light shining in darkness
The heavy subject of atonement is nothing to make light of. But reconciling to the Being of Light requires nothing less.
The word “atonement” means reparation for a wrong or injury. It derives from a word that denotes “unity” or “reconciliation,” especially between God and man. Its earliest form came from a now obsolete verb “to one” which meant to unite. Atonement was the combination of the word parts of at+ one + -ment.
McKenzie River
The beautiful McKenzie river originates in Clear Lake in the Cascade mountains. It flows out of the lake big as life, and tumbles down the mountain over rocks and around curves, following the path of least resistance. Occasionally it goes into free fall over cliffs in a spectacular display of beauty and power. Once, it even goes underground for a few miles, only to reemerge in a pool of crystal clear, startlingly blue water.
Recent terrorist events in the middle east and Europe and in the U.S. were aimed at families who were together in public places. This made me ponder what spiritual solutions we may have to stay safe and avoid falling into the trap of being terrorized. We don’t want to be naive or foolish but we also don’t want to let a few crazed zealots shape our public life.
July 4, 2016
Freedom and courage go together. It takes courage to defend freedom and freedom begets courage.
Many books have been written in this nation about courage in the defense of freedom. They mention military exploits and physical courage. Interestingly, very few have been written about moral courage and its necessity to defend moral values like honesty, justice, and compassion.
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