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Category: Spiritual Life

Watching, Waiting, Hoping

Sat, December 8, 2018 Published by

Advent, which we now find ourselves in the middle of, is without doubt my favorite season of the year. Described by the poet Malcolm Guite as “a season for stillness, for quiet, for discernment … for active waiting, straining forward and listening”, Advent brings into sharp focus the advantages of learning to wait well and to exhibit patience whenever we can. We open the doors of our Advent calendars or light the candles of our Advent wreaths, with each being another step on a challenging journey of waiting. The whole idea is, according to the Prophet Isaiah, that by waiting well our inner strength is renewed by the time the Christmas festivities begin.
Learning to wait effectively is never easy no matter where we are on life’s journey. In our increasingly digital age, being patient and learning to wait is made more difficult each day. We don’t have time anymore to wait. Waiting is seen almost exclusively as a bad thing. Perhaps as a reaction to this, a British restaurant chain is currently trialing an initiative encouraging families to hand in their cell phones before being shown to their seats. The idea is to encourage people to view the time spent waiting for their food as an opportunity to talk to one another, to engage with one another, to listen to each other. The need to provide and receive an instantaneous reply to our wants and needs seems to be encroaching on all aspects of our lives, as is our need for speed in all things and our impatience when we are left waiting. It would appear as though waiting time is now wasting time.
Yet this season of Advent, when our eyes and ears are surrounded by all the glitz and glitter, with all the pressure and sales-hype and the stresses on our schedules and the wallets, it is good to pause. To be still. To wait. Of course, the partying and celebrations are wonderful things, and there is great joy to be had in the real meetings of faith and friendship in these days, but whilst Advent is still Advent, it’s good to keep a quiet space, a sacred time, a sanctuary away from the pressures, to be still and to listen to how God is speaking to each of us. That is the Advent challenge. *

Holidays and Empty Chairs

Sun, December 2, 2018 Published by

‘Tis the season to surround ourselves with friends and family, count our blessings and enjoy the excuse to overindulge in food.  It is a time to take inventory and acknowledge all that is good and sweet and right.  It is about celebrating presence but sometimes what this season is marked by more than anything else—is absence. Pastor John Pavlovitz writes: “Surrounded by noise and activity and life, your eyes and your heart can’t help but drift to that quiet space that now remains unoccupied: the cruel vacancy of the empty chair.  The empty chair is different for everyone, though it is equally intrusive. For some it is a place of a vigil; the persistent hope of a prodigal returning, of a severed tie to soon be repaired, of a long overdue reunion to come. It is a place of painful but patient waiting for what is unlikely, yet still possible.  For some, the chair is a memorial; the stark reminder of what was and no longer is, of that which never will be again. It is a household headstone where we eulogize and grieve and remember; a face we squint to see, a hand we stretch to hold, a voice we strain to hear. This may be the first time the chair has been empty for you, or you may have grown quite accustomed to the subtraction. Either way it hurts.”

I know that hurt as do you.  My father died twenty-one years ago on November 25th, so when my family gathers around the Thanksgiving table every year we are acutely aware of the empty chair which he filled.  The holidays are supposed to be filled with celebration, joy and peace but often they have a way of magnifying loss; reminding us of our incompleteness, our lack, our mourning.  The lessons that the empty chair teaches us are about living in the moment and being thankful for what we have, and about growing through our struggles.  Sometimes we acquire that wisdom and find that healing in our own way and in our own time and sometimes we don’t.  Life is unpredictable and messy that way.  In some way during the holidays, we all sit together gathered around this same incomplete table and one thing we can offer one another is our compassionate presence in the face of the terrible absence.  Pavlovitz suggests that “in this season each of us learns to have fellowship with sadness, to celebrate accompanied by sorrow. This is the paradox of loving and being wounded simultaneously.”  May we each make peace with the holidays and the empty chairs.*

Finding Healing in Our Scars

Sun, November 25, 2018 Published by

This past week the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, celebrated his 70th birthday. I was reading an interview with The Prince which quoted him as saying that his birthday had brought him to the realization that he had reached a Biblical threshold, referring to the 90th Psalm: “The days of our age are threescore years and ten”. In reflecting on his own aging, Prince Charles described himself as having being prompted to examine “the scars’ of life which in different ways we all bear”. Those scars are perhaps the memories of things we wish we hadn’t done but can’t now do much about. Perhaps they are thoughts of things which we now wish we had done, apologies that we wish we had made, things left unsaid.

