by Christine Sine
On November 1, we celebrate All Saints Day and I thought that I would repost some of the suggestions from past years for you to enjoy. I know I need to revisit this post every year to get ideas for what I want to do, so thought you would appreciate this refresher as well. This year my thoughts are focused on my brother Nick, whose life I am celebrating as I join with the rest of my family in Australia. Sharing photos, memories and laughter is a great way to remember someone who was always very special to me.
Here are some suggestions on how to celebrate:
Remembering those who impact our lives, those who have gone before, and those who are still with us is an important part of our faith. The Episcopal Church website explains:
We step aside from the flow of the propers and celebrate all the saints. We stop. We notice, We are surrounded by a flock of witnesses in our midst – many who have gone before us, some we are just now releasing, and still more with a full life ahead of them.
Renew Your Baptismal Vows
I love the Anglican tradition of renewing our baptismal vows on this day. Reminding ourselves of the journey we have taken personally is a good place to start in remembering the saints of God. In this tradition, all baptized Christians, living and dead known and unknown are considered saints of God. This means everyone including ourselves.
So as you get ready for All Saints Day, think about your own faith journey. Remember the faithfulness of God in your past. Notice the movement of God in the present. Think about your hopes and dreams for the future. Get ready to celebrate all that you are as a saint of God.
But don’t stop there. This is a special day for celebrating. Here are some suggestions:
Write Icons
Plan a special “remembering” table
This is a great idea to set up in the nave, though you could also do this as a family celebration.. Have congregants or family members bring photos or small memorabilia of dear ones who have gone before us and place them on the table. During the worship on All Saint’s Day, or during a family meal on that day, hold a special blessing of the photos and memories. Saint Andrews Episcopal in Seattle provides white ribbons for people to write the names of their departed loved ones on. These are wound around the communion rail and hung around the church for the season after All Saints Day.
Hold an All Saints’ Day party
A great alternative to Halloween. Get everyone to dress as their favourite saint, or to bring a picture of this saint. During the festivities, get everyone to share a story about their saint and the impact he or she has had on their lives. Or you might like to get participants to guess who each person represents.
Plan a family heritage party.
Invite people to do some work beforehand researching their family history and particularly the Christian saints who were a part of it. Ask them to bring photos and stories to share. Finish with a time of prayer for all those that have gone before us.
- Also, a lovely idea for gathering together online and connecting with others in a deeper way for this holiday.
Several years ago, when my youngest brother went to Greece, where my father comes from, he found out that it is possible that our family name, Aroney, comes from the name Aaron and that our family probably originated in Jerusalem many centuries ago. It is probable that one of the reasons they began the journey out of Jerusalem first to Constantinople, then to Rhodes and finally to the tiny island of Kithera, at the bottom of the Peloponnese mountains, is because they became Christians. There are a number of Greek orthodox priests in my father’s family history and my Aunt Mary was a very devout Greek Orthodox Christian. nI know less about my mother’s family history but would love to find out where her family has had profound encounters with God too.
Plan an All Saints Day pilgrimage.
Again this might require some before time research. Explore the Christian heritage of your community. Where did the first Christians come from? How did they interact with the native peoples? Where was the first church established? Who were some of the early Christians who impacted your community. Plan a pilgrimage walk to the site of the first Christian community and, if possible, have a time of prayer and possibly even a eucharistic celebration to remember those who have gone before.
This Taize service from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church may also inspire some ideas for celebrating or just allow you to contemplate the celebration of this day.
It’s a beautiful morning here in Sydney Australia and we are anticipating a delightfully warm day. It is a joy to be here with my family, be able to catch up with friends, and soak in the joy of my favourite city in the world with the jacarandas flowering, the birds raucously singing and the fragrant jasmine scent filling the air. There is something special about the place we grow up and when we return to it we truly feel we have come home. Yesterday I got together with Mercy Ships’ friends I have not seen for more than 30 years, and it was as though we had never been apart. We sat and reminisced for 3 1/2 hours, sharing stories, catching up on the joys and the heartaches of our lives past and present. It was a very special time. Friendships become more precious the older we get, and and one of the things I appreciate most about social media is its ability to maintain networks of relationships we would otherwise lose. It has been hard not to have Tom with me enjoying these special times but he is doing well and is being well looked after by his own network of friends.
