Communion

This Lent I have been reading David Cole's "Celtic Lent: 40 days of Devotions to Easter."  Celtic spirituality with it's full and wholistic understanding of God, Christ and Holy Spirit speaks to my soul deeply.  This weeks devotions were focused on the act of communion as it was practiced in early days of Celtic Christianity and as described in the Stowe Missal. As we enter into Holy Week moving from Palm Sunday, to Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday to Easter I found my thoughts centering in on Communion and all that it is and it could be.  So I leave you with this reflection of my soul as perhaps an entry point for you into the coming Holy Week and all the experiences that accompany it.


COMMUNION

You say, "This is my body broken for you."
You say, "This is my blood shed for you."

With this symbolic meal
You invite me to
take You intimately, wholistically into myself.

Yet I am hesitant to share in this
as fully as You invite me to.
I only take a nibble - Bread.
I only take a sip - Wine.

I want to eat my fill of
Your grace, Your mercy - Bread.
I want to be sated with
Your salvation - Wine.

Yet I am reserved,
fearful of what others may think,
uncertain of how it may change me
If I were to

Rip off a chunk - Bread.
Drink a mouthful - Wine.
Savor Your sacrifice for ME.

May THIS meal be different.
May THIS time be Communion.
May THIS time be the time I
take my fill and savor
ALL that my Savior has done for me.

AMEN

Noisy and Crowded or Silent and Spacious

I try to pay attention to rhythms of work and rest in my life and the life of the blog. There seems to come a natural time to slow down, do less and create Sabbath space. I have been reflecting deeply the last week as I prepared for Ash Wednesday and Lent to arrive. I have been discerning what my Lent practice needs to be. This time of discernment has made it clear that my life has been fairly noisy and busy of late and I have been craving quiet and spaces of silence more and more.

It is this awareness of my fairly noisy life that has led me to decide to take Lent to explore silence and space. To find a better balance of both in my life and let myself rest and restore for a busy season of caregiving that will arrive post Easter.

As I enter this season of silence and space I have decided to have Chaplainhood take a Sabbath rest as well. I will return to sharing my words and heart with you all sometime after Easter.  Until then one last poetic reflection



FORGIVE MY NOISE 

God, Christ, Spirit,
Forgive me for not hearing
Your words of wisdom and guidance.

Forgive me for filling my life
with so much noise
and "important to dos"
that I have forgotten the
importance of Holy Silence
and just being.

Help me to be passionate
about finding space
for this Holy Silence and being.
The place that quiets
all my "should dos"
and helps me find the
energizing and co-creative living actions.
AMEN

Anxious Waiting

Loss of focus,
Netflix distractions,
Missed Obligations,
Is this what anxious waiting looks like?

Over planning the unknown,
Seeking control where one can,
Brain constantly on and whirring,
Is this what anxious waiting looks like?

God, I hate waiting!
Coping with the unknown is hard.
I know You are here with me
in this anxious waiting.
Still I just can't seem to
fully let go into
Your calm and unwavering presence.

To let go feels like
I am abdicating my ability
to do something.
And when life is going topsy turvey
I so need to do something.

God, help me to remember
that letting go into You
is doing the best something I can.

Help me remember and find
that peace that passes all understanding
in Your working presence.

Help me to truly know that You
are working in this for me, with me.
Wanting to make the waiting less anxious,
if only I would let go to You a bit more.

God, help me to wait with you.

AMEN.

Breath of Life

God You breath of life into me.
A divine kiss so precious in its expression
of my belovedness to You.

My borning cry was Your song of praise
for a new part of creation come.
A new part of Your image here on earth
to express belovedness to Your creation.

God help me to respond to this
beloved gift of life from You
in a way that carries forth
this gift of life to
all my path crosses.

God help me to see and hear clearly
how Your breath of life in me
calls me to be a full participant in
Your Kingdom work in all of Creation.

AMEN

Constant Connections

God your Holy Spirit
Spans the heavens and
plumbs the depths.

You send the Spirit forth to
every corner, nook and cranny;
Connecting you to all of your creation.

It is because of your Holy Spirit
that nothing is ever
truly alone.

