An Irish Blessing (anon)

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
...For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

A LENTEN PSALM OF LONGING

In the midst of ambiguity, O God,

in the midst of the messiness 

         of our lives,

Choices that are not clear

lines that are not

solid, sharp, predictable,

In the daily challenge,

in the plunging into the chaos,

uncertainty, doubt,

In all this, O God,

we find you,

God of incarnation, of life

which is neither neat nor clear-cut.

Through our daring

to live into the questions

we encounter you,

God of the questions themselves.

Through our living in chaos,

we encounter you, God of chaos,

God in chaos,

God moving, stirring, bringing to birth

    a new creation.              (anonymous )

 

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Its roots lie in the ancient Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement. Atonement means "at-one-ment" If we are to be one with God, with creation, with each other, and one with ourselves, we must face honestly who we are and open ourselves to the supportive power of God and our faith community in the Lenten struggle for new life. So Ash Wednesday marks a turning away from all that takes away joy so that we might create space for the new life that is to come.

 

Let's give up negativity this Lent!! 

    Our longings 

               invite us to make room 

                             for what is to come!!!

 

Trusting in the melody of God

“It is not the nature of the task but the consecration that is the vital thing.”

 ~ Martin Buber

In a book from the 1940’s, The Reed of God, the author, Caryll Houselander, tells how painful it is to become a reed that carries the melody of God. The flute has to be carved and cut out, it has to have many openings for the breath to come through and for the music to be heard. So too in our lives. Our work will not always be pleasant and easy. There will be times of confusion  and frustration. We will not always want to do the things we are called to do. The pain and stress can be a means of hollowing out, of becoming more open to the music of God. These hollowing out experiences call for faith. Sometimes we simply have to trust in God’s melody and believe, in spite of few results and self doubt that we are each capable of being instruments of God’s dream. 

 

Sometimes that is the wonder of it all. That we can carry the melody of God even  when we feel we cannot carry a tune. Thanks be to the spirit that continually creates harmony out of our lives.

Untangled

If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. 

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. 

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same. 
  


May our spiritual nourishment of self and others help us get untangled from all that binds us from letting our light shine.

blessings for the new year,

Sally

Blessed is the season...

“Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.”                

 The American essayist Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846–1916) wrote.

We have waited for this week of love to arrive and we are invited once again to find our place at the stable where love is born again.

The following story has been passed across cyberspace this season…  

A Nativity Scene was created in a church yard. During the night the folks came across this scene.



An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep. He chose the manger as his comfort.  No one had the heart to send  him away so he was there all  night. 
  

This ‘shepherd’ dog found a way to rest awhile in the love. May it be so for us all.

Blessed is the season...

WAITING… IN JOY "Even though the celebration of Christmas is exploited for business profit and used for selfish purposes; even though the meaning of Christmas is often corrupted; in spite of all this, we all feel the impulse at this time to think of others, to be there for others.

This itself shows what this joy of anticipation is. It is the feeling of human solidarity, the exulting joy in one another... the brightness and fragrance of the Christmas tree under which Christmas gifts are laid - here is light and warmth, symbolizing life and love."

- Emmy Arnold, from "Christmas Joy"

This morning I sat at my desk trying to finish the Sunday bulletin for Advent 3, the Sunday of "Joy". Our church has been using clip-art pictures for our bulletins and I got stuck trying to decide which picture to use. I had narrowed the choices down to a lighted tree set against the snow, or an angel ornament hanging on a tree. I sat there, undecided, trying to decide which picture would best invoke people's sense of joy - until I realized that there was no way I could know. Our experience of joy is completely subjective. What I do know is that joy seems to be both something that can surprise us, but is also a choice we can make. Each of us has the capacity to choose to be open to joy - at least to "actively wait" on joy, trusting in God's promise that joy shall come into the midst of our experiences, even to the parched and dry areas, when we are open to grace and the possibility of transformation. How do we experience joy in Advent? I believe there is a profound joy to be encountered in waiting and anticipation. I think of the joy my six-year old daughter takes these days in helping to decorate the house and make cookies together. Yes, it's fun but her joy I think also reflects her anticipation of Christmas getting closer. We purchased her Advent calendar at the beginning of November and you would not believe the joy she exuded on the first day she was able to start the calendar. Now we are waiting for Grandma to arrive (only 6 more sleeps!) and as her anticipation mounts, so does her joy. Last weekend she was so excited that grandma's visit was close that she decided to make grandma a "homemade gift basket".

So she took a basket and began filling it with "treasures" she found around the house - mini chocolate bars from her leftover Halloween candy, some candles and small stuffed animals, a few pretty ribbons. She has just started learning how to knit, so the remainder of the week was spent knitting what was first going to be a purse, but which eventually ended up as a "potholder" for grandma. When it was finished, she carefully and proudly placed it in the middle of the basket to complete her "homemade gift" for grandma. What struck me was the absolute joy shining in her eyes as we wrapped the basket up in cellophane and tied it with ribbon; joy in anticipation of the joy her gift would bring grandma when she received it. It is said, "and a little child shall lead them..." * * * What do I do while I am waiting? How do I find joy in the waiting? My hope is that I will follow the example of my child, and find joy in the simple things - in sacred moments spent with family and friends, in a quiet cup of tea in the midst of frantic scurrying, in getting covered in flour and sticky fruit, in finding ways to bring joy to others. And in tending the flame of love and light that God kindles in me, as I trust in the promise of new life being born within me and into the life of the world, over and over again.