tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-244384422024-03-12T23:19:49.648-07:00Come to the Table...All are invited to come to the table--His Table--and be nourished, strengthened, encouraged, accepted and loved as He does us. The door is open, welcome to the Episcopal Church USA.Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.comBlogger364125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-12889747860763457842017-03-17T10:59:00.000-07:002017-03-17T10:59:52.788-07:00Thoughts on the Color of DepressionDepression is an illness. It is not an easy thing to describe because it is different for everyone who is afflicted with it [think 500 shades of black]. Its' onset is bedeviling. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. See that very slap-happy person over there? Chances are he or she is actually a person suffering from depression. See the extremely successful professional? Chances are there are deep down fears that propel them to seek success continually, and it's not about money...it's about how deeply they are depressed.<br />
<br />
Depression doesn't disappear overnight. Catchy pep talk-like "Buck up! It'll be a great day!" have no effect on depression, other than to make it worse in the individual suffering from it, and such sayings have no true positive value. It is the kind of reaction people have when they can't "fix" depression. They don't want to "catch it" either, when they see it in someone else.<br />
<br />
Those of us who suffer from chronic depression don't have the smart answer to "What is wrong with you?" or "What are you upset about?". I honestly believe people want to help us out of the "darkness". But what is it we are "in"? Darkness, it seems, isn't always black or a state of blindness and floundering. This "darkness" is without color or hue. It exists where no one else can see it but the person afflicted with chronic depression. It blankets the interior of the mind, clouding cognitive ability, as well as creating an immobilizing effect on the person it covers. We want to do things, productively, creatively, socially. Yet, we are paralyzed, stuck and unable to take action. We often don't sleep well, have flashbacks, anxiety attacks, and forget to eat. We sit in dark rooms, staring out of windows, and we are numbed by it as if by anesthesia.<br />
<br />
We don't want to be this way but it seems there is no way out from under "the blanket". Medications, psychotherapy, groups, journaling are a few of the ways depression can be treated. And there are times none of these treatments work. That's when the patient suffering from depression needs to call a friend or minister, or a help line network to stop the feeling of being on a runaway train, out of control and down a steep mountainside, thinking that an even deeper darkness can make the train stop, when the darkness becomes too, too much and the person ends up in a black tunnel of self-loathing with apparently no escape.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mKZQ3ZrpuWp_7ugw9c-aUW2Iish-rjna7HeXRVNRHJBFa_T9qPuNfL3YiSWL6wEBlg-JxtWNaLt-NPslgsm7knzUNYqpUh7VK5qMrZBN92rARpq7s_PnBLW5LEhSt1HP3kg/s1600/524852_10151586059001763_1594405905_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mKZQ3ZrpuWp_7ugw9c-aUW2Iish-rjna7HeXRVNRHJBFa_T9qPuNfL3YiSWL6wEBlg-JxtWNaLt-NPslgsm7knzUNYqpUh7VK5qMrZBN92rARpq7s_PnBLW5LEhSt1HP3kg/s320/524852_10151586059001763_1594405905_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>So what do we do about it? For the person afflicted with depression, it is a constant pushing against the bubble from inside out, trying to break through. It is a tremendous effort to lift "the blanket" that weighs so heavily upon us as we struggle to take a step forward. We expose ourselves to as much daylight as possible, as we have been told it will help lessen the sadness. And sometimes, it helps. But then the next day comes, and the Greek myth plays itself out again. Sisyphus trying to roll the great stone uphill only for it to fall back down to the base of the mountain. Trudging back down, we keep trying, and trying, and trying. <br />
<br />
We engage in real practises to help get us jump started the next day. These practises can be physical: walking, running, yoga, martial arts. These practises can also be spiritual: meditation, contemplation, prayer. Usually morning is my window of opportunity, and if I miss it, well, the rest of the day is a wasteland. So far I have highly unsuccessful at restarting my walking regimen begun in 2009, and in 2012 I was running again. I had lost 100 pounds and felt at the top of my game and in the best health...probably ever. Depression overcame me though and in 2013 I almost stopped walking completely and gained back 30 of those hard-fought for pounds. Add some fiscal issues, health issues, and personal issues and you have the ingredients that call Depression's name and here it comes a-runnin' to do its duty. It's like being in quicksand or a sticky mud bog. <br />
<br />
It hits when you are down most the time. The sneak attacks when you are at your peak of joy or success. Bam. Add 45 more pounds in 2014-15 and well, part of you thinks, "Whats the elf-ing point?".<br />
<br />
So are we hopeless cases that have no chance at a life free from Depression? Yes and no, sometimes and sometimes not. There are new and improved medications, the therapy of kindness, patience and love that some friends have and others need to learn. Learning how to take the air out of seemingly overwhelming circumstances can be done, with the right support and perspective. Somehow I have managed to learn a few techniques for de-stressing, seeing a thing and confronting it in such a way as to have the upper hand but a gentle one toward the thing and myself.<br />
<br />
Learning to understand that being alone is not loneliness, that being solitary is not a prerequisite to isolation; one can be social to the degree one is comfortable and know that you can politely retreat from social settings without feeling weird about it, or that someone will judge you on it [and if they do, that's their problem, not yours].<br />
<br />
Physical activity is helpful but don't think it has to be all about "exercise". That is an automatic turn off for most people with Depression. If you are a neat freak, then Spring clean as needed [and no, you don't have to wait until actual Spring arrives]. Gardening, yard work, hedge trimming, painting the house, basic house maintenance. Beading, knitting, sewing, coloring [as in an actual coloring book--they are all the rage now], and other forms of expression are good too, as is screaming into a pillow, writing a letter but not sending it, and so on. I have found that moving furniture around every week or so is also a form of exercise. Puzzles, taking an engine apart and putting it back together is a puzzle for most of us, walking your dog, cat or other animal or reptile is good too. You get the idea.<br />
<br />
So this post was begun a few years ago but never published. I decided to finish it out and post it today. I think there are depressed folks out there, and more likely than not it is about the outcome of our 2016 general election. A new Fear is present. The fear of a new American Nazi culture and country looms over us. Resistance is NOT futile. This is also a good therapy and exercise for the depressed if we can muster ourselves and realize there are more people out there like us now and if we can find a way to talk and communicate, we can slowly, carefully, find a way to manage Depression in our life's journey. <br />
<br />
<b>Disclaimer:</b> though I suffer from Depression, I don't claim to know everything about it or all the various ways of how to go about dealing with it. I am not Everywoman, and I am certainly not All-Knowing...I just know what I know and what works or has worked for me, and what might yet work for me in the future. Thanks.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-8463588861593968162017-03-17T09:07:00.000-07:002017-03-17T09:07:22.132-07:00<b>March 17, 2017</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEL1PCCX8IhWps-pZyL_zM_hf_FCyqCbAV96pRoIeBz94_tCyKTVcDVJkRSXaVZa4IZJu7F2zSZ_M_pbQUaCG7dYikx8drNNaRymoUi78TEM66SaZnJ-hxxkLlCLXzmnBHNY/s1600/378521_3128026519161_1219645424_33402113_108600475_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEL1PCCX8IhWps-pZyL_zM_hf_FCyqCbAV96pRoIeBz94_tCyKTVcDVJkRSXaVZa4IZJu7F2zSZ_M_pbQUaCG7dYikx8drNNaRymoUi78TEM66SaZnJ-hxxkLlCLXzmnBHNY/s320/378521_3128026519161_1219645424_33402113_108600475_n.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
My dear readers and friends:<br />
<br />
I love that this blog is still being read though I have been remiss over recent years to post anything new. Thank you, Brenda Stevens, for commenting on the Living Flame of Love but St John of the Cross. It got me to writing this post. Thank you, thank you, thank you.<br />
<br />
Much has happened over the last five years, well, since 2010 when I was in a car accident. TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury can indeed change one's life. And it can sometimes be a challenge and lengthy duration before one can truly begin a New Normal.<br />
<br />
Rounding up and corralling one's thoughts and making them coherent can be a new challenge, at least for someone like me and others, to a point that they make sense again. Attention span can add to that challenge as well. When you find yourself flitting from one task to another, it makes is so hard to accomplish or finish anything. At first, you feel as if in a maelstrom of thoughts, feelings, fears, anxiety, speech issues and attention deficit, that you wonder if there is anything resembling your previous self left to work with. Over time with the treatment, some of those tumultuous thoughts fall into place and things are bit less confusing. Eventually you are able to clearly think again and you know this because your thoughts are once again mostly coherent, easier to round up and herd and get them to do your bidding.<br />
<br />
These days it is much easier than those years ago when all I could do was sit in a chair and stare at the world. Thankfully, there was that part of me that remained for the most part calm and sort of talked me through the fear...that was probably more God than me talking quietly to my bruised brain, spiritual heart and pummeled body.<br />
<br />
I have been plagued by one kind of sickness after the other, as if my immune system was as casualty too. Every recovery is a joy and every turn of illness a guerrilla war, mind over body. I have one all the skirmishes so far and continue to get a bit stronger with each incursion. God is still very good to me, though all the twists and turns of life since 2010. And I am ever so thankful to those who gave me their support in a myriad of ways.<br />
<br />
So am still and Episcopalian [TbtG], still a chaplain [TbtG] and still single [I was in a relationship for two of my missing blogger years but those years are past]. I am still a writer [though mostly in my head] and a poet [which occasionally I can write down a few lines before rocketing the ball of paper to the trash can]. I still love life and a peace I have found which does pass all understanding.<br />
<br />
I hope to be writing more here in the future. So thank you everyone who has continued to read and comment on my posts from 2006 forward. I will endeavor to forge ahead in this medium I so loved and still work at here, in this space.<br />
<br />
Grace and peace to you all,<br />
<br />
CatherineCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-87395549322286593752016-06-28T12:54:00.001-07:002016-06-28T12:54:11.446-07:00<h1 class="fl" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Media Release</h1>
<span class="fr tar" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;"><b style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Episcopal Church</b> <br style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><i style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Office of Public Affairs</i></span><br />
<div class="block-peach" style="background-color: #f1e7dc; border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px -10px; padding: 5px 10px;">
<span class="block-peach-title" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Letter to the Episcopal Church From Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies</span></div>
<br clear="all" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<strong style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Letter to the Episcopal Church<br style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />From Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<em style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves</strong></em></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
