Journal of Sacred Work

"Let the Star of Remembrance..." Days 360-361

 

 

A Blessing for Christmas & the New Year!

Let the Star of Hope blaze through discouragement,

doubt, and disgruntledness.

Let the Star of Kindness radiate through

what you think, feel, and do today.

Let the Star of Remembrance glitter in thoughts

of good people and good deeds.

Let the Star of Laughter sparkle in your eyes

and in your smile.

Let the Star of Joy dance in the corners

of your heart that have forgotten to sing.

Let the Star of Patience permeate

that which you find difficult and irritable.

Let the Star of Love encompass your heart,

a ray of welcome for everyone you meet.

Joyce Rupp

No matter the darkness in our world right now,  Light finds a way to break through. May we receive the Light of Love as blessing!

Prayers for a path to peace! 

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Drawing by ~liz

Days 358-359 "Deep peace, a soft white dove to you"

Deep peace, a soft white dove to You;
Deep peace, a quiet rain.
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you,
Deep peace, pure white of the moon.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you,
Deep peace from the Son of Peace.
Deep peace from the heart of Mary to you,
And from Briget of the Mantle
Deep peace, deep peace!
And with the kindness of the Father
Peace!
In the name of the Three who are One,
Peace! Peace! Peace!

Deep peace of the Christ to you,
Of Christ the light of the world.

Gaelic Blessing by Fiona MacLeold (Adapted)

Prayers for peace

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.

It there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

― Lao-tse

 

Prayers for peace

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul

~Maya Angelou 

 

Peace ~ Shalom ~ Salaam ~ Shanti ~ Passaddhi ~ Sukhmani ~  Ahimsa ~ Rāma

Prayers for peace, pray for peace on earth

 

Wishing you a peace filled Christmas and holiday season.

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Mandala by ~liz

Are Holiday Cards Dead? - Days 353-357

   For all 57 years of our marriage, my dear wife has labored to assemble and mail hundreds of Christmas cards including this year's, reproduced here.  

    She and millions are wondering: "Should I keep this up?" Beyond labor, there is the cost and paperless ease of free, digital alternatives.

   In 2014 a Global News story asked if Christmas cards were officially dead: "While some traditionalists continue to send annual holiday cards," it began, "the practice – which began some 170 years ago – continues to decline as well-wishers go digital." 

   The Golden Threads of tradition matter. But the card is only one symbol. Must we have the touchable form? Will cards mimic newspapers...not dead but yielding to computerized alternatives?

   A recent news blip reported on an artist who submitted a "mixed media" piece for copyright. It merged one of his photographs with an AI-generated Van Gogh. Our U.S. Copyright Office rejected it because the artwork lacked the "human authorship" required for protection. 

   Digital or not, holiday greetings are lovely human communications. What matters, of course, is not cards but how we honor rituals of loving care. 

   Happy Holidays from the Chapmans to caregivers everywhere.

-Erie Chapman

Photo by Tia Chapman

 

The Light that Shines in Our Heart: Days 351-352

For everything there is a season. With the arrival of winter’s dark sky, communities around the  world look to the miracle of light as a sign of rebirth and a source of hope. We celebrate the promise of new life and we recommit ourselves to the protection of everyone’s right to their own radiant humanity.

 As December unfolds before us, we welcome the gift of reflection. We turn toward this holiday   season and search for common threads of meaning.

Hanukkah, the festival of lights, commemorates a time of miracles when the faith of the Jewish people sustained them to reclaim their holy temple and miraculously kept the light of the menorah burning for eight days.

Christmas, the celebration of Jesus' humble birth in a manger, invites us to revisit the miracle of His birth; of an unconditional Love that has come to heal the wounds of humanity.  The message of Christmas is a timeless one of  love, hope and joy.  It is one of joy – because Jesus comforts and encourages us. One of hope – because we are never alone; God is always with us and one of inclusivity – because God’s love is for everyone.  You are beloved.

Kwanzaa is a Swahili word that means "first" and signifies the first fruits of the harvest. Many people of African descent in America enjoy this week long celebratiion beginning Dec 26- Jan 1 in honor of family, culture, and community with a focus on one of the seven essential principles each day. The principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

In Hinduism the Upanishads tell us something very beautiful: There is a Light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart. The little space within the heart is as great as this vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars; fire and lightning and winds are there; and all that now is and all that is not: for the whole universe is in Him and He dwells within our heart.

