From Strangers to Family

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Vancouver BC, October 21, 2014
Vancouver BC, October 21, 2014

Ruth 1:16-17 (CEB)

16But Ruth said,

“Do not urge me to leave you,
to turn back from following you.
Wherever you go, I will go;
and wherever you stay, I will stay.
Your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
17Wherever you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord do this to me
and more so,
if even death separates me from you!”

Just over 13 years ago these beautiful words from scripture were read at my wedding.  I have always loved the book of Ruth, and yes one reason is because I was named for her, but, primarily I love it because Ruth took her destiny into her own hands and made a place for herself among strangers.  Like the biblical Ruth my own life has been one of making my place in strange places and with strangers all around me.  My wedding was just one of the many steps along my journey to find the face of God.

Now I really don’t want this rambling to be about John and me rather I want to tell you the best part of my marriage, our grandchildren.  Ok, so they are John’s grandchildren not mine, but the youngest ones have known only me as Grammy Ruth and I love them and their parents as much as if they were my blood relations.  And, I have watched with great joy as the two older ones Granddaughter S and Grandson A grow into loving adults.

Recently John, me and our little Chihuahua Suzie spent a joyous week in Boston with John’s son M and daughter-in-law LB and the littlest grandchildren, Grandson L and Granddaughter A.  John’s birthday is January 17th and he shares it with L who turned 7 this year, so for the first time they decided to celebrate their birthdays together.  Watching L as he opened gifts, as he gently held our little dog Suzie, and talked excitedly about everything was a pleasure all its own.  Holding little A and reading a story to her, playing games, watching as she and her brother played, and squabbled, and listening to giggles, laughter and tears put me in a place of bliss that I can’t really describe to you.

I watched as M and LB did a ballet of sorts as they prepared breakfast and got the kids ready for school.  As I listened I realized just how much M and John sound alike and how much grandson L is growing into a young man so like his father and grandfather.  Granddaughter A has inherited her mother’s artistic talents which she combines with her father’s and Papa John’s determination to succeed and do it well.  Even though she is only 4½ she is determined to dance and draw her life in her own way.

I said my journey was to find the face of God and I do, in all of creation including people.  The most important Faces of God I see is when I look at John early in the morning just before rising, in the faces of M and LB when I spot them waiting for us to come from the plane.  I see God’s face in the sleeping, laughing, crying, and determined faces of Grandson L and Granddaughter A.  I hear God laugh and giggle when Granddaughter A dances and runs in play.  I hear God’s voice when I listen to LB and John talk in the kitchen doing clean up from dinner.  I hear God’s voice as Grandson L talks with so much certainty about how something works in his 7 year old world and see God at work as he figures out how to build a new structure of some sort.

This is the wedding gift that never stops giving. I have found a place here in the midst of strangers.  I have found people I love.  After much searching I have found where I belong.  I have been welcomed and accepted as family and been blessed with the love from John’s 3 sons and 4 grandchildren.  I have watched the two oldest grow into strong adults where a future of unknown adventures lies before them.  I have held in my arms Grandson L and Granddaughter A as newborns and offered my blessings and prayers for God to watch over them.

I have watched each of the grandchildren grow into people I want know.  All of them are young people who question everything and when no one can give them an answer they go in search for it.  Even if Grandson L and Granddaughter A might not believe in a Divine force, they know they have a Grammy who sees that Divine force whenever she looks into their eyes.  It is in the question of why does Grammy believes what she does that opens a door to their own journey of discovery of who they are and where they fit in.

My blessed babies, who are babies no longer, have begun their own journeys.  Someday they too will say “wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay.”   That day lies long in the future but time passes quickly and before you know it they will be searching for what they believe.  My prayer for all four of the Grandchildren is they find what feeds their souls with love, compassion, mercy and a passion for justice.  I pray they build a life that gives more than it takes, a life open to the blessings of God whether they call Her God or not.

Ruth Jewell, ©January 25, 2014

Visio Divina – Prayerful Tuesday

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Desert Times

Superstition Mountains, Arizona, ©Ruth Jewell, November 2005
Superstition Mountains, Arizona,
©Ruth Jewell, November 2005

January is a month of quiet stillness, the stillness of snow falling, the stillness of early darkness. It is time when the earth sleeps waiting for the renewal in life coming in future months.  January is a desert time, a time when the darkness can overwhelm us with emptiness, and loneliness.  For some the month of January can last forever, or seem like it anyway.  But spring is coming, hope lies just below the surface of cold snow and hard ground just as water lies beneath the surface of the desert waiting until it is able to break through into the light.

