New Year's Resolutions

With our kids giggling at a comic book they received as a Christmas present, I'm smiling as I start to think about New Year's Resolutions. Perhaps you find yourself in the same boat? Even if there are no kids, I hope there is laughter and relaxation during this holiday season.

I came across the following site with a very organized New Year's Resolution worksheet: (The Art of Non-Conformity: How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review). Chris' plan is much more detailed than anything I've done before, but then maybe that's why it works. I think on of the keys to his process is that he doesn't set vague, unmeasurable goals, but works towards "a road map" for the goals he wants to accomplish for the year. The entire process starts by asking some reflective questions: What went well last year? When did not go well last year? One of the pieces I like about it is that he has categories for health, finance (Income, Saving, Giving), travel, etc. You can add your own categories, too: how about a spiritual discipline? He then breaks this down into measurable goals for each section: To meet my goal savings, I need to save n about each month. To run a marathon I need to run x miles each week.

The entire process strikes me as a spiritual practice: an Ignatian Examen on a large scale. Perfect for this time of year.

And maybe to get you in the mood, how about a Weston Martyr short story: The £200 Millionaire.

Have a Blessed New Year,

Joel

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

May your day be full of wonder and delight.

Blessed be,
Joel

Christmas Eve

As many of you might be looking for a Christmas Eve service earlier in the day, I thought I would post this earlier than the evening. This is the Christmas Eve service that I have use time and again. It always speaks to me. May this service speak to your heart/spirit, too.

Blessed Be and Merry Christmas,

Joel

********

A Choir Service of Lessons, Carols & Readings:

A Vesper Service

Choir - Awake, Awake, A Joyous Noel

Opening Words / Welcome

"God laughed and brought forth Jesus. Jesus laughed and brought forth the Holy Spirit. All three laughed and brought forth us."  ~ Meister Eckhart

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child - how God becomes vulnerable to us as an infant, a babe, needing our tender care and nurture and comfort. Tonight as we read Luke's account, we have interspersed readings and carols and choral anthems - sharing some of the ways that this event has inspired others. Tonight as we read and sing these words of inspiration, may our hearts be inspired to look for the Christ in one another and the world at large. May we leave with a new sense of what is important in the world, a new sense at how God is at work, calling us forth to join in with our own hands.

Lighting the 4th Advent Candle  ~ Tonight, Everyone is Displaced ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless.
Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem.
On this night, when the darkness comes so close,
We listen, in the stillness, for the songs of angels.
Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening.
We don't know why we are so expectant.
We don't know why we long so deeply for miracles.
Tonight we pray that we might know the one we are seeking.
Tonight may we kneel like kings,
before that which is greater than any kingdom on earth.
Tonight, may we see the holy family that we are a part of.
And may we hear the music that reminds us of our truest home.

Carol - Joy to the World 

Reading ~ Luke: 1:26-35, 38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! the Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. ..." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

     ~ This Is No Time for a Child to be Born ~ Madeleine L'Engle

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the Earth betrayed by war and hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out and the sun burns late. 

That was no time for a child to be born
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome
Honor and truth were trampled by scorn --
Yet here did the Saviour make his home. 

When is the time of love to be born?
The inn is full on planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn ---
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Choir - The Angels

Carol - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

 Reading ~ Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

     ~ The Maid-Servant At The Inn ~ Dorothy Parker

"It's queer," she said; "I see the light
As plain as I beheld it then,
All silver-like and calm and bright -
We've not had stars like that again! 

"And she was such a gentle thing
To birth a baby in the cold.
The barn was dark and frightening -
This new one's better than the old. 

"I mind my eyes were full of tears,
For I was young, quick distressed,
But she was less than me in years
That held a son against her breast. 

"I never saw a sweeter child -
The little one, the darling one! -
I mind, I told her, when he smiled
You'd know he was his mother's son. 

"It's queer that I should see them so -
The time they came to Bethlehem
Was more than thirty years ago;
I've prayed that all is well with them."

     ~ A Christmas Reflection ~ Thomas Merton

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.

Choir - Behold That Star

Carol - On This Day Everywhere

Reading ~ Luke 2: 8-12

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

     ~ Mother of God ~ William Butler Yeats

The threefold terror of love; a fallen flare
Through the hollow of an ear;
Wings beating about the room;
The terror of all terror that I bore
The Heavens in my womb.  

Had I not found content among the shows
Every common woman knows,
Chimney corner, garden walk,
Or rocky cistern where we tread the clothes
And gather all the talk? 

