BEGINNING the TREK

Buen Camino!

We began our trek this morning after breakfast of hot chocolate, yogurt, croissant. At 7:30 I was walking through St Jean's on my way to Roncevalles a 25 km walk that is mostly strenuous and uphill. It was much more challenging than I had imagined.  I arrived at Orisson at 11:30 which was a 700 meter climb.  My heart had been racing with the climb plus the more than 20 pounds that I am carrying.

I decided to be wise and ask for help to travel the remaining 17 km to Roncevalles.  When I arrived before the others, I booked rooms for all 5 of us at the Albergue.  I ate a salmon lunch with red wine sitting in the sunshine to warm up and dry out the sweat-wet clothes.....

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." --Lao Tzu

Much Love,

Pastor Carol

Pelegrino/Pilgrim

FIRST DAY PLANS on the CAMINO

On Sept 1 my three companions will fly from Illinois to Paris and I will fly to join them at the Paris airport.  We will spend a couple of days in Paris to acclimate to the time change.  Then we will take the train to St. Jean Pied du Port to begin the walking portion of the Pilgrimage.

When we begin the walk around Sept 4th we will make the ascent to 932 metres (about 3000 feet) to Roncesvalles.  We won’t be covering many miles however this is a climb and will take about a 9 hours.

#Pilgrim

The CAMINO FRANCES

There are many paths that one can take to Santiago de Compostella.  I am following one of the most traveled, the Camino Frances...I find this very interesting since that was my mother’s name and she died just a year ago.  She would have loved to be making this trek with me.  She loved to travel and explore unknown places.  In many ways she is making this Pilgrimage with me because she has been the most influential person in my life.  Here is the map showing many Paths, the Network of Caminos.  You can easily see the Camino Frances from St.Jean Pied du Port in southern France to Finisterre (End of the Earth) Spain.  This is about a 3 days walk past Santiago which we will do in order to go to the Sea...the Atlantic Ocean.

#PILGRIM

Saying YES to the Camino

Pilgrim:  Camino de Santiago

Saying YES to the Camino 1:1

Last October when first the talk of hiking the Camino de Santiago surfaced, it was simply a dream and not anywhere close to reality. 

Years ago I was the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program for the University of Creation Spirituality working alongside with renowned author/theologian/lecturer: Matthew Fox.  When the leadership changed at the University so did the name and it became Wisdom University.  One of the innovations that I had made was to begin gathering students from many places around the country and then around the world.  We would create courses that would best be taught at sacred sites where the experience of being there was more important than anything one could read in a book or take notes at a lecture.  This is how I began making these Sacred Pilgrimages around our country and then in faraway lands.

A significant part of the “on the road” courses were held at Chartres Cathedral in France.   Students would gather for a week long seminar and we would live at Saint Ives, the Monastery attached to the Cathedral.  It was a powerful time of learning and experiencing all things of Spirit.  One day I noticed people standing at the doors of the Cathedral holding scalloped seashells in their hands in a begging gesture.  I asked others, “What is with the folks and the sea shells?”  That was the first time I had heard these words:  “Compostello,” “Camino”, “Santiago”…and to be honest, I didn’t know what they were talking about.  This began my searching to understand what this Pilgrimage was all about and what were the desired destinations.

A close friend and spiritual companion called and asked me if I had ever heard of the Camino de Santiago?  My response was, “Yes, I’ll go!”  Teresa said, “But I didn’t ask you yet.”  I said, “ But I will go.”  So that was the beginning.  I had no idea that something extraordinary was beginning.    I simply knew that I was being invited to GO!  I have heard it said and now I understand the meaning in these words:  “The Pilgrimage begins when you say YES to the Camino!”  Since last October I have been making preparations that I have been unaware of and deeply aware of.  My life has changed on every level of my being.

My Mother died unexpectedly on August 10^th, 2014 and I was in a time of deep mourning and grief.  I was her caregiver and she lived with me.  In addition to having a beautiful relationship as mother and daughter, we were fortunate to be the best of friends and we lived our lives very closely.  Often we travelled together on great adventures.  The last trip I shared with my mom was the Fall of 2013 when I took her on a Riverboat Cruise from New York through inner waterways all the way north of Quebec.  I will never forget that trip.  It was very important to me that she have this “one more opportunity” to do what she loved.  I had Mom, her wheel chair, oxygen, luggage and my luggage.  It was quite a feat and it was wonderfully worth every minute.  At 90 years of age, she still had the wonderment of a child’s eyes every time we went through one of the Locks.  She loved to flirt and enjoyed sharing meals with other passengers.  She brought joy wherever she went.  Her smile was radiant and everyone loved her.

