As we begin the long, green season of Pentecost I am filled with gratitude for our Holy Family community. It’s been a wonderful few weeks as we transitioned from Eastertide to Pentecost Sunday, We’ve celebrated with a festive Pentecost worship service, a joyous old-fashioned hymn-sing and potluck, a Wonderful Wednesday at The Reserve, and a lovely evening at Grandview Lake last Wednesday evening! Trinity Sunday was replete with a return of the CAT-man!
A deep bow of gratitude to the Parish Life, Hospitality, Pastoral Care and Outreach, the faithful and steadfast women of the DOK who pray for us each week, the Altar Guild and Flower Guild and those committees often working tirelessly and behind the scenes to keep our parish running, including Finance, our intrepid Grounds Crew (aka the “Woodchucks”) and of course the Nominating Committee and Vestry. Thanks, too, to our staff of Jacques, Christie, and John who give so freely of themselves to keep us moving forward! Thank you all!
Jesus encouraged us to become like little children, and regardless of our vision for the future, and our hopes and dreams for Holy Family as we live into this season of transition, our willingness to do this together finds encouragement from other sources. As Mary Oliver said so well:
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
I’ve been astonished by the spirit of community, grace, and hospitality you have all demonstrated. Kindred spirits all, this spirit of gratitude and cooperation is contagious, and a perspective we can cultivate. Neuroscience reminds us that we can find healing and solace in gratitude, forgiveness, and letting go of attachment to things we cannot control…and some things perhaps we should not try to control. Cultivating a sense of wonder during times of uncertainty can allow us to see things sometimes hidden to us when we are anxious, and needing to be in control. We welcome the Holy Spirit in Her wisdom as a guide and advocate during our search process!
Shoshin (Japanese: 初心) is a concept from Zen Buddhism meaning “beginner’s mind.” It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when encountering the world—especially things new to us—and even at an advanced level, just as a beginner would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts and was popularized outside of Japan by Shunryū Suzuki’s 1970 book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. The practice of Shoshin acts as a counter to the hubris and closed-mindedness often associated with thinking of oneself as an expert. This includes the Einstellung effect, where a person becomes so accustomed to a certain way of doing things that they do not consider or acknowledge new ideas or approaches.
It was during his sojourn in the desert that Jesus came to accept and appreciate the ministry he was called to embrace. In order to be fully open to his call, Jesus forsook the company of people and spent time in the wilderness. He regularly returned to the hills to pray and commune with God, especially before making important decisions, attaining his distinctive version of “beginner’s mind.” Jesus’ ministry was carried out, not so much in synagogues or the Temple, as in the cathedral of nature. In Matthew’s Gospel, the beatitudes and subsequent teachings are delivered on a mountainside (Matt 5:1-7:29).
Jesus displayed an appreciative and contemplative attitude which, of course, was rooted in God’s love for all creatures and of nature. ‘Think of the ravens. They neither sow nor reap; they have no storehouses and no barns; yet God feeds them’ (Lk 12:24). The gospels warn about the urge to continually accumulate more and more goods. The natural world can assist us in understanding what Jesus meant by his invitation that we become like little children.
Moving in and out of rhododendron and hemlock forests, and emerging into sunlit high mountain meadows on a lovely afternoon trail run; balanced, held just so, in this grace-full milieu. These high meadows provide their own, distinctive microclimates and biomes with fascinating worlds to explore. Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Scarlet Tanagers, Kingfishers, Pileated Woodpeckers, and a host of other avian friends supplied the music. One is humbled, and grateful. In the shadows are deer, black bear, turkey, and life-giving pollinators doing their good and essential work.
As Richard Powers has written:
“We found that trees could communicate, over the air and through their roots. Common sense hooted us down. We found that trees take care of each other. Collective science dismissed the idea. Outsiders discovered how seeds remember the seasons of their childhood and set buds accordingly. Outsiders discovered that trees sense the presence of other nearby life. That a tree learns to save water. That trees feed their young and synchronize their masts and bank resources and warn kin and send out signals to wasps to come and save them from attacks. “Here’s a little outsider information, and you can wait for it to be confirmed. A forest knows things. They wire themselves up underground. There are brains down there, ones our own brains aren’t shaped to see. Root plasticity, solving problems and making decisions. Fungal synapses. What else do you want to call it? Link enough trees together, and a forest grows aware.”
― Richard Powers, The Overstory
Yes, it seems that nature has much to teach us about life in community. Jesus knew this too, and in this Pentecost season, I pray that we may continue to demonstrate hospitality, imagination, and hope. We are called to give ourselves away in love, and this will guide us in this new and hopeful season.
Here, now, we forget each other and ourselves.
We feel the obscurity of an order, a whole,
A knowledge, that which arranged the rendezvous.
Within its vital boundary, the mind.
We say God and the imagination are one…
How high that highest candle lights the dark.
Out of this same light, out of the central mind,
We make a dwelling in the evening air,
In which being there together is enough.
~Wallace Stevens
A deep bow of gratitude to each of you for all that you do. I’ll catch you later on down the trail, and I hope to see you in church! Bill+