What is this flesh I purchased with my pains,
This fallen star my milk sustains,
This love that makes my heart's blood stop
Or strikes a Sudden chill into my bones
And bids my hair stand up?

Duet - Ave Maria

Reading ~ Luke 2:13-14

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!"

     ~ Snow in Bethlehem ~ Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues. 

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors. 

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. They only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is louder now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
implore you to stay awhile with us
so we may learn by your shimmering light
how to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting time of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ

Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of
Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My brother.
Peace, My sister.
Peace, My soul.

Choir - Carol for Advent

Carol - The First Noel

Choir - Lo How A Rose

Reading ~ Luke 2:15-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

     ~ The Moment of Magic ~ Victoria E. Safford

Now is the moment of magic,
when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun,

and here's a blessing:
the days will be longer and brighter now,
even before the winter settles in to chill us.

Now is the moment of magic,
when people beaten down and broken,
with nothing left but misery and candles and their own clear voices,
kindle tiny lights and whisper secret music,

and here's a blessing:
the dark universe is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the menorah,
suddenly ablaze with the lights of the kinara,
and the whole world is glad and loud with winter singing.

Now is the moment of magic,
when an eastern star beckons the ignorant toward an unknown goal,

and here's a blessing:
they find nothing in the end but an ordinary baby,
born at midnight, born in poverty, and the baby's cry, like bells ringing,
makes people wonder as they wander through their lives,
what human love might really look like,
sound like,
feel like.

Now is the moment of magic,

and here's a blessing:
we already possess all the gifts we need;
we've already received our presents:
ears to hear music,
eyes to behold lights,
hands to build true peace on earth
and to hold each other tight in love.

Choir/Congregation - Hames um Bole / Silent Night

Closing Reading ~ The Work of Christmas ~ Howard Thurman

When the songs of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
     to find the lost,
     to heal the broken,
     to feed the hungry,
     to release the prisoner,
     to rebuild the nations,
     to bring peace among the brothers and sisters,
     to make music in the heart.

Benediction ~ Night Has Fallen ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Night has fallen.
Stars beckon in an indigo and velvet sky
Somewhere a baby is being born.
Tonight, the world lazes in a love of goodness
while glories stream from heaven afar
God is meeting us, tonight, where we are.
So be not afraid, and be of good cheer,
We wish you, each and all, Very Merry Christmas -
The hopes and fears of all the years have been met,
so Rest beside the winding road
and Hear the Angels Sing.

Choir - Alleluia Chaconne

Fourth Monday in Advent

Today, I continue to ponder the courage of Mary's "May it be so." Her agreement to go along with God's desire, God's invitation. How much of this invitation matched something with in herself that longed to be called forth? What sorts of dreams are longing forth within us? What is holding us back? What are the discernment procedures we use in thinking these desires through? Would not God take great delight in our acting upon these desires? Would not these desires free us to be truly us? Oh, the courage of Mary's "May it be so."

And after Mary's response, did she, like many of us, have a moment of wondering "What have I just agreed to?"

Blessed Be as you explore the wonders and miracles of Christmas.

Joel

Winter Solstice 2013

Ah, the winter solstice, the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere. I've always enjoyed this day. I'm not sure if it is due to the darkness inviting more time for contemplation. Maybe it is the fact that I know from now until June the day light grows each day and that means summer and cruising is on the way. Maybe it is due to all the celebration of Christmas and this season of light. Maybe it is just that I like winter (as well as the other seasons).

It is also the first day of Winter and I thought I would include a winter reading.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Winter

Let us not wish away the winter.
It is a season to itself, not simply the way to spring.
     When trees rest, growing no leaves, gathering no light, 
     they let in sky and trace themselves delicately against dawns and sunsets.
The clarity and brilliance of the winter sky delight.
The loom of fog softens edges, lulls the eyes and ears of the quiet,
awakens by risk the unquiet. A low dark sky can snow, emblem of
individuality, liberality, and aggregate power.
Snow invites to contemplation and to sport.
     Winter is a table set with ice and starlight.
Winter dark tends to warm light: fire and candle;
winter cold to hugs and huddles; winter want to gifts and sharing;
winter danger to visions, plans, and common endeavoring - and the zest
of narrow escapes; winter tedium to merry-making.
     Let us therefore praise winter, rich in 
     beauty, challenge, and pregnant negativities.
                         ~ Greta Crosby

