Advent, Day 4

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Guest is on the way.

Angels announce with shouts of mirth,
Him who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

Word: Two verses of a modern carol first published in The Oxford Book of Carols in 1928, by Eleanor Farjeon

Image: "Ephphatha" by Claudia Smith

"And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened." (Mark 7:34) -- interpreted for this painting to mean: be open to the Holy Spirit and Its boundless love, and you will be filled with Grace. Rejoice in it!

We're Following The Star, 1

In that innocent moment, fences down and doors unguarded, an idea arrived. Unexpected. Not entirely uninvited. Call it radical or call it risky or call it an interesting quest… We’re following The Star.

“We” is David, Jim, and Robin.

Challenged and inspired by our own internal and external constellations we’re following the star across (neither down, nor up) an Advent path. We bring our own maps and tools and gifts, committing to the journey and to sharing.

These words by Joan Chittester carried the idea and brought us together for this journey.

“…Waiting — that cold, dry period of life when nothing seems to be enough and something else beckons within us — is the grace that Advent comes to bring. It stands before us, within us, pointing to the star for which the wise ones from the East are only icons of ourselves.”

So, as respectfully as we can, we salute those icons and then just as respectfully begin to diverge, branch out, make a trail.

Here we go.

Advent, Day 3

There is no better time than Advent to turn our heads and hearts around to the true meaning of our lives. Each year we anticipate the coming of the babe in the manger. And each year, we have the opportunity to start again, to learn anew how to best live into the meaning of Christ with us.

Still, there is probably no time of the year when it is more difficult to focus on God than right now. Some of us are old enough to remember earlier times when the anticipation of Advent was possible, without too much intrusion from the gift-giving celebrations of Christmas. But today, the decorations for Christmas go up in the stores even before Thanksgiving, and we usually lose focus on the waiting and anticipation of Advent—before we even got started!

Words: Jon M. Sweeney in "These Days of Waiting on God"

Image: "Descending like a dove" by Sally Brower

Advent, Day 2

Advent Reflection from The Merton Institute

Merton's Voice:

Last night all I could think of was to give my will entirely to God and desire no light or consolation, but only His will. I chanted the psalms of Lauds thinking how the only thing that matters is the glory of God....[Journals 2:149-150]

The Bible NRSV:

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. [I Thessalonians 3:12]

Prayer:

I revere your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. [Psalm 119:48]

Seen Above: "Fear Not" by Ruth Councell

First Sunday Of Advent, Day 1

Advent Reflection from The Merton Institute

Merton's Voice:

I give myself completely to God-He draws me more and more to that. I cannot know what lies ahead for me, for us, but more and more I realize God wants me to put myself in His hands, and let Him take me through the things that are to come.... [Journal 2:145]

The Bible (NRSV):

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the House of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the Land. [Jeremiah 33:14-15]

Prayer
The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. [Psalm 50:1]

Seen Above:

PSALM 19: A unique contemporary interpretation of the beloved psalm, "The Song to The Choirmaster," also the oft-heard words prior to a sermon, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight."

Created by Roz Dimon working in collaboration with Kathy Bozzuti-Jones, Click HERE to participate in this multimedia event.

I Am Humbled

Words & Image: Jeanelle McCall

O Maker Of Worlds

O Maker of Worlds beyond us,
help us to live in the world we know
in peace with one another,
a kaleidoscope of nations,
a patchwork quilt of ways and wills
that rise from the depths of cultures
created by Your love.
Open us to the richness
of one another's vision
and the good we can accomplish
when we share one another's views.
We pray this prayer of unity and peace
in the hope of Shalom
Amen

Words: Sister Miriam Therese Winter

Image: The Rev. Scott Fisher

What Is Our Mission?

“We participate in trying to heal this world.
That’s what we’re here for.”

Words: The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori in an address here.

Image: Processional Cross by David Orth

Charter For Compassion

Learn about the Charter for Compassion HERE.

All Lovely Forms

"Formless, all lovely forms declare his loveliness;
holy, no holiness of earth can his express.
Lo, he is Lord of all. Creation speaks his praise,
and everywhere above, below, his will obeys."

Words: From Praise To The Living God Medieval Jewish liturgy (in today's Daily Prayer)

Image: Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher (Afternoon Sun in the Willows)

I Touch Light

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey."

Words: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Image: Barbara Desrosiers

The Splintered Cedar

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,
Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
-Psalm 29:5

Cedars symbolize worldly majesty and beauty – and sometimes even pride. In antiquity, the cedars of Lebanon were prized above all other trees. Their wood was fine, strong and wonderfully scented. Cedar wood was the top choice for building any temple or palace, and it fetched a premium price.

