Drenched

I went for a walk in the drizzle yesterday, turned my face to the sky, and just stood there for five minutes, letting the raindrops fall on my face, remembering those New York summer storms in which we would run outside, laughing, and get drenched in the wonders of God…

life-work

I love the fact that I was instructed by my “boss” to stop early and not work so hard and wear myself out; that I deserved and needed a break.

“Stop!” She said. “Take a break and rest! Go for a walk in the woods before it rains. It’s not healthy to be stuck in the house all day, you need to get outside! You’ve done enough today – go!”

So go I did – out to the Quabbin to sit on the rocky shore and breathe with the waves and watch the sun set behind the dark hills and windy clouds; to relax my body that was tired of cooking and cleaning; to soothe my mind, rejuvenate my spirit; to connect with the God that is in all and through all; to feel the presence of the Spirit around me and let it fill me.

Being in nature – letting myself be overwhelmed by it – is the best way I know of to connect with God, and if I want to live my life so that everything I do is an expression of my spirituality, then I need to have regular, intentional time in nature.

Here at Agape, that is understood as an integral part of life.

Life here is not about the Job – although there is certainly lots of work to be done! But the goal of life here is life itself. We don’t live in order to work or work in order to live, the way many people do: people who get a job simply so they can pay the bills and, if they earn enough, go enjoy themselves on their time off; people to whom life is meaningless if they can’t prove their worth to their family or society by being employed.

Rather, at Agape the work is a part of life, but the purpose is to be living and practicing a simple, spiritually grounded life, a whole life, that is supported by community and grounded in nature. It’s not about being a “good” worker who will do everything the boss says and beyond, in spite of your opinions about the task you may be assigned, in order to be appreciated and prove your value and maybe even get a raise. The work that happens at Agape is about living your beliefs and witnessing to your convictions and teaching other about how to go and do likewise.

It’s been a while…

Hey people – it’s been a while since I put anything up on this blog, so if that’s the only way you keep up with what I’m doing you would have been completely in the dark since August…sorry! My life has been pretty unsettled, with lots of traveling and decision-making.

After JVC ended, I went back to Philadelphia and stayed with my aunt for a few weeks. Not be able to decide what to do with my life, I decided instead to go on a trip: first to Asheville, North Carolina to visit Leah McCullough (former campus minister at Oregon State) and attend a Carrie Newcomer workshop and concert. Then, I flew to Chicago where I spent 2 and a half days with two good friends from my college days, Tracy and Sarah. From there I took the Megabus to Minneapolis and visited my aunt, uncle, and cousins for a week, along with getting to see a couple college friends and spending a day in Northfield visiting professors and church folk. when that was over, I flew back to Asheville, where I spent a few more weeks at Leah’s house, walking in the “mountains”, and attending a number of interesting lectures (Marcus Borg, Elias Chacour, Shane Claiborne…).

Eventually, I returned to Philadelphia – the first week of October. It was the epic kind of Greyhound bus ride you never want to experience…to put it briefly: delays, overbooked routes, overflow buses, missed connections, and unorganized boarding got me to Philly 7 hours later than I was originally scheduled to arrive…

So there I was, back in Philly again, trying to figure out where to go from there…finally – finally! – I made enough of a decision to put me on the road again, not sure exactly how it would turn out, but happy to be moving on.

And now I’m here at Agape, living in the woods about two miles’ distance from the great Quabbin reservoir. Hiking, reading, praying, working, and mastering the art of driving a stick-shift. Read more about it here.

Happy Me Day!

Tuesday, September 22nd: the autumnal equinox.

I’ve always felt a connection to this day because of my name. I’m happy to claim it and the significance of the season as part of my identity. Not only am I in love with its outward beauty (the smells and the colors), but also the beauty of the metaphors that it contains (dormancy, death bringing new life, metamorphosis…).

Carrie Newcomer puts it this way:

leaves don’t drop, they just let go,

and make a space for seeds to grow.

and every season brings a change,

a tree is what a seed contains,

to die to life is life’s refrain…

timeless

“I should do that-,” the middle-aged black man gestured toward me, “-take my shoes off and walk along the beach. ...But I don’t have time, so I’ll just go look at the water and throw some stones in the lake…”

“The sand is warm,” I said with an encouraging smile.

“Oh really?” He sighed. “I wish I had time, but I’m on my lunch break…”

I continued my slow, meditative stroll down the beach and watched as the white-and-blue uniformed man walked to the water’s edge looked out over the water. He pulled out his camera and took some photos. Then he bent down and started picking up rocks, tossing them one by one out into the aqua-blue waves.

I imagine him breathing deeply of the breezy lake air; drinking in the quiet, the children’s laughter, the seagulls’ calls, the lapping of the waves, the serenity of the scene before him; enjoying a respite in the middle of a busy work day; re-connecting with his spirit in the midst of a spirit-less job.

I know nothing about him except that he did not have time to take off his shoes and socks and wriggle his toes in the warm sand.

And for his sake, I wish he did.

And for our society’s sake I wish everyone did. I wish everyone had that chance to re-fuel our spirits, to remember what it is to be alive and at peace and connected to the world; to remember how important nature is to us and our well-being, so that we would feel the necessity of caring for and being good stewards of the earth; so that we can live whole and holy lives.

We need to make the time.