The Priestess Is In

Stretching Holiday Peace, llvl

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Since I was an exchange student 45 years ago and discovered that Sweden celebrated Second Day Christmas, I’ve been greedy about holidays.

Since I’ve married, I’ve had Second Day lots of things because we always get together with his family on the day after the holiday… 2nd day hurrah! Leftovers and Family, what a blessing.

This week I got a third crack at Thanksgiving. No leftovers were involved, but there was a meet up at a local restaurant on a hill overlooking the river. It was grand. Nancy, our historian, had brought along name tags from earlier Turkey Days from everyone who wasn’t there. Those who couldn’t make it and those we fondly imagine eating together at the Thanksgiving buffet up in the sky.

We take whatever opportunities we have these days… because they are few and we are fewer than we were.

Gather your families… time passes and Peace looks different a few years down the road… Giving thanks for what I have and for who I had in my life. Trying to stay present in this miraculous moment.

LLVL48Dec1

Sometimes Sabbath Peace is enough, llvl

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Whether it’s a little boy laughing and flirting in a cafe or a grandmother with a lapful of love in sleepers reading her two boys a story, there are just times that the innocence fills your heart. And you know, the force for Peace is powerful.

But those two little boys in my friend’s lap face a far more uncertain world than the little in the cafe because they’re black and he is not.

That has to stop. We have to change that. We do. Because loving, giggly, happy boys deserve a chance… And the world deserves to know what gifts of wonder those little boys can become.

Sweet Sabbath Peace be with us. Wish me luck I’m preaching a difficult sermon on this today… For those celebrating the sacred season of Advent, I wish you Hope.

LLVL48Nov30

Enough Peace, llvl

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My sister-in-law’s email tag is that if you’re lucky enough to live by the river, you’re lucky enough.

Yesterday was a lovely living example of that. We sat in this lovely room with windows, eating leftovers and being family. Blended family, the best, right? all of us together. with turkey. and cranberry. and pie.

Yay!

Even when there’s work to do, you have to savor the Peace that’s there. We were lucky enough. We were very lucky.

Hurrah for Peace.

LLVL48Nov29

Seeing Our Way to Peace, llvl

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Woke up this morning with Ferguson on my heart, and this simple phrase going through my brain, these people are fighting for their lives. They are fighting to be seen as people by a world that finds it inconvenient that they exist.

“Here they stand, they can do no other…” and why should they?

I guess the bigger question is do we stand with them? Are we on their side or in their way? Are we on the side of right or are we impeding Justice?

And let’s not get confused by the looting question. Remember “We are Penn State?” yeah, violence and looting. Over football. Not over a child not only killed but left lying in the street as if he were trash.

Unless we see this for what it is, unless we see our unwillingness to embrace people as beloved not other, until we look at people at see only human, Peace cannot come and we’ll be the reason. Preaching here, gotta spend today redoing my sermon, don’t I?

What is Peace today? Struggling to decide whether gratitude today is just one more namby pamby sentiment… or whether it’s simply irrelevant to this conversation… yet still that was yesterday — but I may not let my thankfulness impede my vision, instead it must drive it. And maybe I must be grateful for a faith and an understanding that makes me uncomfortable and sorrowful… what is my work here? What is yours?

LLVL48Nov28

Tempered Gratitude and Peace, llvl

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It is good that there is a day in our lives when we say thank you. It’d be grand if we did this more frequently. And as so many of us say, there’s family, there are friends, there’s food (and some would add there’s football) what’s not to like about this holiday? I’m really looking forward to time with my nephew and his wife, visits to friends and a whole weekend that continues the celebration. Big bonus: I get to spend much of the weekend with my husband, which is not what we always get. I’m a happy and a lucky woman. While there are faces I miss at the table, I have family and friends I love and who love me in return. I have a job I have waited and prepared a lifetime to do, and I have you and a place to say what I think and feel and believe. Huge thanksgiving. Joy that races between quiet and explosive!

However, some people don’t have those luxuries. Even if they have food, they may not have family. Some are missing both comfort and sustenance. Somehow this day feels like another reminder of their loneliness. When we can, we should help here.

