by Sue Duby
My brain mystifies me. How is it possible to collect (and store) random bits of information and hide others I need to find?? How can Chuck and I enjoy a Friday night popcorn-movie date on the couch and realize half-way through, “We’ve already seen this!” (we carry on since we can’t remember the ending anyway!). How often we now preface conversation with our kids with a smile and sheepish, “Did we already tell you this?”. It’s all a mystery, that fine art of remembering.
Last year, we wrapped up 30 years of missions/faith-based non-profit work. As part of navigating the new season of free time and open calendars (all laced with a bit of curiosity and angst), we realized we needed to do some serious “remembering” before forging ahead. Needing a “fun factor” along the way, we purposed to head to a new coffee shop each week for what became our “Remember Dates”. Sipping lattes, we slowly read through over 100 quarterly newsletters I’d written to chronicle those 30 years. Over 6 months of intense remembering. Fifty pages of bullet point notes on my laptop. Each time, we’d read a bit, share emotions and marvel at God’s hand. . . all along the way sighing after an hour, “I can’t believe our life! I’m exhausted!”.
Somehow in the journey, we finished refreshed, refocused and at peace for the new season. . . certain that God’s faithful, gracious and loving ways so clearly woven through those 30 years, would lead us securely to whatever came next.
Remembering is work. “To recall to the mind by an act or effort of memory”. “Be able to bring to one’s mind an awareness of (someone or something that one has seen, known or experienced in the past).” Intentional. Purposeful. An active choosing to do it. Requiring time to reflect and grab hold of the nuggets.
God reminds us often to remember, and in fact, exhorts us to do so. For our own benefit. For those around us and in our families. To lead us back to fully trusting His presence and ways in our lives in the present and future. Most simply, instructing us in Psalm 105:4-5 (NIV):
Look to the Lord and His strength.
Seek His face always.
Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles. . .
He’s not parted a river in my lifetime, but my list is long for ways He’s intervened, directed, protected and led in my life. In the obvious “big ones”, like saving my daughter Krista’s life twice (at birth and after a massive car wreck in college) and seemingly small (randomly finding a daisy bush for my cutting garden that wildly blooms until frost).
God reminded the Israelites often to recount His strong hand in their lives.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Deuteronomy 5:15 (NIV)
Knowing their human frame. . . just like ours. . . where passing time fades memories of even the most amazing, wonder-filled events, He exhorted once again.
He charged them to “not forget”. . . which only happens if you “keep remembering”. Not for themselves alone, but for future generations.
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV
Though our newsletter coffee dates may be finished, I’m still working those “remembering” muscles. Trying to find fresh rhythms to help me focus and not let days and events just slip by unnoticed. Paying attention along the way for moments of His intervention worth tucking away in my memory bank, as well as grabbing hold and pausing to reflect when a past event pops up on my radar screen. I’m hoping the list will grow, but for now these simple remembering steps stir hope and peace in my spirit:
- Waking each morning to recount 10 things I’m grateful for (big or small)
- Scrolling through the day in my mind before falling asleep at night. Recounting even seemingly mundane days reminds me – He was there!
- Continuing to “remember” with Chuck, as spontaneous conversations begin with one of us sharing random “I’m so grateful that we ________” moments.
- Purposing to weave our personal “God stories” into conversation with our grandsons. Remembering with them.
May He prompt us often to remember. . . as He remembers us, continually.
Psalm 77:11-12 (NIV)
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.
Psalm 145:5 (NIV)
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
[Photos above by Sue Duby, used with permission]
Has God ever spoken to you? Or, perhaps a more accurate question might be, have you ever listened to God speaking to you? I believe that God speaks to us a great deal more than we might think.
Because we are individuals, lovingly created, we are spoken to in ways that fit who we are and how we process things. Some people hear God’s voice in music, some in poetry, some in the depths of their souls, and most of us would probably agree, in and through Scripture. We can also experience God and his voice through the creation he spoke into being. Indeed, many saints and teachers liken nature to a kind of Scripture in its own right.
The Old Testament prophet Elijah discovered on Mount Horeb that God’s voice is more likely to be a small, still whisper than a great voice clothed in earthquake or fire. We hear the voice of God the Father, the Good Shepherd and the Holy Spirit, in many ways, but often in the centre of ourselves, that quiet, still place where we know things, where we feel things. The place the Bible tends to call the heart.
