Comments on: Reflections on nonviolence as a way of life http://nunsuch.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/reflections-on-nonviolence-as-a-way-of-life/ the adventures of a techie nun Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:13:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: kjlec http://nunsuch.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/reflections-on-nonviolence-as-a-way-of-life/#comment-1682 kjlec Wed, 07 May 2008 13:22:59 +0000 http://nunsuch.wordpress.com/?p=364#comment-1682 A beautiful poem - thank you for sharing. It echoes a conversation I had with my husband a few days ago. I was feeling overwhelmed: things are too bad; how can we hope to effect any change? Jerry reminded me that sometimes our job is to plant a seed and sometimes, as the poem says, to water seeds someone else has planted. As I prepare for pastoral ministry in healthcare, I am especially touched by the poem's reminder that "no pastoral visit brings wholeness" and that "we are workers, not master builders" - I don't have the blueprint; I don't know the master plan - nor do I have to. My responsibility is to be in communion and cooperate with the One who is the Master. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront of my thinking. A beautiful poem - thank you for sharing. It echoes a conversation I had with my husband a few days ago. I was feeling overwhelmed: things are too bad; how can we hope to effect any change? Jerry reminded me that sometimes our job is to plant a seed and sometimes, as the poem says, to water seeds someone else has planted. As I prepare for pastoral ministry in healthcare, I am especially touched by the poem’s reminder that “no pastoral visit brings wholeness” and that “we are workers, not master builders” - I don’t have the blueprint; I don’t know the master plan - nor do I have to. My responsibility is to be in communion and cooperate with the One who is the Master. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront of my thinking.

]]> By: Kelly http://nunsuch.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/reflections-on-nonviolence-as-a-way-of-life/#comment-1680 Kelly Sun, 04 May 2008 17:30:12 +0000 http://nunsuch.wordpress.com/?p=364#comment-1680 Hello there. I hope you are well. I am doing good here...keeping busy. I thought I would share with you a prayer I recieved as part of preperation for a retreat that I am on the team for. THE LONG VIEW A PRAYER BY Archbishop Oscar Romero It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, It is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the Magnificent enterprise that is God’s work Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying That the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, Knowing that they will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, And there is liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning A step along the way, An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter And do the rest. We may never see the end results, But that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, Ministers, not messiahs. We are the prophets of a future that is not our own. AMEN Hello there. I hope you are well. I am doing good here…keeping busy. I thought I would share with you a prayer I recieved as part of preperation for a retreat that I am on the team for.

THE LONG VIEW
A PRAYER BY Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the
Magnificent enterprise that is God’s work
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
That the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that should be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection,
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
Knowing that they will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
And there is liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning
A step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter
And do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders,
Ministers, not messiahs.
We are the prophets of a future that is not our own.

AMEN

]]>