I can certainly relate, as the tempo of my blogging this week has called for slowing down. I am getting to the point in my life where the pace of life and world news is getting too fast for me to keep up with.
Last year's post contained this extract below, and I like it so much I'm posting it again along with some newly found related material.
"We were created in the image of a three-mile-an-hour God, and we have been
called to be partners in ministry with a three-mile-an-hour God.
There will
be no growth among us unless we stop running: no increase in understanding,
no growth in faith, no sight for the blind, no help for the poor, no
compassion for the outcast (and, for that matter, no increase in the
numbers of the faithful) -- unless we stop running.
This world on the run needs people who are moving slowly enough to weep
with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice;
people who are
moving slowly enough to notice smiles of joy and tears of sorrow;
people
who are moving slowly enough to reach out to those in pain, to comfort
those in suffering, to offer hope to those in despair.
A rabbi asked his students: "When will we know that in God's providence
darkness has turned to day?"
"When at a great distance you can tell the difference between a date palm
and a fig tree?" replied one.
"No," responded the rabbi.
"When at a great distance you can tell the difference between a sheep and
a goat?" replied another.
"No," responded the rabbi.
"Day will have dawned when you look into the eyes of another person and
recognize there your brother or your sister."
"You are the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world," said Jesus.
You and I have inherited all of the past and are beginning points for all
of the future.
You and I have been empowered to unmask the illusion of
living by doing, of serving by running, and to rekindle in human hearts the
life-giving image of a three-mile-an-hour God.
When will we know that darkness has turned to day?
When, beyond the blur of persons in motion, we begin to see each other's faces."
Click here for the newly found material on The Three Mile an Hour God in a great post from Simon Marsh, an Anglican priest in the UK, which has this wonderful prayer from another favourite artist, Michael Leunig, and giving me another chance to add some more of Michael Leunig's awesome paintings.
Dear God, we pray for another way of being,
another way of knowing.
Across the difficult terrain of our existence
we have attempted to build a highway
and in so doing have lost our footpath.
God, lead us to our footpath.
Lead us there where, in simplicity,
we may move at the speed of natural creatures
and feel the earth’s love beneath our feet.
Lead us there where, step-by-step,
we may feel the movement of creation in our hearts.
And lead us there where, side-by-side,
we may feel the embrace of the common soul.
Nothing can be loved at speed.
God, lead us to the slow path;
to the joyous insights of the pilgrim;
another way of knowing;
another way of being.
Amen.
Michael Leunig (b. 1945)
Common Prayer Collection Collins Dove, 1990
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