Rev Kathy

Help Me to Do What Is Right

November 22, 2016 Rev Kathy

When the Christ surprises us all and comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then He will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by having done what was right, guided by the Creator and the Spirit, inherit the kin-dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

for I was Muslim and you welcomed me,

I was a refugee and you sheltered me,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was forced to be counted and you stood to be counted with me,

I am black and you said my life matters,

I was LGBTQ and you performed my wedding.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you Muslim, black, a stranger, a refugee, LGBTQ, Jewish, or a stranger and welcome you?’ And the King of all Souls will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

May it be so for me and for you.

Amen.

Prayer by The Reverend Julia Seymour. She serves Lutheran Church of Hope in Anchorage, AK. She blogs at lutheranjulia.blogspot.com. She contributed to There’s A Woman in the Pulpit.

healing, peace

Our Reply to Violence

November 21, 2016 Rev Kathy

We have experienced some difficult days following election 2016. Violence was a part of the process, at least a violence of words. And violence takes its toll on the human spirit. The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked 892 hate groups operating in the United States. The civil rights organization has also cited over 300 cases of hateful harassment or intimidation in the United States since Election Day.

For me, few things have helped ease the struggle of my spirit. The one thing that has helped the most is music. I have found myself singing hymns to myself several times a day and have been comforted by the familiar melodies and sacred texts.

Music has that kind of healing power for so many people during times of trial. Protestant Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer stands out among the Christian leaders during the Nazi era, for he was one of the few to actively resist the racist actions of the Nazi regime. He said this about music.

Music… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.

In the days that followed the assassination of President Kennedy, there were many heart-wrenching musical moments, like the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony. During that dark time, music director Leonard Bernstein gave an unforgettable speech at Madison Square Garden. His remarks include these words:

This sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather it will inflame our art … This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly, than ever before.

May it be so … that music is our reply to violence.

Change, Grace, Hope, Life pathways

The Mists of Autumn

November 18, 2016 Rev Kathy

The story of Autumn tells of early morning mists that blanket the vibrantly changing trees. It reminds us of a kind of melancholy that anticipates the cold winter months. The sight is a masterpiece lasting for a short time, until the sun breaks through.

It’s also a picture of life that necessarily includes misty, melancholy seasons. Yet the sun breaks through, brightening our existence and reminding us of constant change. We live through the mists, always knowing that eventually the sun will rise upon us.

Until the warmth of the sun returns, we have companions beside us, willing to lead us by the hand until we can see the path clearly again. It’s called the grace of presence that proclaims that we are never alone. Life’s mists will come, but we will walk on with hope and with companions who walk with us until daybreak.

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

– Acts 13:11 King James Version (KJV)

Change

Strength to Face the Wind

November 16, 2016January 20, 2017 Rev Kathy

Life is very much about standing to face the wind, constantly being blown about by change. It can be tumultuous at times. It can blow gently and change the little things about us. It can be gale-force and rearrange everything we cling to.

The important questions are these: Who will I be in the face of the winds? Will anxiety paralyze me? Will I be afraid? Will I be in a state of turmoil? Or is it possible that I will be that steady center, that constant and consistent presence that stands immovable?

This one thing I know. When God is our anchor, the winds can blow on and we will stand steady. We will “surprise ourselves with the strength we have to face the wind.” So let us hear, with faith in ourselves, the summons from Bishop Stephen Charleston.

Let’s do something surprising. In the midst of anxiety, let us be unafraid. In the time of anger, let us be peaceful. In the heart of turmoil, let us be a steady center… Let us do something different. Let us be the rallying point for faith, the constant and consistent presence of a love that embodies justice, the quiet truth that knits lives together. Let us surprise ourselves with the strength we have when we stand to face the wind.

– Steven Charleston

healing

Walking Lake

November 14, 2016 Rev Kathy

I love today’s photo, entitled “walking lake.” It reminds me of the comfort of walking beside still waters. It reminds me that restoring my soul is the most important part of life. It reminds me that, when times are tough and all comforts fail, we sometimes just have to walk it off. Sometimes we have to literally will our bodies to get moving and will our spirits to be comforted.