Meditation Monday – Getting Ready For All Saints Day reflected some of this same specialness of friendships and relationships as I talked about ways to remember those who have gone before whose lives anchor us in the story of God and also the planet Earth in which we live. Remembering the lives of ancestors, mentors, guiding lights of the faith is an important and special celebration of life.
In the U.S. in particular, people are getting ready for Halloween. I did not grow up with this celebration, though the pumpkins and scary decorations around Sydney indicate it is catching on here too. It does seem a little bizarre to see orange pumpkins all over the place at the beginning of spring though. In my Spiritual Practice – Painting Gratitude Pumpkins I shared one Halloween practice that helps give the season a more meaningful slant. Painting gratitude pumpkins is for me, a wonderful way to focus as we prepare for American Thanksgiving.
Lilly Lewin’s Freerange Friday – The Good Road is About Serving Others reminds us that it is always important for us to keep watching for God surprises and noticing the beauty of each day. She incorporates a beautiful quote from Richard Rohr that begins “Seek joy in God and peace within; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful. It’s the only resting place that also allows us to hear and bear the darkness. “
One of my delights during this trip to Sydney is being able to share my new book Celtic Advent: Following An Unfamiliar Path with friends and family, many of whom plan to use it in the upcoming season. I appreciate those of you who have already purchased copies. Amazon seems to be having trouble keeping up with the flow so make sure you order your copy well in advance of November 15th and the beginning of Celtic Advent, as it may take a little longer than you expect to arrive. I plan to post some additional reflections and activities during the weeks of Advent so that we can all enter in, in a very special way to the season. I hope you will join me in this extended Advent celebration so that we can read along together in our journey towards Christmas and the birth of Christ.
Today we posted Liturgical Rebels Episode 19, an interview with Celtic artist and calligrapher Mary Fleeson. Mary lives on Holy Island and has a rich history in textile design and study of ancient manuscript techniques. Her beautiful artwork and books can be found at the Lindisfarne Scriptorium. This was a fascinating interview that taught me much about the techniques used by the creators of the Book of Kells and other beautiful ancient manuscripts. It gave me a deeper respect for the monks who toiled on these amazing documents, using creativity not only in the artwork but also in the techniques that produced them.
Many blessings on you today
Christine Sine
Happy Friday from Fredericksburg Texas. I’m sitting on a beautiful screened in porch watching the colors of the sky change as the sun comes up over the Texas hill country. The birds are waking up and the chickens who are in the backyard next to the airbnb are starting their morning routine of bug searches. I even heard a wild goose fly over which is the Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit. There is a beautiful live oak tree across the street that is inviting me to attempt to paint it later this morning! I lived in Napa Valley for four years and never could capture a live oak with my paintbrush! I grew up with trees that had straight lines and stiff branches not the beautiful curves of a live oak tree so my muscle memory couldn’t capture this amazing tree! At least not yet!
We flew in early yesterday to celebrate the wedding of my nephew and his lovely bride who met at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. I have four siblings and this is my youngest brothers’s oldest son and the first of his boys to marry. A celebration of love in the midst of all the anger, hate and sorrow of our world is welcome change!
I apologize for not posting last week. I was still suffering major jet lag and had to take my husband to the ER in the middle of the night on Thursday because he was having a heart issue. Thankfully it wasn’t Afib again but just a high blood pressure incident that could be corrected with new medication. So grateful! Life is precious and I am so aware that we need to embrace each day as gift and truly rest in the little joys along the way.
LIVE OAK
Last week I found this quote by Father Richard Rohr
Seek joy in God and peace within; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful. It’s the only resting place that also allows us to hear and bear the darkness. Hard and soft, difficult and easy, painful and ecstatic do not eliminate one another; they actually allow each other. They bow back and forth like dancers, although it is harder to bow to pain and to failure. We can bear the hardness of life and see through failure when our soul is resting in a wonderful and comforting sweetness and softness. Religious people would call this living in God. That’s why people in love—and often people at the end of life—have such an excess of energy for others. If God cannot be rested in, then it must not be much of a god. If God is not juice and joy, then who has created all these lilacs and lilies?
How are you doing with resting in God these days? What is helping you find the beauty and joy along the way?
In this season of election here in the States, it is so important for us to keep watching for God surprises and noticing the beauty of each day. We need to rest in God and take time to do the things, the practices that help us connect to Jesus and to one another. Politics and news outlets want to instill us with fear and doubt. Social media is designed to move us into boxes and wall us up in castles of dread. So pay attention to that. And take breaks. Get outside, create something, have coffee with friends, read or watch something that makes you laugh, volunteer in a new place. Do the “thinplace” things that help you experience the joy of Jesus. Lead with Love in all that you do!
