I grew up exposed to the old mainstream Western view of nature: as a bloodied tooth and claw competitive struggle for survival. I also grew up with a deep, subtropical awareness of the sea.

Late last fall, I picked up a piece of lichen — “Old Man’s Beard” — from a fallen branch beside the walking trail we frequent. Everything else seemed dead or dying; cold winds were stripping the trees bare. And here, glowing with grey-green memories from my childhood far away, was a handful of lichen.

 Lichen has a less spectacular beauty I’ll admit. But beauty is innate to life and one form of beauty should never be compared against another… all are like colours on a painters palette, waiting to take their place in perceptions of the whole of life.

 Lichens survive, not as an individually needful species, but as a union of structure-providing fungi and energy-generating algae. They are often colourful and have been used to make dyes; they produce antiseptics that have made them valuable to the people who know as wound dressings, while their softness has seen then used as baby diapers and menstrual pads. In the world’s most desolate areas, lichens are a food of last resort.

 They demand little and give a lot.

 Sweet exuberance is what I see in the tangled threads of the lichen that has accompanied me through this past winter. It sits on a bookcase beside a well-lit window, Now and again, I give it a wetting but it never needs “watering”, just something to counter the dry winter air. And it has grown: just a little, but it has grown.

 When we take this awareness of un-needful interdependence to the whole of nature, we find that, in truth, there is nothing but inter-relationship. We all are bound into the one flow of life and earthen form. When we feel needful, it’s usually a symptom of separation, not requirement, and separation is deeply damaging, as lethal as the polluted air that is the lichen’s greatest hazard… scientists even use lichens as a measure of atmospheric purity; airborne toxins kill them, and it is not far-fetched to see those man-spread toxins also as symptoms of separation.

Should we consider the sacred Medicine Wheel this Lent? The reflection today asks this question. I am hesitant. The Medicine Wheel is essential to life here in the North; it grew here, it can tell us how to live well here. Should we heed it? That would depend on the respect we can muster and the depth to which we are ready to let it change us and re-connect us.

It would require humility. Reconnection is a great challenge: it requires us to love the crying, demanding, spoiled and dependent baby within, whose voice it is that wakes us in the night, and love it through the long, troubling journey to maturity and re-connection.

 If, on the other hand, we are just looking for something to make us feel more comfortable in a state of dis-connection, the Medicine Wheel is too sacred for us to touch, far less exploit or appropriate. Besides, there are too few teachers to go around.

You could always start with lichen…

As I prayed with this question this morning, I was thinking about the last two days on Parliament Hill. A group of us as diverse faith leaders (many strands of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bahai and more) met with one another and with MPs from all parties to add momentum to 58 recommendations before the government from a parliamentary committee, focused on poverty reduction and the creation of a national strategy.

The government's offical response to the recommendations came yesterday and was disappointing, and yet we as people of faith and diverse parliamentarians from all parties we were able to come together in common cause and will keep this work going. We believe that it is possible for government to do the right thing.

All that's scarred by poverty needs healing - and I too need healing from prejudices that would have me think that those from any other faith community or political persuasion would, by virtue of that distinction, have any less concern than me and mine.

So we'll continue to get to know one another and work together in common cause, allowing God to heal us as well, as we focus on providing opportunity for the healing for others within our national and global community.

 A quick note, that as I read this, the song by Casting Crowns "Who Am I" popped into my mind.

I cannot find a solid youtube video to post, as the images do not catch the feeling that it brings for me...so, let me just post the opening lyrics, instead...

Who am I? 

That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I? 
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,

 I realize that I didn't answer the question...what is the most urgent need for healing.  Gosh, how do you find the most urgent.  I can think of many urgent...but  the most...that will take time.  It feels overwhelming in fact....and maybe that is part of the issue. 

We live in a culture of best, most, biggest, richest 

 We fail when we compare to the best, most, biggest, richest, highest, fastest....any of the "est".  It is unlikely ourself, our family,our friends,  our church, our city, our country...fits in any or all of those categories.  It is improbable that we are working on any of the issues that are most urgent...even if it is urgent, there is likely someone who could argue the point that their issue is more urgent.

Yet, what if we changed it to least...or average......and do-able...approachable...impactable.

Does that alter our ability to move forward, to make change, to feel good about ourselves and our work?

Maybe the most urgent issue we have is the desire to be involved in  "most"

Maybe it is a reminder that...it is ok to do what we can in community or alone, being the butterfly that with minor changes makes positive change.

I was recently in a new age store in my neighbourhood and there was a "game" to try where you would run your hand over different magnets and feel which ones called to you and turn them over to see where you needed healing and energy. I thought it was silly but played while I was waiting for someone and I got these four: stress relief, health, motivation/energy and balance. I was amazed at how exact it was. I am in my first full time year of diaconal ministry studies and am struggling a bit at the moment. I was really sick with bronchitis in February and it's still sticking around a bit. Since then my energy has been low and I am having a hard time catching up. So these are the areas that I personally am in need of renewal and healing throughout Lent.

In response to the query about the Medicine Wheel, I would echo Mike's comments above.  The Medicine Wheel is layered with symbols in forms of colours and locations, layered with meanings, beliefs, and world views that are foreign to most of us, even someone like myself who taught in First Nations settings for many years.  The external concepts of interdendence, relationships and parts unified to make a whole may be useful to us, but without being raised with the world view and language of the Medicine Wheel, it is difficult or impossible to understand what it means to those who created and sustain its use.

In looking for symbols of unity, Mike's example of lichen is a possibility, as well as our traditional symbols such as symbols for the trinity including ones that incorporate the cross and or the bread and cup.  Tapestries to me are one representation of the wholeness of life as threads of different kinds of experiences are woven together to produce the tapestry of life.  The beauty and strength of  our life tapestry depends on many things including how much direction we have yielded to the Spirit in its weaving.