Today I invite you to join me in the practice of Visio Divina with the above desert picture.  As you focus on the desert scene ask yourself the following questions:

  1. When have you felt the silence of the desert in your life?
  2. In what ways did the desert nurture your renewal into a new spring?
  3. And, what is calling your forth from the desert?

May your deserts, whether cold or hot, draw you deeper into the arms of the Holy Spirit.

Ruth Jewell, © January 21, 2014

Prayerful Tuesday – Why Have You Forgotten Me?

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Winter's Path
Winter’s Path

 

Psalm 42:9-11

9I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”
10As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
11Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

I have to admit I haven’t always lead an exemplary life and the life I have led has been on roads and paths G-d might have preferred me to avoid.  Those bumpy roads led me to places where I felt abandoned and alone.  But, I have to remember that I choose those roads, I choose to ignore the sacred voice within and live outside of G-d’s love.  I choose to be there, even when the event that got me there was none of my doing I still choose NOT to recognize I wasn’t alone.  I couldn’t or wouldn’t see G‑d walking beside me every step of the way.  I choose to see only darkness; I simply refused to see the luminous darkness that was G-d.

Yes I blamed G-d for all the bad events in my life, isn’t that what every human does?  As a human being I saw the worst and assumed the worst.  I rolled around in my self-pity, yelling at G-d that life was unfair and therefore G-d either didn’t exist or didn’t care what happened to me. I yelled at G-d telling her “why are you doing this to me, why aren’t you there for me, why am I so alone.”  I was so busy trying to run from those comforting arms that I never recognized that it was G-d holding me up, that Jesus was the one helping my broken spirit and that the Holy Spirit was trying to dry my tears.  Because I did not recognize  G-d I was afraid, so afraid.  My bones shook with fear until I thought they would break. I could not see that what happened to me were the consequences I had to experience and live through in order to find my way back to a better place.

It wasn’t until I ran out of tears, ran out of words, until I ran out of myself that I was able to open the door and let you in, G-d.  Only then, O Divine One, did I feel your presence and finally rest in your outstretched arms.  I was still afraid, but I wasn’t alone any longer.  My fear was not as frightening because I knew you were there, and I know it now, in this moment of time I now live.

Why do I put myself through all of that? Why do any of us? Is the struggle to return to you G-d after I have rejected you so important to my understanding of you as unconditional love?  Well I think I know the answer to that question and it is yes.  Yes it is important to walk through the darkness in order to see the light.  Sometimes I have to test my own limits before I learn that you have no limits.

You, Oh G-d, will always welcome me back when I have strayed from your side.  I know you are always there in the dark with me but my eyes are blinded by your startling bright light and I cannot see.  Because I can’t see I fear you’ve left me to stumble in the darkness.   It is only when I regain some hope that you are there, that my eyesight begins to clear.  When I choose to hope, I choose you, oh G-d.  It is when I choose not to recognize you, there beside me, that I become hopeless and unable to see your glory all around me.

So I will choose hope, I chose you oh G-d, I am choosing you G-d.  I have made my choice and I choose to live in your light, your love, your hope.  Will I sometimes forget that choice, probably? In some future time I will again fail to see your presence in the dark and you will be there walking right beside me.  You will not leave me alone even if I believe you have.  But the big difference now is I know you forgive, I know you offer me grace and I will fall into your arms when the tears and words run out and you will comfort me.

O patient G-d I am grateful for your presence, even when I push you away.  Grant me my moments of struggle and suffering even though you suffer with me because, in my suffering I discover again your amazing love.   Amen

Ruth Jewell ©December 16, 2013

 

 

 

Prayerful Tuesday – “I the God of Israel will not forsake them”

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God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform; by Wm Cowper Picture by NASA
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform        words by Wm Cowper
Picture by NASA

Isaiah 41:17-20
17When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.

19I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,

20so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it. 

Advent, a time of waiting, a gestation time of new beginnings, I have heard those words many times over many Advents.  And, while all this waiting is important I have a confession to make, I hate waiting!  Yes, my impatience frequently gets me into trouble, with G-d and with those around me.  I begin before the preparation has been completed and my task, while not a total failure, does not live up to its potential.  Patience is not one of the gifts G-d has seen fit to give me. It is something I have been trying to learn for 66 years and I am still not very good at it.