[June 28, 2016] <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-n/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Episcopal Church </a>Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry and President of the <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-p/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">House of Deputies </a>the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have written the following letter to the Episcopal Church.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
June 28, 2016</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
We all know that some things in holy Scripture can be confusing, hard to understand, or open to various ways of understanding. But some essential teachings are clear and incontrovertible. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid (Matthew 10:31, Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50, John 14:27).</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
There’s no confusion about what Jesus is telling us, but it often requires courage to embody it in the real world. Again and again, we become afraid, and mired in that fear, we turn against Jesus and one another.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
This age-old cycle of fear and hatred plays out again and again in our broken world, in sickening and shocking events like the massacre targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Orlando, but also in the rules we make and the laws we pass. Most recently, we’ve seen fear at work in North Carolina, a state dear to both of our hearts, where a law called the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act” has decimated the civil rights and God-given dignity of transgender people and, by extension, drastically curtailed protections against discrimination for women, people of color, and many others. We are thankful for the <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-x/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">prayerful and pastoral public leadership</a> of the North Carolina bishops on this law, which is known as House Bill 2.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
North Carolina is not the only place where fear has gotten the better of us. Lawmakers in other jurisdictions have also threatened to introduce legislation that would have us believe that protecting the rights of transgender people—even a right as basic as going to the bathroom—somehow puts the rest of us at risk.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
This is not the first time that the segregation of bathrooms and public facilities has been used to discriminate unjustly against minority groups. And just as in our painful racial past, it is even being claimed that the “bathroom bills,” as they are sometimes called, ensure the safety of women and children—the same reason so often given to justify Jim Crow racial segregation.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
But we believe that, as the New Testament says, “perfect love casts out fear.” On June 10, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church stood against fear and for God’s love by <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-m/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">passing a resolution </a>that reaffirms the Episcopal Church’s support of local, state and federal laws that prevent discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression and voices our opposition to all legislation that seeks to deny the God-given dignity, the legal equality, and the civil rights of transgender people.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
The need is urgent, because laws like the one in North Carolina prey on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities—some of the very same people who were targeted in the Orlando attack. In a <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-g/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2011 survey,</a>78 percent of transgender people said that they had been bullied or harassed in childhood; 41 percent said they had attempted suicide; 35 percent had been assaulted, and 12 percent had suffered a sexual assault. Almost half of transgender people who responded to the survey said they had suffered job discrimination, and almost a fifth had lost housing or been denied health care due to their gender identity or expression.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
In keeping with Executive Council’s resolution, we are sending a letter to the governor and members of the North Carolina General Assembly calling on them to repeal the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act.” When legislation that discriminates against transgender people arises in other places, we will also voice our opposition and ask Episcopalians to join us. We will also support legislation, like a bill recently passed in the Massachusetts state legislature, that prevents discrimination of all kinds based on gender identity or gender expression.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
As Christians, we bear a particular responsibility to speak out in these situations, because attempts to deny transgender people their dignity and humanity as children of God are too often being made in the name of God. This way of fear is not the way of Jesus Christ, and at these times, we have the opportunity to demonstrate our belief that Christianity is not a way of judgment, but a way of following Jesus in casting out fear.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
In the face of the violence and injustice we see all around us, what can we do? We can start by choosing to get to know one another. TransEpiscopal, an organization of transgender Episcopalians and their allies, has posted on their website a <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-w/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">video called “Voices of Witness: Out of the Box” </a>that can help you get to know some transgender Episcopalians and hear their stories. <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-yd/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Integrity USA,</a> which produced the video, and the <a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-yh/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Chicago Consultation </a>are two other organizations working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the church. Their websites also have online materials that you can use to learn more about the stories of transgender Christians and our church’s long journey to understand that they are children of God and created in God’s image.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
When we are born anew through baptism, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. Today, transgender people and, indeed, the entire LGBT community, need us to keep that promise. By doing so, we can bear witness to the world that Jesus has shown us another way—the way of love.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
Faithfully,</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings<br style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Presiding Bishop and Primate President, House of Deputies</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<em style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">On the web:</em></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<em style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://publicaffairs.createsend1.com/t/r-l-sukhydy-xllklitb-yk/" style="border: 0px none; color: #464646; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Letter to the Episcopal Church From Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies</a></em></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-21217483438351433582014-09-15T20:56:00.000-07:002014-09-16T07:07:03.913-07:00"White Owl..." by Mary OliverI make no pretense about how I feel about Snowy Owls. I had previously posted this to Facebook but since not all my peeps "do" social media, it simply made my heart happy to repost it to my blog which is in reawakening-mode. To whit...<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGReSKcDpBAvpJ-OC1lyjMYJVU4Twxk_m1-bUZA7wAUio9T7q_sEzarflbJGIaMhiwdivwW4ZGq_JV00MUv-Wv7IlFDXn9MmwCG9KymFXiibdPIWdSamhrLS6zj600SuYIuzQ/s1600/snowy-owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGReSKcDpBAvpJ-OC1lyjMYJVU4Twxk_m1-bUZA7wAUio9T7q_sEzarflbJGIaMhiwdivwW4ZGq_JV00MUv-Wv7IlFDXn9MmwCG9KymFXiibdPIWdSamhrLS6zj600SuYIuzQ/s1600/snowy-owl.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mary Oliver, “White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field"</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"></span></i></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;">Coming down out of the freezing sky</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
with its depths of light,</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
it was beautiful, and accurate,</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
striking the snow and whatever was there</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
with a force that left the imprint</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
of the tips of its wings — five feet apart —</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
and the grabbing thrust of its feet,</div>
</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
and the indentation of what had been running</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
through the white valleys of the snow —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and then it rose, gracefully,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and flew back to the frozen marshes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the blue shadows —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so I thought:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
maybe death isn’t darkness, after all,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but so much light wrapping itself around us —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as soft as feathers —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and shut our eyes, not without amazement,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and let ourselves be carried,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as through the translucence of mica,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in which we are washed and washed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out of our bones.</div>
</span></i></span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-29181250169206596702014-09-03T23:02:00.000-07:002014-09-03T23:02:39.724-07:00Evening of the SensesMy office/library is a calming green. It's 10:30pm and the neighborhood is quiet. Sometime in the evening, a neighbor hung a plastic shopping bag with Cherokee Purple tomatoes on the door knob. No wonder the security light came on...showed them the way...<br />
<br />
The night air is cool and fragrant. Honeysuckle vines are long past blooming, sending their intoxicating perfume across the street from the alley and right into the yard...I remember it well in June and July. Sometimes it is a melding of the sunshine heat rising off of the pavers in the late evening with the ever-present light pinesome blanket of cypress essence mixing with that coolness that creates a kind of air I wish I could inhale all night without exhaling it ever.<br />
<br />
The windows are open. The moon-tinged air moves back and forth in the room on the gentlest of breezes. It is very quiet now...the street is empty, asleep, except for the silent traffic of mice, cats and the slightly heard swoosh of an owl or the squeak of the little bats around the street lights.<br />
<br />
Under the old English laurel hedge, knurled old root stock and weighted, thick branches, are layer upon layer of old, dried leaves...and there is life there, where all appears dead in the daylight. I sit here, and hear the delicate rustle and rearrangement of this leaf or that twig, as life moves beneath. <br />
<br />
Owls live in this neighborhood. I've posted about them on social media. They are fearless little hunters, and have no fear of humans--apparently. I have become quite enamored of them. I admire them for their intense gaze, their ear tufts and the startling way they become part of the hedge trunks. Oh, and the scrub jays, how they complain! But even they move on, leaving the owl to its' nap...<br />