Many of Charles’ scars have been born under public scrutiny, and although the same cannot be said for most of us, none of us are impervious to picking up a few scars and scrapes along the way.

Reflecting on a similar theme, columnist Alexandra Heather Foss, wrote recently “I struggle because huge chunks of my life have not been beautiful. They have been ugly, marred by trauma, with pain, and anger… however I see beauty in the grace point between what hurts and what heals, between the shadow of tragedy and the light of joy. That way I find beauty and healing in my scars. We all have scars, inside and out. We have freckles from sun exposure, emotional trigger points, broken bones, and broken hearts. We have lived, and have the marks to prove it.”

Prince Charles was clearly mindful of a similar sentiment as he celebrated his threescore years and ten, but the ninetieth psalm which he quoted goes on to include a prayer following that reflection; ‘So teach us to number our days: that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom’.

As we all continue on our journey of life and take our own next steps in the pilgrimage of aging, let us all join in that prayer. As we number our days may we be mindful of our scars and discern in them opportunities for healing and growth as we reflect on how to apply our hearts unto wisdom.*

The Quiet Place

Sun, November 18, 2018 Published by

The Spiritual Life Department invites you to come and discover our new room that is dedicated to meditation and reflection.  As resident Irene Cool shares, “It is for those who need a few minutes to be alone with whomever they believe to be their Supreme Being…..or to just be alone for that matter.  It is for the ones who take care of others until sometimes they feel tired and overwhelmed.  It is for you and me to simply have a placebo reflect on the presence of the Holy Spirit with quiet concentration. It is for those who ask for divine inspiration and guidance on how to provide for others in their different stages of need and only have a few minutes to do that.  It is a praying place.”  It is a place which will engage your senses or allow you time to enjoy the silence. It is a place to escape from or escape to.

You ask, “Where is this place?”  It may take a little intention to find it but once you find the Life Center you are very close.  You can get to it from within the Life Center and there is also an outside entrance. Once you are in the Life Center you will see double doors up front on the left and the Quiet Place is through those doors.  For now it will be open 8:30AM to 2:30PM but we are working on making it available for more hours.  Come find Chaplain Andrew, me, or our Admin.Assistant, Kimberly, whose office is across from The Quiet Place and we will be happy to help you find it.  Resident shave been asking for this kind of space for quiet and reflection for a longtime and we are happy to have it available now. *

Dream Lofty Dreams

Sun, November 11, 2018 Published by

There was a prophetic ring to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final article, written before his murder and published two weeks later.

His death has sparked global condemnation and a conversation over the importance of a free press and the right to free speech, and so it was particularly apt that his final comments referred to another journalist, currently imprisoned for making comments which displeased his nation’s government.

“Such actions,” Khashoggi wrote, “no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. Instead, they may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence.” There has certainly been justifiable condemnation over Khashoggi’s death, but how quickly that condemnation is indeed followed by silence as the news media moves on to the next story.

Prophetic voices, those people who are called to draw into sharp focus the injustices and wrongs of their times are rarely welcomed. “They tell the prophets to keep quiet. They say, ‘Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our illusions’”, wrote Isaiah in the Old Testament.

Martin Luther King’s observation can continue to haunt us with its poignancy: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” Dr King leads us to ask of ourselves; what value is our initial indignation at a wrong if our concern wains as the wind?

In our defense, we may often feel that the concerns of the world and the desire for us to keep a focus on those in need is simply overwhelming. Perhaps we would do well then to also keep in mind the thoughts of Methodist preacher and broadcaster Colin Morris; “being finite and fitfully loving humans, we can only really feel for a few…Only God can love them all. The most we can do is to take hold of the near edge of one of these great issues and seek to act at some cost to ourselves.”

