In Jesus, time and eternity intersect. But the intersection happens in human poverty of spirit. Poverty is the point “where infinite mystery meets concrete existence.’ Poverty is not only the absence of things but the awareness of our need for others, for God. Human neediness is universal. The richest and the most powerful, like the poorest and most marginalized, are all equally in need.
Need is simply the strong feeling that arises in response to the fact of interdependence. Wisdom is the recognition of our inter-relatedness, and compassion is the practice of our connectedness. In meditation we dive to a level of reality deeper than our surface, ego-driven minds where we are so often caught in the net of illusion of our independence and isolation. Untangling from that net is the daily work of meditation and it is also the new pattern of the practice of the presence of God in ordinary life.
After meditation: Rabbi Brant Rosen, “A New Rendering of Zechariah 2:14, 4-7 @ rabbibrant.com 12.15.17
A new rendering of Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7 (Prophetic reading for the Sabbath of Hanukkah)
No more need for priestly vestments
or plots to overrun that godforsaken mount –
just walk in my ways
and you will find your way there:
a sacred pilgrimage to the Temple
in any land you call home.
Enter the gates to
this holiest of holy places,
lift up its fallen walls,
relight the branches of the lamp
so that my house will truly
become a sanctuary
for all people.
Yes, this is how you will
restore the Temple:
not by might, not by power
but by the spirit
you share with every
living, breathing soul.
Image by Jelenajuhnevica, Pixabay