<br />
The sun sets in summer are long in the Rogue Valley...and the blue gold light that rises over the western mountains, spreads under the cerulean sky like water, an ocean all its' own, over our heads. And it is as if God needed a flashlight, and turned this sun set on to see....The sides of the valley covered in the darkest of green trees, yet we can see the hue and count the crowns.<br />
<br />
I shall miss this summer in ways that can't be explained with words...it was a much better one than last year...clear, fresh skies of pure azure. White puffy clouds ever elegantly twisting and turning in their dance. I could watch clouds all day. I could stare into the infinite blue that becomes black with pinpricks of various sizes dotting the darkness...but mercifully, we are special, in that we are in a kind of heaven on earth, full of conflict, cruelty, greed, hatred...it is all we have right now...and it is abounding in mercy, compassion, goodness, sharing, and love, too. <br />
<br />
This year has been particularly full of war and invasion, and the news has been terrible and deeply troubling. Prayers for peace and end to suffering and conflict abound. The hope endures. <br />
<br />
There are crickets now...the hummingbirds and little songbirds are all tucked into the hedge for the night. There is a calm about it, the quiet night, where there is --at last -- a kind of peace.<br />
<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-82162943874409553082014-05-29T13:37:00.000-07:002014-05-29T13:45:17.382-07:00<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I knew Kay Atwood at Trinity Episcopal Church less than four years and only saw her once a month when we, as members of a team, prepared the altar and church for our monthly Contemplative Eucharist Service. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvJ6Y7qulUxUvyPIsH_sxlmUPJTp9BYKpXBW8WuInBL1JCu1eE9cJMhri_a6tLx4zrOaiFwJdeQuHYZ5ogBiNf8elxplWRmFZJ99sCnw3VX9QQSPpv6qV9pFt0Ohe3Tp9MIc/s1600/bilde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvJ6Y7qulUxUvyPIsH_sxlmUPJTp9BYKpXBW8WuInBL1JCu1eE9cJMhri_a6tLx4zrOaiFwJdeQuHYZ5ogBiNf8elxplWRmFZJ99sCnw3VX9QQSPpv6qV9pFt0Ohe3Tp9MIc/s1600/bilde.jpg" height="400" width="286" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kay was soft-spoken and funny, modest about herself but always on the ball with her part in preparing our Danish Modern sanctuary and chancel with her assignment. Whether candles, or icons, a reading or sitting quietly by the table in the vestibule ready to greet those who attended with lighted candles, programs and accepting love offerings, she accomplished these things with grace and gentleness, yet with a strength right under the surface, shining the Love of God toward everyone, all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kay is a well-known local author and authority on the history of the southern Oregon area. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Among her titles are <i><span style="color: red;">Illahe: The Story of the Settlement of the Rogue River Canyon, Mill Creek Journal: Ashland Oregon 1850-1860, Ashland Community Hospital: A Century of Caring, Jackson County Conversations, Chaining Oregon: Surveying the Public Lands of the Pacific Northwest, 1851-1855. </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No doubt I have left some titles out but Kay was prolific in her writing and we are the richer for it. As a professional researcher, she often mentored others in the art of researching and digging for the minutae of a particular subject's fine points.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcH_So4SWFcB5VJHHUBAuRP2wHKjMNxVUTQJUOrS_vNuO0JiZ-Vy1eKTVixhpTIhJTKkwZDBOpy6y_55d34C2Ht-LeFIgLP7eZmVC_rTgJjzmtHtYqInnjtOWw7W4Tyg_KM8/s1600/Illahe+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcH_So4SWFcB5VJHHUBAuRP2wHKjMNxVUTQJUOrS_vNuO0JiZ-Vy1eKTVixhpTIhJTKkwZDBOpy6y_55d34C2Ht-LeFIgLP7eZmVC_rTgJjzmtHtYqInnjtOWw7W4Tyg_KM8/s1600/Illahe+cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7rdYuEXP7YTJLquF74co9FcTNze1jaTvSNM6NCE0KFU1ZikP6gWgBV_Lvohxp3OQmrvgI7t2e8px7ksPe7qHoiPOTbBboLOKElgLezd9_RIRp5ULm2df8btfxXSdpg5tsK4/s1600/Mill+Creek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7rdYuEXP7YTJLquF74co9FcTNze1jaTvSNM6NCE0KFU1ZikP6gWgBV_Lvohxp3OQmrvgI7t2e8px7ksPe7qHoiPOTbBboLOKElgLezd9_RIRp5ULm2df8btfxXSdpg5tsK4/s1600/Mill+Creek.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0ye3hxoswe8bkwzgFqeS6snezbm6TLRdMHyEU6wwyX8Lb2UoKtba7J0Xz-DkKTCdRsLdWRIHO7sLmpMjsuaV8OQEJ8GxIZpN4dkQnjQHDQIIZW868L3iYZ_OgjBGEPz0sgY/s1600/Ashland+Hospital.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0ye3hxoswe8bkwzgFqeS6snezbm6TLRdMHyEU6wwyX8Lb2UoKtba7J0Xz-DkKTCdRsLdWRIHO7sLmpMjsuaV8OQEJ8GxIZpN4dkQnjQHDQIIZW868L3iYZ_OgjBGEPz0sgY/s1600/Ashland+Hospital.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3J9Q5FXVjNbioOtwVKVGw1gC02ewSO6HgoTwbhlevTpJ5Il2LcHcLeGz-FucgaH0VNBbH2l5F_aRp_3gtEXi3k7JpjssBU-9DP0Q4maqP4Do-8DmBlFVkSCIiYIEMtOlBiXc/s1600/Chaining+Oregon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3J9Q5FXVjNbioOtwVKVGw1gC02ewSO6HgoTwbhlevTpJ5Il2LcHcLeGz-FucgaH0VNBbH2l5F_aRp_3gtEXi3k7JpjssBU-9DP0Q4maqP4Do-8DmBlFVkSCIiYIEMtOlBiXc/s1600/Chaining+Oregon.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kay will be missed for all she did quietly in the community, for friendships made, wisdom shared and her love and dedication to family, including her church family. I am thankful for getting to know her as much as I did and for the way she graced all of our lives with her presence, and consequently, the world was richer for her being in the world, and for that I give deep thanks. Blessings to you Kay on your new adventure. We know where to find you...on the other side of the veil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> ~ Catherine ~</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-53719795854215109012014-02-26T23:00:00.000-08:002014-02-26T23:00:24.036-08:00Long time, no seeLife is time-consuming, hence the big blank between July of last year until now. Life still goes on but how does anyone find time to blog? Oy! I'm working on that as you can see…it's not much but it is a start….I'm working on a few topics so be patient a bit longer!<br />
<br />
CatherineCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-32048630973271387892013-07-11T23:55:00.000-07:002013-07-11T23:57:03.010-07:00Spiritual Rhythms and Medievalists...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KCetLLLquSjmr3yxXNWdZhT77fseAG1s8v31HXKhMJGzI56kF1b_i5s54gRw4Gc2n_XKTQjb0naVlBp60bCE2LmbLGA9MqawXQPIsF2ObRfrwr4pWzNoO-kKm12JxsSe_NY/s1600/candle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KCetLLLquSjmr3yxXNWdZhT77fseAG1s8v31HXKhMJGzI56kF1b_i5s54gRw4Gc2n_XKTQjb0naVlBp60bCE2LmbLGA9MqawXQPIsF2ObRfrwr4pWzNoO-kKm12JxsSe_NY/s1600/candle.jpg" /></a></div>
I have always enjoyed and benefited from the wisdom and the sharing of resources of Christine Sine's blog, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/I%20have%20always%20enjoyed%20and%20benefited%20from%20the%20wisdom%20and%20the%20sharing%20of%20resources%20of%20Christine%20Sine%27s%20%3Ca%20href=%22http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/spiritual-rhythms-that-create-resilience/%22%3EGodspace%3C/a%3E%20blog">Godspace</a>. Her most recent entry is on spiritual rhythms that create resilience. I commend it to you, dear readers, as it reminds me that I need to recreate my sacred space which I have had to move due to changes in the domestic rhythm of Sequoia House [the name given to this house that had a giant sequoia planted in its' backyard in 1947 by the original owners and is not more, since 1999]. These are very wonderful and happy changes, but still there is a need to maintain one's center. This article regarding spiritual practice and how such practice helps us to bounce back to a holy balance no matter the changes going on in one's life. To read it all, please click on the link <u>above</u> to Godspace. Here is an excerpt from the article:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The response to my post <a href="http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/enhance-your-spiritual-resilience-five-practices-that-make-a-difference/">Enhance Your Spiritual Resilience</a> – Five Practices that Make a Difference made me realize that this is a topic that needs to be fleshed out in more detail. This post is designed to help flesh out some of the practices. It draws from my book Godspace which specifically addresses some of these issues.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br />According to Christian anthropologist Paul Hiebert there are two types of rituals, habits or practices we need in our lives, what he calls rituals of restoration and rituals of transformation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br />Rituals of restoration are the most common. These are the practices that restore our faith in the beliefs that order our lives. They also connect us to and anchor us in the religious communities in which these beliefs are expressed. Restorative practices are highly structured & do not change from day to day or year to year. They reaffirm our sense of order & meaning in the universe, our community & our own lives. Most importantly, they intentionally connect our daily activities to the life, death & resurrection of Christ.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br />Possibilities include a rhythm of prayer that reaffirms what we believe, sabbath practices, weekly church gathering, taking communion, following the liturgical calendar and the use of liturgical symbols like the sign of the cross, candles, and incense. I even find that writing prayers for Facebook each morning and preparing my blog posts is a stabilizing and restorative ritual.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisiNG9UXwlXjTZ_likfLDBpOr_mUL7O8J2_1a66k8Jxowgnq4-vT8L7BTLD_8tCc8iZdZTHcd3Y-qoh2hapiL5pc8qvl9-6EFtkwV7fz2pAlECdhk0lABoF-1SmVv8KtYbPjw/s1600/medieval+windows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisiNG9UXwlXjTZ_likfLDBpOr_mUL7O8J2_1a66k8Jxowgnq4-vT8L7BTLD_8tCc8iZdZTHcd3Y-qoh2hapiL5pc8qvl9-6EFtkwV7fz2pAlECdhk0lABoF-1SmVv8KtYbPjw/s1600/medieval+windows.jpg" /></a></div>
The thing about Medievalists is that they find nuggets of wonder in history, art, music and philosophy that we rarely touch upon. I was delighted to find an obscure link that someone posted on Facebook that lead me to their FB page and also their website where I could sign up for a weekly newsletter. Oh, now I remember. FB friend Barbara B had posted a link that led me there. The articles have left me wanting for more, and more I shall receive! The articles touch on all aspects of life as we know it, but in the Middle Ages, some of the ideas were borne of interaction with foreign countries and the ideas of those places...for instance:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/11/theorizing-the-crusades-identity-institutions-and-religious-war-in-medieval-latin-christendom/"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Theorizing the Crusades</span></a>, <a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/11/the-jew-who-wasnt-there-anti-semitism-absence-and-anxiety-in-medieval-scandinavia/"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">The Jew Who Wasn't There</span></a>, <a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2013/06/23/medieval-pet-names/"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Medieval Pet Names</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/04/real-tennis-and-the-civilising-process/"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Real Tennis and the Civilising Process</span></a>. True, not the most tantalizing-sounding topics, but then I didn't include all of each title...it is truly amazing stuff, gems of history, of life that brought us to the present as we know it, and yet we don't know it all.<br />
<br />
You can read more on all the various aspects of how we got to where we are by visiting the website,<br />
<a href="http://medievalists.net/">Medievalists.net</a> and reading all the obscure good stuff yourself. <br />
<br />
Spiritual rhythms of resilience and reading about the Middle Ages...I personally can't think of better stuff to read or write about at the end of a long day.<br />
<br />
Humbly, your servant,<br />