What a comfort this connection
of Spirit to everything
and everything to You.

It means I am constantly connected
to Your beloved love and care and guidance;
Even when I may feel far away.

It means I am never truly alone.
And somedays I really need
to cling to that hope and good news.

Thank you God for this connection of
beloved, constant presence.

AMEN

Journeying in Holy Time

God, You are wondrous.
Your ways mysterious to
my human understanding.

As I look into this New Year,
to You it is yet only
another moment
in Your continuing engagement
of Creation.

You do not see time in the way I do.
That fact is important for me
 to remember
as I seek to engage this journey
of the New Year.

If I am intent on journeying
in Your way,
The way of Christ,
The way of the Spirit,
I must remember that
what you call me to
will be completed in Your time.

So if my human goals and intentions
clearly identified as part
of Your calling to me
are not completed in a human calendar year,
May I not be discouraged.

Instead may I remember Your
Holy Time is mysterious and
I have covenanted to journey
in the way of Holy Time.

Knowing that the good work of
You, Christ and Spirit
will be completed all in
Holy Time.

I am only to journey, act and work
In Faith.

AMEN.

Ending and Beginning Dances

Photo Credit: CJ Freeman

God you created endings and beginnings.
Times to say goodbye to what is
and
Times to say hello to new adventures.

It is a holy dance
this invitation to
ending and beginning.

Help me to pause the revelry
long enough to hear clearly
that which you are calling me
to let go of.

Help me to still the excited twirling
into the new
long enough to see clearly
the path ahead that you are
calling me to.

Help me to not tire of this dance
of ending and beginning.
For this dance is not one that happens
for a moment in time at the end of a year,
but instead is one life calls us to engage in
for our life time.

God, help me to embrace this dance of
ending and beginning.
Letting it whirl and twirl me into the
fullness of life that you have to offer me.

AMEN.

God's Broader View

God how arrogant have we been to believe that
You are only working in the world
through our narrow view of our
personal beliefs.

You are so much bigger than that.
Yes, your son Jesus is so very important.
As is the message of salvation that Jesus brings.

But we must remember
that Your view is so
much longer and broader
than ours.

You have been
working and weaving in the world
since it began.

Help me to remember how
You work in great
mysterious and connective ways.

AMEN

You Came as a Child

God, You came as a child.
Why a child?
Is it their innocence?
Their openness?
Is it because of how
we are more open to a baby,
more forgiving of a child.

Did you come as a child
because that was the only way
we would open ourselves
to the
awe, wonder and mystery
of You making Yourself
fully present on earth?

Did you come as a child
because that was the only way we,
with our
cynical, hardened hearts
would open to the fullness
of Your love for us,
your beloved children.

God You came as a child
and our hearts are more
whole because of
You come to earth.

Advent Mystery

God you are everywhere,
even when I may not see You
or understand how You are working.

In my humanness,
I seek to explain
or have an explanation
of everything.

But with You
not everything is
fathomable.

Help me lean into
Your mystery.
Into the mystery of this season.
Into the blessing of knowing.
Into the knowing You are here, working.

And let this all be enough.

AMEN

Advent Light

God you are the Light of the World.
Your Son is the living light and word.

It seems so dark,
the world right now.

But it seems dark
because I lose my focus
looking only to the world.

Re-orient me God.
Change my focus
back to Your light.

Because in You
there is always light and hope.

Blankets of Slow

Blankets of white
covering the earth.

Still,
Peaceful,
Beautiful.

This is your gift of
Slow to the earth.

Reminding us it
does not always have
to be
go and do.

Blankets of white
covering the earth.

Your invitation to us
to

Be still and know
that You
Are God.

AMEN

Advent Love

God,

You came to earth so that
You and I might be one.

You came to earth so that
Your Kingdom would be
on earth as it is in heaven.

How patient You must be
to live here with us,
in the messes we have created.

O how much You must love us.

Thank you.

AMEN.

Advent Welcome

Advent has come and with it an abundance of reflection on my part.  Join me this season as I share an extra post each Sunday of Advent.  It is my hope that these posts will help us all to slow down, refocus and re-member to the story of hope, peace, joy and love that comes in the story of Advent and Christmas.


