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A Shared Reflection

In this season of growing darkness, I wanted to share with you the advent reflection that my friend, Susan Wilkes, wrote for St. Stephen’s Church.

Advent Reflection

“Be sure to stand in the fire pit,” my friend, Bob, told me as I was leaving for a pilgrimage to Kildare, the site of Celtic Saint Bridgid’s monastery. Bob had felt a palpable and inexplicable energy when standing in the foundations of Brigid’s ancient fire pit on the Cathedral grounds and wondered if I would feel it too. When I visited, I found the imagery of Brigid’s light everywhere, from the torch in Towne Center to the sculpture at the sacred well of Brigid holding a flame, to the name of the spiritual community there – Solas Bhride, or Brigid’s Light. Standing in the fire pit, I too felt a strong, elemental sense of the divine presence, perhaps because of the devotion of those who maintained the blaze for many centuries and of those who today seek to rekindle the flame.

One of the many legends about Brigid is that she was present at Christ’s birth and, in fact, lit the way with her torch for Mary and Joseph, as the weary travelers entered Bethlehem. Given that she lived in the 5th century, we modern sceptics might dismiss the story as Celtic myth or find our fact-seeking-meters quickly swinging to “mostly false.” But I’m reminded of the saying, “just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

Thinking of the story of Brigid lighting the way as a metaphor, sets me to wondering what she has to teach us about this season before Jesus’ birth. How might we light the way for the in-breaking of the Sacred into our world still today? What does our devotion to tending the eternal flame look like? Do we know that we too carry a torch capable of bringing Light to even the darkest places? If we believe this ancient story is still happening now, what might we do this Advent?

One of my favorite Mary Oliver poems begins with Buddha’s instructions right before he died, to “Make of yourself a light.” The poet is emphasizing how “he might have said anything, knowing it was his final hour” and how through his words she finds herself transformed, “like a million flowers on fire.” The Christian scriptures also give us words about being or shining a light and invite each of us to become more and more of a manifestation of God’s luminous presence. As we light our Advent candles this year, perhaps we each can reflect on how we ourselves are called in ongoing ways, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, to illuminate the way for God’s birth into our world.

Susan Wilkes

Not Always

It’s not always darkest before

the dawn. Just last

night, the dark came

early and spread

its thick blanket over house

and land. But, soon

the moon peeled back

the dark. Tossing

silver light on frost-covered ground,

the bright, full moon

happily stayed

to greet the day.

                                                              JDG

Grief and Gratitude

Out where I live, we prepared as

best we could for

savage winds, downed

power lines, high

water and fallen trees. We came

through unscathed but

when we think of

others not so

fortunate, grief and gratitude

intertwine for

we know things could

have been reversed.

                                                         JDG

Calling All Readers/ Writers

Today, as we were driving to school, two of my granddaughters and I began composing a joint poem. I began with the first line, ” May each of us remove one stone,” and then the wrangling about what should follow began. Sami, who was serving as transcriber, finally became exasperated and wrote:

Every five seconds an editation

is leading me to great frustration.

I hope this will finally come to an end

and I can soon put down my pen.

We decided to invite you, the reader, to weigh in with your suggested follow-up to “May each of us remove one stone…”  and see where that will take us. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

                                                                                                                JDG

A Mother’s Work

For a moment I thought the sign

on the back of

the van ahead

said, “How is my

driving? My mother’s number is … “

This led me to

ponder the many

tasks a mother

has. Even when her kids are grown

and gone, it seems

a mother’s work

is never done.

                                                                           ~JDG

Moonlit Revelry

Out on the lawn the fairies dance

not in squares but

rings. They circle

in and out and

all about the tiny, white-capped

stalks. There they’re joined

in revelry

by others of

their kind, but we are warned to stand

apart lest we

 get snared and dance

our lives away.

                                                  JDG

The Word Went Out

Apparently the word went out

and a critter

council was held,

as it often

is, in the early morning haze.

Crows, woodpeckers

and jays chimed in,

frogs opined, bees

buzzed, dogs barked, and even the cows

agreed – it was

time for the sun

to fully shine.

                                                        JDG

In Time

Sometimes we have to grow into

the words we read.

I remember

puzzling over

Faulkner’s words and asked my teacher

how there could be

such a thing as

victory through

surrender. He paused before he

said, softly, “In

time you will come

to understand.“

                                                         JDG


Namaste

Sunday in the insight meditation practice group facilitated by my friends, Kay and Phil Davidson, Kay read a passage from Mark Nepo’s  THE BOOK OF AWAKENING  in which he says that each of us is born with an unencumbered spot of grace which, in the normal course of things, gets tarnished or covered over.  Occasionally the covering gets worn through and we and others get a glimpse of “that uncorruptible spot of grace at our core.” He goes on to say,”When the covering is worn through, we have moments of enlightenment, moments of wholeness, moments of satori…moments of clear living when inner meets outer, moments of full integrity of being, moments of complete Oneness. And whether the film is a veil of culture, of memory, of mental or religious training, of trauma or sophistication, the removal of that film is the goal of all therapy and education.”

Recently I was fortunate to be in the presence of that unencumbered spot of grace as I witnessed an exchange between two of my granddaughters which I wrote about in my January 31 posting, “Two Poems, One Heart”.   Mark Nepo gave words to what I saw embodied for a moment by these two young girls and reminded me that each of us, at our core, has that same unencumbered, uncorruptible spot of grace. In that moment I was given a tangible experience of what is meant by “namaste”  when “the divine in me bows to the divine in you”.