We Were Made for Joy and Woe
Man was made for Joy & Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro’ the World we safely go.
Joy & Woe are woven fine,
A Clothing for the Soul divine;
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
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A Seasonal Perspective
“Night and day are a continuum. Our planet is constantly turning day into night, and back again to day, with some of the loveliest times being dawn and evening, when it is not sharply either day or night. Our planet is seasonal. Winter gives way to spring, to summer, to autumn, and back to winter. Our lives, too, are seasonal and cyclical.”
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But I’ll Still Try to Love You
“[At my first sit-in] we sat there for two days waiting for something to eat. And it was the most challenging two days of my life. People came up and spat at us in the face. They put lit cigarettes down our backs, our shirts. People would punch us in the stomach so hard that we would fall on the floor, and then they would kick us.”
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God Will Set Thee Above Thy Fears
“It is in my heart to praise thee, O my God; let me never forget thee, what thou hast been to me in the night by thy presence, in the day of trial when I was beset in darkness, when I was cast out as a wandering bird, and when I was assaulted with strong temptations, then thy presence in secret did preserve me, and in a low estate I felt thee near me.”
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Heal Our Broken Souls
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal our broken souls. -
Holding Hope for Restoration
“Join me in holding hope for restoration.
Join me in prayers and intentions for peace.
Join me in offering our service toward justice and a world of mutual reciprocity.”
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We Can’t Will Ourselves to Be Fearless
“It is very difficult not to be fearful. And I think there’s a reason that every spiritual tradition, and certainly the holy Bible itself, admonishes us not to be afraid again and again; it’s that fear is a great obstacle. It gets in our way. But we can’t will ourselves to be fearless. And so I think it’s good to be able to name the terror, to say, ‘What is terrifying you right now?'”
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God Is the initiator
“In this humanistic age we suppose man is the initiator and God is the responder. But the living Christ within us is the initiator and we are the responders. God the Lover, the accuser, the revealer of light and darkness presses within us. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ And all our apparent initiative is already a response, a testimonial to His secret presence and working within us. The basic response of the soul to the Light is internal adoration and joy, thanksgiving and worship, self-surrender and listening.”
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Your Refuge
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. -
What I Learned from My Depression
“During a recent meeting for worship at Orange Grove I was led to share a message about depression. It has become clear to me that some highly gifted people, including some Friends, have suffered from this affliction….
When Fox spoke of an ‘ocean of darkness,’ he was using a metaphor that vividly describes what many people experience during depression – a feeling of drowning in an unending sea of despair.
But Fox also experienced an ‘ocean of light’ – a sense of being buoyed up in a sea of divine love so intense it overcomes this feeling of isolation and hopelessness.”
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