current events – Page 3

Prayerful Tuesday – An Attitude of Gratitude

Posted on November 26, 2013November 25, 2013 by a quiet walk

Psalm 100 (The Message)

A Thanksgiving Psalm

^1-2On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.

³Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

⁴Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.

⁵For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.

This past Sunday at Queen Anne Christian Church, we celebrated in song, word, prayer Thanksgiving. We also decorated the church for Advent, which starts next Sunday. And we have a new and tasty tradition at Queen Anne; the kids decorate gingerbread houses, while the parents enviously look on. Cherry S is a baker first class and she makes the gingerbread, puts together the houses, parents bring the candy for decorating and then we turn our budding artists loose. I must say they have a great time and the houses look wonderful.

As I sat and watched the kids, took video and a few pictures I couldn’t help but think about the worship service. The Scripture was Psalm 100 and Pastor Laurie’s reading from The Message gave me much to think about. First of all Psalm 100 was my father’s favorite and it was read, from the King James Version (KJV), at the beginning of every Thanksgiving meal in our house. But when I heard Pastor Laurie’s reading I was struck by the joy and celebration that resides in this Psalm that I hadn’t heard before. I felt the celebration inherent in this Psalm. However the words in Verse 4 jolted me upright. “4 Enter with the password: “Thank You!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise, Thank him. Worship him.” I thought what you have to have a password to enter G-ds presence, is not my gratitude and thanks enough, now I have to know a password. Well it is a simple password, and one I learned to use when I was a child. Still I have to say “thank you” to enter into G-d’s home! Why would G-d want my gratitude?

What does it mean to acknowledge your gratitude, out loud, and/or in writing? Well the expression is a witnessed event; people hear or read of your gratitude. They learn you are capable of good will by acknowledging the works of others. They in turn are blessed with your gratitude and that encourages them to also wish to express their thanks for their blessings. One person expresses thanksgiving for a small act of kindness, and the recipient, or someone who observes it is then empowered to offer their thanks to someone else and the boundary of the circle of kindness extends into infinity.

You might think saying thank you for a job well done, or a gift, does little to help you or anyone else, but you’d be wrong. Remembering your blessings grows an “attitude of gratitude” within all that you do throughout your life. In the late 1940’s Bing Crosby sang a simple song in the move “White Christmas,” Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, and for many years it was a popular tune. The premise is an easy one to remember, counting your blessings is more productive than counting all the wrongs you’ve received. In fact once you begin counting you discover that the hurts and wrongs far fewer than blessings.

For me I have all too often let anger and resentment cloud my vision preventing me from counting my blessings and that has resulted in some very unpleasant times in my life. One of the spiritual practices I have been doing on my life journey is to change that pattern of behavior. Now every morning I offer a gratitude to the Divine Spirit before I even get out of bed to start my busy day. And every evening I end my day with a review of the blessings I received during the day. It has made my life much more joyful and I am now more likely to see the face of the Divine in all that I do. So I have two questions for you to ponder this week:

1. What gets in your way of expressing gratitude? And . . .
2. Have you counted your blessings lately?

It is a joyful practice to count your blessings and say thank you. It is not really a password; it’s a way of life, to live in gratitude for the blessings we receive day in and day out, offering our lives as a blessing to those around us. Can you imagine the kind of world we’d live if everyone just counted their blessings?

So my gratitude for this Tuesday Morning is that I am grateful for the ability to write to each of you, I am grateful for the blessings I’ve received from my loving husband and family. I am grateful for the comforting presence of my companion animals, the fur kids Fred and Suzie, and the feathered kids Cuddles and George. And I am simply grateful for my life, for being alive today, at this moment. May all of you remember all of your blessings this week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ruth Jewell, ©November 25, 2013

One Body

Posted on October 5, 2013 by a quiet walk

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 October 1, 2013 by a quiet walk

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

PRAYERFUL TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2013

Posted on September 24, 2013 by a quiet walk

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

I have set my bow in the clouds and it will serve as a sign
of the covenant between Me and the Earth Genesis 9:13 (Torah)

This last past week has been especially disturbing with gun violence in so many places that I have lost track of where they all are. I can’t even be sure that all have been reported by the ever present Sad News Division of our national media. There have been simply too many acts of violence to report.

