Silverside Social Justice, Spirituality, Self-Care

King David.  Prince Jonathan.  Bathsheba.  LGBTQ biblical personalities.  Song of the Bow.  David's funeral lament over Jonathan and Saul.  Pride. Happy Pride Month. Journalist:  Straight Jacob "Take" Zapper.  Episode Art:  Gottfried Bernard Goez, "Jonathan Greeting David after David Killed Goliath"

Going and Not Knowing.  Abram/Abraham.  Sarai/Sarah.  The lure of God. Divine GPS:  God, Pragmatics, Self.  Rosalia de Castro.  Martin Luther King Jr. Episode Art: Rosalía de Castro, Urban Art, Metropolitano Gallery 

What have you wanted so badly, however out of reach it seemed, so badly you could taste it?  Reaching forward toward, straining for, what really matters and leaving behind anything else, what the Apostle Paul called skubala (dung). Jack London. The powerful image one of the psalmists envisioned of a deer panting for water; that's how thirsty we are without God who alone can quench our spiritual thirst.  The energy of that deer metaphor applies to other spiritual endeavors that get us to God, one of which is keeping spirituality community healthy. Episode Art:  "Woman Runner Running, Jumping," Pablo Romero captures, though not the artist's intent, the energy of the Apostle Paul's image of straining forward with one's all toward life's ultimate goal.

Pride. Spirituality and Pride.  The Bible properly interpreted in not an enemy of LGBTQIA+ folks. Loving oneself is a part of Pride; being able to love oneself fully is built on God's love for each of us.

No place for closed minds.  Liberals by definition are always open to new ideas and new ways of doing things.  Leonard Bernstein.  Henry David Thoreau.  Father Richard Rohr.  Jesus was a liberal.  Episode Art:  Leonard Bernstein photo and quote.

Spiritual freedom. Galatians 5:1.  For freedom the Jesus who overcame death sets us free; therefore, do not submit to the yoke of any slavery.  Beware spiritual slaveries.  Peter Santos.  Institutional anxiety when confronted by free spirits.  Churches that must control people with their rules versus free spiritual communities.  Episode Art:  Artist and title unknown, discovered at Sentinel Digital Desk.

Be rid of boredom.  How to show your enthusiasm as a community naturally.  How to be engaged in repetitive activities without getting bored. "The Little Prince":  the fox's confession, "I am a little bored." Ecclesiastes 1: All is vanity, and all is a repeat of something that has happened before:  BOR-ing!  Episode Art:  Still from the 2016 animated film version of the "The Little Prince"

What keeps us excited as a spirituality community, and what causes others not presently a part of our community to become enthralled with us and what we're about?  If we are not enthralled with what we're about, no one else will be.  Patanjali.  Benjamin Franklin.  Natural versus artificial enthrallment.  Episode Art:  Patanjali statue

"When mothers weep out of concern for their children and the children of the world, their tears are prayers" David Albert Farmer.  Hebrew Matriarch Rachel. Rachel's uncontrollable weeping for her children who are "no more." Jeremiah 31:15. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.  Mothers and Fathers being reunited with their children at the US borders after their children were detained--many kept in cages.  Episode Art:  “Rachel weeping at Ramah,” contemporary byzantine-style icon, eggtempera on canvas, Angelica/Byzantine

There are times in life when we must pull away from all and spin ourselves a cocoon. Inside our cocoons we heal and experience transformation from the pain of grief, the upheavals of relationship loss, and the assaults to self-esteem.  Without cocoons there wouldn't be butterflies.  When we re-emerge from a cocoon we are ready to for the next unhindered flights of life.  Kelseyleigh Reber.  Episode Art:  "Cocoon" by Awnen from deviantart dot com