Today John Freund sent me a link that was a bright spot: LeavenDenver.org. Reading thru the site – especially the “Your Pulpit” section gave me a strong sense that the Holy Spirit is indeed renewing the face of the earth.

I was very moved by the woman’s homily based on the story in the gospel of John about the woman “caught in adultery” – about her aside about the shame associated with being a rape victim at 16, being pregnant… the way she took the gospel truly made it her own.

And so, I still watch the Institutional Church – I pray that somehow the Spirit will succeed in creating new life and joy where I can only barely see past the push for power, the fear of change, the need to control. There is so much to love in the way the ritual helps to bring us closer to God, in how every movement is indeed a prayer if we allow it to be, in the quiet light of peace that can result from allowing oneself to simply sit with God and be. And there is so much that can be irritating and frustrating in the Law, administered seemingly without love or mercy.