After this presidential election I found myself paralyzed with grief. I didn’t want to leave my house. I didn’t want to move. I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach. All I could do was keep myself still and quiet until the hurt began to lift.

I knew that I could not stay in my immovable state. I knew I had to lift myself up and walk on. I knew that God had provided a “walking lake” for my healing. And then I happened upon this photo — serene and comforting beauty. I looked at it for several minutes, transporting myself to that place of healing. In the end, I moved. I stood up and got my bearings. I walked on with hope in my heart.

I pray that every person who has been disappointed will find his or her personal walking lake.

Generosity

This Is My America

November 13, 2016 Rev Kathy

The road ahead after the 2016 presidential election seems frightening and lonely to me. I have contemplated the outcome of the election over and over again, trying to console and comfort myself. And I’m searching for what was my America.

While people protest in the streets of America and the people whose candidate won the presidential election continue to gloat and to spew hate-filled and divisive rhetoric, I am searching for my America. It’s not so easy to find these days. I can’t help but think that this is not a safe and kind place to live for millions of people.

I changed my mind today. It happened at a Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Shopping today was a heartening experience. A young mother with a small child stood by the door asking for donations of canned foods and other items. Their church was putting together Thanksgiving baskets. They have done this for fifteen years. They told us that they expected to give out baskets of a complete Thanksgiving dinner to about 10,000 families at their church on Russell Parkway in Warner Robins, Georgia. Their act of compassion and caring during this Thanksgiving season almost drowns out the voices of hate.

I was more than happy to donate a few cans and to be a small part of this ministry of love. I take another look at the road ahead and discover that it’s still there beckoning me to walk on with hope. This is my America.

Courage, Friendship

We Can Do This!

November 12, 2016 Rev Kathy

Everywhere I look I see safety pins. People are wearing them. Millions are posting them on social media. Churches are adding them to messages of inclusion. The pins carry a simple message: whoever you are, you are safe with me.

Jim Wallis of Sojourners describes our state of affairs.

Today, many people are frightened — mostly the people whom the now president-elect has regularly attacked. If I read my Scriptures right, those are the people Christians and other people of good conscience should now turn to in solidarity and support.

I am getting calls all the time. They are from the people who feel most vulnerable: parents of young black and brown children, Hispanic pastors who are dealing with the terrified undocumented families in their congregations, African-American ministers who fear the emboldened white police officers who no longer fear the scrutiny of a justice department, a president, or anyone else who might hold them accountable. And, of course, many of our Muslim brothers and sisters are wondering whether this can be a country for them anymore.

Where must we start as Christians and faithful churches after such a devastating election that brings the most dangerous man to the White House that we have seen in our lifetimes?

That is the question we must answer. As never before, we must find tangible ways to live out our faith by being present with those who are now living with fear. May God give us the courage and compassion to do just that . . . for our brothers and sisters — Latinos, Muslim Americans, women, LGBT persons, African American persons — anyone who is marginalized, disrespected and diminished.

Standing with them in loving solidarity is our calling for the living of these days. Sincere and unceasing prayer is critical. Open hearts and open minds will carry us through, together. The safety pins on our lapels will remind us. We can do this!

grief, healing, sadness

To Sing Again

November 11, 2016 Rev Kathy

60,072,551 Americans are celebrating, singing songs of victory. At the same time, 60,467,601 of us cannot sing at all. We are silenced by grief after a divisive and troubling presidential election. Many of us are afraid, some are angry, others are despondent. And all around us, people celebrate.

How will we get through this time? How will we ever again feel that America is our home? When will we again lift our eyes after being bowed down in mourning? I have no easy answers. I only know that these words of the Psalmist describe my deepest feeling.

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?

Psalm 137:1-4

It is my sincere prayer that on some day in the future we will pick up our lyres, lift our eyes to the heavens, stand tall, and sing again.

