Blog Archives

August 30th, 2012

8/30/2012

The Nunnery on Iona

What to do with the political energy circling about in this country right now? How can I pay attention without taking in and then spewing out negativity? Maybe I can’t. Maybe it’s impossible to be informed without feeling virtuous at the expense of others? Is my righteous indignation from God or from my human feelings of inferiority?

My most humble admission at the moment is that I’m willing to sit with the questions.

A sometimes hermit~

8/27/2012

In the Christian tradition a hermit is someone who withdraws to live in solitude in order to find union with God through prayer and meditations. This appeals to me, but not as a way to be all the time. After all, I was brought up as a social being, to participate in community, and besides, God is calling me to reach out to others beyond prayer and mediation.

I like my rhythm these days. A great deal of hermit time, and then out I go, trying my best to do a little of God’s work in the world.

Rising very early before dawn, he (Jesus) left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed….He answered them (his disciples), “let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message.
Mark 1:35,38.

Steward of the kitchen~

8/25/2012

Today on my cottage by the sea blog I wrote about accepting the role as steward of my kitchen. Considering the job of cooking and cleaning as stewardship has eased the annoyance I feel from time to time when I have another meal to cook or another pan to scrub.

      As I mentioned, stewardship committees in churches often dwell first and primarily on money raising aspects, specifically for the physical building and for personnel salaries. But we know better: stewardship ought to be guided by the mission of the church, namely that we are stewards of God’s call to love and to create God’s kingdom here on earth.

      God asks us to be stewards of various aspects in our lives, most obviously our families, friends and the environment. Although we don’t exactly choose these, we do have some choice in how we do them.

     In many respects I am still part of the traditional life I was brought up in, where women wear aprons and men mow the lawn. I don’t have to keep these jobs and believe me, I’ve moved many of them away from center stage. What I try to do, however, is remain a faithful steward to what I have accepted, namely the kitchen. The work is a gift, the result a blessing.

God loves all~

8/22/2012

      This was today’s reading in “Celtic Daily Prayer” by Kate Tristram. It speaks for itself; you don’t need my thoughts; your own will suffice.

      We are ‘peculiar’. We have chosen not to go with the majority. We shall pray and reflect on the life of Christ: most people don’t do this. We shall worship and receive God’s gifts in His sacraments: most people don’t do this. We shall be in a minority: we shall be odd. There will be no danger for us in that, as long as we don’t begin actually to like being odd. We can see there, of course, the danger of wanting to withdraw into the small group of like-minded people, and to build the barricades to keep out those who are not sufficiently odd in our variety of oddness. That is the way to create sects and divisions, in which each is sure of his own chosenness and pours scorn on that of the others. In fact, we have to find a balance. It is our faith that God loves all, and all to Him are welcome.

                                                                                   Kate Tristram

Two Sabbath services in one day~

8/20/2012

Yesterday I attended two church services in my town, 8 o’clock at the Episcopal Church in the chapel in the woods, and 9:30 at my UCC church just up the street from where I live. I love both services and I love participating in each on the same day.

.       At 8 o’clock we worship from the Book of Common Prayer, which of course includes the Eucharist. I love the ritual, the familiar words, and I love hearing the complete array of scripture readings, especially the Psalm appointed for the day.

      At Memorial Congregational Church each week I look forward to being welcomed ‘home’ by my pastor and to participating in the joys and concerns at prayer time.

       At both services I am filled with heartfelt music and inspiring sermons.

       I am ‘very grateful’.

Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community

8/18/2012

Most mornings I read the daily office as presented in Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community. Within this rich book of worship are three sets of readings: Daily Office for Morning, Noon and Evening; Meditations for Each Day of the Month, and two Series of Daily Readings.
     Recently I’ve been focusing on the call questions and responses in the Opening Sentences of Morning Prayer.

Call:              Who is it that you seek?
Response:     We see the Lord our God.
Call:              Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response:    Amen. Lord have mercy.
Call:              Do you see Him with all your soul?
Response:    Amen, Lord have mercy.
Call:              Do you seek him with all your mind?
Response:    Amen, Lord have mercy.
Call:              Do you seek him with all your strength?
Response:    Amen, Christ have mercy.

      I particularly resonate with the four ways of seeking God, heart, soul, mind and strength, because they are straightforward and clarify that usual threesome, mind, body, spirit. Mind is mind; strength is body; and spirit includes heart and soul, which are companions but not synonyms. I think of soul as that deepest place inside me where God resides, and heart as more on the surface and attainable in my everyday life. The way to tap into the soul, to be at one with God, is through the heart.

Keeping the faith~

8/15/2012

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4.7

Yesterday I took a friend to what may be her last chemo session. Thanks in large part to modern medicine she has lived successfully for over six years with a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The ‘healthy’ quality of life that she has experience has included a good appetite, the ability to drive and to travel, and the continued cultivation of many friendships. Good luck? Who knows?

All along she continued ‘to do the spiritual work’, or as Paul says, to keep the faith. That is not luck; that is grace.

Revering a forgiving God~

8/12/2012

Musee de Cluny

“But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered,” so the Psalmist says to God. (Psalm 130.4.) I’ve been meditating on this verse for the past few days, and it continues to give me comfort. If God weren’t forgiving, I’d be hard-pressed to revere God. Instead God would be a tyrant, a dictator and I’d have no choice but to give up believing in God.

Fortunately I was brought up in a church that proclaimed a loving God, a forgiving God, and, believe me, I need to be forgiven all the time. But my God is not just a forgiving friend. I need more than that; I need a God to revere--to regard with respect tinged with awe, to venerate.

God forgives me; I venerate God. It’s a deal that works.

Notre Dame in early morning~

8/9/2012

I feel bad that I’ve let you down on my prayer postings, but believe me, I had very little time to write during my eight days in Paris. The one morning that I did have time, however, I got up early and went to Notre Dame instead. Mass was just beginning and there was only a scattering of people in the cathedral. I sat in a pew for a while. God was present. I thought of all those stones laid one by one, all those pointed arches, all those sculpted angels and floral decorations in just this one cathedral. Multiply them, church by church and you will be at infinity. I thought of the beauty that pilgrims and tourists have appreciated through the ages, through both religious and secular lenses. For some of us, Christ’s message has been kept alive through the stained glass, sculpture and flying buttresses of the Notre Dames of the world. Very grateful.

St. Denis in Paris

8/7/2012

St. Denis

Very little time to post but we did see some beautiful churches in Paris. Home tomorrow.
Here is St. Denis, where many of the kings and queens of France are buried.