All I can do is offer prayers of comfort and safety for every person on the planet because I can’t name all the communities, families and individuals affected by gun violence this week. I don’t think that has ever happened before. One of my greatest fears is that massive gun violence, or violence in any form will become the “new normal” for our lives and we will begin to ignore these incidents because they become common.

Every day I pray to the Divine Spirit of us all that we will stop killing each other long enough to recognize we are brothers and sisters. I pray that, knowing that while my prayers may be heard by the Spirit there is little hope of them being answered unless we all of us, hear that prayer and yell “ENOUGH!” The killing will not stop until we, the people, say we have had our fill of guns in the hands of the mentally ill, of the glorifying war and banditry to entice our children into these acts as play, and of having our children shot, bombed, starved, and abused all for the glory of some pathetic so called religious or political despot. So today on this our Prayerful Tuesday I would like to offer the following prayer of peace, petition and intercession. It is called the Caim, the encircling prayer, a form of prayer used by early Celtic Christians.

Circle Prayer of Peace, Petition and Intercession

Putting Ourselves in the Holy Spirit’s presence

Circle me, O Holy Spirit;
encircle me with your presence.
Keep joy within, keep bitterness out;
Keep generosity within, keep greed out;
Keep wholeness within, keep sickness out;
Keep wisdom within, keep folly out;
Keep strength within, keep weariness out;
Keep truth within, keep falsehood out;
Keep compassion within, keep hard-heartedness out;
Keep hope within, keep despair out;
Keep peace within, keep turmoil out;
Keep love within, keep self-seeking out;
Keep light within, keep darkness out.

In the name of the Sacred Three, the Parent, Child and Holy Spirit, Amen

Prayer for those in my heart

Circle, O Holy Spirit, (name[s]),
encircle them with your presence.
Keep joy within, keep bitterness out;
Keep generosity within, keep greed out;
Keep wholeness within, keep sickness out;
Keep wisdom within, keep folly out;
Keep strength within, keep weariness out;
Keep truth within, keep falsehood out;
Keep compassion within, keep hard-heartedness out;
Keep hope within, keep despair out;
Keep peace within, keep turmoil out;
Keep love within, keep self-seeking out;
Keep light within, keep darkness out.

In the name of the Sacred Three, the Parent, Child and Holy Spirit, Amen

Prayer for Peacemakers

Circle, O Holy Spirit, those who work for peace,
encircle them with your presence.
Keep wisdom within, keep folly out;
Keep strength within, keep weariness out;
Keep generosity within, keep greed out;
Keep truth within, keep falsehood out;
Keep compassion within, keep hard-heartedness out;
Keep hope within, keep despair out;
Keep love within, keep self-seeking out;
Keep light within, keep darkness out.

In the name of the Sacred Three, the Parent, Child and Holy Spirit, Amen

Circle those who are victims of violence and injustice

Circle, O Holy Spirit, (name people and places),
encircle them with your presence.
Keep truth within, keep falsehood out;
Keep compassion within, keep hard-heartedness out;
Keep strength within, keep weariness out;
Keep truth within, keep falsehood out;
Keep compassion within, keep hard-heartedness out;
Keep courage within, keep fear out;
Keep peace within, keep turmoil out;
Keep love within, keep hatred out;
Keep light within, keep darkness out.

In the name of the Sacred Three, the Parent, Child and Holy Spirit, Amen

Circle those who commit acts of violence and injustice

Circle, O Holy Spirit, (offer name[s]),
encircle them with your presence.
Help them to see the truth and to turn away from falsehood;
Help them to learn compassion and leave hard-heartedness behind;
Help them find the courage to turn away from evil;
May they feel your love in a world filled with hate;
Help them to see your light in the darkness.
In the name of the Sacred Three, the Parent, Child, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Prayer of Blessing
The peace of the earth be upon you
The peace of the sky be upon you
The peace of the sea be upon you
The peace of the holy Spirit be upon you
upon you and all of G-ds creation

The love of the earth be yours
The love of the sky be yours
The love of the sea be yours
The love of G-d, Christ, and Holy Spirit be yours
and all of children of the Holy One.

