turn the thoughts of people away from the homo- sexual celebration (Pride Month) to Jesus.”
All of this leads to harm of others. This is not the Jesus we know.
The Dodgers have withdrew the invitation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in response to the complaints of religious people. Again this is not the Jesus I know.
For our faith journey entails many “not as before” experiences. A child’s faith gives way to a more nuanced faith of the adult. It is the same faith, yet different and deeper.
We are like Mary Magdalene, who on that first Easter morning was so concerned about finding the missing body of Jesus that she failed to recognize the risen One even when face to face with him. But when he spoke her name, she underwent a “not as before” change of awareness. Her heart turned from love of the dead Jesus to love of the living One. It is the same love, but so much deeper than before.
Through the years of our journey we have traveled a life of a changing, evolving faith. A faith that views a rainbow of many colors.
It is a rainbow with the colors of many faith expressions of which Christianity is but one, all expressing the presence of a God of love. It is a rainbow of many colors of people, and many colors of sexual expressions.
Today is the Ascension and I believe it signifies Jesus becoming the Cosmic Christ, who embraces all in many Names. There is One God, but a God who meets people where they are. All are welcome into the arms of God.
In The Instruction Manual for Receiving God, we read:
“The Whole program of creation is to bring us back into contact with God.
Within each one of us is the eternal program of repair. Do not ever forget that left to your own devices, left to your natural inclinations, your body desires, to heal. To be broken is the only way to understand wholeness. To be separate is the only way to return to the One. Your whole life is about your repair and return. Whether you sit in meditation facing a wall or pray in the sanctuary to God your soul already knows that all brokenness leads back to home, that “brokenness” and “home” arise together, like sun and sky, like river and water. All creation was made for this purpose. Everything else is commentary on the search for the eternal.”
And so we continue our journey as the disciples of old, hearing the words of Jesus to Peter:
“Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” John 21:19.
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
“I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you; In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will.. . .John 14:15-21.
I remember my mom, she was gentle, kind and driven to push me through school. In my worst moments I see her in the Great Cloud of Witnessing pushing me forward. She once told me, “You will always be more of a mother than a father to people in your ministry.”
On Mother’s Day I was across the street at “Toast” eating breakfast, and “Diego” walked up to me with a bouquet of flowers, smiled, and said: “River these are for you, for you have been more of a mother than I have ever had”
Diego walked across the border from Guatemala when he was 15, and was given asylum, the local gangs wanted him dead; for 12 years he has lived in San Francisco, needing support along the way. It has been rough, but he continues to tough it out. His mother kicked him out of the house, and so he survived on the streets until he came to the U.S.
The majority of youth on the street have no parents, they have been abused, sold, and simply kicked out because the parents had no money.
Steven Kierkegaard comments :”Life can only be understood backward but it can only be lived forward.”
This Mother’s Day I vow to live my “life forward”, being a “mom “, caring, seeing each as a child of God.
I close with a prayer sent to me by my friend Jay Swanson that summarizes theology in a nutshell:
commoners_communion. True compassionate prayer stands with God, and before God as the other.
It cries their tears, grieves their pain, repents for their sins, seeks their healing.
Christ often ministered from compassion(co-suffering) and his ministry had power precisely because he entered into the pain of the world.
Love is what made his prayer powerful.
When we pray for others we should pray from the heart, not from the head. Allowing ourselves to enter into another’s experience where we feel God’s desire for them, then pray from there.
When we do we co-labour with God.
We not only intercede for another but go deeper into God himself.”
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA “Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application” COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal). DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith. LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, (see: http://www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus, are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India. To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice, December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi, the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge. ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for “Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: registrar@gujaratvidyapith.org with cc to: doctorjhaveri@gmail.com
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________ Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________ Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________ Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13). NRSVue
=====================
On this day, May 12, many years ago, my second year in seminary, I was driving home from my rural church’s youth group on a rainy night. My car slid off the road, killing, Stacy, 15, and injuring myself. An accident that haunted me for years.
Several days later a minister friend shared with me some advice that has never left my mind:
“In time you will have two decisions you are faced with:
1. Continue in the ministry, close yourself into the institution, never question anything else in live;
2. Let yourself loose, questioning, challenge, everything and do something crazy like another friend who suffered a similar situation: he went out and raced cars with young adults.”
Ultimately the second was chosen, bringing freedom of living a life of ministry, looking at all sides. A life of good mental health.
In Evie Yoder Miller’s book, Volume 1: Shadows, Scruples on the Line, Miller presents a nation at the beginning, and the next two years of the Civil War, as divided in so many ways, culturally,
politically, religious belief with many, many different denominations. Jumping a 160 plus years later we see the same in our society.
Character, J. Fritz-Chicago, responding to a partners comments:
. . .He would rather talk about a new repeating rifle being made to kill more people, rather than discuss freeing slaves. .
