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A Book Review and Reflection on Birthing the Holy Christine Valters PaintersPaintner presents an introduction to Mary as one who gives birth to the Holy in the early part of the Gospels and at the end surrenders herself to something she never ever could have imagined, to be the human Mother of the Messiah, of God.
In Birthing the Holy, Paintner presents the manifestation of a prism of Mary which continues to reflect the many forms of the love of Jesus. Cynthia Bourgeault writes that mystical hope "has something to do with presence--not a future good outcome, but the immediate experience of being met in communion, held in communion,by something immediately at hand." It was Mary, in the manifestations of "Our Lady of Guadalupe" and "Mary the Untier of Knots" through whom Christ kept me close to him when I wanted to run away. Those manifestations remind me of the words Dorothy Day about the Church: "She is both a whore and our Mother." Read more
Mary is why I am still a priest. Thirty-four years ago I left another state for Los Angles, broken, defeated, and hating the Church and Christ. My sexuality had turned the treasures of my life against me. I was removed from the ministry and marked with a scarlet letter. I vowed, I swore I would never go back. To make a living, and frankly, giving the Church and God a finger I became a sex worker. But God was not through with me, for through my Hispanic sex worker friends I was introduced to "Our Lady of Guadalupe", the racially mixed Mother of God, who lead her people into struggling against injustice. She transcended all boundaries. As I experienced the presence of the archetypical Rose, I found Jesus again, the Jesus who accepts all. And in the early morning light before her statue, my heart felt that strange warmness, that once called me to ministry, and I left sex work and began my move once again to ministry. Secondly, "Mary, Untier of the Knots" through the years has been very meaningful. The knots are those things within our lives that keep us tied up. The heart of healing work is the transformation of our wounds and self-imposed limitations of grief and loss that enslave us. The Wounded Healer, as so beautifully expressed by writer Fr. Henri Nouwen, points to the way that our own healing is broken open through our woundedness and allows us to become healers. Mary pointed me back to Jesus, my Hope and Redeemer. Jesus who is not judgmental accepts all of my spots and transforms them into tools of love. This Advent I encourage all of us to read Birthing the Holy and allow these manifestations of Mary to embrace each of us, allowing us to see Jesus, as our Healer, Redeemer, and the One who loves us with all of his heart. Julian of Norwich sums it all up in her poem: “God chose to be our mother in all things and so made the foundation of his work, most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin’s womb God, the perfect wisdom of all arrayed himself in this humble place. Christ came in our poor flesh to share a mother’s care. Our mothers bear us for pain and for death; our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life. Christ carried us within him in love and travail, until the fulltime of his passion. And when all was complete and he had carried us so for joy, still all this would not satisfy the power of his wonderful love. All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God, for the love of Christ works in us; Christ is the one whom we love.” Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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The Holy Thief!Isa. 2:15.
Matthew 24:37-44. "Work hard to enter the narrow door in God's Kingdom for many will try to but will fail.,. Luke 13:24. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis writes of four children who have been sent from their home in London to the countryside to escape the Blitz during World War II. They are in a new place living apart from their parents with two adult caretakers who are mostly absent. Read more
One rainy day Lucy finds a wardrobe all by itself in an empty room full of coats and as she enters she finds herself in the middle of a snowy forest. Lucy was the "Holy Thief" walking into Advent, similar to walking into the wardrobe. Lucy did not belong in the wardrobe, nor in the forest, she was not invited, just walked in. This was Narnia. In San Francisco, we often forget what cold and snow feel like. Advent in Narnia is being set apart from ordinary time, with a glimpse of a more kind and caring world. the "Holy Thief" sneaks into our lives quietly, bringing us a glimpse of Narnia. And in that glimpse, we see with our hearts homelessness, hunger, destruction of our environment, and global catastrophe. And move forward being a vision of transformation into Narnia. .Each day as I walk into Golden Gate Park, hang on the Haight, and walk through the darkness of the Tenderloin I always return more hopeful, for there I meet brothers and sisters who look death in the face and yet remain hopeful and joyful. God stealing in! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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Giving TuesdayJoin the Giving Tuesday movement and reimagine a world built upon shared humanity and radical generosity. November 29, 2022!
Temenos Catholic Worker Gives Out 20,000 Pairs of Socks A Year! We Provide Pastoral Care to Countless Individuals! We Meet People Where They Are! Give through PayPal! Our website: www.temenos.org! And through the mail: P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164. Fr. River Sims. P.O. Box 642656. San Francisco, CA 9416. www. temenos.org 415-305-2124. |
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Advent StudyAdvent in Narnia.
Reflections for the Season by Heidi Haverkame. Get a copy of the book and follow our reflections during the week. We are studying The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Read Week One. Fr. River Sim. P.O. Box 642656. San Francisco, CA 94164. www. temenos.org 415-305-2124. |
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Christ the King
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ONE BRIGHT MOMENT IN Narnia (The Reign of God!)Matthew 5:3-12
New Living Translation The Beatitudes 3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,[a] for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,[b] for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. Read more
Two days ago as I turned onto Hwy 121 and headed into Napa Valley, I began relaxing and smiling, experiencing the smells and sights of Autumn as the fall colors of the grapevines dashed before my eyes much like the leaves of the trees of my childhood in the south and midwest. Followed by the taste, and smell of the new wine. In those moments, I had a glimpse of entering Narnia.
The dream continued as I presented the stories of our homeless adults and youth on Polk and Haight Streets to the sixth-grade students attending St. Apollinaris Catholic School. There were no cell phones, no texting, and all were bright-eyed and attentive, asking questions well beyond their maturity, and retaining child-like qualities. There was no judgment, no classism, simply concern and compassion for our street youth and adults. Concerned only with the moment. These were "Narnia" moments with Aslian, the Great Lion-- the Divine Heart (Jesus) smiling at each one of us. These were moments of the Reign of God in all of its fullness. My heart was uplifted, and the tiredness within my bones vanished. On All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day we remember all the Saints (both named and unnamed) who have crossed into Narnia, (the Reigh of God), and surround us in the Great Cloud of Witnesses, supporting and cheering us as we continue our journey. For we are called to bring the sunshine of Narnia into our world, feeding, being present to others, listening, and simply caring. Let us remember the words of St. Clare of Assisi: "We become what we love and Who we love shapes what we become," entering into the Divine Heart (Jesus), and loving others. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! -------------------------------- 
All Saints/All Souls Zoom! Tuesday, November 1, 2022 5:00 p.m. Meeting I.D. 761-4436-8264 "A Time of Remembrance And Prayer!" Bring the names of Loved Ones! You May Also Email me: at [email protected] or text: 415-305-2124 the Names of Loved Ones and I Will Remember Them in Prayer! --------------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 64265 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org [email protected] |
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Seeds of Compassion!Luke 13:18-21
New Living Translation Parable of the Mustard Seed 18 Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? 19 It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.” Read more
Parable of the Yeast 20 He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? 21 It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough." Through the years I have lost donations, with comments like: "You do not do anything about the big problems and have results for our money." The truth is there is no way I can "solve" or "fix" people or the problems of homelessness, they are just too big. What I do is simply show love to each person at a time, listening, caring, giving them socks, and most importantly friendship, a ministry of presence! Our Gospel describes how our little acts of kindness will grow to fruition. Keanu Reeves comments: "The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way." Paying attention to someone on the street and to our friends and neighbors takes us a long way. Ultimately Jason Shulman in his book: The Instruction Manual for Receiving God, gives a good summation of viewing life and of simply being a seed of compassion: Let us say that the individual person is a drop of water. . Standing beyond this drop is the ocean: the entirety of All That Is. There are no drops of water in the ocean, of course, just water and more water. So there seem to be two worlds: the world: the world of the individual drop and the world of the ocean. It is tempting to think that the single drop is "my individual ego" and the ocean is God. But this is not true, "God in you and you in God" is the truth. It is as if you awoke to find yourself capable of knowing simultaneously that you are a separate bit of water --glistening, wet, fluid, and alive--and that this "drop" is just a moment of separation in an ocean of water. This ocean is the source of all drops. It is life unending. Knowing both the drop and the ocean is living the life of the Divine Self. It is one world. One life. One God. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! --------------------- Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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Ex Denominalists!Luke 18:9-14
Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector 9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer[a]: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ Read more
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ================ During the writing of the dissertation for my doctorate several years ago, I interviewed approximately one hundred and fifty people including teenagers seeking to find out how church denominations affected their lives, only five had a positive response, and the remainder had no response. In asking each to share their different journey and yet similar, one could hear the Pharisee speaking to each one:‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ They left or were kicked out for a number of reasons: in an evangelistic church they disagreed with the theology; several were lesbian or simply female and called to professional ministry; others came out as Queer, and some for refusing to vote for Donald Trump. For all of them: their churches raised money for their building, and simply ignored the poor. In talking with street youth and adult homeless, churches ignore them, reject them, and for many were sexually abused by ministers, priests, or church members. Overall the denominational church has no meaning in their world. In fact, Christianity has no meaning in their lives. Looking into the eyes of each one, seeing their pain, one can hear the words of Jesus: I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” And the Divine One stands with a smile, that radiates across the wounds of each one, with his wounds visible, not from dying for our sins, but as the healing accepting Abba saying: "How I have wanted to gather you together as a hen gathers her children under her wings." Safe in the arms of Jesus and our Mother God with their wounds healed. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ----------- Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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BLAZING LOVE!"I have come to set the earth on fire," Jesus proclaims, "and how I wish it were already blazing!"
