By Lynne M. Baab —
I was 15 the first time nature spoke to me. We had lived in southern Virginia while I was in junior high school. My dad was stationed at Langley Air Force Base, and right before I turned 15 my dad retired from the air force. My parents decided we would move to the West Coast.
We traveled by way of Toronto, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, and California, pulling a 14 foot trailer behind our Dodge. We visited grandmothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, and family friends. The trip was agony for me. I was mourning the loss of my friends and my life in Virginia, and as a teenager I really did not enjoy six weeks of close intimacy with my family, while driving 8,000 miles.
We arrived in Tacoma, Washington, at the beginning of August and immediately found a wonderful house, where my mother still lives. The owners weren’t able to move out until early September, so we needed a place to stay for a month. The owners offered us their summer cabin on Puget Sound, just north of Gig Harbor.
The cabin looked east onto Puget Sound. To the left was Vashon Island. To the right was Point Defiance in Tacoma. Between these two promontories, Mount Rainier rose up over the waters of Puget Sound, perfectly framed by the two wooded hillsides.
By Dave Baab
August that year was clear and sunny every day. Throughout each day, we watched the light on Mount Rainier change. In the morning the mountain was backlit by the rising sun, looking mysterious and other worldly. At midday, the mountain was illuminated from above, with the sun slightly to the right, reflecting off the glaciers. In the afternoon, the mountain was vivid, clear and gorgeous in the full light of the sun. At sunset, the magical rose and peach of sunset painted color on the mountain.
The summer had been so hard for me, and Mount Rainier spoke to me. It said, “There’s more.” There’s more than everyday life, there’s more than struggle and sadness. There’s something beautiful beyond this life.
“The whole world is singing but we’ve stopped listening.” Those words show up in a video of a beautiful sound and light exhibition at the United Nations about species loss a friend sent to me in response to some of my writing about listening.
A few years ago I interviewed dozens of people about listening in Christian ministry and mission, and that research resulted in a book, but only recently have I connected listening to humans with listening to creation.
The notion of creation speaking is present in one of my favorite scriptures about creation, Psalm 19:1-4:
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
What are the heavens saying? If we listened to the animals and plants of the earth, what would they say? Or the mountains, rivers, fields, forests and seas? Or even the bacteria, viruses and other microscopic beings?
Pope Francis, in his recent encyclical about stewardship of creation entitled “On Care for our Common Home,” included a poem with the words, “The poor and the Earth are crying out.” If they are crying out, are we listening? Do the poor and the earth sometimes cry out with the same message?
If God made something, does that imply we are responsible to care for it? I believe the answer is a strong yes, and that Christians need to spend more energy exploring what that looks like in practice.
By Talitha Fraser —
When I write, these are not words that I speak aloud but there is a dialogue happening – as with all prayer. You cannot expect any ‘answer’ and yet I wonder: What does the silence have to say to you?
A hearts’ beat
Listen to me
trying to explain myself
to You who knows me
through and through.
I speak aloud,
can You hear me?
Yes, and I need to
hear myself.
In the echoing silence:
gun-gunh, a beat
gun-gunh, a hearts’ beat
gun-gunh, gun-gunh
You have to live into the answers.
by Christine Sine
Yesterday was the third Sunday of Lent and for most of us this season has not turned to how we expected. COVID-19 has upended all of our plans for church suppers, quiet gatherings with friends and retreat days away.
At a time like this it is easy to focus on our fears and what makes us anxious and vulnerable during an epidemic. Some of us are closer to the hot spots than others. Tom and I live in Seattle which seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak here in the U.S. at this point and I know how easily we can get consumed by the daily counts and inadequacy of testing. However it seems to me that it is not just the our testing that is inadequate. Our commitment to our self-care and the care of our families and communities is inadequate too and that contributes to our fears and anxieties.
Over the last week I have found myself asking three questions that I think all of us need to engage in at this season.
What Are You Doing for Self Care?
What Are You Doing for Family Care?