Catherine<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #674ea7;">Credits: the image of the candle and icon are from Christine's blog post of July 11, 2013, and the series of stained glass windows are from</span> <a href="http://hakuba.deviantart.com/art/Stained-Glass-Medieval-style-33096342">Hakuba</a>.</i>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-2167881574549158032013-07-02T01:34:00.000-07:002013-07-02T01:34:03.911-07:00Living in the Mercy...It is 12:51 am this very early Tuesday morning. This insomniac night happens when I have a lot on my mind, or in my heart and body, when thoughts refuse to hear the last bedtime story with any solace, and begin murmuring after the lights should go out, but they don't, and busy themselves with suppressed little jobs like posting an entry to a much neglected blog...and of course Thoughts think they can help moping moaning Muscles to lower their voices, so here is where those busy little thoughts have brought me.<br />
<br />
I pulled a book of poetry off the library table in the living room, careful not to knock over or bump this candle, or that tiny brass incense burner, seemingly and haphazardly placed alone along the spines of books by Oliver, Shelley, Cummings, Spenser, Wyatt, Browning, Hopkins, Rumi. Dickinson, Donne, Milton, Tennyson, Housman. No, I choose Levertov. And here is what she said to me because the Spirit spoke it to her, and she had to pen it down:<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To Live in the Mercy of God</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To lie back under the tallest</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">oldest trees. How far the stems</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">rise, rise, </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> before the ribs of shelter</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> open!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To live in the mercy of God. The complete</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">sentence too adequate, has no give.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Awe, not comfort. Stone, elbows of </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">stoney wood beneath lenient</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">moss bed.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and awe suddenly</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">passing beyond itself. Becomes</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">a form of comfort.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Becomes the steady</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> air you glide on, arms</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">stretched like the wings of flying foxes.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To hear the multiple silence</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">of trees, the rainy</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">forest sepths of their listening.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To float, upheld,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> as salt water</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> would hold you,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> once you dared.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To live in the mercy of God.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To feel vibrate the enraptured</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> waterfall flinging itself </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> unabating down and down</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> to clench fists of rock.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Swiftness of plunge,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> hour after year after century.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> O or Ah</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> uninterrupted, voice</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> many-stranded.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> To breathe</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> spray. The smoke of it.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Arcs</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> of steelwhite foam, glissades</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> of fugitive jade barely perceptible. Such passions~</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> rage or joy?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Thus, not mild, not temperate,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> God's love for the world. Vast</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> flood of mercy</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> flung on resistance. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Much mercy has been shown to me these last 2-3 years, especially from very close friends and from my parish. I know I would not made it in many ways without them and their apparent love for me. So, the mercy shown to me, experienced by me, has reached sunless depths within my heart, soul and mind. It is my prayer and hope, I can really begin to give back and reciprocate all of the kindnesses shown me.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Right now others deserve very special kindness with the loss of loved ones, living the memory of they who will await our arrival at the Gate. <span style="color: #0b5394;"><u>The Stream and the Sapphire</u><span style="color: black;"> is a volume I recommend highly. Much to point to and ponder, pray about and contemplate.</span></span> </span></span></span></span><br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-62259098618628850152013-05-20T11:16:00.002-07:002013-05-20T11:16:41.440-07:00"The Science of Loneliness: How Isolation Can Be Lethal" by Judith Schulevitz<b>We now know how it can ravage the body and brain. Judith Shulevitz is the science editor of The New Republic.<br />
<br />
Here are excerpts from her astounding and revealing article:<i></i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
Sometime in the late ’50s, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann sat down to write an essay about a subject that had been mostly overlooked by other psychoanalysts up to that point. Even Freud had only touched on it in passing. She was not sure, she wrote, “what inner forces” made her struggle with the problem of loneliness, though she had a notion. It might have been the young female catatonic patient who began to communicate only when Fromm-Reichmann asked her how lonely she was. “She raised her hand with her thumb lifted, the other four fingers bent toward her palm,” Fromm-Reichmann wrote. The thumb stood alone, “isolated from the four hidden fingers.” Fromm-Reichmann responded gently, “That lonely?” And at that, the woman’s “facial expression loosened up as though in great relief and gratitude, and her fingers opened.”<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESgfPKMNuc_Fr1NvB9t-gzjOgrhbsML3EjSFPm-sdeHy6XeLHyVFWHUc7qtDqJObkl53V_UanRlt5U8cl42QI4AH40xLBnDJO6R8fTBzipvJCOAayxq5vPtxrzW2aWdT4ga0/s1600/article_inset_shulevitz_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESgfPKMNuc_Fr1NvB9t-gzjOgrhbsML3EjSFPm-sdeHy6XeLHyVFWHUc7qtDqJObkl53V_UanRlt5U8cl42QI4AH40xLBnDJO6R8fTBzipvJCOAayxq5vPtxrzW2aWdT4ga0/s320/article_inset_shulevitz_6.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Fromm-Reichmann would later become world-famous as the dumpy little therapist mistaken for a housekeeper by a new patient, a severely disturbed schizophrenic girl named Joanne Greenberg. Fromm-Reichmann cured Greenberg, who had been deemed incurable. Greenberg left the hospital, went to college, became a writer, and immortalized her beloved analyst as “Dr. Fried” in the best-selling autobiographical novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (later also a movie and a pop song). Among analysts, Fromm-Reichmann, who had come to the United States from Germany to escape Hitler, was known for insisting that no patient was too sick to be healed through trust and intimacy. She figured that loneliness lay at the heart of nearly all mental illness and that the lonely person was just about the most terrifying spectacle in the world. She once chastised her fellow therapists for withdrawing from emotionally unreachable patients rather than risk being contaminated by them. The uncanny specter of loneliness “touches on our own possibility of loneliness,” she said. “We evade it and feel guilty.”<br />
<br />
Her 1959 essay, “On Loneliness,” is considered a founding document in a fast-growing area of scientific research you might call loneliness studies. Over the past half-century, academic psychologists have largely abandoned psychoanalysis and made themselves over as biologists. And as they delve deeper into the workings of cells and nerves, they are confirming that loneliness is as monstrous as Fromm-Reichmann said it was. It has now been linked with a wide array of bodily ailments as well as the old mental ones.<br />
<br />
In a way, these discoveries are as consequential as the germ theory of disease. Just as we once knew that infectious diseases killed, but didn’t know that germs spread them, we’ve known intuitively that loneliness hastens death, but haven’t been able to explain how. Psychobiologists can now show that loneliness sends misleading hormonal signals, rejiggers the molecules on genes that govern behavior, and wrenches a slew of other systems out of whack. They have proved that long-lasting loneliness not only makes you sick; it can kill you. Emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality as smoking. A partial list of the physical diseases thought to be caused or exacerbated by loneliness would include Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and even cancer—tumors can metastasize faster in lonely people.<br />
<br />
The psychological definition of loneliness hasn’t changed much since Fromm-Reichmann laid it out. “Real loneliness,” as she called it, is not what the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard characterized as the “shut-upness” and solitariness of the civilized. Nor is “real loneliness” the happy solitude of the productive artist or the passing irritation of being cooped up with the flu while all your friends go off on some adventure. It’s not being dissatisfied with your companion of the moment—your friend or lover or even spouse— unless you chronically find yourself in that situation, in which case you may in fact be a lonely person. Fromm-Reichmann even distinguished “real loneliness” from mourning, since the well-adjusted eventually get over that, and from depression, which may be a symptom of loneliness but is rarely the cause. Loneliness, she said—and this will surprise no one—is the want of intimacy.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhGBL_k7QBrdmv2qxpIvFTgJ9z5k8eKoq1QFNnCfpB8434YBV2-TW7m9hftgduSLeoJA9ZzzqpEI8utBVM4CkL-5Vpf3WAKj9_DpyhfEcpdwya9358Oovnpb7cZOnmFpnCr4/s1600/article_inset_shulevitz_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhGBL_k7QBrdmv2qxpIvFTgJ9z5k8eKoq1QFNnCfpB8434YBV2-TW7m9hftgduSLeoJA9ZzzqpEI8utBVM4CkL-5Vpf3WAKj9_DpyhfEcpdwya9358Oovnpb7cZOnmFpnCr4/s320/article_inset_shulevitz_2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Today’s psychologists accept Fromm-Reichmann’s inventory of all the things that loneliness isn’t and add a wrinkle she would surely have approved of. They insist that loneliness must be seen as an interior, subjective experience, not an external, objective condition. Loneliness “is not synonymous with being alone, nor does being with others guarantee protection from feelings of loneliness,” writes John Cacioppo, the leading psychologist on the subject. Cacioppo privileges the emotion over the social fact because—remarkably—he’s sure that it’s the feeling that wreaks havoc on the body and brain. Not everyone agrees with him, of course. Another school of thought insists that loneliness is a failure of social networks. The lonely get sicker than the non-lonely, because they don’t have people to take care of them; they don’t have social support.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>To read the rest of this fascinating and revolutionary article, <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113176/science-loneliness-how-isolation-can-kill-you#">please go here</a>.</i></b> <i>What you learn ought to make you think twice about that cheerful person who seems to have it all together but really doesn't. That cheerfulness hides a deeper grief, a loneliness so profound as to create in them ravaging physical and emotional pain.</i><br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-91016060028881264862013-05-20T10:42:00.000-07:002013-05-20T10:42:45.231-07:00"Priesthood: Religious Leadership and Clericalism" by Lauren Gough+<i>The following is a revelation, an expository delineation of what the priesthood really is, and what it should be; what it was intended to be. It is also, in my view, how it is kept from those truly deserving of it, and given to those who perhaps ought not to have it. Power is the key for those who seek it, and means little to those who pursue the priesthood for the sake of others and not of self. How easily things get derailed when on the right track...</i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibG_qoLtiOJskhYEGkRKrTzDc9KPiUa47_MoD6kFUw_0lelWvKHb3ma-1I7HdR8ToitMqVoqW4G2zbAzkTpReDEpqh4cZHRn26ZagoV_VLByx9sczbC8cQq5F6EfzirQviG5Q/s1600/Lauren+G+.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibG_qoLtiOJskhYEGkRKrTzDc9KPiUa47_MoD6kFUw_0lelWvKHb3ma-1I7HdR8ToitMqVoqW4G2zbAzkTpReDEpqh4cZHRn26ZagoV_VLByx9sczbC8cQq5F6EfzirQviG5Q/s320/Lauren+G+.jpg" /></a><i> <br />
