The #31daysofhope blogs end as they began with a wish for the new year from Denise Levertov.
Denise Levertov: “For the New Year, 1981”
I have a small grain of hope—
one small crystal that gleams
clear colors out of transparency
I need more.I break … read more.
The words of Ann Tyndall are important as we prepare for a new year:
This morning I walked the dog up the street. It was a perfect winter’s morning. An icy breeze was blowing. Clouds were gathered in the sky. As the sun rose the … read more.
Woody Guthrie was amazing. I was probably in my 30’s before I knew that the songs that I thought were ancient folks songs whose authors were lost to the mists of history were written by Woody. “This Land is Your Land,” I discovered later … read more.
I’m not one to use what’s considered to be vulgar speech, especially on a blog for my church, but sometimes it is worth doing. This image — source unknown — floated through my social media a year or more ago. It aligns with what … read more.
Someone on Facebook posted a photo of a small article clipped from the paper and tagged my brother Michael, so I read the article. It was about both my brother and me when we were taken out of our burning house in 1959. … read more.
There’s a phrase that Martin Luther King, Jr. picked up from Rev. Theodore Parker. King’s version was simpler and more powerful: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
What is most important seems always to be arduous to achieve. Learning … read more.
Hope arises from the network of relationships we have. And my wish for each and everyone is that we can rest in that web of connection. More specifically, the words of James Curtis return to me every year at Christmas:
I wish for you, all … read more.
It seems that it was every Christmas Eve, we would all climb into cars and drive to church for the service that started at 11:00 p.m.. The sanctuary would be crowded with so many people all holding unlit candles. There would be the reading … read more.
It was sunny and cold. At the end of the ritual of blessing for someone killed in our community, a small dog came limping up to the gathering. He seemed fearless of the humans chatting with each other in small groups. In fact, he … read more.
Music has the capacity to awaken, enliven and inspire us. This song performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock has been part of the by-heart music that lives within me and gives me hope. We have been in difficult places before, and we continue to … read more.