Where I need healing most is in reducing my inclination to allow unhelpful diversions and distractions take away time and energy from actions that help me move towards my life goals.

For the United Church, I believe it is to fill in the emptiness of clarity of purpose for our national church -- it seems most of what is offered is head or emotionally based rather than spiritually based (social justice, reaching out to particular demographics, etc.).  Too many words, not enough vision.

"Let me take it upon myself to speak to God, I who am but dust and ashes."  Genesis 18:27

This opening reflection from Rising with the Morning Star reminds us that the ashes of Ash Wednesday are symbolic of "our body's material connection with the earth, that we are both body and spirit." Both are required for our health. Traditionally Lent represents this wholeness by being both a time to give up a sensual pleasure (body), as well as a season to create space for prayer, study, and reflection (spirit). 

Reflection Question: What is the most urgent need for healing within yourself (or your community of faith) this Lent?

I guess I need some help here. What is the connection with Abraham saying he is dust and ashes (to lent), while pleading for the rightous in Sodom and Gommorah?

I was so excited to receive my copy of Rising With the Morning Star last week. I had been planning on taking up journalling during this season of Lent and this is the perfect tool to help me with this. I thought I would share some highlights of what I have written.

If I am honest with myself, I think that the thing most urgently in need of healing within myself is my heart. The broken relationships that exist within my family hurt. I don't know how to heal. I don't know how to rebuild bridges that have been washed away. Maybe it's impossible, maybe not.

I am afraid of being vulnerable with people. I am afraid to ask for help. I have a mental illness and have been deeply affected by the loss of familial relationships. How do I learn how to create safe spaces where it is okay for me to be vulnerable? How do I learn to accept rejection without ensuing depression?

God, will you help me through this Lenten journey? Will you help me to mend broken bridges? Will you help me to be strong, yet vulnerable at the same time? To quote the CGIT purpose I learned as a girl, will you help me "become the girl God would have me be?" Amen.

I am already appreciating reading what others have had to say. I think this will become a very interesting conversation over the coming weeks.

I'm enjoying the comments also and that the topic is staying at the top of the page!

The dust and ashes are the remains of the millions of people who have gone before us; they are the physical part of our bodies that will go on to become to become part of the bodies of those who will come after us; they are a sign of our connection to our contemporaries -- physically, genetically, culturally, our roots draw on the same sources of being.  I believe there is a post on another thread by a person who wrote about their children having an opportunity to see the remains of a freshly cremated body -- how the remaining ashes had the shape of the original body.  We can see ourselves as SEEs (Self Encapsulated Egos), as separate from others, but this is an illusion that Abraham recognized.

Somegalfromcan, from your posts, I believe you are already the girl God would have you be.  I hope you grow in appreciation of whom you are and of your great gifts including your willingness to be prudently vulnerable and your readiness to be compassionate.

The hymn recommended is "Sunday's Palms are Wednesday's Ashes." For anyone who, like me, doesn't have a Voices United on hand and couldn't remember the hymn, I have found it on Youtube. Unfortunately it's not very clear, so I've put the lyrics just below the video.

Sunday's palms are Wednesdays ashes as another Lent begins;

 Thus we kneel before the Maker in contrition for our sins.

We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray;

 Now returning, seek forgiveness; grant us pardon, God, this day!

We have failed to love our neighbors, their offences to forgive,

 Have not listened to their troubles, nor have cared just how they live.

We are jealous, proud, impatient, loving over-much our things;

May the yielding of our failings be our our Lenten offerings.

We are hasty to judge others, blind to proof of human need;

And our lack of understanding demonstrates our inner greed;

 We have wasted earths resources; want and suffering we've ignored;

Come and cleanse us, then restore us; make new hearts within us Lord.

You've got me blushing Jim - thank you for saying that.  

"Rising With the Morning Star" raises the question of dualism, and how we overcome the dualism that entered Christianity from Greek thought. One of the problems with dualism as it's generally expressed is that it divides virtually everything into good and bad. So there is light and darkness - light is good; darkness is bad. There is flesh and spirit - flesh is bad; spirit is good. Dare I say - there's life and death; life is good and death is bad. One way of trying to climb out of that trap is to remember the creation story and be reminded that everything created by God is good. That may also address in some respects the questions about what healing is needed. Sometimes people need to be healed from the message they've received over and over again - "you're not good enough." While we may all have room for improvement, perhaps we need to remind people not that they're not good enough but that they're good enough to be loved by God. There's no dualism with God - God doesn't love the "good ones" and hate the "bad ones." God is simply love, and so God loves.

I was struck this morning by the quote from Abraham - "I who am but dust and ashes." I conducted a funeral this morning, and thought about those words from Abraham as I intoned the words of committal at the interment - "earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust." Truly death returns us to the place from which we began, and since everything began with God, death surely holds no fear for us, for it returns us into the care of pure love.

I agree Steven -- the Greek philosophers that influenced Christian theology seemed more interested in speculating about the world than experiencing it.  Dualism has been a negative influence on faith and our political systems.  Studying the Jewish world view at theological school supported other philosophies that embrace the essential unity of all creation and the beauty of continuums.

I'd say a good place to start for Christians would be to practice agape where it is very hard for them to do, agape for the Morning Star, Lucifer, who rebelled against G_d and who was cast down and who is now perceived as the personification of Evil, as Christians are taught to believe.

It is easy to practice agape for easy things...it is harder and more challenging to practice it for things that cause rifts in people, fundamental rifts that need to be healed.

Your G_d gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want -- it is your choice.

I am constantly confronted with the duality of our culture, including that of body and spirit.  I recently was part of a workshop to raise awareness and acceptance of transgendered individuals.  There is a YouTube clip called "Transgender Basics" that is very helpful.  The people in this clip speak of gender as a continuum versus the more prevalent thought of gender as either male or female/man or woman.  The more I think about it, the more I grasp and embrace the idea of a gender continuum.

