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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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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.

 

 

 

In the Midst of a Miracle

In the midst of a miracle
I never know where to turn
I never know where to look
The soft clear colors as light streams through stained glass
The strong lines of glory rays as the sun pours through clouds
The sparkling points of brightness on the water as waves flow

The stained glass light whispers “be still”
The glory rays whisper “this is the way”
The dancing waters whisper “come and play”

In the midst of a miracle
All I really know
Is that light is always present
Around me
Within me
And most certainly
Beyond me

Choice

The hard choice can be
Allowing the darkest night
Trusting light will come

The Beginning (remembering Mary Travers)

On my way home tonight
Stuck in traffic
I saw the Arena Theatre
Where twenty years ago
My husband and I saw Peter, Paul, and Mary.

I remember what I wore
A black long-sleeved T-shirt
And a skirt made of fabric from South America.
The night was breezy and we held hands
Like the newly-weds we were.

A happy audience
Bathing in memories of summer camp
And singing around the fire.
You could feel the peace
As we sang along.

This music rang through much of my life.
I miss knowing Mary is with us,
But give thanks for the gift of her life and her joy.
For songs that passed from my parents to me to my child,
Songs that all my friends know by heart.

So tonight’s traffic jam
Even in exhaustion
Offered the surprise of happiness
Seeing the Arena Theatre
Remembering Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Spring

Spring

I took this last night, in a parking lot, after eating in a restaurant, walking to the car. Just a moment when this tender pink bloom caught my eye. A moment to give thanks on a Sunday evening for the fleeting beauty as our seasons shift…after a winter full of brutal weather over almost the whole country.
May we know apparent Grace in these moments, in the shining eyes of those we love, as we hold our breath in wonder one more time.