by Melissa Taft

You may have noticed a lot of posts about beauty these days. Perhaps we are all longing, in these times of unrest and disaster, for hope. It has been a hard couple of years all around – both personally for many and also globally. We have grieved collectively for the fires and the earthquakes and the deaths and the upheaval. We are collectively experiencing trauma and the remembrance of trauma, and it can be difficult at times to look forward. When the future is clouded or dark, how can we continue on in hope?

While I personally believe that embracing the hard, feeling one’s feelings, and holding grief is necessary and human, I also believe that one of the best ways through to healing is by equally embracing the beauty – and holding grief in tension with gratitude. It is possible to experience wonder, joy, beauty, happiness, and hope while also acknowledging grief, difficulty, and being in the ugly trenches.

Please don’t misunderstand – this is not meant to be “toxic positivity.” I am a bit of a “Pollyanna,” but there is a difference between telling the downtrodden that they should figure out how to be happy in their place anyways, and between offering true hope. One is a command or a guilt trip, and the other is an offering of what exists – leaving space for those in desperate places to partake as they can. So often as Jesus prepared to heal, He first met people where they were and acknowledged them with empathy. He truly is the God-Who-Sees, and He never shamed people for their circumstances or sorrow. If you are in a hard place, there may not be a human ‘silver lining’ you can see – and that’s okay.

Maybe right now it’s hard for you to see beauty – that’s also okay. I would like to invite you, if you can however, to partake of the hope and beauty that God offers to you. He offers beauty in many forms and many ways, to all. I imagine that you may seek it in your daily life, whether realizing it or not. How often do you scroll Instagram or Facebook and stop on a video about something beautiful that has happened, or watch a feel-good movie? Share a humorous image? It’s clear after all that we seek out heart-warming stories – whether real or fictional – and have since time immemorial.

That’s why I believe in the power of Beauty – it grounds us and it connects us while lifting our spirits no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. My grandma Robbie, whom I’ve written about before, truly believed that beauty could save the world. She believed that God is Beauty, and that His Kindness leads us to Him. When God promises that He “knows the plans (He has) for you, plans not to harm you but to bless you and give you hope and a future,” it isn’t about your ability to bootstrap yourself into hope. It’s about the hope and future He already has available for you.

I loved Christine’s Meditation Monday about seeking beauty over ugliness. One of the practices she encourages is to write down three good things each day. It’s interesting to see how that little practice can grow seeds of gratitude and provide relief in the midst of difficulty. Many of you seemed to resonate with that post as well–and little wonder! We are heading into two years of Covid times and there has been much grief and sorrow and ugliness.

But there has also been beauty and opportunity for hope. John van de Laar’s post on How Beauty Can Save Us powerfully reminds us of how beauty transforms difficult spaces – recalling the artists of Sophiatown. Steve Wickham invites us to consider how Joy is possible and brings possibilities even in the “belly of grief.” Elaine Breckenridge’s relatable narrative about Covid upending rituals and the gifts she found in the midst of it – God’s Gifts in Creation – resonated with many who also had to pivot and find a current normal.

My current normal is rather frantic – I am in a season of difficulty, transition, and change. I hang on to these things, then, with an eager heart. My Grandma Robbie had another tip – put something fun on the calendar. “If you always have something to look forward to, you can keep going,” she was fond of saying. I invite you to put something on the calendar today to look forward to. Even if you create it out of thin air. Even if it’s silly or small. Find something to look forward to. Perhaps the weather will be clear enough to enjoy a sunset; mark it down. Find the bits of beauty God has scattered through your life, and let them be breadcrumbs of wonder leading you to hope.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Whatever season your garden is in – winter, summer, spring, or fall – there is something to enjoy and tasks to accomplish. And there is spirituality to put into practice! Find God and community through the richness of soil and the shared values of growth. We have many resources available to help – click here to explore!

by Melissa Taft

As January eases into February here in the northern hemisphere, our sacred rhythms hold a necessary tension between the slumbering rest of Winter and the preparation for the new life of Spring. In the southern hemisphere, we have begun the preparations for harvest and the slowing down of winter. Wherever we are, it is time to rest, but also time to grow and prepare. The Church Calendar still celebrates the Christmas miracle in some traditions, but for most, at least in the northern hemisphere, Christmas has waned and we are in the wintering period before the next series of high events–Lent and Easter. While Lent–the Advent of Easter–is still more than a month away, many of you have begun preparing for it.

And so we too prepare–updating our resources and creating new ones. For example, we are thrilled to announce that Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine are partnering up once again for an online retreat focused on Lent! There will be more details in the weeks to come, but for now, please save the date–Saturday, February 26th from 9:30 am-12:30 pm.

There are several resources available now in the Godspace Shop–including a free download on activity ideas for all 40 days of Lent. Additionally, the post Resources for Lent has been updated for 2022 and will continue to be updated as we find new and interesting resources to add. And of course, our master list Lent & Easter Resource Page has been helpful to many of you. We are working to update that as well, so stay tuned and check back through the season. We will be sure to have new things to add and there will be new posts to come, so you may want to bookmark and check in frequently!

Enjoy beautiful prayer cards, an inspirational devotional, and 40 daily ideas guide for Lent — in a convenient downloadable bundle form! For all the details, click here!

by Jeannie Kendall

A couple of months ago, we moved house – a major change as both the property and area are very different from anything we have lived in before. In addition, both my husband and I are now fully retired, and though I know the time was right, I miss the church community where I was a minister a great deal.  We both have plenty to do – I continue to write, he has enough DIY for a century and we are both particularly loving time with our children and grandchildren. But it is an adjustment – which he has made with ease and I am working at.

There was a particular irony, in that I had finally managed to tame our 80ft, uphill garden – as much as you ever can of course. I love gardening. I enjoy the feeling of soil in my hands, the sense of satisfaction in cherishing something to growth, and even the simple tasks such as pruning. So one of the first things I did was look at the garden for potential. 

This garden is flat, which is a joy – gardening on the slope of the old house felt like you were slightly intoxicated and everything was somehow moving! This one is very small, and has only had the minimum done for some time. The result is that all around the edges are very large, old evergreen shrubs and a conifer hedge. One section has been cut back, resulting in a rather ugly set of brown broken branches where nothing will regrow – but the birds love it so it will need to stay.

In some of it, we will take out the old shrubs and build raised beds which I can fill with colour and wildlife-friendly planting. It will be a labour of love and take several years. But the back hedge – the ugly bit – will remain a haven for the many species we have already spotted who flit in to feed from a nearby wooded area and stream. Simple pleasures.

However in the centre of it is a gap. I have no idea why – perhaps it was simply pragmatic, a means to get to the back fence for maintenance. And it was to this gap that my gaze was initially and persistently drawn. What could go there? How soon can I get to a nursery? Ideas for planting buzzed around my mind like a persistent wasp.

Now, gardeners will be holding up their hands in horror reading this. The old adage is that you leave a garden a year to see what comes up, which is generally wise advice. There may be bulbs or herbaceous perennials just waiting to erupt as a glorious surprise. However I am pretty sure that is not the case here. There is deep rooted ivy all around the base of the hedge and I doubt anything could penetrate through.

Yet still I have held back. Looking at the gap, I felt for now I should not try to fill it, that it was a way God could speak to me in this new season. It is so easy, isn’t it, to not leave space in our lives, yet that very void holds the capacity for the new thing which may need to grow. This is particularly a temptation if we are reluctant to look inside, to face aging and mortality, or perhaps after these last two years are holding at bay peeking at the trauma and loss which have been so much a feature of this season. But if we simply fill every moment with activity, where will there be the opportunity to hear the gentle voice of love, to discern what may be next?

