Wednesday, November 6, 2024

The Day After the Election

a few thoughts to share to hold space with those who are hurting... 

πŸ’™πŸ’— "Blessed are the communities that surround us when we fall apart.
Knowing we can’t do this alone, and trusting that even if we don’t have the answers or the right words to say or know exactly what to do, we will continue to show up. Again and again and again. Because that’s what love demands:  to let our hearts break, together." - Kate Bowler 

πŸ’™πŸ’—
Article from the National Catholic Reporter

πŸ’™πŸ’—
Article I shared in my classroom management class yesterday: 

πŸ’™πŸ’—
"Body weary.
Mind numb.
Heart troubled.
Soul disquieted.
And yet...
Still, always beloved of God.
So, I will do justice (even more passionately), love mercy (even more faithfully), and walk humbly (even more authentically). I will also pray for those who cannot pray, hope for the those who can't hope, and believe for those who cannot believe.
Weary, numb, troubled, disquieted ... shaped by Love."
-Amy Figg (Knoxville pastor at St. John's Lutheran)

πŸ’™πŸ’—
Words by Jan Richardson:
"So may we know
the hope
that is not just
for someday
but for this day—
here, now,
in this moment
that opens to us:
hope not made
of wishes
but of substance,
hope made of sinew
and muscle
and bone,
hope that has breath
and a beating heart,
hope that will not
keep quiet
and be polite,
hope that knows
how to holler
when it is called for,
hope that knows
how to sing
when there seems
little cause,
hope that raises us
from the dead—
not someday
but this day,
every day,
again and
again and
again."


πŸ’™πŸ’—
from Winn Collier: "Jesus says some wild, wild things. The challenge for those who win is how they can also seek the good of those who lose, those who've been cast as enemies. I used to think the "enemy" language was hyperbole we use in our national experiment, but I don't think that any more. So:
'But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you...Do to others as you would have them do to you...But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."'
"Champion the Enemy’s Need"
Ask about your enemy's wounds and scars.
Seek his hidden cause of trouble.
Feed your enemy's children.
Learn their word for home.
Repair their well.
Learn their sorrow's history.
Trace their lineage of the good.
Ask them for a song.
Make tea. Break bread.
- Kim Stafford

πŸ’™πŸ’—
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.
-from Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”

πŸ’™πŸ’— from Scott the Painter:
























πŸ’™πŸ’—These are grounding words from the wonderful Becca Stevens (founder of Thistle Farms and priest at St. Augustine's in Nashville)


Credit: Marty Carmichael

An Election Message
November 4, 2024

After the election, I will get up and go to work.

I will work to help women who are incarcerated, on the streets, trafficked, addicted, and searching for hope. I have done this work under the leadership of Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden.

No matter who wins, this work will continue November 6th.

I will still work with people who desire to build a global movement for women's freedom. I will work with anyone I can to build communities honoring​ the heroic work of survivors and lifting the worth of artisan producers in the market chain.

I will continue to preach that love without judgment is the most radical force for change in the world.

No matter what, I will still. I will still believe in the justice communities that I work with and the hundreds of thousands of people who have helped build them.

I celebrate all of you who will still let justice be your way of life amidst the changes in this world. 

PEACE AND LOVE,



Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Fremont People

I recently found this picture from 1993(!) of me with YSSC friends at the Fremont People where the celebrations just keep coming. 

someone marked just getting married with the Fremont People 

Today, they are an early birthday shout out to Anna for her 22nd next Wednesday.... 


and they also hold a very important reminder to VOTE today!! 

Monday, November 4, 2024

It's not just another day...

Our friend Heidi turned 35 in October, and she told her mom, "It's just another day." Thankfully, her mom pushed back and encouraged her to do something to celebrate (GO MOM!). She ended up running 35K to mark the birthday, hosting a gathering at a fun brewery in Issaquah yesterday, and is running in a race next weekend. I'm with her mom--- we need to mark these days together-- because it's not just another day! 


cheers all around to the birthday girl 

birthday girl with her mom, dad, and aunt 

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Saturday morning date

 

Brooke is a senior at UW and I feel super lucky to get to hang out with her this year in Vision 16 as she's the student leader in our group with so many great ideas and so much energy.  (and not bad that our check-in meeting this week was a gorgeous walk through Ravenna Park yesterday morning!) 


Saturday, November 2, 2024

the gift that keep on giving

These Minnie Mouse ears have been the gift that just keep on giving.....and I've loved celebrating Halloween with Jason for over three decades...

Halloween 1993

Halloween 2024

Friday, November 1, 2024

Teatime

Such a treat to have tea this afternoon with Jan Summers. We first met when I worked with her at Seattle Urban Academy 29 years ago when I moved to Seattle the year after college. She's always been a wise soul, and I'm grateful for the gift she's been over the years... 

October 2024 

December 1995 

Thursday, October 31, 2024

October Twenty-Twenty-Four

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger...
-David Wagoner, "Lost" 


















When we endlessly ruminate over distant times, we miss extraordinary things in the present moment. These extraordinary things are, in actual fact, all we have: the here and now.  - Katherine May