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A Friendship With Creation

Hello friends,

I preached last weekend on “a conversation with creation,” featuring the remarkable place Star Island on the coast of New Hampshire whose winter caretaker, Alexandra deStigeur, is featured in this short documentary, Winter’s Watch. 

I had preached a version of this sermon two years ago but after a year where so many people have experienced solitude, isolation and seclusion, I thought it would be worthwhile to edit and revisit. It’s one thing to consider the richness of solitude and connecting more with creation and your own inner life when you’re out and about fully in whatever social life you’ve got going, and entirely another matter when you’re living through a pandemic.

This quote from poet David Whyte rang a big bell for several parishioners who requested a copy of it, and I was happy to oblige because his framing of what constitutes a conversation is spiritually valuable. Here’s what I wrote, and what he said:

“Another of those muses of solitude is poet David Whyte. A few years ago, he was a guest on “The Lonely Hour Podcast” (host Julia Bainbridge) and he said something that resonates for me more now than when I first heard it in 2017:

      I think one of the difficulties of today is that we put all of our eggs in one basket in that we try to hold the conversation entirely through human forms, and yet throughout our evolution as human beings, we’ve always held a conversation with a multiplicity of qualities,

like with the blue of the sky, or the red in the sunset in the evening

or the movement of leaves, you know, at the very top of a silent wood when the breeze is coming through.

The sound of an owl in the evening.

The smell of grass, the feel of a summer breeze on your skin.

These are all conversations; these are actually all qualities and it’s just very strange that we’ve defined the fact that you’re just not in conversation with another human being as being ‘alone.’

You’re not alone. You’re just not paying attention to these other thousands of qualities that we’ve co-evolved with over the thousands of years.

So one of the reasons we’re lonely is we’ve forgotten that we have a friendship with the sky, we have a friendship with the ground, we have a friendship with our bodies, we have a friendship with the way our bodies respond to the natural world.

And you might be interested in the whole sermon.

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Blessings and Banishing Walking Meditation For the New Year

Blessings Meditation           

Choose a starting place.

Take a few moments of silence.
Notice the sounds and sights around you.

 

Take 4 deep breaths:

In and out,

In and out,

In and out,

In and out.

 

Starting from wherever you like, walk in a clock-wise direction around the area you have chosen. It can be as big or as small as you like. You can also sit outdoors and travel inwardly if that better suits your needs.

As you walk or travel in spirit, name the things you would like to invoke for the new year.

Call upon those things.  Don’t hold back!

You can say them aloud or in your mind:

 

“I call upon more peace.”

“I call upon happier relationships with ______”

“I call upon healing.”

In this meditation, as you call upon what you want and need, notice your surroundings. Is there a sight, sound or smell that you can take away with you as an anchor memory? When you find it, stop and hold it in your mind. You can return to it any time you like.

Go as fast or slow as you like until you have completed your meditation and feel full of blessing. When you feel ready, start the…

Banishing Meditation

 Pick up something from your surroundings: a stick, a rock, a pinecone. Hold it in your non-dominant hand. This is your talisman.

Notice what is around you. Take it in.

Take four deep breaths:

In and out,

In and out,

In and out,

In and out.

Going in a counter-clockwise direction (widdershins), walk or visualize at whatever pace feels comfortable to you back toward where you started your clockwise journey.

As you go, think about the things you would like to let go of, release and banish from your life in the new year.

As you imagine those things, tell them you release them, you do not need them, and the power of creation may absorb or transform them.

You can say these things aloud or to yourself:

 

“I release you, anger at _________!”

“I banish this harmful thing in my life!”

“I let go of __________ and ask creation to take it from me and transform it.”

When you return to where you started, take a few moments to notice where you are. Breathe slowly and deeply. Place or throw or bury your talisman wherever feels right, thanking the Earth for supporting and sustaining all life, including yours.

Thank the animals and elements for witnessing your New Year’s Meditation.

 

 

 

Children’s Version             

 

Blessings Meditation           

Choose a starting place. Take an amulet to hold (I like a polished stone or seashell).

Take a few moments of silence.
Notice the sounds and sights around you.

Take 4 deep breaths:

In and out,

In and out,

In and out,

In and out.

Walk slowly, holding your blessings amulet. Imagine all the things you would like to experience in the new year:

How would you like to be?

What would you like to see in the world?

What do you hope for?

These thoughts and feelings will go into your amulet and stay with you through 2021. You are part of creation and your dreams matter.

Any time you like, you can take a walk or quiet time and refresh those good visions.

The creatures and earth around you have heard you.

When you feel ready, start the…

Banishing Meditation

 Pick up something from your surroundings: a stick, a rock, a pinecone. Hold it in your non-dominant hand. This is your talisman.

Notice what is around you. Take it in.

Take four deep breaths:

In and out,

In and out,

In and out,

In and out.

Going in a counter-clockwise direction (widdershins), walk or travel internally at whatever pace feels comfortable to you back toward where you started your clockwise walk.

As you go, think about the things you would like to let go of, release and banish from your life in the new year.

As you imagine those things, tell them you release them, you do not need them, and nature may absorb or transform them.

You can say these things aloud or to yourself:

“I do not need or want _________”

“I give _________ to the Earth (or the river, or the woods, wherever you are) to transform it.”

When you return to where you started, take a few moments to notice where you are. Breathe slowly and deeply. Place or throw or bury your talisman wherever feels right, thanking the Earth for supporting and sustaining all life, including yours.

Thank the animals and elements for witnessing your New Year’s Meditation.

 

 

 

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All Souls Zoom Gathering

Those of us who have lost loved ones since the pandemic have mostly been denied rituals of grieving and the comfort of visits with friends and family.

It has been excruciatingly painful to mourn alone, or mostly alone, and to try to move forward without important rites of passage such as memorial services, sitting shiva, opening the house to visitors, and gathering for commitals where we could freely embrace each other.

Please leave a comment below if you would like to attend a Zoom Gathering on All Souls Sunday just for us, for those who are part of this sad collective of those who understand. This will be a spiritual offering not in any particular tradition, affirming of our shared humanity and need for compassion.

I will email you with the Zoom invite. Please leave the name of the beloved person you would like to remember so I can include them in the Litany of Remembrance.

For the ritual, please prepare a candle that you can light and a glass of your favorite libation.

Peace.