Friday Film Link -

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing.
To continue, I thought I would share a film made quite recently. Christian Lloyd is a young man who took some time out from his job as an engineer (?) to buy a boat and sail to Mexico, then Hawaii before coming back to the Puget Sound area. You can follow his blog at Life On Water. I include his example for a number of reasons. First, there is a sense that one has to be rich, retired, and/or a trustee recipient in order to participate in this life-style. Reading between the lines, I sense that he is a young man who saved up his money, bought a boat on the cheap, fixed the boat up enough to travel, lives quite simply, and works from time to time to keep the cash flow coming.
Secondly, look at he is able to produce with modern equipment. The Hiscocks (see last weeks post) produced an amazing movie using film. As the Pardey's remark, they had take careful notes and work at setting up scenes. With modern equipment, we can now take underwater shots, and do our own editing. While some of the movie making equipment these days is still pricey enough to have me figuring out the need/want ratio, there is a sense that modern equipment has democratized the video making abilities of each one of us.
Anyway, I thought the following video of one of Christian Llyod's friends' boat a fun to watch.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: Nomadic Humans

National Geographic magazine has an article this month (Dec 2013: To Walk the World) regarding a fellow who is starting out on an incredible journey. He is walking from the Rift Valley (the birth place of modern humans), and tracing the human migration out of Africa through Asia, across the Bearing Sea (in this case via boat), then on down the Americas to Terra del Fuego. They anticipate the journey will take about seven years, as this map shows.

What I find interesting about the journey, is the way it points to how long we humans have been migrating around on this marvelous planet. In fact, one way to read Genesis is watching how a nomadic people (moving herds) slowly settles into towns and communities, mirroring what's happening through out the region.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/out-of-eden/longest-walk-map What makes these early humans human? Is it the way they cared for each other? Is it the way they left art in caves? What about working together to build boats? (In my opinion it's all three and more).
"Boats?" you ask. Yes, boats. In May and June of 2006, Plymouth University had a lecture series: "Challenging the Margins of Time" the debate being “When, during the 1.5 million years of Homo Erectus’ existence and the following 100,000 years plus, of Homo Sapiens existence, did the abstract thinking abilities of modern man emerge?” (see Wharram's blog). James Wharram was asked to speak upon the issue. He titled his talk Sailing from the Unconsciousness. Wharram argues that a group of people over looking a body of water can see land across the way. However, it would be impossible to transverse this body of water by merely floating on a "raft" depending upon tides, currents and/or wind to reach the other side. The boat would need to be controllable. To build such a craft would cooperation and a rational and creative thought process (i.e. abstract thinking). Those people became the Aboriginals of Australia, who arrived approximately 50,000 years ago (as established with carbon 14 dating). This occurred prior to the cave paintings which date approximately 35,000 years ago.

Next time your voyaging in your boat, remember you're participating in something ancient and early in human history. Perhaps one of the reasons it feels so good, is it is quite natural. You are participating in an innately human activity.

Blessed be,
Joel

Third Monday in Advent

I'm not sure if it is pondering Mary's Magnificat, reading a week's "diary" from an Amish woman in Iowa, talking to someone about retrofitting an older 1963 sailboat, or changing a front flat tire yesterday morning, but today I'm thinking about the simple life.
During this Advent season, we folks from a Western culture are quite comfortable with celebrating the birth of a baby. Babies are things to celebrate. But how comfortable are we with the "political"/"social" implications if this birth of Jesus the Christ? After all, doesn't Mary proclaim that the poor and down trodden will be lifted up while the rich and powerful be torn down?
What does it mean to live a life in solidarity with the Kingdom/Kindom of God? Does a simpler life automatically mean we live more peacefully and justly? Does the simpler life create a spiritual practice that helps (if we allow) to shape our lives into ones in which we become peaceful and just?
Such are the things I'm pondering this third Monday in Advent.
What are you pondering?
Blessed be,
Joel

Friday Film Link - Hiscock

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing.
To continue, I thought I would share a film about one of the earlier cruising couples: Eric and Susan Hiscock (Eric Hiscock: 14 March 1908 - 15 September 1986; Susan Hiscock:  - 12 May 1995). Eric published many books and articles about their voyages. They set out to explore the world and meet people and find a bit of tranquility. Their voyages were planned in depth and well executed.  While Eric was the one who wrote the articles and took the pictures of their voyages, they were definitely an equal partnership with Susan sharing equally in the preparation and execution. Bluemoment has an excellent short piece on the Hiscocks.
The following video pieces are (one) a preview of a video that the Hiscock's took on their second trip around the world: Beyond the West Horizon. Then there are two interviews: Lin and Larry Pardey remembrances of the Hiscocks, and Theis Matzen and Kicki Ericson reflect on sailing Wanderer III.
 Enjoy the videos.

