Dear Friends,
We are witnessing global occurrences of wildfires,
earthquakes, volcanic activity and powerful storms. It is the Earth doing what
she needs to do, in order to facilitate renewal.
Our bodies replace billions of cells every day. We require
sleep in order to refresh our physical strength.
When you use a computer, you may find sometimes that a page
needs to be refreshed, so to speak, in order to be able to continue.
Having travelled with my daughter through the valley of the
shadow of death, I am slowly, but surely, being lifted up again through
participating in communion during the sacrament of the consecration of the
human being.
During this time of the year, we see the fruits ripening in
the garden, the wheat in the fields, and the salmon beginning to return to
spawn (after which they die). Soon some animals will begin to prepare for
hibernation. The bears will gorge themselves on fatty fish, nuts and berries –
which, incidentally, are also good for helping our bodies to create new cells.
Parents and students are preparing for a new school year.
In the night skies, we are witnessing showers of meteors,
like a kind of cosmic rain.
Everything in nature points to the seasonal, or cyclical,
need for renewal.
What about human beings? There are times when we also feel
the need for a refresher, or renewal, or revival. Some people like to
participate in a period of fasting during different times of the year. This
allows our bodies to be purged of built-up toxins, and then slowly be refreshed
with proper hydration and nutrition, sleep and exercise.
How, though can we restore our souls? We may be able to do
this on our own for a brief time, but in the long term, we need something more.
Our souls are not physical in nature, and therefore the (healing) medicine
required, is also not something physical, but spiritual.
Some passages from my dear brother’s favorite verse, Psalm
23, hold clues:
HE restores my soul (through the spiritual transformation of
the communion bread and juice).
YOU prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
(my demons). YOU anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. (that is to say, I can
be so filled with the Love of the Holy Spirit that it flows from me to others
as well).
In our church, the Movement for Religious Renewal, it is not
just a quiet space to come together for contemplation and devotion. It is an
opportunity for each individual soul to feel seen, heard and loved
unconditionally. It can be a time of renewal, or even of reformation, if you
will.
Sparky
In loving memory of my dear cousin, Ralph, who believed in treating
others as he would himself wish to be treated. Whose decades long travels
taught him not to judge, but to meet each person in the state they were in and
see the light within. Namaste. (I am seeing you.)