What Are You Doing for Care of Others?
I had planned to write a single post about this but I realize there is so much I want to say that I decided 3 posts were needed – so this is the first and the others will follow on Wednesday and Thursday as we already have a post scheduled for Tuesday.
What Are You Doing For Self Care?
It is so easy for us to focus on the negative during a time like this, but looking after ourselves means taking a good chunk of time to focus on the positive.
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- Begin the day with gratitude. – In the midst of this challenging time we all have much to be grateful for. Some my gratitudes are for the blessings I mention below but as well as that I am grateful for a strong immune system, for good health that will hopefully protect us from the virus, and for a flexible lifestyle and for the resilience God has given us to adapt. I grateful for a strong faith and deep trust in God. What springs to your mind today that you are grateful for?
- Count your blessings every day. Tom and I frequently remind ourselves that we are probably amongst the top 1% when it comes to financial stability. As well as that we have a warm and comfortable home in a beautiful part of the world with spring flowers bursting out around us. We have friends and family who love us, a strong community here in the house and so much else to not just be grateful for but to recognize as blessings from God.
- Surround yourself with “at home” items. What are the items that make you feel safe and secure? This is particularly important where our souls are concerned. Do you have a favourite place in the house, an armchair a few sacred items that make you feel comfortable and safe? Return to these as often as possible. A sacred item like a small cross that you can carry in your pocket and hold onto when you feel most vulnerable can also help.
- Establish empowering rituals that relax you and provide stability for your spirit and soul.
- Breathing exercises – this is a good place to start the day. You might like to use the prayer above or find one of your own. Some of you might like to combine this with a yoga exercise that can further absorb your stress and help you relax. I love to sit in my sacred space each morning take some deep breaths in and out and use this prayer (or one of our breath cards) to help center me and bring me into a place of quiet and safety.
- Make time for contemplation. Ana Lisa De Jong’s The Gate to Heaven: Poems for Contemplation is a great resource that she has made available for free in the Godspace store. This tree of contemplative practices gives us good idea of how broadly we can interpret the concept of contemplative prayer. It is usually a prayer that focuses on one word or phrase that is repeated throughout the prayer. This form of prayer mimics a meditative, centering practice. Many of the psalms, like Psalm 136 have a contemplative nature to them. The purpose of contemplative prayer is to draw us close to God and make us better able to hear God’s voice by eliminating distraction and reducing anxiety. Breath prayer is one form of this practice. If you don’t know what contemplative prayer is, this video with Father Richard Rohr gives a good introduction.
- Read the scriptures and/or a good devotional or meditative book and/or listen to your favorite hymns and songs, each morning. Reading the scriptures is a great way to relax ourselves into the presence of God and remind ourselves that no matter where we go and what happens to us God is still with us.
- Maintain as much normalcy in your daily routines as possible. A few late mornings sleeping ins because you don’t have to go to your workplace might be fun, making a habit of it will, in the long run be detrimental to both your physical and emotional health. So get up, get dressed and make this seem like a normal work day.
- Don’t allow yourself to obsess about the bad news. Look for good news stories that give you hope and encouragement. There are a lot of them springing up out there. Here is one that gladdens all our hearts from Sienna Italy where people are caught singing together across empty streets.
- Get plenty of exercise. Most of us are not confined to our houses yet, though we probably don’t want to visit the local gym so here are some suggestions.
- Go for a long walk each day and for added benefit make it an awe and wonder walk and do a little re-wondering of your world. Getting out into nature is one of the most therapeutic and relaxing things that all of us can do so make sure that you do that.
- Develop a home exercise regime. I have a ten minute regime of stretching and muscle strengthening exercises that I do 3 times a week. It is perfect for a time like this and the internet has a plethora of these to choose from.
- Start a garden. This is a great time to experiment with a little gardening – plant some seeds, start them inside if it is too cold to get outside yet. Have some fun.
- Get plenty of sleep. Without sleep we get irritated and anxious. Exercise, a good diet and relaxing contemplative practices all help us to sleep well.