So, for now at least, I will leave that gap in the hedge.

Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin on Saturday, February 26th from 9:30 am-12:30 pm PT for a refreshing and contemplative journey through Lent. Prepare your hearts and minds to find the beauty in Lent’s ashes. Save the date, more details to follow!

by Christine Sine

Last week I read an intriguing article that talked about how the words we use can change the structure of our brains.

“By keeping positive and optimistic words in mind, you stimulate the work of the frontal lobe. This area includes special speech centers associated with the motor area of the cerebral cortex responsible for your motor functions. As our experiment has shown, the longer you focus on positive speech, the stronger the impact on other areas of the brain will be.” (Research Confirms that The Words We Can Say Can Change the Structure of Our Brains)

At first I thought it sounded a little naive, but then I remembered Paul’s words in Philippians 4: 7-9 here quoted from The Message

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

^8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. 

Would you believe it – in the next couple of days 3 people suggested this was God’s word for my 71st year, even before I shared my thoughts with them. “Looks like God is trying to tell me something and I have been a little hard of hearing” I decided. I was sure of it when I read this article on Facebook:

The words “I see the world through the people that surround me” really resonated in my soul. As someone commented this is a great spiritual practice to transform the gloom into glory. So I thought I would try an experiment that I heartily recommend to you.

1. Each morning I would welcome God into the scarred places of trauma in my life and pray that I would recognize the beauty shining through the ugliness.
2. I would write my own headlines for the day. When I suggested this on Facebook, I loved the headlines that appeared: Family meets together for first time in 2 years; The snow slows down the world and it is good; Covid keeps grandkids in US for 2 more glorious weeks with Nana!; Tongan volcanic eruption prompts long-term friends to reconnect. These headlines don’t change the devastation we see around us but they do help us find the inner resources to bring about change.
3. Write down three good things that happen each day. This is a fun and energizing exercise – a little like the prayer of examen but with a strong emphasis on the good side of life and the recognition of the goodness of God in the midst of each day.

This is not pretending that there are really no bad things happening in the world, but it does give us the inner resources to face them with more resilience and strength.

I called 2019 my year of Seeing Life Differently and was reminded of that this morning as I worked on this post. It made me want to transform Paul’s words in Philippians: “see differently as a way of life: displace worry with Christ at the centre of your life, discern the ways of truth not falsehood, transform ugliness into beauty, replace your curses with praise to God; settle into a way of life where you work for the good of all creation.”

As I wrote this today I reread the section in Howard Thurman’s biography where he talks about taking his daughters back to the beach in Florida where he spent many fun days as a child. Now (1968) it was a “whites only” beach. Instead of ranting against the injustice he explained to his daughters that they were so powerful that it took the police, the local government and changes in the law to keep them off the beach – an attitude that must have made them proud, not depressed at who they were. Perhaps we need more of that kind of an attitude too as we watch states in the US change voting laws to keep blacks and marginalized populations from voting, because it is true – these parts of the population are powerful and could change the future of this country so it is no wonder those who have usurped their power want to see their rights suppressed.

I know I could get myself in hot water by making a statement like this but part of what I realized this week as I instituted my new practices, is that in the midst of the stress and the pain and the overwhelming fatigue of our current environment, they can give me the new energy I need to work for change in a way that moves more towards God’s shalom purposes of wholeness for all creation.

I want this year to be a year of transforming the ugly into beauty and I hope you do too. Read through this poem that I wrote back in 2019 and prayerfully consider what you could do to bring about the kind of change God wants to see happen in the world.

Read life differently.
Read with love and not with hate,
with compassion and not with judgment,
with generosity and not with scarcity.
See your cup
not half full,
not half empty,
but overflowing with God’s goodness and light and life.
Read life differently.
Look for the wonder of uniqueness,
not the exclusion of sameness.
Embrace don’t reject.
Forgive don’t condemn.
Seek the Son of God.
Work diligently to know
he who is the way, the truth, and the life.
Follow his footsteps,
walk in the ways that leads to eternal life.
Christine Sine (c) 2019

We all need the Wholeness of God…this resource includes reflections and activities for coping and thriving during the COVID-19 challenges in search of shalom as well as hope for restoration during and after this period of social distancing.

A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“Wisdom of Saints” Music and lyrics by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

“Nothing Can Ever” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé

“Rabboni Beloved” By Kester Limner and Andy Myers, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

“Veni Sancte Spiritus” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé

Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org

by Christine Sine

Last week Tom and I recorded a Facebook live session on Establishing a Rule of Life. Not only was it extremely popular but we had some amazing responses including the beautiful poem below by Ana Lisa De Jong. Ana Lisa commented: “Thank you Christine Sine and Tom Sine for the inspiration. Your inspiring FB live today and your Mustard Seed community is a fruitful harvest in itself.” Enjoy the recording and the poem.

MUSTARD SEEDS

Teach your children to plant trees. 

Teach them to open their hands, 

scatter seeds.

The world which would squeeze them to its mould,

would have them hold on tight,

bury them under its avalanche 

of consumption.

Whereas breathing, living,

is found in breaking open,

pouring ourselves out.

Scattering the seed 

which without there isn’t fruit. 

Teach your children the beauty of creation.

That what we do makes a difference,

just in the act of doing. 

The war for our children’s souls is quiet, 

quiet as the drug that lulls them to sleep. 

Open their hands, give them seeds. 

Ana Lisa de Jong 

Living Tree Poetry 

January 2022

Looking for New Mustard Seed House Members

It seemed very appropriate to post this today as we are also looking for new members for the Mustard Seed House

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By Lilly Lewin

Just a reminder for the weekend,  we cannot pour from an empty cup!

So take time to actually get some rest! #RESTisHOLY

Take a walk outside, draw, play, get coffee with a friend, do something that brings you joy and refreshes you!

My birthday was yesterday, so like all good hobbits, I want to give you a gift for my birthday. As you may know,  I love to pray with my coffee each day and got inspired a few years ago to PRAY WITH YOUR CUP through Holy Week. So go over to freerangeworship.com and get the free download and save it a resource to use this April.

And now, GRAB A COFFEE/TEA CUP and PRAY TODAY

Consider the cup
How is your cup today? Look at your coffee cup/mug/teacup What do you notice? Is it full? Empty? Faded? Cracked or Chipped? How are you feeling like that cup? What do you need to pour out? What do you need Jesus to pour into your cup? May be Peace or Joy? Compassion .. for yourself & for others? Energy to keep going?
What do you need in your cup today?
Jesus is with you & me in the messiness of this life.
In the chipped and cracked places.
In the empty places and the places that are stained & scratched.
Jesus loves us and is with us right where we are!

Drink that in today!

Grab a spoon!
What is stirring in you today? What does the Holy Spirit want to stir in you? As you use spoons throughout the day/week, ask Jesus/Spirit to show you what is being stirred in your life & what needs to be stirred .