(Luke 12:49). We might find these words unsettling, hitting a bit close to home. Is Jesus condoning the fires raging across our state? Is Jesus predicting violence, calling for more death and destruction? Read more
Quiet the opposite. In this context, fire is not destructive but cleansing. Jesus is taking a prophetic stance, crying out for a new world order that will begin with an ultimate judgment, one not to be feared but yearned for, a blazing love that sets right and heals the world. He is crying out not in anger, but anguish(12:50) giving us a glimpse of his own inner turmoil. For this fire can only be unleashed through his death--"the baptism with which I must be baptized"-which will set in motion the cleansing and renewal of those who follow him, and set them on fire. His call is for each human being to be loved as a child of God. A call to see through the evil present in people, and see the broken face of Christ. It is an invitation to bring this blazing fire to others. My friend Mike, in the photo above, last week as we were on the street, walked over to the elderly gentleman. He gave "Jim" some food, knelt down, and with tears in his eyes, looked at Jim's feet, the skin broken from walking, with sores, from not having fresh socks. He held the feet in his hands and placed a fresh sock on each foot with loving care! This is the "blazing fire of love", to individually help someone, putting oneself in another's place, and without worrying about personal harm assisting that person. This is the "blazing fire of love", to see each person as precious in God's sight! To take risks to serve! This morning at 5:30 a.m. as I prayed the "Vigil" in the "Daily Office," awaiting the dawning of the day, signifying trusting God to bring another dawn, my mind centered on the recent slayings in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I cry for all who are suffering; I cry for those murdered, for their families, and for the local community. All are broken, and all are in need now, and in the days ahead of the blazing fire of the love of God in individuals to take them into their arms, to hold and, to bring hope and love, and finally I cry for Austin, a young man so overcome with the evil of mental illness he hurt so many. May the blazing fire of love push our society to have mental health for all, and each of us to brings the blazing fire of love in caring for adolescents. In helping them find care and meaning in their lives. And may we remember the words of Father Ronald Rothlheiser: "Whenever we are discouraged in our faith, whenever our hopes seem to be crucified, we need to go back to Galilee, back to the dream and the road. .that we had embarked upon before things went wrong." And in closing let us pray the prayer in today's Vigils: "Hidden God, ever present to me, may I now be present to you, attentive to your every word, attuned to your inspirations, alert to your touch. Empty me that I maybe filled with you alone. Amen." --------------------- Father Christian River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 ----------------- I have started addressing Christmas Cards, and if you do not believe I have your snail mail and would like to have a card please email me. Thanks! |
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A Grateful Life!(We have the statue of "Mary: Untier of Knots"/and "Asin", the Lion of Narnia!)
Each day I pray to "Mary: Untier of Knots", asking her to help untie the knots within my life, to Jesus the One who calls me to new life." Read more
2 Timothy 3:14-17 New Living Translation "14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." Fr. Henri Nouwen writes of living in gratitude, and one might ask "How can we live in gratitude? Every day we have death around us, and as I walk the streets and see the pain of homelessness, I have pain and now the long-term effects of the Coronavirus. We look back and we can divide our lives into good things to be grateful for and bad things to forget. I have found when that in dividing the past in such a manner leaves me limping toward the future. Fr. Henri says gently: "True spiritual gratitude embraces all of our past, the good as well as the bad events, the joyful as well as the sorrowful moments. From the place where we stand, everything that took place brought us to this place, and we want to remember all of it as a part of God's guidance. That does not mean all that has happened in the past was good, but it does means that even the bad did not happen outside the loving presence of God..Once all of our past is remembered in gratitude, we are free to be sent into the world to proclaim the good news to others." I look back and see my life in the closet, as a minister, my life as a whore, on the streets, all of which brought me here as a priest. My life good, and bad, has been a blessed life. My life in the injuries has been blessed. In working with people, I share their life experiences and share with them the love of Asian, "The Lion of Judah", and Christ in The Chronicle of Narnia ( The God who loves them no matter what, and does not judge them). The God who is with them now in their pain, and fears, and always is holding them in his arms. The photo above is of Asian, the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia, who represents Jeus, and He is strong, nurturing, and always there. The photo was given to me by Tony, who calls himself, "A renaissance man," ( Harlem Renaissance that is). Tony is a young black man, and sees himself as the "personification of African-American culture, an artist, activist, B-Boy, Beatbox, Emcee, Father-Healer, Motivational Speaker, Teacher, poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Vegan." He chooses to live in his van, where he makes art and paints shirts and sweatshirts with the same pictures. He is a large man, always happy with a loud voice. Tony tells me he gave up on the Church a long time ago, "they preach judgment, hellfire, and tell us how to live in their middle-class ways when all we have to do is love one another". Tony does not want to house until "everyone has housing." He is getting me blankets, and jackets to give away. Tony is an example of being grateful for his life, he takes it as it comes and is grateful! As I have let go of the judgment garbage Christianity and embraced the giving non-judgmental love of Jesus, my life has become grateful, and that is what I share with the people I work with. For Asian (Jesus) teaches that we are all precious, so precious in the eyes of the Living God, for in the words of Dorothy Day, "He is disguised under every type of humanity that treads the earth! And each day as I lift the Bread and Wine, I am reminded that Jesus gave his life, that all might have a life! Be grateful! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ----------------------------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-21124 [email protected] "The whole program of creation is to being us back into contact with God!" Jason Shulman |
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Coming Out As A Human Being!"For freedom, Christ has set us free: stand firm therefore and do not again submit to a yoke of slavery Galatians 5:1."
Jason Shulman, tells us today on National Coming Out Day that when we encourage LGBTQ individuals to come out, we should be yelling from the house tops our coming out as human beings in these words: "To be human is to lose our way and find it again. The human lineage is the lineage of falling down and getting up again." Read more
My own journey can never be separated from my faith in Jesus. It is that relationship that has sustained me all of my life in the good times and the bad times. In the southern town in which I was raised, all were Christians, and the battle was between those who were really saved, the Baptists or the Methodists. I have gone to many a revival where all of us young guys went forward to be saved from the sins of masturbation, cussing, smoking, etc. This happened every spring and fall. When I became a Methodist minister the sins became a little more sophisticated, namely, homosexuality was an "intrinsic evil". I found myself out on the streets when I came out. The "coming out" event began my evolution of faith. I have come to see that "to be human is to lose our way and to find it again..to fall and to get up again." Heaven and hell as we have known it has been tools used to control humanity. Jesus loves every last one of us. Life is about remembering to whom we belong and to our call to love our neighbors as ourselves. Time and again we forget who we are, we fall down into living lives of destruction but are invited each time to rise up. To claim our humanity and the love awaiting us. When we forget our humanity we fail to remember our connectedness to each other and harm ourselves, and the environment. We fall when we hurt others. We can get up again and begin anew, we are imperfect. Come out--be human! Recognize the LGTBQ community as simply human beings, as well as all other communities of ethnicity, color, economic status, and religion. "To Fall Is To Be Human, To get up again is divine!" Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ------------------------ Father River Sims P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 [email protected] |
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PENIEL“Where Jacob walked with God and survived.. .”
Newsletter of Temenos Catholic Worker November/December, 2022 ‘Gratitude and Advent Seasons’ Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94109 Read more
www.temenos.org
email: Temenos.org phone: 415-305-2124 snapchat: riodamien3 We Are Beggars! Please, Please Give Using an Envelope in the Newsletter PayPal, or www.temenos.org! 
Journal of An Alien Street Priest:
Sloughing Towards Bethlehem! As I read Joan Didion’s essay, “Sloughing Towards Bethlehem”, I find myself thinking of Haight Street then, and Haight Street now. The neighborhood of course has changed, the “hippie” culture is now a part of history, and it has been romanticized; Jerry Garcia’s apartment is now over an upscale apartment store; clean cut tourists with their cameras are everywhere. Apartments are rented for thirty to forty times the price of that era. But what remains are the street youth/adults who are on the street pan-handling, smoking pot, and struggling with their issues. Their needs are the same as that era, trying to find a place to belong, parents who abused them, rejection, and always being preyed upon by predators. Our society is filled with a sense of meaninglessness, godliness, and materialism, that dominated the Ms. Didion’s reflections. The streets of San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angles, Chicago, and all our major cities—not just a California “thing”-are filled with the poorest of the poorest, homeless, drug-addicted, mentally ill, and all who do not make enough on minimum wage to have housing. In San Francisco, alone, we have twenty thousand-plus unhoused people. And people who are housed simply walk by, without giving a nod or a glance. During these seasons of “Gratitude” and “Advent” let us join together in reading Hebrews 11: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and with a child’s awe of the reading of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicle’s of Narna, in particular, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and envision the Reign of God, “Narnia”, in which we see our friends, and loved one’s in the Great Cloud of Witnesses, calling us forward in struggling for the healing of our communities. Calling us to advocate with our leaders to turn their eyes to the streets, and pour out our taxes for food, housing mental health, physical health care, and treatment centers for all; calling each one of us to look at every corner of our streets and see the suffering of individuals in our midst, and provide food, and the presence of ourselves to each one. I would like to invite each and every one of you to purchase (if you can not afford the book, I will gladly give you one as a Christmas gift) Advent in Narnia: Reflections for the Season, by Heidi Haverkamp, and meditate on each day of Advent. In our childlikeness in the midst of our Narnia winter let us look for the green leaves, hear the birds singing, see the flowers blooming, the trees putting on fresh leaves, and know the winter is over and the “the White Witch” (evil, hunger, and all forms of degradation) is on the run, her sled is useless, and she must walk. Finally, her dwarf declares: “This is no thaw, this is spring. What are we to do? Your winter has been destroyed. I tell you! This is Aslan’s doing” (See chapter 11 in the book). On Christmas Day Christ is born! ----------------------- EVENTS All Saints and All Souls Days—November 1 and 2nd: On November 1 and 2nd we will remember in thanksgiving our loved ones who have died and entered into the Great Cloud of Witnesses, who now surround us encouraging us on our present journey, with anticipation of our joining them. At 5:00 p.m. PDT. November 2, "All Soul's Day, we will have a Zoom “Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving” so please join us, and send your email to [email protected]. or call 415-305-2124. Gratitude Day, November 24, 2022: On November 24, 2022, we will celebrate “Gratitude Day” by serving a hot meal of Vegan Turkey on the Haight and Polk Street, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Any one who would like to volunteer you are invited to join me at 4:00 p.m. Maxes at Opera Plaza for a Gratitude meal and join in serving our meal. Allow until 9:00 p.m. This invitation is for anyone who is home alone and would like to join us as well. Christmas Eve: Mobile Christmas Eve Eucharist at 5:00-9:00 p.m. Haight/Polk Followed by gift-giving on the street! Gifts of Sweat Shirts, Long Sleeve Shirts, and/or Jackets are needed! Thank you! Thank you! To the Eight Grade Class of St. Apollonia Middle School in Napa for their sock drive! 
