over the river and through the woods to peace

Slow down. Be outside virtually even if you feel - or are - quarantined inside. Peace to all of you - and thanks to KB for sharing it!

haiku against horror

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

More bad news today.
Kyrie eleison.
I have had enough.

Wind, flood, fire, fury;
Catastrophic potential.
Death rides a pale horse.

Storm-tossed, not sinking;
weather-beaten, we still trust.
You are our anchor.

#IrmaHaiti

I'm waiting for word from Haiti, which will take a while, given that Irma is there right now.  I have just found articles, however, as well as a few Twitter threads. Thought I'd share with those of you who may also be waiting for news.

Hurricane Irma: Panic sets in as Haiti braces for storm | Miami Herald

Haiti has already been devastated by natural disasters. Now it’s bracing for Irma. - The Washington Post

Meanwhile, I'm praying for my friends there, especially my godson and his family who are up north. Praying, too, for all those who are reeling from the storm or in its path. Please pray with me.

-----
MORE:
Haïti confronté à l’ouragan Irma, moins d’un an après le drame de Matthew

countering the insanity + contact info links for politicians

This has been an incredible week. The post I started earlier in the week to express my outrage has gotten left in the dust as one event succeeds the next.

This ban preventing people - permanent residents of the US, refugees, and everyone in between - from entering the US - even people in transit - is one of the most appalling things I've heard of. And the stories... Holding a woman and children for 20 hours at Dulles, cuffed and without food, is the least of the stories I've seen. I can't watch a video; it's too much. Yes, we have a right to protect our borders. This, however, is insanity on a number of levels.

Here's a good summary from yesterday - good information in it, even if it's a bit behind the news now.

Washington Post on Twitter: "Annotated: The Trump administration’s executive order on refugees and immigrants https://t.co/tncUtUy7Yp" or https://mobile.twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/825353247011569665

I just read an update saying that green card holders would no longer be affected by this, but the backtracking isn't more than a start. I almost wonder if they did an overkill declaration at first in order to make us more willing to accept the lesser version thereof.

backpedaling a bit? but most still in place...

It is time to act in whatever way we can.
Call. Write. Email. 
It makes a difference.

Here is contact information for the US Senate and House of Representatives.

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

https://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators_phone_list.pdf

http://www.house.gov/representatives/

Here is what those from the Northeast have had to say so far:
Here’s what all 33 N.E. members of Congress think about Trump’s immigration order (Boston Globe)


To write or sign petitions addressed directly to the White House:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

By (top)Cezary p(bottom)UpstateNYer - here and here, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37794073 

And pray. 

I haven't been much for praying for our government till this year. I never imagined it would become a focus of intercession in this way. But I find myself asking just how much more we can take of this - and it's been just over a week.

Fr James Martin, SJ, has a good reflection on praying with this anger.

Prayer and other forms of action will be essential in the days to come, one flowing from the other and back again.

Ora et labora.

I'm off to an interfaith rally in Boston on Tuesday. It's through a group with which I'm not familiar - MCAN - but I learned of it from an Episcopal priest of this diocese, as it's being held at the Episcopal cathedral.
"MCAN (Massachusetts Communities Action Network) is a a federation of community improvement organizations across Massachusetts working for social and economic justice by putting our religious faith values and our democratic values into action."

Description: People of all faiths and shared values are welcome to join a press conference this Tuesday condemning the hate filled Presidential Orders of the past week. The faith community of Massachusetts is standing together calling for the state to be a place of sanctuary and solidarity. We applaud our Mayors who have come out in support of all of our neighbors and will be calling on the Governor to stand with us as well.

It's a small thing, but small things add up.

yes, indeed
Boston Common Women's March 1-21-17

why I marched: baptism, compassion, and justice

Women's March, Boston Common 1-21-17

From our baptismal service:

Celebrant	Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People	I will, with God's help.
Celebrant	Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People	I will, with God's help.

-- Book of Common Prayer p. 305 (or http://www.bcponline.org/)

This looks different over time - indeed, day by day. This year brings me a new way of living it out.

I made a few hats, too. (None of these, though.)