Lauren Gough is an Episcopal priest in Texas and author of the blog "Stone of Witness". The following is an excerpt from her latest post.</i><br />
<br />
In the 1970’s, following Vatican II, there was a study done among religious orders, especially men’s orders that did not ordain their members, on the importance of the priesthood. I was teaching in a combined Ursuline and Christian Brothers school in Galveston. I remember reading the document and it raised many questions about the efficacy of priestly orders and was interested that priestly orders were considered really non-essential to the communities of men who embraced celibacy. Except for liturgical duties, priests among the community were seen as a detriment to the community life of the brothers. The status of ‘priest’ was considered an impediment to the common life. <br />
<br />
When I attended the Kellogg lectures at EDS last week, this conversation was being reprised. The issue of clericalism is a big one in the Church these days. It is my contention that the schism that we have been experiencing over the past 15 years is a clerical one. It concerns not the people in the pew, but it concerns the clergy and bishops of a minority in the Anglican Communion. It has much to do with control and order, not theology or even basic faith. And after what I have seen here in Fort Worth following the split of the diocese, clericalism is alive and flourishing in this part of the Church militant.<br />
The discussion at EDS was clearly on the side of abolishing the priesthood. But the<br />
<br />
panelists were all NOT ordained. They were professors or academics who do not celebrate the Eucharist or absolve sins. Now, I know some of the members of that panel and some of them have their own ax to grind, BUT I do know what they are trying to get at. They are trying to address the excruciatingly difficult problem of clericalism that faces, I believe, all churches with the exception of the Quakers. And while I know that the Methodists, Presbyterians and the Reformed churches do not have priests, they still have clerical leadership that have power that can subject others to their will. <br />
<br />
Here in Texas we have a preponderance of independent non-denominational churches since the break-up of the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of those Baptist churches claim themselves as non-denominational these days but they still carry on Baptist theology and ethos. Some of the churches try to hide their Baptist affiliation by renaming themselves Gateway, or Heartland, or Harvest rather than being ____Ave. Baptist. But when you attend them even though they have screens and guitars, they are still Baptist. And the pastor still ‘knows best’.<br />
<br />
<br />
Religious leadership is difficult at best. When your primary role model is Jesus who spoke of the Good Shepherd, it is so easy to fall into the habit of thinking that the people you are called to serve are sheep to be pushed around. The bishop carries a big stick to drag the sheep back into the fold. And yet the reality is much different. As a priest one is called upon to represent Christ (as any baptized person should) but also act as an agent of the institution of church. I have always understood that priestly orders give me the Good Housekeeping seal of approval of the Church to speak of God AND the organization. It is why we make vows to obey our bishops in matters of faith and morals. But it IS a crazy-making position. Those who lead are mortal and fallible. We have feet of clay and make huge blunders in our efforts to lead the people of God in the way of faith. And those of us who are priests--the ‘middle management’ often do not get to advocate for our flocks as we would like because the ‘shepherds’ who are in charge think of us as sheep as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
To read the rest of her wonderful and revealing post,<a href="http://www.stoneofwitness.blogspot.com"> please go to her blog here.</a><br />
<br />
<i>Sometimes it is best to hold onto the thread of a calling, than to let go of it entirely.</i>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-84173090455041304792013-02-04T10:16:00.001-08:002013-02-04T10:16:52.836-08:00Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on gun violenceThe Episcopal Church<br />
Office of Public Affairs<br />
Call-in on Monday, February 4; UPDATED February 4: Call 1-888-897-0174<br />
Friday, February 1, 2013<br />
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following statement.<br />
<br />
_____________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The United States has witnessed far too many public shootings in recent months and years. Far too many lives have been cut short or maimed by both random and targeted acts of gun violence. The school shooting in Newtown was horrific, yet since that day several times as many young people have died by gunshot.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDcf3offHTWWSHDl1Xnl4fV5MCu91853NHpIg6eVJKpcMDpwq2K2iZJa5vF14KQ4qk566LNjimuJsHb3u57yl6O3VI0B-3wjC3i_ct9sbOD18LuEEBYz5kxnNoP4Ceq0Ef7U/s1600/elo_060810_kjsincanada_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="190" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDcf3offHTWWSHDl1Xnl4fV5MCu91853NHpIg6eVJKpcMDpwq2K2iZJa5vF14KQ4qk566LNjimuJsHb3u57yl6O3VI0B-3wjC3i_ct9sbOD18LuEEBYz5kxnNoP4Ceq0Ef7U/s320/elo_060810_kjsincanada_md.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
It is abundantly clear that Americans are ready to grapple with the complexities of gun violence. The Spirit is moving across this land to mobilize people of faith to act. I urge the United States members of this Church to call your federal legislators on Monday 4 February to express your concern and your expectation that gun violence be addressed. The outlines of the necessary policy decisions are clear and widely supported: limits on sales of military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, effective background checks for all gun purchases, better access to mental health services, and attention to gun trafficking.<br />
<br />
We believe all God's people should be able to live in peace, as Zechariah dreams, "old men and women shall again sit in the streets...And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing." The prophet reminds his hearers that even if this seems impossible, with God it is not. [Zech 8:4-6] I urge you to add your voice to those clamoring for peace. Call your legislators and sue for peace.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori<br />
<br />
Presiding Bishop and Primate<br />
<br />
The Episcopal Church<br />
<br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-42170111498031204232013-01-09T22:24:00.001-08:002013-01-09T22:24:55.128-08:00"When is your next post going to be?"I'm hearing this a lot lately...<br />
<br />
When I can find time to be STILL, I will put my mind to it and pen something...<br />
<br />
Like...keeping track of patients as they are moved around the hospital...or outside of it...<br />
<br />
Answering pages on codes only to find out it's a faulty fire alarm...<br />
<br />
Finding friends where I least expect them...but limited to the hospital itself, just stumbling upon them and feeling like I should have known they were there but then, everyone is entitled to their privacy...<br />
<br />
Trying to decide what my happy and sad dollars ought to be at my Rotary Club meeting...<br />
<br />
Remembering to put fresh water in the communal animal watering dish outside the gate...<br />
<br />
Giving my kitties a new catnip corrugated cardboard scratching thingy and watching them go bananas over it...<br />
<br />
Talking to my dear cousin in southeast Texas only to learn his cancer is back and he's too weak to go to Catholic mass...but hearing him tell me he loves me so much means so much to me...<br />
<br />
Finding a tremendous gift in a renewed acquaintance from the past / new relationship in the NOW...and feeling the blessing of it...<br />
<br />
Getting ever closer to the elusive MVA settlement that will relieve a lot of my current stress...<br />
<br />
Yeah, I'll write about this stuff, sooner or later...<br />
<br />
Peace.<br />
<br />
CatherineCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-43396108654704570392012-12-19T22:30:00.000-08:002012-12-19T22:23:27.397-08:00Leap and Dance [reposted from 2007]<div style="text-align: left;">Imagine knowing the presence of someone you have never met yet you knew in the core of your very being that this <span style="font-style: italic;">someone</span> was indeed extraordinarily special. You cannot see or hear them, much less anything else, because you haven't been born yet. Warm and cozy insider your mother's womb, no cares in the world for any ordinary baby, but for John soon-to-be the Baptizer, it is <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> different. Imagine the thoughts, the vision...<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br />
</div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Shimmering in </p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Understated majesty</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Sapphire and silver</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Herald the Coming</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Afar that way but</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Drawing, drawing</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Incrementally nigh.</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Coming in </p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Glistening glory,</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">With awe, pondering</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">The wordless beckoning</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">The spirit replies</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Yea! Follow the Star!</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">I follow, immersed in </p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Glimmering glory</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">My soul shouts</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">In joy inexpressible</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">He comes! He comes!</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">My Lord, He comes!</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">Oh how I would leap</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">And dance before</p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);" class="MsoNormal">His coming, if not </p><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">For</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 204, 204);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">this womb.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 204, 204);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"></span></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 255);">Catherine+</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-77949056064899711752012-12-14T17:56:00.002-08:002012-12-14T17:56:28.427-08:00He draws nigh...[reposted from 12/20/2007]We draw closer to the time when that earthbound Star arrived so long ago, that our breath sometimes catches in the awe of it, and the One who let it come to us. Luci Shaw wrote the poem you are about to read and I found it by way of British university chaplain Maggi Dawn. It is one of my especial favorites about this time of year, about this season and why it yields such shy majesty.<br />
<br />
<br />
Blue homespun and the bend of my breast<br />
keep warm this small hot naked star<br />
fallen to my arms. (Rest .<br />