I can only imagine a world where people, being born as a male or female, are not then burdened with gender roles.  What if all people were encouraged to be themselves and not to worry about falling into previously established gender roles.  The same goes for our sexuality.  Instead of an assumed sexuality, an openness to exploring what is comfortable for each one of us.  

This may seem like a tangent, but I do believe that there is real healing that needs to happen within ourselves and within our communities when it comes to the gender roles and sexuality assumptions that we are assigned at birth.  I pray that one day we will accept each other for who we are and who we become on our journey.

Jesus' incarnation is one of the aspect of Christianity that makes it different from other religions in my opinion. By joining spirit and flesh as one, Jesus modelled the breadth of human spiritual experience on Earth. This wholeness overcomes both dualisms and paths that emphasis either body or spirit. The medicine wheel is great, but I think the person of Jesus offers us a path and practice to this wholeness and healing that works just fine. (Though, it's true, I haven't actually tried lichen. :-)

Hi InannaWhimsey!

I see the OT quoted in various spots on this thread so how did the prosecutor become the rebel, the fallen one?  Did the "fallen one" monicker stick as part of the "sales pitch?"  I was taught Lucifer volunteered for the job - creating realities for us all to experience.  Doesn't mean I want to get within a bazillion miles of the dude.

The answer for both myself and my community of faith is the same - replace the fear in our hearts, minds and spirit with love.

Easy to say, difficult to do.

And it is a question of doing - love, as Jesus saw it, was a verb, not simply a noun.

It was what he asked of us - to love God and love our neighbour (everyone).

The more we can trust in God and meet the day with love for our neighbour we will experience the true reality - the connection of all that is.

Put simply, love connects - fear disconnects.

I'm deeply grateful for all of these reflections. You have already enriched my Lenten experience. Some of your comments that I'll be savouring during my examen this evening, with gratitude, are:

Yet, what if we changed it to least...or average......and do-able...approachable...impactable?... Maybe it is a reminder that...it is ok to do what we can in community or alone, being the butterfly that with minor changes makes positive change.

If I am honest with myself, I think that the thing most urgently in need of healing within myself is my heart....  Will you help me to be strong, yet vulnerable at the same time? To quote the CGIT purpose I learned as a girl, will you help me "become the girl God would have me be?"

We have failed to love our neighbors, their offences to forgive, have not listened to their troubles, nor have cared just how they live (from hymn)

There is real healing that needs to happen within ourselves and within our communities when it comes to the gender roles and sexuality assumptions that we are assigned at birth.  I pray that one day we will accept each other for who we are and who we become on our journey.

By joining spirit and flesh as one, Jesus modelled the breadth of human spiritual experience on Earth. This wholeness overcomes both dualisms and paths that emphasis either body or spirit

The more we can trust in God and meet the day with love for our neighbour we will experience the true reality - the connection of all that is.

We've already come a long way together on Day one of Lent!

Greetings!

My book has not arrived yet, so I am thankful that this information and this synopsis has been posted.

For me, there is much hope and comfort in the fact that on this journey toward Christ and toward wholeness that I do not journey alone.  The words "In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone." (A New Creed) remind me that God is with me, despite what is happening in my life and world.

I think for myself, what is most needed in abundant healing within me is to be free from fear (as others have posted above) . . . there are situations in my life where my fear of the future is not for myself, but for another who is somewhat dependent on me - what will happen to them if something happens to me, who will be there for them when I am gone.  Somehow I need to be able to receive in my spirit that just as God is with me in my journey in the here and now, that God will journey with them in the future.  God is here now - God will be here then.  I can stay in this frame of mind for awhile - I guess that would be the Easter experience, but there are times when fear overrides and I find myself in the depths of the ashes.

A fear for my community of faith, specifically my church, is that I see the pews becoming emptier month by month as some move on, either through relocation or death.  Again, I need to trust that just as God journeys with us now, that God will journey with this faith community in the future.

Hope, peace, joy, love . . .

Heyo Floribunda,

too bad the Bible is written from the victor's point of view and that isn't a very good way to base one's BS (belief system) around methinks :3

I think we find reasons to blame our fear, our anxieties, and so forth, on something outside of ourselves ("politicians", "that person isn't being nice", "I'm feeling ill",etc etc etc), not taking responsibility for the fear, etc. that we create for ourselves.

It seems that Nietzche was right...Christianity was created for those who blame the bad things on "Satan" and the good things on "G_d".  People have trouble being able to deal with facing reality, "alone" and "naked" without supports, looking at the screaming nihilism which exists to be challenged and overcome.

So there needs to be ways to teach people this, actual methods and means -- one just can't go to someone "You're creating your own anxiety, STOP IT!" :3  And I think, based on my little knowledge of Christianity, that just reading the Book doesn't do it...there seem to be no mechanisms there that show people how to heal themselves or how to be aware of their own thoughts and feelings, ferinstance...

 What most needs healing?  .... Our sense that we have real (moral) choices to make and that those choices matter; that we are not simply transported into the future on a conveyor belt of inevitability and immutable laws.  The Arab nations of the Middle East have recently demonstrated the power that is released when "the inevitable" is pushed aside and people insist on their power to choose.  The recent insistence by Arab nations that their rights to choose must be respected provides  a glimmer of hope and inspiration as we face down our own corporate and economic "dictators" including the "inevitable" and implacable logic of international capital and the "inevitability" of transnational corporations and globalization that results in the destruction of third world economies and agriculture and vapourizes domestic jobs and wealth.  We need to heal our moral courage and our vision.

 hmm, i wonder if there will be a new thread, or just a new post in this thread.

The title is for the week.....anyone know?

 Good morning folks. Thank you for your comments on Day 1. Here is the synopsis and a few suggested discussion questions for Day 2. 

