by Tom Sine
“Young people are a more powerful force than ever in the UN climate summit, the UN’s youngest climate advisor tells BBC News in Egypt.
Greta Thunberg has skipped the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, calling a forum for ‘greenwashing’ as she continues to ask if her generation can live in a sustainable future?
But young people from countries at high risk from climate change say they are ‘calling it out’ from inside…Vanessa Nakate from Uganda will tell governments to wash their ‘oil-stained hands.’
Additionally, for the first time ever young people have had a Youth Pavilion where they met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (COP27:Without Greta, activists make waves at climate summit, BBC, 2022).
The Economist had already described their view of our likely future before the conference began.
To accept that the world’s average temperature might rise by more than 1.5°C, declared the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands in 2015, would be to sign the ‘death warrant’ of small, low-lying countries such as his. To widespread surprise, the grandees who met in Paris that year, at a climate conference like the one starting in Egypt next week, accepted his argument. They enshrined the goal of limiting global warming to about 1.5°C in the Paris agreement, which sought to co-ordinate national efforts to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.”
No one remembered to tell the firing squad, however. The same countries that piously signed the Paris agreement have not cut their emissions enough to meet its targets; in fact global emissions are still growing. The world is already about 1.2°C hotter than it was in pre-industrial times. Given the lasting impact of greenhouse gases already emitted, and the impossibility of stopping emissions overnight, there is no way Earth can now avoid a temperature rise of more than 1.5°C. There is still hope that the overshoot may not be too big, and may be only temporary, but even these consoling possibilities are becoming ever less likely.
The response to all this should be a dose of realism. Many activists are reluctant to admit that 1.5°C is a lost cause. But failing to do so prolongs the mistakes made in Paris, where the world’s governments adopted a Herculean goal without any plausible plan for reaching it. The delegates gathering in Egypt should be chastened by failure, not lulled by false hope. They need to be more pragmatic, and face up to some hard truths.”
The Economist urges more immediate action.
First, cutting emissions will require much more money. Roughly speaking, global investment in clean energy needs to triple from today’s $1trn a year, and be concentrated in developing countries, which generate most of today’s emissions. Solar and wind power can be cheaper to build and run than more polluting types, but grids need to be rebuilt to cope with the intermittency of the sun and the wind. Concessionary lending and aid from rich countries are essential and a moral imperative. However, the sums required are far greater than what might plausibly be squeezed out of Western donors or multilateral organizations such as the World Bank.”
Those of us who are people of faith need to aggressively join those in Gen Next, like Young Evangelicals For Climate Action as well as the many young secular environmental activists who are aggressively responding to this huge environmental crisis as we race into the troubled 2030s!
Let me know what your ideas are for joining those aggressively working to preserve this good creation in the coming decade as an essential Christian practice.
Check out 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving This Decade of Accelerating Change. It is designed with questions at the end of chapters to be used as a group study book to creatively respond to the climate crisis and other challenges in this time of concerning change.
I welcome your response: email me at twsine@gmail.com
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When I am depressed, threatened, overwhelmed, insecure, or facing failure and regret I feel tired. I find myself yearning to lose myself in the refuge of sleep. Sleep, both literal and metaphorical, is the escape we seek from a difficult and broken world. And for some of us sleep is a blessed mercy; a relief from trauma that is just too much for us to face or overcome. I do not judge—I have been there and I celebrate whatever helps a human being to get through the day and find some measure of peace and maybe even joy.
But sleep is not our natural state. Nor is it our preferred state. It is designed to support and empower life. It is the place of restoration that enables us to face another day and enter the world ready to receive the gifts it offers and to share whatever gifts we may.
Sleep is never a state that can be permanently sustained. Even the most asleep, the most traumatised, and those who most seek protection and safety in hiding, must eventually wake up—albeit involuntarily—to face waking life.
For all of us, whatever our relationship with sleep—or sleep-living—may be, Advent offers an invitation. We can choose how we will see and experience the world even when it is threatening and unsafe. And the key is to pay attention—the learning of which is one of the key gifts of this Advent season.