A Prayer for you and your Cup…
HOLD YOUR CUP…

Lord Jesus…
Help us to be, to share and drink from
Cups of Transformation
Help us to be Cups of Resurrection
Cups of Restoration
Cups of Healing and Wholeness
Safe to drink from
We are Stained and broken, chipped and cracked…
And some may say we are not the favorite one in the cupboard or on the shelf,
But you Jesus, Love us just as we are!
And use us just the same.
Fill us Jesus with your Living Water!
Help us to share Living Water with those around us!
And bring refreshment and great flavor to our world!
AMEN
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com

all photos and writings by June Friesen

Ziplining has never been a dream, a hope, or an ambition of mine. However, as I meet people, especially younger people it seems that it is something that they dream of doing and when they actually accomplish it some have told me it gives them a feeling of exhilaration. Now as I was observing and taking some photos, I was also aware that this zipline (which was at an outdoor zoo) went over the outdoor lion and tiger exhibits. With this background, I thought to myself what gratitude each person must have had to arrive safely at their destination at the opposite end. I am sure you are wondering to yourself how in fact I came up with the phrase, ‘A Zipline of Gratitude.’

Colossians 3:14-16 (The Passion Translation)

14 For love is supreme and must flow through each of these virtues. Love becomes the mark of true maturity. 15 Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.

There are a number of verses as well as stories that contain an aspect or element of gratitude. Jesus was known to highlight those who were thankful for the things that He did in their lives such as one out of ten lepers that returned to give Him thanks for healing him. Some verses from 2nd Timothy 3 seem to fit with what my thoughts are here on gratitude.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (J.B. Phillips)

But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered, greedy for money, full of big words. They will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this.

Yes, I chose this passage from 2nd Timothy because all of the things mentioned here keep us from an attitude of gratitude. I also have found that when I am surrounded by people with these kinds of attitudes I can easily be drawn into the negativity of the world and life that is very prevalent in our society at large. Paul warns Timothy as well as you and I to be careful of this negativity because it lacks gratitude, purity, and love. Yet one wonders how can I ever rise above all the negativity? How can I, just me all alone, make any difference or impact on the general all-around negativity? And then I thought it is almost as difficult for some of us to move into a lifestyle of gratefulness/gratitude as it is for us to step off of a platform suspended by a body harness to fly through the air suspended on a wire – a wire suspended over wild animal enclosures no less.

In our world today there are so many things that clamor for our attention and often they are filled with negative energies that easily overtake us. When negative energy is allowed room in our lives, either mind or spirit, it begins to drain our physical energy and often our emotional energy as well. Over 20 years ago I picked up a book I happened to see advertised on television. I had no idea how this book would revolutionize my life and at first, I was rather skeptical. However, one of the disciplines was gratitude – adopting a daily discipline of being grateful, which I decided to try. Yes, kind of like standing in the little shelter high up in the air and having someone tell me, “Just let me fasten this harness on you, and then let go – you will have the ride of your life right over the outdoor animal enclosures – and I promise you all will be safe and well.” It took a bit of time to get this habit into a good practice but soon I was beginning to see all of the things that were blessings in my life. I also discovered something else – in the midst of a day if I became discouraged, I would think of some blessing I could see or feel right then – and my negative attitude was curtailed.

As I have thought about the title of this writing the last couple of months, I see how many may find it hard to even think that it is possible to do a gratitude journal. We can come up with numerous ideas: what if I forget, what if I have a really horrible, no-good day, what if I am too tired, what if I am sick, what if I am not at home and I am sure there are other excuses too. First of all, if you put it on your bed, you will see it every night and you pick it up and write in it before you go to bed. Second, when you travel, take it with you and have it be on top of your suitcase so every night when you open your suitcase you have to pick it up and, of course, write in it. Third, sometimes one may be ill, even very ill, may even be hospitalized – even then if you have a bed, warmth, drink, someone to care for you or pain killer or a treatment plan – yes, there are things to be thankful for then too.

As I stood and watched people zipline over the enclosures that contained dangerous animals, I thought of how there are people in our world that we too need to be aware of. They could be various kinds but especially those who have the potential to cause us harm whether physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual. They are the people that we need to learn the possibility of moving over or past while maintaining an attitude of gratitude. Now, this attitude should not be one of exclusion all together but definitely one of caution. Often after the people zipline over the animals they will then walk past the pens and observe the animals in all their wonder and beauty – and be grateful for that beauty as well as their safety. Some of the people are actually the ones who work at the facility and enter the areas where these animals may be, however they use caution and techniques to keep themselves from harm and/or injury.

As I have worked with people, discipling them over the past twenty years, I encourage each person to begin a gratitude journal. I often pick up pretty journals at the dollar store when I see them so that I have some handy. Why? One of the excuses we have is I do not have a journal, or I don’t know where to get a journal. And as I invite people to join me on the ‘zipline of gratitude’ I soon find they are eager to share how it also has changed their thought patterns from negative to positive in many situations.

So, as you are wondering how to adapt to the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter, depending on which hemisphere you live in, I invite you to delve into a new adventure – take a ride on the ‘Zipline of Graitude’ – I believe you will say in the end – this sure is an enjoyable ride. Let’s do it again. And again……

Enjoy Christine Sine’s latest book – or explore the many resources around and with the book! From retreats and courses to free downloads to prayer cards and bundles, engage the gift of wonder and unlock a toolkit full of hope! All these resources can be found here in our shop.

by Elaine Breckenridge

One of the gifts of the pandemic is that I have experienced the beauty and wonder of creation in totally new ways. As a Christian, I believe as Genesis teaches us, that creation is good. Yet, as a Celtic Christian, I also see creation as sacred and holy. It is a theophany, that is, a manifestation of God. I believe that we should reverence creation just as we do the scriptures, Jesus, the cross, and the sacraments. These had been theological ideas but, in my life, they did not translate into any kind of spiritual practice. 

That changed in March of 2020 when I found myself spending more time outdoors. Because of church closures, I found myself worshipping in creation. I began praying and meditating among the trees. I found a special place on Camano Island, Washington where I live. I named it “Madrone Chapel.” 

Madrone Chapel, Camano Island State Park

There I had a pew beneath a Madrone tree cross overlooking the sea. The light shimmering through the trees was as beautiful as any stained glass window. Angels masquerading as birds were my choir. A baptismal font disguised as a stream made me feel born anew. In the spring of 2020, I found Madrone Chapel to be a refuge inviting me to hope amidst the pandemic’s masking and closure of so much I knew and loved. 

One day, I had my eyes closed in meditation when I heard a sound of rushing air and water. I opened my eyes. There was a gray whale spouting right below me. Talk about beauty and wonder!  I spoke to the whale, “You are beautiful. Will you show me your fluke?” And a few seconds later it did! Then the whale began swimming south. The upper trail I was on also ran south, exactly parallel to the swimming whale. For twenty minutes, I went whale walking!   

It was a moment of profound beauty and wonder. I experienced it as God and creation calling me to sink beneath the lockdown of the ravaging storyline which in my mind detailed everything that was wrong with the world and me. Instead, I paused and rejoiced that I breathe the same air as that magnificent whale. I heard the hymn of creation sing the words of the mystic Julian of Norwich, “All is well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.”  

Besides worshipping in nature, I now turn to creation for spiritual healing. A few months ago, I had a rift in a personal relationship. I had been hurt by this person and yet I knew that the relationship could not be healed until I released my anger.  

I headed to a rocky beach to conduct a ritual of letting go. I decided to look for the ugliest rock on the beach that would symbolize the ugliness I had been experiencing. My plan was to throw it into the sea as a gesture of release. It took me a long time to find what looked like the perfect ugly rock. At last, I found one! 