I admit to being one of those thirsty people in the desert who wants to have water and I want now!  If I had been with the Israelites in the Sinai I would have marched right up to Moses and said “I’m thirsty, I need water and I need it now!”  And I am sure Moses would have looked at me with a jaundiced eye and said “get a grip; learn some patience for crying out loud.  You are out of Egypt so be grateful for what you have and quite complaining!”  Yep that would have been me hearing those words.   Yet in Isaiah we hear that G-d will provide water and more to those who are poor and in need and it is not lost on me that G-d came through with food and water during the Exodus.  So yes I do believe G-d, in Her own good Time and Way, will provide.

The key to this waiting is “in Her own good Time and Way” G-d will offer the drink and food we need and it’s always in that perfect moment.  The moment when we not only need it the most but the moment when we are open the widest for hearing G-d’s voice speak the Word we so desperately thirst and hunger for.

For the last two and half years I have been in my own time of Advent, walking in a wilderness of my own making as I waited for G-d to give me a Word I could respond to about where my ministry would take me.  And in that time there have been many impatient moments.  Many times I have tried to hurry G‑d.  I have tried to guess what She will speak and tried starting a task with no direction from Her.  It rarely works out because you cannot hurry G-d.  G-d will speak when the time is right, when my heart is open the widest to hear G-d speak and not before.

Through out this time G-d has been allowing a ministry to begin gestating within me.  To grow in concept piece by piece, step by step while at the same time letting G-d open me up to whom I am and who She is. I am learning that G‑d is my greatest counselor, friend, lover, supporter, confidant, comforter, and confessor.  All I have to do is live a life that puts G-d first, keep our relationship strong and allowing the counselor, friend, lover, supporter, confidant, comforter, and confessor work through me in a working partnership with Her.

It seems as if it would be easy to do what G-d asks of us doesn’t it?  But it is not.  Ask the Israelites how hard it was to follow the path G-d laid before them.  Ask the disciples how hard it was to walk the path Jesus laid before them.  Each one will tell you it is not easy.  Yes G-d will provide for the poor and needy but verse 41:20 of Isaiah says it best.  We are to “… see and know … consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” We fail hopelessly in that understanding.  All too often we take G-d’s handiwork for granted and do not see what the Lord does for us.  I, just like the rest of the human race, all too often think we are entitled to the abundance we see around us.  We forget just where and who it comes from, where and from whom we come from.  It has taken me a life time to understand in a small way the meaning of verse 20.  And, it has only been in the last year and half that I have worked hardest to be patient and to let G-d speak when She is ready and not me.

And now G-d is bringing me closer to an understanding of what my role as Her partner will be.  And, somehow I feel it is appropriate that G-d picked Advent for this to happen, the time for me to begin to feel the movement of a baby ministry within me.  I am excited and scared about bringing into reality this ministry of my very own.  It takes courage for me to step out and claim my role as G-d partner a courage I do not always have.  I have many fears; will I be worthy of G-ds trust, will I hurry this up and as a result rush to completion what needed time to grow, will I give up saying “sorry G-d this to hard for me,” will I simply not be enough for the task.  There are so many fears, so much excitement, and so many hopes.  The future I do not know, only G-d does, so I will keep waiting, and listening, and moving with G-d’s time and moments.  Patience is really hard but I continue to learn to lean into the open arms and let G-d teach me.

This Week’s Spiritual Practice

Do you have something waiting to emerge from you?  Waiting is hard (just ask any 4 year old) but it can be done. So this week I simply ask that each day you find yourself a quiet place and sit in silence for 5 to 20 minutes.  Listen for a Word from G-d.  It might be a Word about doing something, or it might be G-d whispering “I love you.”  Just remember whatever happens let it happen in G-d’s time not yours and be grateful for the time spent with G-d.

Ruth Jewell, ©December 10, 2013

Prayerful Tuesday – Through Acts of Faith

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DSCF0547a

Reflection:  Hebrews 11:32-34 (The Message) 

32-34 I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of Faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves.  They were protected from Lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies.