Jesus’ Call to Stay Alert
In Matthew 24, Jesus spoke about the chaos and trauma that awaited Israel because of the growing thirst for rebellion. Jewish society was deeply divided and that made them vulnerable. Some preferred to retreat from society in an attempt to escape their oppression. Some preferred to accommodate and cooperate with the Roman occupiers in an attempt to find security. And some sought to find freedom by overthrowing the Romans and reestablishing an independent Jewish state. All of these responses were, in their own way, a kind of sleepwalking—a way for the people to avoid the complexities of their reality and put a buffer between them and their struggles. And so Jesus called the people to stay alert.
The heart of authentic spirituality is this alertness. It is a willingness to see the reality of what’s happening in the world and then look deeper to see the larger spiritual realities at play within the world’s movements and events.
For Jesus, the significant event that he could see on the horizon was the Roman invasion. He could see that the destruction of the Temple was inevitable and he knew the suffering that always accompanies such things. But beneath this trauma was the reality that God’s presence was there in the midst of the chaos. God’s reign was still seeking to bring justice and love into the world even though the opposite seemed to be the case. The world’s power games were being exposed and the failure of political processes—whether defending the status quo or overthrowing it—to bring about a world of human flourishing was being revealed. As a result, people were being given a choice to opt out and follow a different way: the way of the Beatitudes, of the Sermon on the Mount, of love and justice, of kindness and peace. In the face of the turmoil to come, Jesus called his followers to refuse to play by the world’s rules of dominance, division, and destruction. And he showed them that to recognise God’s reign at work and to see the coming of the Christ (the eternal presence of love and justice that fills the universe) they would need to be alert.
Staying Alert
In the reading from Matthew’s Gospel that is set for Advent Sunday, Jesus offers guidelines to help his disciples navigate the turbulent events that he knew were coming. His suggestions do not require some special skill in analysing the forces at work. They’re not about joining some revolutionary movement to change the world. Rather, they’re about paying attention where we are—to the grasshopper and the grass; to the sky and the birds and the rivers and trees; to the insects and flowers; to our own heartbeat and breathing and longings. Because there, in the paying of attention, is where we discover the divine presence. That’s where we catch God’s vision of a new world.
There, in the paying of attention, we can know that our pain, trauma, nightmares and demons are not forever. Even if we need to spend most of our lives asleep to escape their horrors, we can know that ultimately life and wholeness will win out. Or, if we’ve found a way to stay mostly awake and live with a deep awareness and alertness, in those times when we need to sleep for a moment, we can know that we rest in the divine presence. We can sleep in the knowledge that the universe is working on a different schedule from our short lives—a schedule of billions of years—to become more connected, creative, and compassionate.
How to Pay Attention
Jesus spoke his words of warning and invitation decades before the Roman invasion actually happened. He knew that we don’t easily learn to pay attention in those times when life makes us want to find refuge in sleep. We need to learn to live awake when it is easy to be awake and threats are still distant. But whether we are trying to find evidence of God’s presence in the midst of turmoil or simply doing the work of spiritual practice to learn to live our most sacred lives in a world at peace, the process of learning to pay attention is the same. Here are some suggestion to develop our spiritual alertness:
Begin with Yourself
The first step, as always in spiritual practice, is to know yourself as you are. We need to do the work to identify what keeps us from alertness and what puts us to sleep. We need to identify the things that dull our senses. We need to recognise the literal or metaphorical drugs that blur our vision and keep us from seeing the Spirit of beauty, truth, and goodness that cannot be destroyed by trauma, violence, or evil. And we need to identify and take hold of the things that enable us to be alert and see beyond the surface realities of our world to the deeper spiritual forces at work. We need to nurture our capacity to pay attention, even if only for a few moments at a time.
