Sabbath Seal Peace, llvl

Well, it doesn’t get much more local than yesterday. It was hard not to be present to every seemingly perfect moment. The day before was the day of seeing the seals. They were hilarious. Look, the neighbors dropped by! And there they were in a big-eyed smiling circle, just hanging out…

Marg, my first Swedish sister, who lived at my house when my brother was an exchange student, took me out for our daily constitutional, hup, hup. We ended that with a plop into the sea. It’s gorgeous on the coast, but there’s not a lot of shade because it gets scoured by winter storms. So the water felt wonderfully refreshing. Silly Swedes were saying, oh, how warm (70˚!)… i was gasping a bit, but really… it was so clean and clear AND it was warm enough to discourage man o war jellyfish from the day before. yikes.

I need to fasten this ability to stop daily life and be present to the moment in my brain. it’s good to do this now and again. look at this. look at that. look at this. oh, taste this. summer, summer, summer. sea, wind, water, sun. and love! 45 whole years of it.

Tomorrow I move on, and I’m both sad and excited. This time is so worth the work and the wait and the resources required. I tried to think yesterday… didn’t work to well. Love will keep growing if you just pay attention. Connections will be woven.

Today is Sunday and there’s a cake party underway. two cakes being baked. I’ve been assigned to assemble the meringue torte… under strict instructions. but what the heck. meringue, raspberries, blueberries, whipped cream. for that, I’ll follow anyone’s direction, do it just the way they want.

Yesterday was a tired day. couldn’t remember how to walk or speak swedish or do anything, so i stuck to doing the dishes and folding up the wash.

We finished the evening sitting on the patio until it finally got dark at about 11:30 (sun went down at about 10:10!). Two of Marg’s friends dropped by and there was a lot of laughter and tales of days gone by. Life is for the Living. the Sabbath is for the noticing. (I’ll be noticing the four cakes!) and for the reflecting as I pack down my suitcase for the next time… Heaven has been spotted many times. The bad news is that there are 4 inch slugs in Paradise. and i stepped on one… urgh. Peace. Gratitude. Beauty. Wonder. Love. ahhhhhhhhhh. Keeping the sacred in the sabbatical.

The Peace of Love Sabbath, llvl

Saying I love you, right out loud. It’s what the world needs. More love, extravagantly stated, more love, outrageously lived. More love. “There is more Love somewhere!”

Yesterday, after viewing pictures of one of my grooms being fêted at his job in this little central PA town, I said that what I felt was the right song to sing right then was Bob Marley’s “Redemption.” Staying the course makes the difference. It’s so important that the laws change. It’s great that the church turns out for the weddings we’ve just had. But we’re UUs, you’d expect that. We’ve worked on ourselves, signed petitions, and not always without effort or halting, opened our hearts and our doors. But the proof of change is in every day people’s getting it.

And they do. So, let me say to the other whole bunches of lot of States: Be not afraid. for all the brouhaha… the people are leading on this. And haters aside, they’re leading to Love. And the haters are loud and ugly. but they’re not the majority any longer. Marrying for Peace: an idea whose time has come.

Love, Love, Love, Love, crazy Love. or as Mr. Seeger might have sung: God’s countin’ on me; God’s countin’ on you! And sometimes, we just see God through. And if that’s not enough work to take the Sabbath off, i don’t know what is. Life is sacred; our job is to cherish it! Happy summer.

Peace with Fireworks, llvl

I live in a Valley that takes its fireworks seriously. Driving home Friday night there were fireworks dancing behind every hill.

I find it thrilling. I always have. It’s a family joy. I have a very early memory of being in a courtyard and seeing them reflect off windows. My mother enjoyed them well into her Alzheimers and dimming eyesight.

Once we established that they didn’t actually have roots in bombs, my husband has tried to like them, but frankly I think the fact that they’re set off arhythmically bothers him a lot… he can’t beat the time to a bunch of humans with matches.

But that was as far as I had thought.

Well, I knew I wasn’t a fan of the gunshot in Oakland, aside from the fact that it’s just noisy and not beautiful, there’s that old what goes up must come down problem with bullets. eeeesh.

