Issue 182 - Fruitful Journey
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September 2018
Every year, the Howden family gathers in Oregon for a family reunion over Labor Day Weekend. We stayed in the Pacific Northwest for a week, sightseeing and visiting friends. Here are some reflections from our wonderful journey.
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As it was,
As it is,
As it shall be
Evermore,
O Thou Triune of Grace!
With the ebb,
With the flow,
O Thou Triune of Grace!
With the ebb,
With the flow.*
I am taking a course this fall on
Celtic Spirituality
. At the first session, one the instructors, Rev. Mary Earle, brought this ancient prayer from the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. She mentioned how all the Celtic lands are near the sea, and Celtic spirituality is an embodied, incarnational approach to the sacred, in tune with the rhythms of natural life.
Just five days earlier, I had been on
Whidbey Island
, north of Seattle, watching the currents of the incoming tide swirl through Deception Pass, a narrow inlet into Puget Sound. Three days on the island helped to bring me in touch with the rhythms of wind and wave, of sunrise and sunset.
Earlier in the trip, Jan and I had driven to the ranch where my grandparents lived when I was a child. Later the same day, we drove to the farm where I lived as a child. My grandparents' home still looks familiar. My own home, not so much: The house where I lived the first ten years of my life has been torn down and replaced. The trees and lilac bushes I remember are gone. Even the name of the road in front of the house has changed.
The Celtic prayer reminds me that God is with us through all the changes of life. It was sad to see some of the changes – at both my grandparents’ and my parents’ properties, once-productive fields are now grown up in weeds. Still, I would not turn back the clock, even if I could. I am grateful for where the tides of life have taken me.
As it was, as it is, as it ever shall be. The triune God is with us, in the ebb and in the flow, in the ebb and in the flow.
--
Bill
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Mile after mile after mile from the 'Fruit Loop' in Oregon's
Hood River valley to Washington's Rainier Cherry Trees, to plums on Whidbey Island, fresh fruit hung from uplifting branches like yellow, red, and purple smiley faces. Their beauty was surpassed only by their juicy- running- down- the chin flavor. Peaches, plums, pears, apples, cherries, and nectarines. And Oh! the grapes! Tasting a flight of five Pinot (Gris, Chardonnay, Rose, Noir, and Noir Reserve) wines from grapes of
Wy’East’s own venerable vines, we determined the wines were suitable for the wedding at Cana. In addition, ichthyophile that I am, I enjoyed Fish and Chips atop
Crystal mountain with Rainier in the background, and twice with our friends, Ann and Ron Emery, on Whidbey Island. If there were ever fish to be multiplied again, these would draw enormous crowds to the Sea of Galilee.
Since we went to “clean food” in 2011 (no preservatives, chemicals, or additives) I’ve developed discerning taste buds. They distinguish the difference between fresh and the over-processed fruit available in our area: coated with ‘edible-grade petroleum or wax’ products, mold and rot retardants, and ripening agents for fruit picked green. Much of the fruit has been in transport longer than on the trees.
I fondly remember the fresh fruit our ranch produced so well from the naturally fertilized trees. Picking a ripe persimmon gave my daddy an opportunity to philosophize, simply: “fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Mother, on the other hand, was more practical and wasted no time making a luscious pear pie. From her 16th century convent, St. Teresa of Avila offered wisdom, using spiritual metaphors: “The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.”
Teresa knew a lot about the spiritual life and I think she would agree with me, that sometimes our prayer life is like over-processed fruit: stale, old, and distasteful. We don’t realize it until we take time to freshen our spiritual taste buds with renewed inspiration. Let’s consider freshening our prayer habits. Savor a gospel story with imaginative prayer stimulated by all the senses. In the Lukan story (7:36-50) of Jesus and the woman in the house of the Pharisee, see the men’s faces as you enter with fragrant hyssop, smell the parchment scrolls leaning against the musty curtains, feel the fresh sea breeze wafting through the arches, taste the roasted lamb, listen to Jesus calling your name . . . .
--Jan
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Our trip this month was not a pilgrimage, in the normal sense of the word. But any trip can be a pilgrimage, says Phil Cousineau, in his helpful and inspiring book,
We highly recommend it!
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Recent Issues
Issue 177 - Mr. Rogers
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Copyright (c) 2018 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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