Find One Thing to Wonder At
One of the best ways to learn to open our eyes to the vision of God’s presence is to make a habit of looking for things to wonder about. In the moments when we are fully awake, even though we may feel pain, fear and the desperate need to return to sleep, we can find at least one awe-inspiring thing to notice. We can cultivate the habit of regularly identifying something to honour and give thanks for. Whether it is a blade of grass, a grasshopper’s jaws, a bird’s sweet song, or the curious shape of a cloud, doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we learn to notice these natural things and see the Divine presence in them.
Recognise That the Darkness Cannot Extinguish the Light
And then, when we have learned to see more deeply in the simple things around us, we can use that ability to see even in the ugliness, deception, and evil that love, life, and light remain and the darkness does not and cannot extinguish them. We can take note of the evidence of the Divine Spirit moving in the chaos and bringing forth life.
It’s not easy to learn to pay attention and stay alert in this turbulent world, but it is worth the effort. The season of Advent is the perfect school to train us to live awake a little more intentionally and consistently. It’s important to remember though, that we cannot live awake all the time, we cannot pay attention completely, and some of us need more sleep than others. Some of us will live in an almost constant state of awareness, only retreating into literal sleep when needed. Others among us will need to spend most of our lives in the safety of living asleep, only ‘waking up’ and becoming aware when it is absolutely necessary. But whichever it is for us, paying attention and seeing the divine presence even in the midst of the pain can help us to live a little easier and sleep a little more restoratively. Then slowly, over time, we may find that we are able to awaken a little more and pay attention just a little better. And the sharp edge of our trauma will grow just a little duller and the pain a little less piercing.
This article is the first chapter of a new resource for Advent created by John van de Laar titled Vision Quest – See more clearly. Check it out here on his website Sacredise!
Join Christine Sine for a time of quiet reflection on December 3rd, 2022. Slow down the busyness of the season and nourish your soul with contemplative focus and reflection. All the details can be found here:
https://godspacelight.com/event/advent-quiet-day/
The Season of Advent is a new beginning! A fresh start! It’s the beginning of the new church year. So Happy New Year! (Traditional Advent is the four weeks before Christmas and starts this Sunday.) The Season of Advent is an opportunity to pay attention and notice what God is up to in our world and in us! It’s an opportunity to notice what God is doing in our own lives.
My pilgrimage planning got me thinking about all the Pilgrims, all the Travelers in the Christmas Story.
Mary going to see Elizabeth when she found out she was pregnant.
Mary & Joseph going to Bethlehem because of the census.
The Shepherds making a short pilgrimage into town from their hillside camp after they are surprised by the angels announcement of Jesus’s arrival.
The Magi, who journeyed the farthest, making a long pilgrimage trip to find the newborn king. Their pilgrimage took them two years to finish and then they had to journey back to their homes.
I haven’t been on a pilgrimage to the real Bethlehem yet. But on a pilgrimage to Assisi in 2015, our family got to experience a bit of what it might have been like to journey to Bethlehem. Our family went to Assisi to discover the home of St. Francis, who hosted the very first creche/nativity scene. We found out that several little towns around Assisi reenact the Christmas story by becoming Bethlehem for several days each December. We drove our rental van down several winding country roads to join other Italian pilgrims ready to experience the wonder of the birth of Jesus. The streets of this little town wound up and up and the community members had decorated them with shops that might have been real in the days of Jesus. Everyone participated. The streets were crowded, all of us ready to find baby Jesus.
Italian Mary and Joseph
Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem and a journey towards seeing Jesus’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
What would an Advent Pilgrimage look like?
On pilgrimage, the journey is just as important as the destination. Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem and a journey towards seeing Jesus’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
As pilgrims, we watch and prepare to be interrupted.
Are we willing, like Mary, to let God interrupt us this Advent season?
Are we willing, like Joseph and the Shepherds, to let God surprise us?
Can we be willing, like this couple and the Magi, to take the pilgrimage to Bethlehem even when we don’t know what to expect along the way?
Italian Bethlehem
What would an ADVENT PILGRIMAGE look like for you this year? I’m not talking about going somewhere exotic or even taking a trip somewhere. But what if we saw the season of Advent as a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. How would I need to prepare? What things would I need to consider?