Blessed Be
Joel

 Trailer: Beyond the West Horizon

Lin and Larry Pardey Remember Sailors Eric and Susan Hiscock

Kicki and Theis on Wanderer III

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: And Heaven and Nature Sing

Joy to the World

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World is one of my favorite Advent/Christmas hymns. As a young boy I can remember walking home or to the car with my father whistling this hymn after a church service. Maybe that is, in part, why this is favorite of mine. Maybe it is also tied in with the ways in which it calls forth the natural world to (or rather reminds us humans that the natural world is also) praising forth God.

So imagine my interest when I found out that mice sing. Yes, that's right, sing. When we had a family gathering recently, my wife's cousin Andy's wife (got that?) is doing research on language development in the brain. Her research is using mice, and their ultrasonic songs (two males competing for a female's attention, babies singing for their mother, or when turned over onto their backs, etc.). Fascinating. The Huffington Post has an article regarding this, plus video of a mouse singing.

Maybe we'll find that there really is music of the spheres.

Blessed Be

Joel

Second Monday in Advent

I never thought about the Lord's Prayer being an Advent prayer until my friend and colleague Tom mentioned it. But I think he is right, for the prayer is about waiting for God's Kingdom/Kindom to come on earth as in heaven. We are caught between the times, and yet invited to participate in the work of the Kingdom/Kindom; just as we are during Advent.

The Lord's Prayer (or Our Father)

Our Father who art in heaven,

     Hollowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come,

     Thy will be done

          on earth as in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

     As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

     But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

     and the power,

          And the glory, forever.

Amen.

During this time of Advent (and always) when we await the coming of the Prince of Peace, it is good to reflect upon how we live our lives. Do we live our lives in a way that promotes peace and a kingdom/kindom of peace, or do we live our lives in ways that promote violence and injustice? If you are like me, it is probably a combination of both. Which of course begs reflection: How do I change so that my life promotes peace?
I also appreciate Tom's continual reflection with me that one of the greatest temptations of our times is expediency, for with expediency often comes violence. Maybe expediency is violence. Definitely something worth pondering. When we are in a rush, do we pay attention to how our actions or what we want may promote injustice? In my experience, it is often more work at the beginning (and less later on) when I'm not caught in trying to be expedient. So why is it that I don't always follow what I know?
Of course, peace does not equate with lack of conflict. Conflict is a part of life, it is how we respond to conflict that makes a difference. Are we continuing to pursue justice tempered with compassion? Do we ignore injustice for an easier action?
Blessed Be as you search out how to follow the Prince of Peace
Joel

Friday Film Link - Slocum

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing. To start, I thought I would share a film about one of the earlier cruisers: Joshua Slocum (2/20/1844 - 11/14?/1909). Slocum was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. However, prior to this he made a long voyage with his family. Enjoy the video.

Blessed Be
Joel



Joshua Slocum - New World Columbus from Peter Rowe on Vimeo.
 
This video is approximately 45 minutes

Here is what Peter Rowe shares (and a link to the video on Vimeo):
"The career of Joshua Slocum, one of the 19th Century's most successful sea captains, collapsed with the end of the Age of Sail - until he was given a rotting 100 year old oyster boat and decided to use it to try to become the first person to sail around the world - alone.

"Joshua Slocum - New World Columbus" tells the story of his eventful life, full of wealth, violence,mutiny, murder, poverty and Presidents - and his remarkable 46,000 mile, three year voyage around the world. The film won a Gold Special Jury Award at the Houston Film Festival, a Bronze Award at the Columbus Film Festival, and a nomination for Best Documentary at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards."

Happy St. Nicholas Day - 2013

National Museum of Medieval History, Korca Albania

Happy Feast of St Nicholas to you. Did you find anything in your shoes this morning? If you left them outside where we are, they'd likely been frozen solid. We've got cold weather this year on St. Nicholas' Feast Day.

I particularly like the icon pictured here, as it shows some of Nicholas' life events. A Google search under images will give you other images, too.

