Earliest known image of Mary and Jesus: 3rd C image of Mary Nursing Jesus

Catacomb of Paiscilla, near Rome

 

Mary’s Song

by Luci Shaw

 

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast
keep warm this small hot naked star
fallen to my arms. (Rest…
you who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies
the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies
whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.

His breath (so slight it seems
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps
to sprout a world. Charmed by dove’s voices,
the whisper of straw, he dreams,
hearing no music from his other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,
all years. Older than eternity, now he
is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed
to my poor planet, caught
that I might be free, blind in my womb
to know my darkness ended,
brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
and for him to see me mended
I must see him torn.

Mary, theotokos, the birth-giver-of-God.

 

Day 19.

 

Patience.

This is Moo. He has the patience of a saint. In October, he too a 30-something Buddhist Monk riding. The monk emegrated from Sri Lanka in 2007. In the airport upon his arrival he saw a movie poster with a balck man in a cowboy hat riding a horse. Ever since, my noble friend has had the American Dream if riding a horse. In October, Moo made that dream come true.

Day 18.

Mercy.

Day 17

 

Freedom

Day 16.

 

Strength.

 

Throughout time God made great and mighty acts of salvation known through water. At the creation of the world, the Spirit moved across the waters bring all that is into being, God delivered the people of Israel through the flood and through the Red Sea. In the fullness of time, God sent the beloved Son, Jesus nurtured in the waters of Mary’s womb, baptized in the waters of the Jordan by John and filled with the Holy Spirit. So too, God meets us in the water of our tears holy and mighty signs of the grace we can only barely begin to comprehend.... This seems especially true of those that well up against our will as we sit among the faithful of the community gathered worship and praise holding the everyday memories of  ancient griefs and the emergent sorrows of living and loving.Amen.



Day 15.

 

 Rejoice.

"Therefore, rejoice, O, heavens and you who dwell in them..."

 (Rev 12:12).

 

Day 14

 

Gather.

Daily, compassionate hands gather to offer hope and healing to any who would come.

When 2 or 3...

 

 

Day 13

 

Justice

Safety. Compassion. Outward and visible. Finding some order suffering's chaos.



Day 12.

Hope

The number of inpt behavior health beds declining. People literally wait for days for a bed. Pts are hoping to have their names added to this list.

 

Day 11.

 

Steady

96 English Foxhounds standing still, facing the same direction.

 

 

Day 10.

Holy

Speaking the names. Annual Memorial Service for families living with perinatal loss.

 

 

Day 9.

 

Delight.

In the Baptismal gown made from the parachute that saved great grandpa's life in WW 2.

 

Day 8.

 

Wisdom.

23rd Psalm.

Robert Alter's translation.

 #rethinkchurch

Day 7.

 

Ready.

"For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God made ready beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:10).

 



 

Day 6.

Awake.

"He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep"

(PS 121:4).

 

 

Day 5.

 

 Flood.

Katrina responders: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me…. The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me…. Deliverance belongs to the LORD!"

(Jonah 2)

— in New Orleans, LA.

 



Day 4.

 

Time.

"Then the angle who I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: ‘There will be no more delay, but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled.."

 (Revelation 10:5-7)

 

Peace. We await the Prince of Peace who transcends all human hearts and minds. #rethinkchurch

Bound

#rethinkchurch

Advent dawns holding tender promises before

the ice and cold settleing upon our shores.

1st Day of Advent
#rethinkchurch
"Go!"

..."you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an unexpexted hour." (Matt. 24:44).