AMEN

Ruth Jewell, ©September 24, 2013

A Prayer for the 4th of July, 2013

Posted on July 4, 2013July 4, 2013 by a quiet walk

Holy Spirit, as we celebrate our country’s birth I lift up in prayer the people in our nation who are hungry and homeless, who protect our streets, homes and country here and in far places, our President who carries the burden of responsibility to guide us and his family. Please keep all safe from harm here and abroad. I also lift up our elected leaders in our cities where they walk the frontlines of budget with less funding, poverty, hunger and homelessness, and keeping our streets safe. I lift up our state leaders who struggle with budgets that are bigger than state incomes as they make difficult choices about funding education, infrastructure, and public services. I lift up in prayer our national leaders who are in such conflict with each other. On this day of celebration help them to overcome their differences to become the effective leaders we elected them to be. I lift up those who come to our shores looking for a better life, help them to discover their dream and find friendship and love in our community. Most of all, Abiding Spirit, I lift up our planet and ask for forgiveness for the damage we have done to your creation. Creator help us find our way to healing our relationship with the Earth, each other and you. Amen

MORNING

Posted on May 16, 2013 by a quiet walk

night time is nearly over
robin sings his song to call the sun to rise
a thin line of light glows on the Eastern horizon
pink, orange, purple climb into the sky
gold tips the tops of trees
in the West the waters of Puget Sound are dark . . . then
pink lights up the snow capped Olympic Mountains
gold reaches up and over the Cascades
water shimmers with silver
day comes with a platinum wedding band and diamonds
shining in the morning light

Ruth Jewell, ©May 16, 2013

a bit of gardening

Posted on April 30, 2013 by a quiet walk

This past week John and I did a bit of gardening. We had a rosemary bush being shaded by another bush and I wanted to move it. So we prepared the new spot where it was to go, dug the new hole and went over to our lovely rosemary bush. Now you should know I planted this bush 6 or 7 years ago and I haven’t touched it to really prune it in 5 years. That means it wasn’t a small bush. For the last 5 years it has been doing a wonderful job of growing as it now stood nearly 5 feet tall and had a spread of closer to 6 feet. But, we started pruning and pruning, and pruning. Some of the branches were more than an inch thick and really woody (great in our fireplace though). After being prickled and rosemary scented by our bush we got down to digging the roots up. I never knew this about rosemary but it puts down ROOTS, not little roots, big ones and deep. Also, they extended farther than the drip line of the bush which made finding the ends of the plant actually very difficult. We ended up cutting a lot of roots because we couldn’t find where they stopped. But we moved our tenacious plant and got it planted in its new home and it is doing well enjoying all the sun it wants and lots of water.

After we were finished and cleaning up I remembered something about rosemary. First of all rosemary, in flower language, means remembrance and that sweet, huge, tough bush reminded me of just how persistent our memories are. Deep within each of us lives a world that was. Sometimes it surfaces when we least expect it whether we want it to or not. But our past makes us who we are and embracing the happy, the sad, the good with the bad memories helps balance our present. Learning from my past mistakes and successes provides me with a road map for my way forward. All of those memories connect me to something greater than just this single moment in time. It is also the memories of those who modeled the best of their lives which have led me to being a better person in my own life.

It is the memory of my parents and how they loved and cared for me that has taught me to be a more loving and caring wife, friend, and grandmother. It was my parent’s determination to model a life that included people of all backgrounds, races, genders, and abilities that has given me a passion for my openness to those who are different from me. It was my father’s love of creation and prayer and silence that has been my model for my spiritual growth throughout my life. It was a first grade teacher’s kindness to this wounded child that taught me anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

The memories I have of wandering open fields, lying in new mown grass, making storybook figures out clouds, and reading a book while I sat in the crook of an old apple tree gave me a love of open spaces. I have precious memories of being awakened at midnight to watch the Aurora Borealis with my father, or going out to our barn to watch as calves or puppies were born that hold a special place in my heart. It is remembering thunder storms roll across our fields and listening as the rain pummeled the tin roof of our barn, or rushed through the branches of the huge pine tree that was just outside my bedroom window that draws me into a place of contemplation and peace like nothing else can.