On this Feast Day of the patron saint of sailors and voyagers, children and marriageable maidens, paupers, and others,  you might think about ways you can secretly help out others, following in his example. The St. Nicholas Center has lots of history and resources. If nothing else, the sailing community has always been a friendly compassionate bunch who helps one another out. I've been on the receiving end, and I continue to try and pay it forward, too. Hmmm, what to do this year?

So here's to Saint Nicholas!

May Saint Nick be at your tiller!

Blessed Be,

Joel

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: Plastic Challenge

As is typical during Advent, I'm going to offer some "Food for Thought" on Wednesdays and some Friday Fun on Fridays. So, without further ado ...

Jill Dickin Schinas aboard Mollymawk offers a challenge this month: Can you live a month without purchasing any plastic? Yes, she knows that this is the Christmas Season when gifts are often bought and given, which makes it all the more a challenge. She offers in depth background information, too.  Here is a teaser from their website, with a link to the full article.

Enjoy, and Blessed Be,

Joel

The Plastic-Free Challenge – Can you do it?

by Jill Dickin Schinas in November 2013

Everybody’s heard about the Pacific garbage patch. It’s the size of Texas and it’s so dense that you could build a house atop the debris. Last week I read an account by someone who sailed past the floating island and who claims to have faced a constant battering from all the rubbish hitting the hull. “The debris isn’t just on the surface,” he says, “it’s all the way down. And it’s all sizes, from a soft-drink bottle to pieces the…

Continue reading this article… →

First Monday in Advent

Welcome to Advent, this season of celebrating darkness and light. The Earth is making her way once again to the shortest hours of daylight (read this as the opposite if your in the southern hemisphere). For those in the U.S., the harvest festival has come, and we have many reasons for continuing to give thanks.
In many ways Advent is about waiting - a waiting of the tenses: Christ has come, Christ comes, Christ will come again ... . It is also a waiting of the senses: the hours of daylight are getting shorter, we find ourselves baking sweet things, we listen to and sing carols, ... . The season of Advent is an invitation to contemplation.
Where do we sometimes find ourselves resisting such an invitation? In our consumeristic rush to have Christmas come quickly and then be over so we might purchase some other gadget our gizmo, do we miss something?
I thought the following quote fitting for this discussion:

"I did not know when I went [to Cuba the first time] that I would be forced to make the voyage over again. I did not know that it would lead me into the labyrinth of solitude, that it would change my outlook, my attitude to the world around me, my appraisal of myself; that it ...  would change my way of thinking and living, would change my understanding. Just as the ocean wears away the rocks and bends the contour of the shore to its will, so it washes over a man's [sic.] mind, smoothing the sharp edges, knocking off the conceits, flattening the prejudices so that he is left with a different instrument with which to govern his life."
     ~ Frank Mulville. Dear Dolphin. Sheridan House (1992). 29.

May Advent provide times for contemplation, times of wearing away, that you maybe smoothed, and whole.

Blessed Be,
Joel

Season of Graces moving into Advent 2013

Believe it or not, but for 2013 the first Sunday of Advent starts on December 1 - the Sunday of the four day USA Thanksgiving Weekend. As we've been working through table blessings during November as a Season of Grace, I thought I would provide a table grace for Advent - one that could be used as an ongoing part of your Advent Spiritual Practice. More about Advent on Monday.

Blessed Be,

Joel

          Advent
Into the bleakest winters of our souls, Lord, you are tiptoeing on tine Infant feet to find us, hold our hands. May we drop whatever it is we are so busy about these days to accept this gesture so small that it may get overlooked in our frantic search for something massive and overwhelming. Remind us that it is not you who demands large, lavish celebrations and enormous strobe-lit displays of faith. Rather, you ask only that we have the faith of a mustard seed and willingness to let a small hand take ours. We are ready.
          ~ Margaret Anne Huffman

Cotner. Graces. (1994). 45.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Thanksgiving Blessings 4 of 4

Happy Thanksgiving (in the USA).
We at Winds of Grace wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving Day with this last of the four Thanksgiving Prayers.

Blessed Be,

Joel and everyone at Winds of Grace

Thanksgiving Grace
(All join hands around the table)

This is a day for thanks.
   A day in which we
   see or hear or feel
   the wonders of the other
   moments of the year.
This is a day for time.
   A day in which we
   think of pasts that make
   our present rich
   and future bountiful
This is a day for joy.
   A day in which we
   share a gift of laughter
   warm and gentle
   as a smile.
Above all, this is a day of peace.
   So let us
   touch each other
   and know that
   we are one.
For these and other blessings,
we thank Thee, God.
          ~ Daniel Roselle

Cotner. Graces. (1994). 47.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Thanksgiving Blessings 3 of 4

We are continuing Thanksgiving week with our third of four blessings. Enjoy.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

We take so much for granted
of life and liberty,
and that we deserve it;
that all was done "for me."

