Food for the Soul | January 19th, 2022
01/19/2022
Dear Friends,
It is still early in the year and I feel that I can still wish you a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a good and blessed time during the Christmas and Epiphany seasons. We are still in Epiphany, and this word carries many different meanings to what is happening. One of the meanings is revelation, i.e., lifting the veil of something still hidden or obscured. It points out that we are sometimes living in a liminal space, a threshold between two dimensions of space and time. That is what I was thinking about while I walked in the deep fog of January 1st in my parts of the world. It was truly a liminal space. For many people the beginning of a new year brings up such feelings of liminality. We are not here, nor are we there, but on the threshold between the two. It evokes thoughts and questions about what the new year has in store for us. And then, of course, there are those resolutions we make for ourselves which we never manage to keep. We celebrated the coming of the Light in Jesus Christ at the birth of the Christ child. Right now, in these winter days, we yearn for the longer days of light, the days when we can feel the light warming us. Have you noticed that the days are getting longer and the light has a new quality to it?
In practical terms, we are facing the unknowns of our era: Covid, politics, economics, jobs, social justice, the future of our earth and so many others. We don’t know the answers, we wait in the dark and we hope for good solutions. Waiting in the dark is one of the great adventures of faith. It is challenging to simply sit still, to wait for what has not yet come. What if God calls us while we are waiting? Calls us to action, to birthing God in this world? Will we accept the call and let God accomplish the new birth through us? The way is open before us. Let us begin.
I will leave you with words from Isaiah 43:8-20
Do not cling to the events of the past
or dwell on what happened long ago.
Watch for the new thing I am going to do.
it is happening already – you can see it now!
I will make a road through the wilderness
and give you streams of water there.
Even the wild animals will honor me;
jackals and ostriches will praise me
when I make rivers flow in the desert
to give water to my chosen people.
PRACTICE
Take some time to sit in the morning light, may be even at dawn. Just sit and be still. Take in its beauty. Reflect on what it does for us. Say a prayer of gratitude. Then do the same in the evening light. Meditate on how it is different. How does it speak to you? What feelings does it evoke? Perhaps you will write a poem about the experience.
POEM
The Word
- Tony Hoagland
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”
Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning – to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing
that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,
but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom
still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,
-to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.
ONGOING EVENTS
CELTIC SPIRITUALITY with Luk, Lilian, and our seminarian, Emily
STARTS JANUARY 12, 2022, from 5 – 6pm, every Wednesday until March 16 (we skip March 2, Ash Wednesday) via Zoom.
Have you ever tried to reconcile the beautiful story of creation in Genesis with the notion of original sin and other aspects of theology? “The Celtic spiritual tradition is one that has long emphasized an awareness of the sacred essence of all things. This tradition is in fact part of our Western Christian inheritance, although it has been largely forgotten and at times suppressed. It is a way of seeing, a path of awareness, that can be traced through the centuries, forever unfolding, evolving, emerging again and again to serve a consciousness of the sacred at the heart of all life.” (John Philip Newell).
Join us in this nine-session course to discover again the goodness of all creation, and how it can help us to reconnect to God, and gain a new perspective on life. To guide us in this pursuit, we will be reading together Sacred Earth Sacred Soul by John Philip Newell.
To register please email Lilian Revel at lrevel@trinitynewhaven.org. We strongly recommend that you avail yourself of the book. We will have a limited number of them available during coffee hour on Sunday 1/2/22 and 1/9/22 at a sliding scale of up to $22. If necessary, we will also organize a drop off. Or you may wish to purchase it on your own.
Morning Meditation (Centering Prayer)
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays at 8:30am via zoom.
Any questions? Please contact Lilian Revel at lrevel@trinitynewhaven.org
Click here to join the Zoom call or Call in: +1 (877) 853-5257 | Meeting ID: 863 5978 6006 | Passcode: 557358
Women’s Bible Study and Beyond
We meet on Thursdays, at 1:30pm for about an hour and a half.
Currently we are reading the Book of Genesis, and following a Yale Bible Study Course. For more information contact Lilian Revel at lrevel@trinitynewhaven.org
Click here to join the 1:30 p.m. call or Call in: +1 (877) 853-5257 | Meeting ID: 677 543 587
Men's Bible Study - Fridays at 7 a.m. (In-person/Zoom hybrid)
Click here to join the 7 a.m. call
or Call in: +1 (877) 853-5257 | Meeting ID: 582 303 611 | Passcode: 787354