How might the SEASON OF ADVENT be a PILGRIMAGE?
What am I seeking?
What do I need?
How can I plan to pay attention?
Spend some time this weekend thinking about this. Ask Jesus to show you .
You can print out the ADVENT COLORING SHEET and use it to consider the thing or things you need or want for your Advent Pilgrimage. You might use each of these journal prompts and ask “How do I need___________ this Advent? ” or “What does ___________look like for me this Advent?”
Direction
Peace and Pause
Rest and Sabbath
Adventure
Celebration
Receiving or Discovering Treasure or Gift
Let Jesus surprise you! Let God interrupt you! Become an Advent Pilgrim.
What do you need this Advent?
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
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There are signs of gratitude and thanksgiving everywhere I go. Literally. One can find the word ‘grateful’ on any number of plaques sold in home improvement departments. Recently I saw a plaque in someone’s bathroom which read, “Be Thankful.” Interesting placement for that sign I thought! At a farmer’s market I saw a pillow with these words: grateful, thankful, blessed.
Grateful, thankful, blessed
In her book, Co-dependent No More by Melody Beattie, she writes, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Gratitude makes things right.”
Powerful words! And yet I wonder, how does gratitude do all of that? It almost sounds like magic, doesn’t it? How does gratitude actually work? There is a Gospel story that gives us one answer.
In the Gospel of Luke, (17:11-19) we are told the story of ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. Healed, they went on their way to their homes. However, one returned to Jesus to offer thanks and praised God “with a loud voice.” He threw himself on the ground at the feet of Jesus. What an act of sloppy love and surrender! And what did he say? He said, “Thank you!” And Jesus said, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” Your faith has made you well. In this case the word well means healed in the sense of being made whole.
Now I am sure that the nine lepers were grateful to be cured of their disease. But the writer of the Gospel and Jesus emphasize the behavior of the one who praised God and thanked Jesus. He was made whole. This short Gospel account gives us a wonderful illustration of the difference between curing and healing. Nine lepers are cured, but only one, the tenth is pronounced healed, made whole. The tenth leper had been cured of his leprosy, but unlike the other nine he demonstrated his healing and wholeness as he fluently expressed his gratitude and thanksgiving to God and to Jesus. The tenth leper shows us one important way we can express our gratitude. It is to praise God and to say thank-you out loud to someone or something.
Gratitude may be a feeling or a mind state but for it to actually effect positive changes in our lives, I think it needs to be expressed with concrete action. Action is what makes gratitude work and change people. There is something about saying thank-you out loud to others and praising God that moves us closer to spiritual wholeness. Expression of our gratitude can take the form of spontaneous praise to God and creation.
Last spring, I was able to watch an eagle for quite some time. It was perched on a tall pole, and I was able to take several pictures of it while it was eyeballing the grasses below. Suddenly the eagle’s mate zoomed in and knocked the sitting eagle off of the post. They both flew off. And then I saw a river otter emerge from the grasses and gracefully disappear into the bay. The eagle must have been studying the otter. Who knows why the eagle’s mate interrupted the vigil? What a treat this moment in God’s creation offered me! I thanked all three of the animals for simply being and then I praised God for this small part of creation of which I was included.
English Boom Preserve, Camano Island, Washington
Expression of our gratitude can be as simple as saying “Thank-you” to our Creator, creation, families, friends and strangers where and whenever they show up. For what or whom are you grateful? Do you routinely thank the individuals in your lives who bring you love and joy? Do you praise God for creation and your many blessings and gifts?
Speaking of gifts, a favorite hymn of mine that is traditionally sung on Thanksgiving Day in churches is titled, “All Good Gifts.” The chorus simply states, “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, then thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all of God’s love.” God’s gifts are all that we are and all that we have been given.