It is the memory of pulling a deep fat fryer full of hot grease down on top of me that reminds me that accidents happen but I am not alone even in the worst of times. It is the memory of a child in the hospital bed next to me who died during the night that taught me that fresh grief is always inconsolable. It is the memory of uncaring questions by adults and taunts of other children that taught me that sometimes people can be cruel. The memory of my father’s death from cancer keeps me asking “why” questions of God and doubting the fairness of life the Scripture tells me is good. It was being laid off for a year that taught me to let go of my fears, face them, then hand them over to the all surrounding presence that has always been in my life. It is the memory of my discovery of how much I have been surrounded by the Spirit that has changed me from who I was into the person I am today. Memories are the soil of our lives; mine goes deep with plenty of memory leaf compost and with each day. With each new memory made the soil gets deeper and richer.

The best part is that each of us has our own bed of memories to draw upon. Some are wonderful, insightful memories, some are horrid memories we would rather forget entirely, but by facing them we turn those bad memories into rich memory compost. Even the memories of death and destruction have a place in our lives, just as the memories of our mother’s arms around us does. Each memory adds to who we are and allows us to see who we were. Memories are the mirrors of our soul and how our soul has grown into who we are. For the good and bad memories are who we are. In learning to live with what we remember gives us the skills we need to live in the world we share with all of creation.

Creation, life, isn’t always fair or beautiful to our eyes. But, we don’t see the big picture; we see only our very small portion. Like an ant on a forest floor the view of our individual world of reality is very small. What we remember of our past helps us see the greater picture. Memories give us a wider view of the life that lies before us and behind us. Our memories connect us to those we have loved, and hated, giving us a past to live from.

Not having a past cuts us off from our life today. It is the reason those with Alzheimer’s, dementia or traumatic brain injuries that affects memory feel so cut off from the world around them. They have nothing to compare today with so how do they know what today means; how do they relate to people and the world around them. The greatest gift we can give those who cannot remember is to give them a piece of their past to ground them in the now moment of their lives and to do it every moment, every hour, every day we are with them. The joy of someone who discovers their own past is amazing and life giving.

Memories are the soil we stand on, the ground of our lives that allows us to live better lives today and tomorrow. Rosemary, the plant of remembrance, is tough, strong, and sweet and I want to remember my yesterdays to make my tomorrows tough, strong, and sweet.

Ruth Jewell ©April 30, 2013

The Liebster Award

Posted on April 13, 2013 by a quiet walk

What Wonder Comes When We Least Expect

April 13, 2013

What is the “Liebster Blog Award?”

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers to encourage them to continue their work. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

It’s an award that was reputedly started in Germany in order to give smaller bloggers recognition for their hard work. You receive this award from a fellow blogger that feels your blog is both worthy & important to them. If you receive this award, there are two rules.

1. You must award 3-5 other bloggers with the award. In this case, it is five.
2. The bloggers awarded must have less than 300 followers.

Participation is completely voluntary and is not limited to any genre or writing for that matter. Basically, the blog can be about anything and simply has to be one that you feel is worthy and that you would like to give recognition to by passing it on.

I am honored to have been nominated by http://sandyshopefulroom.com/ , it was a lovely surprise to be seen as a blogger worth nominating. Thank you again Sandy’s Hopeful Room.

