Growing Peace in the Berry Moon

Oh, the gardens are busy right now. Lewisburg is one of those towns where people garden. More and more towns are those where people are growing food and flowers.

Everywhere you look things are poking their heads out of the soil, testing, tasting, how about now? Yep, now seems to be the time. The Berry Moon is trying to live up to her name as her brother the Sun coaxes things along.

But we live in the privileged lands… Even our lowered amounts of rain are enough to keep our gardens juicy. In May we can hope that the unseasonably warm 90˚ weather isn’t the harbinger of 100˚ weather in July and August.

Our job is not simply to celebrate the bounty; it’s also to push for its protection.

As I write this another oil spill has devastated the coast of California. 100,000 gallons lost, as if the loss of oil is the problem rather than the damage done to the coastline. And oh, have we noticed that all the people cleaning up the spill are people we say we don’t want here… the people willing to do the hard work of cleaning up? There are so many things wrong with this picture, it’s hard to know where to pull the first string.

But taste something fresh from the garden and remember why we’re called to work for our beloved planet. “Oh, Earth Mother, I’m standing on you…” May we live in peace.

This and That Peace

I don’t know that what I’m working at has a lot to do with the Berry Moon, although if you saw it go down yesterday evening, you were thrilled. Jupiter was bright and beautiful and the tiny, tiny sliver of moon was orange… ahhhhhh.

But there’s a lot going on out here in the world, and much of what’s touching my life right now is sad. People are having a hard time, and my job, or at least part of my job, is showing up when life is hard for others.

And this kind of job is challenging because it seems that things come in waves. You boogie along and everything’s great and then all of sudden people need you to talk to them about hard things. Life and death things. Because that’s a big part of what ministers do. I’ve always done that with people, but now it’s official.

It’s an incredible privilege to be with people in the midst of their challenges. And it’s hard work. Presence is something to practice. And when they’re people you know, that you’re with on a regular basis, it can be very challenging.

And the day after a young woman died, my friend’s kids had a baby. The circle, the cycle, of Life is sweet. Life giveth and Life taketh away…

And we find a way to make Peace, not only with the journey but also with the beginnings and endings.

To Live in Peace

Is it fleeing? Is it invasion?

Whatever it is, as hordes of people flee war torn countries, how is there a peaceful coming together of different cultures? (Sadly this is not one of those columns with an answer.)

I can imagine, if not understand, the desperation that causes you to flee your homeland. I can imagine that what you’re looking for is a safe landing place to be again the person you were.

That becomes so difficult, however, when you and an entire colony of people like, you, thank heavens there are people like you, arrive in a place that is so foreign with an established culture that is inimical to yours.

And then when you are the host country with a long established and beloved country what do you do when people show up and want to establish their country in the midst of yours?

And when chauvinism is a piece of where you come from and how can it not be, how do you mediate that to make space? Is the history of conquering nations illustrative here? Because that has pretty much been a disaster in terms of culture and acculturation?

When things are one way, and then they’re not, and everyone is uncomfortable and the way forward doesn’t seem clear, what does Peace look like? Is there a way for us all to fold into one another? Does Pollyanna’s “can’t we all just get along” cry have any use, or is she (I) just hopelessly optimistic and naive?

But whatever the answer is, it’s not letting would be immigrants drown or starve off shore or on the other side of a border wall. It’s not in killing those who think differently than you in the country in which you’re seeking safe haven. But shouldn’t there, in the vast gulf between those two places, be some way — or a lot of ways — forward?

It is so very hard to think about, isn’t it? But in the hard work, shouldn’t there be possibility?

Peace be with us all…

On Bringing the Peace You Can

It’s really about presence and showing up, isn’t it? And doing the best you can.

You seek to say the things you know will bring them comfort. You work to be as grounded as you can be, as open-hearted, open-souled… open minded, because even here, where it’s about the very stuff of life, there’s so much that’s going on around and as part of it… as you can be.

Even when you have spiritual comfort to offer, it’s often your ability to be comfortable where you are, to be with friends and strangers alike, to let people know they are seen and in the deepest sense of the word, loved.

It’s such a privilege to do this sacred work… and you bump along, sometimes doing it better than others. Doing your best… and showing up. Hoping you can help this family in the midst of what is so hard, hoping there can be Peace and dignity… hoping that you’re helping to create a memory they will always grieve but maybe not regret the way it went.

I knew and liked the woman who died yesterday. It was a hard death for her. She labored to let go. Don’t let ’em fool you, death, is rarely easy. I knew her husband a little, enough that he trusted me. and the same with her mother. Her poor daughter, poor sweet Katy, I had seen only as a baby. This woman was never as proud of anything in her life as of her daughter and of being Katy’s mom.

But there you are struggling for your own grounding in the midst of people you know and those you don’t at the doorway of something huge. Life-not-this-Life.

I believe Peace really lies in open hands and open hearts. I believe it also lies in Presence. And so, I’ll keep trying to show up. I’m grateful to be called and give thanks when i can be of service. And it’s hard work.

Blessings, Peace, Love.

Making Sabbath Peace Where You Are

Well, here we are, with the day we have. At least one tradition commands us to be glad in that. To be grateful, right here, right now, for what we have.

It’s so easy to judge the day not worthy. To tot up all the little parts and judge them as less than great means that you’re not paying attention to the things that are working.

Peg Streep has written about the fact that humans actually do better when they subtract the blessings, and imagine how life would be without that… and that as we add things back in we realize that life is better than we had suspected.

I get stuck on the wonder of things — look at this. Look at that. Be amazed, not just content. Fill up today. Start the hard work tomorrow.

