Hope Above the Clouds
Thursday, March 10, 2022
INVOCATION
Spirit, breathe life into us again.
PRESENTATION
Inhale and exhale, friends. Join me in a photo meditation with wisdom from The Cloud of Unknowing, a book written by an anonymous author in the 14th century that contemplates the massive mysterious of an ever-present God:
When you first begin, you find only darkness, and as it were a cloud of unknowing.
You don’t know what this means except that in your will you feel a simple steadfast intention reaching out towards God.
Do what you will, and this darkness and this cloud remain between you and God…
Reconcile yourself to wait in this darkness as long as is necessary, but still go on longing after [God] whom you love.
LITANY
We reach out to touch the heavens every inhale and exhale.
We reach out to bring heaven here on earth with every prayer.
We reach out to rejoice with the heavens with every hallelujah and amen.
EXHORTATION
Everything That Was Broken by Mary Oliver
Everything that was broken has
forgotten its brokenness. I live
now in a sky-house, through every
window the sun. Also, your presence.
Our touching, our stories. Earthy
and holy both. How can this be, but
it is. Every day has something in
it whose name is Forever.
BENEDICTION
May your hope be as as expansive as the skies with each cloud lined with light.
Oh, wow. At the start of the pandemic, I decided to learn about cloud formations. When I've been looking for answers about life or when my faith has felt dry and stagnant, I've looked out my window and felt like God was telling me something mysterious through those clouds, like an assurance that I should hold on and wait. I did not know about "The Cloud of Unknowing" but I am glad to know about it now. ☁️