When was I last in a march, I wonder?

I recall a candlelight vigil with the sisters in 2003 in hopes of staving off another invasion of Iraq.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1

I recall a demonstration against apartheid when I was in college. I skipped psych class (and I wasn't a class skipper) to stand with others near the shanty town built next to the Beinecke Library. We were so excited when Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent us a word! I found some old pictures online, as a matter of fact, and am grateful to the alum who shared them:

https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1649

I recall a Take Back the Night march in Ann Arbor, MI a year or two earlier. Looked online and found that the organization still exists (http://tbtnannarbor.org/). As a signboard I read this weekend phrased it, "I can't believe I'm still protesting this ----." OK, I can believe it. I just wish I couldn't.

Mostly, however, I've written and called my representatives, signed petitions, and learned - too slowly - to speak up instead of smoothing things over that really needed not to be smoothed over at all.

Sometimes you need to make noise.
Boston Public Garden 1-21-17

I wonder if that is changing.

Yes. Yes, it is.
Let's make it better.
Boston Common 1-21-17

What will this year bring?

more of this? more than this, certainly

Yes, we can. Together. All of us.

Snowflakes, unite!

If I am going to live the promises I made in my baptism alongside my community's historical concern for women and children, it seems to me that more may be required in the days ahead.

I might note that there were quite a few concerns expressed Saturday, climate change among them. I am beginning to learn more about that, too.

Talk about something that will affect us all, or at least anyone who is going to live a while longer. I plan to.

Marching. Praying. Writing. Calling. Networking. Listening. More listening. Reading. More praying. Work I can't yet envision. Prayer that is listening and listening that is prayer moving into action.

Jesus may be calling me out of my sycamore tree.
(A sycamore tree would have been very handy on the Common on Saturday. Some of us are too short to see over 175,000 people. However, all the good trees were taken, as you can see.)

I will, with God's help.

Join me?

Dear President-Elect Trump: a letter from the Episcopal bishops in MA about the environment

Dec. 12, 2016

Donald J. Trump

President-Elect of the United States of America

Trump Tower

735 5th Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Dear President-Elect Trump,

We, the bishops of the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts, are glad to let you know that all of our 235 churches pray for you regularly in our liturgies with these or similar words: “For those in positions of public trust, especially Barack our President and Donald our President-Elect, that they may serve justice, and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.”

We also pray: “Give us reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others and to your honor and glory.”

The Episcopal Church stands strongly for the protection of the environment. We respect the facts of science.  We support laws and policies that address the reality of climate change. We are in the process of divesting our financial interest in fossil fuels. Most recently our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Michael Curry, joined Native Americans at Standing Rock in their effort to protect their water and their sacred land. Numerous other Episcopal Church leaders have likewise traveled to Standing Rock.

Our respect for our government leaders and our reverence for the earth as God’s creation impel us to write you to express our dismay about your selection of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. We wonder why a person who has consistently and adamantly opposed all laws and policies that provide even minimal “protection” to the environment should be entrusted with leading such an agency.

President-elect Trump, you have promised economic development. Like you, we value a stable and prosperous economy.  However, a thriving economy depends on a healthy environment. The more we weaken and dismantle the E.P.A.’s vital protections of our natural world, the more we threaten the common good.

You have also promised to strengthen our national defense. Like you, we value national security.  However, our country’s top military intelligence have concluded that climate change is a “threat multiplier” that is already creating instability around the world and will likely create significant security challenges in the years ahead.  If someone who casts doubt on the reality of climate change becomes the head of the E.P.A., our national security will be compromised.

As citizens of this beloved country, we intend to write our members of Congress, urging them to block the nomination of Scott Pruitt to lead the E.P.A. We will pray for a better choice.

And we will continue to pray for you as you assume this office of tremendous responsibility for the good of all.

Respectfully,

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, Bishop Diocesan of Western Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, Bishop Diocesan of Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts (retired)

The Rt. Rev. Roy F. Cederholm, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts (retired)

http://www.diomass.org/diocesan-news/ma-bishops-oppose-trump-pick-epa

pitié pour Haïti…

Horror in rural Haiti as Hurricane Matthew death toll surges to 842 - Reuters

What will it be by tomorrow? Next week? Why Haiti?

