Waking

 I found this week to be hard. I wept through much of the Democratic Convention. To hear words like God, hope, dignity, and light spoken right out loud on a national stage reminded me that I had been thirsting in a dry land, and that I was certainly not alone.  We have been battered by an onslaught of venomous name calling, falsehoods, disease, economic despair, racial inequality, and now fire.  This week it all caught up with me, and try as I might, it seemed I just could not get much accomplished at all.  Of course, as I write this, I wonder why I tried so hard.  The effort was probably misguided, and not particularly kind to myself.    

I think what led me to this understanding was a dream I had two nights ago.  I woke in darkness with a sense of anxiety.  That has not happened in quite some time.  However, I did what I always do in nocturnal wakings: I prayed. While a return to sleep took a little longer than usual, I eventually drifted off. I then dreamt that I was in the ocean.  Not on, but in. However, I felt no fear, no desperation of not being able to breathe. I was not even trying to swim. I was simply enjoying being in the sparkling clear blue water as I watched hundreds of colorful, glistening fish of all sizes and shapes swim by me, all gracefully moving in the same direction. I was mesmerized.  Also present were remoras, the small cleaner fish, who were tending to the gills of the sleek, silvery sharks.  I mentioned the dream and the remoras  to a friend who commented, "Ah, cleaning up."  I so appreciated that comment.   

This morning, another friend of mine shared on FaceBook the attached photograph of this  incredibly beautiful quilt, entitled, "Thetis - the Goddess of the Sea," attributed to Lila Tilipan, a quilt artist from Budapest, Hungary. I am reminded of just how connected we all are, despite any messages intended to lead us to believe otherwise.   

   

Blessings, friends, and take good care of all of you.  You are worth that much, and so much more.   Alas, I am waiting to hear from the friend who commented on my dream to let me know if she and her husband had to evacuate. The fires on our beloved coast are fierce right now, and the firefighters are stretched thinly.  Let us hold on and pray. 

  

Love, 

Sue Ann   

      

Sunday Morning

 This morning we have thunder, lightning, a little rain, and a stressed dog. Tyler just spotted a rainbow. Such goings on makes one yearn for a Psalm. I turn to a portion of Nan C. Merrill's, Psalms for Praying Psalm 104.

"The glory of the Radiant One endures
forever, for the works of Love are sure.
You are ever-present to us, even as the earth trembles,
even as the mountains spew forth ashes and smoke.
I will abandon myself into your hands
as long as I live;
I will sing praises to You while I have breath."

photograph: entrance to Arcosanti, Mayer AZ, January 2020
"Manipulating materials in such a way as to make conditions in the future a little better than they are now...that's the function of architecture."
Paul Soleri, founder     

   

    

   

Sacred Pausing

Ruth T. West is on the staff of San Francisco Theological Seminary, so this prayer must have come to me through an email from them.  Photograph was taken in San Leandro, August 2020.  One of these days I am going to surprise you all with some exotic location.  For now, I will simply pause and give thanks right where I am.  What else can we do?  Here is where we meet the Sacred.  

Dear Holy One,
As time flashes past so quickly before us, bless us with the gifts of pause and memory –
So that we might re-encounter your steadfast love for us again.

Allow us to be brave enough to correct wrongs that still lay on our hearts –
So that our empathy can flow more freely.

Give us the capacity and humility to make new strides towards reconciliation –
So that our boundaries of care and imagination might expand.

Let our souls be filled with joy and forgiveness. May we be generous with time by holding spaces for others to be heard.

Ease our pains of rejection and abandonment while showering us with your love and grace, even as we carry our whole and authentic selves forward into each day and new circumstance.

Highlight what makes us special, important and beloved and then give us the courage to believe it –
So that we lead by example for others to do the same.

With hopeful hearts we pray,
Amen
Rev. Ruth T. West