In the rules of the award I am supposed to nominate 3 to 5 other bloggers but because I am an intermittent blogger I really don’t follow that many. Also this requires a bit of time and writing and I wouldn’t want to force anyone to do something they are uncomfortable with. Therefore I am going to nominate 3 for the award and if all they want to do is accept the nomination as Honorary that is just fine with me. I did some research and found you can accept this as an Honorary Liebster award. So I am accepting this nomination for the Liebster award but leave it open to other to accept as honorary or at whatever level they feel comfortable with. Below are the rules for both:

Here are the rules for receiving this honorary award:

Accept the award with a statement of gratitude
Post the award on your blog

If you choose to follow the complete rules here they are:

Answer the questions the person has posted for them
Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
Choose 5 to 10 people and link them in your post.
Go to their page and tell them.
Post the award on your blog

Some Interesting information about me;

I am a 66 year old perpetual student
I have just completed my second masters degree, a Masters of Divinity and am discerning whether or not I am called to ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
I am graduating from the School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University on June 16, 2013
I love to read. I am currently reading Gracias by Henri Nouwen, Written That You May Believe by Sandra Schneiders, and (for about the 10^th time) The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
I love to sit in silence and listen for the word offered me by the All Surrounding Presence
Life for me is simply one big adventure that I dive into with all I have
I love visiting our grandchildren in Boston, 4 year old Amelia and 6 year old Liam, for they bring me great joy in their discovery of life.
I love playing with my two parrots, Green Cheeked Amazon George, and Cherry Head Conure Cuddles (also known as Carlos the South American terror) and our beautiful dog Fred.
I love to travel with my husband John to new and amazing places
I love to cook and watch others enjoy the food I prepare
I love my friends, all of them, from the youngest to the oldest for they enrich my life in ways I cannot explain.

Here are the answers to the questions Sandy has asked of me:

1. Who is my mentor?

My mentor, or I should say mentors, are those who model the best of who they are in life. Three of my mentors are my pastor who has shown me what compassion is; my Regional Minister who has shown me the true meaning of courage; and my husband who has shown me what it means to love and be loved.

2. Who is your favorite author?

Now this is a hard question for I have many favorites. I currently have 4 that I am enamored with: Joyce Rupp, John Phillip Newell, Henri Nouwen, and Brian McLaren.

3. Where did you go on your best vacation and why?

Last December I went on a cruise in the Caribbean. I love cruises they have only as much activity as I want to engage in and a great deal of space and time for meditation and contemplation. The cruise to the Caribbean gave me the opportunity to meet people of another culture and discover their kindness and generosity and offer my gratitude. Our time in Caribbean was a time of engaging creation in unexpected ways.

4. Do you have a motto you live by?

Micah 6:8

5. If you could be anyone in the world (alive or dead), who would that be?

I’m not sure I could be anyone other than who I am after all it has taken me 66 years of errors and successes to get here. If I were anyone else I would not be who I have become and therefore probably not answering these questions. If anything intrigues me at all it is who I might be if I were born 1 or 2 hundred years into the future. It would be interesting to know how our world, society and culture will survive these tumultuous years. I guess I would really want to know if we a people have grown spiritually or have we given away our humanity.

6. What is your favorite movie?

Now this is a difficult question, as I am not much of a movie person but if I had to choose I think the Princess Bride is one of my favorites. I like movies that are light and escapist or provide me with something to think about. So I also like The Lord of the Rings because it gives me insight into what it means to faithfully follow ones task even if you haven’t actually chosen it. I also love science fiction because it offers today’s issues in new settings that helps me to see them from a different angle.

7. Newspapers, Internet News or Television News?

I am a hard copy, paper reading, and book holding in my hands kind of person. The electronic media leaves me a cold so the newspaper I like is our local paper, The Everett Herald, from Everett Washington.

8. When do you do your best writing?

Five minutes before it’s due. Well not quite that bad, but, I do often wait until the last minute to write something. Although I once wrote a homily for Morning Prayers on the bus in route to chapel and it turned out to be one of my best.

9. Morning person or night person?

I am definitely a morning person.

10. Name one news story that fascinates you right now.

I am currently struggling with all of the issues associated with gun control. I do not understand our countries fascination with weapons and am trying to come to grips with the violence guns, and all weapons, have on our society. I am mortified and saddened by the violence against innocents that happens every day and I am confused by those who claim that more access to violent means will make it all better. No one has given me a satisfactory explanation for any of this horror.

11. What would you want to do if you knew you had one week to live?

What would I do, well I think I would take the time to hold my family in my arms one more time and then sit and watch the sunrise over the Cascade Mountains and set over Puget Sound. I would listening to my dog and birds play, the song sparrows at the feeder and the Jays squabble. That would be my last sounds here on this earth. Then I would open my arms and let the new adventure begin.