Oh, Seigneur, pitié pour Haïti…
(taptap on the road to Darbonne 2012)

a prayer for our earth

from Laudato Si

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Premier Rachel Notley's Sunday afternoon update on Fort McMurray wildfire

#ymmfire

CBC News Edmonton: Fort McMurray wildfire specials, May 4 & 5, 2016

This is from a few days ago - and we all know it's spread since then - but it's a 25 minute show in depth from Canadian television. Informative. I'd like to find more things to post, but that will have to wait. As one Canadian friend tweeted to me, pray for rain.



#ymmfire

Here is the one from the next day:

If you would like to donate, here is a link to the Red Cross in Canada's page for it. What's more, the government is matching these donations, too. There's something we haven't thought of yet in the US.
https://donate.redcross.ca/ea-action/action?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=NO-DM&ea.client.id=1951&ea.campaign.id=50639

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Climate Change

Archbishop Tutu, who with Nelson Mandela took on apartheid in South Africa and against all odds won, is now taking on climate change. Here is an excerpt from an article:

Never before in history have human beings been called on to act collectively in defence of the Earth. As a species, we have endured world wars, epidemics, famine, slavery, apartheid and many other hideous consequences of religious, class, race, gender and ideological intolerance. People are extraordinarily resilient. The Earth has proven pretty resilient, too. It's managed to absorb most of what's been thrown at it since the industrial revolution and the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Until now, that is. Because the science is clear: the sponge that cushions and sustains us, our environment, is already saturated with carbon. If we don't limit global warming to two degrees or less we are doomed to a period of unprecedented instability, insecurity and loss of species. Fossil fuels have powered human endeavour since our ancestors developed the skills to make and manage fire. Coal, gas and oil warm our homes, fuel our industries and enable our movements. We have allowed ourselves to become totally dependent, and are guilty of ignoring the warning signs of pending disaster. It is time to act.

As responsible citizens of the world – sisters and brothers of one family, the human family, God's family – we have a duty to persuade our leaders to lead us in a new direction: to help us abandon our collective addiction to fossil fuels, starting this week in New York at the United Nations Climate Summit. Reducing our carbon footprint is not just a technical scientific necessity; it has also emerged as the human rights challenge of our time. While global emissions have risen unchecked, real-world impacts have taken hold in earnest. The most devastating effects of climate change – deadly storms, heat waves, droughts, rising food prices and the advent of climate refugees – are being visited on the world's poor. Those who have no involvement in creating the problem are the most affected, while those with the capacity to arrest the slide dither. Africans, who emit far less carbon than the people of any other continent, will pay the steepest price. It is a deep injustice...

There is a word we use in South Africa that describes human relationships:Ubuntu. It says: I am because you are. My successes and my failures are bound up in yours. We are made for each other, for interdependence. Together, we can change the world for the better.

Who can stop climate change? We can. You and you and you, and me. And it is not just that we can stop it, we have a responsibility to do so that began in the genesis of humanity, when God commanded the earliest human inhabitants of the Garden of Eden, "to till it and keep it". To "keep" it; not to abuse it, not to make as much money as possible from it, not to destroy it.

To read the full article by Archbishop Tutu:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/21/desmond-tutu-climate-change-is-the-global-enemy

There is more on this this month:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/01/church-of-england-wields-its-influence-in-fight-against-climate-change  

more signs of spring

I am ready for spring, and I think it may finally be happening. Or almost. I see some buds on the trees. There is still snow in some places, but it's disappeared from our little campus completely. And summer birds are returning!

Here are some my first-of-the-season birds.

Tree Swallows are back!

first Great Egret of the year, hanging out north of Duxbury Harbor

my first *ever* Piping Plover - Duxbury Outer Beach

Because I've never seen Piping Plovers before, I'm including several pictures. You're welcome. (-:

Piping Plover Peeping

By the way, they run very fast.

