Saintly Sabbath Peace, llvl

Ooh, lots of ssssss. I couldn’t help myself!

In a little coincidence yesterday I spent a couple hours watching a vid on UU history and the background music was “For All the Saints” (which for a memorial hymn is pretty march, march, march, but lovely). Amazing to hear about the men and women who shaped this church. (Sad to hear how much burning at stakes everyone did in those days.) I took a long time to get to this church, but it’s certainly home. Sometimes the journey felt arduous. Yesterday certainly put THAT in perspective. But I’m grateful for the work they’ve done.

Grateful too for the saints among us now… or the recently departed. Not just the Pete Seegers and Nelson Mandelas. But those folks we know and love putting their lives on the line for the things they believe in. People we know…

I giggle a bit when I remember on my tour through the hospital in chaplain training. I’m a very low church kinda priestess as I’ve said before, so the notion of intermediaries between me and the Divine are just not part of my understanding of death. But it certainly is for some churches. A guy on the hall, who’d been quite an unpleasant patient, died. The priest came and prayed, and said at the end, Well, now when you pray, you can pray to Harry. I swear the nurse and the wife rolled their eyes at each other. So hopefully, he’d be a better saint in death than it seemed he’d been in life… But that’s the thing about the communion of saints, particularly if you’re a Unitarian Universalist — everyone gets on teh go-to-heaven bus.

I do believe that if we allow them, people will linger with us as they can and as we will let them. When my beloved die, I work hard to carry on their best work. I look to find their point of view in situations where I used to look for their counsel — or their giggle. I hadn’t really planned the service to take advantage of this, but All Saint’s Day happens to be the day of Deb’s memorial. Deb wasn’t a saintly kinda woman, but she was divine! And I relied on her guidance, support and counsel my whole life. While her loss is devastating for me, she whispers her Deb-view in my heart quite frequently. Here’s to the saints!

And while we had a long sleep last night, (I certainly took advantage of the extra hour) it’s going to feel like a short day because the change in times will bring that sun crashing to the horizon at 5 pm. So, many of us have leaves to rake, but enjoy that indoor stuff because it’s a grey and cloudy sabbath. Might as well read the Sunday papers cover to cover! Peace be with you and the saints of your heart.

Peace of All Souls, llvl

Today we learned that a fourth child is dead of gunshot wounds in the last we know of high school shooting. The only way to make Peace with that is to change laws about guns and our ho-hum relationship to violence. Are you voting on Tuesday for someone who will listen to your wishes around safety? Are you learning what you need to know about this issue? Are you engaging people in discussions? You might want to.

And I don’t know what we do for children like Jaylen, who somehow find themselves so alienated that this looks like an option. Because that poor broken child is lost as well. His family is as devastated as the families of the other children.

And today, we remember our beloved Dead. I learned so much about Day of the Dead about commemorating the dead when I lived in the Bay Area. All over the world, people have celebrated this time as a time to remember. And yet so much of American culture is around forgetting the pain. Any of us who have ever tried that know it doesn’t work…

And why would I forget? Why would I forget people who brought joy and beauty into my life? Why would you? Re-membering, calling them back into your heart once a year is a reminder that your life has been enriched. It is a way to proudly acknowledge that your life has been blessed by these wonderful people. It is a prayer of thanksgiving. It is another way of making family and creating community. So today, on this day of all souls, I will spend time with your memories and I will give rejoice and give thanks and sigh for those things we will never do again. And it will be a worthy use of my time. It will be a splendid exercise in Peace because you are among those who taught me the beauty of relationship.

Finding Peace, llvl

There are amazing people who live right around the corner from you — people who can call all things amazing right out of you!

It’s so easy to dismiss where we live as not enough. It’s true, it may not be perfect for you… but it has its good sides, you just have to look around a bit.

I left this region at a dead run when I was a kid. Needed to get to the city and explore that version of exploding life. And I loved it. But I quit my job and went to seminary because I was looking for life that was, i remember saying, more circular, more full. I wanted to know people who polished more of themselves than their work life. I wanted people very like the people I grew up with.