This Sunday’s gospel reading is about this leadership of love.
It’s about what real power is. And it’s not what the world or the politicians think it is.
MARK 10:35-45 NIV
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”MARK 10:35-45 FIRST NATIONS
35After that, He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the sons of Gift of Creator (Zebedee), came up to Creator Sets Free (Jesus). “Wisdomkeeper,” they said, “We want to ask you to do something for us.” 36“What is it you want from me?” he replied.
37“When your shining-greatness is revealed,” they said back to him, “permit us a place of honor beside you, one on your right hand the other on your left.” 38“You do not understand what you are asking,” he answered. “Are you able to drink the cup of suffering that I will drink, or endure the purification ceremony that I will endure?”
39“We are able!” they answered. “Yes,” he said to them, “you will drink from my cup of suffering and endure my purification ceremony, but the place at my right and left hand is not mine to give. This honor belongs to the ones for whom it has already been prepared.”
41When the other ten message bearers heard this, they began to look down on He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John).
“THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS”
42So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) called them together and said, “Other nations have rulers, such as the People of Iron (Romans). They like to show their power over people and push them around. But this will not be the way of the ones, like you, who walk with me. 44The great ones among you will humble themselves and serve all the others. 45In the same way, the True Human Being did not come to be served by others but to offer his life in the place of many lives, to set them free.”
What speaks to you today? What is the Holy Spirit highlighting for you?
What do you notice from the passage that you didn’t notice before?
What do you wonder about? What questions come up for you as you listened to the passage?
If you were going to ask Jesus for something today, what would it be? Would it be about sitting on thrones, power or who is in charge of things? I think I would ask something very different.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew 20:20-28, it’s James and John’s mom who asks Jesus for her sons to have places of honor next to Jesus. How does this change the story for you, or does it?
How have you, or how do you get caught up in a desire for power and control rather than serving others?
What is it about people, humans, that we want to sit on thrones rather than to serve?
Think of an area in your life where you want to control or want power … rather than trusting and following Jesus ? Talk to Jesus about this.
We live in a world that is opposite of the way of Jesus. People are hungry for power and prestige. We live in a world that despises suffering and looks down on those who suffer or have less. How can you choose to live the upside down gospel of love and service this week in your regular life? Talk to Jesus about this.
This passage made me think of Jesus washing his disciples feet before the last supper. The image of the basin and the towel verses a throne. There is a big difference between sitting on the floor washing someone’s feet and sitting on dais in a throne room. Also made me think of the cup of cold water given to the least of these is doing it to Jesus…and how often I question or stop, before giving to someone I see on the sidewalk rather than just giving.
In the First Nations version, the paragraph header is :
“THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS”
I want to walk this good road! I want to walk and live in the way of Jesus not in the way of fear or way of power that is so rampant today! This weekend, take a walk with Jesus. consider the road that you are walking and how you can live out love in practical ways this week….Who needs your friendship? Where can you share your giftedness? How can you express compassion on line and in real life this week? Ask Jesus to help you!
Jesus, I need your help with this! Help me, help us, not to get sucked into the vortex of power and castle of fear. Deliver us from evil. Help us to rely on you and not ourselves. Help us to walk the good road following in your footsteps of love. AMEN.
mull view
This photo is from the island of Mull last week. I am leading a pilgrimage to Iona in Scotland next Sept. 1-9, 2025. Come see this view and join me! check out Finding Your Thinplace.com for more details and you can ask questions at findingyourthinplace@gmail.com
©lillylewin and freereangeworship.com
Wow, I cannot believe the response to my new book Celtic Advent: Following An Unfamiliar Path. Thank you for your encouragement and affirmation. So many of you have told me you have already purchased the book and plan to use it with friends. That really delights my heart, as I think Advent should always be celebrated within community rather than as individuals. So if you have not grabbed your copy yet, now is the time to do so. And don’t forget, if you are needing multiple copies you can order them directly from me at a discount price. I am encouraged by this as Celtic Christianity and its concern for both creation and for the disadvantaged in our society is an increasing passion of mine.