- Get creative. Is there a creative pursuit that you have not had time for? This is probably a perfect time to give it a go. Maybe you are a budding artist, musician or writer – take some time to be creative and have some fun with it. When I asked about this on facebook a couple of days ago a couple of people mentioned The Gift of Wonder and reminded me that it is full of creative ideas. So this might be a time to pull out your copy out and try some of the creative exercises you have not had time for until now. And don’t forget these creative tools:
- Finger labyrinth
- Doodling
- Lectio divina is a particularly fertile ground for imagination and creativity especially when combined with creative acts like drawing, writing and visualization.
- Visio divina, or divine seeing, is another practice that makes a particularly good creative practice
- Get out, play and have some fun – Play is a wonderful way to destress ourselves. I talk a lot about this in The Gift of Wonder but I know that it is still hard for adults to get out and play but this is in many ways a heaven sent opportunity to do just that.
Here is another beautiful rendition of the Lord’s Prayer by Francis McNab that I think is particularly appropriate for today.
Dear One, closer to us than our own hearts, farther from us than the most distant star, you are beyond naming.
May your powerful presence become obvious not only in the undeniable glory of the sky, but also in the seemingly base and common processes of the earth.
Give us what we need, day by day, to keep body and soul together, because clever as you have made us, we still owe our existence to you.
We recognize that to be reconciled with you, we must live peaceably and justly with other human beings, putting hate and bitterness behind us.
We are torn between our faith in your goodness and our awareness of the evil in your creation, so deliver us from the temptation to despair.
Yours alone is the universe and all its majesty and beauty.
Good caring presence within us, around us, and above us; Hold us in a sense of mystery and wonder.
Let the fullness of your goodness be within us and around us; Let all the world know your ways of caring and generosity.
May we find we have all we need to meet each day without undue anxiety.
Overlook our many stupidities, and help us to release everyone from their stupidities.
May we all know that we are accepted.
Strengthen us that we will reach out to the best, always with the faith to rise above the ugly realities of our existence.
And we celebrate the gifts you have given us – the rich kingdom of life’s possibilities the power to do good and the triumphs of good and the moments when we have seen the glory and wonder of everything.
You are life’s richness. You are life’s power. You are life’s ultimate meaning –Amen.
Francis Macnab in “The Historical Jesus Goes to Church”
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By Lilly Lewin
With the possibility that we won’t be meeting together much this Lenten Season, due to COVID-19, I’ve been thinking of resources to share that can help us worship on our own and experience the season in smaller groups at home. One of these resources is Praying with your Cup for Holy Week. As I was adding to these prayers, I realized that I might need to START NOW, and begin this in the middle of Lent and not wait for Holy Week. I need the reminder that Jesus is holding me in his hand just like I hold my coffee cup each morning! Just my editing process of these prayers helped me focus on Jesus rather than the world’s craziness. Maybe like me, you too need to pray with your cup!
Praying with our Cup can be done on your own in the morning and continue you as you use a cup throughout the day. You can pick out a special cup for this devotional time or you could even use paper cups and decorate them with words or pictures for each day. Praying with your cup can be done on your own or with others. You could do this around the table at breakfast as a family or with roommates over dinner. You could do a zoom call with friends or your small group and share your cup practice and prayers together. You could FaceTime with a friend across the country or down the street. The beautiful thing about technology today is that we are not alone!
If you do this practice in a small group setting, invite everyone to bring a cup from home, or provide a paper cup to create and pray with and have some sharpie markers for decoration. Same thing if you are doing this online as a group, plan a time to meet together and invite people to have their cups ready to go.
I will be posting more resources for prayer and worship at home here and on my facebook page. I’d love to hear more about how you use this prayer practice and you can even hashtag pictures #freerangeprayercups
Drink deeply of that Great Love of Jesus today! You are held in God’s hand.
