Our Last Day at WR: Pentecost

It is 12:15 and Jason stayed at Dan's for he is not yet back to the room. Must have been one heck of a BBQ. Glad he didn't drink and drive. I attended liturgy for the last time at WR only about 15 folks in attendance but got a picture with all three priests. I was always supported by their ministry and Fr. Thad LTC prof of theology and a Franciscan gave very good homilies. It was good to see Fr. Rich one last time and he said as always, "Jason is in my prayers." Good to have powerful pray-ers for healing and life's work.

I continue to pack and resort trying to get items together so that I can find them when I get to Chicago which will be a monumental task in itself. Jason got back at about 1 and we continued to sort and resort to "get it all to fit." Jason deciding to take this computer, etc. We rested, I washed a final batch of clothes and I asked Jason "What time for dinner?" "About 6"

So off to Chinese in Silver Spring one more time. I brought our leftovers to Fran who will be undergoing a cscan tomorrow morning. She didn't want to eat but asked that I put it in the fridge and she might try it tomorrow. We talked a while and spent time in prayer asking that she be healed and that all will be well with the results of the tests on Thursday. If time permits I will try to catch her in cscan tomorrow as Fran is here by herself.

Jason felt a little warm this afternoon and had some blood on his tummy wound line. Please pray all goes well for him and that Jason will take care of himself "listen to his body's needs for healing" and really have "convalesence" leave. Tomorrow we get up at 6 AM to have Jason at the airport by 7 for check in. Then back to WR for my "paperwork" outprocessing. I hope it goes smoothly and I will be returning to Chicago on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Pentecost:
Out pouring of the Spirit/Ruah/Sophia to enliven the human person. I always think of the Spirit as that which touched evolution and created humanity. And so Jesus promised his followers the Spirit again "touching us and making us more human." Gifting each person for the good of the community.

A Spirit filled teacher for me is Matthew Fox, in his newest book "A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity" Matthew outlines 95 new theses for our times. These strike me for Pentecost:

• Three highways into the human heart are silence, love and grief.
• The grief in the human heart needs to be attended to by rituals and practices that, when practiced, will lessen anger and allow creativity to flow.
• Two highways out of the heart are creativity and acts of justice and compassion.
  
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• True intelligence includes feeling, sensitivity, beauty, the gift of nourishment, and humor,which is a gift of the Spirit (paradox being its sister)
• Loyalty and obedience are never greater virtues than conscience and justice.
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• The Holy Spirit works through all cultures and all spiritual traditions; it "blows where it will" and is not the exclusive domain of any one tradition and never has been.
• God speaks today as in the past, through all religions and all cultures and all faith traditions, none of which is perfect and an exclusive avenue to truth, but all of which can learn from each other.
• Therefore, an interfaith identity or deep ecumenism are necessary parts of spiritual praxis and awareness in our time.
• Since the number one obstacle to an interfaith identity is a "a bad relationship with one's own faith"(the Dalai Lama), it is important that Christians know their own mystical and prophetic tradition, one that is larger than a religion of empire and its Punitive Father images of God

May the Spirit renew you this day. Let us pray blessings of the Spirit for Jason and Jodi and thier time together. May it be filled with joy and hope and continued healing.