Labyrinth at Sunset

Thank you God for most this amazing sunset!  After a lovely lunch and visit earlier today with my friend and mentor, John Kerr, I decided to walk over to the labyrinth for the sunset.  God did not disappoint.  It was a perfect evening for a walk - coolish with a slight breeze, but warm enough to be comfortable in shorts.  Not too humid.  Sky full of color.  Insects and birds singing sleepy songs.  On my way over I saw a flock of Canadian geese milling around in the grass.  When I got to the labyrinth, I walked and breathed and thought about the dance of the Trinity and how marvelous God is.  In the center I sang one of my favorite John Bell songs from the Iona community:
    Take, oh, take me as I am,
    summon out what I shall be.
    Set your seal upon my heart,
    and live in me.
Arms stretched out, palms upward, offering myself to God.  I am yours, my creator - work through me. 

Not long after I finished singing, I heard a sound and looked up to see the flock of geese flying over in their classic V formation.  One goose trailed behind, finding his way into one of the lines.  The leader honked.  I could hear the whoosh of their wings beating against the air as they flew.  I smiled up at them.

A few minutes later I noticed something dark moving across the sky over my head.  At first I thought it was a giant spider.  My memory flashed to a Piers Anthony Xanth book, read when I was a teenager, that described a spider ballooning itself across vast distances on a line of spun silk.  As I looked at it longer and rational thought set in, I realized it wasn't a spider, but it might be a leaf.  Since I was in the center of the labyrinth, I couldn't imagine where the leaf had come from.  As it descended, floating gently down, a bit of light caught it, and I saw that it was a white feather, a bit of down from one of the geese, separated from its source, fluttering down to the earth. 

One of my spiritual directors used to say that in centering prayer, when we return to our sacred word, we need to do so very gently, "floating like a feather on the breath of God."  She was quoting Hildegard of Bingen.  Tonight it looked as if the feather was floating on the breath of God until it landed on in the grass at the edge of the labyrinth. 

I felt a bit like that feather this evening as I walked, carried gently on the breath of God.  In a world that grows less and less safe, where refugees flee and police folk are shot, where it's criminal to be black and the distribution of resources is completely out of whack, where mental illness and addiction are treated as crimes to be punished not diseases to be treated, where you turn off the news to keep your heart from breaking, where there is so much that is horrible that we numb ourselves to keep from weeping - in that world there is also beauty and goodness and light.  Dynamic sunsets and caressing breezes.  Geese flying and feathers floating.  Birds and insects saying good night.  The groaning of our planet and her people continues, but for a moment there is a glimpse of something else, elusive and fleeting.

Breathe your breath into us, God.  Fill us with your peace.  Hide your children under the shadow of your wings.  Bring us all safely home.

View from the Plaza Prayer Station: When the Wind Blows

The wind is not my friend.  At least not at CNU.  And it is always windy at CNU!  At least twice now it has been so windy that the incredibly heavy prayer station sign has blown over as it sat in front of the chapel.  The wind off the nearby river combined with the way the buildings are situated creates quite a wind tunnel in areas of campus.  Unfortunately the knocking down of the sign has caused the top portion where it says, "How may I pray for you?" to become separated from its frame.  As I carried it to the Plaza yesterday, the top part came off in my hand while the rest slid out to the ground.  I can no longer put the small part of the sign on top of the large part.  So, yesterday I just leaned it up against the sandwich board part of the sign.  I'm hoping I can glue it all back together, good as new, but I guess on windy days I need to take that top part off anyway so that it doesn't act as a sail.

The sun was warm and the temp was near 50, but the wind made it brutal at times.  Still, I wanted to be outside, and daylight savings means that the sunlight stays on the Plaza the whole time I'm there now.  More students were outside, and I was amazed at the shorts and sleeveless dresses.  I had on long johns under my layers plus coat, scarf and gloves!  I wouldn't have needed all that if I'd been moving around, but just sitting made me a prime target for the cold wind.  There was a career day on campus, so many of the students were dressed up - but I think they had gotten their seasons confused!  A few skateboard dudes zoomed around, but not the ones I know.  I received a couple of prayer requests and spent time with a few of the Canterbury students and exchanged hellos and smiles with many passing by.  Apparently it was Appreciation of Women Day at CNU because at one point a young man came over and handed me a red carnation.  When I asked someone later what it meant, she told me it was for appreciation of women.  I had noticed women walking around with flowers.  Nice!  I put mine on top of the sign.

I have to admit that I wasn't thinking very kindly of the wind much of the day.  And yet, I don't always dislike wind.  In the summer I love how it helps keep things cooler, and when I'm warm enough in other seasons, I enjoy how the wind feels against my face.  Often I think of the wind as being the breath of God.  Ruah in Hebrew:  breath, spirit, wind.  I imagined my prayers on the breath of God, and asked God to carry blessings of love, peace, comfort, and strength on the wind as it blew through campus.  I have written about my desire to start a blessing ministry here, and yesterday I decided I wanted to try it out.  So when a student I know made a prayer request, I said a prayer, and then I offered a blessing as well.  I hope I have more opportunities to do that.  Of course, with the constant wind, I can always imagine blessings blowing out from the Plaza and swirling about the campus.

In other news, the new Admin building is nearing completion.  It will be known as Christopher Newport Hall.