Amazing beauty. . .

Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland 2011 from Flatlight Films on Vimeo.

Sunday prayer

God, who is Creator, care-giver and challenger, the heavens truly declare your glory, and the skies your handiwork, though we must confess that most of the times we city dwellers are shielded from that knowledge by the bright lights with which we surround ourselves. Our artificial lighting comforts us in the darkness and allows us to pretend that our creations and our work is all that matters. But this summer some of us have ventured out to the desert or mountain top or some deserted beach and looked up and seen your glory splashed across the skies. Some of us have even stopped to think that the mist which stretches across the night sky which we call the Milky Way can be resolved by a good telescope into hundreds of billions of stars.

Then we have asked with the psalmist, O Lord, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the daughter of man that you might care for her? Yet you have made us but a little lower than the angels and set us the task of nurturing and caring for our small part of creation. And that’s the problem. We have taken the garden you have given to our care and used its waters for sewers, its land for a garbage dump, and its creatures for target practice.

It’s really no surprise after all, Lord. How can we be expected to nurture the creation when we won’t even treat each other with respect? When we tell the poor to get a job, and won’t pay a living wage, when we tell the sick to get well, and refuse them health care, when we tell the prisoners to reform, and refuse them employment when they do. How can we ever love our neighbors when our response to those who strike out against oppression is to shoot first and ask questions later?

But that’s why we’re here this morning, Lord. We have heard rumors of the good news which says it is possible to alter our course. We have heard stories of Jesus and the amazing power of his love – power to change people like Peter and Paul, Magdalene and Helena, Augustine and Luther, Wesley and Asbury, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr., and even some of our neighbors. Power to recreate us in your image.

So we pray for the gift of your Holy Spirit to come upon us, that we might not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds and hearts, that we might live out the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We know you can do this, Lord. You can do it right now, if only we would pray sincerely and with full attention the prayer that Jesus taught us, saying…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Dr. Tom Downing
First United Methodist Church
Dallas, Texas
July 27, 2008

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The beauty of reconciliation

Wonder if reconciliation across all the "dividing lines" of our world is even possible?

Disturbed by all the hatred?

Concerned about some of your own feelings of alienation and despair?

Take the time to sit back, possibly grab a beverage, relax and just watch this amazing story brought to you by YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZjZQ6KkiUk.

I'd really appreciate your reactions.

Peace.

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Trout and Better Living. . .

Trout fishing--well, simply put, there is nothing quite like it.

Since my college days in in the Ozarks, when I scheduled classes to allow for plenty of "stream time," I've been hooked on the sport.

I prefer fly fishing, but I've caught more than my share using spinning gear, not to mention country boy garlic cheese set ups! the soybean farmers taught me a lot about landing Rainbows!

Watching a Brown run at a dry fly, breaking the water as it scoops up what appears to be a tasty morsel--hard to beat in my book.

Rainbows, Brookies, Cutthroats, Goldens, Browns. . .each is so unique and truly beautiful.

Catch.

Observe and appreciate.

Release, unless it is lunch time.

Just being out in the woods, wading a stream, camping on a river bank--it all adds up to renewal and regeneration.

I'm a card carrying member of Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org/).

Trout magazine comes with membership. In the latest issue (Winter 2008), I learned that what's good for trout turns out to be good for people.

The editors of the magazine published their legislative agenda in this issue. I was amazed at how each point, if enacted by the Congress, would make life better for both fish and humans.

Here's a sampling for your consideration:

In the current Farm Bill (the same one that funds the Food Stamp program for low-income families, as well as the free and reduced lunch programs for our children), TU is lobbying for $6 billion in funding for conservation and water improvement projects to protect the habitat we humans share and enjoy with the fish of the land!

Hardrock Mining Law reform provides for action to improve 40% of Western headwater streams that have been degraded by pollution from abandoned gold and silver mines. The recommended bill would clean up old mines that compromise the health of fish and folks.

Clean Water Restoration Act (H. R. 2421 and S. 1870) would allow for the ongoing regulation of streams and wetlands development--again, provisions that benefit trout and the rest of us.

The Energy Bill needs strengthening so that regulatory protection does not allow oil and gas exploration on public lands without the application of Clean Water Act regulations.

Fish-friendly agency budgets that fully fund conservation programs, including fisheries and a number of conservation projects, are also targeted for support in the next authorization legislation.

Trout lists several other legislative issues, but you get the picture.

Take care of the trout and we'll be insuring higher quality of life for ourselves!

Got a pole? Or, maybe a canoe?


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God, miracles and children

"In music, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness ... I see what people call God in all these things. "
- Pablo Casals

"The child must know that he is a miracle, a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been and until the end of the world there will not be another child like him. He is a unique thing, a unique thing, from the beginning until the end of the world. Now, that child acquires a responsibility: “Yes, it is true, I am a miracle. I am a miracle like a tree is a miracle, like a flower is a miracle. Now, if I am a miracle, can I do a bad thing? I can't because I am a miracle, a miracle.”
- Pablo Casals

[Original watercolor, "Traversing the Hills" Limited Edition Print by Roderick MacIverUnframed Original from Heron Dance A Pause for Beauty #197-- www.herondance.org.]