Thursday, May 2, 2013

Pentecost Prayer Day 30

I am energized by all the religious conflict being brought out into the open after the 9/11 bombings. We have long needed this international exchange to define our values vs. our religious rituals. It is challenging all of us to personally define what we individually believe.

These discussions may be difficult and divisive in the short term, but I believe they will bear very rich fruit. Many families in many cultures believe in the same values for their communities and family lives. If we continue to prosecute all those who use killing instead of conversation as a form of conflict resolution, we will eventually reach a consensus on creating peace on earth.

My prayer for Pentecost is that we will realize that all peacemakers are, in fact, parts of the earthly body of The Sacred Spirit.

Pentecost Prayer Day 29

There are some with whom I am comfortable discussing "God," but this is a limited comfort zone. Mostly, I ask people to tell me about their manifestations of "God." Even those who seem to share my values are often limited in their abilities to assume these same values in people of other faith tribes.

My hunch is that all who feel responsible compassion for their own families are capable of feeling the same for the families of others. We have been fed fear by many generations of wayward humanity, but it all comes down to all of us being made from the same "stuff." Cosmologists now say that all of creation is made of stardust. I love this belief system, and it only increases my sense of the sacred.

I am perfectly at peace believing that I was born of the most magnificent body in the universe, and that I am destined to return to being part of that great celestial "star."

My prayer for Pentecost is that we all see ourselves and all others as parts of The Infinite Power with bits of The Sacred Spirit instead of attempting to bring infinity down to our own limited levels of understanding.