Advent Rising

A song bird sings into my ear,

"Awake thy soul to sing"

Of morning light and ever near

A sense of wondering,

What lies ahead, what lies ahead?

My heartbeat asks again,

As day awakens me from bed

To walk out in the rain.

The mist hangs low and heavily 

Uniting sea to sky.

My heart leaps up and readily

I yearn to learn to fly.

The eastern skies illuminate

With lavenders and red

The sleepy headlands as they wait

The advent rising from the dead.

By David Robinson

GRATITUDE

Quotations from the writings of Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952:

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude. The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything (Thoughts for Our Times p. 16)."

"When I look back upon my early days I am stirred by the thought of the number of people whom I have to thank for what they gave me or for that they were to me. At the same time I am haunted by an oppressive consciousness of the little gratitude I really showed them while I was young. How many of them have said farewell to life without my having made clear to them what it meant to me to receive from them so much kindness or so much care! Many a time have I, with a feeling of shame, said quietly to myself over a grave the words which my mouth ought to have spoken to the departed, which he was still in the flesh. For all that, I think I can say with truth that I am not ungrateful, I did occasionally wake up out of that youthful thoughtlessness which accepted as a matter of course all the care and kindness that I experienced from others, and I believe I became sensitive to my duty in this matter just as early as I did to the prevalence of suffering in the world. But down to my twentieth year, and even later still, I did not exert myself sufficiently to express the gratitude which was really in my heart. I valued too low the pleasure felt at receiving real proofs of gratitude. Often, too, shyness prevented me from expressing the gratitude that I really felt. . . .  We ought all to make an effort to act on our first thoughts and let our unspoken gratitude find expression. Then there will be more sunshine in the world, and more power to work for what is good. But as concerns ourselves we must all of us take care not to adopt as part of our theory of life all people’s bitter sayings about the ingratitude of the world. A great deal of water is flowing underground which never comes up as a spring. In that thought we may find comfort. But we ourselves must try to be the water which does find its way up; we must become a spring at which men can quench their thirst for gratitude (Memoirs of Childhood and Youth, pp. 87-88)."

Live Simply that Others May Simply Live

 Questions in Mid-November:

• How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?
• What was a typical pattern in your family growing up at a family meal?  
• What has always been one of your favorite meals or a favorite recipe you love to make?
• Have you ever grown a garden and share with your family food you've grown?
• If you live with a family, how many family meals do you share each week currently?
  1-4             5-8                          9-12                 13-16                   17-21

Study for Mid-November:

• Read Exodus 12:3-11. What does this passage tell us about sacred family mealtimes in the Jewish faith? What stands out for you in this passage?What is unique about Passover in a Jewish home? 
• Read Isaiah 58:6-12. What does this passage say about how we are to share our food, our lives, our meals, our resources? How do you fast? What is the relationship between feasting and fasting in your experience? 
• Read Luke 22:7-20. What does this passage tell us about sacred family mealtimes in the Christian faith and the roots of the Lord’s Supper in the Jewish faith? What stands out for you in this passage?
• Read Luke 24:28-31. Describe the setting of this story. What surprises are here?

Life application for Mid-November:

• What have been your experiences of fasting?
• How do you know the difference between a “need” and a “want”, between what is essential and what is a luxury?
• What world hunger groups have you supported?
•   How are you seeking to “live simply that others may simply live”? *(phrase attributed to Ghandi and Mother Teresa among others)

To Autumn

To Autumn, a sonnet

A dying orange Maple leaf descends,

Through misty morning stillness in the trees

Into the canopy my eye ascends

Among the fiery red and yellow leaves.

To meditate upon a mystery

My anxious soul awakens to the dawn

To wrestle with death’s angel suddenly

Alive and just as quickly he is gone.

Deep within the forest stands a door

A portal to our everlasting home

To know what lies beyond and what’s in store

Follow in his steps where he did roam.

An inner voice assures me with a prod

“Be still, be still, and know that I am God.”

*Psalm 46:10

Written by David Robinson, October 26, 2011

Dedicated to Don Robinson (9/20/1931--11/1/2011)

Contemplative Photography

3:oopm, this Saturday, Nov. 5th, in Cannon Beach, Oregon, at the Coaster Theater, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF CANNON BEACH: a nature photo slideshow and solo piano concert, created by Thomas Robinson and David Robinson. This show includes 400 Thomas Robinson nature photos from pre-dawn, sunrise, midday, afternoon, sunset, evening and night. During the photo slideshow, David will play original solo piano mediations on grand piano. 

