We are looking forward to seeing you at our next events:
- Village Fair and UnFair 5K on August 17th.
- Next Death Cafe Friday August 30th at 4pm. no
May you find in this week the Gentle Blessing of Rest.
You may watch the Recording HERE. (Eps 4: 1-6)
This passage brings us to the word “Oneing” usually translated to “unity” which was used by Julian of Norwich in this quote:
“If I pay special attention to myself, I am nothing at all; but in general I am, I hope, in the ‘oneing’ (unity) of love with all my fellow people. … For God is everything that is good … and God has made everything that is made, and God loves everything that he has made…”
Our greatest work is to Love and when we love fully, everyone, as we are asked to do, we become One.
We’re often trying to “fix” a broken world. We’re often scattered in ourselves, reaching and pulled in all directions. Forgetting who we are, who we are meant to be, and what matters most. I heard once that this disconnect scatters our souls. Best shared in a quote: We’re busy putting up Christmas decorations while our souls are still smelling the summer roses.
We have scattered and disconnected communities. We’re scattered in faith.
Oneing. This idea of unity. Coming together of ourselves. Connection with our neighbors, not to agree on everything, but to lean into understanding and community. Coming together with Grace and the Greater Love.
We like to focus on the BIG things. The giant, obvious broken things of this world. That stuff that is so loud from our TVs and the web. We’re trying to fix a world at war, a world destroying itself, a nation that “can’t do anything right”.
We’ve forgotten to start with (or are deliberately ignoring) what’s scattered before us. Ourselves. If we’re scattered, and our souls are scattered, how can we possible move on to anything else? Often, looking outside ourselves is easier than looking within. It’s easier to focus our attention on something big and loud to feel like we’re doing something, especially when we feel small and helpless. Easier to focus on other people’s wrongs and join other people in noise to feel we’re doing something.…anything.
It’s so much easier to make noise too than to turn within and see where our scattered souls feed the scattered world and separate us from Everything, including Grace.
But if we’re scattered within, how can we possibly know how to connect the disconnected pieces of the world around us?
We “One” the things closest to us. Our own hearts and souls. Our own neighbors. Our own communities. It doesn’t mean we skip, or ignore, the rest of the world, but when we over-focus on the BIG, we forget ourselves and our kin. Kin. And we are all part of a great big Kin-dom that includes all beings.
When I feel scattered, I like to anchor myself in simplicity and my mind went to other wise words of Julian of Norwich:
All will be well.
The words gave me pause and comfort. Then led me to an older Reflection. I hope you will forgive me for bringing back a Reflection of the past. And yet still…so timely:
It’s times like these that it is really nice to come back to our simple and most comforting prayers. The ones we can most easily remember and carry with us. All will be well.
It may be easy to resist this simple prayer. The first thoughts to your mind might have been: it’s not well and nothing is well.
It may be easy to lash back and think…things were different “back then” and these times are far worse.
During Julian’s time a few things were happening (I’m going to keep it simple):
The waves of the Black Plague were devastating the country and her city. There was the peasant’s revolt due to socio-economic issues of the time. The stirrings of pre-protestantism were being suppressed, likely not very gently. In addition, Julian worried over the health and wellness of herself (including her own near death) and those around her. Those bigger problems sound familiar. Those personal problems may also sound familiar.
When life is “like that”, we can probably imagine the usual response of the average person at that time and in that place. We see it all around us. How people respond when they are scared and angry, and feel hopeless. And yet, Julian held to: All will be well. And all manner of things will be well.
Most of our deepest, most beautiful words don’t come out of a simple, easy life. They come out of struggles, and trials, and pain, and loss. Those words come from those who kept on practicing goodness during trying times.
Jesus continued to share a message of Love when people didn’t believe in a loving God (or loving gods, at the time). Jesus carried a message of love in a time where those in charge worried little about the the common people. He continued to spread a message of love and peace in un-loving times and un-peaceful times. That also might sound familiar. It’s why Jesus continues to be relevant.
I LOVE that Jesus says to spread peace and if it’s not received, it comes back to you. The message that no good deed goes unrewarded. (Matthew 10:13)
Again, you might be thinking the reverse: humph, no good deed goes unpunished.
Peace given is either received and those ripples of peace continue from that person to the next and the next, or it comes back to you. What does that mean? Let’s imagine for a moment, those times we have tried to spread peace or goodness and it goes unreceived…
Sometimes, we give not to give, but as an expectation that we will share peace with another and they will accept it. But that’s not always true. If it is a gift, we don’t get angry or upset when the gift goes unreceived or unappreciated. We simply continue to give because most of the time it makes a difference and there is so much need for peace and love that we have to try harder to get it to more people so that it can really, really spread.
If we get hurt and angry when our gifts of peace are not received, if we give up, if we quit, we didn’t truly pass peace or love. We were engaged in an exchange. An expectation of return.
Perhaps, that is what Jesus means when he says: if a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on them, but if not, it will return to you. That it’s not about them…it’s about us. Our response, our growth, our learning.
And all will be well.Eventually, the gift of peace and love will be received. Perhaps, just perhaps, the gift of peace and love created a little crack we’re unable to see and next time, or the next time, or the next time the peace and love and goodness will get through.
All will be well. We trust in a loving and forgiving God. We trust in a God that yearns for peace in our hearts and peace between people. We trust in each other (maybe we sometimes need a little more work on that). We believe in each other. We trust in the path of Jesus or the path of Love and Goodness.
All will be well. It is not perfect. We are not perfect. Work might still be hard and stressful, but we can still practice love and peace and goodness. Neighbors might still be frustrating, but we can still practice love and peace and goodness. We might still be worried about our family and our health and our security, but we can still practice peace and love and goodness. We might still be worried about the state of the nation and the world, but we can still practice grace.
We can choose to meet the seeming ugliness of the world with more ugliness (even well meaning ugliness) or we can choose to practice meeting the world with love and goodness. And when we fall short, we can pick ourselves up and practice yet again. Because if we are to follow a path of love and grace, the path of Jesus, we need to practice being the hands and words and thoughts of love and Grace in this world.
All will be well. As a final note, the gift of peace and love and goodness might start with yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Perhaps take pause (and turn off the things that bring you stress and worry, they will be there when you get back) to rest your weary body, mind, and soul. Bring your weary soul back together…begin the Work of Oneing.
Rest in the words of Julian:All will be well. And all manner of things will be well.
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 