Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -MLK

Sing to the LORD and bless His Name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations and His wonders among all peoples. Psalm 96:2–3

In the morning, LORD, You hear my voice; early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for You. Psalm 5:3

This is what the Spirit teaches any faithful person to do—read Scripture (and the very experiences of life) with a gaze of love. Contemplative practice helps you develop a third eye that reads between the lines and finds the thread always moving toward inclusivity, mercy, and justice.

Lectio divina is a contemplative way to read short passages of sacred text and discover meaning deeper than the literal layer. With the first reading, listen with your heart’s ear for a phrase or word that stands out for you. During the second reading, reflect on what touches you, perhaps speaking that response aloud or writing in a journal. After reading the passage a third time, respond with a prayer or expression of what you have experienced and what it calls you to. Finally, rest in silence after a fourth reading. –Richard Rohr

No lofty reasonings about God and about His relations to us and ours will do away with the obstinate fact that if we love Him really, and not in our reveries alone, we must love our neighbor too, really, and not in theory alone. It is no use at all to see (as who can fail to see?) that He is in all things and persons and consequently is to be found and loved in them and they in Him, unless our belief flows over into action and in the practical affairs of daily life we do thus see Him and them too and do act upon what we see. –R. H. J. Steuart

Seven years ago I began the discipline of Lectio divina.

And this morning, as I worked my way through the Saturday Maximum VO2 swim practice, between trying to emulate the long beautiful stroke of one of the U of A swim gods I had watched before jumping in, and between thinking deep core thoughts as I flip-turned, because of my conversation last night with Zach, my own personal swim god, I chatted with Doctor Darrell, kicking 75 sets. And he and his wife also worked at a school tucked into a Mexican village up in the Chihuahuas with the Quakers and I am pretty sure he has dropped at least twenty or thirty pounds over the years and years of five o’clocks in the morning even if he is the last one in the pool, and Micky with the scar-laced knee brought me some really cool hiking boots and Gail in the next faster lane has a couple of matching surgeries dug into her back. And we are all busted up and broken bodies, and my twenty years of splashing into the waiting water is not particularly pretty, but bit by bit it has shaped and formed me.

Just as surely as reading His word daily with the gaze of love has shaped and formed me.

Steuart reminds me that all of those years of listening, reflecting, responding and resting mean nothing if they are not actively shining love into lives of our neighbors. Well, not nothing. Worse than nothing. They are empty and useless.

And our school celebrated Freaky Friday the 13^th by having the teachers dress up as kids and the kids dressed up as their favorite teacher. And let me tell you, kiddos do not miss any detail.

Eyes are upon me, every moment is held up to the verse I have taped to the back of the bookcase as a reminder …that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

That they may be able to comprehend the breadth and the length and height and depth of His love, filled up to all the fullness of God.

And this week, the first week back into the new year, one of the Arizona legislators offered up an amendment to section 15-112, Arizona Revised Statues: A school district or charter school in this state, nor a Arizona-funded university or college, shall not include in its program of instruction any courses, or classes, events or activities that include do any of the following: Promote division, resentment or social justice toward a race, gender, religion, political affiliation, social class or other class of people. 

And, well, what can they do to me? Fire me?

Starbucks or Trader Joe’s really and truly seem like happy easy places to run a cash register.

I am teaching social justice every single page of my American history textbook.

And we read Night and are once again reading To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch’s definition of courage: Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

And each and every one of my students is spending Martin Luther King weekend reflecting on self-selected words of Dr. King the Baptist minister, and paragraph one must have a hook, a correctly written quote, and a thesis statement, and paragraph two is to have three specific supports of how this belief flowed over into action and in the practical affairs of daily life, and paragraph three is how we can thus see Him and them too and do act upon what we see even now, in our present historical circumstances.

And one of my students from so very long ago added a comment to one of yesterday’s Facebook trails discussing this new affront to education in Arizona, a state where fully 25% of teacher positions are unfilled: Thank you Christy Voelkel for being the person who was the spark for my appreciation of social justice. Your teaching was so impactful.