"Prayers in silence and quiet, of course have their own validity. It is not always necessary to express our prayers out loud. The simplest prayer, perhaps, is that of quiet contemplation. We place ourselves in the presence of the divine. Some pilgrims also find photography an expression of silent contemplation. By looking through the lens and focusing upon some aspect of the landscape or the interior of a grand cathedral, a person comes to new awareness that might be missed by trying to take everything in at a glance. Using a camera, as Thomas Merton discovered on his final pilgrimage to Thailand, can be a form of prayer." ~from "Pilgrimage: Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice", by Edward C. Sellner (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2004), 145.

Photo: 7 minute exposure of star trails over Haystack Rock

HEARTS SET ON PILGRIMAGE

 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. (1)

I've been reading a book by Ian Bradley titled, Pilgrimage: a Spiritual and Cultural Journey (Oxford, England: Lion Hudson plc, 2009). Bradley is a professor of Practical Theology and Church History at the University of St Andrews, specializing in Celtic Christianity, and a leader of regular pilgrimages to such sites as St Andrews, Iona and Lindisfarne. 

Pilgrimage is still only available in hardcover, and is packed with glossy photos of pilgrimage locations across Europe, including Rome, Santiago, St Andrews, Iona, Nidaros, Assisi, Lourdes, Taize, Medugorje and others. 

Bradley offers a variety of definitions of pilgrimage, including these:

• A departure from daily life on a journey in search of spiritual well-being. 
• An individual summons to know God more fully, a spiritual journey to which the pilgrim joyfully responds 'yes' to God's invitation.
• A provisional, transitory state, often taken as a metaphor for the journey of life, hastening irrevocably from the cradle to the grave. It is a reminder that all things in this world are temporary and that everything is in motion.
• The outer physical journey mirrors the inner spiritual journey; the excitement of setting out on a new adventure is balanced by the joy of coming home. 

The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 includes chapters titled The Biblical Roots of Pilgrimage, Pilgrimage in the Early Church, Celtic Pilgrimage, The Golden Age of Pilgrimage, After the Reformation, Pilgrimage Today, and How to be a Pilgrim. Part 2 leads readers chapter by chapter into specific pilgrimage sites in Italy, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Poland, France, Bosnia-Herzegovinia, and England. Historic details are woven together with practical and personal insights into making your own pilgrimage to such a place. 

Of the sites emphasized by Bradley, I've personally enjoyed spending pilgrimage time in Rome, St Andrews, Iona, Assisi, Taize and Lindisfarne. But one need not get into an airplane and travel across the globe to go on pilgrimage. "Blessed are those whose hearts are set in pilgrimage" the Psalmist tells us. Jesus suffered for us along the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering, "leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps" (2), joining Christ along the way of the cross, day by day, setting our hearts on pilgrimage. Jesus came alongside hurting people along the road to Emmaus, comforting them by opening the Scriptures to them along the way home. Later, these two, reflecting upon their encounter with pilgrim Christ recalled, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" (3)

May you know the joy of journeying with our Lord along the pilgrim way. If possible, sometime in your life, consider turning travel plans into pilgrim plans, and intentionally step out along the way with Christ as your guide, walking along the way, "in his steps".

(1) Psalm 84:5.

(2) 1 Peter 2:21.

(3) Luke 24:32.

Scriptures of the Mountains

Three quotations from John Muir (1838-1914) the great Scottish naturalist, mountaineer:

• Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. (1)
• The darkest scriptures of the mountains are illumined with bright passages of love that never fail to make themselves felt when one is alone. (2)
• I met cassiope (mountain heather) growing in fringes among the battered rocks . . . . Winter and summer, you may hear her voice, the low, sweet melody of her purple bells. No evangel among all the mountain plants speaks Nature's love more plainly than cassiope. Where she dwells, the redemption of coldest solitude is complete. The very rocks and glaciers seem to feel here presence, and become imbued with her own fountain sweetness.

In these three selections of Muir's writings, he reveals a spirituality of nature in which creation becomes an evangelist, a proclaimer of the good news of God, in which creation is to be read as scripture, declaring the glory and truth of God. Nature, in her tiniest details, in her flowers, rivers, lakes, mountains and storms, as well as in her grandeur, all Nature declares the good tidings of God and illumines the nature of God, and even moreso, brings us into the very heart of God, bringing us inner peace, spiritual renewal and soul refreshment through our direct encounter with God's creation.

As Paul declares, "Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made" (Romans 1:20).

1) quoted from "Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers", p.7.

2) quoted from John Muir's "Mountaineering Essays

3) quoted from John Muir's "Mountaineering Essays, p. 36-37.