Notes for the Week 18th Sunday after Pentecost October 13 2019

Dear friends,

You always know when the Holy Spirit is on the scene. The Spirit just seems to follow you around so that if you turn too quickly, you literally bump into Her (or Him, depending on the Spirit’s mood and life’s circumstances.) There is no one particular path, either. The faithful heart can be moving down several varying paths, each with its own joys and sorrows, and the Spirit seems to have the capability to walk down all those paths, too, all at the same time. That’s God for you.

I think the particular path that led me to this window sign started when St. Aidan’s began looking around itself and discovered its potential to become a place to be visited by the faithful, and seekers and people who just like to be in beautiful places. It’s when we began to think about how we could maintain that beauty that we created guardians for it, the Garden Design Committee. Then we began to think about how inviting it would be for people who might like to walk quietly in contemplation, and the labyrinth began to take form in our imaginations. Our thoughts then just naturally turned to sustaining this little bit of God’s creation. Taking dominion over it, stewarding it in such a way that it would not subtract health and goodness from the earth, but rather add to it. Not only that, we thought about all God’s creatures, from the most tamed to the wild, and decided that the beauty belongs not only to us, but to all of them too. They deserve to eat the grass and drink the dew and not be poisoned. We realized, too, that they needed their own sacred space and Sophia’s Garden was created. As our awareness became more and more acute, the Spirit was still hard at work. Our paths crossed with Sandy River Watershed Council, and they decided to become part of our St. Aidan’s community. In their own way, they are supporting our efforts in caring for creation, in all its forms.

And then I saw this sign. It was speaking to the world about the need for healing and how Mother Nature understands that. The sign seemed to speak to me in a very special way, as if the Holy Spirit wanted me to pay close attention. And, even though I was in a hurry, the Spirit made me stand there and read the whole thing.

Its message and goal is phenomenal. Its mission is to heal the broken by offering up the opportunity for those in need of healing to assist in healing Mother Nature. It is a visionary and far-seeing mission and provides proof to us that there is goodness afoot in the world, despite all the bad news we hear. Whether or not they go to church or believe what we believe, or whether they know it or not, the Spirit has been at work inside the minds of Soul River Mission. To birth loving relationships between humankind and nature from souls who have known great challenge and damage, is to do the work of God, by any name.

Let this sign be for us straight from the heart of the Holy Spirit. May we, too, create opportunities for those who seek comfort from the ravages of life, and who seek to find fulfillment by contributing to all that is beautiful and filled with renewed life. It is the meaning of stewardship. It is the meaning of resurrection.

As God’s faithful servants, we embrace those who find their fulfillment in service to God’s creation in all its forms. Let us give thanks to the Holy Spirit for opening our eyes and leading us down paths which lead to our own renewed hope and possibility.

God loves us regardless, yet our loving stewardship of all that is God’s, is what God loves to receive from us. A little gratitude would be welcome, too.

We journey together,

Mother Esme+
https://www.soulriverinc.org

“The earth is the LORD'S and all that is in it, *
the world and all who dwell therein.”
Psalm 24:1