Open Hearts Gathering May 19- A Lament over Amendment One’s passage, and a look to the future
In light of our state’s recent passage of this very harmful amendment, we will make some time to lament all the losses that will result from it at our next Gathering- Saturday, May 19, 6:30 PM, within the loving arms of at New Hope Baptist Church‘s facilities, at 2024 Redbud Rd. in Gastonia (on the corner of Redbud and S. New Hope Rd.). Please join us as we exercise, and exorcise, our sadness over this establishment of blatant bigotry in our state’s constitution, that violates the basic human dignity of all children of God. We need your tears, too!
We’ll also make time, as planned, for our annual discernment, of who we are as a community, where we’ve been, and where we’re headed next into The Future with this (g)Go(0)d(s) that is madly in Love with us! Such questions will be discussed:
What have we done so far- that you’ve enjoyed? that you haven’t? that you want to continue doing? that you don’t?
Where do we go from here? What should OHG do, and be about, into our future together?
What will/could/should OHG look like next year? 5 years from now? 10 years from now?
What else have you been pondering, thinking, meditating upon these past several months that we’ve been together?
So please think, pray, and meditate upon these questions, and bring your own thoughts and contributions on the 19th.
RSVP at our Facebook event page, and contact me if you need any other information. Thanks, friends, I look forward to seeing you there!
Pax,
-Pastor -D
The many meanings of Circles….
We had a great Gathering last Saturday!, and within our Time with The Kids discussed the many meanings that Circles have had over the milennia for us human beings….
Circles have been used to symbolize all kinds of things- gods and goddesses, creation itself, wholeness, unity, equality of all things. Lots of good reasons for this.
The sun and moon are both circular in appearance, and in the great religious traditions across the globe often symbolize if not embody the great gods and goddesses that sustain and support us.
There is no beginning, and no end, to a circle. There is no front or back, first or last, left or right. Everything, and everyone, in a circle are included in the most equal and basic ways possible. All the great religions of the world can, or at least should be able to, recognize this wonderful truth, and use the Circle as a symbol of unity for all religions, all people, all the universe.
For the sake of all people, existing on the same earth, let us embody the best of the Circle in our daily lives.
We sat down on the floor and made our own Circle, to really feel the power of this symbol.
OK, so it’s not perfectly round!, but you get the idea that we were “centered” on last Saturday- that the Circle is literally all around us! And is a symbol for the many (g)Go(0)d(s) and one God, and no God, we believe in at OHG.
I’ll leave you with the poem we closed out this meditation with, by the great poet/farmer/theologian Wendell Berry. Enjoy it, and all the Circles in your own lives!
Within the circles of our lives
we dance the circles of the years,
the circles of the seasons
within the circles of the years,
the cycles of the moon
within the circles of the seasons,
the circles of our reasons
within the cycles of the moon.
Again, again we come and go,
changed, changing. Hands
join, unjoin in love and fear,
grief and joy. The circles turn,
each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,
each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
we turn in pairs, that joining
joining each to all again.
And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return.
-Pastor -D
I feel so completely blessed to be a part of the WE DO campaign next month in Asheville, as a religious leader providing spiritual support. The most courageous people in the world will be asking the most simple thing of their government- justice, in the realm of this legal contract called a marriage license, which should be open to any two people that want to obtain it, regardless of sex or gender. There have been a couple waves of this in North and South Carolina recently, and the next round is set for May. Couples across North Carolina will walk into their county offices that grant marriage licenses, and apply for one, as any couple in the state should be able to do. Not too long ago, people of different races couldn’t do this together. That’s no longer the case (no thanks to our state, it took a Supreme Court decision in 1967 to overturn NC’s laws prohibiting interracial marriage!). It should be for a couple of the same sex, and the only way it will become a reality is if we demand it.
Watch this powerful video that the WE DO campaign put out, and find out more details at Campaign for Southern Equality. There might be an action near you that you can get involved with!
