Torrence's Weekly Message
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Windy Reflections on a Monday Morning
The wind made itself known last night, throughout the night, and into this morning. I didn’t see it of course. Wind is not something you see. But you know it is there.
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It rattles things, whatever may be loose, not firmly fixed. Whatever is only lightly attached becomes an instrument through which the wind plays its tune. No words; just sounds. The wind chimes know this as they shift on delicate strings, making music brushing against one another. Can you hear one hand clapping? Even now I hear the sound of that one gutter/down spout I meant to get fixed last fall. A tinny sound as it scrapes against the siding of the house. And the flap on the kitchen exhaust fan slapping, clapping its rapping rhythm as the wind plays with it. Did those sounds slip into my dreams last night, give my sleeping its own nocturnal rhythm? How loosely attached are my dreams with my life? I wonder.
It moves what it touches. The wind can stir up things to dance with it. Bare branches of winter trees move with the wind. They look like scantily clothed dancers’ bodies etching their motions against a luminous backdrop, a dark night sky or a dawn rising to a new day. This morning I watch their twists or turns, bowings and bendings so starkly outlined against the sky. I am mesmerized by their motion. Yearning to dance wildly, too. Dry leaves once so firmly attached to those branches, scuttle and scatter on the ground as if still alive. But they are, enlivened after all, by the wind. Like the dry bones on the floor of Ezekiel’s valley where I imagine the sound and sight of those dried out remains rustling, then clattering together as Holy Breath reaches them, moistens them, stirring them back to life, answering the mortal’s wonderings, “Can these bones live?”
The bird feeder swings wildly back and forth. Perches full, despite the wind. An easy breakfast attracts hungry birds, at ease themselves with the motion of the unseen wind. They are swinging and swaying, their internal rhythms clearly in tune with that of the wind. The local eagle makes his/her pass-by this morning soaring on unseen currents, wingspan fully extended. Motionless, a creature simply allowing itself to be carried on the wind and savoring every moment. I feel my spirit yearning to be with it, with a delicious sense that I too would delight in simply drifting, carried by some generous current of life and soaring.
For me the wind has always been a natural metaphor for the Spirit, something completely unseen, invisible, but becoming visible as it touches things. The wind as a symbol of Divine energy. Holy breath that gives life, enlivens our human form as seen symbolically in the creation story in Genesis when the Creator breathes life into the molded form of Adam, lifeless till Divine breath surrounds and enters him. As seen in the Gospel of John when Jesus appears to his disciples after his death and breathes Peace over and into them to dispel their death-like fear. To energize them to leave their tomb-like, locked-in, walled-in, fear-filled room and go forth. Renewed and stirred up by the Re-Creating Spirit to go back out into the world to love, serve and channel Divine Love and Presence into a needing, waiting world.
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Tucked safely in my little house, watching the wind, writing this reflection, I realize it is time to leave my ponderings, exit this reflection, have my second cup of coffee, take a deep breath, unlock and open my front door and go out into the “world” beyond it. The wind is calling me. It’s time to find out what it wants to do with me this day. How exciting! Hope you are feeling the Wind of the Spirit calling you too as we move into the windy month of March together, to explore a Holy Lent, making ready for a blooming Spring and a new Easter opening life that is close at hand and heart.
Torrence
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Last Winter Bible Study
Tuesday evening
February 26
th
Supper at 5:30 ~
Study at 6:15
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B
ag
L
unch &
C
onversation
Noon to 1 on Thursday
February 28
th
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Tonight we complete the Prophets
All are welcome!
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with Vanessa Livingstone, Social Services Director in
Richmond County
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Mar. 5
th
5:30
p.m.
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
at St. John's
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March 6
th
Ash Wednesday
services:
noon at St. John's
5 p.m. at Farnham
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A Creative Journey thru Lent
During Lent 2019 we will explore ways to connect with the Holy through creative expression. Our guides will be some special “artists” as they craft experiences for us to tap into our creative and meaning making nature. Each evening will include a supper at 6:00 p.m., presentation from 7:00-8:00 p.m. and closing compline /benediction from 8:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. We have rearranged the schedule due to conflicts.
Friday, March 15
th
Supper Provided.
Words as Windows to Faith & Contemporary Culture
with Temple Cone, Poet & Professor.
Friday, March 22
nd
(Potluck Supper)
Landscapes of the Celtic Tradition
with Torrence Harman
Friday, March 29
th
Imagery with Music & Sound Cancelled - to be rescheduled at a later date.
New
: Wed, April 3
rd
from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
(no supper) "
Wine & Wonder
about Mary Magdelene" ~ Come help Torrence prepare for preaching at April 14
th
RCMA Service.
April 5
th
(Potluck Supper)
Images with Wood
with Ed Milsted & Michael, artists & craftsmen with in the art of woodworking will share their passion and experience of finding and shaping the remarkable and useful in the medium of wood.
April 12th - Passover Seder Rescheduled to 2020
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Richmond County Ministerial Association (RCMA) Lenten Season
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The theme for this year's Richmond County Ministerial Association's Lenten Season is
the Voices of Holy Week
The services are Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Each sermon/ monologue will be from the perspective of a character in the narrative of Holy Week. The offering each Sunday night will go to RCMA Benevolence fund.
Mar 10
- Warsaw United Methodist Church
Rev. Donald Bowen
“The thief that had a change of heart”
March 17
- Cobham Park Baptist Church
Revs. Kenny and Leslie Park
“Judas Iscariot and his mother”
March 24
– New Zion Baptist Church
Rev. Daniel Burch “Pontius Pilate”
March 31
– Rappahannock Baptist Church
Rev. Gernard Reed “Barabbas”
April 7
– North Farnham Episcopal Church
Rev. David Johnson “Joseph of Arimathea”
April 14
– Warsaw Baptist Church
Rev. Torrence Harman “Mary Magdalene”
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Red Cross Blood Drive
March 21st 2:30 to 6:30 at Warsaw Baptist Church.
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Upcoming Musical Events
Our
March 31
st
Combined Service featuring the
St. Margaret's Treble Choir
will be at St. John's at 10:00 a.m.
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Saturday March 16 at 7:30
there is a Duke Ellington Tribute at Northumberland HS as part of the Rappahannock Concert Series. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the
Rappahannock Concerts web-site
here.
Fri March 22
at 7:30
the
Northern Neck Orchestra
will perform Haydn and Copland
(with The Chesapeake Chorale)
at Lancaster Middle School. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased
here
Sat March 23
at 7:30
, there is a repeat performance
at Northumberland HS
$30 tickets
Saturday April 20 at 7:30
clarinetist Maksim Shtrykov and pianist Misuzu Tanaka will perform
at Northumberland HS. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased
here.
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Sunday March 3
rd
Epiphany VIII
Holy Eucharist
9:00
a.m. at
Farnham
11:00
a.m. at
St. John's
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Wednesday March 5
th
Ash Wednesday
the Imposition of Ashes
12:00
noon at
St. John's
5:00 p.m. at Farnham
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Sunday March 10
th
1st Sunday of Lent
9:00
a.m.
Morning Prayer at
Farnham
11:00
a.m.
Holy Eucharist at St. John's
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Sunday March 17
th
2
nd
Sunday of Lent
Holy Eucharist
9:00 a.m. at Farnham
11:00
a.m. at
St. John's
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Come Worship With Us
Sunday Service this week
9:00 a.m. Farnham Church Farnham
11:00 a.m. St. John's Church
Warsaw
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