Food for the Soul | December 2nd, 2020
12/2/2020
Dear Friends,
“Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.”
Meister Eckhart
We have arrived at Advent. It feels like an arrival sometimes, but it actually is a beginning. Or maybe a transitioning. We have arrived at the darkest and coldest season of the year. But actually, that only applies to us here in the northern hemisphere. When I lived in South America Christmas was always in the summer. Picture that. It was so different. We, up here in the north, enter a period in which we wait for the return of the Light, physically and spiritually. In nature, during this cold and dark time we observe so many creatures hibernating for a while and then coming back to life. A bit like death and resurrection.
I have a wonderful book, All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss with beautiful illustrations by David G. Klein. This book convincingly tells us how individual creatures in the wild prepare for and spend the dark months. There is one story for each of the days of Advent. Because I am so in love with this book, I am going to give you an excerpt from one of the stories. It will take the place of pretty much everything else I usually offer in this weekly newsletter. This is from the story of the Painted Turtle for Advent 1:
“The water is maybe waist-deep in this pond, but a murky soup, clogged with roots and plants. One day in the fall, as water and air cooled, at some precise temperature an ancient bell sounded in the turtle brain. A signal: Take a deep breath. Each creature slipped off her log and swam for the warmer muck bottom. Stroking her way through the woven walls of plant stems, she found her bottom place. She closed her eyes and dub into the mud. She buried herself.
“And then, pulled into her shell, encased in darkness, she settled into a deep stillness. Her heart slowed – and slowed – almost to stopping. Her body temperature dropped – and stopped just short of freezing. Now, beneath a layer of mud, beneath the weight of frigid water and its skin of ice and skim of snow, everything in her has gone so still she doesn’t need to breathe. And anyway, the iced-over pond will soon be empty of oxygen. Sunk in its bottom-mud, for six months she will not draw air into her lungs. TO survive a cold that would kill her, or slow her so that predators would kill her, she slows herself beyond breath in a place where breath is not possible.
“And waits. As ice locks in the marsh water and howling squalls batter its reeds and brush, beneath it all she waits. It is her one work, and it is not easy. Oxygen depletion stresses every particle of her. Lactic acid pools in her bloodstream. Her muscles begin to burn – her heart muscle, too, a deadly sign. That acid has to be neutralized, and calcium is the element to do it. Out of her bones, then out of her shell, her body pulls calcium, slowly dissolving her structure, her shape, her strength. But to more to escape – requiring breath – in a place where there is no oxygen – that would suffocate her. So, though she is dissolving, every stressed particle of her stays focused on the silver bead of utter quietude.
“It’s this radical simplicity that will save her. And deep within it, at the heart of her stillness, something she has no need to name, but something we might call trust: that one day, yes, the world will warm again, and with it, her life.”
PRACTICE
I am in awe of nature’s wisdom! I invite you to meditate on the life of the Painted Turtle and how it, perhaps, parallels our lives. She might have something to teach us.
PRAYER
God of unveiled truth,
faithful flame
in times of darkened sun and waning moon:
lift up our unknowing hearts,
and waken our sleeping love
to announce the coming dawn
of unexpected peace. AMEN.
— Steven Shakespeare
ONGOING EVENTS
Meditation Group – Wednesdays at 5pm (30 minutes)
Meditation is one of the most ancient and universal of all spiritual practices, and it is the cornerstone of the wisdom encounter with Christ. There are many benefits of meditation including relieving stress or relaxing the mind or the body, but its real value in terms of wisdom is to transform the way you think. There are many ways of meditation practices, each with its own particular way of quieting the ordinary mind and taking you deeper into being.
We will gather on Zoom for half an hour to explore and practice various forms of meditation.
Questions? Contact Lilian Revel at lrevel@trinitynewhaven.com or 203 858 1243.
Important notice: This activity was added after the December calendar was created. On two dates the timing needs to be changed because it conflicts with another activity:
On Wednesday, December 2 the Meditation Group will be held at 4:30pm (5pm conflicts with Advent Tea).
On Wednesday, December 9, the Meditation Group will be held at 5:30pm (5pm conflicts with Trinity Book Club meeting).
After that we’ll be back to the regular time of 5pm.
Light and Hope: An Order of Worship for the Evening
A brief prayer service every Tuesday and Thursday at 5pm
Link: https://facebook.com/trinitynewhaven/live/. You do not need a Facebook profile to view. Offered in the season outside Daylight Savings Time (Nov. 1, 2020 – March 14, 2021) when we all need a little light to brighten the darkest days.
Healing Prayer Service – Wednesdays, at 7pm, via Zoom. All are welcome for brief conversations followed by a Healing Prayer Service.
Women’s Bible Study and Beyond –Thursdays, at 1:30pm via Zoom.
No meeting this Thursday, 11/26 (Thanksgiving). The group will meet on 12/3, 12/10, 12/17 and then break until 1/21/2021. Questions? Contact Lilian Revel.
Men's Bible Study - via Zoom, every Friday at 7 a.m.
Stay healthy, safe, and centered, and may God’s blessings be always with you.
If you wish to talk to someone, don’t hesitate to call me (Lilian Revel – 203 858 1243) or e-mail me at: lrevel@trinitynewhaven.org or pastoralcare@trinitynewhaven.org or call the main office (203-624-3101), leave a message, and someone will return your call.