Mom certainly had a mind of her own.  For her 90^th birthday she decided to celebrate with some friends in Steubenville where I was pastoring a church.  Much to the chagrin of the family who wanted her to come back to the Cleveland area to celebrate her 90^th.  Her response was, “ I will be 90 all year.  You can come to visit me throughout the year and it will be a year of celebration.”

So it was in the midst of all of these feelings that the invitation to walk the Camino emerged.

I will turn 70 years this Fall.  I feel that it is time for me to do something different with my life.  When Mom died at nearly 91 years of age, I realized that I would be fortunate to have 20 more years to accomplish whatever I would accomplish in this life time.  The older I get, the faster time flies.  I know that I need to get busy doing what my entire life has prepared me to do.  There are a number of books in my head that need to be written and I have begun a couple of them.  Since my mother’s death I have made the decision to cut back on some of my work related time investments and begin to use the time to accomplish in these 20 years what I feel is my soul’s purpose in being here. 

What I have been describing here is the Pilgrimage of my life.  I see the Camino as another important part of my Life’s Pilgrimage.  I don’t know why.  I don’t know what for.  I don’t have any expectations or investment in outcome.  I simply have begun to prepare and now all of the questions and answers are manifesting in ways that I never expected.

REFLECTION: Friday Night Gatherings

I may have shared this before and maybe even once again before that….It happens every time we gather.  Whether for Medicine Wheel on the First Friday of the Month or Sacred Space on the 2^nd and 4^th Fridays or for the study of the Cosmos and the Christ on the 3^rd Friday – Doesn’t make any difference, it happens every single time.

We are all finished sharing food, fellowship, our lives and then our deep prayer moments through whatever topic or focus for the evening.  I hear it every single time.

Last Friday we had a first timer come and experience the Medicine Wheel and she said it in a new way.  So what is it that is said every single time…..

“That was the most meaningful time ever.”  Or, “I am so glad I found you.  I feel so good being with like-minded people who understand me and don’t judge my unique way of thinking and being.” Or, “That was so powerful!  I say it every time cause every time it feels more powerful than the last.”  Or, “This is why I keep coming back.”

It is a wonder to me to; the way Spirit shows up and turns us inside out and upside down.  We wander through songs and movements and deep silence and heartbeat drumming and always we come out the other end with deep sighs of:  “It doesn’t get any better than that.”  AND,  “It is so difficult to explain to others the MAGIC that happens when we come together.”  AND, “There are so many who could benefit from what happens here if they only knew.”

What we have discovered and what Friday’s spiritual seeker voiced…no one can tell you about it.  What happens here can’t be explained in words.  You wouldn’t believe a word of it anyway.  You simply need to come ONCE and find out for yourself if this is the place for you to connect with Spirit and others in a deep meaningful way….that just might be exactly what you have been missing and didn’t even know it.  What if, you came and you connected with Spirit in a way that changed your life?

Come on and give yourself the opportunity to say yes or no to your hungering soul.  I have never met a person who isn’t hungering..... Time to be fed???????

Pastor Carol

PENTECOST: Remembrance and Prayer

We are quickly approaching Pentecost, the Sunday that recalls the Coming of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the Disciples of Jesus after his Ascension.

Now that is a mouthful, isn’t it?  Simply put, Pentecost is the Sunday that we remember Jesus’ promise that he would share the presence of the Holy Spirit with each of us.  That each of us would literally be a sanctuary of the presence of God.  Now that isn’t just a mouthful, for many of us that’s beyond our wildest imaginings.

Every month the United Church of Christ offers quotations that are descriptive of the liturgical season.

One that truly made me stop and stare and read it at least three times is this African Proverb, Ghana:

"If you want to speak to God, tell it to the wind."

Now that might sound pretty so-so to you, however, one day this past Fall I went to prayer with a heart overflowing with grief.  My Mother died suddenly in August.  Her loss really knocked the breath out of our family since it was so unexpected.  My Mom was a truly beautiful woman and we had enjoyed not only a Mother-Daughter relationship; we were also best friends.  We did everything together.  So my heart was full of grief and in prayer I cried out, “I need your help.  I have to get on with my life and all I seem to be able to do is cry.  What can I do to get past this loss?” 

The response was so clear, “You know how I come to you in the WIND?” 