About twenty years ago I felt led to begin a deeper prayer life, and to start to practice daily contemplation. Stillness and silence gradually became precious to me and once my busy mind learned to occasionally quieten down and perhaps more honestly, once I’d learnt to let it chatter away above the more important things that were taking place in my spirit, I found God taking me to new places and showing me new things, and even speaking wonderful words into my heart.
I began to write them down in my journals, and a few years later, to collate them into documents on the computer. I had no idea then, of these things becoming a book, but rather, wanted to keep a record for myself of the time God and I were spending together, and the dear things he was showing me.
And then, nine years ago, my parents bought me a few days’ retreat at Aylesford Priory for my fortieth birthday. Whilst I was there, I sat in the Relic Chapel, in awe at the sense of God’s presence that manifested through the prayerful atmosphere, and through the beautiful ceramics, woodwork and stained glass. God spoke to my heart very clearly right there. He told me he was commissioning me to be a writer.
From that point on I set myself to the task of making the gifts I was being given into pieces that would bless others. My hope is that as I continue to do so, that readers will be drawn into deeper relationship with God, who is love, and that my sharing the understandings, seeings and stories that I weave with God’s help and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will be an encouragement and joy to my fellow Christians, and perhaps even to those who have yet to be still, and begin to know God.
I hope that you will join me in celebrating that my book of sacred receivings, Recital of Love (available here and at all the usual outlets including Amazon), is out now with Paraclete Press, and that you might enjoy the extract below.
Still, Small Voice
Though you try to deaden the still, small voice it will come unbidden in the night, a shaft of light in the darkness, a soft sweet singing in the pause between appointments. Gently insistent, it will be seen and heard. And then, how foolish your lives will seem!
Like a gardener watching and waiting for a compost heap to bear apples, with her back turned to an orchard as vast as the sky. Like an astronomer hell bent on searching space for a star to name after himself, when I have painted a whole galaxy for him to call home.
Before you waste one more second on pointless endeavours, hold still, and hear the poetry of your own heartbeat. Listen for the words that are rolling unsaid around your speech like waves of curling grace. These are the spaces that cannot help but fill with the presence of God.
If you each knew your worth to me or had tasted one drop of the ocean of my mighty and fearsome love, you would tremble and laugh at the smallness of your vision and your tiny, tinny hearts I hold so dear.
Selah
Endorsement by Christine Aroney-Sine
“What a delightful and enriching book Keren has provided for us. I intended to read it slowly, taking several days to relish the beauty of her words but found my eyes riveted by her beautiful poetry prose and couldn’t put it down. Its contemplative and sometimes mystical style draws the reader into a deeply intimate place with God, relaxing and renewing our souls. It is a book that I will be returning to again and again in the coming months.”
Christine Aroney-Sine author of The Gift of Wonder.
Keren Dibbens-Wyatt
is a chronically ill writer and artist with a passion for poetry, mysticism, story and colour. Her writing features regularly on spiritual blogs and in literary journals. Her new book, Recital of Love, published by Paraclete Press, is out in September 2020. Keren lives in South East England and is mainly housebound by her illness.
by Christine Sine
Last week in my post What Do You Have Trouble Naming, I shared some of the struggles that I, like many women, have been through over the years. I talked about my impressions of Joseph, wondering how he treated Mary. Someone commented, “I have always felt he was one of the unsung heroes.”; something that I am fully in agreement with. This time, as I reflected on this comment, I was reminded of all the unsung heroes in our world who make our way of life possible.
Today, we celebrate Labour Day in the U.S. and Canada, paying homage to reforms that moved work from seven days a week to five, made child labour illegal and improved working conditions. This year is a Labour Day like no other. Today, we particularly salute those unsung heroes of the COVID pandemic who have carried us through the last six months of anxiety and illness, many of whom never receive the recognition they deserve – people who stock shelves, check out groceries, drive buses, and sanitize hospital rooms.
I would encourage you to say a special prayer and, where possible, give a special thanks to these pandemic heroes especially to those who will spend the holiday working.
A Labour Day Like No Other
In past years, this has been a long weekend of parades, picnics, fireworks and other pubic gatherings. This year, for most of us it will be different as we endeavour to keep ourselves, our families, neighbours and communities safe from COVID-19.
