A Difficult Time

Yesterday’s meeting between the United States President and Russian leader Vladimir Putin represented the culmination of an administration that has upended many of the norms by which our government functioned and changed our relationships with other countries. There is much confusion and concern.

I recently shared some of what Thomas Kelly wrote about the relationship between faith and social concern. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/the-eternal-now-and-social-concern-2/

Following is more from his “Testament of Devotion.”

“The experience of Divine Presence changes all this familiar picture. There come times when the Presence steals upon us, all unexpected not the product of agonized effort, and we live in a new dimension of life. You who have experienced such plateaus of glory know what I mean. Out from the plain of daily living suddenly loom such plateaus. Before we know it we are walking upon their heights, and all the old familiar landscape becomes new. The experience of Paul is very true: ‘The former things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” One walks in the world yet above the world as well, giddy with the height, with feather tread, with effortlessness and calm security, meeting the daily routine, yet never losing the sense of Presence. Sometimes these periods are acute and brief, too dazzling to report to anyone. Sometimes they are less elevated but more prolonged, with a milder sense of glory and of lift, yet as surely of a piece with the more acute experience. Such experiences are emotionless, in themselves, but suffuse all emotion with a background of peace, utter, utter peace and security.”

As have many Friends and others, I have been blessed to have “experienced such plateaus of glory.”

This is not to say that we should turn away from the strife of everyday life, especially such as our current political situation. But we should pray and center ourselves in the Light within us. We should listen closely for the guidance from the Presence. We should act as peacemakers, helping our fellows avoid the pitfalls of anger and despair, and remember there is that of God in everyone, even those who seem intent on doing us, our social fabric, harm.