Greetings to each of you. It’s been a week of great silence and noise, noisy politics, war, and the silence after a great storm Helene. My heart is heavy for those who lost so much in the horrific storm. People are still missing. The death total is at least 232 from the storm that swept across six states. Yet there are still those in high places that deny that climate change had anything to do with the disruptions.
How would you classify your week? How did you deal with these occurrence and personal challenges you may have faced? How are you feeling now? Are your dreams still smiling within you? Is hope alive and breaking forth in your daily life? Do you stand in awe of the color purple that is manifested in a variety of ways?
Former President Jimmy Carter celebrated his one hundred birthday this week. He can tell you as we can tell each other about overcoming obstacles. What an amazing life he has led.
Kris Kristofferson, Hollywood actor, great singer and song writer, Rhodes scholar and antiwar activist died at the age of eighty-eight. I shared platform with Kris during the Persian Gulf War. He was committed to a different way of settling disputes, ways that lifted humanity. With some vanity I remember that he called me his favorite preacher.
Rosh Hashanah initiated the New Year in the Jewish tradition, a time of renewal and moving forward in life. It honors Sabbath. It is not merely about not doing unholy things on a particular day, it’s about one’s life becoming Sabbath.
The week climaxed with a conversation with one of my childhood classmates, Lorretta. Several times we exchanged the idea that we missed each other and loved each other. The Blake family moved from our hometown of Liberty, MO, in 1961.
What was special about the conversation was that the anchor was still there. The spirit of extended family was still there.
I began this message with music from George Harrison, My Sweet Lord. Let’s hear again the lyrics.
My sweet Lord
My Lord
Mmm, my Lord
I really want to see you
Really want to be with you
Really want to see you, Lord
But it takes so long, my Lord
My sweet Lord
My Lord
My Lord
I really want to know you
Really want to go with you
Really want to show you, Lord
But it won't take long, my Lord (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
My Lord (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
Really want to see you
Really want to see you
Really want to see you, Lord
Really want to see you, Lord
But it takes so long, my lord (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
My Lord (Hallelujah)
My Lord (Hallelujah)
I really want to know you (Hallelujah)
Really want to go with you (Hallelujah)
Really want to show you, Lord (Ah, ah)
But it won't take long, my Lord (Ah, ah, hallelujah)
Mm, mm, mm (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
My, my Lord (Hallelujah)
Mm, mm, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
My, my, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
Oh, oh my sweet Lord (Krishna Krishna)
Ooh, ooh, ooh (Hare Hare)
Now, I really want to see you (Hare Rama)
Really want to be with you (Hare Rama)
Really want to see you, Lord (Ah, ah)
But it takes so long, my Lord (Ah, ah, hallelujah)
Mm, my Lord (Hallelujah)
My, my, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Krishna Krishna)
My lord (Hare Hare)
Mm, mm (Gurur Brahma)
Mm, mm (Gurur Vishnu)
Mm, mm (Gurur Devo)
Mm, mm (Maheshwarah)
My sweet Lord (Guru Sakshata)
My sweet Lord (Parabrahma)
My, my, my Lord (Tasmayi Shree)
My, my, my, my Lord (Guruve namah)
My sweet Lord (Hare Rama)(Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Krishna Krishna)
My lord (Hare Hare)
Harrison beautifully captures the longing of the human spirit to find surety. We want to know Krishna, God, the Great Spirit and Mystery and Immensity. We want to experience it, to hold it so that we know it’s real. Harrison was also my favorite Beatle. It often seems to me that he was struggling as I was with the ultimate meaning of life, the reason we are here, and what we are to do while here. His fascination with and dedication to learn more about Indian culture and the unfolding of his own soul spoke to me. In various ways he sought to remove the clutter from his life to find his authentic self.
Gandhi seemed to have found the connection with the All-Pervading Spirit.
Earlier this evening I heard Lara Downes accompanying two singers singing “We Shall Overcome.” After explaining its origin and its use during the Civil Rights Movement, she stated that surely the stanza "we are not afraid" must have held special meaning. Not being afraid during the vicious, hate filled days of the movement, they were able to sing this song of affirmation.
“Fear is one of the persistent hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the poor, the dispossessed, the disinherited. There is nothing new or recent about fear—it is doubtless as old as the life of man on the planet..." Thurman continues to state that it often arises from a sense of isolation. My question again. How are you? How are you doing. You are not alone. We are a bridge over your and our troubled waters.
It is our responsibility to reduce the sense of isolation. So that we still see ourselves as kinfolk. That was what my conversation evoked. Over the years our childhood connections are still there.
That is what I want for us today, to not fear the abominations, heartbreaks, and disillusionment. Fear puts whatever you are afraid in control of you. You are captive to it.
This is a new year for each of us. A time to renew commitment to a more just and compassionate world where everyone can live neath their vine and fig tree and be unafraid.
Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to weakness, to vainglory, to sin. Though my days be marked with failures, stumblings, fallings, let my spirit be free so that Thou mayest take it and redeem my moments in all the ways my needs reveal. Give me the quiet assurance of Thy Love and Thy Presence.
Grant than I may pass through
The coming year with a faithful heart.
– Howard Thurman
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