A Prayer for May

As we take this moment to enter into stillness together,

We sense how very difficult it is to be here in this moment,

Just as we are, just as the world is, just as everything is.

All that is real and alive exists in this moment alone,

All that is possible and beautiful is present only now.

Each slender thing that slouches and each big thing that booms

Can only be felt and seen and heard and held in the container

Of this fleeting moment that soon ends but somehow never ceases.

As the church year winds down, as the school year comes to a close,

We don’t quite know how, but things have gotten ahead of us:

It’s not yet summer, but already we have begun to plan for fall,

It’s not yet summer, but we have felt the sweltering heat of the sun,

It’s not yet summer, but we have known the chill of death in our midst.

Let us hold one another as this moment holds us—securely, tenderly,

With great care and great affection, with profound regard for what is.

And let us hold this moment, let us heed this moment and praise it.

Let us offer ourselves up to this moment, knowing that all we have is now

And each other and the love that is shared through us and around us.

May it be so now. And now. And now again. Amen!

An Open Letter To the Meadville Lombard Class of 2012 TouchPoint™ Students

Dear Friends:

First and last, I want you to know how much I love and respect you. I have greatly appreciated the opportunity to be a fellow student with each of you and to have shared so many meaningful, harrowing, humorous, moving, strange and wonderful experiences with you over the past couple of years.

You have achieved a lot in relatively little time. You have been pioneers—the first group of students to graduate from Meaville’s TouchPoint™ program! As such, you have smoothed the way (sort of) for those of us who are following closely in your footsteps. You have navigated an often messy, sometimes chaotic and confusing path and have done so with something resembling real grace.

Although I know there was a certain amount of private moaning, groaning, kvetching and complaining about the challenges you faced at Meadville (and beyond), I was aware that you, as a group, chose not to get lost in bitterness or despair. Instead, you chose to make the best of it, to keep moving forward, and to help each other and the rest of us along the way. Thank you!

This January and March, while sitting in classes that included many of you, I found that it was always easy to spot the 3^rd-year students as you were the ones who were asking the questions that made the most sense—the questions that had the most to do with real life and how to apply our learning. You were the ones who were moving from theory to practice.

I am grateful for your leadership and for the hand of collegiality that you have extended to those of us following you. I look forward to working with you as fellow ministers in the years to come.

Love and respect to you all!

Jim

Next January, we'll be missing those of you who are graduating!