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Thursday | Day 2 | Our God Who Has Created and Is Creating

"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

Today's passage declares that God the Creator is still creating and we are participants in this creation. At times our role in ecological exploitation will cause us to want to repent before God in dust and ashes as Job did. Yet we are also finding ways to participate in the healing of God's creation through acts of eco-justice. We can also learn more about living in harmony with creation by learning from Aboriginal peoples and others who have a history of caring for the earth. 

Reflection Questions: How have you or your group/community been partnering with God in restoring some of creation's brokenness? What more (or new) acts would you or you group/community like to take up, and what kind of support and allies would you need?

Rising with the Morning Star (UCPH, 2010).

 What am I doing? how am I approaching healing? How are we approaching healing?

 The need for healing is, this study reveals, universal. I do not think we can address separate symptoms of dysfunction. We are not doing well.

Something that has been positive for us that may be worth sharing is that, some years ago, my wife and I got deliberate about what we consume.

By “deliberate” I don’t mean following the wellknown, formulaic admonitions like “eat local”, “eat less meat”… I mean consciously entering into a deepened awareness about food. And we discovered there is a lot to learn and a lot of "noise" to get through.

So, for example my wife is the soup specialist, drawing flavours in their essence into wonderful harmonies, as expressive and nuanced as beautiful music. It’s not about buying up lots of special ingredients; it’s about using what is available, local, cheap or left-over.

I bake bread twice a week, not in a machine, but the old way that lets you feel the dough come to pliant, responsive life in your hands as it’s kneaded. And there’s the smell… a “bread and water” diet could actually be enjoyable…

I do most of the other cooking and keep it fairly simple: I had opportunities to learn from the southern Italian taste for variety, flavour, freshness and simplicity. We avoid processed or pre-prepared foods and find straight, unmodified ingredients not only give us creative control over preparing a meal but also have fuller flavours.

We light candles, say ‘grace’ and try to have friends in for dinner one night a week as a way of celebrating the blessings of having ample to eat.

In the past, we’ve raised and butchered poultry, I have worked with a neighbour, butchering sheep, and I’ve butchered a few wild goats. With mixed results, I have tried cooking raccoon and (in New Zealand) opossum, rather than let culled pests got to waste. It’s a good way to gain a realistic appreciation of what meat really is. Blood is holy, life is sacred; rather than to be avoided, it is to be respected. We must not waste it but transform in, through our lives, into goodness. Eating meat should be felt as a commitment to live life fully and in thorough connection with the whole of creation.

We eat meat but in moderation, with respect and, as far as possible, without waste.

Also, we enjoy days of fasting, broken with a bowl of plain oatmeal for “dinner” — the Scottish style: steel cut rather than those dreadful steamed and rolled oats from which so much flavour and goodness are wrung. One thing it does is prepare our palates for the flavours of the following day.

We’ve lost our taste for heavily sugared desserts and butter-laden baking: desserts are almost always fresh fruit or frozen berries we picked the previous summer.

Picking berries always fills me with powerful feelings of gratitude (I’ve felt tears well at the bounty of it all), and those feelings rush back to me whenever we get into depleting our winter stocks.

So we spend less and less on food and enjoy food more and more. Our environmental impacts are also lessened.

The REAL return, though, is what food can teach us if we really interact with it and open to the experiences of what it is where it comes from and how it is gathered and prepared; it becomes something meaningful and connecting, balanced and sustaining.

Jesus very clearly appreciated hospitality, food and of wine… his last encouragement to his closest friends was to break bread and share wine as a way of remembering him… this is not the enjoinment of an ascetic, but of a deeply connected soul: wine and bread both come from the soil carrying the particular flavour and quality of the land that produced them… and THIS is the sort of awareness that helps us to approach without fear the awesome challenge of approaching a real restoration of the planet.

Listen to the earth, feel it, taste it, smell it, caress it with your hands. “Conservation” can be as sensuous and has to be spiritual and rational.

Ecology is an aesthetic.

Ecology is within.

I'm currently overseas so am having difficulty with both internet connection and time zone connection. I'm off to bed now on Thursday, before today's discussion has really got hopping. And I missed posting on Ash Wednesday entirely.

What do I need to heal within myself? My negativity and lack of hope for the future. I'm traveling in a little bubble of optimism and luxury right now and everything is right with the world as long as I don't think too hard. Once I do, despair takes over. Despair for the environment, for peace, for food security, for economic security and for the future of humankind on this planet.

My personal commitment to the healing of the earth comes from investing in a greener heating system, keeping my house cool (or hot in summer), having a personal policy of not buying anything new except food and medical supplies, and focusing on accumulating experiences and not things.

On a non-personal basis, I feel we'll never heal the earth. Humankind acts at all times to destroy the earth, driven by greed which seems to be a basic human characteristic. Perhaps in very small, isolated, communities, humans can live with respect in creation but as communities grow, respect for creation inversely decreases. Warring between tribes has been part of most, if not all, known histories. We are a warlike species, always trying to conquer others as well as creation.

Globally, I see only less-worse alternatives, not better alternatives to aspire to. Ethanol takes as much or more energy to produce than the oil it replaces but affects food production. Nuclear energy offers a solution to greenhouse gases but causes other problems. Mubarek will be replace by who? And the effect of his regime change has added to the instability of the whole region until power can be concentrated in new hands. The best we can hope for is that those will be benevolent hands.

Western governments know that the changes to be made to protect creation will not be accepted so they won't even take baby steps in the right direction, they are too afraid of losing power. Wisconsin springs to mind as an example of what happens then 'global North' entitlements are threatened. The unions are protecting their benefits and behaving as if they are oppressed, refusing to be part of any solution to the financial mess the state is in. The news out of England today has the exact same arguments being made by their public unions complete with murmurings of striking to protect their entitlements.

How can we expect the 'global North' to give up easy, affordable, transportation, cheap communications, cheap food, or cheap heating, if they aren't willing to compromise on something as small as benefits when those benefits are far beyond what the majority of the population receive? And yet giving up all these things and more will be required to relieve the pressure on creation and allow nature to heal.