The series on Celtic Spirituality on my podcast, Liturgical Rebels has also been extremely popular and I hope that you are able to access these interviews. You can see all this year’s episodes of Liturgical Rebels here. I hope you will join our growing community of listeners. My interview with Christine Valters Paintner is now the most listened to of all the episodes. Next week we will post episode 19, an interview with Celtic artist and calligrapher Mary Fleeson. Mary lives on Holy Island and has a rich history in textile design and study of ancient manuscript techniques. Her beautiful artwork and books can be found at the Lindisfarne Scriptorium
Last weekend I facilitated a retreat on The Gift of Wonder with a small local church group. As I shared in my Meditation Monday: Douglas Fir and the Mice, it was held at a beautiful retreat site on the Hood Canal. Just being there and drinking in the beauty of the place refreshed and renewed me. I loved learning the story about the Douglas Fir and the Mice which I hope you will read. It is one of the most delightful stories I have read for a while and, as it probably originated with some of the native peoples here, was a very appropriate one to post on Indigenous Peoples Day.
Unfortunately the rest of the week did not go as well. I spent most of Wednesday at the hospital with my husband Tom for a heart arrhythmia. Fortunately it was able to be controlled and he returned home, but was advised not to travel. So I will be going to Australia on my own today. It was a hard decision to make and as you can imagine we are both very disappointed but we both feel at peace about the decision. Fortunately Tom will not be on his own as our small intentional community and several friends have all jumped in to help him while I am away. We appreciate your prayers that all goes smoothly as I travel and for Tom here at home.
Lilly Lewin was travelling this week and so we did not have time to write her usual Freerange Friday but should be back next week with more of her delightful insights and creativity.
As Halloween and All Saints Day approaches and you struggle with the waste of costumes and decorations consider some of the suggestions in these posts:
- Resources for a Green, Fair Trade, Ethical Halloween
- One Protestant’s Reflection on All Saints Day by Kathy Hempel
- All Saints Day: An Opportunity to Remember Everyday Saints. By Lynne Baab
- A Beautiful All Saints Day Prayer by Ana Lisa De Jong
The upcoming months have so many opportunities to celebrate and I hope you will take advantage of the broad array of resources available on Godspacelight. We have still not been able to correct the myriad of links in the posts and resource pages so if you click on a link like this https://godspacelight.com/
Many blessings on you as the seasons change and we move towards the beginning of Advent. Remember Celtic Advent begins November 15th.
Here is another prayer I wrote on my recent retreat, a prayer that reminds me to greet each day as a unique and beautiful creation from God.
I greet this day with delight.
This never to be forgotten,
Never to be repeated, moment of wonder.
I greet the birds flying overhead,
And listen as they sing back to me,
A beautiful melody of praise.
I greet the sun shining through the clouds,
A soft glow of morning glory softly lighting the world.
I greet the trees whispering to me in the breeze.
Sit, relax, absorb the rhythm of our moving,
They seem to say.
I breathe in the fragrance of the air
Fresh, invigorating life-giving to body and soul.
The wonder of it lodges in my mind,
Leading me into a new day,
It fills me with the joy of God‘s abiding presence.
Christine Sine
NOTE: As an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
by Christine Sine
Over the weekend I had the joy of leading a small retreat at St Andrews House on the Hood Canal. It is a beautiful location, looking out over the water and surrounded by majestic firs and gardens full of herbs and dahlias.
The focus of the weekend was Walking in Wonder. God’s creation could not have put on a more magnificent display for us. On the first evening the Aurora Borealis delighted us with reds and greens and blue splashed across the sky. It was breathtaking. The following evening it was the reds and gold of the sunset that took our breath away and held us spellbound. We certainly got our daily doses of awe and wonder while we were there.
Legend tells us that a long time ago there was a large fire in the forests of the west. Many animals ran around frantically trying to escape the flames. Tiny mice, not fast enough on their short legs to outrun the fire, tried to find shelter in various trees. The mice approached maples and junipers and many other trees asking for help but were continually denied, as the trees themselves were fighting for survival. Finally they approached the large and mighty Douglas fir tree and asked if they could take shelter amongst its branches. The Douglas fir agreed to help the mice and allowed them to hide in its cones. They went in head first but their back end and tails still stuck out. The mice survived the fire, and to this day, if you examine a Douglas fir cone you can see the tails of the mice sticking out of the scales of a cone. That is one cone I will never fail to identify.
