cool quotes

[tulc]

for the third week of Advent:
My Advent Adventures
BY ANNE LAMOTT
We are now in the third week of Advent, which is a big time of year for my
Jesusy people. The new church year begins and a new note is struck: It is a
time of preparation and waiting, because even though, as autumn grinds to a
dark and murky halt, everything is dying and falling asleep and falling
off,something brand new is coming. Hope is coming. And so one of the
messages of Advent is, don't weep over leaves.

The belief is that enough hope and tenderness will lead to world peace,one
mind at a time. All nations will come together in kindness and
justice,swords will be beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks.
This is a little hard to buy with a world stage occupied by Saddam Hussein
and Kenneth Starr. But setting aside one's tiny tendency toward cynicism, in
the meantime -- in Advent -- we wait; and hope appears if we truly desire to
see it. Maybe it's in tiny little packets here and there, hidden in the
dying grass like winter wildflowers, but we find it where we can, and
exactly as it comes to us, while the days grow dark. We remind ourselves
that you can only seethe stars when it is dark, and the darker it is, the
brighter the light breaking through. Advent is about the coming of Emmanuel,
which means "God with us," and so as the fields outside our windows go to
sleep, we stay awake and watch, holding to the belief that God is with us,
is close and present, and that we will be healed.

I want that belief, and that patience; I checked the box on the form
choosing that. But it has not been forthcoming. I have instead been feeling
a little -- what is the psychiatric term? -- cuckoo. My mind has been doing
a Native American worry chant, WORRYworryworryworryworryWORRYworry ... It's
not that I don't have a lot of faith. It's just that I also have a lot of
mental problems. And I want to fix them all, and I want to do that now, or
at least by tomorrow afternoon, right after lunch.

I thought about calling our pastor and trying to get her to try to fix
me,but she had left town for a little R&R. This is just intolerable. I have
told her more than once that we wouldn't have hired her if we'd known that
she was a minister with boundaries. So I started calling all the other
religious people I know, but discovered that, even though God may be ever
present and close by, none of His or Her spokespeople were in very good
moods.

The first Protestant pastor I reached seemed bitter. "Can we talk about
God?" I asked.

"Who's that?" he said.

So I called a Jewish friend, who usually makes me laugh, but I could tell
right away she was in a terrible mood. Her children were keening in the
background.

"You should smack those children," I said warmly.

"Tell me about it."

"I was wondering if you could tell me if there's a Jewish equivalent of
Advent; what spiritual preparation is called for in the weeks before you
light the first Chanukah candle."

There was a long silence. "This is a joke, right?" she asked.

"No, no, talk to me. So, well, you're Reform, right?"

"Of course we're Reform. We've got a crucifix on our front door. Look,"she
said, "call me tomorrow. My child just drew with Magic Markers on the TV
screen. Tomorrow we'll have an invigorating talk about the menorah, about
Judas Macabee casting the Syrian thugs out of the Holy Land. And I don't
mean Miami Beach."

I called another minister. "My mind is on the fritz," I said."I want God to
reach down with His or Her magic wand and restore me to my former luster."

"Good luck, Bubbie. Here's the only thing I'm sure of: Go take care of God's
children today, and God will take care of you."

"Does it say that somewhere?"

"Yes, it's right here, under 'Secret of Life' in my Owner's Manual."

"I never got an Owner's Manual."

"Fundamentalists would say you did: It's the Bible."

"Pretty darn great to be so sure of things, huh?"

"I heard a joke once, maybe it will cheer you up: A godly woman dies and
goes to her reward, and is being shown around heaven by St. Peter. They walk
through meadows and fields filled with people of all ages and colors, warmed
by a gentle sun, lulled by the strains of soft sweet music -- black and
white and Asian and Indian people, Hindus,Jews, Muslims, all of a family,
laughing, resting by ponds, playing, listening, being. And then they come to
a great walled portion of heaven, miles of land surrounded by tall thick
walls.

"'What's this?' the woman asks.

"'Oh, that's where the fundamentalists stay,' said Peter. 'It's only nice
for them when they think they're the only ones here.'"

I laughed. "I'm going to go eat a thousand candy bars now."

"Atta girl. Sorry I can't help. Why don't you try a Catholic?"

 

[brinny]

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity. -- George Bernard Shaw

 

[freespirit2001]

"Absolute secrecy corrupts absolutely."
---The CIA Inspector General in 1995, conserning Edward Teller and the SDI

 

[freespirit2001]

"In the profoundest sense, conversion is:
the surrender of one's self to God;
it is the submission of one's will to the Savior;
it is the consecration of one's abilities to the redemptive purpose of the Holy Spirit;
it is the devotion of one's mind to the Truth of God;
it is the dedication of one's heart to the Love of God;
it is the committment of one's moral choices to the concerns of God."

---Fred Cloud

 

[kelco]

Late on a sleepy, star-spangled night, those angels peeled back the sky just like you would tear open a sparkling Christmas present. Then, with light and joy pouring out of Heaven like water through a broken dam, they began to shout and sing the message that baby Jesus had been born. The world had a Savior! The angels called it "Good News, " and it was.

