- Strawberry Shortcake Social on June 28th from 2-4pm with a Kitchen-Household Raffle Basket.
- Meadow Walk with Dave Small today from 11-2 (hosted by Bob Busby and Maureen Cote)
- Village Fair and 5K on August 16th
- INC Picnic on July 27th at 1pm
- Neighbors Hot Dog and S’mores Roast on July 20th 11-2.
Watch the recording HERE. Recording posts after services are complete each Sunday (usually by noon).
We are walking into Summer, the season of Light that carries the hint of darkness to come. Each day that passes becomes shorter and shorter and yet, we are embraced by the light and warmth of our summer days. We cherish these summer days.
As we head into these summer days, we also begin our walk in “ordinary times”. We have passed Easter and Pentecost. We’ve not yet come to Advent and Christmas. It’s ordinary times. The time of the year where we walk our ordinary lives each day and perhaps wonder in the greatness of it all. Summer, in it’s extraordinary glory, reminds us how awesome it all is…the extraordinary and the ordinary.
Perhaps too, as the sun and stars and moon shine above us, we realize how small we really are. It is both awesome and terrifying.
We may feel small and insignificant. We may feel that our small work doesn’t matter, that the little bits of kindness and love we bring to the world don’t change a thing. We may begin to have those “why bother” thoughts. Both the small “why bothers” and the bigger, scarier “why bother” thoughts.
We may be small, but we are important. We may be small, but we matter. We may be small and our kindnesses and love rippling may feel insignificant, but they matter.
We are molded by the hands of Grace. Each of us is gifted this life, in this place, and in this time…for a reason. We may find it a bit muddy to uncover our gifts and the reasons, but they are there. Perhaps, the greatest work we have is to uncover our reason for being and our great work within the great work. Why me? Why here? Why now?
I might go off on some meandering paths today, but it’s Summer and Summer is the season of meandering paths.
Meandering often leads to a place of clarity and peace. Meandering often takes us out of our heads and into our hearts. Meandering is often a path toward Presence.
Do you ever ponder the creation? PAUSE The creation of this world? The creation of us? I read this great poem once that talked about the Creator God molding us like modeling clay. I wish I could find the poem, because it was such a beautiful poem. Poems are like taking meandering paths…it is impossible to truly read a poem fast. It is impossible to not linger. It forces us to slow down and reflect. Recently, I heard that prayer is like poetry.
When I think about that poem and Creation, I think about the attention to detail in the molding. The idea that there is room for things to shift and change in the seasoning of the clay and the experience of the clay throughout its life, but…from the very beginning, our being is touched with Grace. That never changes and never goes away.
It’s a comforting thought to ponder. A sweet path to meander down. That, we, each and every one of us is touched by God. Imprinted with God’s (Grace, Spirit, Universal) fingerprints.
We, each of us, is touched with great Fingerprints and gifted fingers (truly and metaphorically) to make an imprint on our world. As small as we, and our imprint, might seem…it matters. How we touch this earth matters.
One of the most amazing places we visited in Scotland was Culloden Moor. It is absolutely stunning and full of meandering paths. There is a memorial cairn and stones that list the clan names of those who died in the battle there. It is eerie and beautiful. I would argue that it is full of Presence.
A little history. The Battle of Culloden took place in 1746. It was over within an hour, with the major action taking just minutes. Just minutes.
The aftermath and retaliation in the highlands of Scotland was brutal.
It also marked the end of the Highland way of life. The wearing of kilts and tartans was banned. The speaking of Gallic was banned. The speaking of Gallic has only begun to come back in the last decades.
The memorial stones to mark the mass grave of Jacobite soldiers were erected in 1881. It was over a hundred years before it was safe for a clan to honor family members who died in the battle. Over a hundred years.
The novel Outlander came out in 1991. The TV series premiered in 2014, not that long ago. Whatever we think about Outlander, it is is actually quite historically accurate and has brought attention to this forgotten history of Scotland. As one of the extras from the show, Andy the Highlander, says, “The real hero of Outlander is Scotland itself.” It’s not James Fraser or Clair.
Yes…we appear to have meandered WAY off the path of where we started today. Summer. Awesomeness. Wonder. The imprint of God. Our insignificance. Now, we’re in war and battles and fictional novels.
Whew. Bear with me for a little longer.
Among the clan stones is the marker for the Fraser clan. Yes, there is a real, historical Fraser family. People come from all over the world to see the site of the battle. People come from all over the world to see the Fraser Clan stone.
If we think our touch, our words, our imprint is insignificant…the Fraser stone, which had been standing for over a hundred years, tells another story of the power of many hands coming together. It has now been cordoned off because so many Outlander fans are touching the stone that it is in danger of crumbling.
I’m sure many touch in reverence to what Culloden Moor means. It is hard to imagine not being touched by the history and solemnity when you’re there. I’m sure many had no thought for the damage they might do to a stone that has been there for a hundred plus years.
I’m also sure that there are people who cross the rope and touch the stone…because the rules don’t apply to them and they’ve come so far to see it.
There is both good and not so good and everything in between. We may do harm without meaning to and it’s really easy to think that our own single small touch is harmless in the “grand scheme” of things.
It’s easy to think our small touch does nothing in the bigness of it all, but what struck me most at Culloden was the tangible evidence of how our small imprint, together, can change things.
We can bring our hands and fingerprints together and collectively (and carelessly) break things down and destroy. Or we can collectively bring our hands and fingerprints together to carefully create and build a world of peace, love, and grace.
Perhaps we are part of that grand scheme and what and how we touch the world around us really, really matters. Perhaps that is part of our reason for being, our great work within the great work. If God has left fingerprints on us and we are here in this time and this place with these gifts for a reason, perhaps our great question is: what imprint are we called to leave?
How do we become the hands of Grace in this world, when we don’t always (and most often don’t) see the collective work come to fruition? PAUSE We trust and have faith and act with grace. We make care-full choices, we touch gently, we act with kindness, and we trust in the fullness of the Mystery.
Holy One, be with us as we look within and ask ourselves: what imprints, unseeable to anyone but you, do we choose to leave behind us as we walk through the meandering paths of our lives? May your soft and gentle presence remind us that our part in the collective imprint makes an impression that in the beginning only you may see. May we always remember that the ways we speak and act are part of great change. Let us be in Good Company and let our work together be Good Work. Amen
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 