Daily Compass

“Look at your hands. They’ve been through a lot, those hands; they have strengths, scars, [and] beauty. I invite you to remember that it is your hands that do the work of love in the world. These hands may hold another’s hands. These hands may type emails to politicians, sign cards of consolation and congratulation. These hands may patiently teach, quilt works of beauty or write words urging peace. These hands may bathe children, feed elders, nurse the ill, work the earth, organize communities. These hands clasp in prayer, open in release, grasp in solidarity, clench in righteous anger. These hands are God’s hands, your hands, our hands; a great mystery of flesh and intention, a great potential of embodied love.” -Christine Robinson

What can your hands do to embody love?

Inspiration.  Respiration.  Spirit.  It is natural to connect a theology of spirit with the breath. With the breath that we feel move in and out of us. With the breath that we focus on in meditation practices. With the breath that carries life-sustaining oxygen to our body, and expels the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be toxic to our cells. With the breath that connects me to you, you to the person next to you, and them to people beyond them, and so on and so on, until all of the beings of the world find themselves in an interconnected web of breath, of spirit, of being.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel with each breath your connection to something greater than yourself.

We, in our various forms and abilities, are physical creatures. We are bodies and our bodies participate in making sense of the world and making our place in the world. We, in our various forms and abilities, can use our bodies to support the values we claim or to counter them.

What are the values you wish to embody?

On the last Monday in May, the United States observes Memorial Day, a day to pay tribute to those who have died in war.

How can you create peace to honor the memory of those who have died in war?

We…covenant to affirm and promote…journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

How does your faith call you to dismantle systems of oppression? What is one thing you can do today to move towards that goal?