This year, I think it’s incumbent upon us to remember that the gratitude that is tied up in so many of our minds with a thankfulness for this country must be balanced by the realization how many people are excluded from the American Dream. And more than excluded, threatened. There’s been a lot of writing lately about how this current uproar in Ferguson is less about Blacks’ demanding visibility than it is about white outrage (again with the outrage) that society is changing and, in fact, there must be, even will be, parity. Black lives do matter. And so our gratitude must be tempered with awareness. And our gratitude must be the fuel for making a difference.

Our hearts must be both sorrowful and grateful. We’re plenty complex enough to hold that tension. Today let us feast. Tomorrow let us eat leftovers and consider how we might help. Celebration and action, longtime friends of Peace.

LLVL48Nov27

Weathering Peace, llvl

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Some days, you just get lucky. Yesterday was one of those days. Right there in the middle of all the chilly, chilly weather came a warm and lovely day.

The whole world dashed outside and enjoyed the day. Leaves were blown. Christmas lights were hung. (Work, the paying kind, must have been avoided because work around the house was being accomplished.)

People went out walking or tooling around in their cars with the windows down.

Some people wanted to know what it meant “that we had such weather?” Others were sure “we would pay for it.”

I think it was a bonus. A little throw away that if we were smart, we picked right up and enjoyed to the fullest. Tomorrow, the temperature starts its journey south on the thermometer and snow — they say — is expected. (You remember that I live in Snow Hole, PA, right, so don’t look for a lot here!)

But I hope you enjoyed the day. And I hope you’ll enjoy the snow when it arrives. This is what we have. Might as well make Peace with it! (Of course, it does feel easier when the weather is so temperate, doesn’t it?)

LLVL47Nov25

 

Expanding Peace, llvl

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It would seem to me that the expansion of Peace is both our work and an incredible gift. Peace becomes more precious as it is spread. It’s not meant for hoarding, not meant for a chosen few. It’s supposed to be slathered on the unevenness of life with a lavish hand.

Is the world more parsimonious, more acrimonious right now? Are we more fear based than other times? It certainly feels that way.

It’s not that we disagree with one another but that we hate each other for daring, daring, daring to think differently. And some people we hate simply for existing.

I’m not advocating singing “let’s all look on the bright side of life” (oh, thank you, Monty Python) and ignoring the plight of too much of humanity. Rather, I’m suggesting that we open our hearts and minds (and, yes, our purse strings, too!) to a world in need of balance.

I’m asking us to think about what we can do, each and every one of us, to respond to life’s bounty with generosity. Things are hard. That is why we must be generous and we must call one one another to lighten and loosen up a bit. “Try to see it my way.” Just for a bit.

Yes, life is changing. Digging in our heels and pretending that it isn’t has never been a very good response to change. And it’s getting ugly. And there’s no reason for that. We can go to the gym all we want, but unless we’re practicing generosity, our hearts will still be stunted and stuttering.

Let all our looking to see what is wrong be a prelude to our deciding what we must do. Peace. Let’s spread it around.

LLVL47Nov24

 

 

No Hate in Peace Sabbath, llvl

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I’m on FB, and I cherish the connections I have there. My friends group is comprised of friends (from childhood right through whatever-we’re-calling-this-hood), my wonderful wedding couples, ministry colleagues and some business ones, and some dear, dear acquaintances.

I’ve always been proud that my friends range across all sorts of spectra — political, gender, religious, race, background, and age. I find people fascinating and an endless source of beauty, laughter and heart. I like watching the community grow and cross pollinate.

But recently, I’ve been taken aback by the vitriol. It seems people aren’t happy. In too many cases, it seems that they’ve decided that whatever’s wrong in their lives is a result of Someone Else.

Too often their responses to their disillusionment is mindless Memes. Mean Memes. I hate you Memes. It makes me sad. I don’t think the response is cute cat videos, but what if we spent some time talking about how we’re engaged in making life better — not just for ourselves, but for others… anyone interested in a kind, constructive December? then if we’re successful for a month we maybe will have started something for the new year.

Today’s a Slow Sweet Sabbath for me. Starting out with breakfast with a friend and then services and a course and dinner with a friend. Maybe a little story writing in between… ah… Enjoying! I hope you do as well. May I (you) (we) be kind. May I (you) (we) be well. May I (you) (we) be filled with kindness and Peace.

LLVL47Nov23