Grace, grief, healing, Politics

Grace

November 10, 2016November 10, 2016 Rev Kathy

Day two of grief and confusion. Day two of desperately seeking grace in the midst of grief. Day two of mourning a deeply personal loss.

It was a stunning upset, leaving us with President-elect Donald J. Trump. Despondency barely describes what I’m feeling. Fear may be even more descriptive. I do not feel despondent over being on the losing side of the election. For me, it is not about winning or losing. I do not feel anger or resentment against my brothers and sisters who voted for Trump.

But I do feel disenfranchised in my own country. I feel like I’m a part of a country I don’t understand. I feel like my hopes and dreams are no longer important. I feel like there is a powerful leader over me who will crush my dreams without a thought. I feel like the ground beneath me is shaking. Yesterday I read these words written by my friend, Julie Pennington-Russell.

In 1952, at the threshold of the Cold War, Harry Emerson Fosdick spoke to students and faculty at the Pacific School of Religion. After acknowledging the uncertainty and chaos in the world at that time, he spoke these now-famous words: “The highest use of a shaken time is to discover the unshakable.”

So this, for me, is a shaken time. I feel a cloud of uncertainty and chaos. I fear the days ahead. I am grieving, yet looking for a smidgen of grace in it all. That’s all I can do. And I lean into the encouraging words of Bishop Steven Charleston.

Now comes the hard part. As this new day dawns, joyful for some, sad for others, we face a single question: how will we walk together when our paths seem so different? There is a word for it. Grace. May we have the grace to be humble in victory and hopeful in defeat. May we have the grace to overcome our fears. This is the hard part, the time of seeking the common good, not for ourselves alone, but for those younger lives watching us. May our first step be made in prayer, spoken in different ways but with a shared appeal: give us your grace, dear God, to care more for one another than for winning.

– Bishop Steven Charleston

Politics, Prayer

Losing Heart

November 9, 2016 Rev Kathy

What does it feel like to lose? How many tears does it take to begin to heal the pain?

I just listened to Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. It was a remarkable testament to all that is good about Hillary Clinton. She is truly a public servant, and she will not stop her efforts to make our country a stronger, kinder place.

I literally grieve this loss. I fear for our country. I fear for our brothers and sisters who fear deportation. I fear for women who have felt disfranchisement and disrespect. I fear for the millions of people who are benefitting from the Affordable Care Act. I fear about our relations with foreign nations. I fear for all of us.

Still, we must never give up on our country. We must remain involved in the political process and we must pray for our nation as we have never prayed before.

Most of all today, I pray for Hillary. I celebrate her life and give thanks for her many decades of service. And I will always remember the closing words of her speech from the sixth chapter of Galatians.

“So let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”

May God continue to bless Hillary Clinton and may God bless and protect this nation.

Politics, Prayer

A Prayer in the Shadow of the Presidential Election

November 1, 2016 Rev Kathy

All knowing God,

We come to you in this season covered with the shadows of this presidential election. We come to you contemplating our choice. We are concerned about our lives, concerned about our nation.

We hope for a bright future, yet we have wavering confidence in the days ahead of us. It feels important that we pray about our democracy, about the the presidential election that will so profoundly affect our lives. Remind us that above our role as citizens is our role as your people.

We pray for our brothers and sisters who have felt disenfranchised by the hurtful words and actions of Donald Trump, who has attacked women, immigrants, Latino and African American citizens, persons who are disabled, Muslim Americans, and many others.

Grant us a sense of unity, not divisiveness. Teach us to clasp hands in love and respect and to move forward together.

When we exercise our right to vote in this free and fair election, help us to remember who we are as people of faith. Grant us divine wisdom. Give us holy guidance. Give us hearts that act out of love not hate, hope not despair.

We ask you, God, to walk beside us and to lead us in the path of righteousness.

Cover us with your grace and give us wisdom and courage for the living of these days.

Amen.

Self care, simple joys

Just to Be Alive

October 30, 2016 Rev Kathy

Another day to be alive! It’s a day without the need to prove anything or to accomplish anything. It will be enough just to be, to enjoy the brilliant sunlight, the warmth of the day, the colors of the autumn trees. It can be a day to refresh and renew. If we let it.