May we be prophetic voices for the great issues and causes of our hearts, calling others to hear words of truth and to advance the causes of justice and joy. May we all yearn to advance the dreams of hope and peace as the philosopher James Allen once remarked;

“dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil”.*

Prayers for Pittsburgh

Sun, November 4, 2018 Published by

Last Sunday, as the afternoon sun shone through the Tree of Life stained glass window in the Life Center, we who had gathered for worship remembered those who had also gathered for worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and we mourned for the eleven who were gunned down in their holy house. Our hearts reach out to our Jewish brothers and sisters and all of those who are grieving, who are scared, or angry, and we are called to rise up and resist evil with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We are called to confront the hate within and without that is overtaking our land.  We pray for an outpouring of compassion and love to overwhelm the violence and hate which festers, destroys, and kills. There were many remembrances and vigils which took place locally as wells around the world.  Nancy Splain, our Interfaith Outreach Ambassador, who attended the vigil at Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center Tuesday night shared that there were several hundred in attendance and over thirty clergy as well. It was a powerful call to civility, respect and speaking up whenever any are marginalized whether Jew, Sikh, migrant, immigrant, refugee, Black, LGBTQ,regardless of religious faith or ethnicity. An attack on one faith community is an attack on all faith communities.We stand together.  We are stronger than hate.  Here at the campus we recommitted to live out Our Promise: to welcome all people including outreach to Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and others faiths, as well as those with no connection to a faith community.  We value the diversity of all regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin,disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.  Recognizing that we have work to do we have formed a Diversity and Inclusion Action Council made of residents and staff committed to this work and we welcome your thoughts, your prayers, and your participation.  This community will continue to be a voice of love and inclusion and our deeply divided and troubled world needs that now more than ever until the day when there are no more Pittsburgh’s, or Orlando’s, or Ferguson’s, Las Vegas’s, or Sandy Hook’s.*Last Sunday, as the afternoon sun shone through the Tree of Life stained glass window in the Life Center, we who had gathered for worship remembered those who had also gathered for worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and we mourned for the eleven who were gunned down in their holy house. Our hearts reach out to our Jewish brothers and sisters and all of those who are grieving, who are scared, or angry, and we are called to rise up and resist evil with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are called to confront the hate within and without that is overtaking our land. We pray for an outpouring of compassion and love to overwhelm the violence and hate which festers, destroys, and kills. There were many remembrances and vigils which took place locally as well as around the world. Nancy Splain, our Interfaith Outreach Ambassador, who attended the vigil at Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center Tuesday nite shared that there were several hundred in attendance and over thirty clergy as well. It was a powerful call to civility, respect and speaking up whenever any are marginalized whether Jew, Sikh, migrant, immigrant, refugee, Black, LGBTQ, regardless of religious faith or ethnicity. An attack on one faith community is an attack on all faith communities. We stand together. We are stronger than hate. Here at the campus we are committed to live out Our Promise: to welcome all people including outreach to Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and others faiths, as well as those with no connection to a faith community. We value the diversity of all regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. Recognizing that we have work to do we have formed a Diversity and Inclusion Action Council made of residents and staff committed to this work and we welcome your thoughts, your prayers, and your participation. This community will continue to be a voice of love and inclusion and our deeply divided and troubled world needs that now more than ever until the day when there are no more Pittsburgh’s, or Orlando’s, or Ferguson’s, Las Vegas’s, or Sandy Hook’s.*

Moving Offices

Sun, October 28, 2018 Published by

In a letter written in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote that “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Franklin popularized that idiom, which has oft been used ever since, but recently I have been aware of another inescapable aspect of life – moving house. Some of us have moved internationally. Perhaps others have been deployed at a moments notice to a place hitherto unknown. Some will have lived in places for many years, others have moved around more frequently. Whatever our individual experiences, we all know something of the experience of packing up, sorting out, moving boxes filled with our treasures; and then doing it all again in reverse. In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes… and moving. All of the moves that I have made have been times of excitement amidst change, and that is certainly true of this latest one, which has been taking place this week.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that there have been some changes in where you can now find the members of the Spiritual Life Department.

