Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
Last Night for Spirit of Life's traditional Alternative New Year's Service we reflected on our lives in the past year inspired by readings from Dorothy Day, John Lewis, Ilia Delio and Howard Thurman. Those present asked us to send out the readings and our questions for reflection. You might find that they provide you meditative moments as you transition into 2021.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in healthcare, in the workplace, in the Church--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
May this Christmas Season be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
NEW YEAR’S EVE REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1) READING: Dorothy Day
A Reading from Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day states explicitly that every person is “another Christ.” But Christ has wounds and human history overflows with them and the divine image can be covered up.
Day went to jail numerous times for protesting violence and injustice in society. Here is what she writes about what she learned in jail:
“All through those weary days in jail when I was in solitary confinement, the only thoughts that brought comfort to my soul were those lines in the Psalms that expressed the terror and misery of human beings suddenly stricken and abandoned. Solitude and hunger and weariness of spirit—these sharpened my perceptions so that I suffered not only my own sorrow but the sorrows of those about me. I was no longer myself. I was humankind. I was no longer a young girl part of a radical movement seeking justice for those oppressed. I was the oppressed. I was that drug addict screaming tossing in her cell, beating her head against the wall. I was that shoplifter who for rebellion was sentenced to solitary. I was that woman who killed her children, who had murdered her lover.
Dorothy Day describes the deep meaning of compassion. In prison her consciousness expanded beyond her literal self, she identified with everyone around her, each sorrowing and in need.
NEW YEAR’S EVE REFLECTION QUESTIONS: CHALLENGES
COVID: 2020 was the year of the Pandemic called Covid 19:
How were you impacted?
Physically?
Emotionally?
Spiritually?
Beyond Covid: How was your health this past year? See a doctor? A counselor?
How was the health of your loved ones?
How were your eating habits this year?
What was the biggest loss to you this year? Someone taken away?
Other changes happen?
Did you lose a job? Retire? Get promoted?
What mistakes did you make that you most regret?
Did you forgive yourself?
What did you miss the most this year?
What did you worry about the most? What kept you awake at night?
ALL: Our God is a God of Healing…..Jesus Healer & Promise of Hope in our lives, open our minds and our hearts!
2) READING: John Lewis
A Reading from John Lewis
"Freedom is not a state; it is an act. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society…
Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble…
Anchor the eternity of love in your own soul and embed this planet with goodness. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates. Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself."
NEW YEAR’S EVE REFLECTION QUESTIONS: RELATIONSHIPS
With the pandemic:
which relationships were you able to maintain? How?
Which relationships did you miss?
What happened this year in your home? With your loved ones?
Who were the people that were the most significant in your life this year?
Whom did you love the most this year?
Did you feel hurt by someone or something?
Were you angry with anyone?
Were you jealous of anyone?
Was your heart broken?
Did anyone you know get married—or engaged—or divorced?
What happened this at your work, school, or volunteer work>
Was there a new person who entered your life?
What did they bring to you?
How much time or energy did you spend helping others this year?
How much time or energy did you give away to charity or those in need?
ALL: Our God is a God of Love ...Jesus Healer & Promise of Hope in our lives, open our minds and our hearts!
3) READING: Ilia Delio
A Reading from ILIA DELIO
If we seek a nice, neat God who will be there up ahead waiting for us when we arrive we are going to be deeply disappointed, for God is here in the turbulent messiness of our lives. I am beginning to think that God is more present when things are not right than when the stars are aligned.
We have constructed a triumphant Christian story but nature, including human life, reveals a very different kind of God, one who stumbles through the cracks and crevices of life without falling under the weight of despair. It might be time to stop looking for a perfect God and awaken to an imperfect God, a God who is still becoming God precisely because God emptied Godself into human form (Phi. 2:6). God succumbed to the limits of matter so that matter could discover its potential in God. What does a messy God look like, an incomplete God? I think such a God looks like us humans who keep trying to overcome our failings and deficiencies.
The Christmas story is not about the imperfect becoming perfect, but about the fidelity of divine love who accepts or perhaps rejoices in the incompleteness of created reality. The Christ event begins with God entering an imperfect world of chaotic matter—not to become perfect but to become love. Love does not seek to make the imperfect perfect but to make the isolated and alone wanted and celebrated; to bring what is separate and partial into wholeness and communion.
God is unfailing and unconditional love who accepts our imperfections and incompleteness with joy. Entering into our imperfect lives and finding there the joyous embrace of God’s love opens us to the creative beauty of life in all its chaos. Resting on God’s love, we can weave our lives and our world into a pattern of peace.
NEW YEAR’S EVE REFLECTION QUESTIONS: FAITH/SPIRITUALITY
What happened in your relationship with the church or your faith community? What meaning did it have for you?
When you think of the time you spent reading scripture or sacred writing, when you think of the time you spent in prayer,
Do you wish you had more?
Do you feel fed, nourished?
What inspirations most nourished you?
What are you yearning for?
What are you seeking?
Does God seem near or miles away?
What do you most want to say to God? Say it right now.
What does God say back to you?
Much has happened in our world this year. what events stand out for you?
What troubles you?
What do you dream for?
What is the greatest prayer you have for the world next year?
ALL: Our God is a God of Peace…Jesus Healer & Promise of Hope in our lives, open our minds and our hearts!
4) READING: Howard Thurman
A READING FROM HOWARD THURMAN
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
NEW YEAR’S EVE REFLECTION QUESTIONS: INSPIRATIONS & BLESSINGS & HOPES
Was there a book, movie, sermon that affected you deeply this year?
Consider two heroes/heroines who have inspired you this year.
What do you carry with you from those who’ve inspired you?
What did you do that made you the most proud of yourself?
Did you create something new this year?
When did you laugh the most? Have the best time of the year?
Did you learn something from any pain or sorrow this year?
Consider two blessings you have received this year.
As we move into the new year….
Is there a way you would like to grow in the coming year?
Is there a hope you have for yourself in the New Year? for a loved one
for our World….for our church… for our Community?
How do you feel called to reach out to others in the New Year?
ALL: Our God is the God of Dreams…..Jesus Healer & Promise of Hope in our lives, open our minds and our hearts ~
We are so blessed to have kindred spirits like you who fortify us for the journey. May God bless you abundantly in the New Year and may you continue to pass those blessings on.