Join Us For Our Advent Study Advent In Narnia: Reflections for the Season by Heidi Haverkamp Beginning First Sunday in Advent! November 27, 2022, 2 p.m. PST, On Zoom! Send an email to Fr. River to Sign You UP! |
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Matthew Shepherd1976-1998
Loving the Present Sufism, Mindfulness, and Recovery from Addiction and Mental Illness by Sarah Huxtable Mohr Read more
On this day in 1998, Matthew Shepherd was murdered. Remembering his death confronts us with what it means to be in the closet as LGBTQ. Matthew paid the price, as so many others continue to suffer. Matthew calls us "out" no matter who we are to be open and affirming of all.
Frankly, to be honest, youth who are homeless, queer, and counter-cultural, are basically ignored in our society. Being gay is counter-cultural in many ways. Matthew Shepherd reminds us of the detrimental consequences of not dealing with our own uncomfortably to our young people who are "different". The book Loving the Present by Sarah Huxtable Mohr is about her journey through mental illness and addiction. She shares the limits of psychiatry and mental health providers who do not understand spirituality and trust solely in medication. Mohr shares how spirituality through the Twelve Steps saved her life and has given her the opportunity of working as a therapist herself. A young man, whom I will call Jeremiah, reminds me of Matthew's story. Raised in a small town, he was unable to be out, but in the end, as he entered adolescence he shared his struggles with his minister. The minister told Jeremiah's parents who insisted on placing him in therapy. The therapist who himself was homophobic diagnosed Jeremiah as "depressed' and placed him on drugs. Jeremiah kept his mouth shut and became "straight", and continued his path to college, seminary, and ministry. Jeremiah was in ministry for ten years and continually struggled with his sexual identity. He requested his immediate superior to send him to a counselor to help look at his sexual identity to work on those issues, and the counselor informed his boss he was gay. Immediately Jeremiah's superior dismissed him as being "intrinsically evil". Jeremiah found himself on the street, being a prostitute, using drugs, and attempting suicide a number of times. A friend challenged him to attend a Queer Twelve Step Program. In the first meeting, Jeremiah felt loved and accepted for who he was and began working the Twelve Steps. The Twelve Steps brought him face to face with his issues, and ultimately he came back into a relationship with Christ, with whom he could relate and lead him into an acceptance of himself. For many, they find their spiritual relationship elsewhere. Jeremiah sees beyond homophobia, to the Jesus who loves each one of us. The Twelve Steps continue to sustain him and his ministry. On this day we remember Matthew Shepherd in his suffering, and our prayer is that in the Great Cloud of Witnesses he continues to call us to be open to the equality of all and that he walks with every young person who is struggling with his or her sexuality. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ---------------- Father Christian River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 
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Write Down the Vision!Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time!
October 1, 2022 Habakkuk:2-4; 2:2-6 "God how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, "Help, murder, police?". .And then God answered, "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. . ." Read more
Our reading for the Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time is from the short book of Habakkuk, just three chapters, and is entirely devoted to a dialogue between God and the prophet. Habakkuk's name means "to wrestle and embrace," and in this book, he is wrestling with God, and also embracing him.
When Habakkuk was writing, Israel was under corrupt leadership where injustice, evil, and tragedy were the norm. Habakkuk saw the injustice happening around him and questioned whether God even cared. His heart ached for the people and the oppression they were facing. In the midst of the injustice, Habakkuk was trying to reconcile who he believed God to be and what he saw in front of him. It is a familiar dilemma that many of us have faced, wondering where God was in the midst of pain and sorrow and whether God truly cared. Against all odds, Habakkuk decided to wait faithfully for God's response to his lament. When God finally answered, Habakkuk heard this command, "Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run," and God promises, he/her "will not disappoint" and will come at the "appointed time." We too see injustice, oppression, and discrimination around us. Homelessness is growing every day in the City and across the nation. Each day as I walk down the street, there are ten or so people frankly out of it, either on drugs or mental illness or both; working every day I see hundreds without clothing, sleeping equipment, and food. Housing being built is for the upper classes, there is hardly a middle class in San Francisco, the very rich or the very poor. The police are harsh with people who are homeless and are discriminatory and do not deal with mental illness or drug users well. People without housing are seen as a "problem" and are pushed from place to place. We walk by and ignore the one in front of us in need. The politicians are so polarized, and divided, that nothing is done. The religious community keeps their doors shut, and complains about homeless people sleeping on their doorsteps. This is not God's vision! God's vision is not found in our sitting back, and whining, but is found in "wrestling with the issue, and embracing God" in action. We are called to meet the needs of people without housing outside of our doors; to feed them; give up our money and our time to provide food and clothing for them; to advocate and fight for their needs in society and other issues; to open our doors to the needy of the neediest. St. Clare of Assisi once said: "We become what we love and Who we love shapes what we become." Sr. Helen Prejean, in the photo above, is a living example of that phrase. In 1993 she was a school teacher nun in New Orleans, and in an experience of seeing Christ in a condemned prisoner, she experienced a new conversion of the heart, and her life has been given to advocating for the end of the death penalty. She has become who she loves. God's vision asks all of us to show up and speak up for justice, and do justice! We must trust the vision of justice will come, even if we have to wait. We are simply carrying the torch until we pass the torch forward. Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently said: "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice." As the consecrated Bread and Wine are lifted at the Holy Eucharist, the words are uttered: "See who you are, become who you see! Let us lift our eyes up to the homeless, the poor, and see the broken body of Jesus, and minister to him, let us become who we see! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! 
==== Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael: Angel's Unaware!John 1:47-51
John Shulman writes in The Manual For Receiving God, Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him: Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him. . . "God receives us just as we are. But we don't receive ourselves in the same way. We don't love ourselves as we are. Our deepest work is not so much to improve ourselves as to realize ourselves, to see ourselves clearly and dearly." I have spent the better part of my life trying to meet the expectation of others. And the result has been simply being a mess. But as I have come to love myself what gives my life meaning and purpose is merely to practice kindness to who and what I am, and in so doing I practice kindness and love towards everyone meet, a message I heard from our Lady of Guadalupe at the Cathedral of the Angels in Los Angels on a night of working as a sex worker, many years ago: "Jesus loves you as you are, get on with the ministry of loving others." Read more
Yesterday was the feast of three angels, which brought to mind the angels, the angels who are "Angels Unaware" that have come through my life. One of those angels was Damien, whom I first met in 1992, in Minneapolis, a young man, who struggled with his sexuality, being kicked out of his home because of that sexuality, and living on the street, hustling, and doing whatever he had to do to survive. He was an "Angel Unaware" to me and others. I struggled with my own sexuality, trying to find my way in a world without the institutional church, friends, and family, Damien walked with me, and from him, I "began to see myself more clearly and dearly." He died of AIDS and now is a part of the great Cloud of Witnesses that surrounds us. Damien lived out the tack that Jesus taught in the Gospel. One person approaches another, engaging in simple conversation, dignifying his existence by simply recognizing the fellow human being before him. Only then does Jesus speak of angels. Perhaps we would do well today to treat our pesky emails and texts, phone calls, and surprise visitors in this way. Don't keep looking for the next message, put down your games and snap chat; be present to the person on the other end of the one you just received. After all, you may unknowingly be entertaining an angel. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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Socks Are Life!One rainy, dark night, coming home from dinner with friends, waiting to cross the street, a young guy named"Shaggy" pulled on my jacket. He was wet, and begging for socks.
