by Barbie Perks
A local pastor preached yesterday about the ambivalence some feel regarding their faith. I listened intently because he was describing exactly how I had been feeling for some time now.
A definition of ambivalence may be helpful – it is “a state of having simultaneous conflicting reactions, beliefs, or feelings towards some object. Stated another way, ambivalence is the experience of having an attitude towards someone or something that contains both positive and negative components. The term also refers to situations where “mixed feelings” of a more general sort are experienced, or where a person experiences uncertainty or indecisiveness” (quoted from Wikipedia).
We talk of walls that separate, that divide, that must come down, that must be destroyed. And at the same time we talk of walls that protect, that defend, that provide necessary boundaries to enable positive mental health.
Physical walls are built of things like bricks and mortar, wood, iron, even electric fencing. Emotional and relational walls are built through attitudes and habits, words, actions and feelings. Political walls go up every day, built with distrust and rhetoric, broken promises, selfish intentions, corruption.
Spiritual walls are built of things that are harder to define, thus so much harder to identify. And this is where the ambivalence comes in (for me anyway!) We are taught, and believe with all our hearts – God is love, God loves us, God is good – all the time. And yet, and yet…things happen, prayers are not answered, disappointment grows, doubt sets in, painful introspection follows and walls begin to grow, brick upon brick. We try to protect our hearts from the pain, the doubt. Others may sing loudly, pray lavishly, witness unendingly to God’s love and God’s goodness – and we believe them, we just don’t share the same experience. Oh we used to – we remember how we were so certain of that relationship, and we are distressed at where we find ourselves.
How do we move from this state of ambivalence, from this paralysis of faith and doubt, and hiding behind the wall? Adam and Eve tried to hide from God and discovered it didn’t help. I’ve tried to hide from God, and discovered He is still there, He doesn’t leave me alone. Just the other day He reminded me that my walls need to come down just like the walls of Jericho had to come down. I was walking in a misty drizzle and had a vivid mind picture of clay bricks baking in the sun, and how they were being softened by the mist falling. What a powerful picture of the softening power of the Holy Spirit!
We’ve seen the images beamed across the world of the flattened buildings of Turkey and Syria, walls that shattered and came crashing down with such awful loss of life, livelihoods. Earthquakes are a key image in the book of Revelation, usually symbolic of elements of God’s wrath and judgment. I ask myself (because that is where I am in my faith journey at the moment) what earthquake event will it take to get rid of that wall of ambivalence that is interfering with my relationship with God. Jericho keeps coming to mind – identify the wall, and the bricks that built it, circle the wall, repeatedly, if need be, blow the trumpets, see the wall come down, step over the rubble, step into the land of promise, the land of freedom, the land of grace, the land of hope.
May the Holy Spirit of God continue to drizzle His softening mist into our lives, guiding, blessing, and leading us into a fuller walk with Him.
We all need the Wholeness of God…this resource includes reflections and activities for coping and thriving during the COVID-19 challenges in search of shalom as well as hope for restoration after this period of social distancing.
by June Friesen
As we anticipate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection I have been continually reminded of the opportunity this gives us in the Christian faith to ponder new life, a life that is different than it was before. Indeed Christ’s life was different after the resurrection as now he no longer had the humanity issue of sin holding onto His power. He had conquered the ‘death power’ of sin over His human form as well as opened an opportunity for humanity to now embrace a spiritual life in a new way. When one takes advantage of this opportunity that Jesus offers it holds untold gifts, the greatest being the promise of eternal life in heaven. However, in this world discouragements arise and at times they can become overwhelming. Let me share a couple of Scriptures.
1 John 2:24-25
Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father. This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!
Philippians 2:5-16
5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. 9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. 12-13 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. 14-16 Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.