Of course people saw that as my saying they weren’t something enough, but they just weren’t what i needed…I lived in NY. I met people who this was the 80s. People in New York were driven. (and that bothers you, you say, you’re pretty darned driven yourself.) yes, but about totally different things. I lived on the left coast for a while, and that was great, but I do best in small towns.

I know that’s not for everyone, but this is where i get to be me. I get to do good work and I get to have good fun. I know people in all places in their lives, the good ones and the hard ones. And I know people, surprising amounts of people who are really, really excellent at something in their lives. It may be their work, it may be a hobby. Some of those things really interest me. Some fascinate me… who knew people did that????

But wherever you are. there are amazing people. You probably want to know more of them. Harvest Peace. Wherever you can find it. And speaking of harvest… farewell to this gorgeous pic…

Surrounded in Peace, llvl

I don’t live in a perfect community. Neither do you. But I do live in a place where if I need help I can ask for it and be pretty clear that I will get help. I live in a place where if I’m missing or I seem “off,” someone will want to know what’s wrong with me.

That’s worth the world. It’s something worth building. It’s something worth participating in, and maintaining.

Right now in my faith community, there are a few people facing huge obstacles. It feels wonderful to know that people are gathering around. In a couple cases, there’s not much one can do but sorrow… but to know you do not grieve alone is very reassuring.

I’ve watched this happen in my beloved small town as well. People have needs and friends do what family cannot. Partnered relationship is lovely, and I treasure mine, but the embrace of the community is both supportive and restorative. I certainly felt that love and support as my sister was dying. I don’t know how I would have borne that without you.

This personal response is why I’m so pushy about feeding our local kids. I want our hungry children to understand that there are people in their community who want them to succeed, people they can turn to when nothing’s going right.

If you do this right, if you don’t make this about an exclusive club, this is a Peace that can seep out to bathe more and more people in the love. Last week in the Diwali ceremony, Anjalee finished with something like You are Home and welcome… and you are Home and welcoming… beautifully capturing the notion that there is a place where you are welcomed and a place where your work is to welcome… one and the same place. Let us keep building communities.

Peace in the Park, llvl

Peace makes its start locally. The work that you and I do here where we live is a building block for bigger Peace.

It’s not that hard to respond to what’s needed. You make a few calls, put out a bit of Love on Social Media, and next thing you know, you’ve got a couple dozen folks standing around in the park drinking cider on a chilly night i October. People were standing around getting to know one another, while across the street, people were getting the 4-1-1 on how the world was going to come to an end.

I’m always going to be more interested in how Love is going to come to fruition. What possibilities do Love, Peace, Community offer us? Maybe it will be a dinner for our communities, maybe not. Maybe we’ll keep building on the Love Flows Project… but one way or another… Love happens most easily from easy invitation.

And then there we are, being Peaceful and laughing all the way. Let’s here it for Love and Peace in the Park.

Bits and Pieces of Peace, llvl

Noticing. We have to pay attention to what’s around us. If we don’t, we miss wonderful things. And not only big things, small wonderful things… As I say below, it’s finding that local shop that gives a good haircut or the place where they know how you like your sandwich fixed. It’s the little things that act as both a reminder and a goad. The reminder is that there are many things in life that are good and that those things add up to a good life. Then we can let those lovely little things act goads to preserve what is great and to make it better.

And the world needs little prompts so it continues to be wonderful, or maybe even starts being wonderful for everyone. Because let’s be clear, privilege makes things great for some, but not all of us. It’s up to those of us with privilege to keep widening the circle, inviting people in.

It’s easy, goodness knows, to whine about what’s wrong. We do that a lot. All of us. But if we put our minds — or is it our hearts — to it, it’s very easy to notice small things that make our lives lovely. It’s actually fairly easy to do little things to make it better. One of the things that makes life lovely for us is when it’s lovely for everyone.

