Community Peace Tales

I know. I go on about this, but our community’s yard sale is six days long. We raise a lot of money and the left-overs go off to support other organizations. Today we found out that we can possibly be of service to the migrant workers who labor in the surrounding 7 counties. This would be wonderful!

But one of the sweetest things for me is the chance to be in community. We get to talk to one another. When we meet on Sunday, there are so many of us and it’s difficult to find the time to chat. But while straightening out the glass ware, refolding shorts or taking a moment in the cafe, it’s great to be together and have the chance to begin to know one another better.

Sharing stories about our lives is a precious thing. We all have things going on. We all have problems. We all have laughter to share.

On Sundays we share our joys and concerns, in short pithy statements. On days like yard sale days, there’s the luxury of time and repeated encounters. What a blessing.

There’s a very special kind of Peace that grows from such encounters. Hurrah for memory making under the Full Thunder Moon. Did you see it last night? it was gorgeous!

Thunder Moon Rumbles Demand Peace

Gay Marriage and a continuation of horrific painful death penalties. Fair housing and denials of climate change. ACA and massacres. Life is unsettled.

The Thunder Moon rumbles.

The question is, what are we going to do about it?

How are you and I going to weigh in? What thread will we unravel? Racism, injustice, unequal access, automatic weapons, climate change, the death penalty, economic justice. Pick one, pick any one.

Peace is waiting for us to step up. Let us do so — by the light of the silvery Moon. Because it is time. Because it is our work to do.

Peace of Another Thunder Moon Sabbath

It’s crazy how excited I get about things that aren’t really that big. But it’s fun.

Today I get to preach at the Joseph Priestley Chapel. It’s fun to preach in because it’s got great acoustics. It’s fun to preach in because, there, I really feel the connection to our lineage. Our little congregation is heir to Gunpowder Joe. It’s quite a reputation to live up to! It’s a once a year deal, and I enjoy it.

And then, we’re off to the building to do the final bit of organization at the behest of the Yard Sale Major General. This is a huge event and it’s been very carefully orchestrated. It’s something that makes me with my great extroversion crazy, because I have to see everything at once. And then you add people. Ay Caramba! However, I’m also fascinated. What was once just piles of stuff is now carefully and attractively displayed. And tomorrow great gobs of it will disappear! wow! And so it will go for an entire week. At the end of the week, anything that doesn’t go, gets sent off somewhere, somehow to do good. Everything gets used.

Today it’s not going to rain, although it’s going to be cloudy. So we’ll get stuff done. And then, there’s a Sunday afternoon in my future. Lazin’ around, getting things done, reading something… reflecting back on the last two nights of the reunion, spending time with a friend. All in all it’s going to be a lovely day.

But first gathering with my community, and then watching the hive of worker bees follow directions!

And oh, right. The yard sale is another opportunity to shed stuff. To realize how much we have and how little we need. Count those blessings, and then share them. Enjoy your abundance, and then set it free. And then at the sale, you’re sometimes gifted to see people get things for a quarter that they need. a pan, an interview outfit, a set of plates. Some people just drop in for lunch. Every day. For six days.

It’s a gift of camaraderie. It’s a gift of community building. It’s a gift to the wider community. We’re so lucky that some of our brave souls are willing to do this, and in doing it, invite us to participate.

Somewhere there’s Peace in this, if only in the organization. Sadly the Thunder Moon looks like living up to her reputation so there will be the challenge of keeping the rain off the goods. But before it all, there’s the wonder that chaos can turn into a gift of love.

Peace with Mistakes that Rattle Your Days

Sometimes you fail at things and that’s one thing to cope with. Other times you make mistakes. You don’t check a fact, find a typo, or, for some other reason, simply overlook something.

But there it is, in living color, a mistake. Big and bold and unable to be stuffed back into the box.

The horror that can generate is often completely disproportionate to the gravity of the mistake. But there’s that same old shameful feeling that rises up from yesterday, from your hidden depths, from who knows where, but there it is. You were wrong. Publicly. Flat on your face.

As a friend of mine joked, as only friends can, knowing that i am clumsy, wow, your falls are usually only literal, not figurative! true that, and i have the sprained ankles to prove it.

But there you are. Wrong and rattled in the Thunder Moon. No one else thinks it’s a sin, but you’re having a hard time convincing yourself. OK, I’m having a hard time convincing myself. I’m pretty taken aback by my over-reaction. Did I really think I wouldn’t ever do something wrong? And what was that seductive temptation to stop the process so that I could never make another mistake, never be seen as human. There’s a shadow!

If I can’t make a mistake about this, how am I going to be about dealing with the big things that are part of my make up? Or as in the case of racism part of my privilege?

Thunder Moon rattles, I shake… Peace is looking it all in the eye and coping/changing/living through! Ah well, I’m sure none of you struggle with any of this! Peace in the struggle… and in those stark little moments of self-reflection.

Solstice Sweetness in the Thunder Moon

The clouds hung around all day. And just as I threw up my hands and said that’s all the preparation I’m going to do for the vigil tonight and I’m going to at least slip into the pool, it started to rain.

I listened carefully, it wasn’t rumbling, just raining. So off I trundled to the pool, and slipped in. It really is magical this swimming in the rain thing… It was still hot and the pool was still cool. The guard watched from under the overhang and i mostly floated. ahhhhhhhh.

Then back for the vigil with the two hundred. You’ve heard me on that.

