Love Rescue Me
Love rescue me
Come forth and speak to me
Raise me up and don't let me fall
Bono and Bob Dylan
First character, "I've done it all--the 12
steps, the 7 habits, the 4 agreements."
Second character, "And what'd you learn?"
First character, "Happiness is rarely
numerical."
"Rhymes with Orange," comic strip by
Hillary Price
"I hate everything! I hate the world," Sally tells her brother Charlie Brown.
"I thought you had inner peace," Charlie answers.
"I do," Sally tells him, "but I still have outer obnoxiousness!"
Some days do take a toll.
Some days, it is of our own doing.
I have been on the road for three weeks. There were times when I did not practice what I preach.
I did not say no when I needed to.
I did not pause when I needed to.
The result? Depletion. And I felt disconnected. Not to mention the weight of guilt. (Which is as helpful as a 'screen door on a submarine,' as my son would tell me.)
I can relate to an email from a subscriber, "I can't keep up. I'm canceling my subscription. It's too much. I can't even manage my own life."
Tonight I'm home. In my garden. From my window I see smears of yellow, the blooms of Black-Eyed-Susan, optimistic and hopeful in the dusk light.
Sanctuary is about restoration or refueling.
Yes, life is not always fair.
Life can be heavy, from accident, mishap, misfortune or tragedy.
Or we grow tired.
Sometimes from our own making.
And sometimes we break in places we didn't know were cracked.
And we lose the bigger picture.
Or, maybe we lose the restorative power of small.
The ordinary.
The grace in what is tangible, and real.
The grace in what is grounded.
Maybe, we need to find refueling in incarnation. In-the-flesh.
For me, this past week I found restoration in touch, friendship, music, laughter and tears. We need sanctuary in ordinary days.
(If you have not seen the play Wicked, buy a ticket now. Or find the music. It is about the relationship between Elphaba and Galinda--the wicked witch of the west and Glinda the good witch, from the Wizard of Oz--and the way in which we touch one another "for good." See the music link below.)
Here's what I learned this week: A sanctuary rebuilds us with love.
Although I cannot relate, I found solace in the story about the tragic bombing in the town of Omagh, Northern Ireland (in 1998 twenty-nine people died as a result of the attack and approximately 220 people were injured; the attack was described by the BBC as "Northern Ireland's worst single terrorist atrocity" and by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as an "appalling act of savagery and evil"). After the attack, Daryl Simpson created a choir of Catholic and Protestant teenagers, to use music as a way to begin the healing. ("Love Rescue Me" is a U2 song sung by The Omagh Community Youth Choir. www.youtube.Omagh )
And the rebuilding happens one, small, intentional step at a time.
A monk said to Joshu, "I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me."
"Have you eaten your rice porridge?" asked Joshu.
"Yes, I have," replied the monk.
"Then you had better wash your bowl," said Joshu.
The stars are out tonight. The sky is clear. I'm going to go sit on the patio, and let the music of The Omagh Youth Choir enfold and embrace me, under the night sky.
Love Rescue Me
Love rescue me
Come forth and speak to me
Raise me up and don't let me fall
No man is my enemy
My own hands imprison me
Love rescue me
Many strangers have I met On the road to my regret Many lost who seek to find themselves in me They ask me to reveal
The very thoughts they would conceal
Love rescue me
And the sun in the sky
Makes a shadow of you and I
Stretching out as the sun sinks in the sea
I'm here without a name
In the palace of my shame
Said, love rescue me
In the cold mirror of a glass
I see my reflection pass
See the dark shades of what I used to be
See the purple of her eyes The scarlet of my lies
Love rescue me
Yeah, though I walk
In the valley of shadow
Yeah, I will fear no evil
I have cursed thy rod and staff
They no longer comfort me
Love rescue me
Yeah I'm here without a name
In the palace of my shame
I said love rescue me
I've conquered my past
The future is here at last
I stand at the entrance
To a new world I can see
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me
Love rescue me
Written by Bono and Bob Dylan
Thanksgiving Eve
It's so easy to dream of the days gone by
It's a hard thing to think of the times to come
But the grace to accept ev'ry moment as a gift
Is a gift that is given to some
What can you do with your days but work & hope
Let your dreams bind your work to your play
What can you do with each moment of your life
But love til you've loved it away
Love til you've loved it away
There are sorrows enough for the whole world's end
There are no guarantees but the grave
And the life that I live & the time I have spent
Are a treasure too precious to save
As it was so it is, as it is shall it be
And it shall be while lips that kiss have breath
Many waters indeed only nurture Love's seed
And its flower overshadows the power of death
Words & Music by Bob Franke
©1982 Telephone Pole Music Publishing Co. (BMI)
God,
God bless our contradictions, those parts of us which seem out of character.
Let us be boldly and gladly out of character.
Let us be creatures of paradox and variety: creatures of contrast; of light and shade: creatures of faith.
God be our constant.
Let us step out of character into the unknown, to struggle and love and do what we will.
Amen
Michael Luenig
New pictures of Terry's garden
TerrysGarden
playingforchange - Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a film that explores our connections in a world overwhelmed with division
youtube.playingforchange
Photo montage to U2 Love Rescue Me
youtube.com/U2
The Lyrics to For Good from the musical Wicked
youtube.WICKEDforgood
Kristin Chenoweth with lyrics, For Good
www.youtube.forgood
Look for Terry's new book,
The Power
of Pause:
becoming more by doing less,
available
soon.
loyolapress.terryhershey
Sabbath
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To See God In All Things
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Live life fully from the inside out
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