And I am not sure what teaching she is talking about, but I am sure that we also walked through Night and To Kill a Mockingbird together. Eighth grade.

And there was one more moment. A moment that I am not even sure should be published.

That was the year that I was battling the bureaucracy of Child Protection Services and the reality that “they” were not going to do a single thing to protect a certain child or two. And the phone call came, while I was sitting around the table with the social worker and the case worker that police officers were coming over to the school to pick up the students and turn them back over to the abuser.

And one of the girls began to weep. And the other one became very angry. So I called my momma and poppa, and dad got in his car and drove down the dirt side street running along the back wall and just happened to be there when I hefted the girls up and over the cement blocks and he drove them back home where my mom was having a fancy dinner party, and she got in the car and just drove around so she wouldn’t be there to answer the phone in case anyone called.

And I knew I couldn’t lie to the police officers standing out in the parking lot waiting for me, so I slid into the gym and sat on the floor up against the closed bleachers and thought. And one of my students noticed me just as basketball practice was finishing up.

“Why, Mrs. Voelkel, what are you doing here?”

“Um. Do you mind doing me a little favor? Could you get your car and let me lie down in the back seat so the police officers in the front won’t see me, and can you drive me to my parents’ home?”

Her eyes grew huge.

“Sure, Mrs. Voelkel.”

And later on that night I got the dreaded phone call from her mother.

But rather than rightfully berating me for dragging her daughter into my civil disobedience, she thanked me profusely for showing her daughter what it meant to courageously stand up for justice.

And yesterday, years and years later, I was reminded of the impact of belief flowing over into action.

Dear LORD GOD, early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for You. May I develop this third eye that reads between the lines and finds this thread that always moves toward inclusivity, mercy, and justice.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron.

Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness keep me, I pray, from all things that may hurt me, that I, being ready both in mind and body, may accomplish with a free heart those things which belong to Your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. May Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

I am a big fan of fixed prayers.

They are very helpful in wrenching my thoughts away from the temporal, from what will rot or rust and be burned in big heaps to what is of eternal value.

And there is a glorious sense of community, of the Church on bended knee throughout the centuries.

And yesterday was full of corporate prayer, body prayer.

My daily lectio divina. Singing old hymns. Chris’s blessing at the end of the service. Meg Chandler’s reading during the Desert Christian baccalaureate. Crying out at His Feet for the Near East.

And yesterday Wali and his friend Simone drove down from Phoenix to say goodbye to Shaun. He took lots of pictures, which embarrassed Shaun in a good way. And we reminisced a bit of our life together. Who could ever guess this trajectory? And with Wali it always starts with picking him up at the Greyhound station. He had been living in a Colorado town of five hundred with an old Mormon couple who ran the local hardware store, and his first exposure to America was all about baseball and country music.

And he didn’t even go to his own high school graduation, but rather he went to Ali’s at Desert. But we all showed up at his graduation from the University of Arizona in December and cheered after each of his awards. And there were so many long nights, and riding the buses and getting up when it was still dark in order to go to class. And his four jobs. And there was the asylum hearing that Dustin and I went to that was amazingly horrible because of the incompetence of his lawyer. And even now, he comes home from work and studies and studies and is now certified to sell mutual funds in all fifty states. And he and John compared muscles because it is clear both of them work out a lot.

And looking back it is so very easy to see the hand of God at work. Which is a good thing to remember looking forward, plodding through a dark tunnel.

And I talked a bit with Simone. And her grandparents were Catholic. And she whispered to me that she still prays Catholic prayers and was this beautiful service catholic? And really, “Catholic” means all-embracing. Universal. All-encompassing. So I tried to explain my “Yes.” And we have promised to pray for each other and now dear beautiful Simone has been added to my Fixed Prayers list.

