Tag Archive: truth


and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth…

Filed under: influential reading material, the art of discipleship — Leave a comment
May 10, 2013

Padraig O Tuama is in town as resident poet for 3 months with the Uniting Church, I believe his greatest gift to me has been sharing his whole truth and the space that he creates that invites me to share my own – and the shared healing that is found through that.

These are snippets from tonight “poetry, prayer, promise & protest speaking to humanity’s hidden yearning for decency, goodness, survival and companionship” which may not make sense out of context but might be enough to inspire you to look further (books on Amazon) or ask me about it someday…

Trinity in me: hopeful theist, agnostic and someone in pain

In Irish no words for yes or no. Will answer “I will”, “I can”, “Tis”, “May be so”

God of watching * God of silence * God of darkness

Why do we have to dehumanise to delineate?

Once I was blind, now I’m blinder still

The people stood in darkness and in it became their light.

Appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)
“You never liked me much did you..”
“No. No, I didn’t”
“That’s ok”

Moments of consolation in the midst of desolation

God is the crack where the story starts and we are the crack where the story gets interesting.

“It is in the shelter of each other that people live”

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In fear aspiring

Filed under: theopoetics — Leave a comment
April 22, 2013

I fear that what might be my honest, deliberate truth might in fact be driven by my fear, or worse, that I have never been tested.

How do you measure integrity?

In this moment my truth explains, justifies, gives grace to my life. Could I ever doubt, regret, call that into question as some new learning, new light shines into my brokenness?

In every moment we are given a choice about what we do or say – watch TV? Do the readings for Uni? Check for the 5th time in 10 minutes whether someone has retweeted  my tweet? How do we register the frequency of the symphonic harmony of life and step into the dance?

The only thing sadder than a life on the sidelines is not even knowing you are invited…

i tell you arise

Jesus seemed to move around a bit… city to sea, centre to margins; in between the “happenings” the speeches and stories, the healing and the casting out – he and his friends would have spent some time on the road.  I wonder if this was his introverted time to recharge before the gig? Whether they’d process how it went “I don’t know, do you think they get it?”, “OMG did you see that Pharisees face? I thought he might have a heart attack”… Joy or sadness, success and frustrations poured out around a campfire at night, shared around a meal, not ranked recliners but a simple circle on the ground – men and women together, schmick tax collectors and homely fishermen. Despite having people around him all the time I bet there were times Jesus felt lonely in his vocation, times he wrestled with the call, felt caught between the surety of purpose and the unknowing of where the path would lead… and felt fear.

i tell you arise

Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Te Whiti, Dorothy Day, Ghandi, saints, prophets and witnesses have gone in that water, I am not worthy to set foot in it.

Maybe just a toe? I’ll paddle here on the edges –  I can see to the bottom, sure footing… it’s safe here. I can see the way forward and the way back.

What if I’m swept off my feet? What if the current takes me? Where will it take me? I am not strong enough to swim against the current long… what if I can’t get out?

This is the river that baptised Jesus.  This same water that washed his feet and that of his disciples whom he knelt to serve… this water is not of death but of life…

i tell you arise

Talitha Fraser
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O, the shame of it

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February 9, 2013

the turbulence of the world behind my eyes spills out
shame burning
guilt gasping
heart constriction

shock

I see your shock at my nakedness.
The nakedness of my whole truth.
My vulnerability.
Like a foetus curled, cold, helpless.

Quick. Retreat. Apologise.

Tuck it back in, decorum returns.
Healing might not have happened but my humanity affirmed your own.

Somehow with our shit, our baggage, our brokenness
we still find a way to live loving one another.

it is very dark there
and very lonely
in the world behind my eyes

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love is not a commodity and is not scarce

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April 23, 2010

I re-read “5 Love Languages” today by Gary Chapman.  Trying to do some work on actively identifying and naming some emotional needs so can try and take steps to see them fulfilled.  Think I’m predominantly fluent in ‘acts of service’ – certainly that’s what I speak.  I don’t think I’m very good at asking for things. It doesn’t count if it’s something someone ‘has’ to do for me. I want them to want to do it.  Even chocolate or baking, it’s the act of thinking of me and doing something for me that matters more than the gift itself.  This is closely linked with the type-2 Enneagram also, the belief that I need to do things for other people to be deserving of their love.  I am treating love like a commodity.  I am subscribed to the Enneathought for the day and last week one was: Love is not a commodity and is not scarce – this is one of those fundamental truth things that I probably need to be reminded of every day because I find it so hard to believe. I know not everyone is into these frameworks/tools but I can certainly say for myself that they have been really helpful in giving me a language to talk about things I’d otherwise leave unsaid and taken me on a journey of self-awareness – how much of my disappointment in life/relationships is about my own issues and expectations that I haven’t communicated with anyone about? I need to take some responsibility for managing myself. Luckily, the trick, with the enneagram stuff at least, is that awareness is enough – the change and transformation will come just through being conscious of our own behaviour. There’s a Jean Varnier quote that discusses the difference between loving community vs. loving people and gaining community. These are tools for learning how to love people well, even yourself.

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