Bishop Steven Charleston writes, ” Make doing nothing a value.” Here are the rest of his wise words.

Turn your light within that you may shine that much more brightly for others. Do not neglect the care you give to yourself, the time you need to rest and be renewed. No hamster wheel of expectations is as important as minding your health: body, mind and spirit. Draw in the hours around you, making space for doing those things that help you the most. Give a priority to having fun. Make doing nothing a value. The best of our lives is rarely spent at the grindstone. Allow yourself the space to be, to think, to dream, to wander. Discover again how good it feels just to be alive.

Contemplation, Prayer, Spiritual growth

Washing the Spirit Clean

October 29, 2016 Rev Kathy

It is a worthy intention, to wash my spirit clean. How freeing it would be to move all the messy stuff from my soul and to feel cleansed. The Psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

How do I even begin? A good start would be prayer, contemplation, reading prayers in Scripture, walking in the forest, making some time for silence. For me, singing hymns cleanses my soul and nurtures my heart. The writing of John Muir also suggests a path to soul cleansing. John Muir, also known as “John of the Mountains”, was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. Millions of people have read his letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada of California. These are his words.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.

Keep close to Nature’s heart . . . break clear away once in awhile..climb a mountain..spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

― John Muir, The Mountains of California

It’s a continuous effort, washing the spirit clean. It’s a necessary spiritual discipline. It opens us up to a life renewed and refreshed.

Dreams, Friendship

Our Stories

October 28, 2016 Rev Kathy

Stories move through our lives, especially when we are willing to tell them. There is great power in the telling. Telling our stories makes us better and stronger. It helps us create our lasting history. It allows us to open ourselves to others.

C.S. Song writes about stories in his book, In the Beginning Were Stories not Texts. He writes, “Stories are conceived within the womb of dreams and developed and nurtured within it . . . If the story is good . . . it will be told from one generation to another.”

Happy stories and sad stories weave through our lives and are a part of making us who we are. Then when we tell them, we share who we are with others. We risk being authentic, being known. We give to the hearer the gift of genuinely knowing us. Telling our stories is the seed of true friendships and relationships.

Out of our dreams emerge our stories, stories that must be told and retold. The telling is a gift we give to our children and their children. It is a precious gift, and the only way to give it is to open up our hearts to let our dreams go forth in words.

So I urge you to open up your life and tell your stories. You will be stronger for it. Generations will be blessed by it.

Life Journeys

The Determined Journey

October 27, 2016 Rev Kathy

Train tracks are mesmerizing. They suggest a journey, but a journey that is firmly determined. The tracks ensure that.

In a some ways, our own journeys are determined. And that takes the fear away. We follow the tracks and move toward a destination. Mandy Hale describes the journey like this.

Dance. Smile. Giggle. Marvel. TRUST. HOPE. LOVE. WISH. BELIEVE. Most of all, enjoy every moment of the journey, and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.

― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

It’s simple, really. With God as our companion, our journey is focused, determined. We know where we are going. We are confident of our destination. We are comforted as we move forward, knowing that God guides our way.

In their hearts human beings plan their lives. But the Lord decides where their steps will take them.

– Proverbs 16:9

Change, Courage, Hope

We Shall Overcome

October 26, 2016October 26, 2016 Rev Kathy

Listen.

Woke up this morning with my mind
Stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind
Stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind
Stayed on freedom
Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah.

Listen.

Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round,
Turn me ’round, turn me ’round.
Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me ’round.
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’,
Marchin’ on to freedom land.

Listen.

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day.
Deep in my heart I do believe
We shall overcome some day.

It was the music of the people, the music of the day. I was around fourteen years old, and I vividly remember the day in 1963 when the Alabama National Guard surrounded my school. I remember my fear of having to walk through their clasped arms. I remember the one, lone student — Richard — who integrated the school that day. I wondered all year as I saw him walk the halls alone if anyone ever spoke to him even once.