…white people specifically are supposed to save the world.. .when death comes they go to a higher place.”
He still believed “making money is a sacred trust, do it to the best of your ability. .”
I am sitting in the midst of “Toast” restaurant as I write, and around me people are simply talking, about money or politics! Not much has changed!
This book is an excellent start to a three volume series.
My own resulting life from the aftermath of Stacie’s death were horrible. At the time the Church simply wanted me to move, finish school, and “be strong” as an example to others.
Two quotes come to mind as I remember that time, and the journey through the years:
“Resilience is the ability to brush off pain,” Kristen Roupenion,”
and James Baldwin:
“You can not love, without until you truly love yourself within.”
Mental health is made up of these two quotes, and
and working with others with them. We all have a shadow, and we need to work on it all the time!
Happy Mental Health Month!
Happy Our Lady of Mary Month!
==========================
a blessing for those who care about strangers
What a waste.
That wasn’t going to get you a nicer apartment.
Bless those who give their health in service of patients who might not even deserve it.
What if that patient took unnecessary risks or was selfish or was never going to say thank you? You could have been protecting yourself or God forbid, sleeping through the night.
Bless those who listen to long, winding stories from lonely hearts.
Instead of rushing off to more interesting friends.
You picked boredom or patience instead of the warmth of being known.
That was your time and you’re never going to get it back.
Bless those who loved people who weren’t grateful.
The sick who endangered your health,
The deeply boring, who know you have things to do.
Loving people can be the most meaningful thing in the world, but it can also be hard and scary and boring and disgusting or sad or anxiety inducing with zero overtime.
Thank you to all those who make these bad investments.
Those acts of love that are not going to add up to success in the way that the world sees it.
You, my darling, are the definition of love.
This blessing was inspired by my conversation with nurse and writer Christie Watson
#######
Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
punkpriest1@gmail.com
415-305-2124
River’s Creed:
“I write because this is the way I protest”.
Ministry on the streets is the way I resist, dong what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment.”
“Now I hand down to you what has been revealed to me: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”
“But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people. .John 2:24
———
John 15:1-15:
“I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. . .This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
======================
a blessing for those who care about strangers
What a waste.
That wasn’t going to get you a nicer apartment.
Bless those who give their health in service of patients who might not even deserve it.
What if that patient took unnecessary risks or was selfish or was never going to say thank you? You could have been protecting yourself or God forbid, sleeping through the night.
Bless those who listen to long, winding stories from lonely hearts.
Instead of rushing off to more interesting friends.
You picked boredom or patience instead of the warmth of being known.
That was your time and you’re never going to get it back.
Bless those who loved people who weren’t grateful.
The sick who endangered your health,
The deeply boring, who know you have things to do.
Loving people can be the most meaningful thing in the world, but it can also be hard and scary and boring and disgusting or sad or anxiety inducing with zero overtime.
Thank you to all those who make these bad investments.
Those acts of love that are not going to add up to success in the way that the world sees it.
You, my darling, are the definition of love.
This blessing was inspired by my conversation with nurse and writer Christie Watson
################################
Newly published CDC data found that 1 in 4 teenagers identified themselves they were attracted only to the opposite sex; this does not include transgender, non-identifying numbers of youth.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 and the Trevor Project found that LGTBTQ youth are four times as likely to attempt suicide, 1.8 million and at least one every 45 seconds, and 45% LGBTQ considered attempting suicide this past year.
Messages such as the one I received today from my sister is similar to the message many youth receive from others. I have not talked with her in forty years, and she has refused to talk with me:
“River Sims You are my brother. But the sin you live in and condone goes against what Paul wrote in Romans 1:26,27 which was inspired by God. God does not accept homosexuality. You were not born this way. You made a bad choice”
One’s sexual orientation is not “chosen” it is one we come with at birth. And after ten years of tough therapy with a well known shrink I came to truly understand the words of Jesus:
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
and true mental health as:
What is good mental health? In his book, Ash Wednesday, J. R. Mabry has the Sheriff say: “If I have learned anything from my mother, Jake, it’s there are no good people. There are only people in various stages of being fu. .cked up. Some less, some more.”
Good mental health is the ability both to value life and to engage in a life of affirming other people and creatures and value their lives as we do our own, seeing them as independent from us. Good mental health means the ability to behave differently depending upon the circumstances and not expect every thing go our way. Good mental health is our ability to see everyone, regardless of social status, sexual identification, and color, simply as a fellow human being.
Messages like the one I received can truly hurt people, and push some towards suicide. I have had kids become suicidal and they truly do not forget them. What I have learned to do is the message of Jesus:
“But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people. .John 2:24
———
Words hurt more than a knife. My friend and Spiritual Director Jay Swanson sent me this poem to close with:
a blessing for those who care about strangers
What a waste.
