July 21-A, 2022

This Singing Bowl was blessed
by three Buddhist monks
over the course of my tenure
at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
in Greensboro, NC.

I used it to ring us into and out of
the silence that began the service
of A Gathering of Sojourners
each Sunday morning.

The right kind of silence
opens us to the here/now
in every moment,
and is the foundation 
of our alignment with
the flow of our life
through all of the
times and places of our living.

We can live through anything
and do anything
if we are 
still, quiet and empty enough long enough.

The Singing Bowl itself
is a Symbol of Transformation for me,
connecting me with my past,
my present,
and my future--
and with all of those
who have shared the silence with me,
and all who have been blessed by silence
through the ages and eons of times long forgotten,
and who will be through ages and eons yet to be.

We are one in the chiming of the bell.
One in the silence of the call to be here/now,
open to what is present with us
into all that waits to be seen and done.

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