Praying with your Cup for Holy Week
by Lilly Lewin
Inspired by the writings of Joyce Rupp
How are you feeling about Holy Week this year? As you look towards Easter have you drawn closer to Jesus in the last few days and weeks, or are you feeling like you have been running and running and your cup is now totally empty?
Is your spiritual cup over flowing with energy and gratitude? or are you looking into an empty cup that is dry and needs filling?
What do you need in your cup as you look towards Easter Sunday this year?
Jesus talks a lot about cups in his ministry…
Giving a cup of cold water to the least of these Matthew 10: 40-42
Sharing in his cup of suffering when the disciples want a special place of honor Matthew 21:21-23
Drinking and sharing in the cup of the New Covenant and the cup of salvation at the Last Supper
And asking God to remove the cup of suffering from him in the Garden of Gethsemane
This week in the midst of it all, use a cup as your prayer tool. 
A coffee cup. A red solo cup, a tea cup or even a paper cup. Allow God to speak to you about your life with him as you drink from your cup. You might choose a special cup just for Holy Week or you might just see which kind of cup you end up with as you do your prayer focus each day. Allow Jesus to use that cup of coffee, tea or water to be a symbol of where you are on your journey.
Allow Jesus to refresh you as you drink from your cup each day.
Allow Jesus to interrupt you in the midst of your day, in the midst of a meeting, to remind you of the cup of salvation, or his cup of suffering, or your need for his living water.
Even a Starbucks cup can remind you to pray… for the barista, for the other customers in line, for the farmers who grew the coffee, for those who might be suffering for lack of coffee, or for lack of care, due to exploitation of the industrial complex. Hum… the possibilities!
Check out the daily prayers below. Use your cup of coffee, tea etc to draw you closer this week or the week before Easter!
Take the time to pause and reflect and walk with Jesus on his Way of Suffering. And know that his desire in all of this is to refresh you and provide you with a cup that is overflowing with his love and grace joy and mercy even in the midst of all the busyness!
You can do these short meditations/reflections on your own, with your family, or even as a youth group activity individually or all at one time.
DAY 1 Palm Sunday: Cup of Praise. Cheers or Jeers? As you hold your cup consider where your heart is. Are you cheering with the crowd today or are you feeling more like a jeering Pharisee? Are you pouring out praises or curses on those around you? As you drink from your cup today, take time to praise and thank Jesus for the things He is doing in your life. As you drink from cups today pray “hosanna, blessed is the king who comes in the Name of the Lord”. READ Matthew 21:1-11.
DAY 2. Monday: Cup of Forgiveness, A Confession. What do you need to ask forgiveness for? Talk to God about this. Allow God’s love to fill you up today. As you wash your cup or other dishes, allow this to be a confession. What is the dirt and grime of life that needs to be washed away? Ask Jesus to show you. Allow the water to remind you that Jesus is cleansing and forgiving you daily.
DAY 3. Tuesday: The Cup of Change. The money changers were cheating people and blocking the way to prayer in the temple. What might be blocking you today? Talk to Jesus about the things that might be blocking you in prayer or worship. Who are the people who are blocked from knowing God in your neighborhood? Who are the people who are blocked from worship? Pray for these people or groups to feel the love and acceptance of Jesus today. Ask Jesus to show you ways to help them God’s love and Hospitality. READ Matthew 21:12-17.
Many of us have cups of coins at home where we collect change. Gather the change and give the money to a local charity, to a homeless person, or someone you know who is in need.
DAY 4. Wednesday: The Cup of Betrayal. Judas plans to betray Jesus and give him up to leaders who were jealous and afraid of Jesus and his teaching. As you drink from your cup today, how have you felt betrayed? Talk to Jesus about this. Tell him your pain. Pray for this person or situation and ask Jesus to help you forgive and heal.
What about you? Have you betrayed anyone? Talk to God about this and ask for forgiveness. Are there ways you have betrayed Jesus in your life? Talk to Him about this and allow Jesus to forgive you. READ John 13:1-6, 21-30, Matthew 26: 4-15.
