Hope and Beauty

Wendell Berry

“If you’re aching over the ugliness and unworthiness of the current American situation, take hope in the beauty of the Hannah Coulters of our world—who have lost so much and yet never been defeated.” Parker Palmer, Christian Century, October 24, 2018, vol. 135, no. 22. p. 24.

This recent Christian Century issue asked well- known authors, “What book would you describe as beautiful?” Parker Palmer’s source of beauty was Hannah Coulter, one of Wendell Berry eight novels about a fictional town, Port William, near the Kentucky River. Berry knows this land well since he and his family have farmed there for many generations. Parker was drawn to Hannah’s beauty as an icon of an elderly survivor of the death of two husbands who still could not be defeated by life as she renews a relationship with her community and the land. She tells her story simply and never loses hope even when her three children leave the farm. Hannah’s story is one of adaptation.

Our book group some years ago read A Place in Time, another book by Wendell Berry composed of twenty stories about the history of the Catletts, the Coulters, the Penns, the Rowanberrys, the Milbys, the Branches, from the end of the Civil War in 1864 to 2008 in Port William. These also are stories of the survivors of a hard life. Beulah Gibbs narrates her own story of how she and her family accumulated their possessions and land as she watches all being sold at auction so she can have money to go into a nursing home. Her worldly goods look different and not as important when they sit out on our lawn rather than in her living room. They are not as meaningful when they lose their relationship to each other.

Beulah Gibbs survives with memories of all that long life with her family on the farm keeping her company, as she looks forward to the caring visits of her community and those she loves.

I remember the story of the farmhand who has a crush on the preacher’s wife just before he goes off the World War II, but I have already forgotten many of the stories. However, as I pick up the book, I like Palmer, also remember and feel hope and beauty being personified in the pages of the twenty stories.

I am learning a little about connecting hope to beauty and want to continue to read about both, especially from masters of hope and beauty such as Berry and Palmer.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Chapel Vigil

Chapel Vigil

For Guidance

“O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and

light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all

our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you

would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save

us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see

light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through

Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen. The Book of Common Prayer, p. 832.

I sit in St. Mark’s Chapel for the first hour of our prayer vigil for Tuesday’s election. We have just finished Morning Prayer. The leader starts reading some of the prayers for an election from the Book of Common Prayer.

Suddenly I feel a peace that I have rarely known. I feel the prayers of the hundreds of people who also have prayed in this chapel. I think of the prayers we said in this chapel as we renewed our marriage vows on our 20th wedding anniversary with our children participating. I remember our first Easter Vigil with Gordon Swope in the 1980’s that was held in this chapel. He reminds us that we do not get extra points from God for being there but are privileged to be among the first who hear about the risen Lord.

I think of the 12-step Eucharists in this chapel on the first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 where people in recovery realize that the message of recovery is there in the church all along. Those in the church may realize that recovery is a spiritual program.

I think of the children’s chapels where preschoolers kneel and fold their tiny hands in a perfect V and bow their heads, which are most often hidden below the prayer desks in front of them almost touching their kneelers. I think of meditative prayers that are said in this chapel in Advent and Lent.

Finally, I feel surrounded by prayers of so many people over the years whom I do not know. I indeed feel surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.

I do not want to leave the chapel. I have a meeting to attend, but I do not want to go. Finally, I must leave, partly because the experience is so overpowering.

I return to the chapel later in the day for prayers. The feeling does not return. I now have become obsessed with the problems of the day, and it has become difficult for the prayers who live in the chapel to reach me. Do the cloud of witnesses only come in the morning before we start our day? Do I need a more quiet mind to hear the cloud of witnesses?

I know this is a holy place. Usually when I cross its threshold my heart rate slows. Maybe tomorrow I will hear the prayers again.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Joseph and the Election

Joseph of Arimathaea and the Election

“He was a good and righteous man… and had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathaea and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.” Luke 23:50-56

Matthew D Garrett

As we read this, all of us will know most of the results of this midterm election. Our prayers should be with those who win the election, for those who lose, and for those who voted for both of them.

For some reason I am hoping to remember Joseph of Arimathaea after this election. “He was a good and righteous man… and had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathaea and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.” That’s us!! I think we all are waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God and are hoping to find some part of it in all the people we voted for. We have much in common with Joseph of Arimathaea.

“He did not agree to their plan and action.” But what did he do about it? Did he speak up for Jesus? There is no record that anyone testified on Jesus’ behalf at his mock trial. We have sometimes been like Joseph of Arimathaea. At times we see injustice and wrongdoings in the lives of others and ourselves, but we do not speak up against them. We fear what might happen to us. We fear the consequences of speaking out. We fear what we do or say might be offensive and hurt someone, or heaven forbid, we would become unpopular. We fear that our voice will not make a difference.

But then a transformation occurs in Joseph, what we might call, a moment of clarity. Joseph personally goes to Pilate. What bravery. He asks for Jesus’ body, personally and compassionately takes the nails out of Jesus’ hands and feet, washes off the blood from his head, his hands his feet, his side, his back, wraps the body in a linen cloth and lays Jesus presumably in his own tomb.

Are we Joseph of Arimathaea? Is there a point where we can no longer live our lives only concerned about our own well-being, concerned about the issues that only affect us? We no longer pretend to go along with the old crowd inside and outside of ourselves. We look to our inner core values and speak our truth and act on it. This certainly happens for people in recovery from addictions as well as for spiritual friends seeking a deeper connection to God.

This also may be how we experienced voting yesterday. No matter the results of the election, we voted and let our voice be heard. We took a stand. For many of us, like Joseph, it was only a beginning.

Think about it. We who are gathered today through the internet know what it is like to be Joseph of Arimathea.

I believe there is a Joseph of Arimathaea inside each of us, finally making a stand, changing the way we have been relating to ourselves, to God, and to the world, speaking out with love and compassion, becoming concerned for the plight of others.

Remember the quiet, compassionate, loving courage of Joseph of Arimathea that is in each of us, the courage to change, the courage to bring healing to ourselves and others, and now the courage to bring compassionate healing to our country especially in the days ahead.

Joseph provided the tomb for resurrection to take place. That is now our job. We have learned about resurrection and compassion through spiritual friends and in the thin places where we worship. We are called now to be that same vessel for compassion and resurrection outside in the world today where compassion is so desperately needed in our divided world, perhaps even more now than before the election.

Let us be that place for healing and resurrection.

Joanna joannaseibert.com