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Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Reflection from our Pastors
Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian McLaren
One of our reading groups is reading this book by Brian McLaren. The title is very frightening and of course it is an attention-getter! The topic is an important one, urging us not to deny our planetary reality today. Theology professor, Garret Galvin, PhD, at the Franciscan School of Theology, University of San Diego Lecture Series last week said something similar: don’t deny what is happening in our world. His advice was not to “continually scan our phones for news but, yes, watch the news every day. Do not say ‘I don’t want to hear this anymore. Or, I don’t want to know what is being said. But watch the news at least once every day.” Jesus the Christ has made it clear that there is a reality of Peace that we may not yet understand or know, that is not of this world, but it exists and our faith reminds us of that.
Pastor Steve Garnass-Holmes speaks of gratitude as an antidote to despair in yesterday’s poem. May we persevere with what we know as true and good regardless of the outcome.
Pastor Jane
Before you despair
Before you despair give thanks.
For the miracle that you are here,
that your flesh has sustained you.
For all those who have loved you,
even poorly, along the way,
mostly unnoticed.
For all those who do not despair,
and the grace sustaining them.
For the people who were the words
of the Teacher written for you, and those
who were merely the blackboard.
For all the beauty in the world,
every bit—not just the sunset
but the earth, the sun, the eyes.
For your own forgiveness (it's a fact,
don't argue, write it down).
For all those little moments that showed
what you were hoping for:
the unexpected gift,
the healing of a wound,
the little wren that came close,
the child's laughter that once
broke the balloon of your sorrow.
For Emily Dickinson and the color green
and thumbnails and that whales sing,
give thanks for each one—
don't leave any out, list them all.
Perhaps your despair will forget
what it wanted to say.
But if it remembers, give thanks
for the grace to despair and carry on.
www.unfoldinglight.net
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