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 This is my last day in Florence walking around with God. Of course, I can walk around with God anywhere, because God is everywhere. Walking around with God is not a white privilege; you don’t have to afford be in such a beautiful place as Florence; God walks with everyone, everywhere, all the time--God shows no partiality. God is always there to walk with me. I just have to notice.
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 Yesterday I attended Sunday worship at St. James Episcopal Church (where I used to go when I was a student here in 1959-60). The program was printed in both English and Italian, parts of the service were conducted in Italian, and Communion was open to everyone. The congregation was composed of people of all colors, languages, and nationalities. To quote my mom, it was what Heaven is like. Their mission statement: We rejoice in a diverse and international parish family, and serve Italian and English speakers from many denominations, back grounds and cultures. The Rev. Cannon T. Mark Dunnam, preaching (in English) on Luke 3: 1-6, drew a contrast between the powerful rulers of the day and ‘insignificant’ John the Baptist. The message was compelling: God calls insignificant people like us to do powerful things. On every visit to Florence I take a morning church. I photograph each church exterior and move on to the next one. The rain stopped me from getting to Santa Croce.  Here it is again! A slideshow of Fra Angelico’s frescoes in the monks’ cells in the Convent of San Marco. At 8:15 I was the first visitor of the day, and for a while I had the place to myself. I have a set of these same pictures stored on my computer, so why take them again? Because these are of the moment, this moment of prayer.  I’m back in Florence, walking around with God. My commitment to this is strong, which means that I am remembering more often to feel God’s presence, not just when I visit a church or walk the streets, but as I encounter people living their lives and expressing joys and concerns.
My purpose simple: live only in, by, through, and with love. This means no judgments, other than to notice that someone is expressing joy or concern. If I observe joy, I express gratitude. If I observe what appears as sadness or anger, I send God’s peace. Case in point! A bit ago, a boy (age eight ?) sat down in this café with his parents and grandmother. He appeared distressed and started pouting and crying. He was not happy, nor were the adults happy with him. I need not analyze or explain the situation further. My prayer challenge is simple: send love. Further judgments on my part diminish the power of prayer.  I wrote the following for this blog but when finished, I realized it was right for my cottagebythesea blog as well. This often happens because it is the same me writing for both. On this blog, however, I spell out my faith in more concrete terms.
The Psalms in the Hebrew Bible are steeped in gratitude. Most of the epistles in the New Testament start with gratitude. In Jesus’ message of love he tells us love and judgments are not companions. On this day after Thanksgiving I could be talking in my usual way about gratitude--what we’re grateful for, what we ‘should’ be grateful for, personal graitudes, and gratitudes for the world. I’m all in for these kinds of expressions, but today I’m thinking of the power of stating gratitude in positive terms. For example, “How wonderful we can get out for a walk,” instead of, “Well at least it is not raining.” Speaking positively keeps me away from making judgments. I more apt to see people for who they are, rather than who they are not. So, on this day after Thanksgiving, I am grateful for friends and family just as they are, and for the food just as it was prepared and served.  The Daily Office is not a Protestant way of worshipping. The idea of stopping to pray seven times a day, or even three, is no part of our ritual. But I’ve always be intrigued by this monastic way of being faithful. In fact, one of my fantasies is to be a monk (not a nun) in one of the English monastery that flourished before the beginning of their dissolution by Henry VIII in 1536. I’ve visited many and am still deciding which to choose: Fountains, Rivault in England, or perhaps Glastonbury or Melrose in Scotland.
Oh well, all a fantasy, but I can create my own daily office schedule. Three times a day, morning, noon, and evening is manageable. When I attending to such a schedule, the Bible, along with The Divine Hours: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis Tickle, and various other readings, become my guide.  I offer you this group of sayings I’ve gathered together to take to a 98 year old friend that I’m visiting today. I print it out on a stiff piece of paper, and if I knew how, I give you a link on this blog.
THOUGHTS FOR AN OPEN HEART Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Psalm 90.14 No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. Helen Keller God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose Romans 8:38 To accept death is to accept God. Thomas Keating Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 To cast the burdens means really to insist upon harmony and peace of mind, and to cease from worry and anxiety there and then. Emmet Fox But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 A free translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:11 might well read: “Study to shut up and mind your own business”; and among all the texts we hang on our walls, let this be one. Oswald Chambers Bobbi Fisher, November 2018  Here I am again, working through my ongoing conundrum about prayer. How does it all work? Is there a right way to pray? The questions take many forms. I’ll probably keep writing about this until I get it right, which will never be, so either put up with me, or find some other blog to capture you interest. The name of this blog, however, shouldn’t fool you. I’m obsessed with prayer; writing about it helps. So here I go again.
When praying for people in a difficult situations, is there a right or better way to it? Sometimes we are asked to pray for specific results, such as for cancer cure (doesn’t give God any wiggle room). I understand the humanness of that I one, and at times I feel comfortable telling God what to do. But, really, that is more about God and me than about God and the person being prayed for. In other prayers we ask for good to happens, such as that medical staff use wisdom. That makes sense because I believe that God, as love, wants us to do our loving, compassionate best and wants the best for all of us. The prayer I feel most called to offer is to lift people to the light as I image them walking with God. I both figurative and literally step out of God’s way, and open up energy for that light to shine (that’s what I think I’m doing). I have NO idea what God plans for anyone, but I trust that it is of the good. What keeps me going with the prayer obsession is my belief that we co-create with God, that we live in community with God, and that the universe needs our prayer/love. God has no power all by God’s self. So I pray as though life depends on it, and that my prayer makes all the difference. It sure does for me. My guidelines: pray in faith: be positive and loving.  Praying for kindness, compassion, honesty and love to win today.
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