Thursday, September 29, 2016

Holy Blessings

Sunday as I sat in worship and allowed myself a moment to step back and observe from the eyes of my soul, I was blessed to be witness to what was a moving moment of seeing God at work. In that moment as my ears heard the words being spoken during the sermon, my memory recalling the conversation of formation time just before and  my heart remembering the words of prayer I had just finished, I found myself witness to the Spirit working to weave together many different parts, prepared separately and without consult yet thematically similar. I heard the lessons of welcome, notice of all children of God and forgiveness weave into a beautiful tapestry that engulfed my spirit.

With these things on my heart I looked over to the gentleman who runs the projection. The picture that awaited me there was that of him sitting there with one of our younger ones sitting on his lap. They are not related and before that moment had not had much one on one interaction. Yet in that space of spirit weaving there they were, he being blessed by the experience of having a little one to sit on his lap once again, the child being blessed by his quietly explaining what he was doing at the computer and answering her questions about what was being said in the sermon. There were even moments where he let her press the right button to put the next picture on the screen. One more thread in the holy tapestry being woven that day.

I still sit in holy wonder as I reflect on the events of Sunday morning. I find myself singing praise and thanks for this group of people who gather and call themselves church. I find myself blessed to the core of my being to witness the Spirit at work in a place that gives it room to move and blow and flow. To know that the love and blessing extended to that little one in that moment is extended to every little one and big one who are part of this gathering we call Journey Community Church.


There are really no more words to write other than to count myself honored to have been witness to countless acts of blessing that happened and to hope that I have this week passed on the blessing that was bestowed on me.


Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Common Holy - of Laundry

Laundry is not one of the chores I necessarily like. It is one of the chores that never, ever seem to end. Between soccer practice clothes, soccer uniforms and Tae Kwon Do uniforms there is always something that needs to be washed. Working in a hospital means anything that gets worn to work goes immediately into the laundry before it can be worn again. You probably get the picture – there is always laundry. Perhaps it is the same in your house.

I have developed a routine where I do certain loads on certain days. And while it works for me it does seem to perpetuate the fact that I feel like I am always doing laundry. Then there are the days with so many things going on that I put a load in the washer and the washer buzzes to tell me it was done and, well, four hours later I remember I needed to put the laundry in the dryer. Then there are the things that have to be washed by hand and the part I dislike most, folding the laundry.

Laundry is a very common activity in my house. It is a necessary one. It is one of those chores that I often times grumble about. So this week laundry has become my focus of common holy. How is it that this task can take on an element of holy?  I have Barbara Brown Taylor’s book An Alter in the World: A Geography of Faith to thank for this inspiration. I just finished reading chapter 11 where she talks about prayer. In part of the chapter she writes about how even daily tasks can become prayer as well. These words inspired me to apply this to my task of laundry.

As I wash my hand washables I take a moment to actually feel the cold water swirl around my hands as I move the clothes through the water. I say a prayer of thankfulness that I have clean water that is easily accessible. As I fold the piles of clothes I notice how each one is reflective of the uniqueness of each one of our chosen style and us. I say a prayer of thanks for my husband and daughter who God has blessed me to walk through life with.

As I apply this practice of working prayer I realize that there is an element of blessing going on as well. Again I must thank Taylor and her book An Alter in the World for this perspective to opening me up to the idea of blessing in the every day and common. I think of the evenings spent folding my daughters clothes after she has gone to bed, because once again the day ran out of hours for her to get stuff done (and because I again forgot to put the clothes in the dryer again!) So instead of leaving a pile of clothes for her to fold in the morning I fold them gently and neatly putting them back in the basket for her to put away in the morning. This is blessing her.

Putting the lens of blessing and prayer on the task of laundry has changed my relationship to it just a bit. I again see how there is an element of the holy in prayer and blessing that comes in the work of this chore. In finding the common holy in doing laundry the chore becomes less of a chore and more of an act of love.


And I will have lots of time to practice this new perspective, because the laundry is piling up again…..


Thursday, September 15, 2016

Pesky Common Holy

I have noticed a theme from the last couple of weeks of finding the Holy in common everyday life.  Becoming more aware to this Common Holy has grabbed my attention so I’m going to continue with this theme through the end of the month. In embracing this practice at the start of this week I wrote a prayer in my journal that asked for God’s help to open my eyes to the Common Holy. This morning as I was still struggling to figure out my topic I wrote a prayer asking for inspiration.  The only thing that kept coming to mind was spiders and ants.

God has a strange sense of humor sometimes. I have an intense dislike of spiders.  They give me the willies and make my skin crawl when I see them.  Movies really need to come with arachnid warnings, and there are still some scenes in the third Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King that I watch with my eyes shut.  I have yet to see the Hobbit a second time after that particular spider scene. Well I think you probably get the idea about spiders and my relationship with them. So it is definitely God’s since of humor that has caused them to be the inspiration for this Common Holy exploration.

We have had several significant rain storms in the last couple of weeks. These storms drove indoors an army of small ants that I am still trying to drive back outside where they belong. And yesterday I found a spider crawling up my dishwasher. Needless to say I screamed, my daughter asked me what is wrong, I said spider.  She came in to the kitchen saw the spider smaller than a dime and laughed at me. 

What you need to understand is that my fear of spiders has become a humorous joke in our family; she has plastic spiders that she likes to scare/startle me with.  She likes to continue to remind me that Spiders are created by God to and one of God’s creatures and that they are more scared of me than I am of them.  After the adrenalin quits surging through my veins I usually am able to laugh with her and acknowledge that she is right, spiders are part of God’s creation. And so are the ants that are trying to take up residence in my house.