I am reminded by how Esther De Waal ends her lovely book called, The Celtic Way of Prayer. She writes
What a waste to go through life surrounded by all the good gifts that God showers on me, “gently and generously” yet blind and deaf to his presence hidden in all things, human and nonhuman. As I learn not to take for granted, to wonder anew, I find that a constant attitude of gratitude is life-giving. In the face of such amazing grace and generosity, the only possible response must become that of continuing and ever-deepening praise.
As we celebrate the Thanksgiving holy day, we might ponder what David Adam, in his book, The Open Gate, says. He rightly connects thanksgiving with thanks-living.
Thanks-living is our appreciation of our wonderful and mysterious world being reflected in our actions, our awareness of our good and gracious God, seen in the way we are generous and giving also. It is also being more aware of the great unity of all creation. Thanksgiving literally has the power to transform our world.
Thank you one and all for reading this. I praise God for the Godspace community. It is a blessing and a sign of God’s love for all of us. And, of course it is a wonderful place to practice thanks-living!
Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin inspire ways to get geared up for the coming season of gratitude in this popular online course! Sign up for 180 days to enjoy this retreat at your own pace – including craft tutorials and print-outs plus much more. Check it out in our shop!
By Laurie Klein
- If I make Thanksgiving succotash, or Yuletide lutefisk, will anyone eat?
- If I don’t budget enough for presents, will the grandkids still want to come next year?
- If so-and-so brings up the election, what should I do?
IF Schmiff. Too many possibilities ride shotgun with worry. Steamrolled, I go numb to the wonder meant to enhance celebration.
And here come the holidays . . .
As we approach our inevitable lists, may I share an idea that’s helping me become more of a celebrant (and less of a gibbering, flummoxed escapist)?
When the notion first dropped into my awareness, early, early one morning almost a year ago, it felt exciting. Then, a tad gimmicky. Later, fittingly catchy, therefore memorable—at my age, a godsend.
Here’s what I do:
As often as I can, before rising, I daydream for 15 minutes. Rather than setting my alarm I ask God (the night before) to gently stir me next morning toward consciousness. That won’t work for everyone.
Demanding schedules, dawn-rising kids (or creatures) who need you may preclude the morning slot. A before-bed ritual or midday break also works.
Please, gift yourself with a mini-oasis to daydream. No need to join Slackers Anonymous. Consider it a prescription for your well-being.
Most days, a little on-ramp to living more creatively appears. Ideas emerge. New connections surface. Some call this a state of “flow.” I go with it. If I’m apt to lose track of time on a morning with looming appointments, I’ll set a back-up alarm to ensure I fulfill my duties.
I call step one DRIFT. It’s an invitational state of mind we can enter, a Spirit-led openness to the gentle brainstorm. No need for that bedside journal. Just mentally coast among the small frets and marvels that rise, savoring the occasional glint, allowing grace to direct your thoughts.
Some will be utter drivel. One or two . . . might dazzle.
As you come more fully awake, prayerfully SIFT through your impressions. As we yield to the Spirit’s curation, one possibility often seems highlighted.
LIFT that instance of shimmer, in prayer. Is it meant for today, I ask? Later this week or month? I then surrender out-workings and outcomes to God’s timing.
You might think of this simple practice as a spiritual D.S.L. (Digital Subscriber Line). By grace you are accessing heaven’s broadband provision. But rather than firing up the internet in a given moment, you’re connecting with the charged presence of our endlessly wise, dynamic, inventive God.
That little word “if” hides within the heart of drift, sift, and lift. Among English parts of speech, in a sentence “if” serves as a conjunction. In other arenas, it also correlates and clarifies the coming together of two or more things in meaningful ways, including events or ideas. Grammar itself becomes an ally.
I’ve been engaging my three-word process for months now. Usually, I find my guilt-inducing IF’s take on more realistic proportions. Curiosity and a sense of adventure begin to unfurl . . .
So that’s it.
- Enter a state of DRIFT.
- Enact the (prayerful) SIFT.
- Receive the ensuing LIFT—even as you lift your unfolding inspiration to God’s care.