I have chosen to place this photo next as it really was a scene in the sky that brought the title of this writing to my spirit. Recently I was out for a walk with my dog Sasha. It was a blustery, cloudy day with a few sprinkles of rain intermittently. I often glance upwards, not too long, as that can be disastrous if there is an unexpected obstacle in my way. I noticed that the sun was really present although hidden. The wind was blowing and the clouds were on the move – and I noticed that depending on the thickness of the clouds the sun was more visible at times than others. Immediately my mind said, “Well, that is a great example of the Son. He is up in the heavens too, too far for the human eye to see. At times He is more present in my life than He is in others – but He is always there.”
Hebrews 13: 5-6 says, “ Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I’m fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?” As I pondered the presence of God 24/7 and how at times I am so aware and at other times I forget that He is present – again I learned a new way to embrace God each and every day and in each and every situation/circumstance.
JESUS – BRINGS OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW BEGINNINGS!
New opportunities!
New beginnings!
Sometimes they come daily.
Sometimes they come hourly.
Sometimes they come weekly.
Sometimes they come yearly.
Sometimes they are marked by segments of years, accomplishments, goals etc.
Sometimes they are affected by one’s choices –
Sometimes they are affected by choices others make –
Sometimes they are affected by mistakes one makes –
Sometimes they are affected by the mistakes another makes –
Sometimes they come as surprises –
Sometimes they come because they were earned –
Sometimes they are rewards of one’s efforts –
Sometimes they can be the result of a loss –
Sometimes they may be the result of an addition –
Sometimes (you fill in the blank) ___________ –
Jesus You walked this earth to offer humanity a new opportunity –
A new way to know God our Creator –
A new way to have a meaningful relationship –
But –
Sometimes we feel as if we are not worthy –
Sometimes we feel as if we need to earn it –
Sometimes we feel as if it is only for others –
Sometimes we feel as if we can never be good enough –
Sometimes we feel as if we have totally blown it –
And You reply –
“My child:
I love you just as you are,
I love you in spite of all your mistakes,
I love you in spite of all of your flaws –
Physical, mental, emotional and spiritual –
I love you just as you are.
No money, trillions, billions or millions is needed,
I demand no retribution for the past,
I accept you now, this moment just as you are –
Broken, bleeding, hurting, dying,….
Come my child, there is a change about to happen for you –
A kind of metamorphosis I call it –
A change that I will begin on the inside –
And then it will come out and be revealed to others –
Oh, at times it will seem as if the Son is far away,
At times the clouds of the world will try to hide His presence,
But take some time and ponder –
And look heavenward and see and know
Just as the sun is sometimes bright, sometimes hidden or totally hidden
It still is present and still warms the earth –
So you too my child –
Look heavenward –
See beyond the clouds and skies –
And remember –
“Look to the heavens from where all of My help comes from now and forever. Amen”
And there you have it – a recipe for beginning new!
Writing and photos by June Friesen. Scripture is from The Message translation.
Did you know that alongside Christine Sine’s book The Gift of Wonder, we have many resources available to you? The free downloadable bonus packet or beautiful prayer cards featuring prayers from the book, for example – something to hold and behold! Or perhaps you’d like to journey through the book alongside a retreat – we have that too! You can check it all out in our shop!
by Christine Sine
What on earth are we doing to creation? We have disrupted the ecological balance of all God created on earth, and we owe it to God, to each other, and to all species to restore the balance. This is the greatest physical and spiritual challenge humanity has ever faced together. Caring for creation is key to receiving the full blessings of the Creator. Awareness of the Infinite opens us up to protecting the immediate – the very planet on which we live.
I read this quote from the Eco Bible : Volume One: An ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, by Rabbi Yonatan Neri, and Rabbi Leo Dee, just after reading this very sobering article: A Clear Message from Science in the Climate Forward Newsletter from the New York Times about the latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report states that we probably only have a decade in which to secure a sustainable and livable future for our planet.
