human risen
stone rolls
fresh draft blows
light fills tombs
inner holes
inner gloom
inner heart
tears apart
olden ideas
adore happy
child laugh
tulip bloom
sunny
newly borne
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Photo of tulips by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
I’m thinking about the stone that Love has been rolling away from my heart over the years – the ego, blame, self-will, guilt, fear, anger, selfishness, sense of being “put upon” and treated unfairly – and I’m so very grateful for the progress so far – so grateful for the light that’s reached me – so very glad to be alive – to be able to experience the birdsong and blossoms and sunshine of an Easter morning.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Whoah. Now here’s a thought:
What if I just pulled myself out of the game?
No one’s forcing me to play, after all.
I have a choice to participate in the shame and blame,
or let that ball fall, and not get pulled into the brawl.
Remember what Jesus said to those
who wanted to stone that woman?
“He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her.”
And then he stooped down
and wrote on the ground
as the shamers went away one by one
until there were none.
They had wanted him to play in their game,
but he had more important things to do
with his time here – heal the deaf, blind, the lame,
and establish a new way of living – a true
way of caring for each other and our world.
He showed us how to love.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
To paraphrase the very first Psalm:
“Blessed is the man that sitteth not
in the seat of those that mock.
But his delight
is in doing what is right;
and on Love’s law doth
he meditate day and night.”
We have better things to do
than engage in talk
with those who mock.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
March 31, 1984.
You know those shows you see on television where the bride spends HUGE amounts of time, thought, and bucks choosing the just right ring, dress, caterer, flowers, music, photographer, and reception venue for her “big day” – those shows where every minute detail of the wedding production is analyzed, critiqued, and judged for its merits on visual perfection? Where the ceremony is somber and refined and the highlight of the whole shebang is the dress the bride wears?
Yeah. That wasn’t us.
My engagement ring was a little garnet ring I picked out from a small jewelry shop in Pike Place Market in Seattle, and the man who sold it to us was cheerfully, flamboyantly, hilariously gay – he had us cracking up the minute we walked into his shop. My wedding dress was the first dress I tried on from the sales rack at our local Bon Marche. Cost me $120. Our minister was a hoot – we’d met with him for a required counseling session, and when he told us that anything he had to say to us would be pretty much useless at this point – because it’s really only AFTER the wedding that the bride and groom realize what they’ve gotten themselves into (we later learned that he’d just recently been divorced), we immediately recognized the man had a sense of humor, and he was, for sure, the minister we wanted officiating our nuptials.
The wedding was a joyful, light-hearted affair in a small Methodist church in Gig Harbor – I remember the minister asking us if we really wanted to hold the service in his church – it was very small – could maybe hold 100 people – and very old (it’s since been torn down and a larger church built in a different location) – but, for our purposes, that little church was perfect – I liked the cozy smallness of it and the stained glass windows – and from the church’s steps we could look out across the water and see Mount Rainier rising above the hills in the distance. The wedding itself was simple, joyful, and natural. We weren’t too concerned with “perfection” – we just wanted our guests to feel comfortable and loved.
The reception was held in my parents’ backyard – with the sound of laughter, and the smell of daffodils and plum blossoms, filling the air. And we played volleyball in the pasture – the groom’s team won, but it was a close game. The minister came to the reception, and fit right in with our hooligan families and friends. Before he left he told us that sometimes he’s really worried about the future of the newlyweds he marries – they often seem more concerned about the wedding than the actual marriage – but, after watching us yukking it up with our families and friends, he felt good about being a part of our ceremony. He knew we were going to be alright. We knew how to laugh.
***
When I think about that day, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to deny other people the right to a wedding, and to a life-long commitment in marriage with the partner they love. I can’t understand why any couple would feel their own marriage is threatened by allowing others the same rights that they have. I feel a real yearning for other folks who love one another, and are brave enough to make a commitment to each other, to be allowed to have what my husband and I were allowed to have.
I had such high hopes for our world. I thought that once we’d made it through the pandemic together we’d all come out of it kinder, wiser, more noble. I thought we’d look at one another with new eyes – recognize the miracle of just being alive together on this beautiful, fragile planet.
I want to know if the mother in labor, killed
in the Ukraine, is holding her new baby close
wherever she is now,
and rejoicing in Life never-ending.
This is what I hope for her.
I want to know if the young Russian conscript –
who texted his mother just before he was killed
in a war he wasn’t expecting –
is hugged safe in the arms of Mother-Love.
This is what I hope for him.
I want to know if the man who started this war
will wake up someday on the other side of this life
and meet the mother and her baby and the conscript
face-to-face and see what he has done and feel
the pain of loss they felt in their last moments on earth,
and feel shame.
This is what I hope for him.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Click here for audio.)
Feel God as infinite Love, infinite Truth – all-power, all-presence, filling all space; protecting, guiding, guarding. There’s nowhere and no one living outside of Love’s embrace. No one is ever separated from Love’s power and presence and protection. No one is ever outside of Love’s realm.
Know yourself as God’s child. You are God’s reflection, expression, manifestation, image and likeness. All you can be is what Love made you to be. All you can know is Love’s presence and power. You are strong and brave and whole and beautiful and healthy and confident. You are what God made you to be.
Love is all-in-all.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
– Isaiah 41: 10
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
-Luke 1:37
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. – Luke 2: 14
Christmas Eve, 1914. World War I. The trenches in Belgium.
The Germans begin setting up Christmas trees with lighted candles along the trenches on their side of the line. They begin singing carols, and although they’re singing in German, the allies on the other side of the line– the French, Belgians, and British – are able to recognize most of the carols. Soon voices are raised from both sides of the dividing line, joining together to sing “Silent Night.” A truce is called. Weapons are laid down and replaced with soccer balls. Gifts are exchanged – chocolate and postcards and tobacco and newspapers.
I love that story. I love the hope of peace it represents. Although the soldiers were not able to maintain their truce – within the week they were forced, under orders, to pick up their weapons and begin shooting at each other again – the end of the Christmas truce in 1914 doesn’t diminish the power of what those soldiers were able to bring to each other for that week.
May our world find that peace again, and next time may it be lasting.
“… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
– Isaiah 2: 4
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
– Isaiah 11: 6
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, – whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
– Mary Baker Eddy
I am vaccinated. Half of my extended family is vaccinated; and half is not. I don’t love and respect the unvaccinated members of my family any less than I love and respect those who are vaccinated. I don’t think the unvaccinated people in my family are selfish – in fact, given today’s divisive and shaming culture, I think they are very brave for choosing to take an unpopular path. Of those who are vaccinated in my extended family, some identify as Democrats and some as Republicans. Of those who are unvaccinated, some of them identify as Democrats and some as Republicans. The choice to get vaccinated, or not, had nothing to do with political leanings – at least in my family.
I wish Aaron Rodgers hadn’t lied about his vaccination status – but, like the rest of us, he’s human and no human is perfect. To paraphrase Jesus, “Let whoever is perfect among us, cast the first stone.” I’m not going to join in shaming Rodgers because he chose not to get vaccinated. I hope he has a speedy recovery from COVID-19, and I hope he comes back to play football in time to be crushed by the Seattle Seahawks.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 