Intersect

During our 9am Wired Word discussion yesterday, it was mentioned that a list of vendors supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Fair Food Program initiatives would be useful. One of the ways we can help is by supporting vendors who have agreed to pay an extra penny per pound of produce. Perhaps more importantly, these vendors are also subject to oversight from a third-party workers’ rights organization. The Fair Food program is a perfect example of The Sum of Small— the tremendous change that occurs one penny, one person at a time. Here’s the Fair Food web page that lists partners: https://www.aholddelhaize.com/media/1151/ahold_usa-fair_food_program_factsheet.pdf This page has a great slideshow about the implementation of the program: http://www.fairfoodprogram.org/about-the-fair-food-program/ Ahold Delhaize is one of the largest food retail groups in the world. They are working with other food retailers to create a new, “sustainable retail” model that stocks shelves w...

God of mystery and majesty, as you give voice to the bittersweet melodies of the bluebird on the window sill and the haunting, ancient songs of the blue whale in the ocean depths, I pray you also give me voice. Speak love through me. Calm the anger that bubbles uncontrollably within me caused by a world full of lies, half-truths, intentional misleading, violence, and hatred of others we are too dim-witted to understand as ourselves, too blind to see as reflections of you. Give us strength in a world that is unbearable to watch, but to which we must witness your unconditional love. We confess the current situation has filled us with negativity. Like Jeremiah, Jesus, and the other prophets of old, we find ourselves lashing out, warnings falling on deaf ears as we overturn the tables in the temple out of sheer frustration. We pray, dear Lord, that you transform our negative energy into positive action. Make us instruments of your peace, a mouthpiece for justice, our entire being a fin...

Eternal fountain of light and truth, enlighten our minds, enliven our souls, and invigorate our bodies. Transform us into the likeness of Jesus, filled with the living Christ, in order to serve you and all the life of which you are the prime element.   We look to Jesus to understand a more honest and effective way to live as reflections of your glorious being.   Help us continuously strive, God of endless energy, to sense your presence. You make us feel   more beautiful-- not in some superficial, Monday night television sort of way; but more filled-- more FULL-filled with a beauty that transcends description and becomes the center of our being.   In those moments with you we clearly see we are not in competition with each other. Filled with your splendor, we are elated; elevated, excited to share you with everyone on the planet, so they too can feel joy; so they might once again have hope; so they might see there is light   in the darkness. ...

  Throughout Advent, our congregation is studying the concept of Active Waiting. Specifically, we’re consciously attempting to practice Lee Raffel’s Active Waiting Guidelines found here: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Raffel1.html. I’m using Intersect to work through my own processes, an online spiritual diary of sorts. I’m also writing with as little editing as possible. We left DeKalb just as I was to enter my last year of Middle School (8 th grade back then). We landed in Dallas, Texas, for a year, then Austin, before finally settling in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Moss Bluff is a sleepy little borough, all haunted swamps and mossy Cypress, about 20 minutes outside of Lake Charles proper. In the late 1970s the primary industry was petroleum, so much of the population was white working class. Even though I only lived there a few years, Lake Charles is the place I most think of as “home,” at least in some wistful way. It was at Sam Houston High in Moss Bluff my innate love f...

  Throughout Advent, our congregation is studying the concept of Active Waiting. Specifically, we’re consciously attempting to practice Lee Raffel’s Active Waiting Guidelines found here: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Raffel1.html. I’m using Intersect to work through my own processes, an online spiritual diary of sorts. I’m also writing with as little editing as possible. When I was seven-ish years old, we lived in a little white house surrounded by a little white picket fence in the not-so-little town of DeKalb, Illinois. DeKalb had two (TWO!) claims to fame: A hybrid corn made famous by its deliciousness and “flying ear of corn” logo, and Northern Illinois University, home of the underwhelming Huskies. Yes, my early, formative years were lived in a Midwestern cliché. Memories of that era play on my mind’s eye through cloudy puffs of nostalgia. In the winter, sunlight danced on a glistening white carpet of snow. Snow makes the world seem more magical, don’t you think? Pe...

Throughout Advent, our congregation is studying the concept of Active Waiting. Specifically, we’re consciously attempting to practice Lee Raffel’s Active Waiting Guidelines found here: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Raffel1.html. I’m going to use Intersect to work through my own processes, an online spiritual diary of sorts. I’m also going to attempt to write with as little editing as possible. Therefore, my thoughts may seem scattered. I suspect most of us think this way as we begin to formulate an opinion or belief. That is the unfiltered process at work, and that is the essence of Raffel’s first guideline about process. I’ve been meditating on Raffel’s suggestion to “ Hold to your vision and accept that your life is in process.”   I love the idea of process, but I’m impatient. This whole waiting until Christmas thing to give and receive gifts is killing me. But it’s not that I’m just waiting for the Christmas party. We spend so much time building up to this one day and...

SCENE 1: Detroit, Winter, 1943 A raggedy man slowly shuffles toward the lunch counter. It is apparent to Emma, working behind the counter, that every move this man makes is a struggle. Either his clothes are several sizes too large, or he is several sizes too small. His coat swallows him whole, mostly covering him in darkness and shadows, except his face. She can see his face, shaggy, a little overgrown, unkempt and covered in dirt and muck, but she glimpses a welcoming, forlorn twinkle in his eye. Seeing his struggle, Emma gently moves toward the stranger. As she approaches, the raggedy man is taken aback, as if he hasn't been touched--or even spoken to--by another human in a very long time. "It's okay,” Emma says. "What can I do for you? What’s your name?" He looks at her with misty eyes and whispers with all the strength he can muster, "Thank you.” Emma brings the man some soup and a hot cup of coffee. He nods appreciation and tentatively grasps th...