Chaplain Peggy has moved into her new office on the ground floor of Plaza View (Assisted Living), Chaplain Andrew will be moving from his current office (next to the Life Center) into Peggy’s old office (just East of the Boardrooms), and Kimberly (our Spiritual Life Department Administrative Assistant) will be moving into Andrew’s old office. Following the feedback which we have heard from residents, desiring a space for quiet contemplation and prayer, Kimberly’s office will become our new Meditation Space. Our telephone numbers and extensions will be remaining the same. We are all excited about these moves, and particularly about having a more permanent presence among our Assisted Living residents and staff.

We look forward to continuing to serve you in whatever ways we can from our new locations, as well as seeing familiar and new faces at our doors. Come and visit us!*

Naps of the Bible

Sun, October 21, 2018 Published by

Recently I found myself saying to Chaplain Andrew that “I would sleep on it and give him the decision in the morning.” Something was still unsettled in my mind and I knew that I needed time and the renewal of sleep to make the best decision.  It is amazing and often disconcerting how the mind keeps working when it is supposed to be resting.  Sometimes my most creative sermon writing comes when I’m napping or sleeping.  It’s taken awhile for me to learn the advantages of napping.  Taking a power nap is tricky though, it can’t be too long because then I feel groggy for the rest of the day, an hour or so usually seems about right.  I remember times when I laid down to take a quick cat nap and woke up hours later.  Studies have shown that power naps can boost your memory, cognitive skills, creativity, mood and energy level!

Rev. Maren Tirabassi is a U.C.C. pastor in New Hampshire and she has written a delightful piece on naps in the Bible. She says, “Jacob ran, scared to death of his brother Esau who was … huge. Exhausted in the wilderness, he put his head on a rock and dreamed a legislature of angels. Jacob woke knowing God was in every scary place or runaway journey, but only because sleep gave the dreaming a chance. Joseph of Nazareth planned to send away his beloved Mary, because that’s how being hurt and angry works. Then he decided to sleep on it, and the rest was … well, Christmas! Jesus was taking a power nap in the boat between healings and teachings when a storm blew up. They had to shake him awake before he could say “peace, be still.” Only later he complained, “O you of little naps …”  And that’s not mentioning Nebuchadnezzar’s nightmare of conscience, Jonah’s snooze below decks before taking responsibility for his actions, the warning to the magi that there is always another way home, or the raising of Eutychus, the teenager who fell out the window reminding us that long sermons can be a form of melatonin.

Long ago and this week, the chance to actually experience a dream of hope, the pause that shifts an emotion-driven decision, the renewal of strength and faith to face any storm—they all come from sleep. Sleep gives energy, focus, creativity. Sleep weaves the frayed memory, improves the unreliable temper, and always makes working with the ragtag, clueless, practically disciple-esque folks in our resistance possible.”

When all else fails sometimes it’s best to just take a nap.*

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Sun, October 14, 2018 Published by

Each year a team of people working for Webster’s Dictionary meet to decide which new words to add to their latest edition. They apparently make their selections based partly upon these questions: is the word in widespread use? Does it have staying power, or is it a passing fad?

Recent new inclusions include the words hangry (becoming bad tempered as a result of being hungry), newsjacking (the practice of aligning a brand with a current event in an attempt to generate media attention and boost the brand’s exposure) and Kompromat (compromising information collected for use in blackmailing, usually for a political purpose).

The words which we choose to use matter. The usage and creation of new words often reflects the preoccupations and values of a culture. I wonder then what these words say about our culture?

This year a group of people involved in peacebuilding have proposed that the word peacebuilding be given a dictionary definition. It seems reasonable they argue, that the activities of the many people around the world who are committed to the prevention of conflict and the promotion of a lasting peace be included in the dictionary alongside warmongers, firebrands and rabble-rousers. In 1992, the UN defined peacebuilding, alongside peacekeeping and peacemaking (both already in the dictionary), as a distinct and essential means to helping war-torn societies transition from violence to peace.

Peacebuilding is, by its nature, an unheralded and hidden activity. It is a word which describes something which is difficult, something that requires stamina and patience, and there are particular dispositions found in those called to that work, whom the prophet Isaiah called “repairers of the breach”.

One such peacebuilder, Martin Luther King, once said that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” Others today endorse that hopeful trajectory with statistics suggesting that a less violent humanity is evolving. I pray for that to be true. If it is, then we are going to need even more peacemakers to keep us on track.

