COMMUNITY...AGAIN

Last Wednesday, I joined Bettilyn to deliver Meals on Wheels lunch.  We were one of three teams of volunteers from First United Church to provide that service to people all over the city.  I'm a relative rookie at Meals on Wheels; I've only been delivering for a couple of years, while others have been doing it for decades.  It's a good way to really get to know the streets of the city.  It's an even better way to gain a full understanding of what people need.

On the surface, when Bettilyn and I show up at someone's home with their lunch, what we provide is a balanced meal...nutrition.  That's important - we all need proper food in order to maintain our health.  If I dig a bit deeper though, I sense that something else is going on when we stop by with lunch.    Bettilyn does most of the actual delivery and at each location, she spends a few minutes chatting with Joe or Dorothy or Elizabeth - the people who rely on our deliveries.  As a meal tray is handed over, personal connections are made.

Bettilyn hears about how their day is going, what's new in their lives, how they are feeling.  For a short period of time, a community connection is formed.  I suspect that connection is as important to each person as getting lunch is.

Community is important to us at First United too.  There are lots of reasons I come to church on Sunday morning and they all fit under the umbrella of community.  We are a community of faith; we are a community of disciples; we are a community of servants; we are a community of seekers, a community of friends, and, we are a community of individuals who need to ground ourselves in connections in order to flourish and be healthy.  For those of us who are wounded in some way (aren't we all?), our healing happens best in community. 

Consider this: whether you find community in a small group at a card table, in a circle knitting and praying, in a choir singing hymns, in a sanctuary sharing age-old stories or in a gymnasium sipping a cup of tea - being in relationship with others is a powerful force in our lives. 

We might believe we can do without it...maybe you can...but I can't.  That's the best reason for church.

May you be blessed in the community you need.

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

"People live ever more lonely lives

 in an ever more connected planet."

~ Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, 2018 ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ an occasional cooling breeze

Sunday ~ fresh skies

Monday ~ Ginger

Tuesday ~ hard working church folks

Wednesday ~ Meals on Wheels

Thursday ~ cousin Diane

Friday ~ Henry VIII

RENEWAL

There's something about the drift of summer that pushes me towards a bit of self-care; or perhaps it would be better to name it renewal.  It's a time when I find myself open to opportunities and suggestions that contribute to a sense of purpose, a hearty dose of fun and joy, and a smattering of appeal to my better nature.  It is, by my own definition, a time of inward gaze...but, done in the company of friends.  To be able to experience it that way implies being in a heightened state of trust, which can be liberating in itself.

This past week has been full of happenings that fall into that shape-shifting category of uplifting renewal.  I had lunch with a friend (not a great lunch, but a great friend); I had a sweaty-hot day at the car auction that was redeemed by an even hotter market and a sense of a job well done; and, I spent a day with the boys on blue water, under blue skies and white cliffs; I was gifted some unexpected free time by a thoughtful friend.  Some of my hours were spent in company at Inglis Falls listening to the wood thrushes who seem to live only in that neighbourhood; I invested time in fellowship rehearsing some songs, practicing guitar or gently disputing how best to live life fully.  And I read - - - a lot of reading: some of it sobering, some of it entrancing, all of it nutritious to my soul.

Looking back, I still don't know that it is that makes that collection of events, activities and people such a potent cure for the grind of life.  At the close of a week this full, I might be exhausted and ready to hide, but instead I feel recharged and restored.  I wish all weeks were like this one...but then, perhaps I wouldn't appreciate the spectacular gift of something so rare.  I wonder if is what American poet Mary Oliver was trying to convey when she wrote*:

"God, rest in my heart and fortify me,

take away my hunger for answers,

let the hours play upon my body."

May you be fortified and fed.  Blessings and peace to you.

Pat

* "Sometimes", by Mary Oliver in Red Bird - published 2008.

Take This Thought Away With You

"Nothing in the universe ever grew from the outside in."

~ Jack Kakakaway, spiritual father to Richard Wagamese

Embers, Douglas & McIntyre, 2016 ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ a day to read on the deck

Sunday ~ Mark Hendry

Monday ~ a fox on the run

Tuesday ~ first summer swim in the bay (briefly)

Wednesday ~ paddling with the boys

Thursday ~ gift of time from a friend

Friday ~ discerning the quality of stone

THREE MONKS ON AN ISLAND ~ A PARABLE BY LEO TOLSTOY*

Three Russian monks lived on a faraway island.  Nobody ever went there, but one day their bishop decided to make a pastoral visit. 

When he arrived, he discovered that the monks didn't even know the Lord's prayer.  So he spent all his time and energy teaching them the "Our Father" and then left, satisfied with his pastoral work.

But when his ship had left the island and was back in the open sea, he suddenly noticed the three hermits walking on the water - in fact, they were running after the ship! 