We feel overwhelmed by this challenge and think there is little we can do, yet as Christians we are perfectly positioned to make a difference. Rabbi Yonatan Neri, and Rabbi Leo Dee in the Eco Bible quote Gus Seth, former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as saying:
I used to think that top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought with 30 years of good science, we could address these problems, but I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these we need spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.
Climate change requires spiritual transformation. We need to transform our view of the Bible to see the ecological underpinnings of the story. Pope Francis voices a call for repentance, extremely important during this season of Lent, that requires reconciliation with creation.
“We come to realize that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change. (Pope Francis in the papal encyclical Laudatory Si)
Centuries before that, the apostle Paul asserted that the call to turn towards God, is entwined with God’s regenerative activity through Christ in “new creation”, reconciling the world and all that it contains to Godself. Pauline theology focuses on the world-transforming act of God in Christ, an act with cosmic dimensions and implications. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 we read:
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away: see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the work to himself.
The gospel of John also seems to have an ecological focus. Some scholars see it as rewriting the Genesis story of creation in all its glory, ending with the birth of the new creation. Like the book of Genesis is starts with the words “In the beginning” and ends with Mary’s confusion as to whether he is the gardener, followed by his appearing to the disciples in all his resurrected glory. Here too there is a garden, and Jesus is its gardener. This was the focus of the retreat I conducted on Saturday. The creation story of Genesis moves from a garden paradise to our present world of pain and suffering. Jesus walk from Gethsemane to Easter moves from a garden of pain and suffering to one of resurrection and new life. (The Garden Walk of Holy Week)
What I love about living in Seattle is that spring emerges as Easter approaches. All around me as signs of new life, of new creation. I read about the death and resurrection in the Bible, but in the bursting forth of spring I experience it.
When we grab hold of these truths, our worldview is changed and we are compelled to take action to make a difference. And we can make a difference. It is probable that the Paris Accord of 2015 restricted the predicted 4-5C rise in temperature to the current 1C rise. Though change is needed at a government and corporate level to keep that from rising further, there are still things that all of us can do to make a difference. Some are very simple. Some require sacrifice. Heidi Roop in her book The Climate Action Handbook has great suggestions for ordinary people like you and me. “From food and fashion choices, rethinking travel, greening up our homes and gardens, to civic engagement and championing community climate planning, Dr. Heidi Roop shares 100 wide-ranging ways that readers from all walks of life can help move the needle in the right direction. ” Some are within the each of all of us – like using the cold cycle on our washing machines and reducing our driving speed. Others like electric cars and solar panels are a little more challenging.
We can all make a difference in God’s world and move toward the completion of God’s new creation. which came into being at the resurrection of Christ. How exciting and yet how challenging that is.
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One of our writers, Jeannie Kendall, has written a wonderful series of poems that reflect “voices” from each section of text from Luke’s gospel. She has generously offered for anyone to use for daily readings or a resource, but please attribute her as an author if you use them. Her poetry from the first chapter is included below, but the full document with poems for the entire book can be found in a link at the bottom of this post, as well as under our Prayer, Practices, & Directions resource page.
Luke 1:1-4
The voice of Luke
I am no writer.
Words are not my medium,
But stories are.
I listen to my patients
Hear their pain and fear,
Do my best to diagnose,
And, if I can,
Alleviate their suffering.
This story
I have to share.
My own Physician
Has made his analysis
Of all that ails me
And brought me
Wholeness
I had never known.
Luke 1:5-25
The voice of Zechariah
I felt less of a man.
Not because I could not
Give her a child –
Though that was painful
Beyond explanation.
No, it was because
I could not reach her.
Each month
I saw her retreat,
Withdraw into
Some internal
Place of pain,
Somewhere
I could not decide
If I was unwelcome
Or simply unable to go
Into its depths.
But I had my work;
A place to feel worthy,
Somewhere
To drown out
My inner voices
Of accusation.
So when that one-time
Invitation came
To burn the incense
I left, trying to disguise
My relief at a respite
From the shroud of sadness
Encompassing our home
And the sense of failure
Which was nipping
At my heels
Like a wild dog.