Black Elk of the Ogala Lakota Indigenous people, offers a gorgeous glimpse into their sense of interconnectedness with all of creation. “O Great Spirit of the heavens, in the day's infinite blue and amid the countless stars of the night season, remind us that you are vast, that You are beautiful and majestic beyond all of our knowing or telling, but also that You are no further from us than the tilting upwards of our heads and the raising of our eyes."

Spiritual traditions understand December as the season when the sun arrives late and leaves early and with this greater darkness brings with it a sense of our own vulnerability. December 21^st is the longest night of the year and marks a celestial event that’s been interpreted as a possible source of the "Star of Bethlehem" nativity story. Just as light shines in the darkness, so the star is often considered a symbol of truth, spirit, and faith. The star embodies the notion of spiritual revelation in each of us.

Stars remind us of our own resilience, especially when we're feeling down. They offer reassurance of our great qualities when we need it most. The star is a symbol of great promise that can help to guide our way. Just as stars shine, they encourage us to allow ourselves to shine, too.

Each one of you are just as much a miracle as the turning of the earth, as the constancy of the northern star, as the beauty of changing seasons. We see the love you give to others, the space you create to hold one anothers joys and sorrows, and the generosity of spirit that you entrust to your healthcare community.

Prayers for peace.

With gratitude, 
Liz Sorensen Wessel

The Golden Thread to Unearthly Peace - Days 346-350

  Years ago a student approached me after a class I taught at Belmont University. "Do you know about the ancient Greeks' "thread concept?"

   I did not. She sketched a picture simpler than the one here (the only one I could find that suggests the concept.)  It showed a stick figure held to the earth by four ropes. Above the person's head ran a thread to the heavens.

   "We are tied to the earth," she said, "but the thread symbolizes our ability to reach peace while still on earth." 

   William Stafford's life changing poem begins, "There’s a thread you follow. It goes among/ things that change. But it doesn’t change."

   Caregivers catch glimpses of unearthly peace. A suffering patient or a loving nurse suddenly gains a look of transcendent serenity. Is that unseen thread at work?

   "You have to explain about the thread./ But it is hard for others to see," Stafford's poem continues. /"While you hold it you can’t get lost."

    The poet speaks particularly to caregivers: "Tragedies happen; people get hurt/ or die; and you suffer and get old."

   His last line is a guidebook to peace: "Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding./ You don’t ever let go of the thread." 

   Our senses can show us a world in chaos. "The Golden Thread" is one part of the trinity of Radical Loving Care. 

   May Stafford's words help you find your golden thread and experience a new peace as you care for those in need. 

-Erie Chapman 

 

"I Am Who I Am"... Days 344-345

“It is what it is” my late brother John would often say and when I am missing him most, I listen for these words from others as a sign of his ever-present love.  I listened to Richard Rohr in a podcast utter these words, “It is what it is and I am what I am” in reference to our shadow. 

I grapple with wanting to banish my shadow side from my awareness. Yet inner wisdom encourages making room for acknowledging unwanted feelings with kindness and compassion.

Funny, as I reflected on Rohr’s insights, I thought of the cartoon character called, "Popeye the Sailor Man", who sang a tune, “I am what I am and that’s who I am.” Coincidentally (or perhaps not), my father worked for King Features Syndicate, the company that created the animation for Popeye.

This led me to also reflect upon about scripture when God first revealed His name. “God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:14.

 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” Corinthians 15:10.

Think about walking in sunlight and notice how your shadow goes with you wherever you go. It is impossible to leave it behind. Instead, Rohr encourages us to get our shadow to work for God by 1. Acknowledging 2. Observing without attachment and 3. Acceptance without judgement. The process is not of the intellect but rather a spiritual one.

When we are triggered our shadow side is exposed. I can berate myself for continuing to have these unwanted feelings and sometimes wonder, will I ever grow up? Yet, it helps to understand that as we work with it, the cycle repeats again and again until it eventually loses its power. Gradually, we open into the reality of, “It is what it is and I am what I am” with humility in this very human and humbling experience. 

 I was regretting the past 
and fearing the future. 
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:

“My name is I Am.” He paused. 
I waited. He continued,
when you live in the past 
with its mistakes and regrets, 
it is hard. I am not there, 
my name is not I WAS”.

When you live in the future 
with its problems and fears, 
it is hard. I am not there. 
My name is not I WILL BE.

When you live in this moment, 
it is not hard. I am here. 
My name is I AM. 

