A gift of summer that comes to me is leisurely time for sacred conversation. In the altered pace of life in summer, there seem to be more opportunities for a piece of those endless talks that might be a turning point or a moment of “aha” in the spiritual journey, just because the schedule has thinned out, the days are longer, and some of our encounters are opportunities given by a person just dropping by on their vacation, meandering. It... Read more
I visited another city this week, attended a church of another denomination for worship. Among, and maybe central, to the joy of the experience, was worshiping with the leadership of a clergywoman decades younger than I am, who was full of Spirit–energy, imagination, gifts and a sense of the Holy. As I watched and listened to her invite us into Holy Presence, my heart was full. Thirty years ago I graduated from seminary and was ordained a few months later... Read more
I am so easily distracted! I find it so hard to be where I am without being seven other places at once. I sit down in church, and while the hymn is being sung, I am looking ahead at what is next, or noting how well the worship leader is executing the ritual, or remembering that when I get home, I need to make a phone call. When I am on the phone, often I am doing a crossword puzzle... Read more
Eyes of the Heart by Christine Valters Paintner A Book Review Here is a welcome addition to the books that teach us how to avail ourselves of the Beauty of Holiness through art forms. Christine Valters Paintner, a prolific writer in the arena of spirituality, takes the time and the care to model and to teach a practice of “receiving an image” rather than taking a picture, as a way to deepen one’ s journey of Spirit. In this brief... Read more
Pentecost came this Sunday! I have been eager for its celebration this year, but I was finding few resources in poetry and picture that captured what to me was the most intriguing and hopeful gift that the Spirit brings–the element of Surprise. Our preacher began her sermon Sunday, and I was delighted to hear her reflect on her own disappointment and mine at the tameness and comforting words and rhythms that characterize our hymns about the Holy Spirit; as my... Read more
Grace happens, as surely as the other things that happen.The world is full of reminders of the Grace of the Holy, despite and alongside the illness and disorder of much of the created and human-made world. So today I celebrate a gift of Grace in my life–unmerited (as the Calvinists are fond of saying), unexpected and a continuing presence since I was a teenager. I celebrate the birthday of my life partner, who has been an agent of Grace for... Read more
The post-Easter stories of the gospels are about moving out. Jesus tells his loved ones and to followers that they need to get going…to tell, to be, to share, to serve. And they do, they spread out all over the world! I watched in horror and then in gratitude this week after the bombs exploded close to the finish line at the Boston Marathon, horror at yet another act of violence, but gratitude for all those who got going to... Read more
My garden is a riot of color! My roses are blooming and blossoming in celebration of the Spring that has sprung! How fitting for the spiritual practice in Eastertide–to notice and to celebrate new life that is appearing everywhere. I was treated to a trip up the coast this past weekend, and even there in the midst of sand and cypress trees, flowers were coming out: lupine on the freeways, California poppies by the road and beach blossoms whose names... Read more
I have been more than ready for Easter to blossom this year. The Lenten days were full of challenge and struggle, not so much for me, as for many people I love, to whom I am committed. My list of daily prayers seemed to lengthen exponentially every day. So I take heart from those around Jesus who had grieved deeply in his last days and death, and who are now slow to comprehend the changed reality that Death is not... Read more
Some closets are rearranged with things easier to find. Some drawers have order so that retrieving something I need is not like a dumpster dive. All this clearing out for Lent has had its effect in me and in my abiding place. And I have felt the necessity of that continuing process of clearing out, cleaning and discerning what has use and what could better be recycled or shared, in my soul, as well as in my bins of clutter.... Read more
A Musing Amma
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