“Psalm 34: Taste and See that God is Good How exactly do I do this? By opening my heart in gratitude and praise for all the gifts of life. By focusing on the astounding intricacy of the world. By attending to the still small voices of healing and renewal which save me in times of trouble. And by loving life and honoring that gift, speaking truth, doing good, seeking peace. When I serve the highest I know I serve whatever God there is. The joy of this, no matter what my troubles, will keep me whole.”
Christine Robinson, Unitarian Universalist minister
“The need comes on me now to speak across the years to those who will finally live here after the present ruin, in the absence of most of my kind who by now are dead, or have given their minds to machines and become strange, “over-qualified” for the hard handwork that must be done to remake, so far as humans can remake, all that humans have unmade. To you, whoever you may be, I say: Come, meaning to stay. Come, willing to learn what this place, like no other, will ask of you and your children, if you mean to stay. “This land responds to good treatment,” I heard my father say time and again in his passion to renew, to make whole, what ill use had broken. And so to you, whose lives taken from the life of this place I cannot foretell, I say: Come, and treat it well.”
Wendell Berry, from This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems, 2013
Image: participants in the Wendell Berry Farming Program
“In this quiet place, O God, help us to find quiet for our souls. For we need quietness. Shouting and tumult are always about us, and the noise of the world never dies down. Even in the night-time when we seek rest, the voices of the day go on. But in your presence, there is quietness. O God, let us find your presence now!”
A. Powell Davies, Unitarian minister, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection
“Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one’s existence.”
“O, Great Spirit, Whose voice I hear in the winds Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me I come to you as one of your many children I am small and weak I need your strength and wisdom May I walk in beauty Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made And my ears sharp to your voice. Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children. The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock Make me strong! Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy….myself Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes, So that when life fades as the fading sunset, May my spirit come to you without shame.”
Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark, 1887
“Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift. There is nothing small in it. For the greatest things grow by God’s Law out of the smallest. But to live your life you must discipline it. You must not fritter it away.. but make your thoughts, your acts, all work to the same end and that end, not self but God. That is what we call character.”
Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, raised Unitarian, died on this day in 1910
“Any step we take in mindfulness that brings us a little more solidity, freedom, and joy also benefits society and our ancestors. Don’t think that what you do to yourself doesn’t affect the rest of society and the world. Peace and freedom always begin with our own practice. If transformation takes place in us, it takes place in the world at the same time. If peace is in you, peace becomes possible everywhere in the cosmos.”
“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.”
Traditional date of the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad began to receive the Qur’an, in 610
“God calls. The bells ring in the temple; The perfume rises from the aloes; The sage in meditation sits. Om! Tat! Sat! The nothingness of the now; The Everythingness of Eternity. God calls.
God calls. The muezzin’s voice from minaret tower cries: “Come to prayer, come to prayer, come to prayer.” A million Moslems then stretch out their prayer rugs, A million and a myriad million more. “There is no God but God, To this I now bear witness, There is no God but God; Mohammed is His Prophet; come to prayer.” God calls.
God calls. On Friday eve the Jew prepares himself, Walks to his synagogue and prays, Takes down the Torah scroll and reads. Reads what his forefathers read: “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One!” “And His Name is One.” This is the Law and the prophets. God calls.
God calls. The stations slowly passing one by one. She tells her beads and tells them o’er and o’er. Ave Maria! Gratia plena! Ora! Ora pro nobis! Paternoster qui est in caelis, Sanctificetur tuo nomen— Sanctificetur! Sanctificetur! God calls.
God calls. The branches rustle lightly in the breeze, Above the music of pagoda’s bells. His humble repeat finished ere ‘tis noon, The bhikshu tells the children of the Buddha, They listen, one voice speaks in the forest, Then all is silent, save the breeze … There slowly comes that feeling of great peace. Shanti! … Shanti! … Shanti! … God calls.
God calls. The men from every race have come together, From every land, from every sect or cult. They gather at the temple for their worship. Love ye, every man his neighbor; Be ye brethren, ye who are my brothers. Worship Him, the Father of us all; Worship Him, in Love and Faith and Joy; Worship Him in Silence … God calls.”
Samuel Leonard Lewis, known as Murshid Sam or Sufi Sam (1896 – 1971)
International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
“Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star’s stories. Remember the moon, know who she is. Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the strongest point of time. Remember sundown and the giving away tonight. Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath. You are evidence of her life, and her mother’s, and hers. Remember your father. He is your life, also. Remember the earth whose skin you are: red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth brown earth, we are earth. Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems. Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the origin of this universe. Remember you are all people and all people are you. Remember you are this universe and this universe is you. Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you. Remember language comes from this. Remember the dance language is, that life is. Remember.”
Remember by Joy Harjo, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 23rd US Poet Laureate
King Edward Street Chapel 