Seeking Authentic Voice

When I was studying to be a massage therapist in 1991 we learned about the autonomic nervous system in our bodies. This is the system that works without our conscious effort - breathing, blood pressure, digestion, for example. The autonomic nervous system is where we feel anxiety and experience the fight or flight impulses.  A massage therapist taught a class on her work, which was offering massages to nuns and other women who had been brutally tortured in Nicaragua during the conflict in that country in the 1980’s. She spoke about the need to go very slow, to help the woman with her breath, and to help her learn to receive healing touch instead of violence. It was a long slow process.  Yesterday I listened to an OnBeing interview between Krista Tippett and a clinical social worker who works with trauma. His hame is Resmaa Manakem and he works in Minneapolis.  His work is heart work.  He spoke about how trauma influences people in our bodies and ...

On Thursday night a group of us in Dearborn participated in a conversation led by myself and other members of the Dearborn Area Interfaith Network on the Reconstruction Era, the post civil war years of 1865-1877. We watched videos on the history of that time and talked about how the issues of those years are still the issues of today: how racism is forming and informing everything from family life to church communities to schools, and the government.  We planned this event last fall, never anticipating the state of affairs we find ourselves living in now. Although the conversation was somewhat of an intellectual exercise, staying in the head instead of the heart, it pointed out the need for white people to know our history, and to do our work to change,  so we can stop repeating our long history of racism and violence toward black and brown people.  This week Krista Tippet, in her show On Being, interviewed Resmaa Manakem, a black therapist in Minneapolis who stu...

Today is Trinity Sunday. It always follows the Sunday of Pentecost, and it launches the long Season after Pentecost, also known as “Ordinary Time” which continues through November, until Advent begins. To help us understand a bit about the complex nature of trying to explain the Trinity, one God in three persons, I’m starting with a few riddles You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I? (History)  You can see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I? (A reflection) I am a ship that can be made to ride the greatest waves. I am not built by tool, but built by hearts and minds. What am I? (Friendship) What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? (Human beings) What is the sound of one hand clapping? Okay. The last one, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” is a spiritual question. Unlike a riddle, a spiritual question, known as  a “K...

Years ago one of my favorite articles in the NY Times Magazine was “On Language,” written by the late William Safire. One Sunday, back in 2008, Safire wrote an article on the word “Wackadoodle.” Have you ever used wackadoodle in a sentence? Well, Safire stated that it’s become quite a popular word.  Safire quotes examples of a well known pastor being called a wackadoodle, a state legislator being labeled a wackadoodle for some of his beliefs and public statements, as well as Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise being called wackadoodles.  Safire defines Wackadoodle, its an adjective and takes its first syllable from wacky – that is, ‘far-out, eccentric, off the wall’ possibly from ‘out of whack.’ The doodle ending means “simpleton” and has its roots in the term Yankee Doodle. Today, Trinity Sunday, has reminded me of Safire’s article and the word wackadoodle. Perhaps my thought process makes sense to you? I mean the Christian understanding of God in three persons can ...

 A reflection on the readings for Trinity Sunday with a Baptism.... Over the last couple of weeks I have spent every spare moment gardening. I planted my vegetable garden. I worked with other parishioners to plant the ground cover in our new pet memorial garden. We also planted flowers in the planters around the labyrinth. I weeded the front and side yards of the Rectory. I pulled out dozens of maple tree saplings that popped up like popcorn.   I pulled up clover and a lot of grass growing into the landscaped beds.  Despite the fact that the last two nights of frost may have killed off my newly planted basil, zucchini and cucumbers, overall I think plants are incredible hardy – most of the new planting survived!   Plants are seemingly careless in their abundance, prolific in their wild abandoned state, plants of all kinds grow anywhere there is a little soil, water, and sun.     This time of year, all over the deck in the backyard of t...