I have always found this chapter of Hebrews somewhat difficult and these 3 verses when read outside the context of the whole chapter are, I think, somewhat confusing. These 3 verses are also often used to justify the idea of “G-d is on my side in this war because I am more faithful than you are.”  But I do not believe that is what the author had in mind.

The writer of Hebrews is making a case for faith, a faith in what we cannot see.  Now that I get, and, for me the writer could have stopped at verse 3 of chapter 11 and his argument would have been made.

Hebrews 11:1-3 – The Message (MSG) – Faith in What We Don’t See  1-2 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 distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. 3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

But he didn’t and so now I am left with chapter and verse that could be problematic when read outside the context of the whole chapter 11 and in fact the complete Letter to the Hebrews.  My difficulty isn’t with its premise it is with how it is interpreted and used in today’s world, the 21st century.  Yes Gideon, Barak, Samson, and the rest had faith in G-d and they used that faith to give them the courage to defend themselves and fight for a place to live.  Yes they are told by G-d and Moses they are G-d’s chosen people and that G-d would be right there beside them through thick and thin.  At least that is what is told in the Pentateuch, which was written during the Babylonian Exile sometime between 600 BCE and 580 BCE and not by Moses.

Now don’t get me wrong I actually love the Letter to the Hebrews.  The Letter’s central idea of Jesus as the High Priest, our representative who stands before G-d in our name as our advocate means we have a spokesperson on our side, something the disadvantaged throughout history rarely have.  That is an important metaphor to keep in mind.  It is also the root meaning of Chapter 11.

In the first three verses of Chapter 11 the author of Hebrews lays out the important points he wants to make: “By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.”  The remainder of this chapter is a litany of heroes from the Jewish Bible.  They are examples of faith, combined with trust, obedience, and hope that supports the desire for a better place to live, a place to call their own where G-d is the planner and builder, a place where G-d is the central focus.  The memory of the prophets, kings and soldiers the author invokes is not about “whose side G-d is on,” it’s about being true to G-d’s teaching and message.  It is not the act of fighting or going to war that the author is writing about. The important point it is the faithfulness of those who were fighting to build a homeland and country.  Would Gideon have lost if they hadn’t had faith?  That is a possibility because they might not have had the courage to stand up for what they believed in. And, by invoking the heroes  of his Jewish faith the author is placing Jesus among the great and small who throughout history have listened  to G-d’s  call to stand up and speak G‑d’s message of justice, mercy, and  compassion (Micah 6:8).  To walk with G-d does not mean the road will be easy rather it means G-d walks with us into the “lion’s den” offering support and not making smoothing out the potholes.

As I contemplate these verses at  the dawning of Advent I am hearing G-d’s call to respond as Isaiah, Moses, Jesus, Paul, and the author of Hebrews to speak out in G-d’s name for justice, mercy, and compassion for those who cannot speak for themselves.   In the next 4 weeks as I, we, wait for the celebration of the birth of love in human form we need to remember why Jesus came.  He didn’t come so we could give gifts, or eat ourselves sick, or spend money with no thought of consequences.  Jesus came to bring us a way of life.  We are called by G-d to respond to those who are in need, to give out of our abundance. Because we have enough to live comfortably it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone has enough to live comfortably.   To give joyfully and generously, whether it is material, monetary, or spiritually is to practice the teaching of Jesus when he walked among us.

Spiritual Practice

So this week’s spiritual challenge is not an easy one but one worth doing.  What would you life be like if you examined where you are on your spiritual journey and choose what you can give, how you might serve or where you can answer G-d’s call of service and walk in the path of Jesus?  In what acts of faith will G-d recognize your footprints

Ruth Jewell, ©December 3, 2013

Prayerfull Tuesday, November 19, 2013

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Suzie
Suzie

Prayer

Yesterday seemed like a perfect day to read poetry.  The rain was coming down, the wind was blowing, Suzie was snuggled in my lap so I opened up two of my favorite books of poetry, Thirst by Mary Oliver,[1] and a book of Celtic prayers collected by Alexander Carmichael titled New Moon of the Seasons, Prayers from the Highlands and Islands.[2] A poem of Mary Oliver’s and a prayer collected by Alexander Carmichael struck me as I read them.  The first was a Celtic Prayer:

The Three
The Three who are over me,
The Three Who are below me,
The Three Who are above me here,
The Three Who are above me yonder;
The Three Who are in the earth,
The Three Who are in the air,
The Three Who are in the heaven,
The Three Who are in the great pouring sea