you who have had so far to come.)<br />
Now nearness satisfies<br />
the body of God sweetly.<br />
Quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe.<br />
He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.<br />
His breath (so slight it seems<br />
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps<br />
to sprout a world.<br />
Charmed by doves' voices, the whisper of straw,<br />
he dreams, hearing no music from his other spheres.<br />
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes<br />
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,<br />
all years. Older than eternity, now he is new.<br />
Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet,<br />
caught that I might be free, blind in my womb<br />
to know my darkness ended,<br />
brought to this birth for me to be new-born,<br />
and for him to see me mended<br />
I must see him torn.<br />
<br />
_______________________________________________<br />
<br />
Catherine+<br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-84867245462203748232012-12-14T10:44:00.000-08:002012-12-14T10:44:11.919-08:00Presiding bishop’s Christmas Message 2012December 13, 2012<br />
<br />
<i>[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs] “Discover the love of God poured into our world in human form,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says in her Christmas Message 2012.<br />
<br />
The following is the text of the presiding bishop’s Christmas Message 2012:</i><br />
<br />
____________________________________________________<br />
Christmas Message 2012<br />
<br />
<br />
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined." Isaiah 9:2.<br />
<br />
These words were spoken long ago to people living in anxiety, fear, and despair, people feeling bereft of security, safety, and any sense of God’s presence. We hear them early on Christmas, forgetting that they were first spoken hundreds of years before the birth we celebrate. Human beings across this planet still yearn to know that a more gracious and divine reality is active and evident in our lives.<br />
<br />
The birth we celebrate is meant for this world mired in darkness and fear, yet it also becomes easier to discover in a tiny voice crying in protest over being cold and wet and hungry. We hear that cry in the midst of war’s ravages in Congo and Afghanistan, in the rubble of hurricane and earthquake, in the demeaning of chronic poverty, behind prison bars. That flickering of hope surges as the world turns to investigate this surprising new life, one heart at a time. The light grows as hearts catch fire with the same light that illumines the stars, pulsing hope and new life, even out of black holes.<br />
<br />
Those who search in dark and despair, in dank dungeon and deep devastation, will find divine light given for the world. Light that will not be put out, so long as any creature remains to receive it, until and beyond the end of time. The darkness will never put it out.<br />
<br />
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:5<br />
Go and look – and discover the love of God poured into our world in human form. Hope reigns abroad, in the cosmos and in human hearts. And rejoice, for a child of the light is born in our midst!<br />
<br />
<br />
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori<br />
Presiding Bishop and Primate<br />
The Episcopal ChurchCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-48128833423632285292012-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:002012-12-03T23:47:34.042-08:00A birthplace shown to us by Denise Levertov<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.bridgewater.edu/%7Esgallowa/386/levertov.htm">Denise Levertov</a> compiled a small book of poetry gleaned from several of her numerous volumes of poetry. This small book <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Stream-Sapphire-Religious-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811213544/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197436279&sr=8-2">The Stream & the Sapphire</a> is a series of poems of faith and doubt, a record of Levertov's journey from agnosticism to one of faith. I highly recommend it for those who seek the contemplative in a modern context. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family:arial;">As we continue on our way toward Bethlehem, I offer a selection from this work to accompany us along the way...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">" 'The Holy One, blessed be he, wanders again, ' said Jacob, 'He is wandering and looks for a place where he can rest.' "<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Between the pages</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">a wren's feather</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">to mark what passage?</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Blood, not dry,</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">beaded scarlet on dusty stones.</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">A look of wonder</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">barely perceived on a turning face --</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">what, who had they seen?</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Traces.</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Here's the cold inn,</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">the wanderer passed it by</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">searching once more</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">for a stable's warmth,</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">a birthplace.</span><br />
__________________________________<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />
Images, words, wonders. We ponder them in our hearts</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">as Mary pondered all that the Angel had revealed to her...</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">the majesty mysterium.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br />
<br />
Catherine+</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />
</span></span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-8957298356882950332012-12-01T19:27:00.000-08:002012-12-01T20:55:59.607-08:00"What will we find there?"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xWSaw6jl_LJQTQ6Sr6aG7ckzuhAib0fuoZsrvzvFgzI7qT3jNfin6bpJ1SCfxwcS-nuCdgeFgn09eqJepjAk_LJgHDZDD8UCf_8bPcVpn0K7Z2g2MLXkL5m0QepBxZIpPPE/s1600-h/Dunes.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138112689432257074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xWSaw6jl_LJQTQ6Sr6aG7ckzuhAib0fuoZsrvzvFgzI7qT3jNfin6bpJ1SCfxwcS-nuCdgeFgn09eqJepjAk_LJgHDZDD8UCf_8bPcVpn0K7Z2g2MLXkL5m0QepBxZIpPPE/s200/Dunes.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">Tell me again<br />
</span><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">why I am standing in a bitter wind<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">sand flying all over<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">and around me<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">trying to fasten </span><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">a saddle<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">on this stubborn camel<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">trying to keep my goods<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">from being lost to the desert.<br />
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfQXqjlDCNb5CClNXH_GeeBgESkrFxJE7Bme9bJUwO1wslsHQtEXowSWMBi-bHlLRba3E9KFXA2xTv1FaZm-ENMrov4M_y-EHlQBbvNSqeLqFq0-4Ao-9VqOkBTF0Ax2hsBo/s1600-h/camel_and_tuareg_atnight.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138112470388924962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfQXqjlDCNb5CClNXH_GeeBgESkrFxJE7Bme9bJUwO1wslsHQtEXowSWMBi-bHlLRba3E9KFXA2xTv1FaZm-ENMrov4M_y-EHlQBbvNSqeLqFq0-4Ao-9VqOkBTF0Ax2hsBo/s200/camel_and_tuareg_atnight.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">Best robes and turbans<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">packed and still I wonder<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">will I really need them<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">where I am going,<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">off on some journey<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">where I am not sure of<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">what is to be found...<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">or whom?<br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">There was the dream,<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">there was the voice that<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">well, seemed to speak<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">with such authority,<br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">with such crystal clarity<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">I could not help myself<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">but move with purpose<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">to follow, of all things...</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdTHyISS1eEwjvBOSQhw30FAvSytQ5vGm0QJJFw4Y2NZJWaFpMZu8vc7H5NDnIFtnj76XAhheOTpMHI1yqwYGRuhj3W_-EeoOoL-KmPkIjHGb8vFN8HNp_RA-ybg_4KO0g9Y/s1600-h/reflect.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138112960015196738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdTHyISS1eEwjvBOSQhw30FAvSytQ5vGm0QJJFw4Y2NZJWaFpMZu8vc7H5NDnIFtnj76XAhheOTpMHI1yqwYGRuhj3W_-EeoOoL-KmPkIjHGb8vFN8HNp_RA-ybg_4KO0g9Y/s200/reflect.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">A star, immense,<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">stunningly bright<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">the effulgence of which<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">never have I seen.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">Across the open dunes<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">we wonder, what is beneath<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">that star...<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">What will we find there,<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">some miracle, some treasure<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">a fortune teller, a prince?<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">Too early to tell<br />
</span> <span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">So we wait...<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffcc00; font-style: italic;">Wondering...<br />
</span> <br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
Catherine+<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Photos courtesy of:<br />
travissher.com, openstock photo, library.thinkquest.org</span></span></div></div>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-14616458830106944112012-12-01T15:21:00.000-08:002012-12-01T15:21:10.476-08:00The Mystery of Advent: Journey to the Manger [repost from 2007]<i>The following is a repost of an entry I made in 2007 for pre-Advent 1 Sunday. I will be reposting the poetry I wrote for that season in the coming weeks. It is my contribution to Advent Online. Blessings, Catherine.</i><br />
<br />
This is the time of year when my sense of Christian mysticism becomes a bit more fine tuned than at other times of the year, with the exception of the Easter season. The road to Easter is a cold and mystical journey. There is something inherently awe inspiring about the anticipation of Emmanuel and the human mind trying to comprehend the concept --much less the reality-- of God with us. Some people simply cannot get their mind around the juxtaposition of the divine and the human as one person, in the flesh, looking much like us, as being anything but extraordinary. Actually a lot of them think it is wishful nonsense, a panacea for the trouble this world is in, that we who do believe are a bit muddle in the head. Then there are those who believe but aren't sure what to do with the information. There are many who try to analyze it to death, thereby not experiencing the wonder that comes from just letting the concept be. <br />
<br />
The category I know I fit into is the one where you know its real, as real as the stars and roses blooming. As real as wondering how a horsehair can produce on the taut string of a violin the soaring sound that elevates our souls to a state of such elation that we hear a little echo of heaven. The words are hard to come by because those particular words don't exist...yet.<br />