We live in a time of great verbal as well as physical violence. And verbal aggression is often a precursor to physical. Our words do matter. Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers.” And I believe that, and ask your prayers for all involved in that effort, but we must also remember that the inheritors of peace are also blessed. We may not live our lives in that awareness, but we are blessed in this country by an inheritance of a peace built upon the efforts of others who have tried to weave together the fabric of a diverse and free society to create something whole.

Perhaps we need a new word which more fully acknowledges that, and perhaps we also need to acknowledge that we are all called to be peacemakers, peacebuilders and peacekeepers today so that those who follow us can inherit the same.*

Entertaining Angels

Sun, October 7, 2018 Published by

Would you think your Chaplain a bit looney if I tell you I believe in angels? I believe that God is an active presence in the world and I am persuaded that angels are not just a figment of an overactive imagination.  Rather than it being an ever-shrinking area, the bounds of spiritual experience continue to expand for me as I get older. I have listened to an increasing number of people who hesitantly shared an other-worldly experience with me so I know those mystical experiences are real. Studies have found that 77% of people believe in angels. It seems like there has always been a fascination with the subject of angels. We have seen countless books, movies, television shows, songs, paintings and a host of other things that emphasize the existence and presence of heavenly beings. The collectibles industry in particular has gotten in on this big time, and there are all kinds of pictures,  statues, ornaments and other likenesses of angels to be found.

Angels are part of almost every religion and generally seem to have the role of messenger. Many traditions believe in guardian angels who serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to and present prayer to God on that person’s behalf. In the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” an angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. Remember Clarence? Every time a bell rings, an angel gets it’s wings. There are four visitations of angels associated with the birth of Jesus. The great musicians of the world have used angels in their compositions. Most familiar is probably from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, When at Night I Go to Sleep, fourteen angels watch do keep.  Handel includes an aria with these words: “Angels, ever bright and fair, take, oh take me to your care.” And children love the spiritual, All Night, All Day, angels watching over me my Lord.

The book of Hebrews says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” The angels around us may not look like what we expect. We never know to whom we are talking, whom we are welcoming or turning away, to whom we are offering a much needed embrace or a cold shoulder, for the strangers who come into our lives come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and conditions.*

Blessed Be the Work of Our Hands

Sun, September 2, 2018 Published by

This is the week in our country set aside for Labor Day, that time when we are to honor the labor movement in America and reflect upon work and its significance.  My first job was working in the accounting department of a large law firm in San Francisco and then out of college I worked as a cast technician in an orthopedist’s office.  After much discernment I came to understand that with the gifts and skills that God has given me my work was to be as a minister.  Each of us devotes our life to certain labors, there are those who work in offices and warehouses, in stores or factories, those who work in the home raising a family; those who buy and sell; those who work by strength of arm or skill of hand; those who teach and those who govern.  Every day I see the laborers here on campus cutting grass, painting walls, serving food, emptying garbage, washing laundry, answering phones, holding hands, teaching classes and I am reminded that the psalmist prayed: “Bless the work of our hands, O Lord.” The work of our hands doesn’t stop when we retire for we still labor to care for others, care for the earth, and live out our God-given purpose.  Every day I see your labors serving others and serving this community in countless ways.  This week let us show honor and appreciation for the work of the hands around us, and let us also be thoughtful of those who are unable to work through disability or unemployment. May the Holy Spirit bless all our labors. 

Blessed be the hands that touch young lives – babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Blessed be the hands that embrace others with compassion.

Blessed be the hands that administer medicine, give aspirin, bandage wounds.

Blessed be the hands that prepare meals.

Blessed be the hands that wash dishes, clean floors, arrange flowers.

Blessed be the hands that anoint the sick and offer blessings.

Blessed be the hands that grow stiff with age.

Blessed be the hands that comfort the dying and have held the dead.

Blessed be the hands that capture a memory in art and poetry and song.

Blessed be the hands that guide the young.

Blessed be the hands that greet strangers.

Blessed be the hands that learn the way of justice.

Blessed be the hands that fill out applications, write papers, carry books, send e-mails.

Blessed be the hands that receive and sort information, and hands that determine budgets.

Blessed be the hands; we hold the future in these hands.