Think how they must have struggled,
new pilgrims in this land.
So many died from hardships
yet still they made a stand.

When all the work was finished,
new crops sowed in the ground,
they gathered with their neighbors,
asked blessings all around.

Oh, God, help us be grateful
for gifts you've sent our way.
For these we want to thank you
on this Thanksgiving day.
     ~ Kris Ediger

Cotner. Graces. (1994). 45.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Thanksgiving Blessings 2 of 4

There are four Thanksgiving prayers this week. Enjoy this second of the four.

Blessed Be,

Joel

For flowers so beautiful and sweet,
For friends and clothes and food to eat,
For gracious hours, for work and play,
We thank Thee this Thanksgiving Day.

For father's care and mother's love,
For blue sky and clouds above,
For springtime and for autumn gay,
We thank Thee this Thanksgiving Day.

For all Thy gifts so good and fair,
Bestowed so freely everywhere,
Give us grateful hears, we pray,
To thank Thee this Thanksgiving Day.
     ~ Mattie M. Renwick

Sarah McElwain (ed). Saying Grace. (2003) 77.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Thanksgiving Blessings 1 of 4

There will be four prayers for this week of Thanksgiving. Enjoy this first one.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Thanksgiving Blessings

Lord be with us on this day of thanksgiving
Help us to make the most of this life we are living
As we are about to partake of this bountiful meal
Let us not forget the needy and the hunger they feel
Help us to show compassion in all that we do
And for all our many blessings we say thank you.
     ~ Helen Latham

Cotner. Graces. (1994) 46

Season of Graces - Cont.: For Everything Give Thanks

For Everything Give Thanks

For all that God in mercy sends,
For health and children, home and friends,
For comfort in the time of need,
For every kindly word and deed,
For happy thoughts and holy talk,
For guidance in our daily walk,
For everything give thanks!

For beauty in this world of ours,
For verdant grass and lovely flowers,
For song of birds, for hum of bees,
For refreshing summer breeze,
For hill and plain, for streams and wood,
For the great ocean's mighty flood,
For everything give thanks!

For sweet sleep which comes with night,
For the returning morning light,
For the bright sun that shines on high,
For the stars glittering in the sky,
For these and everything we see,
O Lord, our hearts we lift to Thee
For everything give thanks!
     ~ Helena Isabella Tupper

Sarah McElwain (ed). Saying Grace. (2003) 67.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Lifting the Veil

Heavenly Father and Mother,
Lift the veil
That separates us
From three knowledge
Of your love.
May we be warmed
By the glow of Your Divine Love
And freely give to others
The love You freely give to us.
     ~ Jo-Anne Rowley

Bless our hearts
to hear in the
breaking of the bread
the song of the universe.
     ~ Father John B. Giuliani
        The Benedictine Grange
        West Redding, Connecticut

Cotner, June. Graces. (1994) 147, 144.

Season of Graces - Cont.: From the Hebrew Prayer Book

Though our mouths were full of song as the sea,
And our tongues of exultation as the multitude of its waves,
And our lips of praise as the wide-extended firmament;
Though our eyes shone with light like the sun and the moon,
And our hands were spread forth like the eagles of heaven,
And our feet were swift as hinds, we should still be unable
To thank thee and bless Thy name.

O Lord our God and God of our fathers [and mothers], for one thousandth
or one-ten thousandth of the bounties which Thou has bestowed
Upon our fathers [upon our mothers] and upon us.
~ Hebrew Prayer Book*

*McElwain, Sarah (editor). Saying Grace: Blessings for the Family Table. (2003) 15

Season of Graces - Cont.: All Saints Day

On this day of the Communion of Saints and for tomorrow's celebration of All Souls, the following prayer/reading seems appropriate as we remember those who have gone before, and who are yet, still present with us.

Blessed Be,

Joel

The Larger Circle

We clasp the hands of those that go before us,
And the hands of those who come after us.
We enter the little circle of each other's arms
And the larger circle of lovers, whose hands are joined in a dance,
And the larger circle of all creatures,
Passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance,
To the music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it
Except in fragments.