When they reached it, they cried, "Dear father, we have forgotten the prayer you taught us."

The bishop, overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing, said, "But, dear brothers, how then do you pray?" 

They answered, "Well, we just say, 'Dear God, there are three of us and there are three of you, have mercy on us!'" 

The bishop, awestruck by their sanctity and simplicity, said, "Go back to your land and be at peace."

*from Spiritual Direction by Henri J.M. Nouwen

ENOUGH

Most mornings, when I walk on Side Road 23, I pass by a dead, weather-blasted elm tree.  In that tree roost a minimum of three young adult crows; sometimes there will be as many as five or six...but never less than three.  So, by that reasoning, in that murder of crows, three make a quorum.  Three crows are enough reason for them to gather in their outpost elm tree.  As I approach the bottom of the tree, they all fly away, cawing their warnings and complaints - except for one, who always stays in place silently watching as I pass by.  I wonder if that crow is a leader, especially brave or perhaps, not a smart as the others?

Whenever I pass by those crows, a piece of bible scripture always runs through my mind.  It's that piece from Matthew 18:20, when Jesus says, "wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in your midst."  I wonder if that applies to crows as well as Christians?

That phrase has been on my mind a lot lately.  I've been trying to wrap my head around the challenges that are confronting us as we map out a future path for our ministry and faith at First United.  At this point, questions out-number answers and wondering out-weighs certainty.  I'm fighting the tendency to think in terms of numbers and considerations of size; you know, big church versus little church, or large community versus small community. 

I've got to tell you that at this point, I'm beginning to get comfortable with the concept of "enough".  Enough doesn't have to be big or small, large or little - it just has to be enough.  A faith community doesn't have to be all things to all people, it just has to be enough.  Enough doesn't mean settling for mediocrity; it means activating our vision and mission and having hope and love enough to live into those commitments.

How many of us would it take to do that with grace and authenticity?  I'm thinking two or three is often enough.

More than that is a bonus.

May you all have a sense of being enough.  Blessings and peace to you.

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

"However you define a faith community, it is your spiritual home."

~ Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Direction ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ family and friends

Sunday ~ a helping hand from the Order of Good Cheer

Monday ~ fishing with Thom

Tuesday ~ a strong voice

Wednesday ~ Wilmer Lang McKay

Thursday ~ Agnes Martin

Friday ~ Cian and Robin

DARKNESS AND DAWN - AN OLD HASIDIC TALE*

The rabbi asked his students: "How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?"

One of the rabbi's students suggested: "When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep?"

"No", was the answer of the rabbi.

"Is it when one can distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine?" asked a second student.

"No," the rabbi said.

"Please tell us the answer then," said the students.

"It is then," said the wise teacher, "when you can look into the face of another human being and you have enough light in you to recognize your brother or your sister.  Until then, it is night, and darkness is still with us."

*A parable told many times by Henri J. M. Nouwen

VISIBLE HOLINESS

Mary Oliver writes in her poem 'Drifting', "I didn't intend to start thinking about God, it just happened.  How God, or the gods, are invisible, quite understandable.  But holiness is visible, entirely."  That passage reminded me once again, that it is how we see that governs what we see.  Mary Oliver died on January 17, 2019; she created verses that revealed "her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds among all living things".   I'm reading her final published book as morning devotions - it seems fitting that the title of the book is "Devotions".

For much of my waking hours, I move through the world essentially blind to the holiness that Mary Oliver says is entirely visible.  If only I had eyes to see.  It makes me reflect on the things that get in the way of me seeing what is holy in everyday life: the self-inflicted busy-ness that consumes and ties me to a desk and computer;  the attraction of various social media feeds ever ready at my finger tips; or, a riveting story from a treasured book - a good thing actually, but not holy.  We all live with blinkers on of some sort, lenses that filter or block the entirely visible holiness that is around us.

Early in the morning, if you walk through the trails at Inglis Falls, you will hear wood thrushes singing to each other.  My ear picks up their song as 'lee-oh-lay-oh-lee'  with variations and extra trills thrown in...or so it seems to me.  On my morning walk along SR 23, the redwing blackbirds are everywhere, signalling from the power lines.  Their song isn't melodic - but have you ever watched them sing?  At the very end of its call, a redwing gives special emphasis to the final note by flicking his tail up into the air, a rude salute to me, the object of their scold. 

These simple birdsongs in my own backyard, are the holiness that Mary Oliver was seeing as she walked and thought about an invisible God.

May you see the holiness surrounding you.  Blessings and peace to all.

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,

for beauty is God's handwriting."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ Georgia

Sunday ~ Mel & Don Knight

Monday ~ Alan Baer

Tuesday ~ O Canada

Wednesday ~ wood thrushes

Thursday ~ reading on the deck

Friday ~ watering the garden