When snow falls, cedars turn their branches towards heaven. This enables them to sustain the weight of the snow for a long time. Plus, because of their great flexibility, cedars rarely splinter.

This piece depicts the powerful effect of God's voice on the prideful cedar, as described in the psalm. Nothing is left of its majesty and beauty but splinters. The splinters are arranged in concentric circles to reflect both the precision of God's word and the idea that the splintering is a result of something like a sound wave. The lovely scent that hovers above the splinters reminds us that, while the cedars may be destroyed, the aftermath of that destruction is a bringing about of God’s Kingdom.

As cedars can be splintered by God's voice, so prideful man can be humbled by His Word and His action in the world – leaving behind only the sweet fragrance of Christ-like humility.

Words and Image: Installation with cedar mulch and wood splinters, Gerda Liebmann

Spiritual Light

As every bird's nest begins to sing
in the green leafing out light of Spring,
As pale, sulfur-winged butterflies play
and yellowing dandelions are gay,
I see new joy in these morning skies
as sun rubs its rosy waking eyes;
As earth and heaven wildly embrace
in all the wildflowers of your grace,
I keep on turning from place to place
like a sunflower towards your face.

Words and Image by Paul Trachtman

Soul Silence

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of [individuals]. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison.

Words: Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1956): 80-81.

Image: A. R. Pinkus, Waterfalls in Maui

Our Sacred Duty

"The duty of the artist is to send light
into the darkness of men’s souls."

Words: Vasily Kandinsky
Image: Photo by Diane Walker

Be The Change

Video by Kat Edmonson.

Creativity

Creativity becomes possible
insofar as man can forget
his limitations and his selfhood
and lose himself in abandonment
to the immense creative power
of a love too great to be seen or comprehended.

Words: Thomas Merton
Image: Photograph by Diane Walker

We Proclaim The Interconnectedness

We mean peacefully to weave our own strand into the web of life as it exists here and now in our neck of the woods. We repudiate the dualism—and the myriad forms of power-over that it spawned—which has pervaded our human culture for so long. Instead, we proclaim the interconnectedness of all beings and claim being for all manifestations of creation. We claim our authentic voice as self-reflective beings—we have something to say about how we shall live on the Earth.

Words: From The Bluestone Manifesto by the Community of the Holy Spirit

Image: Photograph by C. Robin Janning

I Will Question You

Then the Lord answered Job out of
the whirlwind:

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together
Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in their covert?
Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food?

Job 38, 1-3 and 34-41. NRSV

Image: Photograph by Robert Epley

Give Thanks

Found this video thanks to Sarah Eagle Heart (TEC Program Officer for Native American/Indigenous Ministries).

Video is by Teddy Orii (Redsun).

Compose Yourself

Composition communicates, and "...even though the conscious foundations of this idea may have originated in the sculptures and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome and later in the Renaissance, this concept is really rooted in something more primitive. It is rooted in the very nature of how we perceive and respond to the light, space and shapes of the universe around us. It is because of this that abstract art can speak to us through the universal language of light, shape, color, line and space. Abstract art is essentially visual music."

Words: Bill Buchman in "About Abstract Painting"
 
Image: Just Beyond by Bill Buchman

Seek Ye First

O bless this people, Lord, who seek their own face
under the mask and can hardly recognize it ...

O bless this people that breaks its bond ...

And with them, all the peoples of Europe,
All the peoples of Asia,
All the peoples of Africa,
All the peoples of America,
Who sweat blood and sufferings.

And see in the midst of these millions of waves,
The sea swell of the heads of my people.
And grand to their warm hands that they may clasp
The earth in a girdle of brotherly hands,
Beneath the rainbow of thy peace.

Words: by Leopold Sedar Senghor* in An African Prayer Book, Selections and with Introductions by Desmond Tutu.

*noted French poet and essayist, president of Senegal, West Africa, in the 1960s.

Image: "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," Found-Object Assemblage by Roberta Karstetter

Go Find It

" ...God has spread a whole lot of spirit around out there, and we don’t always recognize it. We’re supposed to go find it and figure out how to bless it and join it, and keep spreading it around."

Words: The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori: Sermon at Closing Eucharist of Montana Diocesan Convention; Holy Spirit, Missoula, Proper 21B

Image: "The Blessing Cross" by C. Robin Janning

Kyrie

Recognition

Standing here, at the heart of matter,
I long for stillness,
All too aware that when I am shaken,
The rest of those whose lives I touch
Are profoundly rattled and stirred.