As I looked at it intently, the rock was suddenly transformed in my hand. It was no longer ugly. I became aware of just how incredibly beautiful this one small piece of creation is! I put it down and thought, “I must a find a really complex rock to represent my dilemma here.” The more I looked at the surrounding landscape, the more beautiful it all became. 

Beach Rocks, English Boom Preserve, Camano Island

I had a distinct feeling of merging and becoming one with every rock. In the end, I closed my eyes and picked up one rock and gently returned it to the water. It was as if creation had heard my confession and the thoughts of my heart had been cleansed by God. I found myself in a state of peace, love and joy. Forgiveness flooded my heart and I felt compassion for the person who had wounded me.  

I experienced myself as a part of creation and not apart from creation. To use the words of contemplative monk and priest, Thomas Merton, I had a “keen awareness of the inter-dependence of all living things which are all part of one another and involved in one another.” I was humbled to experience that I was also included in all living things.  

God’s creation with its gifts of beauty and wonder gives me a way to move forward into this new year with joy and hope. I will continue to incorporate Celtic spirituality and my love of creation into my faith practices and also into more aspects of my life. Yes, that is something I can do. 

But God does more! The Creator continues to live and love, moving in and through creation, reaching out to us here and now. God embraces us through creation. The more time I have spent simply being in God’s magnificent creation; the more I am feeling healed, that is, made whole. And such wholeness has helped me to simplify my lifestyle and make more sustainable choices. I hope even these small changes will contribute to the healing of our beloved Earth. 

A friend of mine named Kristopher Lindquist wrote a chant with these words below. It is one of my prayers of gratitude and hope. May it serve as an invitation to you to discover God in and through the beauty and wonder of Creation.     

“Through Creation, God is singing, 

through Creation, dancing with joy. 

God delights in all things. 

God delights in All That Is. 

God delights in us.” 

Amen.    

“You can infuse your life with joy, even right in the middle of winter when you need it most…”

Join Christine Aroney-Sine TONIGHT for a series of five inspiring conversations, based on her book, The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God.*

Wednesday nights from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m on Zoom

• January 19 – The Awe of Wonder (Introduction)
• January 26 – Wonder & Trauma
• February 2 – Play!
• February 9 – Reminiscing
• February 16 – The Joy of Gratitude

* We will mail you the book with your $10 registration. If you already have the book, the series is free.

by Catherine Lawton

JANUARY

A captive to granite gray stare,

I shiver and hunker there.

Clouds shudder also and

shake loose frozen crystals

flashing slivers of light.

Now silver gleam the gazing eyes.

I rise unblinking, captivated.

~Catherine Lawton

As I awoke from sleep one morning, these words came distinctly to my mind: “The long, cold stare of January.”

I don’t know where those words came from. But they came clear and definite; and they stayed with me. I wrote that phrase in my journal. And I thought about it. Later I wrote the (above) poem.

I live in northern Colorado. January is our coldest month. And it is a long month, 31 days. The cold, short days and long nights can make one feel captive. It is a season when people, those who can afford it, like to travel to places like Mexico, Florida, or Spain. Other people may dream of warm beaches during January. But the weather often keeps us indoors and isolated. We can feel captive.

Where did my unconscious mind get the idea of January being a long “stare”? I don’t know. But there is a sense in which one can feel captive in an uncomfortable way when someone keeps staring at you. Cold stares are especially disconcerting.

Feeling trapped, fearful, impatient with your situation can make your outlook seem hard and gray. But, truly, there is beauty in every season. Opening our hearts to “see” that beauty can turn those cold, gray eyes to a silver gaze.

Contemplatives speak of the “gaze” of the face of Christ that holds, sees deeply, and can draw out the inner radiance of one’s true self.

Recently I was reading a story that described the “silver” eyes of some Scottish Highland folks. I had never heard eye color described as silver before. Polished silver is not a cold-looking metal. It has a warmth that seems to gleam from deep inside.

Hidden in every hard place is hope. If we look for it with eyes to see, it will eventually gleam forth, and then, rather than be captives we may become captivated by the presence of love and even joy.

Photo by Kacper Szczechla on Unsplash

Tomorrow! Join Christine Sine and special guest Tom Sine as they discuss commitment to a whole life faith and a rhythm of life that flows out of it; live in the Godspace Light Community Facebook Group. Happening every other Wednesday–join us for the next one on January 19th, 2022 at 9am! Can’t make it live? We post them after on our youtube channel, so you never miss the fun!

guest post by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers

Almost 60 years ago, America’s greatest prophet Martin Luther King, Jr. likened racism in our body politic to a lethal cancer. “The surgery necessary to extract it is complex and detailed. As a beginning we must X-ray our history and reveal the full extent of the disease.” 

The murder of George Floyd reminded us yet again of how our society is haunted by endemic police violence past and present against black and brown bodies. So did the white supremacist riot at the U.S. Capitol on the Feast of Epiphany (indeed!). Nor would Dr. King have been surprised how our Canadian neighbors have just endured an excruciating summer of revelations, as ground-penetrating radar uncovered unmarked children’s graves at several former Indian Residential School sites across their nation, part of the legacy of Indigenous genocide that the U.S. fully shares. 

When we peer beneath the surface of our white-settler lands, history, and culture, we indeed encounter ghosts. And the trivializing of this phenomenon by our Halloween-industrial complex cannot erase the fact that we live in a haunted house, which white denial and “agnosia” (willful or unknowing) have built.  

Over the past quarter-century, “hauntology” has become a new social-psychological field of study about how the trauma of past oppression lingers in both people and places. Sociologist Avery Gordon, in her important book Ghostly Matters, contends that “haunting is a constituent element of modern social life through which repressed or unresolved social violence makes itself known in everyday life, especially when they are supposedly over and done with (slavery, for instance) or when their oppressive nature is continuously denied.” Gordon also emphasizes, however, that reckoning with these ghosts can mobilize “individual, social, or political movement and change.” But only if they are faced. 

The Gospels portray the healer Jesus of Nazareth unmasking “unclean spirits” that lock people down. Sometimes they represent political “occupying powers” (as in the case of the “Legion” in Mark 5:1–20), sometimes personal forces of “possession” (as with a demon of silencing in Mark 9:17–29).  One of Jesus’ strangest parables about the work of healing from such hauntings provides poignant illumination of King’s diagnosis.

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. (Luke 11:24–26)

This may sound strange to modern ears, but it speaks to the complex stratigraphy of inward and outward hauntings that must be exhumed in the work of facing “the full extent of the disease”—its gravity, power, and permeation.

This parable strikes us as a trenchant diagnosis of the psycho-social geography of “possession-occupation” baked into a half-millennium of settler colonialism and racism, plaguing (in different ways) both inheritor-beneficiaries and victim-survivors of this system and its legacy. Indeed, this work is like peeling the proverbial onion seven layers down; the haunting of our psyches and spirits, our communities and culture, our public life and institutions, goes that deep. This is why the process outlined in our new book Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization seems so daunting to us settlers of privilege, and why we avoid it at every turn. 

But the gospels insist that Jesus wasn’t a socializing physician, patching people up to carry on with the status quo. Rather, he was a radical doctor who sought out the roots of our dis-ease. He offered strong medicine to treat the external oppression and internal psychosis of empire, which is why his healings were always disruptive of the status quo, earning him the ire of the authorities. 