And today I read the High Priestly Prayers of Jesus, John 16 and 17, on the night he was betrayed. Which bled into one very long sacrifice. So I read His prayers, His very focused and intentional prayers, His prayers that we, His followers, would be set apart, sanctified, in the truth. And that the love with which the Father has loved the Son may be in us, and He, Jesus, may be in us.

And thus I lift up my mind and body to the LORD, that I may accomplish with a free heart those things which belong to His purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

And one of the Doolen administrators posted on Facebook another prayer of sorts: I will not yell in class. I will not throw things in the class. I will not have a temper tantrum. I will always be good, because I am the teacher. I am the teacher. I am the teacher.

And may the love with which the Father has loved the Son be in me. And He, Jesus, may He be seen in me today.

As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be.

Come, let us sing to the LORD; Let us rejoice this day in the strength of our salvation. Psalm 95:1

Jesus taught us, saying: “Treat others as you would like people to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for He himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Luke 6:31–35

In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can flesh do to me? Psalm 56:4

I will meditate on Your commandments and give attention to Your ways. My delight is in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Psalm 119:16

Set me free, O God, from the bondage of my sins, and give me the liberty of that abundant life which You have made known to me in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, You have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with Your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of Your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

All I do.

It’s kind of crazy how the same old, same old is brand new.

The same old, same old lectio divina, for instance, seems brand new.

Really I have prayed that last Concluding Prayer of the Church every morning for days, weeks, months, and years. But the words grip me this morning with a brand new perspective.

Brand new.

Renewed. Made new.

Words and phrases leap out into my heart that I have brushed by in the past: strength of our salvation, without any hope of return, what can flesh do to me?, give attention, bondage of my sins, all I do, and most of all, delight,

‘

Delight.

My joy bubbles over like the greenhouse St. Francis fountain in the background.

Let me rejoice in this day, child of the Most High.

So be it.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (14.48 percent)

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.  Matthew 5:3,5,8

Turn again to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has treated you well. Psalm 116:6

So at last night’s book club Liz the Leader whipped out Eugene Peterson’s Message version of the Sermon on the Mount to give fresh words to oft repeated ideas countercultural to how the world frames the Big Questions.

And sometimes when I read Eugene Peterson, I wonder Where Did He Come Up with That? And now I know, because Liz also gifted me with his annotated bibliography of where he comes up with that. And yesterday I somehow worked into my freshman Welcome to the Rest of your Life Works Cited speech the idea of standing on the shoulders of giants, which is what we all are called to do. The academic challenge is to Give credit to previous researchers BUT Make your own significant contribution. Sort of like that Church thing from yesterday.

In the introduction Peterson opens up explaining lectio divina, or spiritual reading. And the “spiritual” part of the term doesn’t refer so much to the content of what is being read, but the reflective way in which it is being read. “It is prayerful, convinced that all honest words can involve us in some way if we read with our hearts as well as with our heads, in an eternal conversation that got its start in the Word that “became flesh.”

“In the course of reading Scripture, it is only natural that we fall into conversation with friends who are also reading it. These leisurely, relaxed, ruminating conversations continue across continents and centuries and languages by means of books–and these books offer themselves for spiritual reading. After a few years of this, as with the Scriptures themselves, this reading turns out to be rereading. C. S. Lewis once defined an unliterary person as ‘one who reads books only once.’”

Which reminds me of another list I read yesterday…the one hopping around on Facebook, the “List 10 books that have stayed with you in some way,” it begins. “Don’t take more than a few minutes, and don’t think too hard. They do not have to be the ‘right’ books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way.”

And as we know deep in the cockles of our heart, the Facebook folks had already analyzed the data. “The data science team analyzed more than 130,000 statuses, stripped them of their identifying information and looked for common strings—that is, shared snippets of text and title—and ranked them by popularity.”

And with the exception of Number One Harry Potter and Number Eight The Hunger Game Trilogy, their list is pretty much the same list I posted last week on Cameron’s page, the books filled with “honest words” that I have read again and again.