Looking down I saw soggy, wet, socks, looking like they had been worn forever. So I took my shoes off and handed him the socks on my feet. That began a journey of examination of the importance of wearing socks, and how difficult not having clean socks are for people who live on the streets to obtain. Few people give socks in donations, and they are expensive. Read more
When one walks the streets of Polk and Haight in San Francisco, one sees a variety of people--tourists, bright-eyed, awed by the buildings, art on the walls,cable cars, our multi-colored culture in general, people who are housed, middle class to the wealthiest, and people who have no housing. Estimates tell us in San Francisco alone there are twenty-thousand plus people without housing,and one-fourth of which are young adults--from 12-23. For the most part, they are sight unseen, no one seems to see them, the invisible population of the City. This is my parish, my church, a ministry of presence with people, especially youth without housing. It is alistening ministry, simply hanging out, making no judgments, and along with the listening food is given, and always the number one request-- socks. I have given you a pair of socks, take them in your hands (they will be given a pair of socks), feel and, smell their pleasant order, experience the soft touch, and imagine how comfortable your feet will feel when they are placed on your feet. Imagine wearing those socks for six or seven days, and imagine the smell. Imagine wearing wet socks. Socks are more than comfort, when feet are injured from not wearing socks or from dirty wet socks it leads to poor health through sores and infected feet which spreads throughout the body. Socks are an item of providing good health. Dorothy Day, one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement once reflected on prayer to a group of teens who asked her how often she prayed: "Does God have a set way of prayer, a way that He expects each of us to follow? I doubt it. I believe some people--lots of people-pray through the witness in their lives, through the work they do, the friendships they have, and the love they offer people and receive from people. Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer." My invitation is to each of you to give the prayer of clean socks! Clean socks save lives! |
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A Hope Beyond Tragedy!Reading 1 Jb 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? Wherefore did the knees receive me? or why did I suck at the breasts? For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; had I slept, I should then have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth who built where now there are ruins Or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver. There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? They wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave: Those whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! Read more
Suffering is not a subject we want to think of, even bring up, let alone talk about, when all of us suffer in one manner or another. Job was suffering over the death of his kids, and he went back and forth in his questioning and doubts about God. The actions of humanity result in our suffering. Climate change, violence, and abuse are a result of human action, yet we want God to deliver us. My young friend Damien was raised in a loving and caring home, with a conservative faith experience. At twelve years old he was "saved" in his words. He told me that from the age of nine, he knew he was gay. In adolescence, he would sneak around gay bars, and parks where men cruised, and had sex. Damien began to have symptoms of HIV at sixteen and went to a doctor who diagnosed him and told Damien's parents. Telling his parents, refusing to repent he was kicked out of his home and found himself hustling on the street. He was free, cute, and he lived wild. He converted to AIDS at twenty and experienced severe depression, had no faith in anything, and became suicidal. But in his struggle, found faith in a God of love, and he moved into being present to others. He was safe in his sex life, and with hustling clients; Damien worked with others suffering from AIDS, and volunteered in a hospice; he died in peace at San Francisco General Hospital at the age of 23. Through his struggles with doubt, rejection, and in despair without hope, the resurrection of the Crucified One, turned defeat into triumph, ugliness into beauty, despair into hope, and the cross into faith in the resurrection. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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Real Human Grief!"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:30-31). ESV
Death is inevitable, we can not escape death. As much as I watch my diet and stay at the proper weight, check my glucose, exercise, and get the proper rest, I will die. We have "little deaths" in our lives, preparing us for our final moments, and it is important we recognize and grieve these "little deaths" in preparation for living with compassion now! In my own life I remember many: Read more
My grandparents my parents, losing my first career in coming out, my friend Brandon in the photo, my son Zack, my friend Vicki Yeley, my friends Ken and Rose Innes, the thousands through the years of my ministry, and the thousands of friends who move through my life the gentrification of the City, little deaths, much grieving. Death weaves within our lives every day, we can run, we can try to hide, but death is present. Many times I am asked: exactly what do you do? How many people do you get off the streets? Tell me of someone you have really helped. My ministry, (our) ministry is not about providing material items, they are secondary, necessary for survival, and heart warming, it is one of spirit, being present with individuals in their lives in general, holding their hands, simply listening as they struggle with living on the streets, wrestling with addiction and abuse. Listening to their wrestling with God and meaning in life, and in facing death each day on the streets. The streets "ain't for sissies". Father Henri Nouwen in his lovely words shares his reflection on facing death: "Real human grief means allowing the illusions of immortality to die in us. When those whom we love with an "endless love" die, something also has to die within us. If we do not allow this to happen, we will lose touch with reality, our lives will become increasingly artificial, and we will lose our human capacity for compassion." To experience our "real human grief" allows us to open our hearts to others without judgment, in all-embracing care and love. For we see we are all on the same journey, and experience the same fate! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!" |
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Peniel"Where Jacob Walked With God. ."
Journal of An Alien Street Priest: During our unusual late summer rains, I engaged in a simple ritual--walking on the beach in Pacifica, and picking up starfish washed up on the shore. A time of reflection on my twenty-eighth anniversary of coming to San Francisco, October 1, 1994. I slowly walked the beach, free of people, except for the few walking their dogs, hearing the waves rush in, feeling the rain on my face, I observed the starfish shells, and some alive, pushed in by the waves. This was a meditative practice for me, which I realized sounds loftier than reality. I was simply picking up starfish, alive, throwing them back into the ocean. Read more
Sometimes my attention landed on the shells, other times there were some alive, and my heart leaped as I picked them up and threw them back into the waves. It was all shocking and clear. For each one picked up my memory journeyed back through the years remembering all of the starfish on the street I have picked up, caring, listening, and throwing them into the Sea of Love.
Reading The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis for the past four weeks I have arrived at a new appreciation of life and ministry. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one reads of Lucy (one of the children allowed into Narnia) asking Aslan ( the Lion who represents Christ) how to get into "Aslan's land." His reply: "Find the land within yourself." 
For me "Ashlan's land" is on these nitty, gritty streets, where each move can mean pregnancy, a wound, and death, where I have experienced the gift of casting the starfish of God into the Sea of Love.
Eckhart Troilo's commented: "Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it." To live in the present moment, accepting it as for what it is, and walking the way of the Gospel. And so as we enter into our twenty-ninth year we invite you to continue our journey together. The journey of following Jesus into Galilee, finding the "land of Ashlan" within ourselves, and finding the peace of God. Thank you for your support, friendship, and prayers during these years and for continuing with me on throwing our starfish into the Sea of Love! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ------------------------------------ The Feast of St. Francis is October 4, in which we remember Francis, this year we will celebrate on October 6, providing vegetarian sandwiches on the street. -------------------------------------------------- We Are Beggars! We beg! We are in need of funds as always and invite you to give through the mail: Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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KnowingLuke 16:19-31
In the book of Ecclesiastes, we are told to "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die." It is a book that calls us to live in the present as does the "Open-Eyed Crucifix" with Jesus looking strong, arms outstretched and open eyes looking out into the world loving humanity. The "Open-Eyed" crucifix was the one that shaped St. Francis, for as Jesus looks out he calls us to see the love in his eyes, the love that brought him to the cross, and go back and share that love with others. This is the heart of Franciscan theology. The one event in life of Francis's, that shaped his life, was the caring for the leper and touching his wounds. From that moment forward Frances touched the wounds of all he came into contact with. Read more
Reading The Chronicles of Narnia one is reminded of the childlikeness of St.Francis, and of how like a child he looked in wonder at the world and saw all creatures as equal.
In the words of Jason Shulman, St. Francis came to the knowledge that "knowing who you are is not a mystical thing but a matter of experiences, acceptance, honesty, and compassion. It is knowing you are small and selfish,, greedy and angry, great creative, tenderhearted, and caring" Being "childlike" is meeting "Joey" (photo above) where he is, on his level. Joey has been on the street for over thirty years. He is always talking about his inheritance, owning a number of brand-new cars, and always offering me one. I tell him "let's go get it," which never happens. He lives in a fantasy land in many ways. Joey talks of being happy, we meet him where he is. 
In seeing the evil in ourselves, the darkness that is so destructive, and comes out in divisions in our daily lives, and the good, the very best of ourselves, we see the good in others. In seeing the good in others, we are able to say of the world, "This is good", and like Jesus, we can love each other. We are the yin and yang. We are called to be children again. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! -------------------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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Love ExtravagtantlyGod Sees Behind Appearances
10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments: If you’re honest in small things, you’ll be honest in big things; If you’re a crook in small things, you’ll be a crook in big things. If you’re not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store? No worker can serve two bosses: He’ll either hate the first and love the second Or adore the first and despise the second. You can’t serve both God and the Bank. Read more
On a rainy, dark night, the phone rang and Donnie called. He was really sobbing and needed help. Donnie was young, 19, and struggling with his sexuality. In the weeks before he had been hanging out with a bunch of "fundie" Christians, was "saved", and Donnie was now "straight". That night he had "acted out", in fact, he had been "acting out" with other men making money, and his new “friends" begged him to pray and pointed to Scripture which suggested one should "cut off" the member that had sinned. Donnie tried to cut off his penis. He had cut deep into his testicles. When I arrived, blood was everywhere, and the young "Christians" were praying, had their hands on his head, and on his hands holding his injury. As I helped him up to take him to the hospital one of the young girls commented, "Let him stay so we can pray the "sin out of him," and my response is not quotable. Donnie was bandaged, healed, and spent the next five years of his life really struggling, and one night he walked out into traffic, both his legs were cut off and spent the rest of his life in a care facility where he died of an infection. In our gospel we see Jesus praising a dishonest man, or was he not praising his ingenuity? The renowned intellectual Bernard Lonergan once shared that he liked this text because "it is the one place in scripture where human intelligence and ingenuity are praised." The question one might raise is "Why would Jesus use an example of dishonesty to do this?" Because what Jesus is praising here is not dishonestly but ingenuity--ingenuity as the antithesis of complaint, whining, and despair. Jesus points out that those who are outside our religious circles tend to be more ingenious in times of trouble than we committed believers who often give ourselves over to grumbling and inaction. Our religious circles and our social circles are made up of people we feel comfortable with, usually of the same economic, and racial makeup. They are made up of the same religious, and political beliefs. To cross those boundaries makes us uncomfortable, and so we complain, groan, and act out against anyone who differs from us. I am with Lonergan in his takeaway from this story: Ingenuity is the opposite of complaint and despair. I live in the grey areas, there is no black or white. Our fears, complaints, and whining come from a fear of death, death in all aspects--loss of social status, friends, and life. Henri Nouwen tells us to "Befriend Death Our first task is to befriend death. I like the expression “to befriend.” I first heard it used by Jungian analyst James Hillman when he attended a seminar I taught on Christian Spirituality at Yale Divinity School. He emphasized the importance of “befriending”: befriending your dreams, befriending your shadow, befriending your unconscious. He made it convincingly clear that in order to become full human beings, we have to claim the totality of our experience; we come to maturity by integrating not only the light but also the dark side of our story into our selfhood. That made a lot of sense to me, since I am quite familiar with my own inclination, and that of others, to avoid, deny, or suppress the painful side of life, a tendency that always leads to physical, mental, or spiritual disaster. . . . I have a deep sense, hard to articulate, that if we could really befriend death we would be free people. So many of our doubts, hesitations, ambivalences, and insecurities are bound up with our deep-seated fear of death that our lives would be significantly different if we could relate to death as a familiar guest instead of a threatening stranger." When we befriend death, we learn that ultimately all that matters are the words of the Apostle Paul who sums up the message of Jesus with these words from I Corinthians 13: "For right now until that completeness (the final end of our lives) we have three things to do to lead us to our final consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of these is love." Every act we do is a cry for love. Our acts are all seeking a place to belong, and we hurt a lot of people. My young Christian friends really, and honestly believed they were loving Donnie, but that love destroyed him. To love is to give our lives away, not expecting anything in return, not to make a judgment on anyone! To risk crucifixion like Jesus! In so doing we find ourselves and the needs of all will be fulfilled! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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@Bombas Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize!Feast of Our Exaltation of the Holy Cross!
Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-17 "God said to Moses, "Make a snake of fiery copper and put it on a flag pole. Anyone bitten by a snake who, then looked at the copper snake lived. Our heading tells us that over 500,000 plus people experience homelessness every night. This morning I ran across the street to the hardware store and there were six people sleeping on the street corner. Homelessness is increasing everywhere.
The Feast of the Church yesterday was the Exaltation of the Cross. Whether one is Christian or not the cross can be understood as the suffering of Jesus, for the inability of people to take care of one another. We are called to suffer with others. And each one of us can take care of one of our homeless brothers and sisters in simple acts. One of our simple acts is giving individuals socks. Read more...
We have given nearly sixty thousand pairs of socks in the last three years. We could not have done that without the support of Bombas, the company. We are one of their 3500 + National Giving Partners.
Today they are launching its first-ever impact report, which outlines the foundation of its mission and its evolution over the last 9 years. It highlights how their collaborative infrastructure of giving works and how we who are, one of their 3500 +giving partners are in an alliance of supporting our communities from New York City to Juneau, Alaska. There is information and a video on (www.beebetter.com) that will share this wonderful work. 
Our friend Jeremy, in the photo above, is a representative of the thousands served by @Bombas across the country. Our thanks are given to Bombas for the people they serve across the country and on Haight and Polk Street in San Francisco, CA. Suffering is a great human equalizer, we all suffer in one way or another--the use of drugs--especially alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana--point to our trying to ease our suffering. We use our work to ease our suffering, productivity, making money, as Fr. Henri Nouwen tells us, all point to our suffering: When productivity is our main way of overcoming self-doubt, we are extremely vulnerable to rejection and criticism and prone to inner anxiety and depression. Productivity can never give the deep sense of belonging we crave. The more we produce, the more we realize that successes and results cannot give us the experience of “at-homeness.” In fact, our productivity reveals to us that we are driven by fear The Festival of the Exaltation of the Cross is a reminder that each of us suffers and calls us to share with one another and in so doing our suffering becomes much easier! |
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Lives in Chains!It was fitting to celebrate and rejoice, for this, your brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and now is found.
Luke 15:32. Last night I watched Lifetime's movie: "House of Chains," a graphic movie about child abuse. A leader of a religious cult has a family and keeps his kids chained to their beds, teaching them the world is evil. Once they were rescued it became apparent from the ending that regardless of how much therapy these five young adults would be given, they were wounded for life. Read more...
I did not sleep, my own demons haunted me during the night. For I hang and love youth from severely abused homes all the time. I hang out and love adults on the street victims of sexual and emotional abuse as young kids. I can think of at least thirty who have shared that their lives in their "houses of chains" in the last month. They run away, turn to drugs, and get hooked up in abusive relationships, each seeking escape from the pain, and the wounds of their first abuse. The sad reality is the majority will never adjust to what we call a "healthy", "normal life" if there is such a thing. I spent an hour with a thirty you old "Jim" on Thursday. His history is that of being sexually abused by both his mother and father from the age of 4 as well as physically abused. He ran away at 13. "Jim" is so torn up emotionally he will never lead what we call a "normal life." "Jimmy" lives in an old bus with an abusive girlfriend, has psychotic dreams, and explosive anger, and stays high on pot and LSD all the time. During his early years "Jimmy" was a prostitute, and now sells weed, and steals. Rather than providing support--places to live, with a harm reduction approach, we housed people for the most part turn our heads. Our lawmakers propose stricter drug laws without seeing the person. There is more stealing in our stores resulting from people not having money for food. Kaiser publishes patients' medical and mental health history online, which I love to read, and at times become depressed, but overall it is interesting. One of my diagnoses is "Severe PTSD". In my memory, I return to my childhood. When I was four my mother remarried, and had my dad, sign the adoption papers, with the promise of never seeing me again. It was only five years ago I received a photo of him from probably a cousin (who failed to put their return address on the envelope), the first time I had ever seen his face. According to a mental health worker many years later I suffer from an attachment disorder, (I love of how these diagnoses are always permanent) which makes it difficult to attach to other people. The fact is my adoptive father was my dad, he loved me with all of his heart. I could not have had a better childhood. I was able to obtain the best education, four degrees. I had the best of health care, vacations, and most of all non-judging love. I became a minister in a church that tells us that "homosexuality is an intrinsic evil," and when I began to come out was sent to therapists who reinforced that--one said, "straight, and only sex with the man on top is the true way" (LOL). Then came the years of prostitution. And from there my healing journey began. Through the years in San Francisco, I have witnessed killings, deaths in all sorts of horrible circumstances, and much recently one zoon death firsthand. I see violence nearly every other day, sometimes seven days a week. I can not retreat into Oakland Hills or to San Carlos every night. Violence is real, very real. The reality is I have always had health insurance, access to good medical care, and mental health treatment. I will always suffer PTSD in one form or another, it is one of the scars of the cross I carry. But I have access to care. I survive and have been able to function well. I have not lived a life in chains, but one growing and caring. Even at my worst, I need no one feeling sorry for me or their sympathy. I have had and continue to have a good and very privileged life unlike too many to count have had. There is an old Native American saying: "Never judge another person until you have walked a mile in their moccasins," you see for all our lofty ruminations about God, for all the symphonies and theologies and liturgies for the divine. I have yet to find a more profound expression of God's nature than the one that begins, "once upon a time, there was a shepherd and a lost sheep." God With Us is a marvelous storyteller, for he tells us we are his children and that maybe one percent of the time we get it right, and the other ninety-nine percent God is pure love! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ---------------------------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!" |
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The RockMy flesh and my heart fail: The rock of my heart and my portion is God (Ps. 73)
The soul is the rock upon which the integrity of our heart stands (Rabbi Matthew Millbrim). Zach. On several occasions, and always by older people, the question is raised, "What are you going to do when you are too old to do this work?" "When are you going to retire? Psalm 32:7 comes to mind, "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." The Hebrews were nomadic people; they had no place to call home. And we are told in Scripture that we, too, are nomads; our only home is God. We are called to follow Christ and serve him; he is our Refuge, our Rock, our Home. Read more...
Late one night, when someone had threatened me, Sean, a young hustler, said to me, "You must have done something wrong to hang out and take care of us; no one else gives an f.ck as you do." In many ways, my young friend was correct; I was overcome with guilt over my sexuality, my life on the street, and my deceit with my early religious denomination; guilt overwhelmed and crushed me, and then there was Zach. It was in my journey with Zach that I began to see God as my "Place," my "Refuge," and as "Pure Love"--only giving, never expecting anything in return. Zach was my son, from a relationship with a girl in my teens, adopted at birth. I had him traced down and found him here on Polk. Zach was fourteen when I first met him, a crazy kid, running away from home, at thirteen, into speed and hustling for money. Struggles with his adoptive parents and questioning his sexuality led him to Polk Street. Zach was a charmer, a manipulator, and we became friends; I found him funny and in a lot of emotional pain. A favorite story is of him coming by my place around noon one day. As I worked, he laid down on the floor, went to sleep, and I pulled him out of my way for two days. He could not be awakened. He was so tired. When he awoke, he took a shower and starved. We went out to eat. Zach traveled to Portland, and one evening late, the Portland police called to inform me Zach had been murdered. That began a new journey for me. I went into a deep depression with hatred for the man who murdered him. On a rainy, foggy night, a San Francisco General Hospital nurse called and told me of a request for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I walked into the man['s room and gasped, for this was the person suspected of murdering Zach and who had attempted to kill me several years earlier. I moved into the room, boiling with hatred and observing a broken man dying of AIDS, a skeleton of himself, and in so much pain. His suffering was so visible. Dave looked at me, started crying, and asked me to hear his confession and pray. What started out being my job as a priest turned into my heart melting and seeing him for who he was. A broken human being, and the child of Christ, the force of Pure Love. In those moments, the presence of God surrounded us, and we both found the grace of Christ. My journey is following Christ, and each day is taking up my bow and shooting the arrow at the target of practicing pure love, failing, getting up, and trying again. "The soul is the rock upon which the integrity of our heart stands!" (Rabbi Matthew Millbrim). Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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The Jerod's of San FranciscoOn and In our Hearts
Matthew 22:1-14 There are times I am sitting at lunch with friends who live in Marin, Sausilito, Pacific Heights, and other wealthy areas, and the question will be asked: "River, what can you tell us about the homeless problem, what is going to be done about it?" After seeing my face, the subject is quickly changed, for I hate the question, a question with no answers, and a question that brings up much personal pain seeing the faces of so many who live and die on the street. In those moments my thoughts go to Jerod, whom I met when he was 14. He came from a good family in Sausilito. Jerod had a troubled adolescence, and could not get along with his stepdad, he ran away. I met him on Polk, where he was prostituting, he was into speed. Read more...