And as I spoke
My words of farewell
I little realised
They were the last words
I would speak to her
For many months,
And that God was about
To change the world
Not just for us
But for everyone,
And for all time.
Luke 1:5-25
The voice of Elizabeth
In the end
It is easier
To let go
Of hope,
To simply uncurl
Your fingers,
And gently
Let it drop
Into the abyss
Of might-have-beens,
Feeling its absence
Almost
As a kind of peace.
And now he stands
Gesturing like a madman
Or a fool.
Yet somehow
I see the light of heaven
In his eyes
And I wonder
If I have the courage
To let hope
Be reborn.
Luke 1:57-80
The voice of Zechariah
My boy:
Words I thought
I would never say.
A day I thought
I would never see.
Our John:
Yet not ours:
Even the name
Not of our choosing
Yet we do not mind,
Glad simply
To be a part of God’s plan.
God’s spokesperson:
And as he grows
And I see the Spirit
In his eyes
I fear for his future:
An audacious prophet
Is so rarely
Welcome
And truth
Does not always
Bring acceptance.
The full text can be accessed as a pdf here:
Luke’s Gospel in Poetry
~ Goodfellow
Explore the wonderful ways that God and God’s story are revealed through the rhythms of planting, growing, and harvesting. Spiritual insights, practical advice for organic backyard gardeners, and time for reflection will enrich and deepen faith–sign up for 180 days of access to work at your own pace and get ready for your gardening season.
A couple of weeks ago, President Biden went to Selma, Alabama to REMEMBER. It was the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On March 7th, 1965, John Lewis ( who was a leader of SNCC at age 25!) and a group of 600 regular people known as The Foot Soldiers, attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. “ The activists were protesting the denial of voting rights to African Americans as well as the murder of 26-year-old activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, who had been fatally shot in the stomach by police during a peaceful protest just days before.” @eji_org
State Troopers and sheriff’s men attacked the peaceful protesters with billy clubs, dogs and tear gas sending 16 people to the hospital. This was the first of 3 marches that week in March of 1965, and a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the VOTING RIGHTS ACT signed by President Lyndon Johnson August 6, 1965!
Folks this was in MY LIFETIME! And the fight for voting rights & basic civil rights is still happening in America! People of color are still being discriminated against & killed by police!
selma at sunset
I had the honor of visiting the National Voting Rights Museum & walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on February 25th last month, just at the sun was setting along the river. The juxtaposition of the beauty and the brokenness of our country was on full display! Walking across the bridge was the end of our three day Civil Rights Pilgrimage learning about the history of civil rights and injustice in our nation. My husband Rob and I traveled down from Nashville to join Pastor Kathy Escobar and friends of the Refuge Community to experience this together. Learn more from last week’s freerangefriday.
A group of us white folks took time out of our lives to REMEMBER our broken history and to REMEMBER the bravery of the men and women like John Lewis who stood up against oppression by peaceful protest and walking!
We’d spent the morning learning about the fight for civil right in Birmingham, Alabama and how over 1000 children stood up against injustice in the Children’s Crusade of 1963 because their parents would have lost their jobs if they’d taken time off to protest. The final part of our Pilgrimage was to go to Selma and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I was asked to lead the closing reflection for our three day pilgrimage. And as I drove down to Selma, I knew I had candles we were going to light together to remind us to be Light in the Darkness of our world. I had also brought some stones/rocks with me that I’d collected on the beach at Lake Michigan, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to use them. One of my practices is to bring gear for experiential worship and then listen to what the Holy Spirit is up to and allow the Holy Spirit to lead what happens. Originally, I thought we might throw the rocks/stones into the river to give away our burdens and all the heavy things we’d carried with us on the journey and let Jesus, the living water, have them. But as I prayed and talked with my husband on the drive down to Selma. I thought about one of my favorite passages in Joshua 4
“Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:4-7
“When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua 4: 21-24
Like us, the Children of Israel often forgot about all the mighty deeds God does. Like us, they needed to REMEMBER the power of God. So they built a tower of 12 stones on the bank of the Jordan River as a visual reminder of God’s mighty work in their lives. I wanted us to REMEMBER all we’d learned and seen along our journey together.
