Changes

I have hanging  a beautiful piece of art painted by a lady who admires our work. It is of a painting of a bleeding heart, with the words “counselor” and the phrase, “Love endures,” written across.

I am reminded it now, as many of us weather a season of loss, life transitions, and letting go. This season is difficult, painful, and one in which we wonder if there is any hope and if we can make it. Life is changing, and it is scary. The print reminds me of the communion of saints, in which we all share the timeless mystery of God’s love for each of us.

These are times which call us to go deeply into that communion of energy in prayer, loving servce, and a contemplation.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in the seventeenth century said:

“No longer should our brothers and sisters be seen wandering the roads and in the squares, starving and trembling with the cold, under the icy north wind, naked members of the Body of Christ. .There ought to be beggars and destitute persons no longer. All should be equal.”

Change and care come from a one on one approach to personally caring for others, and moves out like ripples in water to a larger ocean. We are joined together in the Mystery of Love and Life.

Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

Punkpriest1@gmail.com

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Reflections

.

As the sun leaves, rippling layers of fog

along the ridge, begin to join us, will come

right down to the blanket’s edge, there

throughout the night, watching us breathe.

Settled, then suggests no need

to authenticate by reference to anything

other than itself—the poem, its words.

Summer leaves

carry present

future.

Take note of the pause

holding the courtyard, and the chill

that drafts the window, rounds bared feet

and ankles, draws attention to bamboo leaves’

gentle affirmation.

 

Meditations from the slow lane

jerrybolick.blogspot.com

Stereotyping and Bullying

 

Stereotypes and Bullying

“F-E-A-R has two meanings:

Forget everything And Run

or

Face Everything and Rise

The choice is yours”

There is a story of a man in Northern Missouri who bullied people in a small town for many years. He could be charming, and when a person would not give him what he wanted he would use stereotypes such as calling him “old” “lazy”,  “faggot”,  “nigra”, and so on, and run the person down until he gave in, and than walk away ashamed, he shamed him through stereotypes and used stereotypes as a means of separating himself from the person and not see the person   as a human being.

He would hit people or threaten them.He would cut them off  half-way in a conversation when the person disagreed with him and ultimately reject the person.

One  day in broad daylight, in the middle of the street, he was murdered, and to this day no one has ever been arrested.

One young United Methodist minister, new to the town was the only clergy who would have his funeral and  minister to the family, the rest were afraid. From that experience that young minister learned two things.

First to withhold judgment, to treat every one equally, for it is God’s place to judge, and to serve the living;

Secondly to never tolerate bullies.

“F-E-A-R has two meanings:

Forget everything And Run

or

Face Everything and Rise

The choice is yours”

Bullying comes in many forms. Withdrawing support when one  does not get one’s way; being unwilling to listen, simply to shut the person down, unless one gets one’s  way;  negative gossip; stereotyping: labeling a person old, a faggot, a nigra, a dim wit, a dumb ass, and so on. It comes in always  having to have  the last word, regardless of whether we are right or wrong, in controlling relationships, and the living habits of people, it come in not letting people be who they are.

We  deal with that person, and the bullying  by facing our own fears, our  own need for their approval, our own loneliness and neediness, and rising and simply saying “No”, and then walk away saying good bye. If a person continues to come than we fight, and we fight hard,win or lose.  If they threaten to walk away–we say “goodbye”. We never tolerate being put down, or threatened again. Loneliness ends when we learn to love ourselves, and loving one’s self starts by standing up for one’s self, and than move into loving others.

We can love the person with all of our heart,but when they hurt us, knowing they hurt us, it is time to let go, and say good bye,  and when through the grace of Jesus Christ they change, we can talk and enter into a new relationship, but we also must know that the chances are few and far between for those changes to occur , so we move on, kicking the dust off our feet, into a new life.

Dr. River Damien Sims

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

415-305-2124

http://www.temenos.org