I've dined with people from 4 different continents in the past week, and all have negative visions of the future. If the captains of business feel this way, I despair for the future. As one put it, “We'll be alright, we have enough money to keep us and our lifestyle safe for the remainder of our lives, but our children and grandchildren face terrible trials in the future.”

 This morning, 4 leaders, 18 youth, and a photographer left to go to Nicarauga.

They are going as part of Two Countries - One World.  I have in the past been a local planner in this process, as I have witnessed the impact it has on all connected to the program. Here is the descriptions.

"We are a United Church service and learning initiative, challenging and changing the lives of youth in the Greater KW, Guelph and Cambridge Area.  We strive to awaken youth to the realities of Economic and Social Justice Issues in developing countries and how our own trade and foreign policies effect these issues for others and for ourselves.  Every two years over the March Break, we host a trip to a developing nation, with day long learning workshops throughout the preceeding year to help prepare participants.   TCOW was delevoped as a continuation to the growth and development of faith for youth after confirmation and as a way to encourage their global citizenship."

So, why did I feel this was fitting to share today?

These youth have taken time to understand the political history of the country and the economic influences, they have spent time in Toronto, visiting areas and speaking with people that would not be part of their normal life experience, trying to open their eyes to the many factors and faces in poverty.

They then travel to the host country, living with a host family, working on a project setup by a local organization (http://www.companeros.ca/) and learning, buidling relationships, having fun.

They will be transformed, there is no question.  How can one not be transformed when you get to be with people and listen to them, with respect.

So many items which seem to be impossible barriers become do-able when we get to know someone.  I am sure there are posters here who can cite situations where Affirm seemed unlikely, but, then, someone needed to be married, or elevator funds could never be raised until someone needed them, or a project in a different city was able to get funds when someone's eyes were opened, or a shelter was built...or...or...

My sense is our community is helping to fix our brokenness when we listen and , even more so, when we reach out and go visit those whom we need to listen to...whether at the bus stop, the prison, the food bank, the seniors centre or the coffee shop.

It is when we get to know the "other", that our lives have the opportunity to be transformed and who knows where that can lead.

 . 

What am I doing to restore some of creation's brokenness? I'm working hard on two things that may be small, but because they're daily and weekly activities, I hope the cumulative effect will make a difference.

One is not using plastic bags. I've been doing this ever since I learned that most of these end up in landfills or in a horrifying plastic soup in the ocean. I have hooks by my front door that hold the ubiquitous grocery store reuseable bags and bags of other sizes--and have actually learned to take them with me when I shop. And for the times I forget, I have a large nylon bag that folds up into a small square and fits in my purse.

The other is using a reuseable coffee mug for my daily coffee(s). Fortunately most coffee places are happy to use these now. I also take a mug with me when I travel and use it at the breakfast bar in motels instead of a disposable cup.

Like Pinga says, maybe it's OK to do what we can, and be the butterfly that makes positive change with minor changes.

Dream about a "Green House"

Hi All - Over the last two years, Rick and I had a dream of building our retirement home - as green as possible. We were 3 weeks away from completion after a labour of love that our whole family participated in... when a fire broke out and smoke and water destroyed our straw bale home. (The straw was ok, it was the conventional parts of the roof structure that burned). The dream died and left a deep hole in our psyche. How could this happen when our "values" were so true to life?  It's the age old WHY ME question. The answer is simple - it was the chimney installer's human error that caused the fire. Not God's will. Not a test. Not a trial by fire (pardon the pun). We have come full circle, reminding ourselves that we will be accompanied when we rebuild. The hole that still lives in our hearts will be filled again. IT is our faith that promises that, and our experience of other difficult events in our past. Thanks be to God!

Being helpful in caring for the environment is assisted by paradox -- having the humility to accept the world as being more important than I while holding the audacity to believe I am capable of making a difference. 

While I enjoyed today's reading, I was bothered by the middle lines in the prayer:

"Teach us not only to stand in awe of your power in nature

but also dare to partner with you

in restoring in some measure

your original design for this fragile earth,"

With my science background, I am profoundly aware that the earth has changed continually, sometimes dramatically.  13,000 years ago, an ice sheet 3200 m thick covered the land where I now live.  About 11,000 years ago, this land was under a huge lake.  I don't know if God even has a design for the earth.  The earth is not fragile -- it has endured collisions with massive asteroids and / or comets; it will still be here after there is almost no trace left of human beings as we know ourselves; and life will persist as well.  Individual species may be fragile; ecosystems may change dramatically with small changes in the physical part of the earth.  What are particularly fragile are some places of special beauty and comfort to us, or at least to some of us.

I would prefer the last two lines to read something like,

"in nurturing in some measure

your unveiling of beauty for the abundant earth"

God can heal the earth -- we just need to reduce the injury we are doing, and to assist in enhancing life, such as through permaculture.

To Kathryn Holman -- part of the economic crisis in the west including Wisconsin is the persistent reduction in taxes on the wealthy reducing their contributions to the public good and increasing the burden carried by the middle class.  A realistic analysis of taxes paid 30 years ago and today would find that the deficits and debts are closely related to the extra wealth the rich have accumulated in this time, wealth which has often been used to increase damage to the environment.  I

In my journal today I decided to focus on the actions of my congregation. Our congregation is fairly large - it's not unusual to see 200 people on a Sunday morning - and quite diverse. Here are some highlights of what I wrote:

The first words that come to mind are these, "We are not alone, we live in God's world. We believe in God, who has created and is creating... " (A New Creed, The United Church of Canada). Creation is not and will never be completed. We have an important role to play in the continuation of God's creation.

The environment is the first cause that comes to mind. At my church we recycle and compost, but wouldn't it be great if people - myself included - considered more environmentally sustainable transportation? Our congregation gives out free food vouchers to those who need them, maybe we should consider giving out bus tickets too.