Responding to people in power who insisted there were no fatal flaws in their social-political-religious system, Jesus famously offered this koan: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (metanoia, meaning to change fundamental direction; Luke 5:31–32). For the inheritors of white privilege, the greatest barrier to our liberation is our delusion of innocence. Only when we recognize the lethality of our dis-ease (to borrow from Twelve Step language) and turn to a Power greater than our own, will we be willing and able to turn our individual and communal histories around in the service of wholeness and justice, and to join with marginalized communities to heal our haunted bodies and body politic. 

We long for our churches to become spaces that nurture the courage and competence to embrace a discipleship of decolonization, fueled by the prophetic hope that a day is coming when Creator will wither injustice to its roots, “until the sun of justice rises, with healing in its wings” (Mal 4:2).

Elaine Enns and Ched Myers codirect Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries on unceded and untreatied Chumash land in the Ventura River Watershed of southern California. Healing Haunted Histories was published in February 2021 (see here for reviews, programs and discounts). 

As an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.

Celtic Prayer Cards include 10 prayers inspired by ancient Celtic saints like Patrick or contemporary Celtic writers like John O’Donohue. A short reflection on the back of each card will introduce you to the Celtic Christian tradition, along with prayers by Christine Sine and beautiful imagery crafted by Hilary Horn. Celtic Prayer Cards can be used year-round or incorporated into various holidays. Available in a single set of 10 cards, three sets, or to download.

by Christine Sine

Imagine what our lives would look like if they really flowed to the rhythm God intends for us. Imagine what a sustainable pace would look like that allows time for work and rest, solitude and community, fasting feasting and fun. These are some of the thoughts that revolve in my mind as I re-evaluate my life in the midst of this COVID reality, and seek to live into a sustainable rhythm. They seem to be foremost in the minds of many others too. COVID has forced all of us to rethink our priorities. Many of us are reorienting around rhythms of Sabbath rather than church, relationships rather than tasks, balance rather than work. Nature and the refreshment creation provides has gained priority and the allure of consumption has dwindled.

Sustainability is not about cutting back on consumption and work, though that can be an outcome. Sustainability is primarily about living into life as God intends it to be.

This is one of my ruling passions. I first grappled with it when I contracted chronic fatigue syndrome 30 years ago. I was sure that stress, overwork and burnout were the chief causes, and in my recovery began to explore a more sustainable rhythm of life. My first book on this theme – Godspace, which gave birth to this blog – explored the rhythms of Jesus’ life and the balance he seemed to find between work and rest, community and solitude, feasting and fasting. Unfortunately, knowing this was the kind of rhythm Jesus lived by wasn’t enough. It was too intangible and it was still easy for me in our work-oriented society to rationalize away the patterns that I felt God was leading me towards. Not surprisingly more overwork, stress and burnout followed.

Over the last few years two key questions helped me to move towards a more sustainable way of life: What kind of God do I believe in? What kind of rhythms does creation model for me? Most importantly, my studies in shalom and the rule of life it established for me, gave me the confidence to move forward without guilt or stress.

Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

What Kind of God Do I Believe in?

Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs, plays, enjoys life and invites us to join the fun? I couldn’t until recently. I grew up with a very serious, workaholic God who chastised me for not keeping busy 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Even though I knew this was not what God intended for me, I felt guilty when I slowed down, took a break or just went out and had some fun.

Unless you become like children you cannot enter the kingdom of God. These words riveted my attention a few years ago and I asked myself What are the childlike characteristics that make me fit for the kingdom? This question began a journey of discovery in which I started to explore the childlike characteristics that God sees as prerequisites to kingdom living. I posted on Facebook asking friends what qualities they believed are essential and slowly formulated a list. Playfulness, awe and wonder, imagination, creativity, curiosity, love of nature, compassion, gratitude, and unconditional trust all emerged as essential qualities of childlikeness. Yet we live in a world of play deprivation, nature deficit disorder, awe and wonder depletion and compassion fatigue. As a result I think we suffer from God deprivation too.

As I have said numerous times, I am increasingly convinced that rediscovering our inner child is essential for our spiritual health. Awe and wonder, imagination and curiosity connect us to the God who is present in every moment and everything in a way that nothing else can. They enrich our contemplative core and expand our horizons to explore new aspects of our world and of our God.

Believing in a God who loves to get his hands dirty planting gardens, who makes mud pies to put on the eyes of the blind, and who does happy dances and sings with joy over all of humanity and in fact all of creation has revolutionized my faith. This is the theme of my book The Gift of Wonder, as many of you will recognize, but there are a couple of steps you can take now to follow this path.

1. Read some children’s books – maybe get back to the favorites from your childhood, or ask your kids, grandkids or friend’s kids which ones they enjoy most. Read them together, or if you don’t have kids and grandkids volunteer at the local library or with friends to read stories.
2. Spend time with kids – we all need kids in our lives. They ask us difficult questions and help us let go of our pretentious and often unrealistic expectations of ourselves and of others.
3. Reconnect to your senses – kids view the world through all their senses, but we adults often limit ourselves to sight and sound and even these senses have very confining borders. Rediscovering the joy of smells, the wonder of textures, the delight of sunlight through trees opens us to a God of delight and rejoicing, a God who invites us to relax, to just sit in contentment and wonder or allow ourselves to be distracted by the beauty of a butterfly.

What Can Gardening Teach Us About God’s Rhythm?

Garden day

As I often say, I read about the story of God in the Bible but in the garden I experience it. That is definitely true for the rhythms of God too. Working in the garden has given me permission to relax into a different pace of life.

We think of spring as the season of planting, but in God’s world seed is scattered in the autumn as seed heads mature and burst. Then the seed rests. Covered by a wintery coat it waits until the warmth of spring brings it to life.

The garden year has two seasons of rest and two of frantic activity. Winter is a time of preparation, when roots go down deep and pruning is done. Then comes spring, probably the busiest time in the garden. We plant, weed, fertilize, and mulch. We spend as much time as possible getting our garden ready for the coming season of growth, blossom and fruit. Then comes summer, vigorous growth, a riot of colorful flowers and rich fruit develop. Surprisingly this too is a season of rest – this time a rest of enjoyment and satisfaction. We watch the maturing of what we have planted, taking credit for it but really having little to do to bring it into being. I love to go out in the morning to see how the beans and zucchini have grown and tomatoes ripened. I do a little weeding and maybe some watering but this is a time to enjoy the beauty, the fragrance and the delight of a hopefully well-planned garden. Autumn is the next busy season when the full harvest overwhelms us with its abundance. We work furiously to eat, preserve and store all that appears. We recruit friends and share harvest celebrations and then we collapse exhausted and grateful for the resting of winter months.

Recognizing that these patterns woven through all creation are God-designed and God-intended has been liberating for me. I find that my body too responds to these rhythms and if I ignore it I do fall into the trap of unsustainability again.

Pear blossom

How Sustainably is Your Rhythm?

I meet so many overworked, burnt out disillusioned Christians who have lost touch with the God of balance and sustainability. As a result they lose touch with the beauty of the message of the gospel and its implications for a life of joy and balance. Are you one of them? Set aside time today to prayerfully reflect on your priorities and the rhythms that govern your life. Ask yourself:

Is this the rhythm God intends for me?

How could I develop a more sustainable way of life?

What would my life look like if I gave myself totally to God?

The God of rhythm and balance fill you
with the balance of rest and work and enjoyment today.
The God of fun and festivity surround you
with laughter and play and delight.
The God of life and love enrich you
with a future that brings satisfaction and joy and sustainability.
May you dance with the angels,
And shout with the children,
May you sing with all creation
Of the wonder of God’s presence.