Over the next three years we became friends, he went home a couple of times, but always came back to the streets, and I became acquainted with his parents. One rainy night he called, asking for a place to stay, and I told him yes, I waited and waited, but he never showed. I received a postcard from Paris, telling me how much fun he had days later. His parents looked for him until a number of years later they had to move, to get away from the memories, the fear, and the pain. In all probability he was trafficked, simply picked up and taken away. Boys are trafficked just as much as girls, but it is hard for parents and others to face the fact boys are used in such a way. I see many other young boys become forty-year-olds panhandling and sleeping in our alleys. So the only solution I know is to love each one, to let them enter into my heart, to suffer with each one, to pour out my own blood if necessary, for each is the broken body of Christ. To give without expecting anything in return. As Dorothy Day once commented: "The only solution is love!" This is my solution! Get dressed for the Wedding Banquet! Let Christ clothe you with the joy of compassion. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! |
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Mary Mother of Mercy!The Assumption of Mary!
August 15, 2022 Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Luke 1:39-56 Janet provides the following reflection on her painting of Mary, Mother of Mercy: "Beloved mother Mary protectively and lovingly holds humanity within her mantle. As she loved Jesus so she loves each one of us. Three racially diverse subjects serve as the inspiration for the figure of Mary thereby contributing to a genuinely inclusive and invitational interpretation. The Blessed Mother does not tower over the people within her mantle rather she is a similar size, familiar and relatable. Mary the unifying force, rises up with outstretched arms holding us within her love, her hands gripping her mantle with strength. The inclusive subjects within Mary's mantle, archetypes symbolizing a small portion of the human race, honor diversity. . . ." Read more...
The Dish Washer's Son, Some Border's You never Cross, by Mike J. Quinn is a book about Frank, whose mom was married to an undocumented immigrant, his father. He simply disappeared one day. Frank did not have a birth certificate being born at home.
At 17 Frank hangs out with the "vigilantes" to chase down undocumented individuals in the desert. In a raid on the Taco Bell where he worked, he was picked up by the authorities and sent to Mexico, where he did not even know the language. In the process, he met his dad's family, where he discovered he died trying to return to the United States. Frank came to appreciate his heritage. He henceforth proudly described himself as Mexican American. This book goes into the shades of crossing the border, the dangers, and the treatment of immigrants by the border patrol. My heart remembers fifteen-year-old Diego, who was an illegal immigrant. He came to the United States to make money for his family, working as a sex worker. Diego was kind, sweet, and caring. He loved his family with all of his heart. In the two years he was here he became HIV positive, developing into AIDS, and one night a "john' called the police, and Diego was deported. Two years later a letter arrived from his mother telling me he had died. On this "Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary" let us remember "Mary, the Mother of Mercy", whose hands reach out to all. Mary, the Mother of Mercy, raises the questions about immigration, and asks: "Why do we need borders?" for we are all of the same family? Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! 
------------------------------------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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FaithThe writer to the Hebrews writes:
"The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguishes our ancestors, set them above the crowd".(11:1-3) Read more...
During the past years of the pandemic, I have been asked many times about faith as I have been holding the hands of injured and dying. I have questioned and continue to question my belief in the midst of the desolation around me on the streets, the continued attacks on faith on social media, and everywhere one turns.
I have remembered these years is in spite of my degrees, and ordination, I am simply a Grocer's Son. My dad owned a grocery store, as did his before him. And I remember him as a man of strong faith, with which he lived and died. A simple faith, a childlike faith, which he bequeathed to his son. My dad's love of Jesus gave him a heart of compassion. No one ever came to our store, or house and went away without food or clothes. From him, I learned the words of Henri Nouwen in practice: "Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, mourn with those who are lonely, and weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human." My dad taught me that nothing human is alien, as described by Fr. Henri Nouwen: "Through compassion, it is possible to recognize that craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts., that the cruelty that the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion, we also sense our hope for forgiveness in our friends' eyes and our hatred in their bitter mouths. When they kill, we know that we could have done it; when they give life, we know that we can do the same. For a compassionate man or woman nothing human is alien; no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying." This came from my dad's strong faith, which he shared with me. I was raised in the church, remembering at four years old being taken to the communion rail to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion and told, "This Sacrament is for everyone, regardless of age, color, or belief." I have never refused anyone Holy Communion. I met the presence of the real Jesus of Nazareth and was called to ministry, through my dad's faith. His faith sustained him through lung cancer, and at his death, remembered telling others "My dad taught me by example to open my heart to love everyone, and meet them with an open heart, regardless of the pain. For each is a child of God." We all want to believe, to be loved, we join groups, spend hours on social media, and follow leaders when what we are seeking is to experience God's love in all of the wholeness Christ gives. Marianne Williams comments: All human behavior is love or is a call for love." Every aspect of our behavior is a desire for love. My challenge to all of us is to look at our behavior and ask ourselves the question, "Aren't we really looking for love?" And if we give care to one another daily, what would our world look like? If we call someone? If we invite someone to dinner? A young twenty-two-year-old college student told me, "I am going to be selfish until I make big money and then give it to the poor?" If we simply feed someone or talk to a person, it will amount to a great flower of giving. For me, the answer is in Jesus of Nazareth, the one who challenges me every day to feed the hungry, and care for each person I come in contact with. To open my heart, and be hurt. I am only a "Grocers Son", a grocer who shared his love of people each and every day! I will always be the Grocer's Son, regardless of degrees or titles, simply the son of a man who gave witness to his faith through his work, and whose witness still leads me forward! I came to San Francisco, in the fall of 1994, and moved into 1618 Polk Street, one room, sharing a bathroom and shower room. I came remembering the words of Scripture, trusting only in, "Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. (I Cor. 2:3) At the time I could look out my window and see the "old Polk Street, filled with gay bars, and bookstores, not the gentrified street that it is now. Polk where young hustlers (sex workers) and transgender sex workers roamed at night. Polk where speed and heroine were cheap. On October 1, a warm night I began my ministry simply by sitting down with young guys for pizza, and the rest is history. There is a story about a Desert Father who asked his Abbot a question: "Tell me how to become a monk," the response: "If you want to find rest in this life, and the next, say at every moment "Who am I?, and judge no one. " I work at never judging, always meeting people where they are, and being present in the moment. Larry was one of the first young men(16) I met, he dressed nicely, and loved his pizza. This was the beginning of a long relationship that would extend for fifteen years. He came from a very religious family, in a conservative area, struggling with his sexuality, and he ran away when his parents kept pushing Scripture down his throat. Homophobia runs deep in the Christian faith, and at the time only one or two denominations were open and affirming, believing Holy Scripture did not condemn LGBTQ. individuals. Larry came to San Francisco, "the gay mecca", and found his home. Larry, being a pretty boy, was popular, and to make a living, he was a "hustler" a prostitute. In the struggle to survive Larry became hooked on heroin and speed and found himself with AIDS. As his illness progressed, his body broke down and becoming difficult of getting treatment, we began talking to his parents. They allowed him to come home. For the next eight years, Larry continued to struggle with drugs, his parents, giving him a place to live, and the insurance for his treatment. In the last two years of his life, Larry found a spirituality that allowed him to accept his sexual orientation, and find peace with his parents. He died at age thirty-one. 
Larry's story is the story of tragedy and triumph. The tragedy of homophobia, premature death, and our not having universal health care. Yet the triumph is his reconciliation with his parents and finding a faith that allowed him to be both gay and a believer. Over the past twenty-eight years, there have been many Larrys. In the last two years, I see Lary's face in so many. Young guys die prematurely, and the question is always raised "How are you able to face death all the time?" Reverend Henri Nouwen answers the question for me: Those you have deeply loved become part of you. The longer you live, there will always be more people to be loved by you and to become part of your inner community. The wider your inner community becomes, the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in the strangers around you. .The wider the community of your heart, the wider the community around you." Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ------------ Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.com. -------------------- Jeffrey and Sallie Piel have given a gift: "In honor of my grandmother Marie Mills, August 1891-August, 1969. |
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Book Report and Reflections on Why Do Nations Rage?
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A Review of The Eyes of God: A Fisherman's Tale by Marilyn Huntsman and Bibliotheca. Volume 5
Translation from the Original Tongues being the Version set forth
Anno Domini 1611 1881 The American Edition 1900 Newly Edited 2016 Ms. Huntsman springs for us a tale of Simon Peter beginning at the very start of his meeting Jesus and ending with his own death upon an upside-down cross. Read more...
She rounds out her talk with the description of his having two wives and two children, his boy died due to persecution against Peter, his daughter had a son before his death.