Early voting has begun in North Carolina, and the day of voting in local precincts is Tuesday, May 8. Please get out and vote NO on Amendment One, the only amendment initiative on the ballot. This so-called “Marriage Amendment” does nothing good or protective for any marriage, and will actually nullify thousands of marriages and civil unions already obtained by gay couples and others from other states, setting the stage for all kinds of other legal disasters for our state. If you need more info., please visit The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families’ site, and find out how and where you can vote early at your county Board of Elections office (state directory here). Also, RSVP for your participation at the Facebook event page we’ve created for voting this time around. Amendment One is bad news for all North Carolinians, help take a stand for God’s Justice in a very easy way!
Thanks for your prayers and help in these crucial times!
Pax,
-Pastor -D
Next Gathering- Saturday, May 5, celebrating Pluralism Sunday and observing a Rachel Sabbath
We at Open Hearts Gathering take great pride on being and becoming as interfaith as we can, since we all, already, are, interfaith, no matter what religion(s) we identify with. In that Spirit, we will celebrate Pluralism Sunday with communities around the world the next time we gather- Saturday, May 5, 6:30 PM, within the loving arms of at New Hope Baptist Church‘s facilities, at 2024 Redbud Rd. in Gastonia (on the corner of Redbud and S. New Hope Rd.). More info. about this event, plus a listing of communities around the world that will be participating with us, here.
Mothers’ Day is May 13, so as we did last year, we’ll be connected to The Religious Institute across the miles and observe a Rachel Sabbath with them. The Rachel Sabbath helps us to understand the gift of motherhood, and the ways that we can help women take care of themselves and their children better. From the website:
“More than 350,000 women and girls die every year as a result of preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth, most of them in developing countries. Improving maternal health and universal access to family planning could prevent up to one third of these deaths.”
Find out more about what you can do to help, at our Gathering, and at the website.
RSVP at our Facebook event page, and contact me if you need any other information. Thanks, friends, I look forward to seeing you there!
Pax,
-Pastor -D
OHG April 21- Walking our Prayer
Hey folks! I thought we’d do a little walking prayer at our next OHG-Saturday, April 21 starting at 6:30 PM, at New Hope Baptist Church, 2024 Redbud Rd. in Gastonia (on the corner of Redbud and S. New Hope Rd.). New Hope has a walking path around its property, we’ll make use of this in a physcial spiritual journey together.
RSVP at our Facebook event page when you can make the time.
We’ll also continue our Easter journey by meditating as a community on the Sunday readings (Third Sunday of Easter), and what they speak to us today. Please join us if you can! And contact me in the meantime as needed. Thanks, I look forward to seeing all of you soon!
Pax,
-Pastor -D
Earth Hour on March 31! Join us!
If anyone’s interested, OHG is helping to sponsor a discussion on Saturday after Earth Hour.
Starting Saturday at 8:30 PM, Earth Hour is an opportunity to TURN OFF….everything electronic, in your house, or wherever you are. After the Hour is up, fire that device back up and join us at the Facebook event page for a discussion of Earth Hour- what it was like to go without electricity for an hour, what God is calling you to in that experience.
RSVP at the FB event page, and contact me as needed. Thanks, I look forward to “seeing” you then!
-Pastor -D
Next OHG- Easter Vigil April 7
My friends, please join us at the next Open Hearts Gathering as we celebrate the most holy of Christian feasts, the Easter Vigil.
We’ll take a walk with Jesus, and some other Great Saints among other religions, through Palm Sunday into Easter Sunday, and celebrate the life, death,
and Resurrection of these Wonderful Windows into God.
Saturday, April 7, starting at 6:30 PM, at New Hope Baptist Church in Gastonia (map to the church here). RSVP at the Facebook event page here, and contact me as needed. Thanks! We look forward to seeing you there!
-Pastor -D
Since our next meeting will be March 17, I thought we should do some prayer-full meditations with Saint Patrick’s Breastplate. It’s a much more productive Spirit-chew-all exercise than green beer! But if you wanna bring some of that, please feel free to- Saturday, March 17, starting at 6:30 PM, at New Hope Baptist Church, 2024 Redbud Rd. in Gastonia (on the corner of Redbud and S. New Hope Rd.). RSVP at our Facebook event page when you can make the time.