(c) Christine Sine 2022

NOTE: As an Amazon Associate I make a small amount for purchases made from the above links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.

“You can infuse your life with joy, even right in the middle of winter when you need it most…”

Join Christine Aroney-Sine TONIGHT for a series of five inspiring conversations, based on her book, The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God.*

Wednesday nights from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m on Zoom

• January 19 – The Awe of Wonder (Introduction)
• January 26 – Wonder & Trauma
• February 2 – Play!
• February 9 – Reminiscing
• February 16 – The Joy of Gratitude

* We will mail you the book with your $10 registration. If you already have the book, the series is free.

This week’s contemplative service from St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle features one of my favourite Celtic hymns. Enjoy!

A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“Christ Be With Me (Prayer of St. Patrick)”
Text from the Lorica, or the Prayer of St. Patrick
Song by Ruth Cunningham, used with permission. All rights reserved.
www.ruthcunningham.com | www.youtube.com/ruthreid/ | Instagram: @ruthreid11

“The Lord is my Song (O Lord Hear my Prayer) – Taizé song”
Words and music by Taizé
Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé

“Atme In Uns — Taizé song”
Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé

“Lord Be With Us (Kyrie)”
Text and music by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

“See I Am Near – Taizé song”
Words, Music by Taizé copyright © 2008 GIA/Les Presses de Taize. All rights reserved.

Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org

by John van de Laar, originally published on EvoFaith as seen here

Apart from the pandemic, what has been most disturbing, traumatising, or depressing moment for you this year? My most troubled moments have been when I’ve come up against ugliness. Ugliness is destructive, dehumanising, and divisive, and I find myself increasingly driven to resist it in all its forms.

When I speak about ugliness, I’m not referring to what is socially defined as ugly—clashing paint colours on a house, art that depicts uncomfortable themes, or music that doesn’t fit my own personal aesthetic. Ugliness is a spiritual thing. It is a rejection of all that is good, true, and beautiful. It is a determination to define people, situations, and things in the shallowest and least nuanced way possible. And it is the complete lack of insight into the complexity, connectedness, and mystery of the cosmos.

I am reminded of the history of my home country of South Africa and the ugliness of forced removals of black people into crowded hostels and overpopulated townships. I imagine how soul-destroying it must be to live with inadequate housing, poor sanitation, water, power, and waste systems, and few resources for growing food, making a living, or beautifying the environment. The ongoing legacy of this ugliness—poverty, unemployment, fragmented families, racism, violence, and addiction—is a witness to its lethal power.

THE BEAUTIFUL ANTIDOTE TO UGLINESS

And that is why I am so deeply devoted to beauty. Beauty has kept me sane through this pandemic. And beauty has given me the strength to resist this year’s onslaught of ugliness. One of the reasons that I am a complete talent-show junky is that the incredible display of creativity and beauty never ceases to move me to tears and inspire an invincible hope within me.

A few seasons ago on the dance competition show World Of Dance, a young girl named Eva Igo danced her way to second place. She was not the only dancer to stir deep emotions within me, but the intensity of her performances combined with her childlike laughter as the crowd erupted at her finishes, touched something deep in my soul. It wasn’t just beautiful dancing. It was the beauty of the person, the intention, and the joy that multiplied around her.

THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF BEAUTY

Where ugliness destroys, beauty creates. What ugliness divides, beauty unites. And while ugliness dehumanises, beauty dignifies, uplifts, and humanises. A beautiful environment increases mental health. Beauty inspires hope and joy. And beauty can be revolutionary in challenging ugliness in the status quo, as the artists and musicians of Sophiatown did in Apartheid South Africa. Even scientists refer to mathematical work like Einstein’s theories of relativity as beautiful. 

There is a transcendent, spiritual quality to beauty that nourishes the human soul. And there is nothing so effective at transforming ugliness as true beauty. But beauty is more than just what is aesthetically pleasing to the senses. When something speaks truth and leads us into a deeper experience of goodness, it is beautiful even if it seems aesthetically ‘ugly.’ People who have lived well and loved deeply can be beautiful even when their physical appearance is unremarkable or scarred in some way.

OVERCOMING THE UGLY

So how can we draw on the power of beauty to confront and transform the ugly in our lives and in our world? Here are a few simple suggestions:

• Work on expanding your definition of beauty. Seek it out in unexpected places and people, and learn to listen to your heart when it responds to surprising beauty.
• Create beauty in your own way and ignore the opinions of others. If it is beautiful for you, embrace it and celebrate it.
• Resist the temptation to reduce beauty to the skin-deep facsimile that is often sold to us by society. Seek out the deeper beauty of the interesting, mysterious, uncomfortable, challenging, inspiring, complex, and confusing.
• When confronted with ugliness, seek out beauty as soon as possible. Allow it to fill and heal you.
• Make connecting with beauty a regular spiritual practice. Read poetry, listen to music, walk in nature, share laughter with loved ones, watch movies, play with your pets, make funny faces at babies, tell silly jokes, listen to the stories of the elderly, hold the hand of the dying, celebrate the courage of protesters against injustice or join them. 

Let’s transform the ugliness in our world together through a deep commitment to true beauty! 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Looking toward Lent and Easter? There are resources available in the Godspace Shop–from free exercises, daily ideas, poetry and more to prayer cards and devotionals! Additionally, we have compiled many posts and other resources together for your convenience on our Lent & Easter Resource Page!

By Lilly Lewin

Just so you have something to ponder… last Thursday on Epiphany we considered the fact that the Magi had to go back home by another way…READ MORE in MATTHEW 2

After an arduous journey to get to see Jesus, they didn’t get to go back the way they had just experienced.

They didn’t get to take the way they knew, or the way that might have felt safer.

Thanks to God “s warning, the Magi escaped Herod’s anger by going home by ANOTHER WAY.

And Mary and Joseph didn’t get to take an easy way home either. They were also warned by God in a dream to leave town and they escaped to Egypt. Going to a new place, with new people and all new things to learn and experience.

Escape to Egypt Giotto di Bondone

This New Year … is definitely another “new way” in the land of Covid. Thankfully we have some good tools for the journey, we know about masks, and vaccinations, but we are almost in year three and we are all exhausted and overwhelmed and it often feels futile. Maybe like me, you aren’t excited about having to to find another NEW WAY in 2022.

Maybe you’d like some more LIGHT in the darkness or an Angel in a dream to tell you what to do next.

We also wondered on Epiphany if the Magi had interpreters with them on their journey.  Who helped them get from place to place or speak with Herod when they got there?

We need Interpreters too! We need God’s help and others to help us understand and help us find our way on our life journey, especially in these crazy times. Who are those INTERPRETERS FOR YOU?
Take time to consider who might help you navigate the NEW WORLD we are living in now, or help you on your faith journey…authors, friends, family etc…ASK JESUS TO SHOW YOU.

STAR WORDS

Consider your New Year Journey into 2022.
What are the tools or maps you need for your journey? What spiritual practices can help you navigate better in the new year? TALK TO JESUS about where you are and what you need. REST, PLAY, COMMUNITY, TIME IN NATURE, or      ________________________? Do you need to lighten your suitcase or add something in?

ONE TOOL that helps shine light on our New Year Journey is the STAR WORD. We have a tradition in our house church, thinplaceNASHVILLE of drawing STAR WORDS each Epiphany season. I am not sure where I heard of this first, but you’ve probably read about having a WORD of the year. With our process, we cut out stars and write words on them and then draw three stars and allow the Holy Spirit to choose them. You may like to take time on your own with Jesus to ask Him what your word or words are for the New Year.

