From Your Minister – July 2014
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I love acknowledgments pages, and award acceptance speeches, and other public expressions of gratitude where people spell out how their individual success is interconnected with the gifts of other people. And it occurs to me that, rather than going through all of the struggle of writing a book or making a film or performing a song, I can use this column right now for my own acceptance speech, to offer thanks.
For what? You ask. For my life!
REsources for Living
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One of the most exciting things about growing up is that you can do more and more things by yourself.
Babies are totally dependent on others. (There’s not much that a person who hasn’t yet learned how to locate their hands can do on their own.) But before long babies generally learn to roll themselves over, and sit up, and crawl and walk and run and before you know it they have grown into people who can ride a bike or make their own dinner or get a job.
The Sun Shines Not On Us…
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The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love.
By John Muir (1838-1914), from his journals
From Loneliness to Solitude
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One Sunday morning several years ago I stood on the front steps and greeted those who arrived. These front step greetings are one of my favorite rituals of Sunday morning—a chance for me to connect, if only briefly, with each and every person who walks through the doors. It allows me to take the temperature, if you will, of the congregation.
Power of One
Finding Strength in Silence
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Mother Teresa said: “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
I first started doing volunteer work in college. I volunteered with Beyond War, a non-profit that highlights the dangers of nuclear war. I volunteered with Results, a non-profit that uses the power of letter-writing to effect policy change on hunger in developing countries and the United States. I volunteered with the National Organization for Women, a non-profit that promotes the equality of women and men.
From Your Minister
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I’ve recently been engaged in a fascinating email conversation with a man named Michael Lorence, who found me electronically and reached out. Michael and his wife Diana wanted to share their story of the seven years that they spent living in a 12×12 foot house in the center of 60 acres of woods. They called the cabin, “Innermost House.”
REsources for Living
Loneliness and Longing
I have a friend who is a sailor. Sometimes he takes companions with him, but frequently he sails alone.A Prayer for Birthmothers, Not in an Open Adoption
Your relinquishment has been my biggest blessing.
Your very life has made my own shimmer
with joy, laughter, the words “my child…”
Adoptive mothers, like me, shout our love from the rooftops.
Adoptive fathers howl thanks.
We sing infinite gratitude,
placing it on lanterns that light up the whole city, the forest.