<br />
And so the season of Advent is this way for me. There are those of us who do get it and understand it. Perhaps not as well as we would like in this life but we understand the concept of the "thin place", the ethreal, the inexplicable. We believe in miracles. We know they happen. We see them daily. Where others see the ordinary, we detect the inordinary. It is not an easy life by any means. Your friends think you are one apple short of a bushel, or the only nutty chew in the box of See's candy. Or you end up with an unusual sense of well, "sight". That's all I will say on that subject for now.<br />
<br />
One of the most common ways Christian mystics tried to express their experience was in writing, either prose or poetry. And so I have sought out poetry and prose that reflects attempts by both ancient and modern mystics, to put into words what can best be described as their perceptions of mystical experience or epiphany.<br />
<br />
As we enter into Advent I will be sharing with you examples of both to enrich your journey on the way to the manger. I decided that we need hope and spirituality at this time, not only in the world and in the Church, but in the Holy of Holies of our hearts where God's Spirit dwells.<br />
<br />
For now I would like to point you to a few web sites and blogs that may be of help to you as you prepare for your anticipatory journey.<br />
<br />
The Way of the Pilgrim has many resources and examples of mystical writings, especially about the Jesus Prayer.<br />
<br />
Anamchara is the site that led me to the first one. It also speaks of the Jesus Prayer and has articles on the prayer as well as how to make a prayer rope by tying knots in a particular pattern.<br />
<br />
Christians Mystics: A Journey into the Presence of God has many resources, both scholarly and grassroots on the subject of mysticism as well as examples of their writings. I really like this one because it leads you to more.<br />
<br />
Then there is <a href="http://www.gloriana.nu/mystic.html">Mystics In Love</a>, a very good site that explains what Christian mysticism is and what it is not. You will find several examples of writings from some of my absolute favorite mystics <a href="http://www.gloriana.nu/mystic.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Every evening, I look skyward and marvel at the stars and light from the heavens. It does make you wonder...<br />
<br />
<b></b><i>Silent air<br />
crisp in clarity,<br />
I see God's eye<br />
Twinkle.<b><b></b></b></i><br />
<br />
I look forward to sharing my finds with you as we prepare for the coming of The Child.Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-83175401654909478522012-11-22T00:48:00.000-08:002012-11-22T00:48:08.896-08:00Women bishops - apology<i>I give thanks to writer Michael Wenham for his blog, <b>Diary of a Dancing Donkey</b>, but more so for his insight into the Church, the women who serve in it and helping us see what Jesus saw in women. How those in the Church of England can go on about what Scripture "says" as opposed to what Our Lord "lived" and "taught" in word and example. I think in many ways we have been "reading" His "teachings" not quite the way He intended [indeed, a bold statement for a lay person to make but you'll get over it and simply know it's me being me]. It gives a whole new meaning to "come and be my disciple", and "go and DO likewise" [my emphasis]. Michael gives a sincere perspective on the recent vote not to allow women to become bishops in Church of England, UK>:</i><br />
<br />
<br />
"Last night I thought it might have been a mistake to listen to the afternoon live stream of the Church of England General Synod's debate about the ordination of women bishops, since whenever I woke - which was quite often - my mind was mulling it all over. I found myself surprisingly upset. So I resolved to write a letter today to my women friends who are also priests and were most immediately injured by the marginal defeat, but it also extends to all who feel that they have been discriminated against by a church they love."<br />
<br />
19 Churchward Close<br />
Grove<br />
Oxfordshire<br />
21st November 2012<br />
<br />
Dear Sisters<br />
<br />
I am very sorry that you were so grievously hurt yesterday.<br />
<br />
I have to confess that not so long ago I would have been among 45 clergy voting against the women bishops' measure yesterday and I might well have used sermons to say why. About twelve years ago, when the possibility was beginning to be mooted, I remember being asked over lunch at Lee Abbey what I thought about women being bishops and answering that I was against it and wouldn't serve under one. I have repented since.<br />
<br />
Four things convinced me that I was wrong. The first was the succession of women in training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall who came on attachment or to preach in our parish. I'm not making comparisons! We had good male ordinands, of course, but it struck me that to be a female ordinand you had to be outstanding. I can remember them all and they were all inspiring. It's not that they set out to change my mind, but merely that they themselves set me thinking and reassessing my previous view of what the Bible said.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvE-g4k_Nl5TuI_Fgo7R69cAPxiSGyq6Dc3d5iPqP707tX7NO1-a7SQa9UBlf7RYlmsmU9AVtMbRMkN2jLG4CqSMSfyplytHun2Y55yBzRZiWnVvi3CXhvCuHBfgQaaNmX4M/s1600/LHP1628B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvE-g4k_Nl5TuI_Fgo7R69cAPxiSGyq6Dc3d5iPqP707tX7NO1-a7SQa9UBlf7RYlmsmU9AVtMbRMkN2jLG4CqSMSfyplytHun2Y55yBzRZiWnVvi3CXhvCuHBfgQaaNmX4M/s320/LHP1628B.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Secondly, I had had no time for those who explained away the "plain meaning of Scripture". For me the Bible was, and remains, true and the ultimate authority. So I didn't approve of attempts to wriggle out of its difficult teachings. However I have come to see that the original context is crucial both to our understanding and the application of the Bible. (I have a feeling this is known as hermeneutics.) I didn't find any idea of gender hierarchy at creation in Genesis; it seemed to be introduced as a consequence of the fall. I found that Jesus came to reverse the effects of the Fall and bring in the Kingdom of God<br />
<br />
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<br />
because he has anointed me<br />
to proclaim good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives<br />
and recovering of sight to the blind,<br />
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,<br />
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour”. <br />
<br />
<br />
This accorded with the radical way that Jesus interacted with women, overturning the oppression to which they had been subjected - so that the first response of faith to his incarnation was by a woman, the Virgin Mary, (a contrast to Zechariah the priest); the first Gentile apostle/evangelist was the Samaritan woman; he commended Mary of Bethany for sitting as a disciple at a rabbi's feet; he entrusted the good news of his resurrection to Mary Magdalene; and one could go on. He utterly reversed the accepted subordinate role of women. <br />
<br />
<i>The rest of this magnificent article can be read at <a href="http://mydonkeybody.blogspot.com/2012/11/women-bishops-apology.html"><b>Diary of a Dancing Donkey</b></a>. It is well worth the read but mostly, and importantly, the revelation that we can be wrong about a thing, and have our hearts opened by Christ's blazing love and the comprehension revealed to us by the timelessness of an all-knowing God, who loves us and loves all, and always has, women and men.<br />
<br />
<br />
Michael also recommends a book at the end of his article. A picture of it is up above though you will see it when you read his post. Catherine</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-2460686968619213372012-10-19T13:27:00.001-07:002012-10-19T13:27:34.034-07:00++Rowan, a positive note on women bishops?<i>Rowan Williams, I believe, is hoping to go out of office on a positive note. To this I would not object. Please read the Church Times article below to hear his new view on women bishops in the C of E.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiArmDTHKJHTh3IQsnF16k1eQwfYF2yFIHAOSxAHsa6xUjyn6ZMP3PpRi_JgjLehTNhWzz5iH5ul-D901NTv9cyUsbV3U9puazry0nuCoiHpE5ICvfgc1gxgLxBDMXnJOb_MWs/s1600/ENS_031612_ABC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="190" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiArmDTHKJHTh3IQsnF16k1eQwfYF2yFIHAOSxAHsa6xUjyn6ZMP3PpRi_JgjLehTNhWzz5iH5ul-D901NTv9cyUsbV3U9puazry0nuCoiHpE5ICvfgc1gxgLxBDMXnJOb_MWs/s320/ENS_031612_ABC.jpg" /></a></div></i><br />
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has begun a campaign to persuade General Synod members to back the new women bishops legislation when it returns to debate it next month.<br />
<br />
The following article by Williams was published in the Church Times on Friday, Oct. 19.<br />
<br />
_____________________________________<br />
<br />
No-one is likely to underrate the significance of November’s debate on women bishops in General Synod. It will shape the character of the Church of England for generations – and I’m not talking only about the decision we shall take, but about the way in which we discuss it and deal with the outcome of it.<br />
<br />
Those who, like myself, long to see a positive vote will want this for a range of reasons which have to do with both the essential health of the Church and its credibility in our society. They are keenly aware of living with a degree of theological inconsistency.<br />
<br />
As Anglicans we believe that there is one priesthood and one only in the Church, and that is the priesthood of Jesus Christ – his eternal offering of himself, crucified, risen and ascended, to the Father to secure everlasting ‘covenanted’ peace between heaven and earth. To live as ‘very members incorporate in his Body’ on earth is to be alive with his Spirit and so to be taken up in his action of praise and self-offering so that we may reflect something of it in our lives and relationships. To recall the Church to its true character in this connection, God calls individuals to gather the community, animate its worship and preside at its sacramental acts, where we learn afresh who we are. The priestly calling of all who are in Christ is thus focused in particular lives lived in service to the community and its well-being, integrity and holiness – lives that express in visible and symbolic terms the calling of a ‘priestly people’.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/10/19/women-bishops-enough-waiting/">Read the rest of his statement here.</a>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-58173946760677745322012-10-12T14:56:00.000-07:002012-10-12T14:56:45.323-07:00Back to posting...Ok, it has been A WHILE since I last posted but I've been somewhat at a lost as to what to post about...I could talk about being a chaplain at the hospital, or as a hospice volunteer, or as a member of Rotary and what we are up to there...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkkASUuwR541ipnlHPyUWGfV5VsFCflB1kd_luppaWzu_VygGqSYL7An1HLVDeUm3V9DgQRAicSH_F84HMOZky1UGQRHrBfr3oMdJp14T0qsX2A0zuMll2bxiI9yP1naT8eo/s1600/IMG_0707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkkASUuwR541ipnlHPyUWGfV5VsFCflB1kd_luppaWzu_VygGqSYL7An1HLVDeUm3V9DgQRAicSH_F84HMOZky1UGQRHrBfr3oMdJp14T0qsX2A0zuMll2bxiI9yP1naT8eo/s320/IMG_0707.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I could post about going through some more of my mother's things and parting with some while treasuring others, like the little notes she always used to write to me and stick in drawers, or my lunch when I was a kid, or between pages of a book to find at some later date...I keep them in a cookie jar she made...I'm running out of room in that cookie jar but they are sweeter than any cookie that could ever be stored there...there are days I miss her terribly and others where I laugh at finding an old picture and wonder "Did I really look like THAT?" in disbelief.<br />
<br />
