When You Do Things Do Them From the Soul!
"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” – Rumi
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As we officially celebrate thirty years of ministry on the streets of San Francisco, I can honestly say these years have been a joy. Rumi remarked:
"Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of what you love!"
That pull has come from my love of Jesus of Nazareth, whom I encounter daily and night in the faces of each person I serve on the streets of San Francisco. This pull comes from being pulled into being a "Story Catcher."
William Broderick sums up the call of the streets in these words:
"Once you've heard a child cry out to heaven for help,
and go unanswered
nothing's ever the same again.
Nothing.
Even God changes..
We? have to be candles, burning between hope and despair,
faith and doubt, life and death,
all the opposites.
And in serving on the streets of San Francisco I have learned in the words of Richard Nelson:
“There may be more to learn from climbing the same mountain a hundred times than by climbing a hundred different mountains.”
Ta-Coates Nehist accurately said: "The streets transform very ordinary lives into a series of trick questions and every incorrect answer risks a beat down, a shooting or a pregnancy, none survive unscathed."
The streets transform lives in ways one can not even imagine, but through my relationship with Christ mine has been transformed into one of loving each person I meet as the broken body of Christ, and in the words of Elizabeth Gilbert, "You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not my your successes or failures!"? and in finding the secret to life, best described by Henry Moore:
"The secret to life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is--it must be something you can not possibly do!"
The journey to the Promised Land, the journey to freedom, which was the journey to God, was the task for Moses. Second-century Rabbi Tarfon put it similarly: "It is not up to you to finish the work of perfecting the world but neither are you free to avoid it!"
Over time I am often asked: "Do you love the Church!" I am seen as one who is not within the established church, and my journey from the beginning until now has been one of growing more and more in love with the Church, the body of Christ!? I am very, very privileged to be a priest! The streets have led me to authentic, profound, and very Anglican and Catholic practices, yet our practices of worship have little semblance with those of the traditional church.
We have incorporated our faith into a faith of the streets. Like Dorthy Day said:
“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
We continue our journey as "Story Catchers," listening to their stories, holding them without judgment, and not fearing to trust in Jesus. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
领英推荐
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May the work of
“figuring people out”
Never replace the work of knowing people
And loving people
And giving them room
To confound
And inspire
And surprise me
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30th Anniversary Celebration
Victor’s Pizza
6 p.m.
November 9, 2024
WE ARE BEGGARS! WE REALLY NEED MONEY--Really Badly At the moment!
FOR FOOD, SOCKS, HARM REDUCTION AND OTHER SERVICES!
P.O. Box 642656
415-305-2124
pay pal
We are in desperate need now!
(Temenos and Dr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political, or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!
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Temenos Catholic Worker
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims, D.Min, D.S.T.
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“People ask me why do you write about food,
and eating and drinking. Why don’t you write
about the struggle for power and security, and
about love, the way the others do? The easiest answer
is to say that, like most other humans I am hungry (M.F. Fisher!”