Today is Indigenous Peoples Day in the US, and this seemed like a fitting story to tell as it probably has roots in the stories of the native peoples of North America. I love stories like this that have probably been handed down from generation to generation for hundreds if not thousands of years. They stir new seeds of wonder and delight within me, not just for the beauty of the pine cone, but for the whole forest from which it comes. This is what Robert McFarlane in his book Landmarks, would call re-wonderment of the world, something I highly recommended to the group I was facilitating and encourage all of us to do.
You may remember, that in his book, McFarlane gave a fascinating example of how we can change people’s attitudes so that they acquire a new view of our awe inspiring world. Evidently nn the Island of Lewis in Scotland there were plans to construct a large wind farm which would have destroyed the local windswept moorland, the natural environment which most people saw as useless. To re-wonder peoples’ impression of the land they gathered songs and poetry written about the moorland. They told stories about what happened there. They recovered its history and marked out new walking tracks and points of beauty – and the moorland was saved.
In our current world, steeped in injustice of systemic racism, of war and violence and climate change, this is very much what we need. We don’t just need re-wonderment of the world but re-wonderment of our view of God and a re-wonderment of our impressions of the people we share the planet with too. All of us are made in the image of God and every creature has a spark of divine life within it. Recovering stories that connect us to the land, its history and its people grounds us in special ways and can be truly awe inspiring. That pine cone I brought home to add to my collection is not just a pine cone, it is the bearer of special story that connects this place and the people who lived in it to us today. Now that really is awe inspiring.
Listening to this and other stories I heard during my few days away freed my imagination to create poetry again, something I have not done for several weeks. I hope you enjoy this poem which I posted on instagram yesterday.
Christine Valters Paintner shares her journey through life, which she describes as reminiscent of the Celtic saints. She discusses her experiences living in different places, including Ireland, and the challenges and joys of following a pilgrimage-like path. Christine also talks about her love for Benedictine and Celtic spirituality, the importance of nature in her spiritual practice, and the significance of circles and circling prayers. She describes herself as a monk in the world and discusses the Abbey of the Arts, her online monastery. Christine also shares about her upcoming book, ‘A Midwinter God,’ which explores encountering the divine in seasons of darkness.
Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine oblate and the online Abbess at Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a poet and the author of more than 20 books on the spiritual life. Her newest book is A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness. Christine lives on the wild edges of Ireland with her husband John and dog Sourney, where they lead online programs for a global community.
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- You can find more about Christine Valters Paintner and her work at AbbeyoftheArts.com Transformative Living through Contemplative and Expressive Arts
On Thursday I received my first copies of Celtic Advent: Following An Unfamiliar Path, which is now available at Amazon outlets around the world. I am very excited about this book, which provides a fresh approach to Advent that reawakens our awe as it opens our eyes and our ears, in fact all our senses, to the wonder of God’s story once more. In the company of saints and artists, storytellers and poets, this devotional encourages us to we tread a new path, step outside the boundaries of conventional knowledge, and explore new ways to enter the story of God. We walk with some well known characters like Patrick, Columba, Brigid and Hilda, but also with less known Celtic saints like Ia and Non. It takes us on a journey, a pilgrimage in fact through the six weeks before Christmas, beginning November 13th and ending on Christmas Day. Six Weeks, six themes:
- Holy Wanderings
- Guests of the World
- Reaching for Hope
- Searching for Peace
- Joy In The Journey
- Embracing Love
A big thank you to those who have already purchased copies. I understand they have already arrived in Scotland and Canada. This was a fun book to work on and I look forward to delving into it again, not as a writer but as a participant in the wondrous journey towards the birth of Christ. I hope you will join me, and don’t forget that you can purchase bulk copies directly from me at a discount price. They will take about 2 weeks to arrive, so get your orders in early to be ready for the beginning of Celtic Advent. Unfortunately this discount will only apply in the US. However if you want to purchase prayer cards to assist in your Advent journey, these can be purchased through Godspacelight, and can be shipped anywhere in the world. There is one set specifically for Advent and another set of Celtic cards you might like to look at. I am considering putting another set together, probably for next year. Let me know if you have any suggestions for that.