I could talk about clearing the scrap lumber from the back yard and cleaning deadwood out of the 60 year old English laurel hedge and the butterfly bushes, and taking it all to the Jackson County Fuel Lot where the wood is cut up for kindling or firewood for low-income folk who cook or heat only with a wood stove or fireplace...I made 6 pick up truck load runs this summer for the warmth of others in TheMartinaN...or how about the extra produce from my garden going to friends so they can still enjoy fresh, organic tomatoes this late in the season; the acorn squash are ripening nicely...then there was tapping beer at the Oktobrfest in historic Jacksonville as a Rotary volunteer helping with the festivities...getting to know my brews was the lesson of the day...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9m-1RRLE8Qtd5Zl1SVomMODn_Iivc43uj521u8VN84wpLYLcouFa-P7Xjb4885YJwqlNSySkxlYB8WCPFCaVrzed7gIg1P3d5lHUJHI7PIb6X9wjItCYHYOCXaGZVZ7sv9c/s1600/IMG_0623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9m-1RRLE8Qtd5Zl1SVomMODn_Iivc43uj521u8VN84wpLYLcouFa-P7Xjb4885YJwqlNSySkxlYB8WCPFCaVrzed7gIg1P3d5lHUJHI7PIb6X9wjItCYHYOCXaGZVZ7sv9c/s320/IMG_0623.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgup9D7wtLP5x0R_lJGqRm1emc7inOFZfGu2n4H34DJ0rBIbqiw6VqlbRxNsQcRUQ766N0-SkPPEnkmp-lQibq6AkTVIitHY9lB9ElVGu6as4q38lkL_SH77XvP_SNI6ONls/s1600/IMG_0709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgup9D7wtLP5x0R_lJGqRm1emc7inOFZfGu2n4H34DJ0rBIbqiw6VqlbRxNsQcRUQ766N0-SkPPEnkmp-lQibq6AkTVIitHY9lB9ElVGu6as4q38lkL_SH77XvP_SNI6ONls/s320/IMG_0709.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Of course there are always kitty cats to talk about...Tawny Tom aka Kitteh Boy, is still here, and just as sweet as ever...The Girl Cats, Rumi and Pabla, are as independent and occasionally cranky; I'd be worried if they weren't. There are enough catnip mice around the house to form a small regiment....There are days I wish for a dog but that isn't quite possible yet financially. I do take advantage of the therapy dogs at the hospital when I come across one, and get my doggy fix that way.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HRLqv6C3Q0_8WUM9D3tVSB1qBJK373YfOGDl05OYP51NTcacCYSAmWeL2CcKh6cgh5C4EFmGFpLDQPFnMJGU9aO3qJQVpNlRsXhyB0xW_56QHQOEntauyKEzQVvMIc2yA5M/s1600/IMG_0718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HRLqv6C3Q0_8WUM9D3tVSB1qBJK373YfOGDl05OYP51NTcacCYSAmWeL2CcKh6cgh5C4EFmGFpLDQPFnMJGU9aO3qJQVpNlRsXhyB0xW_56QHQOEntauyKEzQVvMIc2yA5M/s320/IMG_0718.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRCVSK_Yi6vHAnHw2DJOqmvn3bcBEP9pxp9dACqJkxqTbBE2aJGDmLmsD1LrRtaPWABwM8XmOyQGyCTs3fJoVMvu2XKifDkHX0KMTZqdJGkZwE1eC4t0YWwIZFAGGm3NZJ9Q/s1600/IMG_0645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRCVSK_Yi6vHAnHw2DJOqmvn3bcBEP9pxp9dACqJkxqTbBE2aJGDmLmsD1LrRtaPWABwM8XmOyQGyCTs3fJoVMvu2XKifDkHX0KMTZqdJGkZwE1eC4t0YWwIZFAGGm3NZJ9Q/s320/IMG_0645.JPG" /></a></div><br />
I am still waiting for the motor vehicle accident settlement of two years ago, today, in fact. My first attorney walked out on the case, to my complete surprise, but I have another one who is making more progress in the last two months than the other one did in over a year...I would really like for all of that to be over by the end of the year...please God!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebjSb5NwHp1xOKlJLMeWtP3Ep_B2iWK2BE5XO_CaJbezy78TEBSiz9iwJh4cg1bwcMLpA5sXalYNuVxA_aLlO5EhcyYAyogxZo5uuwReYAUkNDVQ0guA1OXeOYdm84lkLVdo/s1600/DSC08966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebjSb5NwHp1xOKlJLMeWtP3Ep_B2iWK2BE5XO_CaJbezy78TEBSiz9iwJh4cg1bwcMLpA5sXalYNuVxA_aLlO5EhcyYAyogxZo5uuwReYAUkNDVQ0guA1OXeOYdm84lkLVdo/s320/DSC08966.JPG" /></a></div><br />
I am still pursuing my call to the priesthood but even with a priest that finally gets it and supports my call, the way is slow, baffling and tedious. There is suppose to be a discernment committee formed but communication is a problem with all concerned and frankly, I'm more than a bit miffed about it. The affirmations I have received from members of my parish and the hospital, and from hospice, all point to my work and ministry converging to affirm and reaffirm my calling to sacramental orders, but the worldly aspects are full of pitfalls and disappointments. The right hand is clueless to the left hand's doings. Again, it's about a lack of communication. I will persevere however; I will not be diverted from my call.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgB79Nh8pqhHaS_pSD_zHcAV-CGuBRTQxeknhtjoL645ln07eoQrCH5AkOpipS_l6pEQllyMgYuikUEA5to4XvtnP_Rj4COmT43jI0lewwXVQTaDqY0h8zvMYpPHIs0N3OkI/s1600/eucharist" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="131" width="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgB79Nh8pqhHaS_pSD_zHcAV-CGuBRTQxeknhtjoL645ln07eoQrCH5AkOpipS_l6pEQllyMgYuikUEA5to4XvtnP_Rj4COmT43jI0lewwXVQTaDqY0h8zvMYpPHIs0N3OkI/s320/eucharist" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
So I guess, I could pick one of those things to write about, but since I've basically given a summa of things Catherine, that will do for now...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-34499103993154179412012-08-29T14:28:00.000-07:002012-08-29T19:58:15.022-07:00Exhibit: Humanitarians for Love, Non-violence and Peace, by Meera CensorI was walking back to my truck last Sunday after church when I met a woman walking a service dog-in-training, and stopped to compliment the dog and thank the woman for being part of the training program. I then mentioned how much service dogs and therapy dogs mean to patients at "the hospital". Our conversation was then off and running...we covered hospice, chaplaincy, experiences in our lives that involved the deaths of loved ones and friends, how those experiences moved us to do greater and bigger things of ourselves, things we might not otherwise consider doing. We spoke of how our hearts and minds were shaped by the love of others, our mothers, our teachers, and those who were and are in the greater, wider world. Chief Joseph, Desmond Tutu, Mother Theresa, <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXW_23hFX2te9oNfn5g47bVzgW_xF0EUhIql9h8LwDsjgh_SaIt8JWsHhg70IOU2RBIzB1U3_gCOvzE64ONiSIAM7h4cdo_zOpqW4RkrXlphcm9xt1Dca0ckJuZQfr7PXFKeg/s1600/mother-theresa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXW_23hFX2te9oNfn5g47bVzgW_xF0EUhIql9h8LwDsjgh_SaIt8JWsHhg70IOU2RBIzB1U3_gCOvzE64ONiSIAM7h4cdo_zOpqW4RkrXlphcm9xt1Dca0ckJuZQfr7PXFKeg/s320/mother-theresa.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Mahatma Gandhi, The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Martin Luther King Jr, adults and children, from past to contemporary lives, such as that of Fr Gregory Boyle in LA, who is author of "Tattoos on The Heart", and his work with changing the hearts and minds of those swept up by gang violence and the endless whirlwinds of darkness. His depiction will be the newest piece of the collection.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjGpdUuUBkfhm05lstRN5Q2C0hpM_Ch3YGYugFeoY0YrsxRHDoNMgaoGdZvXuPfgAtoBbBOAIUX3S0J7DySiGlrPlq1ReqQG0WA0LjgklcXFGUNauGK1sRiEDid77Hxg4EegY/s1600/chief-joseph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjGpdUuUBkfhm05lstRN5Q2C0hpM_Ch3YGYugFeoY0YrsxRHDoNMgaoGdZvXuPfgAtoBbBOAIUX3S0J7DySiGlrPlq1ReqQG0WA0LjgklcXFGUNauGK1sRiEDid77Hxg4EegY/s320/chief-joseph.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In that time that lasted about 45 minutes, I discovered <a href="http://www.meeracensor.com/about.shtml">Meera Censor</a> of Ashland, Oregon. I discovered someone who believes as openly as I do that everyone is deserving of love and kindness and mercy. And we both felt that we are called in our own individual way to making sure that message is heard and felt in the world. <br />
<br />
Her story is made of fairy dust and real grit. An amateur sculptor who displayed her work at the Oak Street Gallery, she was discovered one day by the current Dean of Hannon Library, Paul Adalian, who suggested to her to do the extraordinary work that is on long-term loan display in the Hannon Library on the Southern Oregon University campus in Ashland. Meera speaks to school children about her sculptures to create an awareness of the impact these people have had on history and society. Please read more about Meera in the link of her name. <br />
<br />
It is my hope that you all will either see the works on line in the link below or visit it locally at the Hannon. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2P5nb2V6NXzqzM9lahuU74CpQyHGdMfc3UVLdpoGCStmjveoZsFZlWX9Oo-TlfHr7gGqnH-An8R2WIGbx4Qwha2fgeTCyq1JNCb_dJThkKDbaW90p4m8ISUzCYxwE55gpf7o/s1600/mcguire-williams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2P5nb2V6NXzqzM9lahuU74CpQyHGdMfc3UVLdpoGCStmjveoZsFZlWX9Oo-TlfHr7gGqnH-An8R2WIGbx4Qwha2fgeTCyq1JNCb_dJThkKDbaW90p4m8ISUzCYxwE55gpf7o/s320/mcguire-williams.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Peace People founders, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams, Northern Ireland</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.meeracensor.com/about.shtml">Meera Censor's</a> sculptures are inspired by individuals who have used the power of spiritual insight and nonviolence for the upliftment of others.<br />
<br />
She presents them as reminders of the invisible spirit behind all forms, a power of Love and Wisdom available to all. See them in the <a href="http://www.meeracensor.com/gallery.shtml">online gallery</a>.<br />
<br />
Photos of her scupltures, with accompanying stories, are <a href="http://www.meeracensor.com/book.shtml">now available in a book</a>.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend viewing this collection online or in person. And perhaps you will run into Meera, walking her dog in training for service to others, on the streets of Ashland. You will be blessed if you so fortunate.<br />
<br />
Catherine<br />
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-48962253375255632432012-08-24T15:00:00.001-07:002012-08-24T15:01:23.034-07:00Episcopal Women’s Caucus urges church to act on reproductive justiceRead the entire article here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/08/24/episcopal-womens-caucus-calls-church-to-action-on-reproductive-justice/#.UDf5b-5pMDA.blogger">Episcopal Women’s Caucus urges church to act on reproductive justice</a><br />
<br />
CatherineCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24438442.post-64711805169446578522012-08-07T00:29:00.000-07:002012-08-07T00:29:44.926-07:00Invitation to Poetry's Theme: Thresholds, Crossings, Doorways<br />
<a href="http://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2012/08/05/invitation-to-poetry-the-threshold-of-summer/">Invitation to Poetry: The Threshold of Summer</a><br />
Christine | August 5, 2012<br />
<br />
Welcome to the Abbey's Poetry Party #59!<br />
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. <a href="http://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2012/08/05/invitation-to-poetry-the-threshold-of-summer/">Scroll down and add it in the comments section below by clicking this hyperlink<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67kk6qkOVFvb9Ao5EgGqrxsUvlNQL2rOYvDeJImoCEt_QinHIR-ei-s-abry_OTzYjeOhhFpFVbd6br_MW13DBrTrox3_EjogO3SUe5qWydFyb33jl3FHZU2nCf4dci2rg5Q/s1600/Summer-Sky-Gloriette-arches-web-650x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67kk6qkOVFvb9Ao5EgGqrxsUvlNQL2rOYvDeJImoCEt_QinHIR-ei-s-abry_OTzYjeOhhFpFVbd6br_MW13DBrTrox3_EjogO3SUe5qWydFyb33jl3FHZU2nCf4dci2rg5Q/s320/Summer-Sky-Gloriette-arches-web-650x1024.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog </a>(if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post).<br />
<br />
Every season has its invitation. Summer asks us to contemplate what the spaciousness of blue skies and the long opening of daylight is calling our hearts to consider? As we grow closer to autumn's harvest, what are the fruits of summer you still want to savor? What is ripening in you? What sweetness is asking you to give your whole heart to it? Let your response to these questions emerge in a poem and share below with the Abbey community.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWgBQWYy_ZrtawYQ0ZA_m3UkUyJfl3Z8fs9e1oqRQaGmeKiUeVb1cC-Qfs_qAll8McgRbLwC4Ihin0wcVi98_kdYi82WacQbcJ670ngP12keVtB2_PAL-RRHMREERiLxFMW4/s1600/302364_510748998942035_1860172961_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWgBQWYy_ZrtawYQ0ZA_m3UkUyJfl3Z8fs9e1oqRQaGmeKiUeVb1cC-Qfs_qAll8McgRbLwC4Ihin0wcVi98_kdYi82WacQbcJ670ngP12keVtB2_PAL-RRHMREERiLxFMW4/s320/302364_510748998942035_1860172961_n.jpg" /></a></div>Could it be<br />
time has come,<br />
my calling seen<br />
my waiting, done.<br />
<br />
Standing patient<br />
be believed,<br />
fidgeting at Door<br />
called, once more.<br />
<br />
Hold this chalice<br />
Break this bread,<br />
Sign the Cross<br />
Bless this head.<br />
<br />
The flower blooms<br />
the garden ripens,<br />
days grow shorter<br />
the nights, lengthen.<br />
<br />
Stay the course<br />
Keep my temper,<br />
Listen keenly<br />
Give up, never.Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.com0