By Helen Mallicoat

In this season od Advent let us offer one another the gift of our full presence. "It is what it is and I am what I am"; with the wound that we carry and the Love that we are; just as we are, Beloved.

Pryaers for peace,
Liz Sorensen Wessel

Advent Candles by ~liz

 

The Important Path To Grace - Days 339-343

   "What is your favorite feeling?" I asked family gathered for dinner. 

   My son answered first. "Relief."

   We nodded. No one asked, "Relief from what?"

  Pain demands relief. Gratitude requires grief. The crucial final step can lead to Grace.

   Emily Dickinson captured this best, "After great pain, a formal feeling comes/ The Nerves sit ceremonious.."

   "Formal" means, above earth's house of pain. 

  How do we reach such hallowed space? Pain is unavoidable, relief. a blessing,  Grace requires work. She is the life companion we seek, the friend who remains when Agony returns.

   We all admire those who, although un-drugged, appear serene in pain's darkest hours. "How do they do it?" caregivers wonder.

   Grace's face is Joan of Arc in the flames, Jesus on the cross, cancer sufferers, laboring moms. St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote, “Everything is grace.” 

   We are not saints. And I find nothing un-saintly in groans emerging from a tortured body. Agony, emotional or physical, seeks expression. 

   That is why I admire what I rarely practice: a grace that draws from the deepest well of courage. The refusal to be defeated by pain. The insistence on transcending it to precious, indefinable peace. 

   The three-stage path is clear and crooked: Grief to Gratitude to Grace. Although the prize is serenity it requires so much courage to achieve, must less sustain, that few reach it except in life's last moments. We envy those that find it earlier.  

   My very dear friend and leader, Tracy Wimberly, had a sign on her office door, a synonym for grace: Peace.  In my weekly talks with her she hands me that gift every time. Meet Liz Wessel and you will receive that gift as well, 

   May Grace visit you now and stay with you always. 

-Erie Chapman 

Photo by April Sand - "Bone Marrow Transplant Patient"

Let Our Hearts Be Gently Turned: Days 337-338

The season of Advent has roots that date back to northern Europe in pre Christian times. In the cold dark of winter candles were lit upon an evergreen wreath to mark the time, while each day people eagerly awaited the return of sun’s warming light.

In the 1500’s Christian’s adopted this beautiful custom in anticipation of the birth of the Christ child as a radiant Light of Love sent to help heal our broken world. Advent precedes the Christmas season and begins on the Sunday closest to November 30, the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle.

The circular shape of the Advent wreath symbolizes a Love that has no end and no beginning. Four candles, (3 purple & one rose colored) set on the Advent wreath signify our hearts' yearning with hope, peace, joy, and love. As we light the candles to reflect and share in prayer we deepen our preparation for the epiphany of the Christmas miracle to come.  Each week an additional candle is lit and a fifth white candle, within the center of the wreath, is lit on Christmas Eve.

The mystery of the Advent season is filled with surprises if we are patient and open to receive the gifts that are all around us.  In open receptivity Grace transforms our hearts to see anew.

Blessing When the World is Ending

Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.

Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.

Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun
the knife
the fist.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door
the shattered hope.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone
the television
the hospital room.

Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break
your heart.

But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.

It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.

This blessing
will not fix you
will not mend you
will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.

It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again.

Poem Written by ~ Jan Richardson

 The Advent season and tradition of lighting the candles helps us to pause in reverence and  acknowledge the sacredness of all life. In this way we prepare our hearts to be gently turned in the direction of light.

Whether or not you are of a particular faith or religious affiliation, may you discover the beauty of this Advent season and embrace the never ending mystery of Love's unfolding in our lives. 

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Wreath photo-Internet

The mystery of the Advent season is filled with surprises if we are patient and open to receive the gifts that are all around us.  In open receptivity Grace transforms our hearts to see anew.

Blessing When the World is Ending

Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.

Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.

Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun
the knife
the fist.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door
the shattered hope.

Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone
the television
the hospital room.

Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break
your heart.

But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.

It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.

This blessing
will not fix you
will not mend you
will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.

It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again.

Poem Written by ~ Jan Richardson

 The Advent season and tradition of lighting the candles helps us to pause in reverence and  acknowledge the sacredness of all life. In this way we prepare our hearts to be gently turned in the direction of light.

Whether or not you are of a particular faith or religious affiliation, may you discover the beauty of this Advent season and embrace the never ending mystery of Love's unfolding in our lives. 

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Wreath photo-Internet