The second cause that comes to mind is the plight of the world's people.This is a big and multi-dimensional topic that ranges from war to poverty to abuse (and more). It's about taking care of each other and getting to know your neighbour. I try to treat people as I would want to be treated. As a young, straight, white, female Canadian, I don''t come up against a lot of prejudism. I am lucky. At church we have done things like helping to fund an orphanage in Africa for children whose parents have often died of AIDS. We are going through the Affirming process so that members of the local Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered and Queer community can know that it is a safe place to go and can feel welcomed there. We have recently supported a refugee family and last Sunday we celebrated when one member of their family graduated from college. We encourage the children and youth of the congregation to think about others - and they respond in beautiful ways. Each year we purchase Christmas gifts (called Angel gifts) for the street people of the city. I would like to see us doing even more for people on lower incomes. Personally, I would like to feel more comfortable interacting with people on the street. I think that would involve the assistance of someone who has more experience with street people than I do.

I think that as a church community, my congregation is doing pretty well helping to restore some of the brokenness of God's creation. I think, that with God's assistance, we could be doing even more to help.

"We are not alone, we live in God's world. We believe in God who has created and is creating..."

Hi InannaWhimsey!

My but you're sounding very Buddhist.    Ah humans, what can I say?  It's SO much easier to blame the other guy.  It's SO much easier to take the path of least resistance.  Shoot, I've got to go find a book -

"If you cannot activate your heart chakra, the chakras which are operating predominantly are the base chakra, the navel chakra and the solar plexus chakra. All of your interactions are coming out of instinctive terror, karmic patterning, power, lust, greed, or sheer ego-centered power interactions with people."

Archangel Ariel

channeled by Tashira Tachi-ren

"What is Lightbody?"

So much of the behaviour you described in your post seemed almost childlike - emotionally stunted but me and my fellow humans are up against a lot - seen and unseen?  Whether we realize it or not?  Teach a man to fish and he eats forever.  Teach a man to create peace in his life and he lives heaven on Earth?  Start passing the tools around?

I’m finding the text offered for our consideration today to be somewhat unsatisfying, somewhat softheaded, and somewhat sappy.  I do not agree that we have much to learn, for instance, about stewardship of the earth from “our Aboriginal elders, sisters, and brothers”.  My personal experience tells me that aboriginals are every bit as shortsighted and exploitative as the rest of the population.  If they have a better record because they do less damage than non-aboriginals it is only because there are fewer of them.   The aboriginal stance towards conservation laws and regulations limiting catches and seasons for hunting and fishing is, for instance, generally one of complete and utter disregard.    

I would suggest that one of the reasons there is so much industry in the “Global north” (and therefore high use of energy and production of carbon dioxide) is that the climate in the “Global north” is such that historically the unindustrious are likely to freeze, starve and die.   The fires must be kept burning.  I do not really believe that the solution to global warming is going to be achieved  ”one light bulb at a time” especially in the “Global north”.  At this point in the unfolding of global warming, such notions are just tokenism.  As Canadians living in a country where winter (the heating season) begins in earnest in October and ends in May (that is more than ½ the year) and the days shorten to the point where people become afflicted with SAD (seasonal affective disorder from a lack of sunlight) we need to recognize that it is not healthy (mentally or physically or spiritually) to freeze in the dark for 6 or 7 months a year.  Symbolism will not stop global warming.   

I believe that the root of our difficulties lies in “man’s inhumanity to man” and the neofuedal systems we have created to exploit the third world (and the lesser economic powers) to create benefits which accrue to business corporations but not to the people who work in them (and as the recent financial crisis showed us, perhaps not necessarily even to those who finance them).  Often wealth is being vacuumed out of countries … appropriated … transferred without regard to the welfare of those in the source countries.  This is wasteful and destructive and hurts our world in ways far more significant than the porch light I leave on every night just to push back the dark a little and keep the bad men away.  

In Washington State I have seen huge tracts of the desert being irrigated (and the soil being thus salinated and mineralized at the same time as water levels in watercourse are dangerously diminished) in order to grow apples (Granny Smith) which are then put on airplanes and flown to locations such as Ontario (where apples grow without irrigation and appear on our shelves or at the farmers gate without need of air travel long distance truck transport).  The Jordan River is being drained dry for irrigation (to such an extent that the Dead Sea is shrinking in size) to grow water hungry crops like oranges and (worse yet) potatoes which are then exported and sold for the mere pittance that potatoes bring even as Jordanian crops fail and small subsistence farmers lose their livelihoods and people starve.  While these things continue or as long as they are watering golf courses in Page, Arizona where it is 110 degrees Fahrenheit and zero humidity, it doesn't matter whether or not you turn your lights off.

I don't think the Universe needs healing.  The Universe is a big place and insofar as the space we take up and our potential effect on it, we are an insignificant mote.  It is not the Universe that needs healing, it is we that need healing.  We can heal ourselves by attending to the healing of others.  That is a big enough job.  Nevermind the Universe.

So what am I doing?  I try to inform myself about these bigger systems … these “infernal machines” we have set loose.  I try to resist the forces of neofeudalism. I try to buy things from local producers and local merchants ( one dollar spent locally creates $20 of further economic activity).  I try to buy locally grown food.  I try not to purchase goods made in jurisdictions that have poor human rights records.  I support labour unions.  I teach what I know to others.  I try to make a difference in my work by making my services as affordable  as I can … and in my volunteering  I  help those organizations that are helping people to realize their dreams and aspirations and overcome the challenges they face.  In order to do so I need to stay current so I stay up late reading and thinking about what I have read.  To do that I need good light and a warm place to sit.  Sometimes I fall asleep with the light still on.  I dream of how global warming would end if we stopped sucking the little people of the little countries as dry of capital and resources as we suck the Jordan River and the rivers of the far west; and how if we stopped oppressing labour scarcity would abate and people could adopt less agressive more confident stances and strategies toward our earth.

