Dear Earthlings and Angels,
You are invited to a Lenten Zoom Dinner Dance
and Theater Improvisation every
Sunday as a part of our regular worship 4 pm
Please bring an imaginary pot luck food dish to share, as well as an animal you'd like to bring to dinner, and bring child to our dinner dance party too! During our theater improv, you will be invited, if you want to play, to introduce your food offering, animal and child guest. You can see how the horse has been invited to dinner in the painting above, One of the Family, by artist Frederick George Catman, 1880 and we will do the same in our theater improv.
We will be using theater games and silent prayer as two spiritual practices during Lent to develop closer relationships to God and Mother Earth and her non-human creatures, who are our extended family. During Lent our intention is to develop and/or increase fruits of the spirit within our own hearts including, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Our intention is clear. We envision closer communion with God and creation in imaginal play and silent prayer. We are developing our fruits of the spirit which God and Mother Earth need from us as surely as all of us need food and loving relationships for our very survival. I will be inviting our three newest community members our Nigerian dwarf goats, Mathew Mark and Luke, seen in the photo below (from right to left).
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their ego, with its passions and desires. So since we live by the Spirit, let us follow her lead. We must stop being conceited, contentious and envious." Galatians 5:22-26
The New Inclusive New Testament
The Pandemic, humanitarian crisis of starvation and war in Yemen, Syria etc. and millions of refugees word wide, escalating climate crisis, economic catastrophe, news of national and global horrors of injustice and suffering with millions dying of Covid and millions more getting sick, or in mourning from loved ones who have died, increasing numbers of people who are homeless, hungry, cold. You may be feeling overwhelmed, lonely, anxious, angry or depressed.....it is an unprecedented challenging time and the catastrophes seem to be escalating and coming faster and faster.
Life on Planet Earth is in crisis and now freezing cold and ICE STORMS in Texas and Oregon! Please remember that climate crisis is not the cause of our problem, only a symptom. The problem lies in our human hearts filled with greed, arrogance, ignorance, anger and lack of feelings of the heart for other creatures.
"People get away with murder." I kept thinking while watching the impeachment hearings from Washington last weekend. I remembered having the same feelings and thoughts when we watched the O.J. Simpson trial on TV many years ago. It is the same story only one is national the other familial. "People and countries get away with murder." The news keeps reminding us of this historic fact with the Black Lives Matter movement and the pervasive inequity between the "haves" and "have nots." Inequity of who gets vaccinated here on our common home, our one and only home, planet Earth. Then there is the 6th extinction of life on Earth that is rarely mentioned on most news sources directly, but we are witnessing its escalation with people dying from ice storms and extreme weather! We need to pay attention to the signs of our times!
During Lent we invite you on a journey with Jesus, Mary Magdalene and one another in the imaginal realm called our hearts. Please invite the other plant and animal creatures who are too often forgotten to be invited to the table for our Lenten dinner dance party. AND, let's not forget to invite the children. This dinner dance party is one whose foundation is prayer, inclusion and hospitality with children, animals, plants and fruits of the spirit. A dinner dance party offers a vision of all creation being welcomed and loved at the table. This is our vision at Church for Our Common Home and the John Cobb Farm. We are one interconnected life system, and all the creatures have an inner life, a feeling heart, and all of us are dependent on the well being of all other creatures and one another. May we be reminded that our spiritual work, our heart work has never been more urgently needed by God and Mother Earth and one another! May we feast and celebrate this Lent and feed and celebrate one another.
You are invited to join us this Lent for any or all of our three weekly Zoom offerings including, weekly Sunday worship 4-5 pm, Tuesday morning Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina aka study of sacred scripture, 9-10 am, Wednesday Dream Group 7-8:30 pm as well as one on one Zoom counseling services. Zoom ID 3025719458 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3025719458
Here is a photo of our beloved oak tree that fell to the ground wrapped in electrical wires.
This is a photo of our oak tree covered in snow just a few days before the ice storm.
Below our
granddaughter is swinging from her giant limbs last summer.
Dear God,
We thank you for the oak tree and all trees, people and creatures who are dying because of climate change and the greed and arrogance in our human hearts. May the oak tree here on the John Cobb Farm and other creatures who have died, may they all rest in peace. Amen
Dear God,
We give up atheism for Lent and nurture the fruits of our spirits, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Awaken us, inspire, guide and HELP US. Our human community is killing our habitat and other sacred creatures and eco systems here on Mother Earth. WE NEED YOU, WE BEG YOU, please be with us this Lent as we learn to love and care for you and your creation. We give you thanks, our hearts are full of love for the beauty of all that is alive that you have made. PLEASE hear our prayers and guide us as we develop the fruits of the spirit in our hearts this Lent that we may offer them to you in a feast and celebration of love. May we dine and dance with you in communion and intimacy. We love you and give you thanks. Amen
Earthlings, you are invited at the end of worship (each Sunday) to DANCE at the Mary Magdalene Café ! Bring your rainbow ribbons. If you don't have one yet, send me your mailing address and I will mail a rainbow to you.