The Quest Continues
Being home feels good.
Getting last year’s paperwork ready for taxes, the reality hit that I
had been gone from my home six months in 2015.
No wonder it feels good to be back.
I did have an unwanted surprise the morning of March 25. As good as home is, I think I came home a bit early. I did not want to experience another blizzard. However, I am not planning to shovel. Snow in March in Michigan is like snow in Virginia, wait a couple days and it will be gone.
By the afternoon the
sky had cleared. I saw a robin. The robin is the State of Michigan bird. Seeing one is a sure sign of spring. If you look close, you will see this one. Happy Spring!
Back to the Gym
Interfaith Peace Service March 20, 2016
Prayer for Peace in the Middle East
The Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Holy Week
Their tradition is a Good Friday Cross Walk. They meet away from their church and walk carrying
cross. A graphic witness to the community that they are people of the cross.
Back to the Gym
In 2012 when I was getting ready to go on my first mission
assignment, I was getting my mind in shape on required reading. I also had to be able to walk three
miles. At the age of 69, walking three
miles a day was not part of my regimen.
I worked into the ability to do so, mission volunteering is good for
your body.
Because I fell seven times while away on my journeys, my
doctor ordered me to join a gym and work out for balance and core strength.
Now that I am home from VA, I am back at Centre Ice (www.centreicefitness.com)
with my trainer, Joelle.
Thanks to prayers and exercises I have not fallen for over
a year! Being in shape for future
mission assignments is a great incentive!
Organic Wesley:
This winter reading the book, Organic Wesley a Christian Perspective on Food, Farming, and Faith, by
William C Guerrant Jr changed some previous understandings. This book talks about the current food
movement. The author identifies and
suggests a specifically Wesleyan food ethic, relevant to our ongoing cultural
conversations about food. The author
indicates Wesley was “convinced that God’s original plan for humanity included
healthy bodies and that we need not await the resurrection to start bringing
our bodily health in line with God’s plan.
Wesley believed that God intends both “inward and outward healing” and
that a properly oriented Christian life should promote both.
Interrupting my eating habits according to Wesleyan food ethics
is ongoing.
Interfaith Peace Service March 20, 2016
The Episcopal Peace Fellowship of Grace Episcopal Church in
Traverse City invited the community to an Interfaith Peace Service on March 20. As humanity, we truly are journeying
together. The program included participation
from many different faith traditions.
Below is a copy of a prayer that was part of the service.
Prayer for Peace in the Middle East
Lord of Hope and Compassion, friend of Abraham, who called
our father in faith to journey to a new future.
We remember before you the countries of the Middle East, from which
Abraham was summoned; ancient land of the Middle East, realm of the two rivers,
birthplace of the great cities of civilizations. May we, who name ourselves children of
Abraham, remember all the people of the Middle East who honor him as
father. We bring to mind those who guard
and celebrate the Torah; those for whom the Word has walked on earth and lived among
us; those for who follow their prophet, who listened for the word in the desert
and shaped a community after what they heard.
Lord of reconciliation, God of the painful sacrifice uniting humankind,
we long for the day when you will provide for all nations of the earth your
blessing of peace. But now, when strife
and war are at hand, help us to see in each other a family likeness, our
inheritance from our one father Abraham.
Keep hatred from the threshold of our hearts, and preserve within us a
generous spirit which recognizes in both foe and friend a common humanity. This we ask from the one who has given us the
gift of abundant life.
The Episcopal Peace Fellowship
This fellowship invites the
community to ongoing meetings and activities.
They often do book studies. Books
studied in the past include, Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B.
Rosenberg, along with the Nonviolent Communication Companion Workbook by Lucy
Leu; The Nonviolent Life by John Dear; and The Powers That Be by Walter Wink.
While in Traverse City, I hope to be a part of their ongoing studies.
Holy Week
Because my church is in transition, I worshiped with other
congregations.
On Good Friday, several congregations meet together in the
beautiful sanctuary of Central United Methodist Church. Through Scripture, meditation, prayer and music
our worship was guided as we considered the seven phrases of Jesus from the
cross:
I celebrated Easter with the family of God that meets at
Grawn United Methodist Church.
Their tradition is a Good Friday Cross Walk. They meet away from their church and walk carrying
cross. A graphic witness to the community that they are people of the cross.
Upon completion of the walk, they
join their hearts in devotions and prayers.
The cross is covered in black symbolic of the realities around the death
of Jesus.
Easter Sunday Worship takes on a different hue! Through music and words, hearts were filled
with hope as we worshiped together. Pastor
Colleen’s sermon, Eternal Life, challenged
our understandings and actions. We are post Easter people, living eternal life in Jesus.
The words of the Sacred Writings of my faith tradition, quote
Jesus as saying,
“Now
this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent.” John 17:3.
As post Easter People
Let's realize each choice is an eternal choice.
