As the Dream Circle of HeartSpace, a ministry of 89 Hartford UCC, met to discuss the screening of the film, The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard of Bingen, which will be shown at Hickory Ridge Cinemas in Brunswick on March 8 at 7:00 p.m., Pastor Carol prepared a Chili lunch for the group and discovered that the preparation was in fact a prayer and meditation, see below:
Meditation on Chili: Seeking a Savory Sensation
Ingredients: Ground Meat, Chili Powder, Diced Tomato, Tomato Paste, Browned Onion, Kidney Beans Light and Dark
When we are children we are like the individual ingredients: unique to itself. Self centered. Living in our little child world of ME.
As Adolescence and Young Adults the main ingredient of who we are is thrown together to become something else. At school we begin to learn in a new way what it means to share and mix with seasonings that we might not like, e.i. chili powder, only to discover that seasonings that may be hard to take at first, help us in our discovery and our becoming.
Maturity is found in the big mix as we step up into community in a committed way. We begin to realize that being cooked together, taking the heat together, producing the heat together, ripening together is essential to our maturation.
Elderhood is the final stage of maturity. Left in the refrigerator for a day or two – a time for the richness and the wisdom to fill the finished product. When we open to this place - we are wizened and have the richest gifts for our community, our family, our world.
Carol P Vaccariello
Pastor for 89Hartford UCC
snowswan12@gmail.com
Inspirational Speaker/Storyteller and Spiritual Coach
Erie Benedictine Oblate