Blessed be our hands, for they are the work of your hands, O Holy One. AMEN.*

Leaning Back in Our Seats

Sun, August 26, 2018 Published by

Flying back from my vacation this week I saw three kinds of behavior when the seatbelt light was turned off. Some people pushed their seat back immediately with an air of entitlement. Some sat bolt upright throughout the journey. Others appeared to wait until they were ready to go to sleep, and before reclining looked over the back of their seat and sometimes spoke to the person behind, before deciding what to do.

An aircraft cabin is a microcosm, a sealed community brought together for a few hours. It is a snapshot of life, a good study of our increasingly individualized society dominated by a push for the priority of individual rights over those of a larger group. I spent eleven hours musing on this while my legs were pinned against the reclined seat in front of me. I could almost hear the person in front thinking “I can push my seat back because I have a right to do so: if it cramps you, then pass on the pain and push your seat back into the person behind.” As the British would say ‘I’m alright Jack, so pull up the ladder’. In other words; I’m okay- never mind the rest!

Our rights of determination and ability to make independent choices and are important ones, however God didn’t create a world filled with the diversity and wonder of humanity for us to ignore each other, or for us to focus only on enforcing our own individual rights to the detriment of others.

Its difficult though isn’t it. I will admit it. I too reclined my seat, and by doing so probably squashed the person behind me. Thinking beyond the example of the airplane however, it is important for us to all recognize that the lives we lead and the choices we make have an impact on others. When our choice is one of whether to recline our plane seat, the impact is minor, however the crisis comes when we apply that same logic to issues that affect our wider society or global community.

There are often a whole host of reasons that we narrate in order to convince ourselves and others that we are helpless to make a choice which is mindful of the needs of others. We have all played semantics when it comes to loving our neighbor, and living our lives in ways that is mindful of others. It is easy to say “Jesus says that we are to love our neighbor, but he wouldn’t have said that if he had met my neighbor!”

How many times do we simply refuse to look at the effects and impacts of the decisions we make, simply because it is easier to do so? I am sure that many of you have read in the news recently stories of huge islands of plastic waste floating around the world’s oceans, and have heard estimates stating that 100 million marine animals die each year because of that pollution. Has there been an uprising of the masses in response to such a shameful failure in our stewardship of creation? Or is it easier to look the other way, regardless of the impact that our choices?

We all have different ideas about how and why we came to share this world. Perhaps we can all agree that if we see other human beings not simply as an obstacle to the full exercise of our own rights, our relationship with others can be the starting point for our own spiritual and ethical development. Let’s not simply lean back in our seats regardless.*

Opportunities to get Involved

Sun, August 19, 2018 Published by

Multi-Faith Food Drive and Native American Film and Drumming

The Beatitudes Campus has always been a place where residents continue to learn and grow, and participate fully in the wider community. There are some events coming up over the next few weeks that offer you the chance for just that.

The first event coming up is a food drive sponsored by friends of Campus, the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona (ISBA) founded by Azra Hussain. It has been an honor to participate in food drives with ISBA in the past as they strive to heal and help those in the community.

This Multi-Faith 9/11 Food Drive is a way to honor those who died on 9/11/2001 by bringing people of many religious traditions, ethnicities and ages together to care for those in need in our community.  Both residents and employees are encouraged to participate in the food drive.

Labeled food donation boxes will be set up in the lounges of the apartment buildings around campus. We are asking for peanut butter and tuna only to be donated as these are items that are always in need at local food shelters. Simply place your donations of peanut butter and/or tuna in these boxes when it is convenient for you between Monday, August 20 and Sunday, September 9. 

Another way you can support this food drive is by making a monetary donation in cash or check. If by check, make it out to Beatitudes Campus and on the memo line (at the lower left-hand corner of your check), write “Food Drive”. You can drop off your monetary donation to Chaplain Peggy’s office or call Nancy Splain at x18484, or Kimberly Bravo at x18465 to coordinate drop off/pick up of your donation.

Last year we were able to assist two different local food banks through your generosity.

