By no means is this meant to imply that things are calm, quiet, or dormant in any way.
There are lectionary texts to study, books to read, sermons and prayers to write, services to video, "wellness" checks via phone to the beloveds who constitute the membership of our congregation, zoom calls with colleagues and parish groups, checking in with the Opportunity Council kitchen crew and the community garden volunteers, sanitizing everything I touch, sorting out corners of the building where stuff and clutter has built up over time, and the blessing of solitary time in the sanctuary for prayer and meditation.
The members of the community are looking after each other....a network of phone calls is ongoing, letters and cards, facebook posts and other non-verbal contacts are happening. From what I'm hearing there's lots of gardening, new pets are being acquired (including our kitten, Gonzo), people are spending time golfing, hiking and other activities to get themselves outdoors while the good weather lasts.
Steve and I are "sheltering" in with our son, Matthew. Katie is working from home in Seattle and we see her from time to time. Rebekah is busy with the ministry tasks of her parish at First Lutheran Church in Vancouver, BC, and because of the border closure we haven't seen her or her husband, Phil, in person since February, although she and I talk a couple of times a day and she and her dad have a zoom "happy hour" every Tuesday at 5pm to catch up.
Some fun things are happening along the way: in honor of the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the ELCA I have commissioned an icon of a female good shepherd from artist and iconographer Kelly Latimore. I'm looking forward to seeing the first sketches of the image any time now.
As far as reading goes, I'm doing my usual switching around between devotional materials such as Evelyn Underhill's Prayer Book - a lovely collection of material from the author's two personal prayer books, rediscovered 75 years after her death. Underhill (1875-1941) was an English Anglo-Catholic writer, pacifist and mystic who wrote several volumes on spiritual practice and religion.
Another new favorite read is "Nearest Earthly Place to Paradise" a book about the literary landscape in the county of Shropshire in England. Published in 2013, it contains beautiful photography of the countryside and ancient buildings of the area with samples of the writings of the many poets and authors who have resided there over the centuries: people like Phil Rickman, Ellis Peters, John Betjeman, John Masefield, D.H. Lawrence, Wilfred Owen, James Boswell, Charles Darwin and John Milton, to name a few.
Murder mysteries remain a good way to relax as well: Cora Harrison's Reverend Mother series; Christopher Fowler's wonderful old detectives Bryant and May; C.S. Harris and her Sebastian San Cyr mysteries and L.J. Ross and J.M Dalgliesh- each with their excellent series of detective mysteries set in Northumbria and the Yorkshire Dales.
I've been avidly watching the wide variety of good documentaries on PBS with regard to racism in this nation and the history and ramifications of slavery. I also found the BBC documentary series: Africa and Britain - a Forgotten History to be incredibly useful for its perspectives and insights. At the same time, Lenny Duncan's book, "Dear Church" crops up in my subconscious. There is much to learn and experience these days, and we all need to have our white privileged consciousness raised again and again.
This is my first blog entry since 2016. I'm going to close with a prayer for renewal from Evelyn Underhill's Prayer Book:
Your compassions fail not: they are new every morning
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings as eagles,
They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Therefore, we pray: renew us;
Renew our spirits within us;
Renew our relationships; our work; our capacities and gifts; our strength.
Renew our prayer
Teach us our new song, our new name.
That we may put on a new humanity, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. For if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold all things are become new.
So shall You put a new song into our mouth, ever a thanksgiving unto our God.
Amen