But now I’m hearing more about those who suffer with this past-time. First it was the pets… and you can’t explain much to them. Then it’s the wildlife, and you can’t explain anything to them. And then it’s slowly making the connection about the fear this causes PTSD sufferers who can get thrown into flashbacks. And sensitive people for whom the noise is assaultive.

All the farther I’ve gotten is that perhaps there should be a rolling celebration in areas like this where there are NOT fireworks so that as towns celebrate, there are safe places to go. Seems like the Veterans and the Veterinarians could sponsor that: the Vets for Fourth of July Quiet… Maybe we need to do what they do with Halloween and trick-or-treating and allow one day in town and prosecute vigorously those folks who set off the boomers randomly in towns.

I don’t know if there’s a safe middle ground… but it seems as if we should try to keep Peace and Celebration for everyone… I don’t know… am I just reluctant to give this up? Ah… well, it’s the Sabbath… i hope your thoughts are less involved than mine. That’ll stop soon. I’ve church and preaching with poetry before that and I’ve friends arriving whom I haven’t seen for a year. Yay.

Summer, Sabbath, Creeks & Peace, llvl

You take your Sabbath where you can get it. Mine started before sundown yesterday with a stroll down to the creek, followed by a quiet plop or two as we settled into our chairs in the middle of the creek.

And there we sat. With no particular place to go and nothing pressing on our minds. People kayaked by. They inner-tubed by. And there we were on the front porch of Peace.

We all waved and wished one another a good evening… Just being neighborly as folks traveled a sweet highway.

A friend joined us. More desultory conversation ensued.

And then the frogs sang.

Ah, the Sweet Sacred Peace Prayers of Summer. Mother Earth was putting on the ritz in a quiet kinda way. This is what a Sabbath is all about for this (don’t tell anyone this part) Country girl.

Circle of Peace, llvl

Yesterday I received a call, asking me if I were free to perform a wedding. He and his partner are taking advantage of the new changes to the law in Pennsylvania and choosing to protect their relationship of many years. He called me because he had participated in a celebration of life service that I did.

Turns out that the memorial was for a dear friend whose wife is one of my besties. The poignancy of that connection was piercing. And where did I go in the midst of all that sniffling? Well, right to this week’s picture-perfect puzzle piece of the Sky. There we were, this world and the next, neatly folded together.

So that’s another piece, the way someone’s vision inspires and explains my own. another easy fit. Something you can find if you open to the possibility of its being there. Something that is there if you ask…

And, today, there will be another picture. How can it be as wonderful as this one? I often ask myself that… but then it is. and it is because the seasons keep turning and something shows up that’s worthy of our notice. And that’s the lovely sacred, sweetness of Life and Joy and Peace. We have to make space for the Wonder and the Hope, or people won’t pay attention. Yes, that’s our job, making space for the incredible. Sometimes just saying Oh, look at that, changes everything. It’s pretty simple if you think about it.

Life moves from Winter to Summer and back again. Life moves from Death to Commitment. Live moves and we get to be part of that — and we get to have companions on the way. Pretty damn’ sweet!

Sippin’ at June Sabbath Peace, llvl

June in Central PA. Nothing more beautiful (allergens notwithstanding.) The thing about exquisite weather is that it’s only wonderful if it’s appreciated. Reveled in, even…

And right here there’s much to enjoy. I suspect, if you’re really living your vida local, that there’s much to revel in where you are as well. Every place has treasures. And we have to lift them up, whenever we get the opportunity, because otherwise we forget how remarkable life is. If we’re not filling up, we’re not fueled for the journey.

So right here right now, in this little Valley, we’ve got amazing seasoned musicians and fabulous ascendant ones (and she’s off to Illinois!). We’ve got great restaurants and, you’re fabulous, so I’m sure you have great friends, too!

This isn’t a restaurant I can visit very often. Pretty rich for my budget, but i don’t need it all the time. I wallow in it when I get it and then get back to life. But oh, during the wallowing, it’s wonderful. Add in the music? yay! I get a lot of music married to Steve, but some nights, when everything’s aligned and the right people are in the right places, it lifts right into sacred experience!