So here are my questions for you:

If you could choose anywhere to live where would it be and why?
What is you favorite piece of music?
What is your favorite book?
What period in time would you most like to live?
What would be your ideal purpose in life?
What task is your least favorite, ever?
What world issue are you current struggling with?
Name one or two people who have been mentors in your life?
If you had to live today over in what ways would it be different?

I am nominating the following Bloggers:

http://cloakedmonk.com/

http://justbetweentheridges.wordpress.com/

http://followingmypathatplts.wordpress.com/

HOME

Posted on April 12, 2013 by a quiet walk

Ruth 1:16-17

¹⁶But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
¹⁷Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

John 14:23
²³Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

2 Corinthians 5:6-9
⁶So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Our book group has been reading and discussing Diana Butler Bass’ book, Christianity After Religion, and in Chapter 6 Bass discusses home and identity. I actually had trouble with this section because I’m not sure what is home for me. I mean I have a home; I live in a house, with my husband, one dog, 2 parrots and a seminary student so that isn’t the issue. What is my question is “what does home mean?”

I grew up in Ohio and moved to a farm when I was 5 years old so for the next 19 years of my life my “home” was this wonderland place chock full of discoveries, and sadness. When I was 24 I moved from the farm and began a kind of nomadic life. I moved every couple of years from home to apartment, state to state, city to city, and moving many times within cities. My latest move was in 2000, when I was married, and moved into the house I am now living. When I moved into this house I told John, this was my last move and I would be carried out of here feet first because I wasn’t going to pack up all my “stuff” again! But, given my past history that may be a wish made on sand and someday I will have to, reluctantly, move from this house.

When we discussed what was home in our book group I realized I was the only one who had no clear sense of home. In fact I have no sense of a home town, or place of origin at all. All of the places I have lived are really far in the past and clouded with time. Does that sound strange to you? It didn’t to me until I began to listen to the stories of home from others. For instance my husband can identify one spot as his hometown, St. Charles Iowa. That is where he was born and grew up and despite not living there for 50 some years he still calls it home.

I can’t do that; there is no one place I would call home. Heck, there are times when I drive up my own driveway that I have to remind myself this is my “home” and I belong here. For me where I am is home. As long as I have my friends, companion critters and now the family I married into I’m home. I don’t have relatives to speak of. My parents have passed on; I haven’t seen any of my family of origin in 40 some years. The family I have is the family I have created around me, a group of individuals, couples, and families I feel strong connections with. Not one of them is a blood relative and that is fine with me. Yet I feel closer to this group than I ever did to my blood relations.

It is not that they all think like I do because they don’t. In fact, my guess is we have become friends because we think differently. But they share something with me that my “own family” never did and that is themselves. If I need a shoulder to cry on I can count on one of them showing up at my door saying, “Ruth, I had a feeling you needed a friend today.” Even when great distance separates us I can sense when a good friend needs me to call and talk. The conversation may be nothing important at all but it means something to my friend and me. I can’t say my own family would ever feel that connected to me.

For me home is where I am, right now, in this place, at this time. It means for me being with God, family, companions, friends, creation in whatever place or time I am in. If I had to suddenly leave the place I currently shelter in I can do it. I would grab what is important: my husband, my companion critters, my backpack throw in my bible and a change of clothes (my vanity wouldn’t let me wear the same underwear two days in a row, I’d add soap as well for cleanliness is next to Godliness),and walk out closing the door behind me. The stuff in the building is just stuff and can be replaced, none of it is important. As long as I have those that I love (and a change of underwear) I’m good to go. Were I end up I’d be HOME.

So I guess I am saying I am “home” wherever I am, I don’t need a specific location to call “home” I just need to feel close to what is important and what is important is love and companionship with those who I love and who love me. God will not abandon me, where I am God is because I experience God in the love I give and receive. What else is needed? Someone once said “home is where your heart is” and maybe what that means is my heart is my home, the ultimate shelter, the ultimate place I meet and live with Love. I am Home.

a dream

Posted on February 18, 2013February 19, 2013 by a quiet walk

The telephone rings and I answer it, “hello, this is Mark and there has been an accident. Amelia was dancing near water in which an electric line had dropped. She stepped into the water and was electrocuted. She is in the hospital and we don’t know what will happen next.” Amelia, my sweet granddaughter? I scream for John and tell him to call the airline for a ticket tonight to B and . . . then I stop my dream.