We’ll also delve into another great thinker from the Irish world, Peter Rollins. Please watch this 3 minute video, “The Embrace of Unknowing”, that highlights some great meditations from Peter on unknowing, fear, uncertainty, and death- great Lenten themes for us to focus on in this season- as well as being born with a story told to us, with a story to tell, that will continue our discussion from our last OHG. Great reflections that lead us to Peter’s book “Insurrection: To Believe Is Human; To Doubt, Divine”. Please read the book, peruse more at his website, and prepare yourself for the discussion.
Please contact me in the meantime as needed. Thanks, I look forward to seeing all of you soon!
Pax,
-Pastor -D
Lent and Loss
Life is about Loss. That’s the overall blessing of this Christian season of Lent for me, that we as Christians, and anyone else that wants to with us, get to celebrate Loss.
Why in the world would we want to do this? Well, let me tell you a story….
When I was 26, I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression. Four years ago, at 39, I was then diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I’ve spent my adult life struggling with these illnesses. Routine bouts of burning rage, and debilitating sadness; chronic migraines, and tempting suicidal ideations….tucked neatly into the daily realities of work, family, marriage….wrestling with these demons can make the most “normal” of times painfully abnormal.
Every day is filled with Loss for me. Managing Bipolar means I can’t always be around others, at work or with loved ones, let alone deal constructively with my own everyday stresses and strains. The simplest tasks- waking up in the morning, interacting with others, just making time to eat a meal- feel like climbing a mountain to me. In these Bipolar times, much of what I could take for granted unconsciously in my earlier years now takes bench-pressing energy to process. I miss the days when This Life was easier to live. This Loss I feel is constant and crushing.
One of the most constructive ways I’ve found to cope with Bipolar is to visualize it: hold it up in front of me, like a ball in my hand. I’ve discovered that by recognizing and naming my demons (yes, channeling Mark 5 here, friends….), I end up not only managing my illnesses better. I celebrate them, too, because they are also gifts from God. I don’t always like this, let alone understand it well, and sometimes I just tell God to f— off because of these plagues She’s saddled me with. But overall, they, too, are to be celebrated, like any other gift that God brings into my life. For some insane reason, this has come to make sense to me.
Why in the world would I celebrate such Loss? Well, let me tell you a story….
Jesus came into the world to show us our oneness with God, and God’s oneness with all of creation. He challenged the powers that be so strongly that they killed him for it. His life is the message- that any gain in this life is usually accompanied by Loss; that the gift of Life is always shadowed by Death. The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness to honor emptiness instead of fulness, defeat instead of victory. Jesus in the desert is that penultimate Lenten image (cf. Mark 1:12-13//Matthew 4:1-11//Luke 4:1-13) so that we will understand where God really is, and what God really honors. I sometimes wish it wasn’t this way, but I’ve learned over my long and heavy life that in order to gain anything, we have to experience such great Loss. If we ever want to understand and celebrate the things we gain with the God present in all creation, the God already at the center of our lives, we also have to understand and celebrate God’s very presence and blessing in the Loss in our lives. Jesus’ story mirrors our own in this Way, of Loss leading to Life.
Lent is about celebrating this Loss, holding it up in front of us, like a ball in our hands. By putting Loss front and center, and recognizing that it, too, for some insane reason, is a gift from God, like anything else in our lives….that it, too, is part of the Disciple’s Journey….that it, too, leads to New Life with God….well, that is the Lenten Journey for me.
-Pastor -D
Pics. from Feb. 18 OHG
Just thought it was time for some visual updates of the people involved at Open Hearts Gathering:
MMMM! Andie and Joey made some Kings Cake, as we celebrated our exit from Epiphany and entry into Lent. Thank you friends!
If you’re interested in more about the Race to the Ballot signup form under the plate, here ya go.
Anna and Hannah take over the service of Eucharist! Thanks, girls!
We lay hands on Ellen, and send her off on her journey back to Arkansas, to hopefully find work. We pray to the goddesses important in Ellen’s life- Artemis, Beset, and Morgana- to abide with her, keep her safe, and bring her good fortune in her endeavors. Blessed Be, Ellen, we’ll miss you!
Thanks to everyone who came last Saturday, and added to the great Spirit of the Gathering! We’ll see you all again soon!
-Pastor -D