And, if you’ll accept one more riff:
- Embrace the SHIFT all this will cause.
- Rejoice in the GIFT being entrusted to you, so you can in turn offer it to others.
Over time, what we heed is what we remember. As this becomes habit, gradually, we come to resemble what, and Whom, we look to and love.
Photo by Paul Levesley from Unsplash
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By Laurie Klein
But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that this all-surpassing power
is from God and not from us.
—2 Co. 4:7
“My dear widow,” Elisha declared, “no creditor will dare enslave your sons” (my version).
Imagine with me his gravelly chutzpah—classic Old Testament prophet. But her debts were massive. Did his tone soften, grow fatherly?
“Tell me what you have,” he urged.
Her watery gaze must have quavered before his piercing one, along with her hopes. “Sir, we’ve only a smear of oil left in the jar.”
“Ask your neighbors for empty jars. And don’t be shy.”
Do you picture beetling brows, a wrinkled cloak, a visible cloud of garlic breath? The prophet instructed her to hole up in her house with her boys. “Pour that trace of oil from your jar into each borrowed container. Don’t stop until all are full.”
That’s it. She can sell her miracle oil to pay off her husband’s debt, then retain the surplus to fund her family’s future.
Oh, if we could read her mind in this moment, overhear her heart. Culturally doomed to poverty and potential slavery because training, opportunity, and wages were withheld from women, she must have gasped. Her welfare, and that of her sons, had been threatened. Now the little family was divinely endowed.
I am awash in solidarity. But how might we name the miracle?
Let’s call it The Oil of Belonging.
- As if we belong, by faith, to heartening precepts:
so, we ask God, who pledges to answer. - As if we belong, by grace, to dynamic community:
so, we lend, or fund—sometimes sacrificially—the needed resources. - As if we belong, by history, to a culture-in-motion:
so, we increasingly challenge (dare I say lube?) the creaking gears of government. - As if we belong, by gift, to the faith tradition of signs and wonders:
so, we reverently anticipate Spirit-led multiplication. - Lastly, as if we belong, by calling, to the shared struggle of fairness for all:
so, we live as people of mercy.
As recipients of God’s onetime sacrifice offering us eternal hope and provision, we act in the name of the One who sustains all.
So . . . am I, in fact, helpless to effect change?
What if my inmost capacities feel emptied, or woefully low?
“Tell me what you have,” God says.
Despite this world’s unspeakable needs, the Oil of Belonging (newly bequeathed each time we ask!) carries power. Think of it as balm, ready to tame and soothe, heal and prevail.
Perhaps you’ve stroked on a carrier oil laced with an herbal scent. The benefits linger. Might I suggest doing this as a small but deliberate act of consecration? Smooth fragrant oil over your knuckles, wrists, fingertips. Then, take time to pray. You may find thoughtful anointing calms and refocuses body and soul, revitalizing your petitions for the poor, the hungry, the lost, the aggrieved and traumatized, the politically oppressed and dispossessed.
Poet/Theologian Paul J. Pastor writes:
“We must have faith that the soothing, the blessing,
is closer than the harm and will outlast it.
The truth, hard to wait for, and a perilous trail to walk,
is this: There is hope of answer, and redress.”
– The Face of the Deep: Experiencing the Beautiful Mystery of Life with the Spirit
In welcoming the physical nurture of oil, gracing hands and heart, may we also absorb a trace of the peaceable kingdom. After all, the Oil of Belonging gentles anger. Eases fear. Will you join me in this fleeting touch emblematic of heaven?
Let it soak in. Then ask for ways to make a practical difference.
Follow up: Make your own Aromatherapy Oil
No matter the time of year, it’s important to pause and take time to reset and restore. An excellent way to do that? Take a personal retreat. Building a retreat into the rhythm of your life is a spiritual practice often lost in our helter-skelter, busyness-is-next-to-godliness world. This booklet is based on the most popular posts about spiritual retreats published on Godspacelight.com over the last few years and provides resources for taking a spiritual retreat either on your own or with a friend or spouse. Check it out in our shop!