In the reading of the times in which the Church was founded, one reads of division, much as today, as people moved away from the central tenets of the teachings of Jesus, into their own cultural biases. One is taken by the violence throughout their time, which seemed very little different from today. The difference was there was no atomic bomb or means of destroying the climate. Ms. Huntman concludes with Peter being moved to Rome for trial as the leader of the Christian movement, and finally, crucifixion on a cross upside down. This is a very readable and touching book. She has done excellent research on the politics and the events of the time and bases her novel on the overall Biblical story. -------------------------------------------- Bibliotheca. Volume 5Translation from the Original Tongues being the Version set forth Anno Domini 1611 1881 The American Edition 1900 Newly Edited 2016 Bibliotheca. Volume 5 is a newly edited version of the King James Version. It conveys the poetic beauty of the original King James and is easily readable. Personally, the dignity and beauty of the language led me to read through this version in two days. It draws one into scripture. The editors allowed the words to flow freely by removing all verse numbers, and it was like reading a typical book. Following the tradition of the King James Version, it does not use inclusive language. Acknowledging the same translation faults as those of King James, this book is highly recommended for its magnificent readable language. We live in a time of a continual flow of news, and of spreading gossip on social media. A time when anger rages, and Christianity is under attack. There is little positive news on faith in Jesus of Nazareth on social media and in the news. We hear nothing of the social justice work of the various religious groups, nothing of people sharing their positive relationship with God. Personally, I am shredded to pieces over my faith. But what I have found over and over is that "if you want to save your life, Jesus said, "you must first be willing to lose it. You must be willing to take up your cross and follow me"--yes even through the Valley of the Shadow. For the Kingdom of heaven will cost you not less than everything. But here is a great secret: even when you only catch it in glimpses, like lightning flashing from east to west the kingdom of heaven is already you. And in this kingdom, all are welcome: The people walking by the window of the restaurant next door, on their way to a party. The homeless man on the corner, talking crazy, the young man on the corner selling drugs. All of us. Here, they that mourn will be comforted: the parents of the young man who committed suicide in Texas, the street youth who found out his parents are dead, and could not go to the funeral, and the young homeless girl with brain cancer. Here, where crosses can be so heavy, burdens are quietly made light. And when one's eyes open as a child's one will catch sight of the smile of another. Then: "Wow", he says, and smiles! These two books reminded me to "smile again! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God"! ------------------------ Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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Tonight I picked up this year's Christmas cards. It will take me four months to address and write a note to my friends and supporters. Christmas is not a literal fact, but a mythological view of the incarnation.
In the same way, I view Christmas, our author approaches the book of Ephesians, from a mythological point of view. A myth is a story we do not take literally but speaks the truth. Ephesians was written a few years after the death of Paul, as a means to help the church to understand the Gospel apart from the early belief of the Second Coming, and to help keep people true to the Gospel in light of the many religious expressions around them. Its author used the pseudo name of Paul to give it more authority. Using the Buddhist approach of Zhirtis the author raises the understanding of the Trinity to a new level, seeing the emptying of God into believers and bringing the believer into a new source of awakening practice. In the cosmic vision, Read more...
Ephesians focuses on the fullness of God in which the Spirit takes on the mind of Christ and sums up all meaning, the cosmic equivalent of the parousia (Second Coming) that had not materialized. Because the end had not come, the author of Ephesians replaced the coming of Christ in linear time (parousia) with the spatial fullness of the cosmic Christ, our life on earth expands in a tripartite pattern that is concretizing ultimacy in the incarnate Christ by Spirit approach. Christ followers are to put on the mind of Christ--which means to embrace the dying of Jesus, as our own, to be united in the likeness of his death, and abandon the illusion that we foster in sinful hatred and lust, as well as the delusion that a distant God will spare us from suffering and death. It is better to follow the path, to have faith because we do not know where this universe will unfold because the vastness of the universe defeats our visions. Far from seeing into the vastness of cosmic evolution, we can see only our cosmic past as we examine the light from galaxies and stars in the heavens. We know nothing of the evolutionary path, of the vastness of the universe, and so our gospel path is to abide in Christ without knowing any of that. Being in the now, in this moment of living is all we have, our days are in Eternal life. Our calling is not to ourselves but to the cosmos. We are all one family, we are not owners of the Earth and our hope is to be one in all things. Keeman brings our faith in the Cosmic Christ down to earth, seeing ourselves as very minute, and trusting in God calls us to not judge, and to care for each other. -------------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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Peniel
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IN Service We Encounter God!"For the grace of God, bringing salvation to all people.(Titus 2:11).
My journey has been one of seeking salvation. I was raised in a conservative environment and taught the only way to heaven was through Jesus, repenting my sins. I experienced baptism as a Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal through this journey. I was given books to read on the sins of masturbation, having sex outside marriage, drinking alcohol, smoking pot, and cussing, among other things. These were sins keeping one from God. Therefore, since I could not refrain from sinning, my life was overwhelmed by guilt. I have been told you have to pray a certain way, like using the Lord's Prayer in a Eucharist Service or believing in certain ways to be a part of a community. Through the years of facing death, and horrors on the street, my faith and journey are summed up in the following quotes: Mark 12:28-34: ". . .Hear Lord O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. ." Read more...
and in the words of Fr. Henri Nouwen: Radical servanthood does not make sense unless we introduce a new level of understanding and see it as the way to encounter God. To be humble and persecuted cannot be desired unless we can find God in humility and persecution. When we begin to see God, the source of all our comfort and consolation, in the center of servanthood, compassion becomes much more than doing good for unfortunate people. Radical servanthood, as the encounter with the compassionate God, takes us beyond the distinctions between wealth and poverty, success and failure, fortune and bad luck. Radical servanthood is not an enterprise in which we try to surround ourselves with as much misery as possible, but a joyful way of life in which our eyes are opened to the vision of the true God who chose to be revealed in servanthood. The poor are called blessed not because poverty is good, but because theirs is the kingdom of heaven; the mourners are called blessed not because mourning is good, but because they shall be comforted. Here we are touching on the profound spiritual truth that service is an expression of the search for God and not just of the desire to bring about individual or social change." This has been my journey! John Milton once said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." This past year I have done a lot of standing and waiting, and have found God in prayer, and talking to people. We all can serve in our own way! ---- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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"God Stays With Us!"Luke 11:1-13
The Message Ask for What You Need 11 One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” 2-4 So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Read more...
5-6 Then he said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’ 7 “The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 “But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need. 9 “Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. 10-13 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him? Yesterday afternoon on Haight I ran into Reddick, who is 11, (not his real name) and was in a group of homeless people. And as I handed out different items, he asked: "None of this has been dosed has it?" (LOL), meaning injected with LSD, mushrooms, or another drug. I smiled and said, "No," and I shared the time I was "dosed" and had to go to the hospital. His mom, whom I have known for several years, asked me to take him for something to eat since he had not eaten all day. We crossed the street to have pizza and shared our "war stories". He had had many, and in looking back to when I was eleven, thought "you are old," for my childhood was playing games. Reddick's mom was born, raised, and prefers to live on the streets. "Flower Girl," sees herself as a "gypsy", moving from place to place, living outside. Continuing down the street, sitting alone, was an older man, as I handed him a pair of socks and food, he rose up and pushed me against a car, hitting me in the chest several times. I simply pushed him back and in the words of Jesus, "shaking the dust off my feet". It has been suggested by friends it is time for me to remove myself from "A violent environment with violent people." And the question I raise, is "Where might that be?" My shoulder was broken by a wealthy person in Marin. He always carries a huge stick for his "protection", saying it was an accident. I have been threatened by more people who are housed, than unhoused. There is violence in all areas of the City. No one is safe from violence. I have more true friends who are the poorest of the poor than otherwise. There is a quote from the series Bluebloods" that carries meaning for me "Down these mean streets a man must go who himself is not mean, tarnished or afraid." The streets have given me three gifts: learning to live in the moment, and secondly, seeing success in caring for each person I come in contact with. I really do not know if our earth, let alone our civilization will survive this century. Considering the ignoring of climate change, the divisions of people, and the continuing growth of poverty there is reason to wonder. But what is important to me is not if our world will survive or not but if we can continue to live with hope, and trust in the promise of God to stay with us at all times. He is the God of the living. Jesus has overcome evil and death and his love and compassion are stronger than any form of death or destruction. That is why I feel that we should continually avoid the temptation of fear, and despair and deepen our awareness that God is present in the midst of the chaos that surrounds us and that presence allows us to live in joy. How do I know: Simply because that trust has saved my ass, many times, and is my ultimate hope and joy! ---- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org [email protected] |
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"Looking Death in the Eye!""Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where. O death is now thy sting?.. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"( I Corinthians 15:57-58). For the past three years, I have looked death in the face often, but no more so than when sitting at Club Trinidad in Palm Springs, on my birthday in 2021, talking on snap chat to a fifteen-year-old in Texas. Skip (not his name) blew his head off. I see the blood spattering all over the computer screen in my dreams from time to time. I have realized that accepting death is not making a mountain out of a molehill. Death is real, it will come, calling us to walk with others, helping them to find hope in the midst of the chaos around us. Life is preparation for death, fear of death keeps us from living. Read more...
Paradise is not a place, but participation in our inheritance of the resurrection, it is here and now, and we are to make every moment count. Through the past year and two months, I have learned that choosing joy in the midst of chaos gives us hope. I have learned the meaning of life is to rejoice in the words of Jesus when he tells us: "I am the resurrection of life." Let us rejoice in the resurrection. Choosing joy in all things leads to a tenderness which leads to a transformation. Tenderness leads to loving with more vulnerability. In trying each day, and it is hard as hell, to keep my mind where my body is, I can find joy at the moment, and be more tender. It seems the closer I come to death, the closer I come to the poor and broken people on the street, and see that same brokenness in everyone. I find it my desire to be present to people, and the less I feel impelled to deal with the burning issues of our day. My new tattoo, the butterfly, above is symbolic of the resurrection, and of a renewed commitment to keeping my eyes on the prize until the day death brings me into the presence of Jesus and I hear the words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant". Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God! ------------------------ Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 415-305-2124 temenos.org --------------------------- "God wants you to see things differently. He wants you to see all that you are capable of doing, being, and becoming. With this new sense of yourself, he wants you to live differently" (Matthew Kelley). |
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Walking Into Joy and Tenderness!"in the new light of each day's questions, I am never prepared.
Today again I have nothing, to offer but a handful of old prayers worn down by the relentless abrasion of doubt, and a fragment of dream that plays on in my head only half-remembered. Still, the doves coo and circle through the pines as they do when I pass each morning. Their sorrow is so nearly human, it rings sweet with regret. By dusk, the trees will bow down, and I too, will make my appeal, will find again your mercy, your solace. (Elizabeth Drescher) A student participated in outreach with me Thursday night and talked of studies he had read on how to end homelessness. Looking around to see tents, and people on the street now for nearly twenty-seven years, I listened, and we walked on. Read more...