So, today’s the Sabbath. Count your blessings and then wallow in them. You’ll count different blessings than i do, but there are so many! Enjoy the Peace, sip away slowly at it. Fill up, because you’ll need them when it’s all about back to work. Thanks for everything — and Kate Anderson, here’s listening to you, babe! Soar.

Filling Up with June Sabbath Peace

It’s a perfect June Day here. Sunny, clear, cool beginnings and endings to the day. ah… Picnic on the horizon… what more could you ask for? Gratitude for all the great dads? Got it…

And then these words by Thomas Merton showed up on my Face Book Feed: “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”– “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”

Need I say more? Not really. To give it away, you have to take it in. You have to revel in what is… I get to revel in having had a great dad. Sam was a wonderful man, and I got to spend the last of his life making it more interesting and better, reversing the paradigm!

So make some memories, put your feet up, and put something on the grill. Play a game of something in a noisy group of friends and enjoy. Because the journey goes on from today. But there’s today for Peace right where you are. Enjoy the Sabbath. If you’ve got him, enjoy your dad — and celebrate them all.

Um er… exactly my point trying to encourage (first in myself)

Grateful Sabbath Peace, llvl

It’s early Sunday morning and I’m sitting in the “parlor” of the dorm I lived in my first year in college some 40 years ago.

I’ve just spent the weekend at my college — a small, women’s liberal arts college in south central PA. I loved going there. I might have had a better academic advisor, given that i wound up with a degree in french education, and let’s be clear, I was never going to be a french teacher. But I couldn’t have had a better home for my growing soul.

I graduated in a very small class. Although we may not have all been best of friends while we were here, we knew one another, no escaping that. Through the years, when I’ve been in the right place, I’ve come back to celebrate. In the process, I’ve become better acquainted with everyone’s story. And along the way, we’ve all come to love one another. It’s pretty spectacular, when you think about it.

We’re women who care, about one another, certainly, but also about our lives and about the world. We care a lot about women’s education and are sorrowing that the college seems to have drifted into co-education without a by your leave. In a world where women’s lives are on the line, I believe in the power of women’s education. But that’s probably another day’s musing. Today, I’m under the gun to get home for church and then Bill-Town Blues. What a rich and privileged life I lead.

Love, Peace, and a great slow, summer Sabbath. Sweet music to you, my dears!

June Peace Sabbath, llvl

It doesn’t get more beautiful than June in Central Pennsylvania. The trees are green the rivers are full and the skies are blue, blue, blue. Yes, the pollen’s high, but… it’s gorgeous nonetheless.

And it’s a day of rest and relaxation. Two church services this morning, I’m preaching the home game and Sara’s leading the away one out in the woods at a park filled with waterfalls and a gorgeous lake. Then many of us are rallying for lunch, a swim or a hike or both. (don’t be ridiculous, ann doesn’t hike!)

I hope you have wonderful plans today. And I hope it’s as lovely where you are. We’re having a perfect moment here in the Valley. And I’m going to revel in it.

When we have these perfect days, may we all enjoy — and come Monday, Sabbath over, get back to work protecting this beautiful world.

No meaning, just Joy on this beautiful Sabbath Day. Peace be with you all.

Memorial Sabbath Peace, llvl

An odd juxtaposition. On the one hand its my favorite day of the year. The pool opens for the summer.

On the other, it’s a memorial for all the soldiers from all the wars. Young men and women who because they believed in a cause volunteered and sacrificed. It was hard enough when the enemies were clear cut and the danger real. And now, governments decide and people are risked and no one at home, except the families, pays the price. Perhaps war has always taken people to ugly places, but now we’re seeing it all on tv.

And then, of course, war. And Peace. We’ve never found a good way to getting to Peace. One that cares for the victims. One that engages everyone.

For two weeks, since the Pete Seeger concert, I’ve had this song by Ed McCurdy on my heart:

“Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands end bowed their heeds
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

May we dream of Peace and not War. But let us never forget those who are lost to us, those who sacrificed. It’s the Sabbath. Let us take some quiet time in the day and remember. Let us take some quiet time and rededicate ourselves to Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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