A collection around the following 6 categories to explore:
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“For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet”, by Joy Harjo
Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.
If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back.
Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire.
Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time.
Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters.
Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who accompany you.
Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them.
Don’t worry. The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves.
The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a hundred, a thousand or even more.
Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time.
Do not hold regrets.
When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed.
You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant.
Cut the ties you have to failure and shame.
Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet.
Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction.
Ask for forgiveness.
Call upon the help of those who love you. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor.
Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.
You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.
Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long.
Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes.
Now you can have a party. Invite everyone you know who loves and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go.
Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short.
Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark.
Sunday Links, Nov. 10, 2024
Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday Nov. 10, 11am.
“The Saints Song”
Here’s a fun romp through history, with a little inspiration from Gilbert & Sullivan.
How many of these saints are you familiar with?
Psalm 91 – Blessing and Protection
From “VCS the Visual Commentary on Scripture – The One Who Dwells
“Psalm 91 is among the most frequently cited passages of Scripture in the Jewish and Christian traditions. It features frequently in liturgies, sacred music, and devotional writings. Visual artists throughout history have responded to its vivid metaphorical language. But the psalm also appears in other, often surprising places: etched into pendants, printed on camouflage bandanas to wear into military combat, and, during the Covid-19 pandemic, emblazoned on masks. Satan himself quotes the psalm when he tempts Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:5; Luke 4:9–11). These various uses suggest the enduring attraction of the psalm’s expansive promises of protection.
How the artist Giotto brought the life of St. Francis to the People
The Upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.
“St. Francis’ affinity for the environment influenced the artist Giotto (ca. 1270–1337), who revolutionized art history by painting figures which were three dimensional and including natural elements in his religious works. By taking sacred images away from Heaven and placing them in an earthly landscape, he separated them definitively from their abstract, unapproachable representation in Byzantine art.
“Giotto’s works are distinctive because they portray daily life as blessed, thus demonstrating that the difference between the sacred and profane is minimal. Disseminating the new ideas of St. Francis visually was very effective, as the general populace was illiterate. Seeing frescoes reflecting their everyday lives in landscapes that were familiar changed their way of thinking. The trees, plants, animals and rocky landscapes were suddenly perceived as gifts from the Creator to be used, enjoyed and respected. Furthermore, Giotto recognized that the variety of dramatic landscapes would provide spectacular visual interest in the works.”
From St. Francis and Giotto: The Saint and the Artist Started the Ecological Movement
Excerpts from “Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”, Mother Teresa
“The smile that covered a "multitude of pains" was no hypocritical mask. She was trying to hide her sufferings – even from God! – so as not to make others, especially the poor, suffer because of them. When she promised to do "a little extra praying & smiling" for one of her friends, she was alluding to an acutely painful and costly sacrifice: to pray when prayer was so difficult and to smile when her interior pain was agonizing.”
― Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta"
“There is so much deep contradiction in my soul. Such deep longing for God – so deep that it is painful – a suffering continual – and yet not wanted by God – repulsed – empty – no faith – no love – no zeal. Souls hold no attraction – Heaven means nothing – to me it looks like an empty place – the thought of it means nothing to me and yet this torturing longing for God. Pray for me please that I keep smiling at Him in spite of everything. For I am only His – so He has every right over me. I am perfectly happy to be nobody even to God. . . .
Your devoted child in J.C.M. Teresa”
― Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta
" “Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love…the smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.”
― Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta
“Our poor people are great people, a very lovable people, They don’t need our pity and sympathy. They need our understanding love and they need our respect. We need to tell the poor that they are somebody to us that they, too, have been created, by the same loving hand of God, to love and be loved.”
― Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta
Sean Rowe elected as Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church in its convention in Louisville Ky elected its youngest Presiding bishop on June 26, Bishop Sean Rowe, 49. Rowe, who will be the 28th presiding bishop, has been bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania since 2007 and bishop provisional of Western New York since 2019.
Addressing his fellow bishops and delegates to the meeting after his election, Bishop Rowe called for the church to be courageous and resilient heading into what he described as an “existential crisis” caused by a changing world. He suggested he would encourage the denomination to focus on local dioceses and congregations and streamline its national structure so it doesn’t “collapse under its own weight.”
He compared the denomination’s uncertain status to his experience growing up in western Pennsylvania in the 1980s, as factories closed and friends moved away. But he also expressed optimism. “God is calling us ever more deeply into the unknown,” he said. “Let us follow Jesus into this unknown future filled with hope.”
He will be installed in November after Bishop Curry completes his term at the end of Oct., 2024.
Sunday’s Thoughts – June 16, Pentecost 4 – Growth
Today’s readings are filled images of growth and newness. From the cedars of Ezekiel in the Old Testament to the palm tree of the psalm, the flourishing of human beings is part of all creation’s fruitfulness.
What is growth ? Not physical growth but actions that expand God’s kingdom. It would also included new capabilties that we obtain.
We start small like the mustard seed. We can become “greatest of all shrubs” but we must grow. Often growth is not straight path. At times we grow fast. Other times, we are stymieed – we have to step back and do something different
The important is to consider how we might want to expand God’s kindom in our area. This is so important since if we don’t nothing may happen. We might sense the possibilities of God’s kingdom ourselves here and work toward that end. We might get that new idea.
In many cases, we can’t do it alone but must work with others. We scatter seed — that’s our role. Our seed may go to others and get a boost from them.
I can think over my time at St. Peter’s and the remembers the seeds scattered the ones. that successully expanded our vision – the Village Harvest, Shred-it, Sacred ground as well the work the ECW and ECM do. Those don’t exist in a vacuum but are formed by the many. Some have the vision; others can organize; others are problem solvers.
But don’t worry about the efforts that are doomed to failure that you don’t try or the ones you do try that fail. Sometimes failures can be reworked and become successes. Ultimately it depends on God’s grace.
We had a ministry of pastoral care – “Ond Day” where the congregation come together and do pastoral care together. Sounds great but it didn’t last beyond one time and it has not been repeated. What I cam guessing is that existing ministries were doing that jog and no other organization was ndded.