We Are Not Alone!
We Are Never Alone!
May, The Month of Our Lady!
National Mental Health Month!
"I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you; In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will.. . .John 14:15-21.
I remember my mom, she was gentle, kind and driven to push me through school. In my worst moments I see her in the Great Cloud of Witnessing pushing me forward. She once told me, "You will always be more of a mother than a father to people in your ministry."
On Mother's Day I was across the street at "Toast" eating breakfast, and "Diego" walked up to me with a bouquet of flowers, smiled, and said: "River these are for you, for you have been more of a mother than I have ever had"
Diego walked across the border from Guatemala when he was 15, and was given?asylum, the local gangs wanted him dead; for 12 years he has lived in San Francisco, needing support along the way. It has been rough, but he continues to tough it out. His mother kicked him out of the house, and so he survived on the streets until he came to the U.S.
The majority of?youth on the street have no parents, they have been abused, sold, and simply kicked out because the parents had no money.
Steven Kierkegaard comments :"Life can only be understood backward but it can only be lived forward."
This Mother's Day I vow to live my "life forward", being a "mom ", caring, seeing each as a child of God.
I close with a prayer sent to me by my friend Jay Swanson that summarizes theology in a nutshell:
commoners_communion. True compassionate prayer stands with God, and before God as the other.
It cries their tears, grieves their pain, repents for their sins, seeks their healing.
Christ often ministered from compassion(co-suffering) and his ministry had power precisely because he entered into the pain of the world.
Love is what made his prayer powerful.
When we pray for others we should pray from the heart, not from the head. Allowing ourselves to enter into another's experience where we feel God's desire for them, then pray from there.
When we do we co-labour with God.
We not only intercede for another but go deeper into God himself."
Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
--------------------------------
Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
415-305-2124
----------------------------------
As of now I am planning to attend the following course, as my sabbatical as I enter our thirty years of ministry. Would love for someone to join me in this adventure:
The thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COURSE in INDIA
“Gandhian Nonviolence: Theory & Application”
COST: Tuition, Room & Board FREE (though donations are accepted); all other
expenses regarding travel to & from India, visas, healthcare, & other spending is
the responsibility each course participant. Once in India, a total personal expense
budget equiv. of $300 per month would be reasonable (less, if one is very frugal).
DURATION: 4 months (Sept. 30 th , 2023 thru Jan 30 th , 2024). A Course Diploma will
be issued in a final graduation ceremony at Gujarat Vidyapith.
LOCATION: Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920,
(see: www.gujarat vidyapith.org) will host the first 2 months of the course during
which International Students attend classes weekdays, have housing on campus,
are provided vegetarian meals, and are given access to exercise facilities including
a large indoor swimming pool (free of charge). Centered in the historic city of
Ahmadabad (pop. 7.7 million), the urban campus enjoys a mild autumn climate
and is near Gandhi’s Sabbatical (Satyagraha) Ashram where the 1930 Salt March
began. Faculty associated with India’s oldest Gandhi Studies Program will teach
the course while assuming little or no prior knowledge of Gandhi or India.
To better understand the application of Gandhian nonviolence theory to practice,
December and January will include course field trips involving 5-10 days each at a
Nephropathy Center, an Organic Farm, the Institute of Total Revolution at Vedchi,
the Gandhi Research Foundation at Jalgoan, and other experiential learning travel
opportunities. Students will be accompanied by the Course Coordinator and/or
another faculty member with transportation & on-site expenses free of charge.
ACADEMIC CREDIT can be earned via arrangements that may be made by each
student with an educational institution in their home country. Examples of
mechanisms which may exist to be utilized have included credits awarded for
“Independent Study”, “Cooperative Education”, “Service Learning Internships” or
other devices negotiated by a student with their home institution prior to their
departure to India. Such arrangements need not require MOUs for credit transfer.
APPLICATION
SEND TO: [email protected] with cc to: [email protected]
NAME (First, Middle, Last): ____________________________________
Address: __________________________________________ Country: _________
Email: ___________________________ Cell Phone: ________________________
Brief Bio (including educational background & activist profile):
Why I am interested in taking this course:
SIGNATURE: __________________________________ Date: ____________
DUE DATE: May 31, 2023.
(If accepted, a $200 refu