One thing remains the same, however. This day has also become known as the official end of summer. We all recognize that it has been a trying and unusual summer with vacations cancelled and traditions changed. Most of us have worked hard to reorient ourselves and enjoy an at home celebration, making it a surprisingly special time. Acknowledging and giving gratitude to God for this, is, I feel, an important tradition that we might like to initiate this year.
Maybe you would like to spend time reflecting on Gerald Manley Hopkin’s Hurrahing In Harvest.
A New Reality is Coming
With the mornings becoming cooler and the sun set a bit earlier, many are turning their attention back to school or towards new jobs.
This is a tough time for parents and kids alike, whether they are learning remotely or in person. Its a good time to consider how you can reach out to those in the same boat, especially to those who are handicapped by lack of access to the internet or the disadvantages of out of date computers. If you aren’t directly effected, consider ways that you could support someone who is – financially, prayerfully or emotionally.
Work is also changing. Some are facing the reality of long-term remote workplaces. A corner “office” in the garage has become a permanent work space which hopefully can be adapted for more long-term use.
Others have lost their jobs and are in danger of losing their housing. Some are able to look for new career paths, but for others, like those in the restaurant and hospitality industry, there seem to be few solutions. In the U.S., unemployment is at an all-time high. So as we celebrate Labour Day this year, it is good to consider what we can do to help those who are vulnerable and may end up on the streets or living in their cars.
Remember and Anticipate
When I worked on the mercy ship, Anastasis, we had a tradition that I think is a good one to adapt here. When we were getting ready to leave a port, we held an evening meeting that we called “A moving of the ark” ceremony. We highlighted the joys we had experienced at the port we were about to leave and talked about the struggles. Then we talked about what we were anticipating in the port we were about to enter. At the end, we held communion. It was a wonderful way to transition into a new step of the journey.
I have done something similar as I look at God’s beautiful creation. I reflect on what I have most enjoyed about the season that is passing and what I am anticipating about the new season that is emerging. For example, I love the way the skeletons of the trees around me are hidden in summer but revealed as the leaves drop in the autumn.
I suggest that you get together with some friends, keeping a good social distance, of course, and talk about these questions.
- What have you most enjoyed about the last few months? What has been your greatest struggle?
- What are you looking forward to in the next few months? What do you think will be your greatest challenge?
We may not be able to hold communion this year, though a shared snack over Zoom or in the backyard might be a fun end to your celebration.
Everything is a bit different this year for everyone. We need to accept the changes we cannot control and look to whatever silver linings we might see on the horizon.
We will continue to face challenges and hope they will turn into new opportunities. We should also be inspired to create new traditions, forge new relations and make new connections. This is a time not for turning in on ourselves, but for turning out towards our communities and asking, What can I do for the least of these? What can I do to foster unity and strengthen the common good of my community?
Each week I like to post a link to the Taize style service held at St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle, which they generously allow me to share. I know that many of you have been enriched and nourished by the quiet contemplation of this service. I hope that you take time to enjoy this week’s service as well.
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below.
“‘Down in the River to Pray” – Traditional American spiritual, public domain Arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“In Silence We Wait” – Text and Music by Susan Masters. Copyright and all rights reserved by Augsburg Fortress Press
“God is Forgiveness” – Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“Kyrie for September 6th” – Music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers, text by Kester Limner. Shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Deep Peace – Celtic Blessing” – Text: Celtic traditional, adapt. Ray Makeover. Text and music copyright 2009 Ray Makeover, Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. www.saintandrewsseattle.org
This week I am adding information on another contemplative treat that St Andrews is offering. I loved the book Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints and I am really looking forward to walking this tour as well.
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Saints from a diversity of faiths and backgrounds “who have rocked the religious boat on behalf of love and justice” are featured as part of this self-guided tour. Located on accessible pathways on the west lawn at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, enjoy a physically distanced tour at your own pace discovering stories about new people inspiring change in our world. Used with permission from Daneen Aker, author of Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints this is a children’s book emphasizing the stories of women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and others who are too often written out of religious narratives. A great outing for families and individuals.
Free and open to the public daily through September 20th.
by Tom Sine
“2020 is being thrown around almost like a swear word these days… It is riddled with anxiety, loss, grief, anger and depression for so many of us. We are left feeling helpless and hopeless.
