I love learning new words. Over the weekend I happened to either hear or read several times the word "Dayenu", a Hebrew word. It is the title of a song that is sung at Passover celebrations around the world. The song, sung after the re-telling of the exodus story and right before the passover story,is very old and could seem to go on and on for all fifteen verses. But the repetition is really the point. Basically the word dayenu means" it would have been enough for us". The song begins " Had he brought us out of Egypt and not judged them, it would have been enough for us." It continues through the Hebrews delivery from slavery at the hand of Pharaoh, through the miracle stories of manna from heaven and parting the Red Sea, to the various ways of being with God in the world. Each statement outlines the Holy’s loving action ending with the words ‘it would have been enough for us’.

The concept of ‘enough’ is a tricky one for 21st century people, especially Americans.We are generally always looking for the next thing to do, to acquire, to become, to achieve, even in our faith lives. How do we even get our heads around the concept of enough? And to think of the humility that is at the core of this actually very upbeat little song, boggles the mind. To say to God:"Had you given us this precious day and invited us into it….that would have been enough." The words are bathed in a gratitude that is enormous.

Of course the concept of enough is a double edged sword. There are many situations in which we want to scream out ‘enough is enough’. When we see the ways in which people are being tortured, abused, oppressed in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, in so many places, ‘enough’ takes on a different meaning. When we see within our own city the devastation of families and homes as the housing foreclosure crisis continues to worsen, we wonder when someone will say, "enough". As United Methodists gather this week for our General Conference, those present will once again lobby and argue over the faithful or improper way to be the church. Some of these discussions make me want to shout ‘enough is enough’. So many situations bring out this side of enough.

But as our Jewish brothers and sisters gather for the Passover Seder, they gather to tell the story of grace that exists in the Presence of God that walks with each of us through history, through faith, through our lives. In singing this simple song they will take a moment to remember and to give thanks for the small and giant ways we are gifted. The underlying message is: all we have and all we are is a gift from the Creator and gratitude and awe are our response. It is a very positive, hopeful way of opening our hearts to the presence of God. May we each add our prayers of wonder and gratitude to this song…….and make it go on forever…….dayenu.

"Enough. These few words are enough. If not these words, this breath. If not this breath, this sitting here. This opening to the life we have refused again and again until now. Until now." David Whyte

It has been said that ‘every day is Earth Day’……or at least should be. I have a vague memory of the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.  As a country we were involved in a energy crisis. Fuel costs were rising and more and more people began to see that we could not continue to consume in the ways we had been. We were engaged in a war that did not seem to be making much progress, whatever progress means in a war. There was great civil unrest, college campuses were rife with passion to change the ways things were going in our country. Teach-ins, love-ins, protests, marches…..the evening news were filled with them.

And along came Senator Gaylord Nelson who had long been an environmentalist, working for environmental awareness for nearly a decade.The senator from Wisconsin saw that the movement on campuses, the commitment of those who wanted change and were willing to work for it, provided just the kind of momentum needed to educate people about the threats to our Earth home. The first Earth Day saw more than 20 million people involved in teach-ins, marches, conversations, and lobbying for change. All that without the power of the Internet!

It has always been interesting to me that the church has most often been on the outside of the environmental conversation or even been a hindrance to it. The faithful have most often let the political realm lead the way.  How have we been so timid when the very words we claim to be sacred, those that guide our faith, begin with the story of the Creation of the Universe? Though the church has often come late to the table, we are now engaging in new ways, across theological, denominational and faith-traditional lines. It is good……very, very good.

Everyday is Earth Day. Every day it is our privilege to awaken and place our feet on the ground, this holy ground.  Everyday we walk out into the world, to be fed from the gift of the trees filling our lungs. If we open our eyes we are blessed by observing the miracles of the everyday….birds of the air, flowering plants, greening grass, water flowing from sky to river to lake to ocean. Our main reasons for being here are simple: be in awe, walk gently, take care, pass it on.

"Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator. Now our minds are one." These words of the Iroquois Nation are a translation of a document that is more than 1000 years old.  We are gifted with many ancient,sacred teachings about our Earth home. We only need read and take them to heart.It is up to us to write the texts that will continue their wisdom into the future. May we have the same courage as Senator Nelson to keep at it until the momentum carries us away.