I had sharpie markers and rocks! I didn’t have time to write REMEMBER on the rocks, so I decided I would let each person pick a rock and a sharpie and write down the word REMEMBER on one side of their rock and then I would invite them to consider another word or phrase they wanted to carry with them from our time together and write that on the other side. ‘
Remember Rock
I wanted each of us to take home a REMEMBER ROCK as a tangible reminder of all the things we’d seen and heard on our pilgrimage together. All the atrocities we’d learned about and all the stories of heroes and the bravery of regular people standing up for justice too. I felt ready for our closing worship.
After we visited the museum together, we crossed the street to start the walk over the bridge. Rob and I noticed a group of stones in the park at the foot of the bridge. These large stones were engraved with the Joshua 4:21-24
“When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua 4: 21-24
Rob and I both started crying…I had no idea these large stones were at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge! But the Holy Spirit knew! Wow!
selma rocks
Joshua stones
We all walked over the bridge, reflecting on many things and considering the people who’d marched across in 1965. Then we walked back across and met together in the park with the Joshua stones. I got to tell the story about not knowing how I would use these rocks from Michigan that I brought from home. I shared how the Holy Spirit invited me to use them as REMEMBER ROCKS and I passed them around along with the sharpies and we all wrote REMEMBER on our rocks. Then I shared how I had had no idea that there were Joshua stones with the verse carved in them here at the bridge! I still get chills thinking about the beauty of that moment and the power of the Holy Spirit!
I invited them to take home their rocks and put them somewhere where they would see them regularly. To use them as visual reminders to pray for their fellow pilgrims. To use these stones as a reminder of all the things God had shown them on this journey together and as a reminder to fight injustice when they got back home!
What about you? Do you need to remember the mighty works of God today? Do you need to remember that the Holy Spirit is still drying up rivers and still moving stones?
I invite you to find a smooth rock and a sharpie marker. Read Joshua 4.
Write the word REMEMBER on your ROCK. Hold it in your hand and consider the wonderful things God has done in your life. How have you seen God at work? in the past, the last few years, in the last few days? Ask Jesus to help you remember. Take time to write these things down to help you remember. You might even tell your children or your grandchildren or friends about some of the wonderful things God has done in your life! This week, take time to REMEMBER and take time to be GRATEFUL for all God has done and is doing in your life!
If you get a chance, take the time to go to Selma & to Birmingham and Montgomery. Learn our history and work to make America, and our world more equal and just daily!
Pilgrims in Selma!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Join me on Pilgrimage in Scotland! August 28-September 4th.We will rest, restore and remember on the beautiful Iona! Finding Your Thinplace Pilgrimage 2023
Join Lilly on Pilgrimage Aug 28-Sept 4, 2023
by Louise Conner – Originally posted here on the Ecological Disciple on March 9, 2023.
On the side of many concrete buildings throughout the world, massive weeds have been appearing, causing people to turn their heads and crane their necks in spite of the fact that most people see weeds as undesirable and worthy only of being eradicated. These happen to be work of Swiss-born Mona Caron and are part of an ongoing mural series called, “Weeds.”
Since 1998, Caron has created murals (and posters) that support social movements, activism (she calls this work “artivism), and the remembering of forgotten segments of society. The “Weeds” series, though different in scale and technique from her earlier work, shares fundamental values and philosophical beliefs with these earlier works.
