Hard to believe that our Summer Sermon Series wrapped up on September 2nd. The Karen Armstrong book, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life gave us some challenging moments as we strive to live a compassionate life using The Golden Rule as our guide.
We learned from many different religious and spiritual traditions about meditation, intention, and mindfulness. My test about treating others kindly and well, about good intentions and mindfulness always seems to be in the longest, slowest line in the grocery store. Where is your greatest challenge? Although I think I am a compassionate person, I learned that I still have much to work on. The work of mindfulness was the most helpful piece for me – to stop, take a breath, and become aware of what’s going on around me as well as within me. That slight shift has made a big difference in my day. Yes, it’s an on-going process.
Over the summer months I’ve enjoyed the Brown Bag Lunch gatherings at 12 noon on Thursday. I never know who is going to show up, who wants to talk about what, what questions may be asked, and what will get us all laughing. Sometimes it has just been one other person and me, sometimes three or four and a couple of times we had to expand and make room for more and more. I’m all for keeping it going. What do you think?
I have become involved with two groups dealing with immigration issues within the Las Cruces community: Witnessing the Streamline process for those who are detained for crossing the border; and Freedom for Immigrants. Both are a learning curve for me, but both work for justice for the immigrant as do many other programs in the community. Perhaps you might be interested in doing this type of work? Let me know if either of these programs may be calling you.
I will be taking some time off starting right after worship on September 23rd and returning to town on Wednesday, October 3rd. If an emergency arises during this time, please contact Rev. Patrick Crocker for pastoral care at 575-551-1717.
Wishing you cooler days and many blessings. God is good.
Donna
