7/27/12 – Garden & Compost

Beauty and hope in unlikely places

Until my illness I delighted in hiking and camping in the Eastern Sierras, especially in the John Muir Wilderness area. From previous trips I have lots of memories and lots of photos. Friends have continued to send photos (of past and present trips), too. In looking through photos this one caught my eye yesterday.

At +10,000 feet the cones and needles decompose slowly in the few months they are not covered with snow. There is a textural beauty in this mix on the forest floor. With sunlight angling in it is even more beautiful with shadows and light. The moment captured here is a reminder to hope. This isn’t the typical travel picture with snow capped peaks or dramatic vistas that make a person say “Wow,” but it is part of the spiritual wonder that calls me still to come into the wilderness—and a treasured image of my travels there.

With its different kind of beauty it makes me pause to see beauty in the most unlikely places and to be thankful. “Look closely,” is what I hear the Spirit saying. Even with its slow decomposition, the needles and cones provide necessary nutrients for the trees, food for mice and squirrels and birds, and an excellent environment for the bugs and other living creatures helping with the decomposition. There is so much life and hope in this which appears “dead.”

To make the time to slow down and look, to stop and listen is a wonderful discipline and a luxury we all have. To have the leadership of men and women like those who staff Camp Stevens in Julian, CA, who make trips into the wilderness a possibility, is a great gift to me and to the communities they serve.

I urge you to get outside, (you don’t have to hike and camp the John Muir Wilderness), walk in the heat (or cool) of the day, walk in your yard, walk down the street, walk in a nearby park, walk the beach (if you’re close to one), but, slow down and really look, stop and listen—let nature share her gifts with you. Beauty and hope can be found in the most unlikely places.

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Image: Daniel Rondeau near Black Lake in the Eastern Sierras

7/24/12 – Garden & Compost

Are you in the 18-35 year old demographic? Do you know anyone in that demographic? Then, this is for you. Waking Youth is a new blog for young and old, alike. We are in this together …

About Waking Youth

Who evolves spiritually? Is it up to old, wise men in caves, preachers in mega churches, or the best-selling new age authors? All of the world’s religions are converging on our shores for the first time: Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and more. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the young people who are waking up? In this culture, people’s spiritual lives tend to be either very public or very private and rarely do they share the inner, guiding parts of life. So, here are stories of seeking, confusion and discovery as experienced by us. You know, the ones plugged into smartphones and meeting friends for drinks. Listen as we open our hearts. See for yourself. Are we lost to the well entertained and superficial, or is there a secret life of deeper longing and curiosity that may just help save us all? If you are a young adult (18-35 years old) interested in sharing your spiritual story of discovery, send an email to wakingyouth@gmail.com

Finding Sanctuary in the Wilds of Creation by Nathan Troutman Blumenshne is one of the posts on this new blog. it is a story of what faith, Christian Faith in this case, is beginning to feel like in the 21st century. Nathan’s is a faith nurtured in a very expansive cathedral as you will discover.

If you are 18-35 please consider making your own contribution to the Waking Youth blog. If you know someone in this age range, someone whose spirituality continues to inform your own spiritual life, please encourage that person to write. Again, “we are in this together ….”

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Image: From the blog post Finding Sanctuary In The Wilds Of Creation by Nathan Troutman Blumenshine

7/22/12 – Garden & Compost

Our Peace

… in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near ….

Ephesians 2:13-17

That is the wisdom of the Apostle written in the 1st century CE. Here is a more recent expression of this truth posted on Facebook by Forward Day by Day on July 21, 2012:

Rather than arguing about who should be included or excluded, let us remember that drinking from one cup and sharing one loaf calls us to unity. Jesus Christ intends us to be one body in him. We are invited to eat and drink at his table with each other, as the brothers and sisters we are.

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Image: From the internet, source not recorded

7/19/12 – Garden & Compost

From Gratefulness.org another Word for the Day

Photo by Jkadavoor via Wikimedia Commons

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.

—Eleanora Duse (1858–1924)
Word for the Day 7/19/12
www.gratefulness.org

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7/18/12 – Garden & Compost

A favorite prayer from one who continues to teach me how to pray

Joan Chittister was one of nearly a hundred prominent men and women from every religious tradition and region to share a favorite prayer and reflect on its meaning for the recently published “A World of Prayer.”

