Tybee Time - At Last

At last.
Tybee Time is here.  Or at least only hours away.
Travel begins early tomorrow, and likely it will be late afternoon when I finally drive across the bay to Tybee Island.

On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, I looked up and saw-- the promise kept, the dormant blooming.  What a send off!

My reading this morning is from Job.  Becca Stevens writes "justice must include mystery and compassion.  To arrive at this understanding of justice, Job looks to animals, birds, and plants.  He remembers that their lives, like his, come from the Creator".

I gaze up at this lilac life in wonder. A purplish bursting of live from my Creator.
When I return there will be many more blooms.

While I'm away how will I experience justice?  How will I be compassionate?

First Week in Lent

St. Bernard wrote that one will find something more in woods than in books; trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.

This afternoon I checked on the lilac blooming progress.  The last two nights have had mild freezing temperatures.  Two nights ago the wind raged for 8 hours.

Yet, here is the promise.

I have found when I am in my woods, if I stop to listen and see, I'm gifted with treasures I would have missed.  A song from a bird I have not heard for months.  The warmth of the sun if I stand quite still.  The woods are awakening.

As are some of God's creatures I'd just as soon stay asleep.

The crows have returned.  Big and noisy. I'm not a fan.  Reading The Reverend Becca Stevens yesterday, she says the loud noise in the woods made by the crows remind her to be watchful and to celebrate the day- "to be awake and watch, to be present in the day, to be aware that his is truly the day the Lord has made".  I'll not listen to the caw-caws again in the same way.  Having only heard the negative noise, I'll now hear the call to awake.

The day after the First Day in Lent

Yesterday was the 30th annual Atlanta Community Food Bank's Hunger Walk/Run.  The Episcopal Charities Foundation has been a partner with ACFB for most of the 30 years. ECF walkers and runners raise funds that are used to fight hunger in Middle and North Georgia.  All the proceeds from the event go to feed those who hunger.

"For when I was hungry, you gave me food;"  Matthew 25:35.

It was a glorious day to walk for hunger.  It was a glorious day to run for hunger.  It was a glorious day to join over 15,000 people as they covered the 5K distance.

Twenty percent of people living in Georgia are food insecure, meaning they don't know from there next meal will come.  And almost 30% of children in Georgia live in food insecure homes.  How can that be in this land of plenty?

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori says that "acting in solidarity with those who go hungry is a piece of what it means to be Christian".  She suggests that we consider making our Lenten practices of prayer, study and fasting as acts of solidarity with the hungry and then to consider how to live in accord with those who are hungry.

My church collects food for the local food pantry, "Sharing and Caring", once a month. I've gotten out of the habit of shopping for the pantry.  My intention is to take up this practice once again, and continue it throughout the year.

"God showed me in my palm....."

There are definite signs of Spring this day.  Faith in the promise of spring is being rewarded.

Julian of Norwich wrote, "God showed me in my palm a little thing round as a ball about the size of a hazelnut.  I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and asked myself, "what is this thing?'"  And I was answered. "it is everything that is created.'"

Walking back from the mailbox just now, I veered over to my lilac bush, just to speak to the bush and ask if it might not still consider blooming.  And right then and there, I spotted a bud.  Two buds.  And more.  

I will dwell on this kept promise.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills..."

Lent has begun.

I'm reading Becca Stevens' The Path of Justice: A Walking Bible Study.  It's a series of short readings and meditations inviting one into nature.  Walking paths to God.

The emphasis is on walking. Rain or shine.  In circles or straight paths. A time to think about the the Scriptures and let them sink in to, to contemplate God's creation while walking through it.

The readings this first week come from Amos, who talks about justice and fairness flowing like a river that never runs dry. And how we are accountable for our actions, and to try to live more justly.  It's not just about being just in terms of God's people, but about justice in nature. Our island home.

"But let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry." (Amos 5:24)

For this second day of this first week of Lent, Stevens offers these words from Psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the hills..."

I live in the hills. The hills are both above and below me.  After a wintry winter, there are signs of spring on the surrounding hills.  Lenten Roses, Daffodils.  Buds abound in the woods.

