Piloting Faith: There is a counter-movement at work...

A Word for the Day...

In a world that seems driven by powers we don't understand, I appreciate Diana Butler Bass' observation:

"At the same moment when massive global institutions seem to rule the world, there is an equally strong counter-movement among regular people to claim personal agency in our own lives. We grow food in our backyards. We brew beer. We weave cloth and knit blankets. We shop locally. We create our own playlists. We tailor delivery of news and entertainment.

In every arena, we customize and personalize our lives, creating material environments to make meaning, express a sense of uniqueness, and engage in causes that matter to us and the world. It makes perfect sense that we are making our spiritual lives as well, crafting a new theology. And that God is far more personal and close at hand than once imagined."

- Dr. Diana Butler Bass, author of Grounded: Finding God in the World - A Spiritual Revolution

Prayer for the Week

Yesterday I prayed for mercy, but today I need to ask all over again.

Judgment comes easily for me. Resentment sticks to me like an old habit. But compassion and forgiveness are slow to occur to me–when they occur at all.

Sometimes I forget you said, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," and "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."

May mercy become my first impulse, for their sake, and not mine. Thank you for the mercies upon mercies you have shown meevery day.

Amen.

(adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess, and David Van Biema)