Category: Speaking to the Soul

Readings for the feast of Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, Friday, September 24, 2021: Psalm 78; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Matthew 11:25-30 Our Gospel reading for the feast

O God of All Creation, hear us as we draw near to You, and place our hearts at your feet. For the long green season

God has given us such a wonderful example of steady and gradual change as the seasons start, continue, and come to an end. And while some would prefer summer to linger, we all adapt our lives to this rhythm of steady change.

Squatting down on my knees, I set my eyes right below me. I can’t do everything, the garden will still be out of control, there will always be weeds to pull, but right now, I can start. 

Each of us must find the practice that works best for us today. The practice is our wings, drawing us out of the river of conflict and strife and into the place where we are most clearly and profoundly who we are – a creature in relationship with their Creator. May you find your way into the quiet pools in the midst of the river, drawing near to God, who always draws near to us. 

We shouldn’t give up learning just because we’ve completed high school or college or any kind of formal or informal schooling. If we stop learning, we stop growing. We pray to communicate with God, but we study to understand what God has to tell us through the words of the Bible and prayer.  

Hildegard of Bingen is a saint full of contradictions. Despite being known primarily for her writings, some of which were quite intellectual, Hildegard was all about embodiment in the world of God’s creation.

Underestimating children and their acumen is a fool’s game. In the exhausting days of raising children, I and my friends would sometimes be startled by the wisdom that would come out of our children’s mouths.

“Help me, God, to speak with goodness.”

During the intervening months, we created this garden as a place of gathering, a place of life in the midst of death. Friends donated plants “in honor of their animal companions and, in this strange way of the pandemic, attended Alvie’s memorial there – both in person (outdoors and physically distanced) and via Zoom. Holding the thresholds of death and life in one time and one place that day, we dedicated the garden and also offered a welcoming ritual for our rescue pit bull, Sophie Grace.”