I trust that "with host of daffodils to show, that spring was there under the snow!"  May Sarton, Blizzard.

So, too, I trust that my help comes from the LORD.

And so, too, I recognize my responsibility in doing justice in nature.  Giving MY help by tending to that which was created for me.  I've given up plastic bags.  It's time to give up plastic bottles.  It's a start.

Ash Wednesday

To quote from the message sent today from Bishop Rob Wright:

"Today marks the beginning of "self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy word."  Today we pledge ourselves to a six-week journey that can change our lives and leave us looking more like Jesus at its end."

I'm especially thoughtful about his next words: "The ashes we allow to be placed on our forehead mean that we are mortal and that we are under construction! My prayer for each of us is that we would truly give ourselves to this holy time by doing new things -- or by prioritizing old, meaningful spiritual practices."

Under Construction!

Well, certainly, we are all works-in-progress.  Under construction.  

My church is under construction.  An expansion of the existing space.  I'm following the project in photographs so the parish can see the progress.

Progress is slow.  It seemed to take a long time just to pour the foundation and the new walls.  Preparation for the pouring, influenced by the weather.  Nothing can be hurried, but everything can be slowed down.

Perhaps this is not a bad thing.  Rather, the slow-down time lets one contemplate, decide, build slowly.  Or re-build, as the case may be.

I'm not hurried this first day of Lent.  I am making my way through tasks - tasks that serve my parish and my diocese.  Tasks that will lead to the least among being served.  In this case, the hungry.  As I follow-through on my tasks that surround the annual Hunger Walk/Run in Atlanta this coming Sunday.

I'm not hurried as I prepare for my service as a Lay Eucharistic Leader as this evening's Ash Wednesday service.  It's my intention to be well prepared for this time of worship.

I AM under construction!

Our priest guided us in quiet and meaningful worship, and left us with these words:
"But the fruit of the Spirit, is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness."
Galations 5:22

The word that stands out the most to me in this list is KINDNESS.  Be Kind.

Shrove Tuesday

Tonight was the annual St. James Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, the idea being that one has a "last" meal of plenty before the 40 days of fasting to come.

I don't actually eat at the supper, rather I take photographs of the meal preparations and the meal- these for the parish newsletter and website.

This year the dinner was moved from the parish hall to a local restaurant as St. James is undergoing expansion.  The place was packed. The restaurant and the people were decorated in traditional Mardis Gras masks and beads.  Very festive. 

I'm thinking just now about this abundance.  And the fasting time to come.  There's always enough to eat in this parish, and I suspect any fasting ahead may be more in spirit than in reality. This is not to say there's not generosity in these people.  When they know of any in our community who are hungry, the food is gathered and the checkbooks opened.

God's Abundance Cafe, a local organization formed by local churches and other faith-based groups, serves up soup, sandwiches, and desert each week in town.  I've been once to these meals, representing a funding organization.  I think I'll go this week to see how I might serve.

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others..."

                                                                                         1 Peter 4:10

Lent 2014

The Season of Preparation.

"Don't forget how the Lord your God has led you through the desert for the past forty years.  He wanted to find out if you were truly willing to obey him and depend on him."
                                                                                                   Deuteronomy 8:2

A year later - preparing for another Lent, also preparing for return to Tybee Island.

Easter falls late this year, so Tybee Time falls late as well.

I'm thinking about my personal Lenten practice for this period of preparation, of anticipation.

Always I give up some food or foods, things that provide little nourishment, may do me harm, yet taste so good.

Always I try to take on something.  Study, service, intentional movement, prayer.

I find I have words and phrases bubbling around my mind.  I think I'll make an effort to dig deeper into these and see what they have to teach me.  I can't promise there will be a "gem" each day during Lent, but we'll see what turns up.

It's been a long and cold winter in the Southern Appalachians.  I'm am so ready to see green!  My lilac is budding out in green, promising leaves to come.  But no blooms are promised.  That's a real disappointment.  Still, there is that promise of green and for that I am grateful.