Harry Emerson Fosdick urges the case for peaceful homes as places of nurturance. Nevertheless, he recognizes that our homes can become bastions against the world if they are not connected to work for the sake of the world outside. Fosdick affirms the ultimate purpose of peaceful homes:
O God of life, send from above Thy succor, swift and strong, That from such homes stout souls may come To triumph over wrong.
Understood in this way, our homes are places of nurture but also of preparation. From such places some stalwart souls will envision the world in new ways.
~ from ATHENA'S DISGUISES: Mentors in Everyday Life by Susan Ford Wiltshire
A legend: In the beginning of the world the divine light was held in primeval vessels. But somehow no one knows how the vessels were shattered, and discord and confusion spread everywhere. The great task for human beings is to repair the ancient vessels, to gather together the sacred light, to call home all those who have been lost or in exile, to heal the separation and bring peace to the world.
~ from THE FEMININE FACE OF GOD by Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia Hopkins
As strange as it may sound, it was in the fall and winter that I felt closest to my tree. Her spring beauty and summer fruit filled me with delight, but when the days began to grow cool and the leaves turned from darkest green to yellow, I could feel something deep and marvelously intimate begin to take place between us. And as fall turned to winter, this feeling of intimacy grew. With no bees humming among the blossoms, no birds fluttering from limb to limb, no leaves and cherries decorating her branches, my tree seemed to reveal herself to me in her purest form -- in her very essence. And when I embraced her and pressed my ear against her trunk, I could hear the silence that united us. And I knew that was sacred. (Choqosh Auh-Ho-Ho)
~ from THE FEMININE FACE OF GOD by Sherry Ruth Anderson & Patricia Hopkins
What is it that we do when we come together on alternate Tuesday evenings? The word SILENCE is the key to answering this question. The first time we met we agreed that silence would be the container for our prayers as well as a form of prayer in itself. We sit in a circle on floor cushions with our eyes open or closed ... It makes no difference. What matters is that everything that emerges from this silence -- a word, an image, a line of scripture or poetry, a probing question -- is held by each of us as if it is our collective heart speaking. And it is this heart that we listen to and follow as we pray ... Although we do not always know the way to God, our collective heart reminds us again and again as we sit together in the silence that God knows the way to us.
~ from THE FEMININE FACE OF GOD by Sherry Ruth Anderson & Patricia Hopkins