How would this year have been different if we could have anticipated some of these challenges, reflected on our values, and created innovative ways to make it through this time? 2020s Foresight introduces a three step dance that helps address these feelings and move forward in a decade of accelerating change.” (quote by Lisa DeRosa)
The three new steps we offer Christian leaders is to learn from environmental planners and business innovators:
- How to anticipate some of the incoming waves of change so you, and those you work with, have lead time to creatively respond;
- How to broadly research a range of innovative ways to respond to the incoming waves of change;
- Select those innovative responses that not only most effectively engage the new challenges but also most fully reflect the ways of Jesus.
2020s Foresight… The Journey Together
We invite you to join those in this book who are not only anticipating new waves of change but are also discovering how to create their best lives, new forms of community-making, new kinds of change-making and church-making for these turbulent 2020s.
2020s Foresight:Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change is designed as a study book with questions at the end of each chapter. It can be used for study groups in churches, campus ministry groups, colleges and seminaries.
If your study group contacts Dwight Friesen or me, ahead of time, one of us might be available to Zoom in to meet with your study group and respond to both their good questions. We would also value hearing innovative ways they are creating to engage the incoming waves change in their lives, their neighborhoods or their congregations that reflect the shalom of God.
Contact me, we would value you sharing some of your innovative responses to these turbulent times as well as some of your struggles and your celebrations. We particularly would welcome the opportunity to share some of the innovative new responses of Gen Next who will take over the leadership of this troubled world in the coming decades.
Dwight Friesen, who has not only been a very creative co-author, but has also designed the stunning cover and has been responsible for the book achieving a very high ranking of 80 for “Christian Church Leadership” on Amazon as of September 4, 2020; three days after its release.
We invite those who read this book to take time to say a few kind words on Amazon… if you are inclined. If you really like it we would value a 5… or no number at all.
Joining those who are committed, as followers of Jesus, to creating their best life-making and change-making to leave this struggling world a better place for those that follow us.
By Lilly Lewin
This past Sunday, the Old Testament reading was about the Burning Bush and Moses. Moses was minding his own business, just being a shepherd for his father-in-law when he notices a bush that is on fire but not burning up from the flames. Moses turns to investigate this oddity and God takes notice of Moses turning to look. God calls out to Moses to take off his shoes because he is now on Holy Ground. Then Moses finds out that this Burning Bush is a signal flare of a new assignment from God. Moses doesn’t just get to escape his past or enjoy “retirement” in the desert, but instead, he has a new calling. Moses gets invited by God into a new adventure that wasn’t what Moses had planned, it wasn’t even on his radar. Moses is told by God that he is being sent back to Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of their slavery and suffering! And he won’t get confirmation that this is really God doing all this until after it’s done! I think I might want to put back on my shoes and run for the hills. Moses knows Egypt and all the risks of this BIG ASK OF GOD! Moses knows this isn’t going to be easy. But rather than running back to the sheep, Moses just asks God, “Why Me?” and “How do I introduce you when they ask your name?”
How do you introduce God to other people? What do you want them to know about God so that they believe?
Have you ever been in the middle of something just to have everything change? Have you ever said, ” Wait a minute God! Why Me?” What did God say in response?
Burning Bush Quote
READ THE PASSAGE HERE: EXODUS 3
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER and Journal from this week: Feel free to use these passages and respond in writing, art, collage, or poetry some time this week.
What is God speaking to you about TODAY as you read this passage? Take time to read it again, use different translations to hear it in fresh ways.
What do you notice that you haven’t noticed before?
What questions do you have? What questions come up as your read the passage? Talk to Jesus about them.
- What sign does Jesus/God use to get your attention? What things does Jesus use to remind you he is near?
- What Burning Bush has been burning for a long time but you haven’t taken the time to stop and notice?
- We too often don’t see the Burning Bush, or hear from God, because we aren’t paying attention or taking the time to notice… What will help you stop, notice and take off your shoes on Holy Ground?
- What excuses are you making that you are “not right” for the vision/job/mission/task God has for you?
- How does it feel to know that God is listening to the oppressed and hears their cries? Who are the oppressed you are praying for these days? How can you help end their suffering and oppression? Take time to ask God about this. Take time to pray for the oppressed and suffering, and those still in slavery.
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ACTION:
DRAW or create a burning bush to remind you of your calling from God!
PRACTICE GRATITUDE: Take time to thank God for your call, your mission, your gifts and talents. Even in the midst of everything, take time to be thankful and practice gratitude for the gifts you’ve been given.