I tell myself, wait a minute, this is a dream, and Amelia is just fine. There has been no accident and my little girl has not been hurt. So why am dreaming this. I realize this dream isn’t about Amelia at all; it’s about ME and my very active ego-self that wants to be all important. My ego-self knows just how much I love my granddaughter and would do anything, and I mean anything, to protect her. So when my ego-self thinks I am at my weakest, ill with the flu, asleep and unaware, it formed this scary dream to plant a seed of self-importance. Instead of following the dream any further I begin to repeat my daily prayer, “I surrender, O Holy One, this moment, this now of my life, watch over me and guide me, I surrender.” The dream within a dream ends and I enter a deep, peaceful and restful sleep.

When I woke up the next morning I recognized the “wow” factor in my night’s dream. In my sleep I had carried on a conversation with myself that allowed me to recognize when my ego-self was trying to trick me and I stopped it. I actually offered a meditation, in my sleep, to bring me back to a sense of reality that I also recognized and left me calm and able to drift back into a deep sleep.

In the last 6 months I have been doing a lot of thinking about who I truly am, where I am going, and what I am being called to do. As a result I have spent a great deal of time in meditation and journaling. This deep going within is pulling out new insights from some very dark places within my spirit and where I have been recognizing just how much I have followed my ego-self rather than my true-self throughout my entire life. Somehow that is beginning to change and I am learning to put my ego-self in its proper place and allowing my true-self to step forward.

I do need my ego-self, it is an important part of who I am. It helps me make decisions and protects me when I am in danger (whatever that might be). But the ego-self shouldn’t have the prime spot in my life, following only the ego leads me down a very selfish, self centered pathway and doesn’t allow the true me to shine forth.

My true-self, on the other hand, is the part of me that listens with compassion, offers kindness and mercy, and acts for peace and justice, not for my benefit but for the good of the community around me. It is my true-self that I want to take the place of primacy in my life, for that is who I truly am, the child of, the partner of, God. My dream is an example of how desperate my ego-self is to regain control of me and I am finally resisting the temptation to follow that path.

I am in a discernment process to discover where God is calling me to ministry and I must admit I’ve heard that call, but, I am afraid. It is that fear that my ego-self is using to prevent me from following the path God, Herself, is laying before me. I know God never asks us to do anything we are incapable of doing, but, She does challenge us to the limit of our abilities. It is that challenge that is putting fear in my heart. I guess I haven’t fully surrendered yet and so I sit at a threshold facing the mystery of what is to come. Right now I am unable to move into that mystery, I am paralyzed by fear and I want to tell God, “no not me, can’t you find someone else to do this, I’m not brave enough, or good enough, to do this.” However, I keep hearing “It is you I want, don’t be afraid, I am here, won’t you take my hand and step onto my path.”

It has been my experience that if God wants me to do something, and I don’t want to, God will call and plead, begging for me to reconsider. If I don’t, God stands with me in my choice. When everything doesn’t come out just as I thought, God gently reaches out, puts her arms around me and says with a slight smile, “just how did that work out for you.” I hate it when God says “I told you so.” In the end I grow weary of my mediocre plans and “give in” to what God is calling me to. So this time I think I will choose to follow the path God has placed before me instead of going my own way. I know it will be hard, but it won’t be as hard or painful as it would be if God wasn’t there.

God, I will take your hand and step onto your path. I will accept the challenge even though I am terrified of what might happen. You have led me this far and I haven’t crashed and burned yet. I keep saying “I surrender” and I guess this means I am finally beginning to truly commit to that surrender. All that I ask is don’t leave me alone to face the darkness, and protect me in those places that are filled with traps. I have faith in what you are asking of me and therefore hold me tight and guide me forward.