And my wireless state has stacked up a big mountain next to the little flower-covered couch: Wright, Cunningham, Dickens, Lewis, Manning, Voskamp, Tozer, Steinbeck, McGee, Stott, and assorted women mystics. But, man, I sure haven’t read the books on Peterson’s list…with the exception of the novels and mysteries categories. And maybe it’s time to pull up my big boy britches and race further up and farther into Thomas à Kempis.

Standing on the shoulders of those who go before us. My mom told a story last night about her new-Christianly grasp of the Sermon on the Mount blessings. Her baby step explanation of her new joy in Christ really ticked off the only hairdresser in town. Mrs. Winnie had a hard life. And I certainly remember that she also had hard bony fingers that poked and yanked at my unruly tangles. And a rage burned within remembering the mistreatment and suffering inflicted upon her in the name of Jesus, and her fingers poked and yanked until they brought tears to my mother’s eyes. Which turned to a childish joy as she considered the reason behind that day’s particular vehemence: she was being persecuted for righteousness sake. She was blessed.

We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.

These early morning reflections join in The Call to Prayer with worship and joy: Be joyful in God, all you lands; sing the glory of His Name; sing the glory of his praise. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds… All the earth bows down before You, sings to You, sings out Your Name.

And in the middle of my Sunday twelve hours of teacher stuff, I took a walk out into the desert and watched the almost perfectly full moon rest on piles of golden rain clouds. And full moons are gripping. And I cannot imagine the hardest of hearts not occasionally flinching, trembling to its knees in the face of such song. And when I pulled myself out of the pool this morning, there was the beyond-imagination red and orange after-the-rainstorm sunrise shooting out beyond glowing edged purple heaps.

All you lands. All the earth. Eternity is written in our hearts and minds. Sing the glory of His name.

Dribbling down my neck

Señor, pon guarda a mi boca;
vigila la puerta de mis labios.
No dejes que mi corazón se incline a nada malo,
Que el justo me hiera con bondad y me reprenda;
es aceite sobre la cabeza; Salmo 141, 3-5

Set watch before my mouth, O LORD, and guard the door of my lips; let not my heart incline to any living thing. Let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers; Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke; it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.  Psalm 141:3-4

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. Philippians 4:14

Show me Your ways, O LORD, and teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; in You have I trusted all the day long. Psalm 25:3–4

As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance. Luke 8:15

I will remember the works of the LORD, and call to mind Your wonders of old time. I will meditate on all Your acts and ponder Your mighty deeds. Psalm 77:11–12

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know my necessities before I ask and my ignorance in asking: Have compassion on my weakness, and mercifully give me those things which for my unworthiness I dare not, and for my blindness I cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ my Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Well today is my day to sit on the “Potter’s Wheel” and have a kindhearted group of brothers and sisters sort through my life for two and a half hours and look for lies that I have believed and areas of my life that need to be entrusted over to our Loving Father. 

And once again, providentially, the lectio divina Scripture prayers for this morning have spoken deeply to my heart and mind. As to what is true as I prepare for the reproof, encouragement, and correction.

And this discipline is such a gracious gift from God, the beauty of praying Scriptures throughout the day, joining the Church across the globe around the clock, the rhythms of God at work in His beloved creation.

And what is true is that the Evil One is the Father of Lies, seeking to destroy and damage anything and everything beloved by God. And may I meditate on what is true and rest in that perfect peace.

And Phil Driscoll discusses this peace of God today, “I had to let go of my need to understand, and trust that God understood the situation better than I did. Not only that, but He cared about the circumstance and wanted to see me get through it, even more than I did. When I embraced those truths I found peace come flooding back into my life, not for a day or a week or even a month. It’s a peace that lasts forever.”

“God help me to let go of my need to understand everything. Help me to trust in your voice and your promises, that I would lean on your understanding and not mine.

Thank you for your abiding peace that is ever with me and will never leave me.”

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.