No words ~> a Friday at the Cathedral, Jazz in Cleveland

 

Looking up at the Jesuit Center, seeing hawks

Hawk on UCC steeple Wernersville, PA
by Wayne Stratz

 One night in the midst of silence, I noticed a hawk on the highest point of the Jesuit Center. I wondered when crows would chase it away. I walked about. An hour or more later it was still there, which delighted me but also made me wonder if it was real, so I ventured closer till I saw its head turn. I guess it was enjoying the view.

The next evening I ventured out and happened to look up at the UCC church adjacent to the Jesuit Center. And there was a hawk at the highest point.

Hawk on UCC steeple Wernersville, PA
by Wayne Stratz

At no point in time did I see a hawk when I looked up at these two perches in the following days. But looking up is a good habit. There is much to be seen other than hawks.

Hawk on UCC steeple Wernersville, PA
by Wayne Stratz

Joy emerges

This is the story of a stained glass, it may have started long before I start the story, but most stories do. Tomato seedlings emerging at work were in my head when I headed to Telford, PA a few weeks ago for my Lenten retreat. Reflecting on Isaiah, the image of God holding me in the same manner as when I hold a seedling in the palm of my hand as I move it to a larger less crowded home. Then given some tools to play with, I made these prints....



since the previous week retreats had inspired stained glass (here and here) I imagined making a stained glass that spelled out JOY, but I didn't. The next week in Telford I was directed to do a collage, so being a good student.....




Then I was told to use my scraps to make a collage. The other man in our group had three pieces to work with, but I had plenty and it was a hoot. I loved the result more than my original...



A friend, and co-leader of the retreat, asked me to turn it upside down. A voice rang out, "I see a J." Others agreed, now I had two weeks to get JOY done. Yesterday, with 15 minutes to spare, I took this photo of the result before I headed out to my last Lenten retreat in Telford.....



I took it out of the box and hung it in a window and practiced taking compliments, and thanked them for inspiring me. The piece made it home and has been hanging in a window, which is just to my left. It did make a journey upstairs last night, and with the lights out in my studio, JOY shines out.

water in dry places

I was told to play with water this morning. This is what happened:



this is how it happened... I was told to think of playing in water and there I was as a boy body surfing at Virginia Beach. It may have been the most fun I have ever had in water.

Then I am given a piece of paper. I cover it with yellow, orange and red. Where is the water I say to myself when I stop to reflect upon my creation. I add some blue. I turn it around looking at all angles and I am on a dusty road in Oregon. Mosaic woman and I have gone to see birds at the Malheur NWR. I think of the Samaritan woman at the well.

After a guided meditation which takes me to a footbridge at Peace Valley near Doylestown (where I go to see birds in Pennsylvania) , I am given 15 minutes to return to my creation. What you see on the left hand side is what I worked on as I used the water colors.

At 3am I woke last night and sleep was not going to happen. Strangely it was not a troubled mind that kept me awake. So, I saw it as a time to do some praying flat on my back. Jesus praising the woman who gave all her coins is my latest passage.

Jesus asks me.... Do you know me well enough to enter Jerusalem? I am entering the third week of the spiritual exercises. I am headed to the cross with Jesus.

And now it is 3pm Friday afternoon at work. I stopped by to visit a friend and now I am feeling guilty about talking through some troubling times. She has her own woes and why should she have to listen to mine.

I drive home from Telford today thinking about all of this. Why is that some people grate me to the core, yet the above friend can tell me her woes and I don't see her as being negative? This is all about those in our lives who provide us living water. I am not sure how it all works, but I am grateful for their presence. Often they are water in very dry places, and like birds I am drawn to be immersed.

Hermeneutics of Discernment.

At this stage the idea of the Bible being a sacred text became a possibility in my thinking. I began to trust it as a place to search for answers. And that brings to mind how the United Church of Christ here in southeast Pennsylvania has hired a woman to be a spiritual leader for the conference. A month ago, she bowed in front of me as we leave a Mexican restaurant and says, "Oh great spiritual master."

I say, "No, taking classes to get a masters in spirituality does not make me your spiritual master."

she bows again and like most times we get together we laugh and smile.

Things started when I began to Walk With God. The PA southeast UCC'ers have a yearly spiritual retreat at a place called Mensch Mill. I have been to most but not all of these annual events. Sadly I will not be there this October because I am expected to be at work that weekend for professional training. I wish I could call out spiritually ill. I do take spiritual health days, but this weekend I can't get out of without major frowns from bosses.

Time with the Bible has led to it sinking from my head to my heart. Lectio Divina has been introduced on my retreats. One Lent I spent Saturdays travelling to be in a group of UCC'ers who took a spiritual journey together reading Joyce Rupp's Cup of Life.

The Bible has many images and names of God and it was during this stage that I let that list grow. The hermeneutics of Antipathy had blacklisted names, now I could begin accepting God in different ways.

I remember reading the Bible one day and coming across Jesus as master. It jumped out at me because it was ready to be considered. Yes, healer was easy, but master for me was not. I had thought of master as one who commands because of a need to exploit and control, not as one who guides through love. To this day some of the commands are difficult, for example I have yet to sell all my possessions to follow Jesus. That is when God, the one who forgives us, comes to mind. The one who celebrates each year as more and more of our money is given to those who feed the hungry, house the poor, and care for the abused. Well, I hope there is celebration.