~ Wendell Berry*

______
*As found in Singing the Living Tradition (1993) 646.

Season of Graces - Cont.: All Hollows Eve

Halloween Grace

Admits the hobgoblins and pranksters, Lord, we seek a quiet corner this autumn evening, to give thanks for the saints whose day this really is. Be tolerant of our commercialized, costumed fun, even as you remind us of the pillars of faith upon whose shoulders we stand today. Keep our trick-or-treating fun, clean, and safe, our faith memories aware, for it is too easy to lose track of what we really celebrate in the darkness of this night.
~ Margaret Ann Huffman

Corner, June. Graces (1994) 44.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Trees

During this time of Fall (in the northern hemisphere - Spring in the southern) where the trees are turning color and leave falling (or budding forth) I thought this prayer in thanksgiving of trees rather appropriate.

Blessed Be

Joel

Trees!

Our Father, we thank Thee for Trees! We thank Thee for the trees of our childhood in whose shade we played and read and dreamed; for the trees of our schooldays, the trees along the paths where friendship walked. We thank Thee for special trees which will always stand large in our memory because for some reason of our own they became our trees. We thank Thee for the great stretches of trees which make the forests. May we always stand humbly before Thy trees and draw strengh from them as they, in their turn, draw sustenance from Thy bounties of earth and sun and air.

~ Margueritte Harmon Bro

(Margueritte Harmon Bro was an educational missionary in China from 1919 to 1925 and later was editor of Social Action. She is the author of some twenty-five books on religious subjects.)
Cotner. Graces. (1994) 121.

Season of Graces - Cont.: Canadian Thanksgiving

On this Canadian Thanksgiving (2013), here is a blessing from June Cotner (Graces, 1994. 46):

Thanksgiving Blessings

Lord be with us on this day of thanksgiving

Help us to make the most of this life we are living

As we are about to partake of this bountiful meal

Let us not forget the needy and the hunger they feel

Help us to show compassion in all that we do

And for all our many blessings we say thank you

~ Helen Latham

A Season of Graces

With the Canadian Thanksgiving celebration this next weekend followed by the United State's Thanksgiving celebration at the end of November, I thought it might be a good time to explore graces - the blessings before (or after) meals. Over the next few weeks - this Season of Graces - I'll share some from the collection of table blessings we have collected over the years.

As last week, I shared a sermon/reflection on covenants, here is a grace to be prayed around weddings:

Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Grace

Welcome to our party, oh Lord of water-into-wine feastings. For poised at the edge of a great venture are these two people we hold in our hearts as special. Be with them on this the final eve of their separateness, for soon they will become a union. Be present at their daily table as you are with them tonight. And be, Lord, with us, too, their friends and family, as we share a meal, a memory, a toast for new beginnings.

~ Margaret Anne Huffman

Blessed Be

Joel


Resources:
One of the great resources we've found is June Cotner's collection: Graces: Prayers and Poems for Everyday Meals and Special Occasions. (1994) of which this prayer is found on page 63.

The Covenants We Keep

We are soon headed home from Boston, where I officiated a wedding for some very dear friends' daughter and son-in-law. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the couple a joy to work with. An absolute delight to celebrate the starting of a new life as a married couple with all the family and friends who joined in the celebration.
As such, I've been thinking of covenants. With whom do we share covenants? How do covenants draw us forth into a new way of being?
Here is the sermon I preached - keeping their names out, of course.

Blessings,

Joel

May the words of my mouth …

In coming back to the Boston area from the west coast I am once again reminded of how some things change: There are new buildings where I don’t remember them, and some business have disappeared.

I’m also reminded of how some things don’t change: like the way people drive.

In coming back to the Boston area from the west coast I am once again reminded of the long history this place has with European contact. On the West Coast, something is old when it’s 150 years old. That’s new out here.

In coming back to the Boston area for your wedding, I’m reminded of ethicist and theologian Margaret Farley’s observations in Personal Commitments: Beginning, Keeping, Changing:

Civilization’s history tend to be written in terms of human discoveries and inventions, wars, artistic creations, laws, forms of government, customs, the cultivation of the land. … At the heart of this history, however, lies a sometimes hidden narrative of promises, pledges, oaths, compacts, committed beliefs, and projected visions. At the heart of any individual’s story, too, lies the tale of her or his commitments.

