Be as the dove, I soar in her.
Lighten your heart, I soar in you.
Uplift your being, be an Easter song.
Why not soar?
When did we learn religion was hard and punishing and scary? Not from Mechtilde of Magdeburg. She has the firm belief that we are made in the image of God and made for God. Her prayer-poem is filled with longing for union with God, whose image she is and in whose love she exists.
Be as the dove, I soar in her. The dove is a pigeon, not an elegant bird. Mechtilde could have named an eagle or a falcon. But God soars in our humanity, even if we are lowly pigeons. Just as Jesus showed God in his life, our cluckings and hanging out on ledges and other pigeon activities show forth God, too. God is that linked to us that God soars in us. When we smile, God soars in that smile. When we grieve, God soars in that grief, too. Jesus had every emotion we have, and God soared in him. Can you believe God soars in you?
Lighten your heart, I soar in you. Soaring does require lightening the load. The Wright brothers’ early experiments depended on dropping ballast to keep their flying machines up and on track. What ballast can you drop? What would lighten your heart? What would free you to soar? Can you decide how to lighten your heart in just one way?
Uplift your being, be an Easter song. Can you uplift yourself, or do you need help? Who is a person whose presence in your life uplifts you? Someone at church, at work, at the coffee shop? How do you let that person in? What does being uplifted feel like? If you become an
Easter song, what song are you?
Why not soar? Since his resurrection and ascension Jesus is with his Father in a human body with a human soul and human affections. Mary is there, too, in all of her humanity. We will soar to be with them when we die. In the meantime, why not soar every day?
We are made for relationship with God, with one another, with all of creation. We soar in every friendship and feel the barriers between us fall away. What we see from the heights of our soaring is what we can embrace in love. So why not soar?
Sing an Alleluia to close your retreat.