Another event coming up is a screening of the short film, “We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” – Hopi Prayer and Prophecy brought to Campus by award winning documentary filmmaker Fidel Moreno. Fidel is a water and peace activist who identifies as Huichol, Yoeme and Mexican-American. He will also be able to give us an update on the happenings at and his participation in the gathering at Standing Rock regarding protection of our water resources.  Following the viewing of his film we will have the unique opportunity to witness and participate in traditional Native American healing chants and drumming. Mark your calendars for Friday, August 31 at 2:00 p.m. in the Life Center for this unique, inspiring and educational experience.

Our outside community is a blessing to us by offering these amazing opportunities to serve and grow and by allowing us the gift to be a blessing in return.*

On Children

Sun, August 12, 2018 Published by

On August 22nd my husband and I will be taking our daughter Maddie up to Northern Arizona University to begin college.  There have been many plans and preparations throughout her senior year as she diligently applied to various colleges and scholarships and took all the required preparatory exams.  Then came the BIG decision—which college will it be?  When she decided on NAU there was momentary relief that the decision was made and then the next stage of preparations began as we learned about all that she needs to bring with her, who will be her roommate and in which dorm she will live.  During these days attention is mostly showered on Maddie as people ask with excitement where she will be going to college?!  However, I’m finding that those same people turn to me to ask, “And how are you doing mom?  You’re going to be an empty nester!”  When the kid flies from the nest everyone wonders what the parents are going to do with all their newly found time!  My heart is not breaking as my child leaves home. She is excited to test her wings and learn about life as an independent adult.  I, of course, will miss her and I’m sure I will worry more than I need to at times but I am excited that her life will be filled with fresh and new experiences.  It’s helpful to remind myself that life is a balance of holding on and letting go.  The prophet Khalil Gibran’s poem On Children says it all:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Forgive Our Foolish Ways

Sun, August 5, 2018 Published by

As you read this I will be away from the Campus and enjoying some time in Britain. I will be making the most of escaping the heat, spending time with family and friends and enjoying the British delicacies not available in Arizona.

For anyone, a journey back home is mixed with nostalgia. I will be driving along the roads on which I first learned to drive and seeing the places and people who helped to shape and influence me. It will be a trip down memory lane. I will also be occupying a new role in one of those familiar places after having been invited to preach at the church I attended throughout my childhood. Rather than being the child sitting in the pew hoping for a short sermon, I shall be the preacher perched aloft in the pulpit looking out over the children probably holding hopes similar to mine when I was in their seat.

I sang in the choir of that church and so, during the summer, was often called upon to sing at weddings. I distinctly remember the wedding where the bride couldn’t stop sneezing. The wedding where the groom fainted also understandably sticks in my mind. But I also remember the wedding ceremony which began with the hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways.’ Even as a child at the time, the humor of that beginning was not lost on me. The words to that hymn are taken from a much longer poem written by the American Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier. A prolific hymnwriter, almost all of Whittier’s 500 hymns have been consigned to the dusty shelves of choir libraries, with the notable exception of ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’. Perhaps that is because of its prayerful words, the sentiments of which are felt by us still today.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease. Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace. Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm.

I may not be able to remember all the sermons that I heard while sitting in that church, but I do remember encountering the beauty of God’s peace and presence, and that still small voice of calm.

We all sometimes feel as though we are being shaken in an earthquake of upheaval. The winds of change can sometimes blow fiercely and unwanted around us. The fire of hatred and division can seem at times to burn unabated in the world. And yet, through change and chance, God is with us. May we all hear that still small voice of calm in our lives. May we find our stress and worry relieved, our foolish ways forgiven.*

On Keeping Score

Sun, July 29, 2018 Published by

As human beings we love to keep score.  The first question you want to know when you turn on a game already in progress is, “What’s the score?!”  The first important scorekeepers in our lives are our parents.  As we grow up, we are eager to learn how to win their attention, their smiles, their approval.  Teachers may be next as they keep score with report cards.  Coaches teach us to keep score and, later on, it’s our bosses, co workers, or neighbors.  Our educational system is based on test scores, GPAs, AP, ACT and SAT scores. An online magazine recently posted a list of the 50 most beautiful women in the world ranked from 1 to 50. Honestly, I thought that #50 was just as beautiful as #1 but I wonder if the one at the bottom of the list was upset? Unfortunately, our inner sense of worth and well-being is often tied to the scores that we get.