 Good morning. Thanks to all of you for contributing to what has been a great discussion so far. Here is the briefing for today's reading. 

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Friday | Day 3 | Answers that Do Not Answer

"Then I turned to God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication...." Daniel 9:3

Many of us wrestle with the difficult fact that at times our prayers, like Daniel's, appear to go unanswered. Today's reading asks us to reflect on this great mystery of faith.  

Reflection Questions: How have you tried to deal with those parts of yourself that cannot be healed? What has helped you live with them? What resources were you able to draw on?

Rising with the Morning Star (UCPH, 2010).

What cannot be healed?

I feel a loss that's hard to fully let go of...

The sea is in my bones: I grew up in New Zealand wholly focused on the sea. I swam in it, dived under it, sailed on it, ate from it and surfed on its waves. The beach was my childhood hangout; it was a snack bar for my childhood friends me, eating raw shellfish from the sand or off the rocks when we felt peckish. I became a very keen diver and swam with dolphins, orcas, whale sharks and sharks. I played with timid octopi and reef fish. I was involved too with Pacific cultures, particularly Maori and Samoan canoe culture.

The Pacific Ocean so suffused my spirituality that a Maori elder, mystic and Christian minister with whom I became close during my university days (I was a proclaimed atheist at the time) told me that my kaitiaki was the mako. A Maori woman once looked into my eyes and, without knowing me, announced: “Tangaroa has your heart, boy; your home will always be the horizon.” I’ve been thinking about that as we face a move inland.

“Tangaroa” is the Polynesian god of the sea. A “kaitiaki” is a kind of spiritual guardian, an angel. “Mako” is the shark: the most beautiful vision of strength, assurance and natural streamlining I have ever seen. One cruised beside me once while I was diving; I’d dived with sharks before and lost my fear of them (only a visibly hungry, active shark is dangerous in New Zealand’s cool waters): our eyes met and, when it left, it moved so swiftly and powerfully that it seemed simply to vanish. I half-wondered whether it had ever really been there, but I can close my eyes and see it still. I have a strong feeling that, when the time comes, my mako -- my kaitiaki -- will will take me “home”.

How will she find me if I am far from the sea?

I feel sure that she will. But I do feel a wound… a wound of separation, of loss.

The reasonably consistent “laws of nature” (at least in our corner of the universe) tell me that there’s just the one mystery/supreme spirit/god and the fact that we perceive this one spirit in so many ways does nothing to change this “one god” any more than we uniquely experience the ‘laws of nature”: we wax preposterous when we claim “our god” is superior to someone else’s “god”: we don’t even know for sure how many dimensions we inhabit! There’s more living going on in one square yard of my backyard than I could possibly understand were I to devote a whole lifetime to its study! How can I possibly make assertions about “god” when I know next to nothing about the bacteria inhabiting my body, even though they outnumber my body’s cells by ten to one?

Tangaroa is a way to see god throughout he lens of the sea… that makes sense to me because it rings true with my experience and any other view seems fatuous. So I to believe that my mako is an angelic revelation — a different word for the experience of spiritual guardianship, and that what the experience means is what matters, not the form it appears to take at a particular time. I merely need to make the horizon more truly my home… even if there are a few hills in the way. (There are precedents, there always are: this is the  “white martyrdom” of the old Celtic saints and it does call for a death and resurrection at the core of being.)

My unhealed wound is a particular past, a good and beloved past, but all pasts are beyond reach. My problem is a unique moment of particular awe: something that’s always seemed a “unique” revelation.

The healing lies the presence in the “now”. And that means letting go in trust of a resurrection.

“Letting go” is hard, but I already know that faith gets us there as soon as we expand our view of what “god” may be, what “god” means and how wholly, thoroughly saturated with “god” life, nature and the universe truly are. There is much i have let go without hesitation. 

I know that, when we diminish “god” to fit into our scale of things, that’s when we isolate ourselves from healing and damage others… and, if we’re using that kind of language, then that, I’d suggest, is “sin”.

The “god” we think we know is always a figment of the past and must be let go of, as surely as any other weighty anchor… another “god” waits, open-armed, before us.

Looking back, I've made many "requests" in my prayers. Some were fulfilled and others seemingly not, but when I've asked for strength, courage or peace, God seems to be consistent.

I think I've learned that in order to change my circumstances and others, I have to change inside first and when I remember this, God never fails.

I find acceptance helps me deal with the parts of me that can't be healed. Although I prefer the expression, 'made normal' since perhaps I'm not broken and in need of healing and just need to find a way to live fully and not focus on what can't be made normal in my life.

Even 'normal' is a loaded word. I prefer to think of normal as a setting on my dryer. Except my new dryer doesn't have a normal setting on it. So perhaps normal no longer exists.

So, rather than trying to be normal, I try to fully be who I am and focus on what I can do and not what I can't do. By accepting myself I feel healed and ready to be part of God's world.

This is more of yesterday;s discussion. The news of the earthquake and Tusnami in Japan, Hawaii and up the Canadian West Coast is devestating, We have no control, But the thing that hurt the most this morning when I heard the news was that oil wells are on fire and the market in Japan is falling. Why do we put this ahead of people?

Thank you Mike and Spirit Wind 7.

A book that really challenged and opened up my ideas about prayer was Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh.  If we believe in a loving God, then the healing we need is always being offered -- all that is missing is our confidence in God's power to offer the healing and our willingness/readiness to accept it.  Healing is not the same as curing -- curing returns us to our original state; healing brings us some form of reconciliation or wholeness with the possibiity of being in a better state than we originally were. 

I am working at choosing a life of healing ahead of me, to consistently make and follow through on the thousands of little decisions that will improve my physical, mental, spiritual, social, and financial wellness.  This life requires taking full responsibility for everything that happens to me, and doing all I can to support others on their healling pathways with the grace of God.