READ and mediate on Romans 12:9-21 this week. How is Jesus inviting you to respond?
WATCH for Burning Bushes… ways that God wants to get your attention this week. What does Jesus use to speak to you? Birds? Sunsets? Clouds? Flowers? Rainbows? What else? Pay attention! Take the time to notice!
REMEMBER: The God of Abraham and Isaac, Sarah and Rebekah, The I AM that I AM is with you today and everyday and will be with you wherever you go! AMEN
MAIN PHOTO: Burning Bush Installation by Beyond Church Brighton at the Greenbelt Festival in England.
by Laurie Klein, guest writer
I repurpose bird cages as garden sculpture, tuck them among perennials like miniature cottages in a country village: a personal peaceable kingdom. Last month, I discovered a small finch flailing behind the bars.
Bindweed had snaked through the cage, obstructing the door. My efforts to tear it away propelled the bird upward. Its delicate head jammed in the roof. The removable base wouldn’t budge. A few sharp blows with a rock shattered the plastic foundation, but the bird clung to the topmost wires limp as a sock. Praying, I slowly righted the cage. By God’s grace and the silent, reliable force of gravity, the captive eventually fluttered free.
Left with the wreckage, I exhaled, feeling grateful for God’s timing. Then guilty. Some years ago, another bird had forced its way into the same cage. After releasing it, I had carried out a cosmetic fix, straightening bent wires and afterward assuming the issue resolved. Rather than disturb the small house in its naturalized location, I’d left the cage in place.
Metaphorically, these two incidents and my cavalier attitude, which allowed them to occur, painfully echo assumptions recently brought to my attention, assumptions I’ve made about race, which are currently being exposed as I listen to impassioned voices raised in support of Black Lives Matter.
My unquestioned foundation of lifelong privilege requires a shattering blow. Ingrained bias has seeped in, over time, unknowingly absorbed.
As a Christian I espouse equality for all, but like the cage, I am part of a structure that imperils others.
Grieved by my complicity, I also feel helpless to change anything. I relate to the bird scrabbling for footing. I am looking to God for direction. Meanwhile, I want my blind spots exposed so that I can lament and confess them, receive forgiveness, then act as the Holy Spirit directs.
Like the network of cages in my garden, I can no longer leave unattended the ingrown, existing system.
To further educate myself I’m reading poetry by African Americans and taking diversity courses online (see links below). The roots of bias go deep in me; I will need ongoing help.
Hopefully if I witness an officer of the law in questionable conflict with a person of color, I will emulate the woman I recently read about who left her vehicle with her cell phone set to “record,” and then respectfully yet firmly appealed to the officer.
For now, I’m leaving the bottomless birdcage in the flower bed. It nestles on its side amid the perennials alongside a stone on which I’ve penned two words, in Latin: Nota bene, or “note well.” You’d likely recognize its accompanying visual symbol, called a manicule: a pointing hand (☞), index finger extended, indicating something crucial.
I’m also noting well the Old Testament story where Jacob encounters God in the great outdoors. Having terribly wronged his brother, Jacob knows he must make things right. That night he dreams God promises to watch over him and bless all the people of the earth through his life. Next morning Jacob sets up a stone for an altar, commemorating the place of God’s revelation and promise of aid.
In a similar way, my broken bird cage and Nota bene stone form a temporary altar. A small, if battered, symbol pointing me toward God’s peaceable kingdom.
Read Jacobs’s story here: Genesis 27:1-28:22.
Resources that are helping me recognize where and how I need to change:
- Semicolon, the Chicago-based black woman-owned bookstore and gallery. To support Semicolon, please purchase your books through https://bookshop.org/shop/
Semicolonchi. - White Fragility, by Robin Diangelo
- “21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge”
- Poem-a-Day: featuring black poets through August 31: Sample poem
- Honeyfish, poetry by Lauren K. Alleyne
- Monument, poetry by Natasha Tretheway
- Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, poetry by Ross Gay
Laurie Klein, photo credit: Dean Davis Photography
Laurie Klein is the author of the classic praise chorus, “I Love You, Lord,” a poetry collection, Where the Sky Opens, and an award-winning chapbook, Bodies of Water, Bodies of Flesh. A grateful recipient of the Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred, she lives in Washington State, USA, and blogs monthly at lauriekleinscribe.com.
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