A Time of New Birth

We live in a country of many different faiths intermingled with people who do not have spiritual beliefs. For most faiths every day is sacred but all faiths have times of special celebrations. For Christians December 25th is one of those times. It is the day that the birth of Jesus the Christ is honored and celebrated.



The crypt (1078 A.D.) beneath the church in Lastingham, England.

 



Raised as a Christian I read as a child about the coming of the wise men and it seemed like a lovely exotic fairy tale. It was many years later that I read the poem "Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot and was astonished by the opening lines, "A hard time we had of it, just the worst time of the year for a journey and such a long journey". The fairy tale image flew out of my brain in a big hurry and I began to try to get my mind around a very different way of looking at the whole thing. The journey towards the new birth as a Christian is a very difficult one, full of hardships, challenging lessons to learn and many failures along the way. Wisdom is hard earned and not easily put into practice. But, as the wise men experienced, when we commit to the journey and keep going, in spite of all the set backs, we know that new birth is possible because we have seen it. With faith and joy they offered precious gifts to honor the birth.

                              

                               Our Christmas freezing rain.

                                                                              

In America, Christmas is often experienced as just one big commercial enterprise and time with family can be challenging and not always the joyful experience that we would like. Making internal and external space to remember and honor the sacredness of this special time takes a thoughtful plan and can be as simple as lighting a candle or saying grace before the meal. For some the spiritual preparation for Christmas is much more extensive and culminates in the joy of being with a community of faith for the midnight service on Christmas Eve. Whatever you choose allow yourself to consider that the external New Birth can reflect and assist in the internal New Birth. So open your heart and mind to embrace the new life that this special sacred time invites us to welcome.             

REAR VIEW MIRROR

ERIC'S BLOG

 

Rear View Mirror

 

Sometimes healing is slow

We focus on what is not healed

 

Sometimes we see only those task before us

Not what we have accomplished

 

Looking back

Helps see the progress

 

And experience the

Joy of the moment.

 

A friend of mine, Ken Kaminsky, gave me this image of the rear view mirror. My wife has suffered from a broken ankle (hardware and pins galore) and then broken ribs. Progress was slow especially what was still missing in recovery. Looking back on casts, crutches and commode was beneficial.

 

Furthermore, sometimes we only see the tasks that face us and ignore those that we have accomplished.

 

Looking back in that rear view mirror can help all of us see progress in healing and progress in achieving. 

Coming to America

Lesley's Blog

On 7/7/77 I left my homeland of Britain and emigrated to the United States of America. Unlike other immigrants, I was moving to a country where I could speak the language and would be welcomed by a loving, supportive community. Although money was tight initially, we certainly did not have to be concerned about how we were going to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. I did have some things to learn, like driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but the learning curve was not steep and the adjustment did not take long. At first making regular phone calls and returning to Britain for a visit were not possible but it was not many years before that changed and I was able to talk to and see my family regulary, diminishing some of the pain of separation.

I often reflect, even after so many years, on how difficult it must be for immigrants who arrive with little of no knowledge of the language and who come from cultures very different from here. The bravery that it takes to survive and hopefully eventually thrive under such circumstances is to me unimaginable. For those people who come as refugees, fleeing from war or persecution and the threat of death, often leaving everything behind and arriving with massive posttraumatic stress and little else, my admiration is even greater.

Whatever the circumstances, the promise of a new life is tempered by a deep sense of loss. There is the loss of country, the land that was our home and is embedded deep on our heart, the loss of culture, the loss of family and friends and a familiar way of life with all its complexities.

Much as my life in the United States has been very positive, I still miss my homeland. I miss family and ways of daily living that are different from my life here and I miss the land itself. It is not that I feel it is better, just different and I miss it.

Humans have always moved beginning with their origins in Africa from where our ancestors slowly but relentlessly moved to all areas of the globe. Eventually there was no more "empty space" that was habitable and inevitably this ongoing movement resulted sadly in conflict. We all know the rhetoric that "America is built on immigrants" and part of that is true but only because the indigenous population (whose ancestors had also emigrated from somewhere else at some unknown time) had not grown sufficiently in numbers that the immigrants (who were from many countries) were not considered by the immigrants themselves to be an equivalent of an invading nation. And of course, the Native American nations fought amongst each other so that groups were forced to move depending on their relative strengths.

For many immigrants, especially in past centuries, coming to America required an amazing amount of courage, strength and perseverence as hardship was rampant and "success" did not come easily. Often it was only the next generation who benefited from the hard work and suffering of the initial immigrants.

In the United Kingdom, the Irish potato famine resulted in thousands of starving and poverty stricken individuals leaving Ireland to arrive in America without resources or job skills. Equally as devastating were the clearances in Scotland. Just like in America when settlers wanted the land and cleared the local populations of Native tribes, sending them to designated areas by such means as "The Trail of Tears", so the English landlords cleared the land of families who had farmed there for generations. Emigration was one of the few options available to those destitute souls but the price for many was their lives. Some of the boats became known as "coffin" ships, overloaded with immigrants and with limited supplies, so that disease and death were rampant. Even if you survived the journey you might be refused entry because of illness or robbed of what little you had either on the boat or when you landed. And so it continues today, people suffering hardship and risking death to come to America to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones.  