We are here today to celebrate the commitments – the covenant – that this couple shares with one another, as they start out their married lives. This is the kind of thing that Farley wonders about – the daily human-scale commitments:

What did Sheila do when she married Joshua? What will actually happen in the moment when Karen vows to live a celibate and simple life within a community dedicated to God? What does Ruth effect when she signs a business contract? What takes place when Dan speaks the Hippocratic Oath as he begins his career as a doctor? What happens when heads of state sign an international agreement regarding the law of the sea? What happens when Jill and Sharon pledge their love and friendship for their whole lives long?

We give our word. That is what these actions Farley mentions are all about. We give our word – sending it out, carrying our integrity, our fidelity, our faithfulness, our truth.

Our word is still ours, but it now calls back to us from the heart of another person, or a circle of people, within which it now dwells. Such a commitment does not predict the future or set it in stone.

Rather, it makes a certain kind of future possible.

Bride and Groom, you have known each other for a very long time. And your relationship to and with one another has grown as well. Ponder the love that you felt towards each other when you first kissed. Four years later, did that love feel the same? [Groom nods, Bride shakes her head.] And when you became engaged, it was different yet, was it not? And this morning, as you are about to exchange your vows – your covenant – with one another, that love has grown, it’s changed, and it has matured. A year from now, five years from now, years from now, that love will continue to grow and blossom and mature.

And what will the future bring?

Wendell Berry writes in Standing by Words: “We can join one another only by joining the unknown … [Your union] is going where the two of you – and marriage, time, life, history, and the world – will take it. You do not know the road; you have committed your life to a way.”

Your vows, then, are not describing what you expect or need, but rather how you intend to walk hand in hand, the way you intend to go, and to be.

And you don’t go alone.

Oh, the words remain yours. The covenant remains yours. But now they speak not only from each of your lips, but are called back from one another’s hearts – each of yours – but also all of ours who are here, too.

Bride and Groom, take a moment and turn and look at all those who have gathered here to wish you well. Look at the community of support that surrounds you in love.

Listen to the music – remember that the first hymn Praise to the Lord, the Almighty was played not only at your, Bride’s, baptism, but at your two brothers,' too. That this hymn was sung at your parents’ wedding.

Or the linen altar cloth? How a young woman in her early twenties, while working in a linen factory in Germany bought this cloth, how years later she then gave it to her new daughter-in-law as she was starting out life in the United States. How that daughter-in-law, your grandmother, you Oma, donated it to the church here when you were baptized.

Or what about the engagement ring upon your hand? How the Groom had a conversation with his grandmother about how he was saving up money for an engagement ring. She gave him the ring her father gave her when she turned 30, so that he (the Groom) could ask for your hand in marriage. In the process, blessing you both.

We love, not just in words, but in actions.

Covenants call us into such loving action. Covenants call us into a way of being in relationship with one another. A relationship based on fidelity, intimacy, commitment and accountably. They call us to bear one another’s burdens as our own. They call us to meet our struggles in a plural voice.

As a colleague of mine, Rebecca Parker says, covenants are “freely chosen life-sustaining interdependence.”

In a world in which independence rather than interdependence is stressed, living out your covenant in the midst of your marriage becomes a spiritual practice. Like all good spiritual practices, marriage invites us to be open and vulnerable to each other. Like all good spiritual practices, it calls us to be patient with one another, even though we aren’t particularly feeling that way. It sustains us, nurtures us, allows us to grow – and even changes us.

We start with these aspirations (like those found in the 1 Corinthians passage) that we long to uphold and act out – even though we know we are not very good at them.

For we know (as Victoria Safford writes) “A covenant is a living, breathing aspiration, made new every day. It can’t be enforced by consequences but it may be reinforced by forgiveness and by grace, when we stumble, when we forget, when we mess up.”

Like all good spiritual practices, it calls us to a way of life. No longer as one, but as two. Two to share in the joys – making them all the more so. Two to share in the sorrows and pain – making them less. Two with which to travel together on this road of life.

As Victoria Safford writes: 

When we celebrate the love of beaming couples … we speak not in the binding language of contract, but in the life-sustaining fluency of covenant, from covenir, to travel together. We will walk together with you, friend; we will walk together with each other toward the lives we mean to lead, toward the world we would mean to have a hand in shaping, the world of compassion, equity, freedom, joy and gratitude. Covenant is the work of intimate justice.[1]

Amen.

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[1] Safford, Victoria, “Bound in Covenant: Congregational covenants are declarations of interdependence.” UUWorld. Vol XXVII No 2 (Summer 2013). 26ff – This article inspired the sermon, other quotes from this article.