I heard this poem read on an old episode of Bob Chelmick's "The Road Home" on CKUA early this morning...and thought it right and true for a year-end reflection. Blessings to all for the New Year...
WHAT IS HOLY
The white pages of a book
The many ways a hand can open and close.
The brief darkness of a plane in front of the sun, lives suspended overhead.
The way plants eat light - that is holy.
The endless voice of the ocean.
The streets of early morning when lone lights shine from the windows of the elderly.
The eyes of someone who has lost love.
It is in the breath, and gathers into small sounds: bread, home, yes.
When you bite into an apple and taste rain That is.
- Rosemary Griebel, Calgary poet and librarian, from her book, Yes (QUARTET 2011)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Singer-song-writer Sara Thomsen Asks the Musical Question...
Where Did Jesus Go?
Tell me where, where did Jesus go? That brown-skinned man walkin’ the road to Jericho Tell me where, where did Jesus go? He’s up and been deported to Mexico, allelu
Tell me where, where is Jesus now? That Middle-Eastern man who could feed a hungry crowd Tell me where, where is Jesus now? He’s on a list of terrorists and they tossed him out of town, allelu Tell me where, oh if you know, do tell That wise guy wasting time with the woman at the well Tell me where, oh if you know, do tell They say he’s queer and outta here and going straight to hell, allelu
Now that we're past the Third Sunday in Advent, we enter a period of time when we mark the Advent Ember Days -- Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this week.*
Also during this time...as the calendar year is coming to a close and a new one beginning...it's an idea to prayerfully ponder our role(s) in our particular faith community...
Just sayin'! ;-)
*Note: In the Common Lectionary and the Church of England, the Advent Ember Days are observed between the second and third Sundays in Advent, not the third and fourth. :-)
A friend shared this poem on Facebook, read aloud by Michael Meade, and it struck me as something to contemplate in our waiting time, so I offer it here for your consideration:
As the days grow shorter and the hours of darkness grow longer,
and as our friends and neighbours in the U.S. draw nearer
to their most significant Federal election in decades,
Let us remember that while their civic duty is to vote, our Christian duty is to pray. Fromthe Anglican Church of Canada-- a prayer for their Election Day:
We pray for all the candidates, recognizing the challenges they have accepted by putting their names forward for public service; that by doing so they have been heavily scrutinized and criticised for every questionable decision or out-of-context comment; that they have opened their personal and private lives to the public both in this campaign and into the future; that some have endured attack ads and mud-slinging campaign tactics, and that some have engaged in the same. We pray for the candidates who will win this election for the first time, for those who will win re-elected seats, and for those who will not be elected: may they remain faithful to a life of humble service.
We pray for those who work the elections: who endure long hours on election day; who are expected to be polite and helpful with everyone they encounter, even those who are unfriendly and unhelpful to them; who spend extra time with those needing extra assistance with language, mobility, or first-time voters. May the elections staff be kind-hearted and patient, and may they find their service to the process to be fulfilling and positive.
We pray for the American voters: for those who have voted in advance polls; for those who have been keen to vote; for those who have been apathetic during this long campaign; for those whose interest in political affairs will wane once the election is over. We pray for those who will journey long distances and wait in long lines; for those who are unable to cast their ballot; for those who have experienced strife or discord within families and friends due to difference in political agendas.
Gracious Lord, may our neighbours in the U.S. discern your truth, choosing leaders who will seek to govern in peace and justice. May they recognise that their political differences do not stop them being brothers and sisters in your family.
May all of us -- here in Canada, in the U.S. and beyond -- see your presence this Election Day, and every day. AMEN.
In the words of Carrie Newcomer, Quaker singer-songwriter, may our friends choose to Lean in Toward the Light:
Only own a kitchen because it came with your house?
Stock up on Christmas goodies
and
Enjoy more ON SITE
at
St. Cyprian's Annual Fall Tea & Bake Sale
Saturday, November 5, 2016
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
All welcome!
NOTE: As these goodies are home-made, there are NO guarantees re: nuts, gluten or any other ingredients in the baked goods. Those with sensitivities and/or allergies, please enjoy with caution.
And [the leper], when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.
- Luke 17: 15-16 (editor's emphasis)
Bless our God, O peoples,
and sound His praise abroad,
who keeps us in life,
and does not allow our feet to slip.
- Psalm 66: 8-9 (editor's emphasis)
Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile...
...'Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens...Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands...and multiply there...
And seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.
This weekend Canadians of all stripes are celebrating Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow evening at sundown through Wednesday, October 12 at sundown, the highest holy day in Judaism -- Yom Kippur -- will be observed.
Yom Kippur is a time of prayer, fasting, repentance, and forgiveness. This video from the AISH network on You Tube explains the words in Hebrew that mean 'forgiveness' in English.
It includes moving beyond the past, reconciling and moving forward "with an even deeper love". This is what Jesus, a Jew who knew his Torah, true forgiveness and deep love, gave us with his death and resurrection -- and for that, we must be truly thankful.
It's time again for our Annual Fall Supper...a bounty of garden veggies (thanks, Paula!), roasts, mashed potatoes and gravy -- and (a trademark!) pies for dessert.
There might still be tickets left -- I believe they're $12.50 apiece I've now been told they're $15.00 apiece -- contact the church or Glen Grover...and mark your calendar:
The gift of this poem was passed to me this morning by a colleague, who read it on someone else's blog. It was so beautiful...and so a propos of the season as well as the times -- and this morning's sermon -- that it needed sharing here:
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
With September this year comes a full slate of activities at St. Cyprian's: opportunities for fellowship, fun, faith practice and formation...pretty much always accompanied by good food! ;-)
Here are some things to watch for as the month unfolds:
Prayer Group
A twice monthly opportunity to gather to pray
for yourself or others,
OR
to be prayed for.
