LISTEN...GOD IS CALLING

There is a hymn titled, "Listen, God is Calling".  The Choir has sung it before.  The first few lines go like this:

Listen.

Listen God is calling.

Through the Word inviting.

Offering forgiveness, comfort and joy.

I wrote last week about how trying events had been for me.  Somebody must have been listening.  I came to church on Sunday morning and it was like the worship service was designed for me.  It had everything I needed to help me get back on the Way.

What was so special?  Three things.

There was the baptism of Hayven Waukey.  I don't know Hayven or her family beyond the short time I spent with them Sunday, but I think there is no sacrament that we celebrate that is as uplifting to me as a baptism.  This may sound uncaring - it doesn't matter to me whose child it is, a baptism is full of hope, promise and joy.  I'm certain that it is an important event for the family.  It's really important for me to be part of the community that surrounds that blessing and welcoming of a child.

Then there was the telling of a tale - the Stone Soup story.  The story was told as it will never be told again.  Who could ever duplicate the accent of the storyteller?  Was he from the Caribbean or somewhere in Eastern Europe?  And the immersion of the children, their complete and utter belief in a magic soup stone.  You all saw it - you were watching them, as I was watching all of you.  For a moment, we all believed in magic too.

We wrapped up with a communal meal - a warm, hospitable offering of donated soups.  There's no more certain sign of community than a shared meal...the sound of slurping, the clinking of spoons on empty bowls, the return for seconds and thirds.  I was well fed.

I think most of the time, I hear what I want to hear.  Last Sunday I heard what I needed.

May the Lord bless us and keep us, be gracious to us and give us peace.

 Pat

Quote for the Week

"Light. Sun. Shining. Rays.

Compassion. Wisdom. Radiance. Grace.

Joy. Hope. Kindness. Love.

These are the things we are made of.

~ Mary Davis ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ Will Shakespeare

Sunday ~ Jessica Misener

Monday ~ people who work for the common good

Tuesday ~ healing energy

Wednesday ~ the sound of snow crystals on fallen leaves

Thursday ~ flu shot

Friday ~ clean drinking water

Friday Prose

"Move in the direction that brings you closer to Creator in all things.

The trail will be revealed and the helpers will come to you."

~ Richard Wagamese, Embers, 2016, Douglas & McIntyre ~

JUST SETTLE DOWN

If I had to choose a single word to describe the last seven days, it would be "trying".  I mean trying in the sense that my patience has been tried, my equanimity has been challenged, and my sense of "what will go wrong next" has been heightened.  It's been a week of unwelcome events.  I'll confess that there have been times when I just wanted to crawl back under the covers and shut it all out.  I won't bore you with the details - I've told the story several times this week to different people and even I'm getting sick of hearing it.

Throughout these trying times, I've been lucky to have people around me who have helped me to reflect on what I am experiencing.  Those people have helped me gain perspective and understand that my trials and tribulations are minor compared to what other people are experiencing.  At most, what I've had to endure has been inconvenient and frustrating.  Nothing (so far) has been life threatening or even life altering.  I am grateful for that - or rather, I should be grateful for that.  I'm working on it.

Misfortune, minor or major as it might be, has the potential to awaken me to the mercy and blessings that often accompany it.  It's only in reflecting on the past week that I recognize the gifts that came to me through some adversity.  When the power went out at my home, I played Yahtzee with Thom and Marnie around the table by candlelight - a game I enjoyed more than 50 years ago when camping at Berford Lake.  When we could not cook a turkey dinner in our oven (again, no power), our neighbours stepped in to cook it for us.  The next day, my sister and brother-in-law hosted us for a wonderful supper.  When the electrician and hydro workers visited to get things sorted out, they were prompt, competent and generous with their help.  My house didn't burn down and no one was hurt.  In the midst of minor turmoil, life went on...as it should and must.

I won't go so far to say that I'm glad to have experienced the events of the past week, but I will readily admit to gaining deeper appreciation for the gifts of hospitality, friendship, competence, and assistance freely offered.  It has been an experience that gives deeper meaning to the blessing that follows below.

May the Lord bless us and keep us, be gracious to us and give us peace.

 Pat

Quote for the Week

"I've had a lot of worries in my life,

most of which never happened."

~ Mark Twain ~

FRIDAY QUESTIONS

Who do you love?

Whom do you serve?

How wide is your circle of compassion?

~ Omid Safi, Tapestry on CBC Radio One, October 16, 2018  ~

GOD AS LIFE

The new season for the First Editions Book Club commenced last month.  I hosted the study of a book by Father Richard Rohr, titled "Falling Upwards".  As I told the group gathered in the upstairs lounge, I came to that book in a roundabout way, led to it by previously-read books by Rohr and other writers who challenge and encourage me to wonder about faith and spirituality.

I had five pages of notes prepared for the book club discussion and used few of them - time was too limited to go deeply.  But, one phrase from the middle of the book stayed with me.  The phrase was, "God comes to you disguised as your life." 

The words were spoken by a woman named Paula D'Arcy, who is a well-known and widely travelled author, speaker, playwright and a former psychotherapist.  In 1975, while three months pregnant, she survived the loss of her husband and young daughter in an accident.  Six months later, she gave birth to another daughter and became a prominent female voice for peace and healing.  From that brief bio of her, I can't claim to know Ms. D'Arcy, but I have a glimmer of understanding of why she would see God in life and life in God.

I spend most of my waking hours busy with work of one sort or another: paid work, volunteer work, fun work, unpleasant work...all types of busy-ness.  I usually feel that my work is rewarding.  There are times though, that I realize that being busy feeds a part of me that is always hungry.  I could call it ego, or pride or self-esteem - it really doesn't matter what I name it.  It isn't the best of me and it isn't what my life should be about.

During the rare and fleeting moments when I am fully awake to the world around me, when my head is not filled with busy-ness, I have a deeper appreciation for what is divine and sacred in my life.  Life is not about deadlines, to-do lists, goals and objectives.  It's about how I treat others, how I relate to creation, and where I find my Way in daily living. 

I wish I could stay in closer, more continuous touch with that sense of sacredness and to know more of God in life, in everyday life.  Now that would be worthwhile work.

May the Lord bless us and keep us, be gracious to us and give us peace.

 Pat

Quote for the Week

"The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort

to acknowledge that all I am and have,

is given to me as a gift of love,

a gift to be celebrated with joy."

~ Henri J.M. Nouwen ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ hockey game with Philip

Sunday ~ membership, communion and celebration

Monday ~ Larry Henry

Tuesday ~ golden forests

Wednesday ~ mercy

Thursday ~ music and song

Friday ~ Larry Henry