I think emptiness: I feel reverence

My Introduction to Buddhism.
We were taught a simple meditation in our first class. We began class with a moment of silence. we meditated in class. We are to meditate a minimum of 5 minutes per day and journal about our experience. Thought there is much more to "do" for that class, too, I am learning to stop thinking for a few moments each day. I am learning to calm my left brain, my critic, my judge. I am learning to think emptiness... to cease thinking.

It's wonderful.

My Introduction to the New Testament
After one week of classes at Bangor Theological Seminary, my reverence for great writers, poets, painters, and photographers has grown leaps and bounds. Through images, words, and metaphors, these wonderful human beings live out the following:
1) Experience, in some way, the Divine Creator and that Creator's Interaction with Humanity.
2) Attempt to express the depth, fullness, and magnitude of that experience on the canvas of his/her artistic field... photo paper, the written page, cloth stretched over wood.
3) Find that experience is worth sharing with others.
4) Offer it.

When I think about that process, I am filled with appreciation and awe. After reading on my own and discussing in class the canonization of the collection of books we now refer to as the New Testament, I now regard these books with much more respect and appreciation than even one week ago. Our teacher, P. Shelburg offered us the following thought. New Testament authors wrote to offer to others a "distillation of a transcendental experience." They moved through the process I described above. New Testament authors experienced the Love of God and the impact living in Sacred Community has on one's life. They tried to find ways to express this to others. They tried the direct approach. They tried metaphors. They tried story-telling. They tried painting pictures in words. From the frail and meek vehicle of language, they attempted to share about the majesty and strength of Love.

After you've experienced the grandeur and impact of True Love, how can words possibly relate it?

And yet, they tried. I respect those effort. I hold them now in high regard. For all the foibles and follies of the Bible-- For all the catastrophes and excuses for abuse offered us in the Bible, I have found the gift of respecting it as a Living document to be read and utilized responsibly. I embrace the call to interpret it with all of the resources at my disposal AND bring to that interpretation my own experiences with the Love of God. I embrace the call to question the relevancy of the Bible in our lives, and if I find it to be meaningful and relevant, I embrace the call to share it.

Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace... that we all might share. ~Trish