"God spoke: Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and yes, Earth itself." Genesis 1:28-29 The Message

"If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on." Lance Armstrong

Let the biking begin! It seems the weather is finally nice enough for all the bikers who travel our street as a thoroughfare to places in southern Minnesota to be out and about in their colorful, Italian looking riding gear on their sleek, light weight bikes. I love watching them in the packs in which they travel….slim, determined, on-the-road to somewhere.

This year they have been joined by another biking group…..a group of 6-10 people on varying sizes of unicycles. Unicycles, the trick bike of circuses, being used as a mode of transportation. It is, I believe, a mind boggling flash of creativity. I have now seen them making their way around the circle of Cherokee Park, dodging traffic…or being dodged. On Friday, even in the light rain that fell, I saw a smaller group huffing up the High Bridge, far above the Mississippi River. What a sight!

These bikers are not outfitted in the matching spandex of their two-wheeled comrades. Instead they wear mismatched helmets, baggier shorts and fleeces, and carry backpacks on their backs.They create a curious sight. Is this a group of students or co-workers who have decided to protest the continually rising gas prices and make a scene on their way from one place to another? Or are they a group of would be parade performers simply honing their craft?

Whatever their intention when I see them I am lifted above the ordinary of my day. The unicycle is such a joyful sight…..a regular human being balancing on one wheel, back straight as a rod, focus on the horizon ahead, moving, moving, moving on. It is a great vision of balance, of determination. As someone who has enough difficulty making her way on a two wheeler, to think of traveling with only one seems nearly impossible.

Riding a bicycle is a wonderful metaphor for how we move in the world. If you’ve ever ridden a tandem bike you know that it requires the give and take, the following and leading,the ability to relinquish control you share in any relationship. It can bring out the best, and the worst, in people. I know this from experience. The two wheeled riders who travel in a pack always remind me of grounded flocks of geese as one rider moves ahead to break the force of the wind for the others, always riding extremely close for safety and companionship.

The unicyclists always seem to carry with them a hint of playfulness and joy, as if at any minute they could strip off their everyday clothes to reveal the clown clothes that lurk beneath. I hope they are having as much fun…..even while pedaling up the steep High Bridge…..as they illicit in me.

What about you? What kind of bike are you riding today? Do you need one wheel or two? Are you able to balance the load of your day while moving forward? Or is today a day when you need the power of someone else pedaling, allowing you to simply be along for the ride?

Whichever it is……remember to wear your helmet.

"Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where they all came from.
Everybody’s worryin’ ’bout where they’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done.
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be."  Iris Dement

Earlier in the week I heard this song played on the Morning Show on MPR. It’s a song that is played with a sporadic regularity and always provides an opportunity for reflection…and a little chuckle.I have logged more than my share of hours in discussions/arguments with well meaning people about the subject of the song: Who am I? How was ‘it’ all created and who did the creating? What happens after we die? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? How do we end up in one place or the other? I, in fact, was engaged in just such a conversation this past week with someone I didn’t really know, over one of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten. While interesting, fun and sometimes challenging, these questions, at least for me, never end in any certainty.

I recognize that certainty is very important for some people and I make no judgment about that. The other day I was sitting in my car next to another woman who had taken a bumper sticker and placed in on the sun visor of the driver’s seat. Every time she pulled the visor down to block the sun she was confronted with the words: Truth is not Relative: Truth is Truth. I was able to glimpse this…upside down…right before she pulled the visor to block the sunshine.I sat in my car after she drove off wondering about the impact of having those words in such close vision. What can that mean to her? What comfort does she derive from those words? What led her to put the words there where they were always in plain view? I pray the words bring her whatever she needs to live a full, healthy life.

As for me, I think I might be more comfortable hanging out with Iris Dement. We could sit around and talk about all the important and ultimate issues of life. We might have tea and mull over the many times we have experienced heaven right here, right now. As for me, I’ve been in heaven at least a dozen times this week. We might also speculate about hell….the times in our lives when darkness and despair was the food of our days. But hopefully we would put on our coats and head to our cars without much certainty coursing through our veins. Instead, we might look up at the night sky and see the sight of the Big Dipper twinkling away or look at the Moon with its haze of the last few nights. Gazing skyward we might smile and know, that for us, Mystery is just fine.

It promises to be a more springlike weekend. As I look out into our backyard, the tulips and the irises are growing despite the seemingly never-ending winter. Their bold green against the dull brown matted grass is a sight for sore eyes. Ah…..Mystery.