This last week was a bit of a roller coaster for me and I must confess I didn’t always feel grateful. Some very exciting and rewarding things happened, top of the list being the official launch of our new Godspacelight Community Cookbook. But other very frustrating and challenging events wiped out some of my joy. Godspacelight crashed four times over the last week and will probably continue to have problems until we are able to do a major rework of the site and that of course will be very expensive. How do we cope in the midst of such ups and downs?
Give Thanks
First we give thanks, and not just because this is American Thanksgiving week but because it should always be one of our first responses to both good and bad events. My gratitude garden above always reminds me of this. As I made this list my joy cup overflowed.
First I am grateful for the Murdoch grant that Circlewood, which was birthed out of Tom’s and my ministry Mustard Seed Associates, just received. One of the main reasons they received this grant was because they own the land, which Tom and I gifted to them about 5 years ago. This, plus other generous donations will make it possible for them to build infrastructure and finish the building we began seven years ago. Some of you may remember that it was vandalized twice in a couple of months. It was part of the motivation for us to step back and let James Amadon take control.
Second, I am grateful for my good friend Kim Balke, who had a heart transplant done just before the pandemic lockdown. Some of you may remember the beautiful poems and artwork she shared here on Godspace. She is currently in rehabilitation following a hospital stay of 100 days. A good friend started a GofundMe Campaign to help with alterations that need to be done to their house in order for her to come home. I am very inspired by Kim’s perseverance as she works to regain her strength. I am grateful for the many friends who have contributed to her recovery.
Third I am grateful for our new Godspacelight Community Cookbook and the opportunity to launch it with a zoom call with Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr on Thursday. Tom and I shared a delightful Facebook live session with him that warmed our hearts with the invitation to share the flavours and stories of the book as though we were sitting down at a great international banquet table. I am also grateful that we will be able to give 10% each to Bread for the World and World Concern, two organizations working with those who rarely have enough food on their tables. You can view the session with Graham Kerr on my YouTube channel if you missed it live.
A couple of weeks ago I discover the website World In Prayer, which provides a weekly email prayer that keeps me in touch with those most vulnerable in our world. Friday’s prayer focused on the successful implementation of the carbon reduction discussions at the COP27 Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and prayers for those who are already impacted by climate change. Reciting this prayer each morning helps me keep my own small challenges in perspective and for that too I am grateful.
Fourth I am grateful for the many of you who expressed your concerns when the website kept crashing and I mentioned that we need to do a total, and very expensive, website overhaul. Thank you for those who said “we use Godspace resources all the time, how can we give?” and thank you for those who suggested a GoFundMe campaign which we will probably launch in a few weeks. At this point the best way you can help is by purchasing copies of the cookbook and other Godspacelight resources or by registering for the Advent Quiet Day in a couple of weeks. Most of the profits from these go towards the upkeep of the website.
Fifth, this week, I was able to give one of my beautiful cabled beanies to a friend with cancer. I am very grateful that I am able to use my talents in this way and share the love of God with those who feel God is a long way away.
As you can see the list goes on and on. Once we sit down and intentionally give thanks, we realize that life is very good and filled with joyful gratitude.
Share
Second we share both the highlights and the downturns. One of my frequent reminders from this week is that we are all meant to be part of community. When we carry burdens alone we are easily overwhelmed by what we carry. When we share it the load becomes manageable. Sharing our joyful gratitude also helps. As I mentioned above, following Kim’s journey inspires me to persevere in situations that initially suggest I should give up. And sharing about the crashing of the website made me aware of how many supportive people want to help.
Dream
Dreaming is usually at the top of my list, my first step towards resolution. However, this week I discovered it can also be a response to support and encouragement. Expressing gratitude, and sharing my concerns with friends are great ways to stir my imagination and seed the possibility of creative responses. I love that I can involve others in this dreaming too. If you have suggestions for revamping the Godspacelight website so that it can become an even better place for people to come to access resources, please let me know.
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