"in the new light of each day's questions, I am never prepared. Today again I have nothing, to offer but a handful of old prayers worn down by the relentless abrasion of doubt, and a fragment of dream that plays on in my head only half-remembered. Still, the doves coo and circle through the pines as they do when I pass each morning. Their sorrow is so nearly human, it rings sweet with regret. By dusk, the trees will bow down, and I too, will make my appeal, will find again your mercy, your solace. (Elizabeth Drescher) Friday afternoon in the Haight there was a stabbing, and as I held the young man in my arms while waiting for an ambulance, my arms and clothes were bloodied. A nurse walked out of the examining room and guided me to a shower, gave me some scrubs, and told me to shower, handing me disinfectant soap, for the young man had monkeypox. "in the new light of each day's questions, I am never prepared. Today again I have nothing, to offer but a handful of old prayers worn down by the relentless abrasion of doubt, and a fragment of dream that plays on in my head only half-remembered. Still, the doves coo and circle through the pines as they do when I pass each morning. Their sorrow is so nearly human, it rings sweet with regret. By dusk, the trees will bow down, and I too, will make my appeal, will find again your mercy, your solace. (Elizabeth Drescher) In the last four years, as I have struggled through the injury of a shoulder, my hip, a stabbing, and the coronavirus, I have learned to let go, and find joy in all situations. To begin to enter the mystery of life. Entering the mystery we are no longer afraid of pain, but embrace it, and in doing so become tender with others. Tenderness is revealed in the understanding of presence within the midst of annoyance, and to see every person as simply our brothers and sisters. Tenderness is letting people enter into our hearts, being vulnerable, knowing full well we will be broken, but like the Velveteen Rabbit was told, "Now you shall be Real to everyone." Tenderness is enduring love that sustains anything, offering no judgment, simply care. Tenderness is letting go of the false god of success and finding joy in serving others. Tenderness is knowing Paradise is not a particular place, but a participation in the here and now for Jesus is the Resurrection in our midst. Tenderness is not about saving people but redefining lives into one another. Simply loving people. Choosing joy leads us into a life of transformation, into a life of service in tenderness. Letting go of the fear of death, and living in the moment, allows us to choose joy. Find joy in the here and now, find joy in being tender to others! What a gift! "in the new light of each day's questions, I am never prepared. Today again I have nothing, to offer but a handful of old prayers worn down by the relentless abrasion of doubt, and a fragment of dream that plays on in my head only half-remembered. Still, the doves coo and circle through the pines as they do when I pass each morning. Their sorrow is so nearly human, it rings sweet with regret. By dusk, the trees will bow down, and I too, will make my appeal, will find again your mercy, your solace. (Elizabeth Drescher) Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! -------- Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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A Review and Reflection on Monastic Disciplinesby Sam Hamstra, Jr. and Samuel Cocar
Hamstra and Cocar in 145-pages review the disciplines of the desert fathers and hammer on the reality of the failure of the institutional Church. The institutional Church has become a shell, steeped in secularism. They present the basics of the desert fathers as found in the early Church, which kept their faith blazing. The Little Office: Giving, Prayer, and Fasting, the core Triad of Practice: summarizing Matthew 6:1-16, introduced by Jesus as a regular role of the Christian life., "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men and women." Read more...
The first practice is giving. We should give as much as we can, and live simply. The authors suggest tithing, giving 10 percent of our income to the poor, and the disenfranchised: "it functions as an act of faith in God's promise of provision; a tutor for personal, planned, and proportionate giving (I Corinthians 16:2); and a weapon for victory over materialism." Henri Nouwen describes in more depth our journey of giving: "We who want to bring about change have first of all to learn to be changed by those whom we want to help. This, of course, is exceptionally difficult for those who are undergoing their first exposure to an area of distress. They see poor houses, hungry people, and dirty streets; they hear people cry in pain without medical care, they smell unwashed bodies, and in general, are overwhelmed by the misery that is all around them. But none of us will be able to really give if he has not discovered that what he gives is only a small thing compared to what we have received. When Jesus says: “Happy the poor, the hungry, and the weeping” (Luke 6:21), we have to be able to see that happiness. When Jesus says: “What you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me” (Matthew 25:40), he is addressing to us a direct invitation not only to help but also to discover the beauty of God in those who are to be helped. As long as we see only distasteful poverty, we are not really entitled to give. When, however, we find people who have truly devoted themselves to work in the slums and the ghettos and who feel that their vocation is to be of service there, we find that they have discovered that in the smiles of the children, the hospitality of the people; the expressions they use, the stories they tell, the wisdom they show, the goods they share; there is hidden so much richness and beauty, so much affection and human warmth, that the work they are doing is only a small return for what they have already received." "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men and women."(v. 2.) Prayer, the second triad, is broadly considered communication with God-communication understood "as meaningful, interactive self-disclosure." We talk to God daily, we pour out our hearts. Prayer is more than just asking God for our needs. I spend my life having people ask me everything. It gets absolutely tiring to the point of taking three days off a month, and two weeks a year totally alone, with the phone off. God created us to praise, and simply be in his/her presence. (Psalm 63). Prayer is at the center of Christian spirituality, whatever strand of Christian tradition one enters. Evagrius, spokesperson of the Orthodox tradition: If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly you are a theologian." We all struggle with the practice of prayer. Prayer is a powerful force. But pray, until the sweat from your brow pours out the presence of God. The final practice of the core triad is fasting: "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloom face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men and women when they are fasting." (v. 16) Richard Foster argues the most important text in the Bible for establishing the importance of fasting is Matthew 9:14-15: "Then the disciples of John came to him saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast.. And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." signifying that when Jesus is gone his disciples will fast. Fasting is an exclamation point at the end of the sentence: "We miss you! We want you! We can't wait until you come back!" When we fast we are witnessing the exclaiming, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!" We can fast in various ways: sitting down with someone on the street and giving of our time; working in an agency; fasting a day a week, and giving our money to a homeless person. There are many ways. This is a revolutionary vision, for as the Gospels show, Jesus did not closely identify with people from the elaborate metropolitan centers that housed the political, military, economic, and religious elite. He more closely identified with the working poor who built and sustained those centers and the often destitute people from backwater villages. Starvation, indebtedness, imprisonment, exploitation and violence were crushing realities that marked life for those who lived under Roman occupation in first-century Palestine (Sound familiar). It was in these boundaries that the revolutionary vision of Jesus, God's Reigh found its gravitational center. Today Jesus continues to understand the dehumanization of people through homelessness, lack of health care and struggles simply for daily living. He understands the yearning for water, bread, shelter, land, safety, and justice. It moved and moves him deeply because liberation from the yoke of oppression is always to be at the center of God's Reign. The "Little Office", brings us into line with Jesus so that we may become his hands, feet, and mouth! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! -------- Fr. C. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124 |
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PRIDE, 2022Journal of an Alien Street Priest:
San Francisco Pride, yesterday, was full of protest over the recent Supreme Court decision and full of joy, and pride over the freedom the LGBTQ community enjoys today. For over twenty years Temenos has been in charge of the Accessibility area, where seniors and people with disabilities sit. We had youth working, as you can see from our photos: Read more...
From different backgrounds, one homeless youth, and three others worked for us on this Pride Sunday.
Looking back through the years, seeing the countless youth we have worked with at Pride and all the youth they represent, witnessing their pain, confusion, fears, and desperation, we cry, we smile, and we give thanks to God for allowing us )and I mean all of us) the honor. People often wrestle with what we do, and looking at the faces of these young people--they are what we do. Listening, simply listening moment to moment, giving them of our time, the two greatest gifts of all. A number of years ago an outreach worker from another agency walked with me on the street. And as we always do we listened, gave food, and socks, and moved on. Sometimes we listened for an hour. In the end, this young worker, commented, "We have to carry a clipboard and check off how many people we see, required to talk with a certain number, and only certain ages, you simply spend time with everyone, and for as long as needed. How awesome that is." Our ministry is that of a pastor, who listens, and shepherds his flock. We hurt, we cry, and suffer along with these guys. Sitting at the base of a statue yesterday waiting for two of our workers, a young man, dressed in a skimpy leather outfit was crying. Someone had taken a picture of him and sent it to his dad. He said his dad would beat him because he was gay. He was afraid to go home. I gave him a card and told him to call me if that happened. I hear stories similar to his day in and day out. Homophobia is well and alive! San Francisco is different than most parts of the country and California itself. Homophobia is WELL AND ALIVE. It is deadly! Today's lesson from Matthew 8:18-22 where Jesus calls all of us to follow him with radical discipleship. He understands the way discipleship can be challenging, which is how we get to the non sequitur: "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.' We might read that line, wonder at the meaning, and simply move on, but it has meaning for us today. If we say that we will follow Jesus wherever he leads, do we understand that it will not be easy, that we too may find ourselves with nowhere to rest our heads? We don't get salvation without sacrifice, without embracing the radical--letting the safety nets drop away and trusting that God is the only security measure we need. Jesus calls us to embrace the radical! To go out and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, sit with the dead and dying, to walk and listen, and protest until our government leaders listen! Following Jesus is radical! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ------------------------ This month we will continue our basic schedule of outreach five days and nights a week; talking to people on snap chat and phone. Thank you for your support during this first half of the year and hope you will remember us during July, money is short, and expenses for supplies continue to be needed. When I use "we" I simply mean those who have supported us financially, and with prayer are walking on the street as well, symbolically. Again we are beggars and we thank you for your support! Paypal and website: www.temenos.org 
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