Keep your eyes wide open……

It seems I’m supposed to ‘detox’. I may have mentioned that I have this internal rule that if I see, hear or experience something three times, I’ve learned to pay attention. For instance if someone mentions a book I should read and then someone else asks if I’ve read that book and then I happen to open the paper and read a review of the book, I take it as a little nudge from the universe that I’d probably better read the book. It might seem like a goofy quirk to some but over the years it has worked for me.

Over the last several weeks, I keep coming in contact with the practice of ‘detoxing’ your body. I had a conversation with a friend last week who had done this flushing out of all the toxins that get into our bodies through a variety of means. Then I was at a co-op and was confronted with a display of detoxification powders, liquids and educational pamphlets. Finally day before yesterday, while at the exercise club, I saw a brochure from a local chiropractor that provided a checklist of symptoms a person might experience that could be relieved by detoxing. I looked over my shoulder as I picked it up. Is someone trying to tell me something?

Several years ago I started going twice a month to a massage therapist who helps me keep the stress in my life under control. Yesterday as I climbed onto her table I asked her about detoxification. She in turn asked me ‘what I needed to get rid of?" Good question. I then told her about how my hands were cold, it felt like the circulation wasn’t working as well as it should. And then I laid down and finally began to melt into the table as she worked on the stress points in my shoulders, neck, head and finally my very tense arms.
Wow! What have I been trying to hold onto…hold together…..fix…be in control of? As the muscles made their way back to the rightful position and elasticity, my hands warmed up and I felt the tension flow out of my fingertips onto the floor.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had this kind of experience. Coming to a realization of how you carry the stress and worries of your life literally within your body. I know people often carry stress in their back or even in their neck and sometimes in their voice. This stress leads to countless hours of pain, lost work and a less fruitful life. It seems to be a by-product of our fast paced, disconnected way of living.

And so it was with a smile that I opened the paper this morning to read the words of The Dalai Lama who visited Mayo Clinic yesterday for his yearly physical. Go figure….The Dalai Lama comes to Rochester, Minnesota for his health care! Of course, if anyone should be feeling stress right now, I’d say he has good cause. The eyes of the world are watching as China prepares for the Olympic Games and the people of Tibet live under oppressive rule. As the exiled leader of Tibet, he must have much on his mind. And yet when asked about his stress level, his ability to sleep well, he answered: "If there is no solution, why worry? If there is a solution, why worry?"

Maybe that’s all the detoxification I really need. Even though I have only read these words one time, I am paying attention. I just felt my arms relax.

"Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak but the Spirit of God speaking through you." Matthew 10:19

"That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."  Ecclesiastes 1:9

Yesterday was one of those days that simply flowed….or flew…from one thing to another. As quickly as one meeting would end, another one would begin. There didn’t seem a moment to catch my breath. Ever have one of those days?

It might not have been pleasant had I not started out the morning at a lecture on Process Theology at the Carondolet Center on the campus of the College of St. Catherine. Simply put Process Theology is a way of giving ‘faith to understanding’ that the movement and presence of God in the world is an unfolding, ever-moving, ever-evolving experience.  It is a way of seeing the world as creative, inter-relational, dynamic and open to the future. The first class I ever took on this subject, I had one of those ‘ah-hah!’ moments when I realized that someone much more intelligent and articulate had defined how I saw the world, God and myself. Those moments are rare and so I remember the class fondly. It was refreshing to reconnect with this school of thought and to be surrounded by some very inspiring people.

The speaker was very forth-coming about the problems of process thought to those who have a more classical theology. Questions like: If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, how can God also be ever-changing?  If God is good, why do bad things happen….why is there evil?  These are, of course, questions that have been around for a very long time. Depending on our life experience, our history, our faith tradition, we answer these questions differently.

The writer of Ecclesiastes was partly correct. There are certain life-stories that get played out over and over. The seasons come and go and come round again. There can be a certain ‘sameness’ to how the world works. But there is also this great possibility, this great potential, that resides at the center of each atom, each breath, each seed, each moment, each new day. How a cell chooses the way of health or the way of illness is beyond my ability to understand. How the Sun rises each morning is a miracle. My breath rising and falling in my lungs, my chest, is a gift. And this day, if lived in a Spirit of love and goodness, could have the potential to change the course of my life. Who knows?

Process thought would say that God does but not in a way that has God already having written the script for this day….already knowing the outcome. In this way of being present to the Holy, this well-lived intention toward goodness is more like a dance, a giving and taking, a leading and following, that propels me…you…us….forward toward a more hopeful future, one in which we co-create with God. This way of understanding faith and the Sacred is one that calls humans to a very high level of responsibility which can be challenging yet exciting.

