Words from the Heart

Constellations of Light - Hope Always Prevails Photo (c) 2019 Rev. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas From time to time, I will see or hear something that just hits my solar plexus with such power that I no longer have control of my emotions. Tears flow without my thinking. My heart fills with the beauty of the moment. At these times, I know there is something mystically magical happening. The BBC series, Doctor Who, has given me several such moments. The writers somehow manage to put words into the actors' mouths that the actors are able to say in such a way as to hit the heartstrings at just the right vibration to trigger an auto-response. Most recently, this happened as I was watching Season 11, Episode 5 with the new Doctor played by Jodie Whittaker. After a series of frenetic incidents in which the Doctor, her companions and the passengers of a failing space ship try to outwit a deadly alien species, the episode ends with a prayer for the general who gives her life to pi...

  Photo Credit: Nicole S   Many of us in the US are preparing for tomorrow's feast, for the gathering of friends and family and for the traditional events that surround this day we call, Thanksgiving. However, I have taken time out of my preparations to write about something I read that simply makes me crazy.  According to a Time's article , Macy's and other stores are getting a jump on Black Friday by being open all day Thursday.   I am all for free enterprise, but please!  Keeping people from their families, from the ability to have one - yes, ONE - day off to give thanks in whatever form that takes for them, is simply wrong.  I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving. There is nothing I need that I can't wait 24 hours for it. Several years ago, I researched the Thanksgiving holiday for a class I was teaching, I discovered an interesting fact.  Giving thanks for the harvest was NOT a pilgrim tradition.  Giving thanks was an Native Am...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Today, May 22, I participated in an interfaith memorial service held on the town commons in Gre enfield, MA.  I have attended many memorial services , but this was the fir st time I had attended and participated in a service for those who had died homeless. Reading a prayer for those who died homeless The Interfaith Council of Franklin County (ICFC) , of which I am a member, h as held this service in May for close to 15 years.  Each year, we pray will be the last.  N ation wide, the observ ance is hel d on the win ter solstice . But, for those of us in ICFC, the observance is in the spring . These are the words I wrote and read at the service. I ask that as you read them, you hold the the memory of the homeless - men, women and children - in your heart. We gather here today to remember - Remember those who have no homes - Remember those who have found no comfort - Remember those turned away -...

One of the things that has been affirmed for me over the past two months in seminary is that Sacred Writings exist everywhere.  Often, we humans, have an egocentric view of the world, believing we, personally, are the only ones with the answers, and even, sometimes, the questions.  Of course, for every question, there are multiple ways to answer, often saying the same thing, but simply using different words.  (Ask any teacher or lawyer this and they will tell you it is true!) The following are poems and prayers of gratitude from various cultures and religions.  May the beauty of their words touch your heart, and lift your soul.   Oludumare, oh Divine One! I give thanks to You, the one who is as near as my heartbeat, and more anticipated than my next breath. Let Your wisdom become one with this vessel as I lift my voice in thanks for Your love. African - Yoruban ~~~~~ Great Spirit, Divine One, Creator who is heaven earth rock wind insect tree fox human...

In the book, Listening for the Soul by Jean Stairs, she has a section on "noisy contemplation" (pg. 51), which I found very interesting.  She describes how in the midst of our daily lives we can practice noisy contemplation by simply being mindful that, in spite of the "noise" that surrounds our lives, there are moments where we can stop to connect to Spirit. I found this fascinating on several levels.  First, it is something I have practiced for many years without having a name for what I was doing.  Second, she pointed out that this act of  mindfulness  is the embodiment of the word, Namaste . Namaste is Sanskrit , meaning, "I bow to thee."  By using this word, which has become popularized through yoga, what we are saying to another is, "I recognize the Divine in you."  Noisy contemplation is recognizing the Divine in another or in a situation without being sucked into the vortex of noise and confusion. For example, imagine you are walking...

  Gardens before Weeding After many rainy days, we finally got some lovely weather.  I woke early to blue, blue skies.  Quickly, I dressed with the intent of attacking the long neglected gardens in the front of the house and along the driveway.  There is something about being up early in the garden that lends itself to prayer.  I am not sure if it is the quiet or having my hands in Mother Earth, but, like the poem says, I always feel "closer to God in the garden than any place else on Earth."  As I pulled weeds, cut back dead branches and pruned, I found myself contemplating life and the world.  Angel Wing Begonia   Somewhere in the midst of trimming back the day lilies, the thought came to me that weeding and trimming was much like how we develop our soul .  We pull out the stuff that doesn't work, cut back the things that have grown over and turn under that which is not worth saving. Soul development and gardening, it appeared to me,...

Thursday many of us around this country will gather with family, friends, friends that feel like family and/or family that we wish were friends. There will undoubtedly be bountiful feasts prepared...some perhaps from our own gardens...most prepared by someone in attendance. Children will run around gleefully playing, football games will be held at many high school fields, some folks will sit together to watch the parade and to see their favorite pro teams battle for THE title, mothers/grandmothers/aunts/sisters will gather in the kitchen to prepare their specialties. Finally, everyone will sit around a table filled with mouth-watering delicacies to eat. Stop! Here is where I make my humble request. It will only take a moment. Before everyone digs into the food, whether there are only two or thirty-two of you gathered, take a moment to reflect on the feast before you. Take a moment to realized how blessed you are. Take a moment to explain to the children that they are privil...