God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley

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.

Friendship

Think on These Things

October 21, 2016 Rev Kathy

I browsed Facebook this morning as I often do. I seriously considered closing my account. Harsh words were sent my way. Presidential candidates appeared on every other post, Supporters touted their candidate while often discrediting and disrespecting those who disagreed with them. Supporters even threatened violence. Poll watchers vowed to be ominously present to intimidate voters. Some people even predicted literal bloodshed after the election. And then there were missing children, reports of sexual assaults, abused animals . . . I could go on and on.

I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends. I enjoy hearing about their lives. But these days, I cannot get beyond the negativity. It makes me want to close my eyes, to disengage completely.

I think the lesson here for me is to take care of my soul and to withdraw from all activities and people who harm my spirit and my heart. It’s not bad advice, to seek those things that uplift us and give us life and to avoid all that sucks the life out of us.

I have always been an engaged person, so the answer for me is not to disengage. But it is to be selective and to focus on the things that nurture my soul. Engaged but not absorbed.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

– Philippians 4:8

Hope

Whispered Hope and Celebration

October 20, 2016 Rev Kathy

Sometimes hope is not big and loud and powerful. Sometimes it is just a whisper in the darkness. Still, whispered hope is enough. It speaks peace to our hearts. It caresses our spirits. It’s presence should cause us to celebrate. No matter what we’re facing, we can celebrate.

I celebrate hope in the laughter of my grandchildren. I celebrate hope in my warm relationship with my husband. I celebrate hope when I receive the gift of another day of life, always mindful that my serious illness could have ended my life. I celebrate the hope I find in Scripture and in hymns.

Whispered hope is most certainly something to celebrate.

Don’t forget that in the midst of all your pain and heartache, you are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of creation, art, music and culture, the sounds of laughter and love, of whispered hopes and celebrations, of new life and transformation, of reconciliation and forgiveness.

—William Paul Young

Darkness, Stars

Looking into the Stars

October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 Rev Kathy

Photograph by NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team and the Westerland 2 Science Team

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde

Students of the stars never run out of interesting information. Astronomers tell us that stars are not spread uniformly across the universe, but are normally grouped into galaxies along with interstellar gas and dust. A typical galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars, and there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

The photo above was taken to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hubble. The super telescope snapped this shot of the Gum 29 nebula and Westerlund 2, a ruby-colored cluster of about 3,000 stars.

Enough of the science. The important thing is how we experience the vastness and beauty of a starry night. Looking up at the stars causes us to lift up our vision, to raise our sight above the mundane things that earth sometimes gives us. The stars sprinkle our darkest nights with twinkles of light. In some ways, starlight brings hope in the midst of darkness. I love the poetry of Sarah Williams. This is what she writes in Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse.

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

Most importantly, the stars remind us of the enormity of the universe, while also reassuring us that as finite as we are, we are a part of God’s infinite creation.

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-5 New International Version (NIV)

Looking up into the stars is a wonderful way to spend a few moments of life. Don’t forget to look up into the sky.

Change

Shaken and Rearranged

October 18, 2016 Rev Kathy

“Human beings, by change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed and rearranged to relocate us to the place we are meant to be. It can be an unpleasant prospect, a life shake up. But we experience them all the time. Shake ups can come with the death of a loved one, an end of a relationship, moving from one place to another, losing a job, serious illness. All of these events, and more, hold the power to shake up and rearrange our lives. They can make us feel completely out of control.

The truth is that we don’t have control in the first place. And sometimes we feel as if our lives are guided by chance, fate, even karma. I prefer to believe that God is in control and that God uses every change to make us stronger and better. I like to think that change renews and rejuvenates, and ultimately, takes me to the place I am meant to be.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

– Jeremiah 29:11

God's Faithfulness, God's presence

God’s Abiding Presence

October 17, 2016 Rev Kathy

Sometimes when I’m in bed at night and sleep won’t come, I sing the words of a hymn to myself. Not to worry, I do not sing aloud so I don’t wake my husband. Last night one of the stanzas of the hymn “Abide with Me” came to mind.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

– Henry F. Lyte, 1847

There is no better balm for my soul than this hymn that is a simple prayer for God’s presence. It is an affirmation of the constant grace of God, through cloud and sunshine. It is an affirmation of God’s protection from the negative powers that can sometimes consume us. The hymn is calming and comforting, a song in the night that helped bring me a peaceful sleep free of fear.

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
– Exodus 33:14

Dreams

How Is Your Vision?

October 16, 2016 Rev Kathy

envious eye

I think a great deal about my vision of life, of the world. Through the years, my vision has been lofty, filled with big dreams and ambitious goals. I saw the best in people. I nurtured within myself noble plans. I reached for grand achievements. I had visions of peace and joy. I believed that I could have a part in changing the world.

These days, not so much. The cynicism of our times has taken its toll. I have allowed what I see around me to guide my thoughts. I have taken in the divisiveness, the violence and the rancor. As a result, my vision has reached into the depths. These days, I wonder if I can make any difference at all. I wonder if I dare to dream again. I wonder if there is any chance that I could have a tiny part in changing the world.

So what has changed? Is it the world or is it me? Have I given in to despondency and skepticism? Have I given up?

George Carlin said, “Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.” Perhaps that describes me. Perhaps I have seen the death of too many dreams and I am left disillusioned.

But I have a notion that as long as we have breath, we must continue to have dreams and visions. Lofty dreams and visions. Dreams and visions that hold the power to change us and change our world. Dreams that will awaken something pure and good within us.

Let us determine that we will never give up on our visions, but that we will go about softly and peaceably being the powerful change-makers we can be.

“The vision of the angels works softy and peaceably, awakening joy and exultation.”

– St. Athanasius, 4th century

Prayer

A Blessing

October 15, 2016 Rev Kathy

In this time of great need for prayer, I’d like to offer one of my favorite blessings.

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

“A New Year Blessing”
Benedictus (To Bless The Space Between Us)

Spiritual growth, Uncategorized

Dust or Clouds

October 14, 2016 Rev Kathy

It’s not always easy to nurture one’s spirituality. Things keep getting in the way, mundane things like cleaning and cooking, shopping and organizing drawers. But the question is, “what activities are spiritual?” Praying? Reading the Bible? Meditating?

Of course, those are the activities we consider to be spiritual, but those who are most acquainted with spirituality would tell us that we can find the spiritual in the ordinary. They would tell us that being mindful of every moment can be a spiritual act, no matter what we’re doing. I like the way Bishop Steven Charleston expresses it.

“Following a spiritual path is walking through the dust more than flying through the clouds.”

Here’s what else he says on the subject.

Sometimes we like to think of the spiritual as something very esoteric or mystical, and sometimes it is. But far more often, the spiritual is the common. It is the everyday. Following a spiritual path is walking through the dust more than flying through the clouds. It is less about what we discover alone on the mountaintop and more about what we share down in the valley. The spiritual is the now. The here. The next choice we make. It is how we behave, how we work, how we take responsibility. What is spiritual is what we practice with reverence and intention. It is what we do in order to become what we want to be.

Dreams, Inspiration

Imagine a World

October 13, 2016October 13, 2016 Rev Kathy

Imagine a world . . .

Where every person is accepted and cherished;

Where faith fills the heart of every person;

Where there is always enough time to watch the stars and listen to the music of the night;

Where there is a sense of calm in every soul;

Where peace reigns in every nation, through every community;

Where we speak to one another with words of kindness and respect;

Where we search for the goodness in every person;

Where we respect and care for the earth;

Where we care for every child;

Where compassion guides our every action;

Where we live as one people, united by lovingkindness.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

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