How are these a Gift?

How does God want to weave these into your life?

Allow the Holy Spirit to Surprise You!

After you’ve chosen your STARS…

What is the GIFT of this word or these words? How is this word a positive in your life? How has it been a negative?

How does Jesus want you to experience this word or words in the coming year?

Allow the Holy Spirit to surprise you and Inspire you with your Word or Words! 

You can learn more about STAR WORDS from the Rev Gals HERE.

You can print out STARS and allow the Holy Spirit to choose for you :

HERE IS A PDF of STAR WORDS on STARS to PRINT OUT

Here is a LIST OF STAR WORDS you can pray with and consider with Jesus.

Take time this weekend to consider your journey…where you have been, where you are going. Ask Jesus to help you and be your LIGHT, Your STAR to guide you. And CHOOSE A STAR WORD OR TWO or THREE …

AND Watch for how God weaves your word or words into your life this year! 

©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com

all photos and writings by June Friesen

Wonder…..wondering…..wonderful…..

The challenge is to discern wonder as we step into 2022. As one thinks back over the past 22 months – well that is interesting…22 months since our lives were totally changed worldwide by Covid and now we step into the year 2022. Wow, as I just wrote these two sentences I am even more in awe and wonder than when I researched material for this writing and started putting thoughts together. Paul’s words in Philippians 4 are so on target for me as I prepare to challenge myself to walk into this year with a new awareness of seeing God present in my daily activities as well as in the events and opportunities presented as we embark on this new journey. Paul writes:

Philippians 4:6-7

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

When I think of the word ‘wonder’ all kinds of images pop into my mind. Today I share two images that indeed hold wonder for me. Consider first the oyster lying in the ocean finding itself dealing with an annoyance of a minute piece of something in its being. It begins to secrete a substance to cover this irritant and eventually the substance forms into what we identify as a pearl. For many of us owning a pearl or at least a genuine pearl that is not manmade is more of a dream than a reality. I have no idea whether a sea person gathering oysters has any idea or even thought about whether and/or how many pearls they may find. One thing I am sure of is that the oyster has little to no thought of that irritant as being of any value; for them it is an annoyance and problem they wish would just go away.

Second, there is the wonder that a rosebud holds. The rose unfurls its petals gently and delicately until it is open and then it reveals an exquisite beauty, often a beautiful fragrance as well as a delightful place for the bees to tumble about in and gather pollen for honey. In the photo below one can see the intricate design of the petals as well. So much wonder…..in the world around us, within our own bodies, relationships, families, nature – just everywhere….O to take the time to observe and enjoy.

Today I was challenged to replace my worry with wonder….now that is quite a stretch for sure. It is especially a stretch for someone like me who tends to capitalize on worry rather than trust. One way that I have learned how to cope more effectively with worry and turn my worry into wonder is through gratitude. Taking time to develop a lifestyle, yes, I said lifestyle on purpose, of gratitude tends to turn worry into wonder – it causes one to see how much God has given and gifted us within our lives. For many of us we tend to worry more than we wonder – or if we wonder we tend to have a negative side to our wonder. Let us ponder this beautiful rosebud that I happened upon a couple weeks ago. Now I take many, many photographs but never do I ever remember a bud with such intricate texture on the petals themselves. And the delicate blending of the colors is another wow here for sure. In my inquisitive mind there are many running thoughts here – how big will this flower be when it is open? Will the colors blend together throughout the entire blossom? What color will the center of this rose be? Will it have a strong or delicate scent or possibly no scent at all? Will the bees come and roll in the pollen and then make some sweet, sweet honey? How long will it take until this bud opens? And the questions could go on but I think by now you have also been captivated by the wonder of one rosebud. What an incredible Creator God we have!

So how is it that I can replace my worry with wonder you may ask? How can I really pray to God to handle a problem and then ‘let go and let God?’ Again, I am reminded of another couple verses in the Scriptures:

Matthew 6:27-29 (The Message) “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

Yes, again we are encouraged to let go….to embrace the wonder, the creativity of God as well as the capability of God. This has all lead to an acrostic I have entitled:

Discerning the Wonder & Beauty of the Year 2022

Tis the beginning of a fresh new year –

Wonderful treasures are wrapped neatly in 365 days –

Eventually each one will arrive to be embraced and lived –

New experiences, new adventures, new people to meet –

Trying to navigate each part of the daily path –

Yes – step by step, moment by moment, I will live to glorify God.

Trying to embark on a new year, a new day, a new beginning

With relished excitement and wonder

Entails a conscious effort and choice on my part –

Not feeling the certainty and predictability

That life once seemed to offer –

Yet choosing to embrace the present as a gift – – –

This is where the Almighty Creator God comes into focus –

With His invitation once again to trust and walk with Him

Onward on the path He has mapped for me – for you – the path through twenty-twenty-two.

God: help us to embrace the gifts of this year we have just begun. Some of them may well prove as irritants but give us the grace to allow them to develop into beautiful gifts we may offer to others along the way. Some of them will take a while to open into fulness but give us the patience to allow You to unfurl the moments, hours, days, weeks, and months into beautiful gifts with which our lives can then bless others in this world. Thank you, God, for the opportunity of sharing our lives with Your creation. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

“You can infuse your life with joy, even right in the middle of winter when you need it most…”

Join Christine Aroney-Sine for a series of five inspiring conversations, based on her book, The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God.*

Wednesday nights from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m on Zoom

• January 19 – The Awe of Wonder (Introduction)
• January 26 – Wonder & Trauma
• February 2 – Play!
• February 9 – Reminiscing
• February 16 – The Joy of Gratitude

* We will mail you the book with your $10 registration. If you already have the book, the series is free.

poem by Ana Lisa de Jong

I’m just glad I got through another day

with a little bit of beauty. 

It’s like patching a quilt. 

You choose the swatches of fabric you wish to keep. 

You select the thread. 

You carry on with immortalising it.

The memories you hope to retain 

made predominant, 

the colours made from feeling.

At night you pull it up to under 

your chin, or over your cheeks. 

Who can be cold or without comfort

with the best kept. 

Turned into the things we’ve

chosen to recall. 

The rest discarded to the pile

of cloth for which there might 

be a place one day,

a reason why.

In the meantime

a ‘comforter’ needs the things to

which our heart leans.

The softness of a safe embrace. 

The enfolding swell of down,

the cool of cotton.

The colours of the feelings that feel best. 

Yes, to get through another day

is just enough,

with beauty in it to retain.

Enough of which

to make a keepsake. 

The rest against which 

we can close our eyes.

Discard to the floor,

anything which doesn’t fit, 

or disturbs the vision.

Thank God we have a mind to choose, 

a heart to discern,

what it is our lives are made from.