Video = Celtic Advent: Following an Unfamiliar Path
After I wrote my Meditation Monday: Stay Close to the Cracks, one person commented “we have to find that balance. I have often said that our goal is to stay close to the cracks, to know and even feel, the pain of others. But then, through prayer and meditation, to put those burdens on Jesus’ shoulders. I don’t think we are strong enough to carry them, but He is.” I agree wholeheartedly. I don’t think we should turn away from the hurts of our world and God’s beloved children who inhabit it, but sometimes we do need to limit what we watch, and make sure we check the facts that are inflammatory and sometimes confusing. God intends us to be involved in the world’s pain, reaching out as healers and comforters when we see the light shining in the cracks. The link to Leonard Cohen’s song, Anthem, was the most popular I have posted so far.
The Spiritual Practice of Giving God Joy, which I posted on Friday encouraged a lot of people to stop and consider the question “What does God enjoy about me?” I think it is an important question for all of us to write as we move forward as followers of Christ. I hope you will read the post and take seriously my suggestion to make a list of what about you gives God joy.
Many of you have very much enjoyed the last episode of Liturgical Rebels – my interview with John Philip Newell about Celtic Spirituality. I loved listening to this interview again and heartily recommend it to those who have not listened. John Philip Newell is a fascinating person. This week’s episode, another in our series on Celtic Spirituality, is an interview with another inspirational person Christine Valters Paintner, a Benedictine oblate and the online Abbess at Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a poet and the author of more than 20 books on the spiritual life. Her newest book is A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness. Christine lives on the wild edges of Ireland with her husband John and dog Sourney, where they lead online programs for a global community. I first met Christine Valters Paintner when she lived in Seattle many years ago, and continue to be enriched by her deep spirituality and insights. I think this is another interview you will really enjoy.
Lilly Lewin’s latest Godspacelight post, comes to us from the island of Iona. In Freerange Friday: Art is my Thinplace, she quotes Christine Valters Paintner in The Soul of a Pilgrim. One of the metaphors I use in teaching the expressive arts is pilgrimage. On a pilgrimage, as in art-making, we take a journey to encourage the sacred within ourselves in a more intimate way.” I love that concept and am intrigued by the journey Lilly shares with us from her thin place, Iona. One celebration I forgot to highlight last week is world communion Sunday, the first Sunday in October when we join with followers of Jesus all over the world and form many different denominations to promote Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation. You might like to check out two previous Godspacelight posts about this Carol Dixon’s World Communion Sunday 2019 and June Friesen’s World Wide Communion Sunday 2021. They are both worth reflecting on.
As I mentioned last week, Tom and I are getting ready to fly to Australia on October 16th so my thoughts too are set on pilgrimage, though of a different sort. Part of the purpose of our trip is to attend a memorial time for my brother Nick who died a couple of months ago. I am also looking forward to catching up with friends and family. Can you believe it 16 of my medical school friends will gather with Tom and I for a celebration while we are there. Another friend is travelling all the way from New Zealand to spend time with us. It will be a fun trip, though we are not looking forward to that 15 hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. We appreciate your prayers for travelling mercies.
Today my heart is heavy as I read about Hurricane Milton so close behind Hurricane Helene bringing devastation to yet more lives. I grieve for those who have lost life and livelihood not just because of these disasters but because of all the devastation in our world. Ongoing conflict in Haiti, Sudan, Afghanistan and so many other places. Lives lost through drought and poverty and illness. For the ongoing impact of wars in Ukraine, and the Middle East. I think of those who are helping – first responders, FEMA, health care workers, volunteers from around the world. We cannot understand why God allows such devastation, but I am aware that God is very present in the midst of it.
God almighty, maker of the earth and all of life,
We grieve with you today,
For those forced to flee,
From hurricanes, wars and political unrest.
For places where violence flares
And we turn away,
Yesterday’s news
Overshadowed by today’s disasters.
Let us remember in the midst of our pain,
You are always with us,
Our shelter in the midst of every tragedy.
In the quiet and the storm you surround us,
Your love stays closer than a friend.
In this time of storm, of mudslide and disaster
Be with all who are vulnerable.
Hold them close as the winds blow, the oceans rage and the land slides.
Place your arms around them as the fires burn, trees fall and rivers rise.
Keep them safe from wind and rain and flying debris.
Guide those that respond, keep them safe.
Give wisdom to those who direct rescue operations.
Be with first responders, electric workers and emergency crews,
With all who reach out to neighbours with your love and compassion.
Comfort and protect them in the midst of danger and of strife.
May all find shelter under the embrace of your wings.
Many blessings on all of you today
Christine Sine
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