February 12, 2025

Good afternoon,

” The claim of the mystic is, at last, that you don’t need anything to bring you to God. You don’t need a mediator. You don’t need an institution. You don’t need a ceremony or a ritual. God is in me, and the ladder from the earth to sky is available. So, I can ascend my own altar stairs wherever I am, under any circumstances, and the key to the understanding of the experience, and to the experience itself, is never in the hands of any other human being . ”

Howard Thurman, mystic theologian

The Reformation taught us that we could go to God with only ourselves . Our presence with the divine did not need a priest as a mediator. This is one of the items that proved to separate the Catholics from the Protestants in the 1500’s. Do you believe that you can meet God alone ? You don’t need your pastor or teacher or mystic theologian ? I agree with this. We can meet the Divine in nature, in the snow, with the trees and birds singing. You can read the Bible, and God can speak to you through the letters, the sentences and paragraphs. But, we need the community as well.

Yet, sometimes I hear that ” I do not know how to pray to God “. Just go and ‘ be ‘. You do not need words or anything else. When Jesus went off to pray at various times while here on this earth, we do know what he said. Maybe, he just needed time away in silence. But, if you need words, then use words. Maybe you want to sing to God. You do not need to be on key.

Prayers

God : of the Book, creation and each other,

small words are fine

to offer to you.

Bigger words are not better,

just different,

You , O God,

invite us into your divine, holy and sacred presence.

Come quickly . AMEN

Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ? MPL 2025

Mike Strathdee		Wed, Feb 12, 1:50 PM (18 hours ago)
Mike Strathdee reacted to your message: From: Fred Redekop <fred.redekop@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2025 6:42:10 PM To: Fred Redekop <fred.redekop