Annuciation


There is that moment

Right before everything changes

When I stop, breathe, yield

Surrender to what I already know to be true.

 
That moment, wistful, anxious

Maybe a little sad

Maybe nostalgic

Hangs in my knowing like an icicle ready to melt.

 
And in that moment

And in that knowing

Lies the seed of what is to come

Lies the seed of new life.

 
Guided by kindness

Heart open to the future

I open my hands, knowing what I know

And breathe in the sun.

 
Life is like this

Moment by moment by moment

Consenting to now, saving our own lives

And trusting in Grace.

Living Compass in Chicago

This past week I had a wonderful opportunity to spend a few days at the Nicholas Center at St. James Cathedral in Chicago and participate in training for congregational wellness advocacy via a program known as Living Compass. This program offers participants an opportunity for self-assessment in eight areas of wellness as well as support and encouragement in growing into more wholeness in heart, mind, soul, and strength. The training was led by founder Dr. Scott Stoner, Holly Stoner, and Edith Lipscomb. My husband and I were part of the group with new friends from all over the United States and Ireland! 
It was such a gift to spend time reflecting on our call to wholeness. We were invited to consider how we might continue to help bring forth healing in our churches and our communities. I can’t imagine a time where Living Compass could be needed any more than right now in our world. 

The website is www.livingcompass.org if you would like to take a look. I give thanks for this work and for the gift of time together this past week. This was abundant and apparent grace for me!

Transitions

These changes are not always announced by words. 

But rather by 

A twisting and turning deep in our solar plexus, 

A budding awareness in our secure knowing, 

A flash of lightning in our soul that resides we know not where. 

However heralded, the earthquake arrives in the twinkling of an eye. 

Be sure of this:  

Life moves forward. 

Dear one, bless all that lies behind you.

Run with abandon 

Away from the flood

Toward only the Light. 

The Loveliest Night

Two nights ago, we celebrated Christmas Eve.  I think this may be the loveliest night of the year.  The lovely carols, the lovely poinsettias, the lovely candlelight. When the church lights are slowly dimmed and the flame passes from person to person, we see both the beauty of the light and the beauty of the faces it illuminates.  And all is calm, all is bright.

Faces glowing on Christmas Eve.  Faces of the very young, faces of the elders.  Faces of those we love, faces of strangers.  Faces in whose gaze the light of Christ shines.  The mystery of grace come to earth, shining in all those faces.  The candles light our faces and our hearts and our very lives and hope is born once more.  Lovely light, lovely night.

Our world is in such great need of healing.  In such great need of light and hope.  Our Christmas comes in spite of sadness, in spite of war, in spite of terror and darkness and fear.  This lovely night we breathe in peace and breathe out love.  We bring ourselves and those around us into the light and stand there together, just standing in the light.  May this loveliness bring wholeness and light in the days to come and forever, in our world and in our hearts and souls

O come let us adore Him.

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Waiting for Peace

This year I had the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land with my family and friends from our church.  I knew I would enjoy the trip.  I had no idea how much my spirit would be touched.  I am still pondering our experiences over and over.  This day, Christmas Eve, I cannot stop thinking about Bethlehem.  About the silver star on the floor in the deep cellar of the Church of the Nativity, of kneeling down to reach out to touch the star that marks the spot believed to have been the birth site of Jesus.  About the wall which belies all our wishes to believe in peace in this land that is home for us all.  About singing Christmas carols in the church near the shepherd’s field.  About community, about justice, about love.

I wrote this to share with my church for its Advent devotional booklet…it is the writing chosen for this day, December 24:

Waiting For Peace

 

These final days, the light begins to return.

It seems the whole world is waiting for peace.

We give thanks for darkness beginning to wane, even a tiny bit.

 

As the year draws to a close, we wait for Christ to arrive,

To come, as each year, in our hearts and in our world.

We wait again for the peace of Jesus.

 

Christmas almost here, and hearts still break.

We wander deep and dreamless streets.

Waiting for peace is hard work, we try to be patient.

 

This world, still waiting, as hope moves closer.

This tender love inside our hearts, broken, bruised, healing.

How much longer to wait?

 

We will know the glory of our desire.

We will dance in the midst of mystery

We are waiting for Jesus, waiting for peace.

 

Say yes, beloved, only say yes.

Our peace and our Jesus are on the way

And will arrive with our next trusting breath.

 

Amen. May it be so.

Alchemy

Sometime one thing becomes another thing and yet stays the same,

Like lovers who marry yet name themselves whole.

The waters can lift us over and over,

As a mother lifts her tired child again and again.

A camera stops time and gives us back to ourselves,

Like a kiss from a lover we know only in dreams.

Our lives are made simply of earth, water, fire, and air,

And yes oh yes of Spirit that brings us life itself.

All these things change and remain and always return

As we walk home again alone with the moon.

 

Awakening

What I want to say to the world is this.

For God’s sake, look for the light.

Ancient light that travels years to find us.

For heaven’s sake, pray for peace.

A mind so quiet that peace seems possible.

May what is broken be made whole.

May what is woven together grow strong.

I could go on my knees to say thank you forever.

There was a time when I had time.

This Advent, no prayer but this…amen.

 

 

Porch Swing

Most Holy One,

You are always inviting

always welcoming

always calling.

Like the creaking wooden swing on my grandmother’s screened porch

always waiting

always moving in space.

Filling my imagination with boxes of old books and magazines written before I was born.

Satisfying my longing for quiet, silence, solitude.

Beckoning me to become a maker of words

and a lover of You.

May I never forget the movement of that swing, rocking like a cradle.

May I always remember to listen for Your invitation.

May I be brave and trusting enough to answer the Yes that leaps into Your arms.

Amen.

 

 

 

The Holy

The holy

Invites you to laughter so secret even the angels may not get the joke

Sleeps beside you at three a.m.

Stands next to you in the shower

Smiles back at you from the dressing room mirror.

***

The holy

Crowns you with fire so she can find you

Tells you stories of desire

Sings to you when tears fall unbidden

Swims in the creek under the bridge you cross.

***

The holy

Makes mystery with morning coffee

Delivers the mail and all other messages

Creates with abandon

Promises only union.

***

The holy

Sees the scars of every fear lying folded in our skin

Touches the memory of pain dimpled in our bellies

Smooths the asters burned on the surface of our hearts

Lifts every moment all the way to the sun.

***

Knowing what you know can save your life.

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