I invite you to give it some thought. How does it fit for you? Does this help you speak of your faith experience, your way of being in the world? If so, I am thankful. If not, let it go.

"In the early Church people were attracted to it not so much by the preaching, but by the fact that they saw Christians as a community, living a new life as if what God had done was important, and had made a difference. They saw a community of those who, whether poor or rich, make or female, free or slave, young or old, all quite unbelievably loved and cared for each other. It was the lifestyle of the Christians that was witnessing." Desmond Tutu

After Easter Sunday, the church heads straight into the Book of Acts. There is a kind of non-linear path to this from an historical standpoint. The scripture we will read over the next few Sundays has us reading texts that seem to have happened after Pentecost, the ‘birth of the church’, which we celebrate on May 11th. But reading these stories of the early followers is good for us, good for the church. So little has changed. We are still trying to figure it all out, trying to come up with the right words, the best slogan, the slickest marketing tool to bring people into the Way. Reading the stories of those first century Christians makes us not feel so alone, so incompetent.

It is not news that mainline faith traditions have been declining for years. The reasons for this are numerous and book after book has been filled with them and what to do to do about it.  It is so easy to go to the fear place and try to do everything possible to ‘fix’ these fragile communities of equally fragile people, hoping beyond hope that we will attract others who want to join us. Most faith communities have buildings that need constant care, constant sources of revenue to keep them chugging along.And in these troubled economic times, it can, at times, seem futile.

Reading these wise words of Desmond Tutu who visited the Twin Cities last week, I was reminded of what it means to be the church. His idea that people were attracted to the early church because people "unbelievably loved and cared for each other." How simple…..how difficult. It is not about the most eloquent preaching…..though that helps. It is not about the most beautiful building….though that is awe-inspiring. It is not about the most gifted choir…though that is a treasure. It is not about the slickest ad campaign….though that can generate great enthusiasm. It is not even about the most profound theology.

What attracted people to the Way of Jesus was a community where they were loved and cared for…..unbelievably. And isn’t that what we all search for? A community of people who, in the words of Bridget Jones "love me just the way I am." We long for a community where, with all our faults, our failures, our quirks, our idiosyncrasies, we are welcomed for who we are without judgment or question.

We may not always agree with one another. We may not like the hymns that were chosen this past week. The preacher may have said a few things that really didn’t jive with the way we think. But for the church to be the church, the love for one another must be visible, palpable. Like those in Acts, it is our witness to the world.

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another." John 13:34

"Our minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them."  Thomas Merton

Perhaps it is because spring is a time for cleaning, for clearing out the accumulated ‘stuff’ of the hibernating months, but I have been thinking a lot about clutter. I have been systematically cleaning out some closets, drawers, getting rid of those single socks that I thought I’d find the mate to one of these days. Where do they go anyway? I’ve been going through the piles of papers in my office getting rid of the ones I had thought were so important at the time but on re-reading them realize I could have put them in the circular file right out of the envelope.

This kind of cleaning out is easy. It is really only a matter of setting aside the time and the intention to do it. The de-cluttering that is much more difficult is the internal cleaning out of ideas, thoughts, mind cobwebs that gather over time, that pile up each day. Things like anxiety, frustration, anger, mistrust, judgments, self-pity…those little tapes we allow to play over and over in our heads. Add to those the chatter that comes at us each day of facts, fears and stories that are really not ours to own yet are presented to us, through media of various kinds, so we get drawn in and swallowed up. Without even realizing it, I can find myself walking around with a load of mind clutter that keeps me from being present to what is really important.

My friends in recovery pray: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." It is a powerful, powerful prayer. It is a prayer of surrender, of acceptance, of understanding the complexities of life,of humility, and of a final trust in self and a higher power to move through the world constantly shedding the clutter we want to harbor while gently holding onto what is most important, what is most life giving.

I have some closets that still need attention. As I look out the window it seems as if the weather is going to cooperate and by Monday they will be organized and less full. It may not be quite so easy clearing out my monkey mind……but I pray for serenity, courage and wisdom. May it be the same for you.

Have a wonderful weekend………………..