The Celtic people lived close to land and they cherished it as a gift from G-d. They saw the creator in every plant and animal and rock. They saw the grace of G-d in rain and snow, the roar of the sea and in the breath of spring air.  This simple prayer is an acknowledgment that G-d, Christ, and the Holy Spirit surround them.  G-d wasn’t “out there” looking down at them, no G-d was surrounded them in grace and blessings of many shapes and colors.  As I watch the rain fall outside my window and feel Suzie’s warm breathing in my lap I understood what this prayer of gratitude meant to fisherman, a farmer, a mother tending the hearth.  G-d is here, now, with me, with you, with us all.  For the Celts and for us today G-d lives beside and within each of us.

Mary Oliver’s poem Praying is a lovely companion to the Celtic prayer.  Praying reminds us that prayer doesn’t have to be framed with elaborate words.  Prays really happen in those moments when your mind has no words so your heart speaks.  Some of the greatest prayers are never written down; simple words of gratitude for the healing of a friend, or gasp of awe at the beauty of a sunrise, or joy of a laughing child are beloved prayers of the heart.  Here is;

 Praying
by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

I invite you to read the Celtic prayer, and Mary Oliver’s poem.  Look around you; do you see the work of G-d, Christ, and Holy Spirit in the everyday living of your life?   Where does your heart speak when your mind has no words?  Let the simple words of gratitude, sorrow, or joy shaped in your heart form the bases for a prayer that speaks to the Divine that walks beside you.  May the all surrounding presence of The Three be your comforter in times of crises and dance with them when joy rings in heart.

Ruth Jewell, ©November 19, 2013

[1] Mary Oliver; Thirst, Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 2006, pg 37

[2] Alexander Carmichael; New Moon of the Seasons, Prayers from the Highlands and Islands, Floris Books, Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain, 1986, pg 74

Prayerful Tuesday, November, 5, 2013

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Open My Eyes That I Might See

 

Autumn Glory
Autumn Glory

Last week John and I took a train ride to Vancouver, BC and while we hoped for some sun it was even cloudier there that at home.  As we walked through Stanley Park I was afraid all my pictures would be gray and drab and then I saw this one.  Yes, if the day had been bright and sunny I suppose this picture would have been brighter. But, the trees in their autumn finery reflecting in the pool made a light all their own.  I just had to “open” my eyes to see it.

Today for Prayerful Tuesday I am inviting you to open your eyes and open your hearts and minds as we practice Visio Divina using the above picture. There is no set time frame for the guided prayer, but I do suggest at least 15 minutes and up to thirty minutes.

  1. As your prayer begins, take a few moments to open your heart and mind to God.
  2. When you are ready, slowly look and notice the image, taking your time to let feelings and thoughts come to you as you take in forms, colors, lines, textures, and shapes.
  3. What does it look like, or remind you of?
  4. What do you find yourself drawn to?
  5. What do you like and not like?
  6. What are your initial thoughts?
  7. What feelings are evoked?
  8. At this point in your prayer simply notice your responses without judgment or evaluation. If you don’t like the image, or the feelings it evokes, notice that this is your initial response and continue to stay open to the image and the prayer.
  9. If you have an immediate idea as to what the image means, again, simply acknowledge that this is your initial response and stay open to “the more” as the prayer unfolds.
  10. As you expand your prayer, return to the image with an open heart and mind. What new thoughts, meanings, and/or feelings arise for you; what initial impressions have expanded deepened.
  11. Explore more fully the meanings that have risen up within you, and the feelings associated with the image and its colors and forms.
  12. Be aware of any assumptions or expectations you bring to the image. No how you responded to the image — delight, disgust, indifference, confusion — prayerfully ponder the reason for your various responses and what they might mean for you.
  13. As you go deeper into your prayer, open yourself to what the image might reveal to you.
  14. What does it and the Holy Spirit want to say, evoke, make known, or express to you as you attend to it in quiet meditation?
  15. Become aware of your feelings, thoughts, desires, and meanings brought up by the image: how they are directly connected to your life.
  16. Does the image hold an important meaning or value for you: does it remind you of an important event or season, or suggest a new or different way of being?
  17. What desires and longings are evoked in your prayer?
  18. How do you find yourself wanting to respond to what you are experiencing?
  19. Offer a prayer to G-d in ways that the image evokes: gratitude, supplication, wonder, lament, confession, dance, song, praise, etc.
  20. As bring your prayer to close, bring to mind or jot down in a journal (whatever way is most helpful for you) the insights you want to remember, any actions you are invited to take, wisdom you hope to embody, or any feelings or thoughts you wish to express and remember.