Prayer for Dialogue with Greater Religions

I bow to the one who signs the cross.
I bow to the one who sits with the Buddha.
I bow to the one who wails at the wall.
I bow to the OM flowing in the Ganges.
I bow to the one who faces Mecca,
whose forehead touches holy ground.
I bow to dervishes whirling in mystical wind.
I bow to the north,
to the south,
to the east,
to the west.
I bow to the God within each heart.
I bow to epiphany,
to God’s face revealed.
I bow. I bow. I bow.

–Mary Lou Kownacki

“I chose this prayer because it points us all to the awareness that it is an enlightening excursion, this wandering into the spiritual insights of other whole cultures, other whole institutions of the spiritual life, and other whole traditions of holy ones.”

From “Ideas in Passing” by Joan Chittister, an email dated 16 Jul 2012.

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7/17/12 – Garden & Compost

If you like Forward Movement’s Day by Day check this out

The new resource: Daily Prayer: a resource of Forward Movement. Here is their welcome message and introduction:

“Welcome to the new Prayer Site at Forward Movement. This new site offers much of the same Forward Movement content you’ve been reading for years. As always, you can read and comment on today’s Forward Day By Day meditation; … [it] continues to be published on its own page, here.

We’ve added some exciting new features, too. [Indeed they have ~dan] You can pray the Daily Office …; you can get Morning, Noonday, and Evening Prayer, plus Compline – each day, every day.…

Go see for yourself: Daily Prayer: a resource of Forward Movement. Thank you Diane for alerting me/us to this new resource.

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Image: From the Forward Movement Daily Prayer Page

7/16/12 – Garden & Compost

Pray for the ELCA Youth Gathering (7/18-7/22).

ELCA Youth Gatherings bring youth and adult leaders together around a theme that is integrated into all program components. These components include Bible study, service, worship, focused study areas, experiential learning, special events, dances and tours. From the website: ELCA Youth Gathering

This video gives the background and a short history of this amazing event.

In 2001 the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America entered into a Concordat titled Called to Common Mission. Perhaps, going forward, Episcopal youth will consider joining this Gathering.

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7/15/12 – Garden & Compost

Psalm 24 is appointed for reading today (7/15/12) in worship. It begins with a recognition that gives perspective to me, to us: we are stewards, not owners, of creation …

The purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself.  We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives.  The sum-total of that life is God.

Mahatma Gandhi

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7/14/12 – Garden & Compost

Painful role models for children

Wendy Sanders, a member of our Sunday Morning Forum at St. Margaret’s has a blog: Walking with Children. Her weekly posts use the lectionary readings of Sunday as a starting point for her reflections in the realm of ‘Child Theology.‘ This coming Sunday (7/15/12) we’ll read Mark 6:14-29. It is Mark’s account of how John the Baptist was killed by Herod. Here’s Wendy:

Those of us who work with young children and delight in their presence cannot ignore the brutally gruesome image:  the young girl asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, no less, and presents it to her mother (Mark 6: 25-29).

Why would God allow such a miserable image in the holy book?  Why was a child necessary?  Why?

She goes on to answer the question. I encourage you to read her post Painful Role Models for Children. If you have children or grandchildren you may want to subscribe to (or follow) her blog.

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7/13/12 – Garden & Compost

A request for prayers

Some of you were as privileged as me to receive the wisdom, experience, and ministry of The Rev. Margaret Watson at St. Margaret’s in Palm Desert, CA. Currently Margaret is serving Episcopal churches from Eagle Butte, SD on the Cheyenne River Reservation. She has a daily blog post—leave it lay where Jesus flang it—written as part of her morning prayer time.

I ask your prayers for Margaret today. As explained in her blog post—The Lament brought many tears, and a beginning—Margaret will make a presentation today (7/13/12) to the ‘Cultural Resources folk’ about displaying some artifacts from the Wounded Knee Massacre of December 29, 1890. Perhaps after reading her post you will, like me, continue to offer prayers for her and the people she serves; repentance, reconciliation, and restoration are ongoing facts of life for Margaret and her community.

A video shared by Margaret—warning, it will evoke a reaction in you

Margaret shared a video in her post mentioned above. Here is the video she shared.

“This video is intended to inform people about the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery in an effort to respond to God’s direction; that we, the Episcopal Church, ‘act with justice and…do what is right’ (Psalm 106:3, BCP).”

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