Market Street Railway, San Francisco, CA. By Mona Caron
For many years, Caron created extremely labor-intensive, highly-detailed depictions of very specific places, often within her adopted hometown of San Francisco, California. Two of these murals: “Market Street Railway” and “Windows into the Tenderloin,” minutely reflect the neighborhood in which they are located, even to the extent of including images of real community members within the murals. The Tenderloin area, in particular, is an area with serious difficulties, and the making of the mural was featured in an award-winning documentary.
Section of Windows into the Tenderloin
Detail of “Another Way” Section of Mural
In “Windows into the Tenderloin,” Caron included a panel called, “Another Way,” which she created after interviewing many, many community members. It translates into mural form the articulated dreams of the people Caron talked to while planning and creating the mural, showing a possible future, different from what currently exists in this place. An uncared-for parking lot is transformed into a thriving community green space, populated with recognizable representations of the very people who shared their dreams with Caron about what this place could look like and be.
With her “Weeds” murals, Caron has shifted. Instead of time-intensive, extremely detailed depictions of an entire neighborhood shrunk down to the size of a wall or side of a building, she is now often expanding a single stalk of a plant into a large-scale mural that covers an entire large wall or even the side of a several-storied skyscraper.
The inspiration for the “Weeds” series originated from her time working on the “Windows into the Tenderloin” project. Over the course of the year she spent working on it, she noticed a single dandelion that kept popping up at the base of the wall where she was working. It would sprout up through the cracks, begin to grow, reach a certain height where it would be noticed and wiped out by someone who came along to “clean up” the area by getting rid of the weeds that “dirtied” up the sidewalk. Eventually, it would sprout up again, and would begin to grow upward, only to again be cleaned up by someone who saw it as unwanted and undesirable. Caron became inspired by the dandelion and its resilience. She started thinking about weeds, and how they are a picture and lesson for those people and things that keep coming back even when they are not wanted or welcomed.
As she says, “It occurred to me, what that condition is — the radical patience of that dandelion asserting itself and reasserting life in that concrete in a place where nobody has given it permission to exist.”
Phytograffiti in Lisbon, Portugal
She began doing what she calls “phytograffiti,” or “plant graffiti,” leaving often small scale murals of weeds scattered throughout the city.
At the same time, she began a side, personal project—a series of stop-motion images that she turned into a video and added to her YouTube channel, which at the time had very few followers. The video resonated with people and suddenly her audience numbers exploded. She heard from people around the world saying how much the storyline resonated with them and how they identified with the narrative of the weed—struggling, growing, surviving in spite of being unwanted and unnurtured. (You will find the video at the end of this post).
Since then, Caron’s weed murals have been in high demand around the world including Brazil, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, and various spots in the U.S. In July 2021, she created a huge mural on a 20-story building in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Shauquethqueat’s Eutrochium, Jersey City, 2021
As is her practice, Caron chose for her model a flower that is significantly connected to the particular place. The Joe Pye weed, a purple wildflower that is native to coastal areas in the eastern U.S., including New Jersey, is the weed she chose for the mural. In the picture above you can see how the black background behind the flower emphasizes the details and color of the piece and you can also see a bit of the her painting method as the mural is a work-in-progress in the photo.
Limonium, San Jose Convention Center
The Limonium plant (statice) she chose for the San Jose commission pictured above is a wild herb native to the salt marsh tidal lands of the San Francisco Bay. It is an indicator species of the Bay’s ecological health and thus especially significant to the area. The three-dimensional effect of the painting is particularly striking.
She describes her work in this way, “I look for clandestine plant life in the city streets. When I find a particularly heroic specimen growing through a fissure in the pavement, I paint it big, at a scale inversely proportional to the attention and regard it gets.”
Marskros (Dandelion) – Grow Together, Gothenburg, Sweden, by Mona Caron.
Detail from Marskros – Grow Together
In Gothenburg, Sweden, Caron visually binds together two parts of an apartment complex with her dandelion mural, Marskros—Grow Together. In addition to the visual unity created by the upper part of the plant, the root system of the plant, painted beneath the awning entrance at the bottom right of the mural, incorporates members of the community into it, suggesting that this human community gives strength to the dandelion-like things that strive to grow and thrive around them.