Close your prayer by resting for a moment in God’s grace and love.  May you see with newly open eyes, heart and mind many new images of G-d in the coming week.

Ruth Jewell, ©November 5, 2013, Picture taken by Ruth Jewell 2013.10.22, prayer practice of Visio Divina adapted from a workshop given by Rev. Nancy Gowler Johnson.

Prayerful Tuesday, October 29, 2013

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Sunset 08.22.2013

The Lord’s Prayer

These past two week have been difficult.  There are wildfires again in Australia, cyclones in the India, conflict in Chile, an early winter storm in Colorado, and the unwillingness of our government to govern, to name just a few.  All of these crises make my unhappiness with the gloomy skies that have settled over western Washington for more than a week seem pretty puny in comparison.

As I was praying about what to write for today I honestly couldn’t offer anything better than what Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him “teach us to pray.”  You see sometimes all you can do is pray, and when I can’t find the words I remember what my father always told me; “Ruth, you don’t have to say anything, G-d knows what’s in your heart, just sit and let your heart speak.”

So this week with no words to describe our hearts ache I ask that each of you to take five minutes out of your day and just sit, letting your heart speak.  If you wish you may end with the prayer Jesus taught his disciples so long ago.  Below is an English translation from the Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, of the Lord’s Prayer.  In addition I have included a link to a beautiful singing of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic From the album, Sacred Ragas, by IndiaJiva. May you draw comfort from the Lord’s blessing and may they bless your day and coming week.

Shalom, Ruth Jewell

The Lord’s Prayer

(An English transliteration from the original Aramaic of Jesus)

 O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere!
Release a space to plant your Presence here
Envision your “I can” now
Embody your desire in every light and form.
Grow through us this moment’s bread and insight.
Untie the knots of failure binding us,
as we release the strands we hold of others’ faults
Help us not forget our Source.
Yet free us from (all unripeness) of not being in the Present.
From you arises every Vision, Power, and Song
From gathering to gathering

Amen.

May our future actions grow from here!

One Body

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1 Corinthians 12:12-13: 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

This last week I have been giving a great deal of thought to the importance of all of the parts of the body. And, it has given me completely new insights on Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. You see I had a blocked gland removed from the underside of my tongue on Thursday and I have learned just how dependent I am on every part of my body. I mean you try drinking, talking, even breathing without using your tongue for awhile and you will understand what I mean! However, given what has been happening in our nation’s capital it seems ironic that it is my tongue that is giving me a problem.

But enough of the gory details! Paul of course is writing to his wayward community in Corinth, which has a few problems getting along with each other. Does that sound familiar? Paul is telling his young Corinthian faith community they need each other because all of them are important and all are equal in the eyes of Christ. Not unlike the conflict we’ve been seeing in our nation’s capital this past week and I am afraid it will take another Apostle Paul for a resolution to this crisis to be resolved.

What might Paul tell our community today? Well one line he might repeat is “the body does not consist of one member but of many” and that each of the members is needed to perform some task that sustains the whole body. No part of the body could say “I do not belong to the body,” the tongue cannot say “I am in pain, so let the eye take my place,” trust me that isn’t going to happen. Just as the fireman cannot say to the man whose house is on fire I am to important to get my hands dirty, therefore I will not help you. That man’s house will burn down you can be pretty certain of that.

Today in Washington DC and in the rest of this country we have people who are saying just that. “I am to important to feed the hungry, or clothe the poor, or help the sick and elderly, or do anything that would make me see you as important in G-d’s eyes. I have my house with all of my barns stuffed with grain and produce that I have worked for and if you can’t take care of yourself, well that’s not my problem.” What these so called “important” people forget is that someone else prepared the ground, sowed the grain, harvested it and stacked it in his barn, they didn’t do it themselves. Just as in Jesus’ story of the rich man with all those full barns, G-d will come and say “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20) and it will be too late.