One of the ways we tend to keep score is by comparisons.  My father used to say, “Comparisons are odious” when any of his girls would play the game of comparisons.  Psychologists say people engage in three types of comparing.  They compare their situation to those who are better off—upward comparison.  They compare themselves to those at the same level—lateral comparison.  And they compare themselves to those who are worse off—downward comparison.  Each type carries dangers: the first incites envy, the second competition, and the third arrogance.  If we define our own value and the value of others in terms of the world scoring system we probably will always be unhappy.

How does God keep score? Thankfully, God doesn’t keep score.  Every morning as the sun rises we have a brand new day to live and to love.  Fresh start.  God works with totally different rules and has a different way of accounting.  There’s a passage of scripture where Paul says: “Your attitude should be the same  as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God  something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.”  Jesus wasn’t somebody who spent his life trying to climb up a ladder even though he was “at the top of the organizational chart of the universe.” Jesus looked like a failure in the world scoring system.  He wasn’t a   success by the standards of efficiency, good management, or outward success and his life ended in what seemed to be a colossal failure.  However, the cross shows us a different way of measuring success, a way that overturns our desire to keep score. Love keeps no record of wrongs.  True happiness starts when there is no need for score keeping anymore.*

Come Away and Rest a While

Sun, July 22, 2018 Published by

The writings of the New Testament remind us, in several places, of how as well as traveling and teaching, healing and preaching, Jesus set aside a time and a space for rest and rejuvenation.

We read how Jesus ‘would withdraw to deserted places for prayer,’ and the frequency of these periods of rest speak to their importance both for Jesus, and for us.

As Jesus put it to his disciples, ‘Come apart to a deserted place by yourself and rest a while.’ We may not always be able to literally wander out to some deserted place, but we can make a decision to purposely disconnect our minds and lives of distraction and worry while we make our retreat away from the worries of the world. Maya Angelou puts it like this; “Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, family, employers and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence.  Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

It is for those reasons, as well as wanting to provide a time of worship and learning, that the Spiritual Life Department has scheduled a day of retreat on Saturday, September 15, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. in the Life Center. To help us in our reflection we will be using some of the time to look at the works of Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, collectively known as some of the greatest Christian mystics.

Materials for study and lunch are included. Space is limited, and so reservations are required. To reserve your space, please RSVP to Kimberly Bravo x18465 by September 1.*

We are One in the Body

Sun, July 15, 2018 Published by

Perhaps if you have travelled around the North of England, you may have seen the colossal sculpture pictured with this article. Not many sculptures become as famous as The Angel of the North, seen by an estimated 33 million people as they pass by each year. The Angel looms over the countryside for many miles around, with its 66ft tall body, and with its wingspan of 177ft. Its wings are angled 3.5 degrees forward to express what its sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley, called ‘a sense of embrace’ as he sought to create something ‘to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears’.

Like so much of his work it is based on a cast of his own body. Gormley has said that he bases his work on casts of his own body because, as he put it, ‘it is the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside.’ He treats the body not as an object, but as a place, and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body tries to identify a condition common to all human beings.

We as individuals are embodied. Body, mind and spirit bound up together. The ancient creation narrative in the Book of Genesis pictures us as clay which has been breathed into life.

We now have a much fuller picture of that living clay. According to a generally accepted figure we are made of an astonishing 37.2 trillion cells, with each cell being formed of 100 trillion atoms. Each atom, each cell, busy being itself to combine in every more complex ways to form this being- which is you and me- which can feel and touch, see and hear, recognize right and wrong, and love and pray. No wonder the psalmist was impelled to cry out ‘I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well’ (Psalm 139, 13).

Maintaining a sense of awe and wonder in relation to our bodies helps to highlight those times when we fail to respect ourselves as created miracles made in the image of God. When we fail to have that same respect for the other 7.6 billion other walking-talking miracles of creation alive today, because of what they wear, or the color of their skin, or the politics that they ascribe to, then we are led to a very disturbing place indeed. The Apostle Paul put it very bluntly;

‘Do you not know that the body is a temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit?’

What a stark and much needed reminder to honor God in our lives and in the lives of others. May we all be open to the divine embrace as we evolve through our hopes and fears.*