Category Archives: celebrations

Celebration!

09 Wednesday Aug 2023

Posted by in celebrations, senses, Uncategorized

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Quilt by the late Betsy Caprio!

The season of celebrations has concluded for this academic year and for my family. Between March and June we celebrated 9 special occasions in my family circle, each one unique, worthy of attention and joy, each one remembered and honored in a style befitting the honoree. Then in the USA we celebrated the Fourth of July in honor of the founding our country. My awareness this year has been sharpened to notice all the sensory ways in which we celebrate by encountering the book Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin, a gift from a sensory conscious friend. Now these unseasonably hot days of summer, I am bring invited to another kind of celebration–the memorial celebrations of so many loved ones, almost one a week all summer long. Once again I am acutely attentive to me senses, which are reminders, evokers and blessings for this who have enriched my life

As we celebrate each person in a particular time and place, there is so much to see and reminder: colors of every hue, shapes of every size and kind, motions and gestures of delight, pride, of grief and nostalgia! I can see, sometimes only in my minds eye, the peonies beloved by one, the bright and bold hues always worn by another, the shape of the silhouette the one being celebrated with gesture and expressions, the aroma and taste of that chocolate dessert, the gentle warmth of that hug after a long absence.

I am learning that these are holy prompts, reminders of how the Mystery we call God fills the sensory world with Presence. With my sight I see perfectly shaped eyes and mouth of a grandchild made in the image of God. With my ears I hear the intricate harmonies of vocal ensembles who use the genius of Bach to sing “To God be the glory!” With my mouth I taste, not only fresh grown peaches and cherries, but at gatherings of remembrance, I taste the love put into the baked, tossed and simmered culinary offerings that fill the tables of connecting, reminding me that so often bread and wine shared is the moment in which we see the Holy. After the neighborhood gardeners have swept down the street each week, the air is redolent with the scent of cut leaves and grass; I am nudged to let my prayers be that kind of incense as they rise to the Creator. And I know without question that the touch of my beloved ones–husband, children, friends, even the brief shaking of a hand of someone new, all are sacramental, visible expressions of invisible Grace!

So many other distractions can clutter my senses, yet I am choosing to Celebrate that Presence of the Holy One, who to my body’s senses reminds me that Holy Love never lets me go! That’s a great reason to cheer and laugh!Thanks be to God!

Easter Sabbath

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by in celebrations, Easter, grace, Holy Week, rest, sabbath, Uncategorized

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HolySaturdayThe gospel of Luke tells us that after all the profound and intense events of the days of Holy Week, those who loved and followed Jesus, “On the sabbath…rested according to the commandments.” I am entering into that rest today, Holy Saturday. I am taking sabbath in my spirit. It’s not as if I don’t know that there are things that need to be done. But I am intending to let my spirit be at rest. Marva Dawn in her important book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, identifies four movements of Sabbath that I am observing inwardly today.

Ceasing: This Easter Saturday I am ceasing from anxiety about tomorrow–whether all the connections will be made, whether the food will suit everybody, whether we will get to church early enough to get a seat, whether or not I have remembered to reach out to everyone. I have done or will do all that can be done, and will no longer worry about what’s undone.

Resting: In between the things I still need to do to make life livable, I will rest–short respites of listening to Bach, a brief snooze before company arrives, a quick reading of a chapter of mystery, a time to sit and gaze at the beautiful back yard in bloom. For a brief shining moment here and there, I will rest my body as well as my spirit.

Embracing: I am opening my arms and heart to the beauty and gifts that are offered to me–an unexpected warm e-mail from abroad from an old friend, a top of the morning snuggle with my beloved, a granddaughter who is coming to decorate for tomorrow. All are welcome in my heart today, gifts from the One who gives good gifts continually. I also intend to welcome the gifts I don’t yet know about!

Feasting: The feasting on food will happen tomorrow in the main, but today, a Sabbath, I am feasting on sacred music, the new bloom of roses, the aroma of Black-Bottom cupcakes, a nostalgic recipe from my children’s birthday parties, the softness of my throw rug and the dog’s silky ears, and the taste of the extra chocolate chips that don’t quite make it into the batter. I am also feasting of the awareness that for this day there is a Grace in not having to do anything to make thing all right, not at home, not in the Church, not in the world. Jesus is at rest, out of pain; I can be too. Tomorrow all the energy and power of Easter will compel me forward again to celebrate, to rejoice, and to let that energy become action for change in the world. But today I am observing sabbath.

I am resting in anticipation of the good news to come!

 

 

 

 

 

Giving the Right Gifts

01 Monday May 2017

Posted by in blessing, celebrations, doing good, gifts, letting go, open heart

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for John, Dalton, Sean, Erica Lee, Ezra, Erica Brooke,  (and the March and Fall Celebrants too!)

This Eastertide season (slightly extended) this year is the most intense season of celebrations in our family: 3 anniversaries, three birthdays, a graduation, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, all in a matter of a few weeks. This year there are several banner occasions: 75th birthday and 20th anniversary and high school graduation, not to be taken lightly. And I, as the Cheerleader of Celebrations, get twisted up in giving just the right gift to each one for each occasion, the Perfect Thing!

Of course, out of my wrestling comes the realization that there is no “Perfect Thing” that can be given to each and every beloved one each and every time. Sacred text tells me that the only perfect gifts are given by God. Nevertheless, I keep trolling magazines and websites for ideas that suit the recipient, the stage of life, the need and my checkbook. There is not shortage of wonderful ideas and possibilities out there. It is not for lack of possibilities that I get stuck.

It is my ego-need where I get bogged down; I want my gifts to make the person I love respond with glee, gratitude and to be overwhelmed with this memorable and grace-filled present. No wonder I get jammed up! So it is with relief that I encounter and begin to appropriate the Jewish concept of mitzvah, giving a gift, according to some sources, for the good of someone else without expectation of reciprocity, notice or thanks. WELL! That re-frame the entire endeavor!

I have recalled many of the gifts given in Hebrew and Christian scripture: Joseph’s coat of many colors, the Queen of Sheba’s contributions to Solomon’s coffers, the expensive perfume with which Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Jesus, the apostle Peter confronting the man who was lame from birth with these words: “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you,” and he lifts the man up to full standing mobility. All of them are gifts that have complications in relationships, so I am not the first giver to be bemused in my giving.

What I am am being invited to do in this season of celebration and remembering is to open myself to each honoree–to see him as he really is, to listen to her conversation that gives me clues as to what she longs for, to be willing to share part of my own spirit of love and hope for him, to do what I can, and to let the results and reactions be whatever they are, no harm, no foul, no expectations—just open heart and open hand from me.

I read in 2 Corinthians that “God loves a cheerful giver,” and the corollary to that is the Holy One is able to provide me, the giver with “every blessing in abundance, so that I may always have enough of everything…” So I can go about the business of gift giving without anxiety, knowing that I will have what I need to celebrate my loved one–and others–with joy, with freedom, with trust and delight, despite the price tag, the competition with the other grandparents, the fear of rejection. It’s how I give, not what I give that makes the difference. And my heart is full of love for each and very one, with gratitude for what he and she have brought to me and our family, and with hope that what I offer will be a token of that love and gratitude for each one.

And I can give each gift with a blessing. My late friend Rabbi Sheryl Lewart in her book Blessings for Life’s Journey, gives me some words:

May you feel embraced, enfolded anew by the miracle of your being. May you find the deep purpose of your soul loved and cherished into becoming who you are meant to be… May you be a source of holiness for others, May you treasure and develop your uniqueness and be a blessing to all you meet. Amen.

 

 

 

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