Ana Lisa de Jong 

Living Tree Poetry

photo by Dinh Pham on Unsplash

Prayer cards are available in the shop for many occasions and seasons–from everyday pauses and Lenten ruminations to breath meditations and Advent reflections, enjoy guided prayers and beautiful illustrations designed to delight and draw close. Many are available in single sets, sets of three, and to download–even bundled with other resources!

by Rodney Marsh

“Whenever we come to an end of something, including life itself, we are not left with understanding but only with wonder.” – Charles Ringma, Hear the Ancient Wisdom: A Meditational Reader for the Whole Year from the Early Church Fathers up to the Pre-Reformation

This Red Tingle tree, in a National Park in South Western Australia, has been given an appropriate name: “The Sentinel.” The tree, according to the notice nearby, has a very impressive 12m circumference at its base. In common with other Red Tingles in the area its core has been burned out creating a small shelter. This ancient tree looked to me like one of the ‘living’ trees out of The Lord of the Rings.  I saw this tree while walking the Bibbulmun Track in November last year, and when I recently read John’s words about his vision of a “New Jerusalem… coming down from God…” and a voice shouting “ God’s home is now with his people… he will wipe away all tears from their eyes,” I remember the Sentinel. Here is a New Year poem inspired by this Red Tingle tree.

The Sentinel

For hundreds of years

This living giant

Has stood guard 

Over each new year.

Winds have torn at her limbs

Fire has eaten at his heart

Thirst has wilted her leaves

But the Sentinel still stands and speaks.

The Sentinel speaks from experience:

“This year will be no different

Our limbs will be torn

Our hearts will be hollowed out

We will thirst,

But, I bear witness, and I know,

‘God’s home is now with his people

The end of tears is near.’”

The Sentinel stands guard

The Sentinel speaks

Can you hear?

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by Christine Sine

Everywhere I turn at the moment people are talking about grief and the work that needs to be done to enable us to establish a “new normal” in the reality that confronts us. As I think about this I am reminded of the Wise Men whose arrival in Jesus’ life we celebrated last week. They were warned by a dream to go back home another way and it seems to me that 2022 is beckoning us to do the same. We too are being told to go back by another way, a way that seems to me to lie through the valley of Baka (the valley of weeping) but it is also a valley that in Psalm 84 God promises can be made into a place of springs.

My current read – The Wild Edge of Sorrow – reminds me that grief is sacred. It calls us back to deeper ground, to the roots of our life. If we treat it with reverence, recognizing the important work it yields in our lives it becomes a place of learning and strengthening and renewal.

COVID made us aware of the grief resident in our souls, the grief we ignored for a long time that will no longer remain silent. There is the grief of our abuse of the earth and the amazing brilliance of a world without pollution that we caught a glimpse of again in the months of lockdown. There is the grief of our abuse of neighbours who look and think differently from us. There is the grief of the abuse of our bodies that cry out for the rest and refreshment that many of us found over the last couple of years. I think there is also the grief of our abuse of God who receives only a cursory acknowledgment of our commitment.

In the midst of this grief, I hear people calling for renewed commitment to a rule of life; a rhythm of life with love of God at the centre. I thought it was a good time for me to challenge all of us (including myself) to think about this and how we develop and live out such a rule.

Discerning a Shared Rhythm of Life Together

I see rules and rhythms of life being adopted both by individuals wanting a more intentional structure for their faith practices and by churches and communities encouraging their leadership and staff to deeper levels of shared commitment.

Most of us, however, still tend to associate a rule of life with monastic or neo-monastic communities that are on the fringes of church and society. We don’t really understand what value a commitment to a common rhythm or rule could possibly have especially in the context of leadership.  Some of us think it sounds a bit legalistic. I find however that a rule of life is very freeing. It reminds us of who we are, what God calls us to be and do, and how God calls us to live. It can provide wonderful guidelines that enable us to come together and stay together in unity.

What is a Rule of Life?

A rule of life is a set of practices we commit to that enable us to continue growing closer to God, to each other, to God’s good creation and to the mission God calls us to. In the words of St Benedict, it is “simply a handbook to make the radical demands of the gospel a practical reality in daily life.”

Celtic monasteries centred around the formation of communities in which members followed a certain lifestyle and maintained a regular discipline of prayer and worship.  Monks mixed manual, intellectual and spiritual labour, maintaining a balance between engagement in the world and withdrawal from it.  These communities provided a focus for the life of the surrounding non-monastic community whose members made different forms of commitment and adhered to a variety of rules that acknowledged and affirmed their gifts and ministry.

A number of contemporary churches and organizations have rediscovered the value of a rhythm of life.  Ian Mobsby in his book The Becoming of G_d explains:  “As people encounter Christians living out profound expressions of the faith through God’s love, they encounter the depth of a loving Christian community and experience God as their ‘ground of being’ through worship, mission and community… It is in these participative and loving Christian communities that people can encounter the reality of the Christian story of the Holy Trinity not as a hypothetical truth but as a profound reality clueing us in to how we should live.”

A Rule of Life Rooted in Shalom

I spent a lot of time researching shalom when I wrote Shalom and the Wholeness of God back in 2011. Randy Woodley’s indigenous view of shalom expressed in his book Shalom and the Community of Creation was particularly impactful. The above diagram became not only the centre of my beliefs but also the centre for my development of a rule of life for myself and the community in which we live. It’s time for me to revisit this. I am increasingly convinced that we should encourage ourselves and others to develop a rhythm of life based on God’s desire for wholeness – in which prayer intertwines through every aspect of life so that we can keep God and God’s shalomic purposes at the centre of all we are and do.

The current turmoil that bubbles in so many ways around us encourages complacency in those who believe we are headed for an apocalyptic end to the world. For those of us who believe this is a sign of God’s desire for renewal and restoration to the wholeness of the original creation, it is a wake-up call to reevaluate our lives.

As a result, we want to encourage followers of Jesus to live into:

A redeemed (restored) relationship to God, seeking intimacy with God through:

1. 1. Regular individual prayer & scripture study
   2. Regular corporate worship balanced with times of listening in solitude – (meditative and contemplative prayer)
   3. Repentance and confession of sins both personal and societal
   4. Commitment to personal healing of wounds from the past that create barriers between us and God
   5. Development of disciplines that encourage a balance between spiritual and secular, community and solitude, work and rest.  “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matt 11:28 The Message)

A redeemed (restored) relationship to God’s worldwide community through:

1. 1. Intentionally sharing life with others – recognizing that God comes to us in community and that community is essential for Christian faith, actively seeking support and accountability
   2. Hospitality and celebration – “let everyone be received as Christ” celebrating the in-breaking of God’s resurrection world with others
   3. Simple living – uncluttering our lives to focus on participating in God’s resurrection life in both local and global community – give me neither poverty nor riches (Prov 30)
   4. Solidarity with the marginalized – “act justly, love mercy” (Micah 6:8)
   5. Recognizing all we have belongs to God, becoming whole-life stewards who practice generosity that encourages mutual care – “where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21)
   6. Humbly examining the ways culture and history have shaped our values, discarding those that are counter to God’s kingdom values and embracing and celebrating those that reflect God’s kingdom values
   7. Service in the broader community – not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others (Phil 2:4)

A redeemed relationship with God’s creation through

1. Responsible ecological stewardship – responding to the fact that “the earth is the Lord’s & the fullness thereof.” (Psalm 24:1)
2. Connection to the God revealed through creation
3. Enjoyment of God’s creation and creatures
4. A commitment to “live lightly on the earth” and do what we can to restore the polluted and devastated world in which we live

Shalom and the Wholeness of God – Download

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I hope you enjoy today’s beautiful contemplative service from St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Seattle.

A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“This is my Fathers World” Alternate arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
Public domain lyrics by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901

“Down in the River to Pray” Traditional American spiritual, public domain
Arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

“Kristus Din Ande (Jesus, Your Spirit in Us)” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé

“Kyrie” Text and music by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

“O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” Public domain hymn, arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org