And so I have come to ponder that little spider that gave my morning a jumpstart. Spiders do have a purpose. They eat insects that can become pesky. They build beautiful webs that are amazing in their architecture. And if I am honest they have provided moments of laughter at the ridiculousness of some of my reactions. And laughter can be a common holy moment as well.

I think the common holy of this week, has come in the realization that my child in her persistent nudging to remember that spiders are God’s creatures too, has caused me to start to think twice before I squish one. Yesterday I even contemplated trying to catch that part of God’s creation and let it outside. Then the “eeew” factor kicked in and I did squish it. But maybe next time I’ll try letting the next one outside.


Thursday, September 8, 2016

Common Holy



I  walk into the hospital, go to my office and the first thing I do is make myself a cup of chamomile tea, from a simple common tea bag, in a simple, common mug. I turn on the computer; pull out the notebook I use on my rounds, pen and the paper referral sheets.  All very common everyday items the computer, notebook, pen and paper.  And it is with these common items I start my daily rounds.

After 16 years of chaplaincy the sights, sounds and smells of the hospital are common to me, familiar. I daily remind myself that for many I meet today this may not be the case. For those who struggle with chronic illness the routine of hospital life may be very familiar and common. I never know what the day will bring. Today it seems will be common.  My visits consist of “thank you for coming chaplain, please have a prayer with me.” I pray and ask “is there anything else I can help with?” The answer is no. There have been no code blues, no death calls, no trauma calls, and no crisis to attend to.

Days like this I call breathing days. These days provide space for me to wander through my day with a slower pace.  I may sit down at a nursing station and ask about the day. The nurses invite me into their conversation. We chat about the day, about kids, about the weekend plans. Compared to many of my conversations, these can be common to the point of mundane.

To an outsider it might look like I am wasting time or being a distraction.  However it is much to the contrary. When you work amidst the types of things we do, bringing light to the common and normal can be a refreshing grounding and centering experience amidst the chaos of hospital life. But it is more than that.  These are connecting moments.  They are moments when I am seen as more than just the chaplain that represents the spiritual.  I become known as that mom who is also struggling with the work/life balance, wondering how it is that my child’s schedule got almost overwhelming overnight.  They discover that I love to escape into a good fantasy book or take out my frustrations on a punching bag in my Tae Kwon Do workout, or some other surprising fact about myself. It is in that moment of connection of the common that I become human and trust is built for the next time when it may not be such a common conversation.

In my line of work it can be easy to see the Holy ground as I sit at the bedside of a dying person and their family or the visit where we get to the real deep and vulnerable stuff and the person has an aha moment.  Those are Holy ground moments that are easily seen.  What I tend to forget is that Holy ground happens every single day around me. Holy ground is in those moments of common chatting because connecting person to person is Holy ground. It happens in the moment an offhand appropriately humorous comment provides laughter in the midst of a busy and stress filled day.

I am working hard right now to recognize these common Holy ground moments in my personal life and in my work as a chaplain. I am doing this because I have come to realize that it is the common Holy that keeps me grounded in my own faith. It helps me remember that a deep spirituality in me does not have to be complicated or amazing. The common Holy helps remind me that simple can be a jumping off point for a deep and grounded spirituality also.


It is the recognition of the common Holy that I carry with me into a day that looks to be one of calm simplicity, until the moment the pager goes off and I dive into the chaos taking with me the grounded spirituality that living in the common Holy has given me.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Common Rebirth

This spring we planted a butterfly garden.  It was actually our daughter’s idea and she did all the research and planning to make sure we had the correct plants for our climate as well as the types of plants that would attract the types of butterflies she wanted.  She researched nectar plant for the butterflies and what plants would be needed to feed the caterpillars. This is her garden and rightfully so with all the work she has put into it.

She and I watched the garden all summer, anxiously anticipating the first sign of caterpillars.  All spring and summer we saw nothing, she would ask over and over when is my garden going to attract butterflies? Knowing very little about butterflies and their habits in coming to newly planted butterfly gardens, I did not have a good answer other than I don’t know we just have to keep watching.

Then the first part of the week, after an incredibly stressful and topsy-turvy weekend, I went out to the garden just to see if there were any caterpillars.  I was surprised to find our dill plants practically overflowing with caterpillars. With much excitement I called out my daughter to come see and her excitement was overflowing.

I have found myself reflecting on the arrival of these creatures right at the end of summer as we move into fall and a time of nature preparing to go dormant. When I think of caterpillars I think of butterflies and the rebirth that the caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. 

As a Christian I equate the idea of rebirth with the season of Easter.  Having the beginning of rebirth stare me in the face in the middle of the common time of the liturgical calendar has caused me to pause. It has helped me to see that the possibility and process of rebirth is always there, no matter the season.  Just as the possibility of caterpillars and butterflies was there from the moment we planted the garden, we just had to be patient enough to wait for them.

I am also starting to realize that these moments of rebirth in the common seasons of our lives are not always large or earthshattering.  I am coming to recognize my current season of rebirth happening as I live into my commitment to creating Sabbath moments in every day of my life. 

Being mom of a child with multiple activities has me on the go.  Work as a chaplain can be intense and spirit draining, lay leadership at church comes with responsibilities of its own.  I enter into all these roles of my life willingly and with joy, but I am learning I have to take time for myself, for my relationship with God and my own souls rest.  I would love to have a day every week where I have no work to do, where I can dedicate the full day to soul rest.  In this season of life, it’s not always possible so I am learning to create Sabbath every day, the cell phone gets turned to silent by 8pm usually, I am learning to unplug from the world for a little bit each day.


It is with these small Sabbaths that I find my soul awakening to new understandings about myself. It is these small daily rebirths that build upon each other in the common time of life, creating newness or perhaps better yet a renewed self that shows up at an unexpected time, but yet just at the right time.  Just like our caterpillars, showing up right when we needed something to be excited about.