Dear Friends,
As we reach the beginning of June, we leave behind Eastertide, and the great feasts of Pentecost & Trinity & begin to get into ‘the everyday’. Personally I rather like this moment of ‘ordinary’ time. Apart from a few feasts, we will be in ordinary time now until Advent!
Our attachments today are around two themes: June & the garden, and hospitality & food. We hope they give you some good reflection time.
The blessing we can listen to today is John Glynn’s ‘Song of Blessing’.
All good wishes for the coming week & with our love,
Quiet communion with the garden revives the peace and tranquility that all too easily slip away from me. The garden’s fragrances, colours and shapes comfort my inner weariness. Its bounty feeds not only my body but also my soul. As I stoop, kneel, sit and stand among the garden’s verdant vegetation, I forget about the busy things that seemed so important to me.
In the garden I experience the restorative powers of nature. The garden becomes a sanctuary of repose and promise, a graced place that allows my body and soul room to breathe freshness. In this restorative place hope feeds my discouragement. Faith feeds my doubt. Here in the garden I am reminded of my communion with all that lives.
Macrina Wiederkehr
Give Us
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had enough to eat? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had clean water to drink? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had a roof over their head? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone had adequate health care? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Christians realized this doesn’t require God’s supernatural intervention? It only requires a miracle. It requires you and me to take seriously the words, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Until we eliminate poverty, everything else we do is a mockery of God’s will.
We must understand what Jesus was teaching Peter when he asked him three times, “Do you love me?” We cannot proclaim the love of God if we refuse to feed his lambs. Our theological orthodoxy is meaningfulness if we don’t take care of his sheep. The buildings and budgets of our religious institutions are an abomination if we don’t feed his sheep. We cannot pray, “Forgive us our sins” with sincerity if we continue to allow children to starve to death. There is no sin greater than allowing some of our brothers or sisters to die when we have the capacity to save them.
~James Mulholland, from Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity (Harper SanFrancisco, 2001)
An Earth’s Blessing in June
God, our Creator, bless the soil on which we live, and work & make community. In your mercy, may it bring forth goodness to nourish and renew the whole community who shares it.
You made the earth and through the long ages planted it with every kind of plant; you made animals to crawl and to run upon it, birds to fly over it, and fish to swim around it. When all was prepared, you formed humankind from the soil. You breathed your life into them.
May we never forget that we are mortal creatures; from earth we come, to earth we go. We did not make ourselves. Indeed, we and the earth itself, need to be redeemed through the Saviour who restored unity between earth and heaven. In the name of the one who came from heaven yet was born of earth, let us bless the earth.
Ray Simpson
Welcome
Hospitality
As we gather round the table of friendship,
we come with profound thanksgiving
for the countless times
we have been welcomed by the Holy One
dwelling in another person.
Because of open minds & hearts
we have been received with warmth & kindness.
We bring our intention to continue our efforts
to accept those with whom we have differences.
We welcome those who live among us
whom we would rather not welcome.
We pray to grow stronger & live more fully
the vital qualities of hospitality: kindness, non-judgement,
understanding, generosity, acceptance & good cheer.
Joyce Rupp