That wasn’t going to get you a nicer apartment.
Bless those who give their health in service of patients who might not even deserve it.
What if that patient took unnecessary risks or was selfish or was never going to say thank you? You could have been protecting yourself or God forbid, sleeping through the night.
Bless those who listen to long, winding stories from lonely hearts.
Instead of rushing off to more interesting friends.
You picked boredom or patience instead of the warmth of being known.
That was your time and you’re never going to get it back.
Bless those who loved people who weren’t grateful.
The sick who endangered your health,
The deeply boring, who know you have things to do.
Loving people can be the most meaningful thing in the world, but it can also be hard and scary and boring and disgusting or sad or anxiety inducing with zero overtime.
Thank you to all those who make these bad investments.
Those acts of love that are not going to add up to success in the way that the world sees it.
You, my darling, are the definition of love.
This blessing was inspired by my conversation with nurse and writer Christie Watson
#######
Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
punkpriest1@gmail.com
415-305-2124
River’s Creed:
“I write because this is the way I protest”.
Ministry on the streets is the way I resist, dong what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment.”
“Now I hand down to you what has been revealed to me: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b]3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[c]5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe[e] because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me[f] for anything, I will do it. (John 14:1-14 NRSVEU)
Mental Health Awareness Month What it is: May is mental health awareness month, making mental health and suicide prevention bigger topics than ever. #mentalhealthmatters has around 42 billion views on TikTok, and #mentalhealthawareness has racked up 20 billion. Why the conversation is changing: The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that suicidal ideation, especially for teenage girls, is continuing on a concerning trajectory. In 2021, 30% of girls said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 24% said they had an actual plan to end their life. According to data published by Mental Health America, 16.4% of youth reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the last 12 months. This news comes at a time when adults are feeling so lonely that the US surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health emergency. Stigma around mental health topics appears to be eroding, but that isn’t necessarily leading to better mental health outcomes for teens and for the population at large.
Conversation Starter: What do you think are the biggest contributors to mental health issues for your generation? (Check out our new video series on Mental Health for more help having this conversation!)
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What is good mental health? In his book, Ash Wednesday, J. R. Mabry has the Sheriff say: “If I have learned anything from my mother, Jake, it’s there are no good people. There are only people in various stages of being fu. .cked up. Some less, some more.”
Good mental health is the ability both to value life and to engage in a life of affirming other people and creatures and value their lives as we do our own, seeing them as independent from us. Good mental health means the ability to behave differently depending upon the circumstances and not expect every thing go our way. Good mental health is our ability to see everyone, regardless of social status, sexual identification, and color, simply as a fellow human being.
“In Christ there is no east or west. in him no pride of birth, the chosen family God has blessed now spans the whole wide earth. For God in Christ has made us one from every land, race, and sexual orientation, has reconciled us through the Son, and met us all with Grace.”
We live in America’s loneliest era. Our country is so divided, we stay buried in our social media and do not talk to one another, and most importantly listen. Good mental health means to”shelter our souls.” For me it means to dwell in Jesus. “Dwelling in Jesus”, means to be open to all, to listen, letting them find good mental health, and a “dwelling in whatever their belief in the Higher Power.”
Recently a young man came to my place. He was well dressed, and he said don’t you remember me, and I said, “Well, I am not sure,” “You knew me as “Chaos”, who at fifteen had been high on fentanyl and knocked me down, sending me on a two year journey of recovery. He said:
“You simply forgave me, and continued to be my friend…and for the next year you simply listened when I came to your house, even in pain you listened.” Through our listening I found a Higher Power in AA.” I went home to my parents, and am now in college. I keep a photo of you in my wallet to remind me you care and you listen, never judging.”
Listening saves lives, simply listening with out judgment.
The word “dwell” is related to an old English word for “heresy” or “madness”. Perhaps it is a sort of insanity to believe that God dwells here, with us.
Or that, somehow, resurrection is an end to our exile, and an invitation to come home to God. If so, the madness is the long-lingering hope of the human race, the dream to dwell. Not only a hope, however it is hard work, this effort to shelter our souls.
To “dwell” means we struggle as a family with all people in finding safety in life, in finding “good mental health”.
None of us are “good”, but we try as hard as we can and move from the stage of evil ultimately into the fullness of God, the fullness of accepting all as a reflection of Jesus of Nazareth–black, white, brown, blue, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning and all in between. The fullness of good mental health.
In the midst of our fears and uncertainty and old Methodist hymn, one upon which I was raised and one that will be sung at my funeral rings out:
“O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.”
Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
————————–
Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
punkpriest1@gmail.com
415-305-2124
River’s Creed:
“I write because this is the way I protest”.
Ministry on the streets is the way I resist, dong what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment.”
“Now I hand down to you what has been revealed to me: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”
TEMENOS CATHOLIC WORKER 