Harborview Spiritual Care Sundays

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  art above by Morgan Harper Nichols  and blessing below from Kate Bowler  that reminded me of you all and the work we get to do together...  A blessing for being someone's person  (here or gone, we love you)  Blessed are the noticers.  The ones who see the story in its fullness. Blessed are the attend-ers.  The witness-bearers.  The story-holders.  The ones who tiptoe to the edge right alongside us,  knowing that the very act will break their heart in pieces too.  Blessed are those who are amazed by a life lived  in its fragility, its brevity, its beauty.  Blessed are the ones who stand close enough to say: “BEHOLD.” BEHOLD.  This is their love… This is the marvel I get to know.  Behold. This is not a problem to be solved. This is a person to be loved.  And how lucky are we? These people.  These loves.  These precious, precious, precious days.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. ...

  In one of the essays in the book  In the Shelter  by Padraig O'Tuama, he reflects on his time as a chaplain at the De La Salle Pastoral Center in West Belfast where he led day long retreats for schools. He talked about a simple prayer time that he shared with the students using the gift of imagination. It usually lasted only about 4-5 minutes total.  In essence, this is what he invited them to do below:  Imagine yourself taking a walk in a lovely place of your own choosing.  Picture the scenery in your mind with the colors, sights, and smells around you.  At one point on your walk, you see a stranger coming towards you,  and on closer inspection,  you realize it is Jesus.  He greets you by your name..... and you all engage in a conversation.  Imagine what you would say  and then listen for Jesus' response. He relayed a story about a teenage boy who went on one of these imaginative prayer walks and imagined himself walking thr...

a prayer in honor of Regina's mom today for Mother's Day and for all those we hold dear and remember today....  A PRAYER FOR REMEMBERING    We remember them When we are weary and in need of strength When we are lost and sick at heart, We remember them.   When we have a joy we crave to share When we have decisions that are difficult to make When we have achievements that are based on theirs We remember them.   At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring We remember them.   At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn We remember them.   At the rising of the sun and at its setting We remember them.   As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now part of us As we remember them.   (Prayers from the Jewish Prayer Book, adapted)

I have not read the Narnia books in quite some time, but recently, I came across this wonderful passage about Eustace being "undragoned." What a wonderful word- UNDRAGONED! It seems that this might be a bit of how we could describe some of the transformation work of CPE!  “Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it.” “You mean it spoke?” “I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did....

This is a poem that I read on Wednesday during our centering time, and I keep coming back to it... I hope it brings you some words that you might need for your next week at HMC.  Blessing for the Brokenhearted – Jan Richardson There is no remedy for love but to love more. —Henry David Thoreau Let us agree for now that we will not say the breaking makes us stronger or that it is better to have this pain than to have done without this love. Let us promise we will not tell ourselves time will heal the wound, when every day our waking opens it anew. Perhaps for now it can be enough to simply marvel at the mystery of how a heart so broken can go on beating, as if it were made for precisely this— as if it knows the only cure for love is more of it, as if it sees the heart’s sole remedy for breaking is to love still, as if it trusts that its own persistent pulse is the rhythm of a blessing we cannot begin to fathom but will save us nonetheless. http://paintedprayerbook.com/2014/02/10...