And so I seek that centered calm I feel
When I connect with You
And though I know it flows through me
To many other lives –
Some part of me still wonders
if it might be perceived as selfish,
To reach for that oxygen mask,
And put it on my own face first,
And so, enguilted, I neither delegate,
Nor ask for help;
Only give; make no time to receive,
and fail to find my link with You,
But churn instead in ceaseless busy-ness,
drowning in this chaotic sea
Of people, plans, and promises I’ve made.

Were I to pause and listen to the waves,
I’d hear your essence,
A lifeline’s slap across the water.
And if I were to stop and take a breath,
I’d feel your love
In the warm and liquid wash of a morning shower,
Or flowing o’er my hands in the kitchen sink;
In the delicate scent of a candle,
Or shampooing my daughter’s hair;
In the taste of fresh fall-ripened corn
Or a leftover grape, unpacked from yesterday’s lunch;
In the music of a chance-heard song on the radio of my car,
While driving in to work;
In the colorful splash of autumn's first leaves,
Or the twinkling spark in a friend or lover’s eye:
Each calls me home to you
If I but pay attention.

Remind me, Lord, to watch for you;
To create a space where thought will not intrude –
If only for a moment –
So I might hear and see; taste, smell, and even touch
The sounds and sights; the flavor, scent and feel
Of You.


Words and Image by Diane Walker

Do You See?

The Art Blog at Episcopal Cafe

Well worth a visit to Episcopal Cafe, the image above and a few words about contemplation.

Image: Untitled, by D. Davis. As seen in the "Los Angeles Visual Preludes 2009," presented to The General Convention of The Episcopal Church, July 2009, in Anaheim. The Rev. Gabriel Ferrer, Producer.

Humility

"Humility can also mean ... a profound recognition of the limits of what we 'know.' Such humility requires a real caution about generalizing what we think we know of others' situations. Such humility also requires a deep awareness of how our biographies affect our knowledge and biases.

Our gender, culture, ethnicity, and personal and collective histories all profoundly shape how we know and what we know, and in ways that are often difficult to bring to consciousness. Humility calls us, then, to a deep appreciation for and openness to others' realities and to new revelations."

Words: Howard Zehr, The Little Book of Contemplative Photography
Image: Diane Walker

Perfect Peace

"Where is silence? Where is solitude? Where is love?

Ultimately, these cannot be found anywhere except in the ground of our own being. There in the silent depths, there is no more distinction between the I and the Not-I. There is perfect peace, because we are grounded in infinite creative and redemptive Love."

Words: Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone and Br. Patrick Hart, editors (Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc., 1979): 20.

Image: Woodblock by Connie Butler

The Sound of Solitude

Wake up
and feel the sound of solitude
playing its melody
Harmonizing with the dance of your new life
Play them softly
Play them loud
Be the player
Be the listener
Be awake
Be aware
Be.


Words and Image by Joyce Wycoff

Sky Declares

The heavens tell God’s glory,
       and His handiwork sky declares.
Day to day breathes utterance
       and night to night pronounces knowledge.
There is no utterance and there no words,
       their voice is never heard.
Through all the earth their voice goes out,
       to the world’s edge, their words.
For the sun He set up a tent in them –
       and he like a groom from his canopy comes,
              exults like a warrior running his course.
From the ends of the heavens his going out
       And his circuit to their ends,
              And nothing can hide from his heat.

Words: Psalm 19:2–7 from The Book of Psalms: a translation with commentary, by Robert Alter

Image: Simonsons Meadow by Robert Epley

For Angels

Spirited light! on the edge
of the Presence your yearning
burns in the secret darkness,
O angels, insatiably
into God’s gaze.

Words: Hildegard of Bingen

Image: "Knowing Lights" by C. Robin Janning

Keeping Our Balance

"Rabbi Simcha Bunam, one of the great Hasidic masters taught that each of us should have a scrap of paper in each one of our pockets. Upon one scrap of paper should be written the words taken from the Talmud: Bishvili nivra ha’olam – The world was created for my sake (Sanhedrin 37a) and on the other scrap of paper should be the words from Genesis (18:27), V’anochi afar va’ayfehr, – I am but dust and ashes."

"... Rabbi Bunam teaches us balance – balance between extreme humility which could literally leave us in the dust, and extreme ego-centrism which could lead us to believe we are the center of the universe. We live with this paradox: even though we will perish, the world was created for us. The idea that the world was created for us must underscore the questions that we pose to ourselves about our lives. For if we believe that the world was created for us, then we are charged with making a difference in this world."

Words: From Kol Nidre 5767, by Rabbi Susan Leider

Image: Blue Music by Virginia Wieringa

Hail Mary

"They say it's your birthday...
I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you."

Words: Birthday Lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Image: Theotokos by Carole Baker (This image, though not a true icon in the canonical sense, nods to the rich tradition of iconography and was completed as part of her masters thesis. The research leading to the piece explored the role images of Mary played in the development of the Church's Christological doctrines.)

