Transcript for January 3, 2010 by Bob Kleinheksel

All things and all people now inspire us as another year unfolds in an early winter stretch of storms and strains and now confounding cold and ice. All this stimulates and stymies as we enjoy beauty and yet desire safety and comfort! And now, the January march of increasing light toward seeds and saplings and spring that lay buried now, yet brooding in hibernating reverence and patience.


We pause in the face of mystery, of endings and beginnings as we launch into the rest of our lives. We pray and meditate in ways that stir us to face this earth with greater passion and open us in our depths of being and becoming. We gather in tentativeness, cramped in busyness, stifled by losses and disappointments, emptied too by the grind of our own cynicism.

On this day of all days, the universe is birthed again into existence by a pervasive life force and beautiful mystery. So too is it birthed in part by our co-creating abilities – in concert with all thoughts, acts, wills, intentions, taking on and letting go. We invite and create a new resurrection of the cluttered pieces of who we are into a stronger, healthier whole to join, step by step, with others who seek to live peace and justice – to be the living word in a tired world. We are the authors, the story-tellers, the plot creators – from preamble to epitaph we live, share, write and create.

We celebrate all inspiration this day – the movement of the mystery, the mystical, the unexplained; the countless ordinary miracles occurring within, between and beyond. We give great credence to intuition, to grace and to the unburying of our giftedness that would allow us to see our lives far more than they seem; we would see this grander and humbler reality, our bourgeoning humanity, so that, in the end, we may be a greater gift to the world around – offering belly laughter enjoyment, honest tears, unmeasured compassion, healing, salvation, justice and unconditional grace to all we meet, to all near and far. With new eyesight, we glean and imagine, we succumb to beauty, we yield to new insight. We invite new awareness and perception to mould new realities.

So now we move beyond glaring grudges and guilty fears; we move beyond selfish preoccupations and pettiness to our world and fellow journey-mates. Might we offer this day to those in this community, our neighborhood, our families, those in need: A new hope, a fresh assurance, a bold question? Might we offer an encouragement, a smile, an embrace, a backrub, a fair decision, common sense to counter bad behavior…boundless love beyond reciprocity, a good process for getting along despite differences? And, in the end, might we reverence and serve life with our thoughts beyond our ponderous egos, our words beyond the contradictions, our actions beyond our self-service, our habits defying atrophy, our character refined and guided by love and epiphany light?

In honor of saints and saviors of all ages and voices we pause now. We draw from them inspiration to move into this world with our best and emerging humanity, a love that overcomes all that divides and demeans. Amen to 2010 and a new year, amen to our ongoing stories, amen to this community and amen to it all!