DAY 5. Thursday: The Cup of Remembrance. “When you drink this cup remember me” – Jesus
The Cup of the New Covenant… as you drink from your cup today, consider the last supper. Think about Jesus serving his disciples through washing their feet. Picture them around the table celebrating the Passover. What does washing someone’s feet look like in 2020? How can you serve someone today? Talk to Jesus about this and then make a plan and act on it. Do something you wouldn’t normally do for someone in your family, household, or office without being asked. As you drink from your cup today to remember that you are called to Love God and Love others as Jesus did.
READ John 13:31-35.
DAY 6. Friday: The Cup of Suffering. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that God would remove the cup of suffering from him. But Jesus was willing to take the cup for each of us. And Jesus is with us in our suffering.
As you drink from your up today, is there anything in your life you wish God would remove? Talk to God about this. Any areas of suffering where you need healing? Ask Jesus to heal you.
As you drink from your cup today, Take time to pray for those around the world who are suffering
Pray for those who drink from cups of suffering on a daily basis. Places like Syria, the US southern border, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico still recovering from the hurricane and earthquake. Places still in war and conflict, like Sudan, Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela. Pray for the people who are suffering because of COVID-19 near you and around the world. READ Matthew 26:36-45.
DAY 7. Saturday: The Empty Cup. Loss. The disciples hadn’t understood that Jesus had to die. They hadn’t planned on losing their friend. And they were afraid that they might die too. Look at your empty cup. Have you suffered a loss this week, this month, this year? Allow Jesus to be with you in that loss. Sit with the empty cup and give the loss to Jesus. What fears are in your cup today? As you hold your cup picture Jesus holding your fears. Give your loss and your fear to Jesus. Allow Jesus to hold your empty cup today.
DAY 8. Sunday: Cup of Resurrection and New Life. As you drink from your cup today thank Jesus for the New Life that is in you! Ask Him to show you glimpses of resurrection and hope today and in the days to come. What things in nature, or in other people give you hope? How can you bring resurrection/hope to someone today? Ask Jesus to show you and plan an action that can bring hope to someone in your family, friend group or community. READ Matthew 28:1-10 and/or John 20.
DAY 9: Monday after Easter: The Cup of What is Next? The disciples now had a new reality, Jesus was no longer dead! For some this was exciting, for others like Peter, it made life uncertain. So he goes back to what he did before, fishing! What were they supposed to do now? How do they live? They were being invited into a new life of resurrection, a new life of living out the ways of Jesus. As you drink from your cup today, talk to Jesus about any doubts, fears or uncertainties you have about what is next in your life. Ask Jesus to show you his great love in the middle of the questions and the waiting on what is next. Remember that like Peter, Jesus has a call and plan for you and loves you more than you can even imagine! READ John 21:15-25.
Have a wonderful Holy Week!
Drink deeply of that Great Love!
Lilly
©lillylewin and ©freerangeworship.com
PDF available: Holy Week with Cups 2020
By Talitha Fraser —
“No one is going to stop human nature from its impulse to shape the mystery that lies about us. Thank the powers that be that we can dream in this sense, that we can send out feelers in the unknown and fly coloured kites into the azure or the storm. It is as natural to fabulate as to breathe, and as necessary… the human heart would suffocate if it were restricted to logic.”
p.74-75 Theopoetics, Amos Niven Wilder
I cried when I first read Wilder’s book Theopoetics for the wild joy and familiar of it because I had never read the words but they were somehow already mine. A truth I didn’t know yet. Theopoetics can be an embodied way of knowing and, I think, another way of being and engaging in the world.
To grieve: I make a representation of the home I’m losing and the home I hope for. A vessel for my hopes, fears and prayers and I carry it. It is outside of my head, small enough to hold in my hands. Colourful, soft and warm – it is not cold and dark – a grief I am able to bear more easily for that.