The first and third Saturday of each month, 1:00 p.m.
Begins September 2.
Sundae Sunday!
Sunday, September 11 - following the service
An annual opportunity to "have it your way"
with a delectable delight of your own design.
Bring a friend!
Financial Peace
can be yours with this course!
Weekly for 8-10 weeks, Mondays at 7:00 p.m.
Starts September 12.
Book Study
Learn something new, enhance and deepen your faith...
Weekly, Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.
Begins September 24.
Ladies' Night
The Fourth Friday of each month, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
starting September 30.
The first gathering will be in the Parish Hall.
For other events around the Parish, check out "Save the Date" and "Calendar at a Glance" in the right side bar.
This week, a poem about gardening (or so it seems...) by Marge Piercy -- with thanks to Parker Palmer for bringing it to my attention so I could share it with you...
Under a sky the color of pea soup she is looking at her work growing away there actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans as things grow in the real world, slowly enough. If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water, if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food, if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars, if the praying mantis comes and the lady bugs and the bees, then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.
Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground. You cannot tell always by looking what is happening. More than half a tree is spread out in the soil under your feet. Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet. Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree. Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden. Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.
Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses. Live a life you can endure: make love that is loving. Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in, a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.
Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting, after the long season of tending and growth, harvest comes.
Ladies! D'you own a really cool hat that you've longed to wear to church but were afraid to because hardly anyone does that any more? Well! This Sunday -- August 14 -- at St. Cyprian's is your chance to Wear Your Hat!
This is in response to Margaret S., mother of dear Sonia...who's been wanting Margaret B. to wear the hat she wore to her son's recent wedding. Margaret B. has agreed to do so -- complete with the rest of her "wedding duds" on Sunday, August 14...so Margaret S. -- you're on! And so is any other woman (of any age) who wishes to be a Mad Hatter or a Fascinator...put your hat on and come to church!
NOTE: This is pure fun -- not a competition. Just show up and be admired in your chapeau. (And Rev. Lee Sinclair...do feel free to wear your tiara.) :-)
Krista Tippett, author, journalist and broadcaster
The events that surround us continue to focus on the challenges of community, and the challenges of being human, of "otherness" as well as "oneness". This is true whether the issue is one of race, of culture, of faith, or of gender.
The trio of podcasts compiled by Krista Tippett and produced by the organization she founded -- On Being -- have at their core the exploration of the issue of race, the "other" and attitudes -- conscious or seemingly unconscious -- exhibited by individuals alone and within a culture.
While the culture in question is American, Canadians and people from other cultures have much to learn from Ms. Tippett's guests in these stimulating and thought-provoking conversations.
A musical poet for Ordinary Time...jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones play Peterson's Hymn to Freedom. Written in 1962 in support of the Civil Rights Movement, this piece continues to speak to us today.
When every heart joins every heart and together yearns for liberty, That's when we'll be free. When every hand joins every hand and together moulds our destiny, That's when we'll be free. Any hour any day, the time soon will come when men will live in dignity, That's when we'll be free. When every man joins in our song and together singing harmony, That's when we'll be free.
For those of you not on Facebook, here's a copy of a recent post that will serve as this week's "Audio Divina":
June 24, 2016.
At Taize worship tonight, Lee read from Ezekiel 22:30. It's about standing in the gap before God on behalf of 'the land'. Methinks this song describes a way to do that...
I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. - Ezekiel 22: 30 (NIV)
Today marks the Birth of St. John the Baptist. Leaving behind the fact that in Quebec he's been turned into a different sort of icon... (;-) )...he was definitely a man in and of and for his times...and troubled times they were, too!
The Romans were in charge, and the local ruler -- one of a string of Herods -- was particularly vile. As a preacher of repentance and baptism, as well as the fore-runner of the Messiah, John got himself into trouble with the authorities for his firm stand on righteousness, and was ultimate executed for his trouble. But Jesus, the Christ -- John's cousin and the One of whom John foretold -- had this to say about him:
What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
-- Matthew 11: 7b - 15
Were John to appear in the midst of us this evening at the Taize worship service, would we cower in fear? Recoil in disgust? Call the police to evict him by force? Or listen to what he had to tell us?
If you've been watching or listening a bit too much world news lately...or habitually...and find it all a bit overwhelming: coverage of violence, arrogance, racism, inhumanity, death, destruction, natural disaster...
Here's a bit of music to lift your spirits. straight from the Word, via Jim Byrnes and the Sojourners, who ask the musical question, "Of whom shall I be afraid?":
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against meto devour me,it is my enemies and my foeswho will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,my heart will not fear;though war break out against me,even then I will be confident.
One thing I ask from the Lord,this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lordall the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the Lordand to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of troublehe will keep me safe in his dwelling;he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tentand set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exaltedabove the enemies who surround me;at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hear my voice when I call, Lord;be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,do not turn your servant away in anger;you have been my helper.Do not reject me or forsake me,God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,the Lord will receive me.
Teach me your way, Lord;lead me in a straight pathbecause of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,for false witnesses rise up against me,spouting malicious accusations.
I remain confident of this:I will see the goodness of the Lordin the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;be strong and take heartand wait for the Lord.
The Annual St. Cyprian's Yard Sale will be held tomorrow, Saturday, June 4, starting at 9:00 a.m. The weather report is favourable so look for treats and treasures on the west lawn of the church. All welcome!
"...And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, it seemed, and it was as round as any ball. I looked thereupon with the eye of my understanding, and I thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus: 'It is all that is made.' I wondered how it could last, for I thought it might suddenly fall to nothing for little cause. And I was answered in my understanding: 'It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it; and so everything has its beginning by the love of God.' In this little thing I saw three properties; the first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; and the third is that God keeps it." - from Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich
