A bit less that 6 wks away PEACE BELLS ACROSS THE HUDSON will take place on the New Walkway Bridge in upstate, NY. Access to this special ressurected structure can be had from the Poughkeepsie or Highland, NY sides. The event will take place Sept. 18th between 8:30 and 10:30. Walk with us and join our community in music and song along with panoramic views of the Hudson Valley on this wonderful new walkway park above the Hudson River.

Back in July of 1969 Apollo II astronouts landed on the moon and posted this plaque…. “We came in Peace for all mankind.” Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. 

We have made progress since then on many fronts but still if Peace is to Ring True! we have a long way to go.  Since Peace movements are picking up steam in this down turn global economic climate, we pray we stay the course and use dialogue and other means to resolve issues without these challenges leading to another war.

Albert Schweitzer
He comes to us as one unknown-without a name- as of old by the lakeside he come to those who knew him not. He spoke to us the same words –“Follow thou me!” – and sets us to the task he wants us to fulfill. He commands, and to those who obey him, whether they  be wise ir simple, he will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in his fellowship – and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who he is.

You thought you were indifferent to praise for achievements which you would not yourself have counted to your credit, or that, if you should be tempted to be flattered, you would always remember that the praise far exceeded what the events justified. You thought yourself indifferent – until you felt your jealousy flare up at someone else’s naïve attempts to make himself important and your self-conceit stood exposed.

Concerning the hardness of the heart and its littleness, let me read with open eyes the book my days are writing-and learn. Dag Hammarskjold

Our prayer to often rather than “Thy will be done”  is God help me in,  “My will be done”   and this although difficult to become aware of is whihc leads to inner calm and a true sense of purpose.

Difficulties should not depress or divert us. The cause that has gripped us is so great that the small weakness of individuals cannot destroy it. Therefore I ask you only one thing: do not be so worried of yourself. Free yourself from all your plans and aims. They occupy you far too much. Surrender yourself to the sun, the rain and the wind, as do the flowers and the birds. Surrender yourself to God. Wish for nothing but one thing: that his will be done, that his kingdom come, and that his nature be revealed. Then all will be well.  Eberhard Arnold

Thomas Jefferson was so convinced that the pursuit of happiness was an inalienable human right that he wrote it into the Declaration of Independence and called it a self-evident truth. But Christians have this added: those who pursue happiness never find it. Because joy and peace are extremely elusive, happiness is a will-o’-wisp, a phantom, and even if we reach out our hand to grasp it, it vanishes into thin air. God gives joy and peace not to those who pursue them but to those who pursue Him and strive to love. Joy and peace are found in loving and nowhere else.

John Scott

GRATITUDE

Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself. Ascribed to Chief Tecumseh

A rabbi asked his students: when, at dawn can one tell the light from the darkness?

One student replied: when I can tell a goat from a donkey. No, answered the rabbi. Another said: when I can tell a palm tree from a fig tree. No answered the rabbi again. Well then what is the answer his students pressed him? Not until you look into the face of every man and every woman and see your brother and your sister, said the rabbi. Only then have you seen the light. All else is still darkness. Hasidic Tale

Trust the physician and drink his remedy is silence and tranquility.

For his hand though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen.

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which

the Potter has moistened with his own sacred tears. Kahlil Gibran

Silence

The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flow from us because we are in constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. If I have done some wrong thing (or even some right thing that I think you may misunderstand) and discover that you know about it, I will be tempted to help you understand my actions. Silence is one of our deepest disciplines of the Spirit, because it puts the stopper on all self-justification. One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten out others. Richard J. Foster