It’s a glorious autumn day in Seattle. The leaves are beginning to change colour, but the bright colours of dahlias, cosmos and geraniums tell me that summer is still in the air. We are still harvesting tomatoes and basil and apples, but my thoughts have shifted to next year’s garden and what needs to be planted now to make it flourish. We tend to think of spring as the planting season, but in nature it is autumn when seeds are scattered and settle into for their winter rest before sprouting as the weather warms. Planting, then rest, then growth. Such a beautiful rhythm that God has devised for our earth.
It’s time to prepare for a slow season of rest and respite. I am certainly ready for it. As I mentioned in my Meditation Monday – Creating a Circle of Light, I replaced all the batteries in my candles over the weekend and am enjoying the morning comfort of their warm glow. Setting up this circle of light around my sacred space is one of my favourite rituals of autumn. What are the rituals that ground you as the seasons change? How do you respond to the lengthening or shortening days, depending on where you are in the world. So important to have rituals that help us through the transitions.
My post, Spiritual Practice – Writing Prayers and Poems with A Celtic Flavour provided another possible way to greet this new season. I shared some of my Celtic style prayers and invited you to create your own. It is a beautiful way to reflect on our days and intertwine God’s presence into our rhythm.
Today, we published the third Liturgical Rebels episode on Celtic spirituality, an interview with John Philip Newell, John Philip Newell, Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being. he has authored over fifteen books, including his award-winning publication, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, which was the 2022 Gold Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Spirituality and Religious Thought of the West. His new book, also with HarperOne, is The Great Search (August 2024), in which he looks at the great spiritual yearnings of humanity today in the context of the decline of religion as we have known it. John Philip was an incredibly fascinating person, and I could have talked to him for hours. I think you will all really enjoy this interview.
I continue to make progress on my book Celtic Advent: Following an Unfamiliar Path, but am engaged in the not so fun process of editing and adding citations I missed. My greatest failing – incomplete bible references. Hopefully we will upload the manuscript on Friday. Talk about a fun project to work on though. I hope you enjoy the finished project as much as I enjoyed working on it.
On Godspacelight, in Freerange Friday – Sitting in the Lap of A Tender God, Lilly Lewin talks about Fr Greg Boyle’s latest book The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. This is an important book and I love the way she weaves the lessons she learned from it with the week into her reflections on this week’s gospel reading.
Looking ahead – October 9th is Indigenous Peoples Day and I suggest in preparation you read this great post from a couple of years ago by Rachel Taber Hamilton. Increasing our awareness of the peoples who once inhabited our homes and of the genocide that was often done to “clear” the land for our ancestors. As Rachel says “Genocide is never something to celebrate, though it can be important to commemorate. Nations that have been forged from the forces of colonialism have been built upon the premise of clearing away and subjugating indigenous peoples in body, mind and spirit.” So much here that is important to remember.
We are also moving rapidly into what I like to call my “gratitude season” – the days between Canadian Thanksgiving, this year on October 14th, and American Thanksgiving on November 28th. It’s time to think about how you might want to shape this season. In preparation you might like to reread this post – Making Gratitude A Lifelong Habit. Creating seasons like this that mark the seasons and also the important celebrations of our cultures is a wonderful way to ground our lives in the presence of God.
Many blessings on you this week.
Give yourself the gift of stillness,
Both outside and in.
Reach for the wonder of each moment.
Be transfixed by the beauty,
In a flower, a life, a beloved face.
Love is born afresh in every moment of the day,
If only we have eyes to see,
And ears to hear,
The wonder of it.
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