No, I wasn't chasing them. Grateful for a zoom lens. (Wish I'd had this in Haiti! Not that it would have been practical.) Actually, other than the first one I saw down by the water, the rest were behind a roped-off (well, with plastic tape) area so they won't be disturbed. One hopes dog walkers will obey the leash laws on the beach; so far the only off-leash dogs I've seen have been very much under vocal control, so that's good.

Stay back!

As you were...

I went down to the picnic table near the water to work on a sermon this afternoon and saw my first laughing gull of the season, as well. This is not a good picture - it was very far away - but I'm happy to see their return. I assume there are more around somewhere nearby, as gulls seem to hang around in flocks.

The winter birds are building their nests.  I've seen a couple of red-tailed hawks trying to build in or near our grove, and they keep getting chased off by the crows, who seem to work well in groups. The crows are building, too, of course, and they have their future offspring in mind.

I went to the North River Sanctuary and found new little things pushing their way through the dirt, undeterred by the few piles of leftover grey snow here and there.

Anyone know what these are? Bulbs of some kind? The ones below are coming up all over the wooded area where I saw this little group.

OK, there is nothing summery about this seal from the North River, but I've never seen one on the East Coast, so I'm excited.

I hope the happy news, happy sights, and hope of spring in the air help you and I and all of us to sleep well tonigh and wake refreshed and ready to go - with a spring in our step.

rainbow 'round the sun

I was praying and got distracted by the crows chasing a red-tailed hawk out of our grove. Not very nunlike, I suppose... You've heard the joke about INFP's at prayer... "And, God, thank you for... oh, look, a bird!... all this beauty..." Anyway, I looked out the window, and this is what I saw! A round rainbow! Wow. 

Actually, I think it was God who "distracted" me... Seems to me that God loves to share the beauty of creation with us, and so many times when I see such a thing, I catch my breath and move into a place of greater thanks and praise. God is so good and so beautiful! 

It seems especially appropriate during Eastertide, when we're celebrating God's salvation and promises, of which the rainbow has been a sign. 

Genesis 9:12-16

God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’

What makes a halo around the sun or moon? | Science Wire | EarthSky 

Manistee Audubon Sanctuary - today's beauty

This afternoon, my sisters and I went to the Lake Bluff Bird Sanctuary in Manistee. I'm staying in the area in my sisters' cottage near Lake Michigan, and when I found out the Audubon Society had a wildlife sanctuary here, I was really happy.  

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries/index.html/title/lake-bluff-bird-sanctuary

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/about/chapters/chapters.html/title/manistee-audubon-society

And I still am.  It's beautiful there. 

 It was a lovely day for a walk - temperatures in the seventies, sunny, a slight breeze... just about perfect. 

We didn't see as many birds as I had hoped, but I saw two birds I'd never seen before. That is, I'm sure I saw many birds I'd never seen before, but two species I hadn't! Both are birds I had said I'd like to see at some point, but I wasn't thinking of them today. A nice surprise.

my first Cedar Waxwing sighting
I don't even think I'd heard of them till a couple of years ago.  I just didn't used to pay a bit of attention to birds.

The bird sanctuary goes all the way down to the water.

I'd love to see this one at some point. No ducks to be seen today.

beautiful Lake Michigan

my first Indigo Bunting!

Over the river and through the woods...

Here is an interesting plant:

Look at the seeds/berries/whatever they are in the middle.  Anyone know what this is? Maybe some kind of trillium? I really know nothing whatsoever about plants.

I'm sure some critter is having a wonderful time with this tree.  Any ideas here?

I love chickadees.

Now, any of you who know birds, I have a question for you.  I thought this next one was a Downy Woodpecker. Now I am looking at the photo, and I see that his red spot is on the top of his head instead of towards the back.  I'm confused. Nothing in the book I have with me in Michigan that quite matches.  

What kind of woodpecker is this?

This next one I'll just have to look up later.  Sparrow? Finch? Female Indigo Bunting? It will wait - it's getting late. Something to look forward to tomorrow. Among many, many other things.

I'm so grateful for this beauty and for the chance to share it with my sisters. Family sisters, in this case. God is so good.