reflections from the interior
  • home
  • blog
  • reflections
  • poems
  • announcements
  • books & cards , etc.
  • contact me

All Saints and Sinners

10/31/2014

0 Comments

 
It’s Halloween – the hallowed evening before All Saints Day. I recently heard an interview with a Lutheran pastor in Denver, Colorado. The House for All Sinners and Saints, her congregation, began with the intent to minister to those who are marginalized in our society for any number of reasons. Just a handful of people met in living rooms in 2008; today the congregation has grown in size and diversity as nearly 200 people of all ages and walks of life gather to sing the old hymns and chant the liturgy, to receive communion and benediction, to serve one another and deepen their faith.  Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber readily admits that her previous life was more on the side of sinner than saint. And, with the same level of honesty, she speaks of  her “calling” to serve others as a minister.  Not in a new age, feel good, fluffy way but in a deeply grounded theological way bringing law and gospel, confession and absolution, ancient creeds and practices, songs of praise, relevant teachings, and application of the Word to daily living.   

Since hearing that interview, I’ve been thinking about saints and sinners.  And about those who are marginalized in our society at large and in our churches – who they are, how they are treated and why.  And I’m thinking about the “calling” that everyone –every one of us – has.  Some give it a different name such as purpose or dream or vision. Most all of us wonder what it is, how we can recognize it, how we will know if we have or will achieve it.  I wonder what the old time saints, whose day of recognition is tomorrow, thought about the lives they lived, the tasks they were given or chose, the elusive purpose they may have been seeking.  And I have the same wondering about the sinners who have named themselves such or who are named by others. How did/do they struggle with those questions? Who are the saints and sinners of today?

                                        to be continued next time……

0 Comments

Autumn Return

10/13/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Honey Winds

I really loved folk music of the 60’s and 70’s – still do. Often a phrase or melody from a favorite artist will come creeping, then insisting its way into my head, and I try to remember the entire song.  Thanks to Pandora radio, it’s easy to go back in time to rediscover my favorite music. The Brothers Four with their impeccable chording and timing, their mellow harmonies, gave us “The Honey Wind Blows.”

                             The honey wind blows and the warm days dwindle
                             the butterfly spins a silk cocoon on a silvery spindle
                             the petals fall from the last red rose, the last red rose
                             when the honey wind blows....
                                  The petals fall and the summer goes, the summer goes
                             when the honey wind blows….

                                          The honey wind blows and the days grow colder
                                          somehow the world and I have grown just a little bit older
                                          I sit alone where the fire glows, the fire glows
                                          and the honey wind blows….
                                                I sit alone and the good Lord knows, I miss you so
                                          when the honey wind blows….

The honey winds of autumn are blowing across the prairies and in the Black Hills.  My garden is still producing chard, lettuce, parsley and strawberries. The roses still bloom along with bee balm, Echinacea, black eyed susans, Russian sage, lupine, yarrow, marigolds, and cosmos. 

Green leaves still rise from the bulbs of hyacinths, lilies, iris and star of Bethlehem reminding me that they will bloom again next spring. Ground covers are turning from green to rusty red.  I’m proud of all this color and variety since just a year ago, my yard was grass and weeds and overgrown shrubs.  I met many new neighbors as I dug and planted and mulched all spring and summer. Some gave me plants and gardening stories; some helped trim the shrubs and haul away the brush; others stopped to meet and greet.  I’m resting from all that work now, enjoying the fruits of my labor and anticipating the exponential increase in abundance that will appear next spring.

Now the honey winds are urging me to freeze produce, to bake breads and make soups.  Flannel sheets and wool blankets are on the beds, some of the windows are washed, Sophie and I walk a little faster in the chilly air. Dry leaves blow down the streets, trees are a riot of glorious color! I love autumn and yet, the anticipation of what is to come that urges the flurry of preparation, also brings melancholy about all that is ending.  Autumn is a turning inward time. A quietness is descending. Autumn is a pause. It is filled with as much love and life as is spring with its newness and summer with its abundance.  Having given away its fullness, autumn is an empty basket, waiting.
                     
                        May you welcome the empty basket of autumn so that you may be filled!


© 5 october 2014  

 

 

 

 

 


1 Comment

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Author

    musings may delight or disturb;  musings may spark new activity, sometimes. . . . .

    Phyllis shares current musings, momentary insights, process in motion.


    All reflections are original material copyrighted by Phyllis.  Please ask permission to quote, copy or reproduce. 



    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.