Part One (4-30-26, 8 a.m.): Sadness is a heavy teacher. Not necessarily unwelcome for me today, but rarely do I know how to welcome her knock upon my soul-door. I’ve often repeated what feels a classic teaching from one of the Niebuhr brothers (I think?): anything of great light that comes into the world brings its proportion of shadow as well. Oracle Google makes reference to Reinhold Niebuhr’s Children of Light and Children of Darkness book (1944), which explores the tensions in being “as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16). Neibuhr was writing about democracy, given his era and focus, but the tensions are relevant to my sadness this morning. One glimpse: “The preservation of a democratic civilization requires the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. The children of light must be armed with the wisdom of the children of darkness but remain free from their malice. They must know the power of self-interest in human society without giving...
...in a listening project into stories (others' and/or my own) not held deeply or heard thoroughly in the institutions and culture(s) we've created. A place to explore hope, healing, love without reciprocity...transforming culture by surrendering into Hope and Belonging here, now, this moment...