As for those invasive plants… consider, at least consider Peace… and what that might look like.

Today, take the day off and be glad and grateful for what’s in your life. Come at it any way that works for you… But take a Peace Pause that refreshes. Tomorrow we can get back to tinkering with the better-making! Sabbath Peace with you, my friend. What will you do with it? It’s the very last day of the Flower Moon, better revel!

Honoring Flower Moon Beauty & Peace

I guess I’ve just spent too much time wandering around the neighborhood recently looking at all the amazing flowers. The Flower Moon is more than doing her job this year, calling beauty into the world. So when I saw the ravaged poppy I was sad.

Sad at first, because who does that. Ok, squirrels, but they’re squirrels and they just tear things apart. But this was ripped off at the stem and discarded. I can even accept, although they’re not yours, plucking a flower to enjoy. But this was not that.

I have a lot of poppy memories. I live with a lot my mother’s poppy paintings. Our wedding ketubah is passionate with them. And I have smiled at fields and gardens of them in a lot of places in the world.

My reaction about this, however, somehow took me right to the “In Flanders Field the poppies grow…” that sad, evocative WWI poem… There it was, a brilliant splash of red lying broken in the street. As we do with flowers, so we do with people.

I don’t want to make peace with that, I want, rather, to call for and make Peace. No more ruined flowers. No more ruined lives. Let there be Peace on Earth. Let us understand that Life is sacred. Let’s start that now.

Peace Withheld by Violent Measure

It suited the mine bosses for the different ethnic factions not to get along. No chance of a union’s forming if you can’t stand the cut of another man’s lineage. And so they did everything they could to fan the flames of dissent.

Living was hard scrabble and just plain hard in these mining towns. All the Flower Moon blooming in the world can’t pretty up the effects of mining on a small town. And now it’s hard scrabble because towns built up around a

Now you ride by little pretty little streams and there are warning signs posted about the ruination of those streams and the dangerously high rates of mine acid. The mountains are sheared off. Greenery is only slowly, after 40-50 years, returning to the hills…

People are so slow to learn. We didn’t “know” mining was bad. at the same time we were clear cutting the trees. We didn’t know that water couldn’t deal with the stuff put into… and we didn’t much care when people downstream sickened and died.

We didn’t believe that others deserved a chance at the bounty we had… we didn’t really at that point consider lots of these workers human. And that still goes on. I’ve decided to go to a workshop to see what i can do about my part in all this… It’s time to turn this around. Past time, really, but now is the time we have to make Peace. The Beauty tries to tell us what Peace might look like… time to take it seriously. It’s only making space for those moments of self reflection that will help us understand how we stand in the way of Peace and how we might contribute to it, consciously, consistently… Peace.

Rocky Moments in the Flower Moon

It was one of those days. Nothing majorly wrong, but filled with rocky moments where nothing was particularly right.

We have these. They come around. And our job is to relax into them and deal with things as they come up.

I think the key to days such as these is the exhale. You force out the stale breath you didn’t know you were holding and fresh air streams in.

And in the Flower Moon, that air is often sweetly scented. Sure, it’s filled with allergens… but still… Lilacs!

There are often appropriate actions to take and you take them, because life has responsibilities and is sometimes very hard work. And if you deal with them as they come up, there are fewer treacherous rapids to run. I’m a big fan of letting only the big problems be a big deal, the little problems can be dealt with.

When we let the little things become big things we move our attention away from our Peace Goal. We also forget Possibility. I mastered this art for a while, but, in the long run, it’s not really an art I want to be good at. So, I stopped. I mess it up once in a while, and then i get back to getting on with moving toward Peace. Exhale and breathe in that fresh lilac scented air.

Peace be with you on this lovely morning.

Flower Moon Rainbows of Peace

Is it a bad thing that I love thinking up goofy titles? I figure if I’m writing at 8:30 in the morning, you’ll just have to put up with my giggling.

But really, the changing seasons make differences we don’t expect… and in my case don’t remember from year to year… I know the Flower Moon doesn’t bring the flowers, it’s called that because the changing Sun makes it warm and bountiful and spring rains delight.

It was such a lovely thing to have rainbows appear on my Mother’s paintings. Around Mother’s Day, we might add. It was crazy making, because at first i couldn’t understand whether or not it was something I’d missed and how was that possible? And then, it moved to another painting… and another rainbow. wow. (I can only blame the allergens for my slow understanding.)

But then I realized, right it’s summer. The sun is higher and it’s pouring through my pretty crystal hanging in my window. It happens every year. And every year I am surprised by Joy.

And that? is a good thing. Joy is out there. Peace is out there. I believe that. I try to live that. And I’m thrilled when I’m surprised by it.

Violet Peace in the Flower Moon

I’m not a cook. I assemble things once in a while. But that daily food to table thing? bad at that.

So it’s ridiculous that I should be making violet simple syrup. And of course I don’t follow directions well. so mine won’t be as violety as it should be… nor as purple.

But it was such a delightful notion. And even the failed first batch was sweetly subtly tasty… I know this because i poured it with the melted leftovers of morello cherry jam all over my french toast.

The Flower Moon. Enjoy what’s here. Be present. Nature is so outrageously beautiful. Today our walk was punctuated with strong lovely spikes of iris demanding attention. “Hello! We’re here!” Well, yes you are…

Time to pull together what we’ve learned from the Flower Moon, synthesize it for next year when the spiral changes and we learn something new.

But in the meantime? Sweet, sweet Violet Peace to us all…

Sacred Village

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