{"id":830,"date":"2021-01-30T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/?p=830"},"modified":"2021-02-11T09:40:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T14:40:59","slug":"reflection-from-jennifer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/reflection-from-jennifer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection from Jennifer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black Elk, leader of the Oglala Lakota Sioux people, used the term \u201cthe first peace\u201d to identify a sense of connection we feel within ourselves.&nbsp; In his book <em>The Sacred Pipe<\/em>, dictated to American anthropologists and published in 1953, the first peace is described as:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cthat which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells <em>Wakan-Tanka <\/em>(the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson published an essay titled \u201cThe Over-Soul\u201d in 1841, describing what he understood as a \u201ccommon heart\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cwithin [humanity] is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One\u2026 We know that all spiritual being is in [humanity].&nbsp; We lie open on one side to the deeps of spiritual nature, to the attributes of God.&nbsp; Justice we see and know, Love, Freedom, Power.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I read Black Elk a few years ago in Conflict Transformation class in seminary, and I just came across some of his writings again this week as I was looking through a collection of writings and poetry by indigenous peoples.&nbsp; Also this week, I found myself reading a collection of Emerson\u2019s essays while I was sitting by the fire on a relaxing Saturday afternoon and I reached for the closest book.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These two readings offered me a good lesson &#8212; sometimes I think we\u2019re saying the same thing, just using different language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No doubt we speak through the lens of our experiences and so we use the language that comes most naturally to us.&nbsp; But language can be divisive.&nbsp; What I describe as \u201ca and b\u201d might be \u201cx and y\u201d to you.&nbsp; If we\u2019re going to really listen and understand one another, we might need to dig a little to uncover what we\u2019re actually trying to say.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In these times when we\u2019re quick to identify our differences and claim our ground, may we have patience to dig and seek understanding.&nbsp; May we seek to realize the first peace within ourselves by opening our eyes to our common heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blessings &amp; peace to you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CPE Intern&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black Elk, leader of the Oglala Lakota Sioux people, used the term \u201cthe first peace\u201d to identify a sense of connection we feel within ourselves.&nbsp; In his book The Sacred Pipe, dictated to American anthropologists and published in 1953, the first peace is described as:&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cthat which comes within the souls of people when they &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/reflection-from-jennifer-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Reflection from Jennifer<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":831,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions\/831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hhhinfo.com\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}