Paul told his community, “the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect: whereas our more respectable members do not need this.” (1 Corinthians 12:22-23) Paul’s words ring with the same authority today as they did in the First Century, for those we hold in low esteem in our community are the ones who are harvesting our food, making our clothes and building our houses. Just because they don’t wear a suit and tie, or nice dresses doesn’t make them less valuable to the whole body of our communities. I would love to see the Speaker of the House in the fields of California harvesting lettuce; it would do him and the rest of our politicians good to do some really hard labor. There perspective on what is important would change dramatically, that is if they survive the 14-18 hour, 7 day a week job. Let them live for a year as an elderly person on Medicare and Social Security trying to make ends, trying to pay for food, rent and medical care on the little they have. Or, they could choose to take care of a family whose child has cancer or some other debilitating disorder. Let’s see if they could do any better with the medical bills and all the rest of the needs of a family on $50,000 a year.

Each of the “unimportant people” are part of the body of this country, and of the body of G-d. In fact according to G-d they are more important than those who sit in the “great halls of government.” For G-d tells us all “do not abuse any widow or orphan,” (Exodus 22:22) or “oppress a resident alien.” (Exodus 23:9) But those verses are conveniently forgotten.

We are all part of the body of G-d, of creation and the creator. We are all part of our country and world, whether you are a business person, a working person, a widow, a widower, orphan, or an immigrant to this country or any country. Each and every one of us is important to the wellbeing of us all and the Creator’s purpose for us as a whole people. No one is more important than the other; we all have our tasks to do in this life that will lead us into the next life. This week I learned a lesson that every part of the body is important no matter how insignificant I might think it is.

The tongue can be an instrument for good will, or a sword that hurts and divides us all. My tongue hasn’t always been a good instrument. Just like ever one else there here have been times when I have said hurtful things to others and I can’t take those words back, as much as I might wish too. Yet I have also spoken words of kindness and caring that I hope in the eyes and ears of G-d outweigh the bad.

This week has made me aware of the incredible gift of all parts of the body, the seemingly insignificant, and the ones that I erroneously hold in high honor. We all have the power to be good gifts of the body, the body of our country and world, and the body of the Spirit. No matter how insignificant each of us seems to be each is important to the functioning of this grand creation gifted to us by the creator. Paul ends his short discourse on gifts of the body with the words: “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” Each of us has the potential within to do even greater things than we do. It takes each of us to encourage those gifts in each other such that we all prosper, just as the Creator wants.

Ruth Jewell, ©October 5, 2013

Prayerful Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Posted on by a quiet walk

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A Prayer for Peace

October 1, 2013, the heading in the paper read, “GOV SHUTDOWN.” Today is Prayerful Tuesday and right now I am not feeling very prayerful, angry, frustrated but not prayerful. I want to run to Washington DC and ask our elected representatives what are you thinking, to shout angry words at them, I want to right them angry letters, I want to tell them there are more people in our country that need the Affordable Care Act than they are willing to poll or listen to. I want to … “sigh” … I don’t know what I want.

Prayer, how will prayer get me, all of us, through this time of crisis? Well, prayer offers us a time to look within and discover that even in the greatest of trials we are not alone. Even when we feel completely abandoned the Divine Spirit surrounds us and guides, all we have to do is to take a deep breath, wait, and listen. It is in the stillness of our hearts that our fears are known, our anger is known, and our guilt is known. John Phillip Newell wrote the following chant for Chanting For Peace (CD available from http://www.materialmedia.net):

Wait, wait, wait for God.
Wait, wait, wait for God.
Be strong and let your heart take courage.
Be strong and let your heart take courage.
Wait, wait, wait for God.

Waiting is hard, listening is even harder and sometimes I don’t know if I am up to it. To my regret I am all too often rash in speech and action. But Peace, Prayer, waiting, listening before I open my mouth or put to paper is what I am called to do. So today I offer this prayer”

A Psalm for Peace

Oh LORD, I wait upon you;
in this time of sorrow hear my cry.
My plea for my people is a just one,
for they are being assaulted by
those who would rob them
of peace and comfort.
Deliver us from our enemies,
who surround us, granting us
courage and strength of heart and being
to stand and speak your words of peace and justice.
Our world calls upon you, O GOD,
for we know you will answer us.
May we behold your face and feel your love
reflected in the face of our brothers and sisters,
in the morning light, the evening star,
the living earth and breathing sea.
May we, O LORD, Great Creator of all,
be the light that shines out and
brings peace to our hearts and world.

Ruth Jewell, ©October 1, 2013