Yes, I did know.  Often I felt the kiss of Spirit in the Wind.  “Your Mother will come to you in the WIND.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.  I ended my prayer time and went head long into my day and when I came home the tears began to flow once again.  My dear friend, Chris, took one look at me and suggested that I go to my prayer bench in the back yard and get myself grounded.  It was a beautiful Fall day.  The sky was so blue and the sun was nearly noon.  I faced the East where the large GrandFather Tree stands – so regal and tall.  The air was still and very cool, so I wrapped myself in my prayer shawl and let the tears roll as I faced the Sun and asked for relief from this overwhelming grief. 

I heard a strange noise and wondered what it was but I continued my prayer facing East into the warm sunshine.

The sound didn’t stop.  In fact it grew and grew until my prayer was disturbed by its persistence and I turned around to see the large trees behind me were blowing and bowing so deeply in the rushing, gushing, determined wind that my first instinct was to run inside for fear of the trees falling or losing a branch. 

Then my dulled senses awoke!

I looked again at the large GrandFather Tree before me and NOT ONE LEAF WAS MOVING – THERE WAS NO WIND IN THE EAST.

I turned around again and directly behind me on my less than a quarter acre lot, the trees continued their wind roaring sound as they bent and bowed.

In that moment, I got it!  I heard the inner voice again: “Your Mother will come to you in the WIND!”

Now I cried amazed tears of joy and relief.  OMG!!!

How can this be?

God, the Holy Spirit, comes to each of us every day filling us with blessing and possibilities that we cannot even imagine.  Sometimes God goes out of her way to impress us with the reality of her deep love and abiding presence with us.

This Sunday is Pentecost.  The day we set aside to remind us of the BIG WIND in our lives that IS OUR LIFE if we just let it.

"I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit."

--L.J. Suenens, 20th century

Pastor Carol

"Dreams grow holy put in action."

--Adelaide Anne Procter, 19th century

"A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache."

--Catherine the Great, 18th century 

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

--Howard Thurman, 20th century







MEDICINE WHEEL GATHERINGS are SPECIAL!

Medicine Wheel Gatherings are special. 

We experience. We Pray.

We sing/chant and sometimes we dance.

We learn from the Wheel and through each other. 

At our First Friday Gathering on May 1, 2015 we were just three days from a Full Moon, so Grandmother Moon lit up the sky as we sat around the Wheel.

We began by feeling the energy of the Wheel before we opened the energetic space.  It was a deep learning to “feel” the difference in the energies outside and inside the circumference of the Wheel and then in the Innermost Circle with Creator.  Each of us “felt” differently. 

How awesome to discover again and again the uniqueness of each of us and our relationship to Earth and Cosmic forces.  It is a wonder to be Unique and One with our Cosmos at the same time!   Being here celebrating our presence at this Wheel deeply reinforces our Presence and our Oneness.

We open the Wheel with an invocation to the Seven Directions: East, South, West, North, Above, Below and Within. 

Immediately the sense of Community among ourselves and with all that is becomes heightened.  Singing new and old songs.  Continually learning new ways to bless each other and to be one in experience.

This evening we had a special privilege to participate in the blessing of four hand carved labyrinths of designed by Lori.  Lori selected the sacred reading that she shared while others held the Labyrinths and Pastor Carol moved sun-wise around the Wheel carrying the shell with the smoke of herbal smudge rising and blessing each Labyrinth. 

After the blessings we moved indoors to receive the teaching from Krista who is so full of deep knowing who shared about the Frogs Return Moon (April 20-May 20).  Krista taught about different types of frogs and we listened to each of their unique songs/sounds.  She also shared about the animal: Beaver, the flower: Blue Camas, the mineral: Chrysocolla. 

The day after our Gathering I went for a Contemplative Retreat Day at the Benedictine Monastery in Erie, PA.  I went for a solitary walk during lunch break and because of Krista’s teaching, for the first time ever, I recognized the Blue Camas…here is the picture of the Blue Camas…..Krista – did I get it right???

When we had absorbed Krista’s teaching we returned the Wheel outdoors to say goodnight the all the Cosmic Forces who had joined us in this time of prayer, praise and learning.  

Don't miss next month: FIRST FRIDAY GATHERING, June 5th!

We'll be learning about the Strong Sun Moon (which occurs 06/21-07/22)

If you arrive early – we share a light meal at 6:15 and begin our Gathering at 6:45 p.m.  We ask a monetary gift to help us provide the meal.

The  brother and sister birds are chirping and I think I heard one calling my name, so I am on my way outdoors to enjoy the cool breeze and the marvelous warmth of Brother Sun. 

May you allow the blessings of Cosmic Bounty fill you to overflowing encouraging you to share with others and with Mother Earth.

Pastor Carol