Larry Libby

 

[kelco]

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Thoreau

 

[tulc]

The Darkling Thrush
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pusle of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

-Thomas Hardy

 

[tulc]

Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
‘Tis the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,--you’re straightaway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
-Emily Dicknson

 

[kelco]

The first Day's Night had come—
And grateful that a thing
So terrible—had been endured—
I told my Soul to sing—

She said her Strings were snapt—
Her Bow—to Atoms blown—
And so to mend her—gave me work
Until another Morn—

And then—a Day as huge
As Yesterdays in pairs,
Unrolled its horror in my face—
Until it blocked my eyes—

My Brain—begun to laugh—
I mumbled—like a fool—
And tho' 'tis Years ago—that Day—
My Brain keeps giggling—still.

And Something's odd—within—
That person that I was—
And this One—do not feel the same—
Could it be Madness—this?

Emily Dickinson

 

[Inperfected]

"i have a strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate; but rather apathy"
-- Can't remember who by

I like your christ, i don't like your christians, they are nothing like your christ"
-- Gandhi

 

[kelco]

The Hills

It was the shepherds on the lonely hilltop, out where the night sky lay close and the feel of the earth was familiar to their feet who heard the angels singing and followed the star. They followed it over the hills to the hill town of Bethelhem and it was there, in the stable at the inn, that they saw the wonder. In a stable on a hill in Judea.

It was among the hills, that the story began, where the stars came close and the night winds were the winds of song. And, as we know the later story, the hills and the open country where He was born were to be always there in His life and in His teachings. His parables had the strength of the hills and their simplicity. He knew the land. He knew it intimately, and its birds, its beasts, its shrubs and bushes. The sermon in which the enduring principles for which He stood was most simply and eloquently set forth is still known as the Sermon on the Mount. He knew the seaside and the valley, but best of all He knew the hills. And in the end He climbed the fearsome slope of the hill known as Gethsemane.

The story is both brief and simple. Luke, the physician, set it down in four hundred words. Others expanded it, but always and ever, it had the thread of the hilltops running through it, the everlasting hills, where it began. It was on the hilltop that the unforgettable words were said: "Fear not." And the enduring song: "On earth peace,goodwill toward men." We read the story again and again, and always with the hush and the awe, and with the sense of stars gleaming on the hilltops.

 

[tulc]

"Hurt"

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
-Nine Inch Nails

 

[freespirit2001]

"The life of Jesus was a CONSTANT SERIES OF RISKY EXPLOITS, jumping over and short circuiting the barriers which men erect between themselves."

---Harvey Cox

 

[savvy]

"I think that all of us have somewhere in us an instinct to try and become better. Some of us defeat it thoroughly. We kill that part of ourselves, just as we kill the child in ourselves. It is very closely related to the child in us."

"The idea of pain is to keep you from doing those things that are destructive. And they say "Surely there is another way that God could teach us." Yes, there are other ways, but you would complain about those other ways, too, just as you complain about pain. It would only change the dressing of the situation, not the situation itself."

- Gene Wolfe

 

[elanor]

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
Was scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks", he cried,
"Who'll start the biddin' for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

But no.
From the room far back a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
And wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as the caroling angel sings.

And then he stopped, and the auctioneer
In a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What am I bid for this old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who'll make it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
And going and gone", said he.

The people cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand."
"What changed its worth?"
Swiftly came the reply,
"'Twas the touch of the Master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and scarred with sin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game, and he travels on.
He's going once, he's going twice,
He's going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.

--Myra Brooks Welch

 

[tulc]

Jungle Trail

Was tossed along that jungle trail
There was nothing there, just thorns and nails
Had no skin, no fur to wear
But I straggled through the storm
In a search to find my home

Now I climbed the mountain and I pleaded with the sky
There was no one around, just some dark clouds in reply
But I offered some berries and a tear in my eye
‘Cause I was on my own
So far away from home…home

Chorus:
There’s a fire burning inside me
Makes the lame walk and the blind to see
Here I am wandering on what I should be
The old earth, the moon, the sun
Some wings to rise the dawn

Now time’s tickin’ like a melancholy friend
Ticks the beginning, and the middle and the end
But if I close my eyes and just pretend
There’s shelter in this song
Like a river flowin’ home…home
-Steven Delopoulos

 

[SandyLou]

Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.

-Peter Marshall

 

[freespirit2001]

"GOD JUDGES BY DIRECTION, NOT BY DISTANCE."

---Mary Compton, "More Roadside Church Signs Across America"

 

[freespirit2001]

"THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE STIMULATING RESTLESS ATTITUDE WHICH SEEKS TO AVOID DECEIVING THE LOVE OF THE OTHER."

---Marc Oraison

 

[kelco]

Luk 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Luk 2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

Luk 2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

Luk 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David)

Luk 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

Luk 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Luk 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luk 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Luk 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luk 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luk 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

Luk 2:16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Luk 2:17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

Luk 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Luk 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Luk 2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.