To love: A dear friend and I no longer live in the same country. We cannot share in the day to day, nor in the hard times, nor the small graces. Some misunderstanding arose that I could not make right with words in an email and I felt the fragility of time and distance, and a fear I might be losing something very precious. I chose a grand gesture. Something embarrassing, risky, a little stupid and, maybe, just a little bit brave. I went to her work, a public library, wearing prop alien glasses and used the catalogue to find a copy of “How to Make Friends and Influence People” which I proceeded to pretend to read, upside down, moving from place to place in her line of sight around the library. She didn’t notice me. Weird stuff happens in public libraries all the time. You have to go bigger than that if you want a librarian to pay attention to you. I had to yield my melodramatic impulses in favour of the expediency of just talking to her so we could sort it out over lunch. And we do. Two humans talking it through. (Pro tip: People will find it hard to stay mad at you if you make yourself ridiculous).
To hope: A Love Makes a Way action to advocate for the release of children from detention centres provides paper doll chains to be signs of our prayers, our fears and our hopes. Leaked documents from the Nauru files reveal the terrible treatment and trauma of women and children held by the Australian government. We blu tack these to the windows at the office of our local politician but first I take a series of photos – these children are sitting with me at the table, playing soccer, at a school, in a playground, riding a bike. Ordinary kid things they don’t get to do but in my hands they can. Hope manifest.
The common thread here was listening. Listening for the eternal breath that connects me to the home I’ve lost and new one I haven’t found yet, the refugees I may never meet and could not directly help, and friends far away. Grace finds a way when it feels like there is no way, creates moves where I feel ‘stuck’, empowers when I feel hopeless. Breathe and pray, you may yet find a way to dream, and shape, to feel and to fly. Breathe and pray.
By Lynne M. Baab —
What’s your favorite place in nature? A beach, the mountains, a lake, a meadow? What’s your favorite aspect of nature? Flowers, reflective water, a specific kind of animal, a tree?
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we can pray more deeply for God’s creation and how we can feel like we are walking with Jesus when we care for creation. I’ll give you some ideas here, and you can see more of them in the online Lenten devotional I co-wrote for our church last year.
Gratitude and praise. Thankfulness prayers are deeply appropriate – and even foundational – when we pray about God’s creation. We don’t have to look very far to find things to praise and thank God for when we look at the beauty of flowers, trees, hills, mountains, lakes, oceans, clouds, and thousands of other manifestations of God’s creativity and beauty.
Lament. We also don’t have to look very far in God’s creation to feel upset about damage to the beauty of the world God created so intricately and carefully. Lament prayers express sadness, grief, anger and frustration. We tell God what we’re upset about. Lament prayers are appropriate in so many areas when we see or think about environmental degredation.
Confession and assurance of pardon. If you’re like me, and you feel guilt about not engaging in creation care as much as you’d like to, or as much as you’ve felt led to, God invites you to bring those thoughts and feelings into a prayer of confession. God always forgives us and gives us a fresh start.
Intercession. Prayers of intercession for creation are appropriate in so many areas. So many people are involved in aspects of caring for God’s creation. So many people create policy that impacts the earth. Where can we start in our prayers?
By Dave Baab
I’d suggest picking something you love in nature, and think about all the scientists who do research in that area, all the people who are involved in taking care of that part of God’s creation, all the policy makers who make decisions that have an impact on that part of nature, and all the ordinary people whose decisions have an effect on that part of nature you love. Pray for those people and for God’s continued sustenance and care of the beautiful earth.
To deepen prayers for creation care, I suggest reading Psalm 103 and 104, and then praying the words to both psalms. They can be read as a pair, each reflecting one of God’s major roles in human history.
Psalm 103 focuses on God the Redeemer, and if you confess your sins about anything, including not caring for creation as well as you should, you’ll find joy and assurance from God in the words of Psalm 103. If you read it, notice how many nature analogies are used to make the points in the psalm.
Psalm 104 focuses on the way that God sustains the plants and animals. And humans! I find it delightful.
“O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. . . .
These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” (Psalm 104:23, 27, 28)
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