Including the margins in her murals—indigenous women striving to protect their land from detrimental projects, local Bolivians fighting against water privatization—has long been central to Caron’s work. With the “Weeds” series, this sense of margin includes the nonhuman parts of creation as well. By making the work less site-specific, it seems to have expanded the audience who are able access the meanings and grasp the images of hope, resilience and the possibility of change that the weeds represent.
As Caron says, I doubt that the type of change that we really need will ever come from the manicured lawns at the center of places where power is concentrated. The real change is coming from the margins, like we need to start paying attention to what’s growing on the margins of things, and discover a new beauty there.
Can you think of change that is trying to grow on the margins of where you live? Are there “weeds” that you need to nurture, or at the very least need to hold back from “cleaning” up, and thus destroying?
You can see more about Mona Caron’s work here and her Weeds video may be viewed below.
Feel free to email me at info@circlewood.online or leave a comment below.
Louise
In our experience of God’s presence, poetry can help us focus and engage our senses and entire being. Poetry can help us process life and emotions—and see ourselves—in new ways, and thus be open to hearing God say fresh, new things to us. Scripture does this also, of course. In fact, much of the Bible was written as poetry. I have long found soul nourishment and renewed perspective in the Psalms. And how can a person read Song of Solomon and not believe God seeks to woo and reach us through the five senses he has given us? The prophet Isaiah wrote often in poetry. Sometimes poetic expression reaches straight to the heart more effectively than prose.
“Poetry, in capturing the moment, captures the soul,” says poet Mary Harwell Sayler.
I believe God still speaks through poets today. Sometimes with a prophetic voice. Sometimes imparting wisdom. Sometimes bringing clarity. Sometimes lifting the soul to hope and love.
Even if you think you aren’t, you probably are more “into” poetry than you realize. Song lyrics are a type of poetry. Along with the instruments and voices, the words of songs can pierce or soothe our hearts as well as our minds.
Voltaire called poetry “the music of the soul.”
On this World Poetry Day (March 21) I encourage you to begin the practice of including poetry in your devotional reading, meditative prayer, quiet times, and soul care.
Eugene Peterson stated, “People who pray, need to learn poetry.”
But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to these comments from readers who have found poems help them focus on, and open their hearts to, God’s presence and love:
“In our own seasons of suffering, [these poems give us] words to explain the pain, to cry out to God, or to get a grip on our faith.” –Elaine Wright Colvin (after reading I Cry Unto You, O Lord by Sarah Suzanne Noble
“This book is a steady and wise companion for those who read the Bible with real devotion and honest questions.” –Connie Wanek (after reading Bible Poems by Donna Marie Merritt)
“Each one [of these poems] lifts my heart towards God. They have become a part of my morning devotions.” –Bev Coons (reader of PRAISE! Poems by Mary Harwell Sayler)
“So many of the poems provided moments of prayer for me.” ~Jimmie Kepler (speaking of Glimpsing Glory by Catherine Lawton)
Poetry, and all the feelings it represents, connects us to all of humanity’s longings and searchings for God. Here is one of my favorite poems of devotion, written by Irish poet Thomas Moore, about 200 years ago.
MY GOD! SILENT TO THEE!
As, down in the sunless retreats of the ocean,
Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see,
So, deep in my heart, the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises, silent, to Thee,
My God! Silent, to Thee,–
Pure, warm, silent, to Thee.
As still to the start of its worship, though clouded,
The needle points faithfully o-er the dim sea,
So, dark as I roam, thro’ this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns, trembling, to Thee,
My God! Trembling, to Thee,–
True, fond, trembling, to Thee.
(I took the photo in the Redwoods in Humboldt County, California.)
Preparing for the Garden Walk of Holy Week
In the last few days of his life, Jesus moved from garden to garden from suffering to resurrection.
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