And then out to the local ice-creamery to watch the end of the glorious sunset, a moon hanging in the sky with some planets to chat with and the rising of the fireflies.

I don’t know how much we accomplished on real Peace last night (although I have my suspicions…) but it was lovely to finish the evening in the company of a like-hearted friend rejoicing in the beauty of the earth and the blessings of the Solstice… claiming the sabbath for rejoicing in and being present to Mother Earth and her abundance.

Maybe we’ll do better on big P Peace today…

Am I Complicit with Peace — or Not?

I hope that this is one of the questions that we can begin to ask ourselves… where do we stray from the Path of Peace?

How easy is it to think that a loving heart will dissipate the structures of racism that are embedded in the foundation of our country?

What is the specific work I must do?

Can I allow myself to acknowledge my failings… my sin… to live with that discomfort long enough to allow it to transform me, to allow myself to feel the urgency of this sacred, terrible moment… that I will make a place for the Other. That I will become a person of Justice.

Can I refrain from refuge in a prayer that the Divine will welcome these Martyrs home, as if The Lady did not snatch these souls to her bosom to comfort their terror and their loss, as if The Lord needed to be reminded to welcome and to love.

Why have we not heard the word Martyrs? are we unwilling to see these beloved dead as Martyrs to a system that must be abolished?

Can I hold silence long enough to see how far I have wandered from Peace? The Solstice is upon us, shedding full light upon the day’s realities. The Thunder Moon is increasing, rattling our complacencies. Let us look for the Path to Peace…

Peace of the Small Bears

We’ve been surprised in town by the young bears roaming the streets and neighborhoods. Mama bears have new cubs, so they’re kicking out the teenagers to find their own territory.

There’s less territory for the bears over the years, and as we’ve moved farther out of town, we get a better glimpse of what has always been true, humans and bears are not good neighbors. They don’t know our bird feeders are not for them.

They’re delighted to find stashes of wonderful seeds just for them if they can just figure out how to have access! (erm… knock them down!)

The joy of small town living means learning the rhythms of the world around us. And occasionally the denizens of the forest wander in, and the game wardens have to be called to rescue them (and us from them) and guide them along.

When it happens, it’s a big deal and front page news and a great opportunity for our wardens to remind us that bears are more than cute and fuzzy.

While all this was happening, I was obliviously kicking my way up and down the town pool, less than a mile from the uproar. The afternoon thunderstorms had threatened in the distance, but nothing happened to interrupt our swimming. Summer during the month of the Thunder Moon: it happens — and isn’t it grand! The bear has a new home and Peace is re-established in the neighborhoods. Hope it’s Peaceful by you, too!

Thunder Moon Peace!

It’s a new month… and there were choices to make about names. Thunder Moon seemed a fairly clear winner given the storms of the last couple days.

This could be a month of seeing what’s true. It’s soon the longest day with the brightest sun for a slow and steady reveal. And there will be slashes of light casting a different look at things… We’ll be waking up early, because the Sun’s insistent. Shall we use the time to step up?

And things can be, should we choose, be shaken up in the time of the Thunder Moon — or we could begin to see that in fact things are already different from what they’ve been, or we’ve thought they’ve been…

It’s time. Are we ready? People, the Earth, All God’s critters really shouldn’t have to wait any longer on us, should they? All in for Peace?

Sweet Reminders of Peace Possible!

The weekend was so incredibly tense so it was just lovely to have a sweet day of community!

No issues to work, no big thoughts to have. The hardest decisions to make were not even whether I should test everything but rather whether I should try something again! Big decisions about whether I should just stand in the splash from the Skloosh, or whether i should get on the silly ride (I did! I did!) Oh, we give thanks for the bounty of food and the abundance of beloved, laughing community!

Four different traditions. All under a yellow and white stripped tent making merry. Life at its summer sweetest. And lots of pictures to remind us we were making sweet memories

And today? I’m going to find some more strawberries on this last day of the Berry Moon. From the way the next moon’s getting off to a start, it sounds as if I should choose Thunder moon. Apparently there were big storms last night, i confess I didn’t hear them. My basement isn’t a swimming pool however, so how bad could they have been?

But today, my dears, I wish you the quiet Peace that comes of great gatherings with good friends — the last sweet remnants of Strawberry Peace and the startling beginnings of Thunder Peace. wow? do we think it’s time to make a stir?

A Berry Moon Sabbath & a Need for Peace

It’s been a very intense weekend. And it’s not over yet. Pant, Pant…

But all of it has been wonderful, even the hard bits. No reason to think that it won’t continue to be the same. Although goodness me… what a journey.

Lucky that this afternoon, I’ll be gathering with a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of tradition at the local amusement park. The sweetest little park in the world. There we’ll be: Jews, Muslims, UUs, and Christians sharing a potluck and going on silly rides.

There will be work for us to do some other time. But at the moment we’ll be celebrating being neighborly. What could be sweeter? And I’m sure my friend Sonia’s bringing something amazing to eat! 🙂 She always does! And there will be 50+ other people contributing, so look out world! here’s hoping there are some Berries for the Berry Moon! I can’t think of a better Sabbath (well, unless I got to just go back to bed and not move for a couple days!) But what a fun and silly blessing this will be.

And as I’m recounting the abundance of my life today, I’m still seeing two young homeless families on an early morning train… they had each other, and mamas looking out for babies, but not a lot else. We’re a nation that says we care about our children. And yet we don’t. We have homeless babies and homeless mamas. That’s no way to get to Peace. And Peace is where we need to go.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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