That’s why a bunch of us are going out today to stand together and drink a little cider across the street from a group promoting a hateful point of view. We’re not protesting, we’re just witnessing to Peace and Community. A lot of us. Standing around. Chatting. Getting to know one another. Maybe even planning to do something more. Something that makes a bigger difference.

But if my friend Sonia and some of her friends who wear a headscarf feel better loved — and safer, let’s not forget safer — because we stood in the cold and the dark, then so much the better. Simply by being present, we’re working for Justice. If it’s this easy to do good, maybe we’ll do more…

If I want Peace, I have to be it. That simple. And I’ve got to invite other people along on the journey. Because Peace isn’t for the few.

Peace-colored Glasses, llvl

I’m wearing Peace-colored glasses, and I’m not taking them off.

I watch a lot of my people I know and respect tell me both about what’s wrong in the world (the big world) and what someone needs to do about it. I can only wrap my arms around what’s wrong in my world and what I can do about it and if you join me how much more we can do about it. It’s not that I don’t try to understand what’s going on out there, but I know it’s a lot more complicated than I know and that I am unclear what to do to help — and I’m not completely convinced that we’re in a position to make good decisions about the whole world. I see genocide happening, and I don’t have a clue what sort of intervention stops that.

The only intel I’m getting that I trust completely at the moment is from the teachers and parents who tell me how many children are hungry. I know it takes $10 a month to feed a child. I’m making Peace here. I believe in Peace here, all evidence to the contrary. I’m going to wear the glasses, I’m going to clap for Tinkerbelle and I’m going to keep taking your money to feed hungry children. I’m also going to shout out when I see injustice running over people in my neighborhood… however loosely defined that is. I’m going to celebrate when someone else leads. What do your Peace-colored glasses have in sight? Where are you making a difference for Peace? Deb Slade is taking pictures… If hers aren’t Peace-colored glasses, I don’t know whose are!

Peace, Love, Community, llvl

We all need a reminder that life contains more possibilities. It’s easy sometimes to look at the folk who capture our attention with their fear and misinformation (and how the hell did that get to be a word???), and think that that’s where the world is. But it’s not.

Most of us are looking for something to believe in. Something to participate in. We want a way to make the world better. I believe this. It keeps me going. My friend points out, we’re no worse than we’ve ever been. Which is probably true. We just have more data. Which we drown in. (I’m thinking I see tomorrow’s musing rising out of this, what do you think?)

So join me in Cameron Park on Friday and remind me life is hopeful. Don’t live here? Join something, start something and remember, life is filled with possibilities — but your life is only filled with possibilities if you look for them and take advantage.

Public Library Peace, llvl

Libraries are the best things in the world. Old friends live there. And so do friends we’ve not yet encountered. Wiley librarians know how to connect us to books we want to read. They also connect us to books we had no idea we were interested in reading.

I don’t spend enough time in my lovely local library. They do demand an investment of time if you’re going to properly appreciate them. But if relationships are going to develop, time is always a needed ingredient.

And books are not all they have. They have poetry readings and Zen Buddhist Sittings. They have art exhibits. They are places where we learn more about life, our own and others… what’s not to like… So is your card up to date? Are you a regular drop-in visitor? Why not.

Peace hides in the stacks. Let’s go find it.

Your Village Peace, llvl

People need community. It’s good to have people to watch over us, to fret about us, to love us. I think the most important work I do as a ritual maker is help make that community visible, identifiable, even to charge the crowd with that responsibility. As a minister, it’s my job to look for ways for that to happen. As a citizen in a couple different villages, it makes me happy to hear when people step up and so grateful, whether or not I’m the recipient of that generosity. When the village works, we’re all more joyful, or in some cases, just less sad.

Who is your village. It’s helpful to get clear about this. It’s sometimes delightfully surprising who steps up to be in your village when you need that support. Sometimes, discouraging, but it’s all information, and it all takes work… but it’s work well worth doing.

It is I think, the primary work of Peace. From then on, it’s about making the village bigger.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: community