It is so easy
in this season of busy,
to rush in
do this
plan that.

God help me to pause.
To start this season
slow,
silent,
listening.

Help me to remember to
invite you into my
doing,
planning,
being
of the season.

Help me to remember
to not only
prepare my plans,

But to first prepare
my heart.

Ready to focus on this
season of welcome,

Welcoming your Son
Christ Jesus
once again.

AMEN

Expression of Thanksgiving

God Your creation

shines the depth of
Your love for me.

It is your love
of my most imperfect self
that gives me pause
of deepest thanks.

My heart is filled
to overflowing with
the grace and mercy
You extend to me
Your child.

How do I express
my thankfulness in ways
that honor You?

May my extension of Your
Love, Grace, and Mercy
to all who I encounter
be an acceptable expression
 of my thanks.

AMEN

Filled with Belovedness

Thank you God for loving me
as I am.

For helping my soul to know
my belovedness.

For infusing in me the knowledge
of Your Divine Love.

It is because of this knowledge
that I am able to be Your
hands and feet in the world.

It is Your love of me
and my knowledge of
my belovedness
that sustains me in the challenging days.

It is Your love of me
and my knowledge of
my belovedness
that sustains me when you
send me where I do not feel
I have the strength to go.

It is Your love of me
that says
I send you because you
know my belovedness and are ready
to share that here where it is needed most.

Fill me once again God with
Your belovedness of me,
for I poured it all out once again.

AMEN

Open Eyes, Open Heart

God,
You touch all of creation.

You are never far away.

It is my own lack of focus
that takes you out of view.

Clear my focus, God.

Open my eyes to the
wonders of Your nearness.

May this opening of eyes
also open my heart.
That I may be your vessel,
open to letting you work
through me.

AMEN.

Fall Reflecting

Leaves of liquid gold and fire red
hang with tenacity
from quickly emptying branches
waiting until it is their turn to
gracefully let go and fall.

I look to the trees
and see a time of winding down,
of slowing to deep rest.

I hear God's gentle call
to let go of the busy
to let go of the need
to do more,
to be more.

I hear God's voice reminding me
that I to need seasons of
letting go,
seasons of deep rest.

Fall is my circle of life reminder
to let go,
to rest.

It is my season of
already and not yet.

It is my winding down
to simple breath
and being.

It is my Holy and wholly season.
Where I catch my breath
and find my
already and not yet.

Thanks be to God.
AMEN.

My Prayer

Peace, Hope, Love, Joy

Lord help me infuse all of these into my life.

May I feel Peace of Spirit,
so I may be a vessel of Peace.

May I feel Hope of Spirit,
so I may be a vessel of Hope.

May I feel Love of Spirit,
so I may be an expression of God's Love.

May I feel Joy of Spirit,
So I may be a vessel of Joy
reminding a weary world of all
that is still good and of you God.

AMEN.

Worn Out

As I walked through my week I kept hearing from people just how busy fall seems to be and that so many of us seem to already be struggling to find the energy to keep going. If you are like me and need time alone and away from people to recharge, this season of busy can be draining not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. So for all of us who seem to have schedules that are overburdened with activities and things demanding our time this poem's for you.  Take a breath, know you are not alone and that together with God we will find our way to a slower pace again.

WORN OUT

Dried up,
Barren,
Nothing left,
is how I feel.

The rat race pace of the week
greedily,
ravenously
consuming what ever energy I have left.

I go through the motions of my
quiet devotion time.
But it is not the same
as the chaos
pounds my soul.

I crave time away from
ALL of humanity.
Blessed quiet and aloneness.
Just me and you God.

But the schedule screams for attention.
Quiet and aloneness seem an
Eternity away.

And still I know you are here
in the middle of my
cranky,
exhausted chaos.
You are here loving me
even as I show the worst side
of myself.

You call to me,
telling me to lean closer.
Reminding me that you
will give me strength
to make it to the end of this chaos.

You remind me of the promise
that you will provide.
That the blessed quiet and aloneness
that feeds me
will be there.

Thanks be to YOU God.
AMEN.