So what is the music of this day? It’s still a time of fear and division. We have battles to fight. Yes, racism is still one of them. So is misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, violence, terrorism, criminal justice inequality, human trafficking . . . and the list goes on.

But we can overcome, even in these troubling days. We don’t clasp hands and march together much these days. We don’t embrace one cause and walk together as one very much. But what is most troubling is that we have no music.

I pray that together we will target the wrongs of our day and walk together towards freedom, lifting our voices in one powerful crescendo, singing the songs that give us courage and determination. We shall overcome someday.

Listen. Can you hear the music?

Love

Love Rising

October 25, 2016 Rev Kathy

Bishop Steven Charleston uses the wonderful phrase “love rising” and writes that “love is rising all around us” It’s a comforting thought that love can rise around us and in us to push out fear and grief and anger and malice. I have a notion that for that to happen in us, we must allow it. We must be open to letting go of all the negative stuff within us and allow the love to rise.

It’s possible, to be sure. We have heard the profound, but simple, Scripture “perfect love casts out fear.” And it always gives us hope for better days and for a kinder, more loving heart.

I leave you today with the words of Bishop Charleston.

Love is rising all around us, if we open the eyes of the spirit to see, rising all around, from so many who have not given up, from so many who hope and who believe, the witness of quiet hearts, the faithful family from every creed and culture, every tradition and community, rising up, pushing back fear, overcoming suspicion, finding new answers, trying new ideas, turning love into action, letting it rise up from broken cities and troubled towns, letting it rise up for all of us, not for the few, but for all of us, love, rising up all around, rising up in you and in me and in all of us.

May love rise up in you and around you this day.

Spirituality or Religion?

How Should We Live?

October 24, 2016 Rev Kathy

I am moved by hymns and often make their words a part of my prayers. This hymn, “When the Church of Jesus,” has long been one of my favorites. It challenges us to live in the world as a people of compassion and caring.

When the Church of Jesus
Shuts its outer door,
Lest the roar of traffic
Drown the voice of prayer:
May our prayers, Lord, make us
Ten times more aware
That the world we banish
Is our Christian care.

If our hearts are lifted
Where devotion soars
High above this hungry
Suffering world of ours:
Lest our hymns should drug us
To forget its needs,
Forge our Christian worship
Into Christian deeds.

Lest the gifts we offer,
Money, talents, time,
Serve to salve our conscience
To our secret shame:
Lord, reprove, inspire us
By the way you give;
Teach us, dying Savior,
How true Christians live.

Fred Pratt Green, 1969

How should we live our lives? In what ways does Christ compel us to service? Does the life of Christ inspire us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves?

As the hymn says, “Lord, reprove, inspire us.” May it be so.

Politics, Prayer

Reborn

October 23, 2016 Rev Kathy

All of us are enduring this season of our presidential campaign with a level of angst. Psychologist have written about the stress that we are experiencing. Some people are turning off their televisions in an attempt to escape the divisive language and incessant negative dialogue.

One thing is clear to me: this is a time for prayer, prayer that our nation will find its way to serenity, calmness and unity. I would like to share with you such a prayer, actually the text of the hymn, “O God of Every Time and Place.”

The words describe a people with “downcast eyes, tight, sullen and afraid.” Yet the hymn moves toward hope for divine rebirth.

O God of every time and place,
Prevail among us too;
Within the city that we love,
Its promise to renew,
Our people move with downcast eyes,
Tight, sullen and afraid;
Surprise us with Thy joy divine,
For we would be remade.

Grant us, O God, who labor here
Within this throbbing maze,
A forward-looking, saving hope
To galvanize our days.
Let Christ, who loved Jerusalem,
And wept its sins to mourn,
Make just our laws and pure our hearts;
So shall we be reborn.

Ernest T. Campbell, 1971

I am confident that, as a people, we will get beyond these days. I am confident that our democracy will continue to shine throughout the world as a beacon of hope. I am confident that, when all the harsh, harmful words have faded away, we will be reborn.

I am confident because of the God who gives us strength, resilience and abiding grace.