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08.02.05 Tuesdays Reflection

In September 1998, during my last month in Chahal, Guatemala, I was reading

Dios en la Basura - God in the Garbage by Dorothee Soelle. Dorothee writes

of being really moved by finding a few flowers in front of poor shacks in

barren urban slums. "Up to now I hadn't realized the happiness a flower,

however fragile and fleeting, can produce, a living expression of resistance

and courage."

I don't know where that book came from but I did find a couple of Dorothee's

books on my bookshelf. In "Not Just Yes and Amen: Christians with a Cause"

Fortress Press 1985, Dorothee reads the Bible with an eye on events in

Germany, South Africe, El Salvador. For Dorothee, "speaking out is something

that we can learn from the Bible, instead of just saying yes and amen to

everything."

I want to reread "To Work and to Love: A Theology of Creation" Fortress

Press 1984. I had placed there an article on Dorothee written in April 2004,

a year after her death. I conclude with a few quotes from that article:

"From the mystics, I have learned that our love for God is as important as

God's love for us .....To embrace God means to embrace a process - a process

of love, a process of going forward, a process of infusing everything. Only

with our partnership, can that love become incarnate in our world today."

"When we experience pain and joy with others, everyday life is hallowed. Our

lives and experiences are not casual things to be discarded, but treasures

worthy of being remembered, reflected upon, lamented and named."

"The differnce between despair and hope is struggle. To struggle is to

resist feeling ineffectual and incapable of making a difference. We are

created to be agents of hope. Those who have hope and share it through

their lives and deeds, truly believe in God."

I'm inviting you to write a reflection while I am away. The following

Tuesdays are still available: August 30, September 6, 13, 20, 27.

Cecily

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