We are a desperate people. It is April and we are being threatened by yet another winter storm. Perhaps as much as 7-12 inches of snow is to fall throughout Minnesota beginning in the next couple of hours. Most people are walking around now with a look of dread on their faces, bundled up in the same hues of gray, brown and black they’ve been wearing for the last eight months, with only a Christmas red and a hint of Easter pink thrown in to raise our spirits. Because Easter was so early this year, many organizations planned a host of April events. You could conceivably do more than one interesting and inspiring experience every day for the next few weeks. We have looked forward to these harbingers of spring, of change. And now we may have to dig out to get to them. Will it be worth it one wonders? Or shall we just stay at home, put another log on the fire, throw on our pajamas and wait it out. All that remains to be seen.

While some have decided to stay close to the home fires, hundreds are streaming to the Como Conservatory. They are are roaming around among the ferns, watching the goldfish swim in clean, clear, unfrozen water, allowing the humidity to feed the scales that have been masquerading as their skin. I’ve just been there. I watched as people opened the doors to the main room that is always planted with the flowers of the season. Flannel-ed humans, still wearing their down coats and wool hats, stood like alien beings among the brilliance of blue hydrangeas,orange lilies,yellow daffodils, and purple hyacinths. Pasty white faces bent to smell the sweet fragrance of something other than stale, pent up air. It was a glorious sight to behold.

But for most of us this beauty was only the sideshow of what we really had come to see: The Corpse Flower. This amazing flower, standing a little less than two feet tall, planted in a terracotta pot that could house three small children comfortably stood in a small wing to the side of the main rooms. A line snaked out the door as we all silently waited to view its blossom that only unfolds every fifteen years. It seemed a solemn, humble act of waiting to view this plant known for giving off the smell of rotting flesh. It was an amazing gathering of humanity…old and young, children hoisted on the shoulders of parents, young people taking pictures with their cell phones, all of us reaching our noses to get a whiff. The plant and leaves have the green and burgundy color of a variegated coleus and as my eyes traveled from the top of the plant down toward the floor, I noticed that the pot itself was wrapped royally with a lush piece of brown velvet. It seemed fitting.

As people turned to leave this tiny room, having seen and smelled this flower which will not bloom again until 2023, smiles were on nearly every face. We had indeed seen something special, something elusive, something that we may never have the opportunity to view again. It’s difficult to know what to make of the kind of joy that could be found in seeing such a sight, smelling such an odor. The Corpse Flower.

As I said…..we are a desperate people.

"It would be infinitely lonely to live in a world without blessing. The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else. Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench that inner light of providence." John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

Earlier I wrote about the passing of John O’Donohue who has been a spiritual mentor and inspiring author to me. His last book, in the process of being published at the time of his death, arrived in bookstores recently. It is both beautiful in spirit, word and look. The intricate Celtic designs that grace the book jacket set it apart from many of the other books that surrounded it on a table at Common Good Books recently.

Blessing. I have written about blessing many times in this space. O’Donohue writes: "A blessing is not a sentiment or a question; it is a gracious invocation where the human heart pleads with the divine heart." There are many times during my week when I offer silent blessings….as I pass someone holding a sign asking for help, as I see an animal who judged unwisely their ability to cross a road, as I see children playing, or witness some of the elders I know who move more slowly than they would like.

But I am not thinking about those people right now as I think of blessing. I am actually thinking about the people who are irritating, those who continue to pick away at issues or situations, those who act irresponsibly, those who intentionally hurt and cause pain, those who are void of any sensitivity to the suffering they dish out.

There is a picture today in the Star Tribune of Senator Betty McCollum responding to our governor’s recent budget vetoes. Her stance, her face, her indignation, captures much of what I have been feeling lately. Finger pointing, brow-furrowed, neck taut, she is clearly a woman who feels passionately and is able to express that passion. Inside I have been feeling the way the senator looks on the outside.

And then I come back to my walk in the world.I have been privy recently to emails and conversations that  are hurtful, crazy-making and just plain mean-spirited. I could, though not easily,respond in like fashion. But my heart tells me that is not the way to go. Instead I want to allow my ‘human heart to plead with the divine heart’ and to be able to bless even those, perhaps especially those, who are dishing out this dirt.

"The language of blessing is invocation, a calling forth. It imagines and wills the fulfillment of desire. In the evocation of our blessings, the word ‘may‘ is the spring through which the Holy Spirit is invoked to surge into presence and effect."

May I, may you, may we, be blessed with the grace to receive blessing this day and return that blessing to all who need it….even those who walk with less than gentle feet in the world so we may bless the space between us. Amen. So be it.