Prayer, when it is from the heart, does two things:  it brings some of the attention of God to the situation of concern, and it gives us words to understand or see or accept our needs and reasons for gratitude.  When we hear what we need, it makes it easier to do something about it.  Our brains are strangely compartmentalized and our thoughts stay in one place until they are spoken, at which time they become accessible to other parts of our brain and more accessible to action. 

In another thread I told the story I heard on CBC radio in a series on euthanasia and care for the dying.  An olympic athlete told his doctor near the end of his life after more than a year of fighting cancer that that year had been the best year of his life.  Up until then his focus had always been outward and external.  In that year he had gotten to know and deeply love  who he was as he explored internal spaces, and it was the best experience he had known.

Thank you for your concern about the west coast CrazyHeart. Thankfully, at this point they are saying that waves are only expected to get to about 1 metre high which shouldn't do too much in the way of damage. That said, I bet LightHouseGhost will have some good stories to share later on. Really, it is the people in Asia that we need to be thinking of and praying for at this time.

Back to the questions at hand...

These questions are forcing me into an uncomfortable spot - but, really, is that what Lent is? I could take the easy way out and talk about an old injury that has never fully healed or about how I lost my sense of smell and never fully regained it. I won't do that though, because it wouldn't be very helpful in this journey to get to know myself and God more fully.

I have a mental illness - I suffer from depression. A few years ago I came to real low point - work was hard to come by and I wasn't in a good living situation. I wasn't exactly suicidal, but I wanted the Earth to swallow me whole. I didn't feel like I could talk to anyone. I thought I was hiding my feelings well, but those who loved me knew something was wrong. I was scared, lonely and sad. I knew things had to change, had to get better - but I didn't know how to make that happen.

The one place I felt truly comfortable was at my church. I trusted my ministers and they started to draw me out of my shell, started asking me the tough questions. My church community helped me out - providing me with safe places: both physically and emotionally. Sometimes I screwed up, but they loved me regardless. They taught me how to trust. Things started to turn around. I had to make some tough choices, but I am a better person because of them. I got counselling, a new job (that I love) and a good place to live.

Depression is not something that can be cured. Sometimes it seems as if the negative stuff is just being piled on me. When that happens, I have to take a step back and try to analyze the situation objectively. I have to remind myself that just because I made a mistake that someone pointed out does not mean that I am a bad person or that they don't like me - I am simply a human being who makes mistakes. If things get to be too much, I find a trusted person to talk to. Getting out into nature also helps - and sometimes that is the most comfortable place for me to talk to God.

I live just down the street from a hospital with a mental health unit. As I write this, I can hear someone calling out in agony. His cries remind me of lucky I am - how good my life really is. Praise be to God.

The point, I was trying to make, was oil and markets, Money!

 A part of the prayer from today stuck in my mind:  Teach us to accept the unhealable part of ourselves.

I took that into a wide interpretation of ourselves, to include relationships, systems, processes.   Things will always be broken after all. As we grow or try new things, some will fail. If they don't it means that we are not risking...we are awaiting until we have perfection.

The other part was the next line "give us grace to live in wholeness without being healed"

if the broken piece is a relationship -- you can only alter your own part of it.  

To heal can be to be able to work amidst the broken relationship.  One way that I hae done so, is to find those who can walk with me and give me support. In a workplace that can mean engaging those who can form a team.  Another is to find an alternate path....if the way forward is blocked by someone, then take a step to the side, then move forward.

  In other words, the broken relationship need not define me nor does it need to limit my ability to be successful

"How have you tried to deal with those parts of yourself that cannot be healed? What has helped you live with them? What resources were you able to draw on?"

Sorry but I can't answer.  This is the sort of question which always makes me tap my foot with impatience and scratch my head in wonder.   "The parts of myself that cannot be healed?"  

I think it is quite a presumption that I should have parts of myself that cannot be healed. Is it some sort of Christian requirement?   In any case, whether it is a requirement or not, I have no such parts.

I mean, at least, that I have no such parts if you don't count that I started to lose my hair in my late 20's and now its long gone but I've  always known that with or without it I am still "me" and that I remain whole.  My prostate went missing, as well,  just before Christmas but frankly I haven't really missed it and I feel fine ...  thanks very much.  I'm still the same guy with it or without it although I pee a little more often now it seems.  

I love my life and who I am.  I always have.  My mom and dad loved me and taught me lovingly and well.  I get along with my sister and brother and we love and support each other.  I love my children and they love me.  My wife and I have been married for almost forty years now and it looks like it really is true love and our marriage may last.  If anybody hurt my feelings along the way I've forgiven them.  I have a few friends and they are all good ones.  I've had a few disappointments, I guess, but they were all brief and in any case I have left them all behind me.  I am surrounded by love.  

Sorry!  

I guess you could, if it makes you feel somewhat better, tell yourself it is too good to be true and that I am in denial ... 

There is another possibility though ... that love conquers all ... that love heals all.  But that couldn't be it could it?!  It's way too simplistic.  I'm probably just lucky. That's all!

 qwerty you are lucky.  The parts of me that I find difficult to heal are those that are hurt when I allow myself to open up to others or organizations which I love or respect and then find myself let down by them.  I find it very hard for me to forgive in those situations.  Frankly, I don't want to forgive however, what ends up happening is that I sit in that place of sadness and often righteous indignation for a time until I am tired of it all and then I generally end up dismissing that individual or organization out of my life.  I think that those are places that never truly heal.  The relationship changes but it doesn't heal.  I would like to change that pattern but I don't know how to change it.  

When I see what happened in Japan, China and New Zealand I think of the unhealed parts of my life and I see them for how insignificant that they are and are tempted to dismiss them.  Sadly though, my past shows me that when I do that I tend to dismiss my emotional attachment to those that I am in conflict with as well.