Hi Friends,
Prophet: (noun) : One gifted with exceptional spiritual and moral insight. An effective or leading spokesperson for community and important causes. One who imagines the future through the lens of honesty, hope and how we might do better.
Often I end my posts by noting some of the things I loved in the past week. Today I’m beginning my post with something I loved, which is a zoom conversation “Between the Lines: "Persisting Against All Odds" with my dear friend, Parker J. Palmer and Author/Activist Terry Tempest Williams. The conversation was hosted and made possible by The Center for Courage and Renewal, a wonderful organization that creates growing spaces for those desiring to align their inner lives and deep integrity with their work and public expressions of humanity. I was moved to tears by this powerful conversation about Terry’s newest book, “The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary”. This heart opening conversation was filled with wisdom and insights on the topics of resilience and resurrection, community as an expression of democracy, soul work, paying attention, naming the ineffable by honoring our experiences with the mysteries of life —and how we might face and navigate despair in heart breaking times. I encourage anyone interested in these topics to take a moment and listen to two of my favorite authors, two great spiritual thinkers and I believe prophets of our time.
At one point in the video Terry Tempest Williams spoke of how the seeds of the lodgepole pine tree only open after being exposed to heat and fire as being an expression of resurrection. Parker spoke about the hope that is found through daily action and community as well as a powerful description of how emerging from clinical depression was also a kind of resurrection.
Resurrection: (verb) The restoring of something that seems lost or gone. Rediscovering or renewing a habit or practice that is life-giving, life encouraging or life inspiring.
We are in an age of deep climate and community crisis, a fire that is figurative and literally threatening the health and well being of an entire system. But like the lodgepole pine tree, we can look for the seeds that are opening within us and between us and imagine, how against all odds, we can persist with what John Paul Lederach describes as an “audacious, tender tenacity”.
I hope you’ll share this post with others you feel might appreciate this beautiful conversation.
Note: my definitions are are not the Merriam-Webster exact, but my own poetic retelling of the definition.
If you have been feeling the weight of these times and looking for an honest conversation about living with daily and gritty, ineffable and transcendent hope, do something kind for whatever is weary within you, grab a cup of tea, take three unhurried breaths, and join the conversation.
What part of this conversation touched you most, or sparked something in your heart?
I spent the past week on Lake Michigan with friends/family. While I was away I posted a Spotify Playlist with songs about water and asked for suggestions for the list. Thank you to all the A Gathering of Spirits supporters who added their songs to the collection. It’s an interesting, eclectic mix of how different artists have written about their experiences with water. Here’s the link!
In this photo the light seemed to be pointing to my little field note journal :-)
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