We sit and gather again feeling the heights and depths of what it means to be human: alienated, in love, evolving, stuck, alone, lonely, content, angry, lost and connected; side by side in community oftentimes caught between the heaven of our hopes and the hell of our fears. We breathe deeply of these moments – for this time of now is all we have. Perpetual “nows” strung one after the next ushering in the new, the untried and undared. Might we be open to the brand new territory of today, this hour, this afternoon as it spans before us. Let us in silence now receive and embrace the “newsness” and the “nowness” of today. What will be let go? What will be risked? Who may be served? Where and with whom will love and compassion be shared? (Silence)

What a whirlwind and weathered time: Crazy winds, liquid life pouring down, shabby and matted down grass; lingering and dirt-covered snow – a far cry from the crispy, virgin whiteness that not so long ago blanketed our towns and walkways. May we appreciate new wonder in this blink of existence we share in the grand scheme of billions-old emergence. As we and nature now goad on the resurrection madness that even now stirs, may we be the fools that wonder and the wise ones that ask in order to take it all in and thus expand into fuller, deeper and gentler humanity. In this silence, we now rest in the hope of change, in the joy of wonder, and the challenge of being co-creators with all that is being birthed - or needs to be birthed in ourselves, our kids, our families, our relationships: (Silence)

Now, we celebrate our connections with those close and faraway. Ones loved, ones lost, soldiers, those daily choosing sobriety, the depressed, those searching for jobs, those celebrating and laughing, the divorcing, those living with the agony and potential of chemo treatments. Leaders of nations, those living without homes, clean water, health care. So, too, do we now commit to being people of both wonder and action. For we know our complacency is far more dangerous than outrage. May we now stand ready to act, to commit, so support and serve. In this silence, we take on the attitudes and plans that propel us into new modes, new missions and visions, to new connections with those we love and those we do not yet know. In this silence we dwell in unity, gratitude and shared commitment: (silence)

Now connected to life itself, to the God of our many understandings – we affirm the giftedness of wonder in each of us as well as the finitude of our powers; we celebrate the beauty of each unique presence here as well as the struggles of our conscience and the ambiguity of our works. With this incredible mix and humanity, we await a grace-filled spring ready to awaken….and we awakening again with it. So let it be.

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