Midweek Musings: November 18, 2021

Dear Friend,

Having finished all of the Harry Potter books, Caleb and I are now alternately reading and listening to The Hobbit. I remember my own father reading it to me when I was a child, but I remember little of the story itself. In general, the worlds of Tolkien don’t take up residence in my imagination the same way the worlds of Harry Potter or Narnia do, but I have to admit to loving and feeling great empathy for Bilbo Baggins in this novel.

Perhaps it’s because I love the imagery of the Shire—the idea of living beneath a hill with a round door and many comfortable rooms. Perhaps it’s because I, like Bilbo, would be entirely befuddled by the course of events that begin the book and send Bilbo on his great adventure, seemingly without his even having agreed to go. But mostly I think it’s because I, like Bilbo, have often felt that longing and desire to be back home, especially when out in the wide, wild world. I, too, dream of sitting by my own window, safe and warm, a quilt over my lap, a cup of tea by my side, and a book nearby. Especially as winter descends and the weather turns colder and darker, I find it more and more appalling that we have to leave our houses. Hibernating sounds like a much more sensible response to cold temperatures and dull skies.

But, like Bilbo, few of us have any choice about the matter. Life requires that we continue braving the elements, putting on shoes and boots, and venturing into the wider world. But as the world continues to darken earlier and earlier, may you find moments of comfort and joy in small circles of light, in the warmth of your space, in the coziness that you create. And, if you’re one of those winter-loving people, well, it takes all types, so God love you.

May you find in this email something that will cause you to think about something a little differently, something that will bring you a small measure of comfort, and something that sparks joy or excitement,
Pastor Sarah

something Worth reading

Why I Came Back Around to Repentance

by Brittney Cooper

This is a longer article (and I admit to skimming some of the middle section), but there were so many parts that I thought were thought-provoking, well-written, and/or aptly put that I wanted to share it with you. In general (though the article talks about everything from confession and prayer to the Bible and literature), it’s an article that defines repentance as the practice of changing our mind (turning around) and argues that it is one of the spiritual practices to which we are called as Christians.

Here are two of my favorite quotes:

“I wore dogma about the neck, literally spending most of college wearing a blue and white What Would Jesus Do lanyard with my keys on it. I was a walking billboard for Jesus freaks everywhere. At some point, the lanyard broke. I vaguely remember wondering as it fell to the ground whether this had some deeper spiritual meaning, whether I had, in some of my moral failings of late, become an unworthy ambassador for the faith. The most compassionate answer I can offer to myself is that dogma is a ready response to trauma.

… 

“Changing one’s mind is one of the ritual disciplines of the Christian faith. To change one’s mind is one of the earliest definitions of the word repentance. It is a definition and practice that we should reclaim.”

Read the full article here.

something worth hearing

Lambilotte: Come Holy Ghost

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles
This song popped up in my playlist recently and now I can’t get its lovely, almost haunting, harmonies out of my head. I hope you like it as well.

something worth watching

Blessings

David Whyte
This is a lovely video of two poems by David Whyte, “Blessing for the Sound,” and “Blessing for the Light,” put together with stunning footage from the Irish countryside and beautiful background music. Here are the words to both poems:

Blessing for the Sound

I thank you,
for the smallest sound,
for the way my ears open
even before my eyes,
as if to remember
the way everything began
with an original, vibrant, note,
and I thank you for this
everyday original music,
always being rehearsed,
always being played,
always being remembered
as something new
and arriving, a tram line
below in the city street,
gull cries, or a ship’s horn
in the distant harbour,
so that in waking I hear voices
even where there is no voice
and invitations where
there is no invitation
so that I can wake with you
by the ocean, in summer
or in the deepest seemingly
quietest winter,
and be with you
so that I can hear you
even with my eyes closed,
even with my heart closed,
even before I fully wake.

Blessing for the Light

I thank you, light, again,
for helping me to find
the outline of my daughter’s face,
I thank you light,
for the subtle way
your merest touch gives shape
to such things I could
only learn to love
through your delicate instruction,
and I thank you, this morning
waking again,
most intimately and secretly
for your visible invisibility,
the way you make me look
at the face of the world
so that everything becomes
an eye to everything else
and so that strangely,
I also see myself being seen,
so that I can be born again
in that sight, so that
I can have this one other way
along with every other way,
to know that I am here.

something worth praying

40

Brother David Steindl-Rast
SOURCE OF ALL BLESSINGS,
you bless us with bread—
“fruit of the earth and work of
human hands,” gift of nature and
of culture, primary image of all
food, and symbol of our human
communion around a worldwide
table. May I eat each morsel of
bread with a gratitude that implies
outrage at hunger; may I grow ever
more famished for a justice that
distributes food fairly and do all I
can until every child on earth has
bread enough.
Amen.


from 99 Blessings: An Invitation to life by Brother David Steindl-Rast

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