Eric's grandparents emigrated from Poland and like many sons and daughters of immigrants in those days, his father was determined to learn the new ways and forget the old. Although that is understandable, it resulted for Eric in a loss of much of his cultural heritage and a complete disconnection from any family who remained in the "old country".

Fortunately, things are changing and now there is an increased acceptance and interest in cultural history which continues to enrich our society, adding to the riches already bestowed on this country  by millions of immigrants from every corner of the globe. 

I know that there is now a lot of controversy about immigration, fears that it is out of control and something needs to be done. It is a difficult, complex and thorny issue and of course everyone has different views. I certainly am not suggesting that I have the corner on rightness or truth. But my dearest wish, as an immigrant, is that whatever is done is based on decisions from the heart and not from a stance of fear or scarsity.  





     

Harvest Festival

Lesley's Blog

Having come from Britain, the American celebration of Thanksgiving still doesn't quite resonate for me. My ancesters did not buck the system apparently and stayed put.

However, as a child, I remember that in the Autumn the Harvest Festival was celebrated and we gave thanks. The church was decorated with beautiful vegetables and luscious fruits, the very best of the final produce of the harvest. Delicious homemade chutneys and jams and late flowering plants added to the splendor of the display.  

We gave thanks for the abundance of the earth which had provided us with bountiful sustenance and prayed for the harvest in the coming year. I suspect that not everyone, on any given year, was quite on the same page regarding the degree of bountifulness but nonetheless we all acknowledged the miracle of the blessing of food and water from the earth. It was a joyful time but turkey and pumpkin pie were not part of the agenda.

As we give thanks this year for our lives, the lives of our loved ones and the gifts we have received throughout the year, maybe we can also add prayers for the earth. Whether or not you consider global climate changes a belief or a scientific reality, it is clear that humans have had impacts on this beautiful and vulnerable planet we call home, that have produced significant changes, mostly not for the better. According to most scientific research the changes are occuring at a greater pace than originally predicted.

If you are anything like me, I find myself oscillating between despair and denial. I want to do something but often have no idea what to do and where to start. Sometimes, for example when I read about the amazing projects that the Nature Conservancy are involved in, I feel a modicum of hope. So, maybe we can all open our hearts, this Thanksgiving, to how each of us can do our little bit to bring some healing to our precious earth. We owe it to the earth, to ourselves and our children and grandchildren need us to leave for them a better place to live and thrive.   



  

THANKFULNESS

ERIC'S BLOG

Thankfulness

 

Being thankful

For the beauty of the flowers

For the roof over my head

For the food on the table

For the dogs wagging their tails

Helps me enjoy the world

 

Saying "thank you" to you

For the laundry you do

For the meals you prepare

For the way you listen

For all the ways you support me

Helps me appreciate you

 

Being thankful and saying "thank you"

Bonds us in joy.

 

 

I wrote this about a year ago and many of you will have received it then but it has not been an official part of our blog. Being thankful is a special part of Thanksgiving but it is also a special part of our daily lives. When we recognize beauty or support from others we acknowledge joy for ourselves and give appreciation to others. By simply saying "thank you" we magnify our joy.

Money

MONEY

 

How much

Is good enough

 

How much

Do I really need

 

I've been saving

A good part of my life

Now I can spend

 

How much money

is good enough to

Spend and to save

 

 

I have developed a habit of saving money a good part of my life. It has been beneficial. Cars, house and all of my "things" are paid for and there is enough  for my retirement years.

 

However, when it comes to spending "savings" I often feel I am doing something "wrong". It goes against the habit I have evolved for many years. It is time for a new habit but it is hard to establish it.

 

Recently in a counseling session I worked with an older couple who were trying to decide whether they could afford to make a significant purchase for their garden. They had been saving almost 50 years together and accummulated plenty of money for their retirement years. But spending money was simply not a habit for them. Clearly they had money to spend but now were handicapped by their habit of always putting money away. It was clear to me and them that they needed a new habit and I believe I do too.

 

In contrast, some people have the opposite habit of spending and not saving. They too need to develop new habits in order to manage their financial lives effectively. It is all about balance.  

Fireflies

Lesley's Blog

On a summer night this year I watched the fireflies in the backyard. There were just a few of them flashing points of light, seemingly at random.

At this phase of my life I am once again struggling to find my spiritual path, longing for more "meaning" in my life - whatever that means! I would love it if the Divine Energy would join the computer age and send me a detailed e-mail explaining the missions that I still need to complete and how to go about doing that. But I would settle for some "writing on the wall" in conjunction with a huge search light showing me the exact direction I am to "walk".

It seems though that the help I get is more like the fireflies - a little flash here and a little flash there. Points of light let me know that I am not alone and watching the fireflies reminds that our path is not a straight line. Sometimes the fireflies do not visit my back yard and yet I know that they are still somewhere. They have not disappeared. And so it is with guidance. It is never as complete or definitive as we would like, it comes in flashes and then so often seems to disappear. But faith lets us know that it will return to reassure and lead us once again. I give thanks for that.

So I will do my best to be patient, to follow the flashes leading the way, and to have faith that the light will always be there but maybe not on my timetable.