Vocation

"The vocation for you is the one in which your deep gladness and the world's deep need meet -- something that not only makes you happy but that the world needs to have done."

Words: Frederick Buechner

Image: Woodblock by Connie Butler

A Blessing

For a blessing upon all human labor, and for the right use of the riches of creation, that the world may be freed from poverty, famine, and disaster, we pray to you, O Lord.

Image: Sun Dancer by Marty G. Two Bulls, Sr. (The Sun Dance is performed to "magnify the prayers of the people.")

Words: From the Book of Common Prayer, Form V, Prayers of the People, page 390

ECVA Imaging Ubuntu

"The very act of self-differentiation is itself the beauty of Ubuntu. You cannot know you are unique or beautiful or intelligent without the reference point of a community in which such attributes become intelligible."

Words: The Rev. Dr. Michael Battle in Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me, Seabury Books, 2009

Image: From the newest ECVA Exhibition, Art As Public Narrative: ECVA Imaging Ubuntu, Diane Walker, Curator; exhibition title page features the art of Lucy Janjigian.

James: The Letter To The Scattered

Graphic novel translation by The Rev. Earnest Graham, III

Wounds of Light

Just as darkness brings rest and release,
so the dawn brings awakening and renewal.
Each day, the dawn unveils the mystery of this universe.
Dawn is the ultimate surprise;
it awakens us to the immense "thereness" of nature.
The wonderful subtle color of the universe
arises to clothe everything.
This is captured in a phrase from William Blake:
"Colours are the wounds of light."

Words by John O'Dohohue from his book, Anam Cara.
Image by Diane Walker

Flowers Of The Field

as for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field

Psalm 103:15

Image: Thread-Painting by Jeanelle McCall

Live Your Life

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, you rejoice and the world cries." — Cree saying

Image: "Silere" photograph by Dan Hardison

For all who work, worry, or weep

Gracious Mary
we ask your blessings,
place our hands in yours
where His hands also lay
and ask for your tender care:
Hold those who work, or worry, or weep this day
as gently as you held your son;
shield and guide them on their way.

Words and image by Diane Walker

Wondering

"Great are the deeds of the Lord,
Discovered by all who desire them."

Words: Psalm 111 : 2

from The Book of Psalms: a translation with commentary, by Robert Alter

Image: Wondering—Just Wondering, by Robert Epley

The gift of contemplation

Standing together in majestic isolation,
rooted and stripped,
we face into the desert
and spin the breath of spirit
into hope,
fueling the world.

Words and image by Diane Walker

Signposts

Do not discard them,
those moments and decisions
you now judge with disdain;
View them with compassion
for choices made along the way
by your less-wise self;
think of them as signposts
from your unreflected life.


Words and image by Diane Walker

Merton on Creativity

Creativity becomes possible insofar as man can forget his limitations and his selfhood and lose himself in abandonment to the immense creative power of a love too great to be seen or comprehended.

Words: Thomas Merton, "Theology of Creativity"

Image: Diane Walker

Soft Summer Dream

"With the grandeur and opportunity for growth that resides within the ocean of our authentic self, it is surprising that we spend most of our waking life with a focus on the external world. How much richer our life would be if we gave equal time to the internal reality. This realm is always available to us if we are willing to be quiet and attentive long enough to visit it."

Words: Joyce Rupp in Open the Door: A Journey to the True Self

Image: Gene Black

Presence And Joy

"Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy Spirit from me.

Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit."

Words: Psalm 51:12-13

Image: The Rev. Scott Fisher, Evening Sky at Chena River

The Garden of Hope

Gardening is always an act of hope:
not just the hope
that at the end
there will be flowers to brighten a day
or produce to share,
but also hope that there will be rain, and sun;
fertile soil, and strength to weed;
productive seeds; no nasty infestations...
and most of all, the hope --
or perhaps that is belief, not hope --
that we'll be there at the harvest,
on our knees and thankful
for the feel of fruit, or flowers in our hands.

What seeds are you sowing today?
What harvest do you anticipate?
Have you the steadfastness to water,
the time to weed,
the courage to thin, or to transplant as needed?
And who will be there at the end,
to bring in the ripe and the lush,
to feast on that immeasurable bounty?


Words and image by Diane Walker

Longing

And on those days,
when all seems flat and bleak,
too dry to breathe,
too hot to move
and I sag under the weight
of my own internal sky,
am I not like you?

Do I not long
for love to fall into place,
for some discriminating cloud
to drift down round my shoulders
enfolding with its whisper of cool and damp,
its promise of rain to come,
of water -- somewhere --
in this parched desert of a life?


Words and Image by Diane Walker