Morning Prayers at
Muse Lodge, 2008
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
Rainer Maria Rilke
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Thoughts for the day:
Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S.
Ask any Indian.
Robert Orben
Love Your Enemy
I loved my enemy so much
I became my enemy. I lived in the island of his touch
and felt my face stare back at me, the way a blind man reads a life,
the way the body presses a bed
into the shape of a lost wife.
We sleep in hollows, as do the dead,
who sleep on the backs of our tongues,
waiting to be reborn as words.
My enemy, I hold you in my lungs. You are my voice, wanting to be heard.
by Kevin R. Griffith of Columbus, Ohio
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The first word of the Torah, "bereshit" does not mean in the beginning; it means in a beginning. Rashi,
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki
The nature of rain is the same, though it makes thorns grow in the marsh and flowers in the garden.
Arabic saying
The blessing lies next to the wound.
African proverb
Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus
Poetry is language that sounds better and means more.
Charles Wright
I think that what the resurrection of Jesus means is that the human entered into God. I think that what the Pentecost story means is that God entered the human. That is the only second coming I care about.
Bishop John Shelby Spong
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Good News Story
Skidmore sister inspires a city
Music to rummage by: Pianist turns Salvation Army thrift shop into a cabaret"
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St. Joseph's Provincial House Chapel
Hi there! I went back to the Provincial House while I was in NY to meet with my high school choir director who recently retired there. I'm working on a new CD with the Gnostic Gospel Choir, a fun group of women I've been singing with for the past 6 or 7 years, and wanted to talk with Sr. Mary Alice about some arrangement ideas. We went up to the choir loft so I could photograph the chapel, which is still my favorite room in the world. I used to sit in the third row on the left, before they took out some pews and made room in the front for the older sisters in wheelchairs who wanted to be closer to the altar.
On the day I was there, one of the sisters who had died was laid out in the front and her funeral was being held that afternoon. I remembered being in the choir loft for dozens of funerals in the Novitiate, feeling stunned in the beginning at how much joy there was when one of these Brides of Christ went home to be with the Beloved in a whole new way. It was my first taste of transcending duality, and learning that every ending is the begining of some new thing.
And after this holiday, death is on my mind in a big way again, with all the flags flying, the fireworks, the ongoing occupation and killing in Iraq. I'm reminded of Fr. Tony DeMello, a Jesuit psychologist who said he never saluted a flag in his life, that flags were the problem, not the solution to anything. Our descendents will come up with better solutions, I'm sure...and in the meantime, i'm doing what I can to bring a little more light wherever I go, just as you all are. Here's a little spark from Mary Oliver...
When Death Comes
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps his purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.
*******
Please feel free to pass this on to your friends. And if you get it forwarded from someone, click on the link below and sign up to get your own copy. And don't forget, you can have a beautiful poem delivered to your email address every day from Panhala; To subscribe to Panhala, send a blank email to Panhala-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Have a great summer and I hope to see you at one of these workshops!
Blessings and light your way,
Jan
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Upcoming Workshops
July 12-Tools of Transformation: The Word, the Image, the Story; Insight Learning and Wellness Center,Cleveland, OH
info@InsightWellness.org or Michelle Martin, ilcmartin@sbcglobal.net. 216-765-4470 ext 1; 1-216-374-4998.
July 13
Creativity as Sacrament:
a creative experience and day-long workshop with Jan Phillips and metal clay artist Stacia Moore;
leave with a beautiful piece of metal clay art that you have made yourself!
Crown Point Farm and Education Center
330-867-3431-http://www.crownpt.org/
July 27-Aug 2
Creativity as Sacrament:The Mystery, Grace,
and Power of Self-Expression
This is a five day retreat at a BEAUTIFUL site in upstate NY. It will refuel your imagination, take your spiritual practice to a whole new level and jumpstart your creativity once and for all. It will be fun, entertaining, inspiring, informative and generally life-altering. You really don't want to miss it.
Stella Maris Retreat Center
Skaneateles, NY (near Syracuse)
http://www.stellamarisretreat.org
August 23, 10-4 pm; The Yin and Yang of a Writer's Life
San Diego Writers, Ink
http://www.sandiegowriters.org/
Sept 4
3 Keys to Visionary Leadership
Tools for Transformation-Creativity, Spirituality and Social Change (weekend retreat) Springfield, IL
contact Sr. Marilyn Jean Runkel; Runkelmj@spdom.org
September 7, 2008 Tools for Transformation:
Creativity, Spirituality and Inspired Action 12-4 pm
Rev. Leslie Bradshaw; Unity Church of Springfield, IL
unityofspringfield@sbcglobal.net; 217-523-5897
Sept 19-20
Tools of Transformation: The Word, the Image, the Story
Rockhaven Ecozoic Center
7621 Rivermont Trail; House Springs, Missouri
call 636-375-3159,
contact jan@rockhavencenter.org
September 25-28
Reboot and Shoot Photography Workshop
Muse Lodge; Lake Bonaparte, NY
(limited to 6 people; 4 slots left)
We'll be shooting in the mornings and afternoons and sharing our work in the evenings, with lots of supportive input.
· become a better editor of your own work
· learn the distinctions between a snapshot and a
photograph
· fine tune your skills in composition, framing and focus
· discover what is meant by the "healing power of
photography"
· become the master of your camera's controls
jan@janphillips.com for more details ; $750
includes workshop, lodging, meals (credit card accepted-
$25 discount if registered by August 1; 858-571-1417; 858-229-0452)
October 4-5, 2008
Adirondacks in the Fall:
Sketching and Watercolor in your Personal Journal
Taught by Jane LaFazio (2 slots left-register soon!)
Record your life, your trip, or your daily adventures in your own illustrated journal. In the gorgeous natural setting of Lake Bonaparte and your lodging in the charming 100 year old cabin, you'll have plenty of drawing subjects to choose from.
Jane will guide you through basic drawing, inking and watercolor painting. You'll have time to just sit and absorb the beauty around you, sketching and journaling your thoughts impressions right onto the same page. This class is for all levels, including beginners. Everyone has their own drawing style, just like handwriting, and Jane will help you see and then record that on paper in a friendly, positive and creative way.
Cost $375 for 2 day workshop (includes lodging and meals--arrangements can be made to stay Friday before the workshop and or Sunday after the workshop for $100 per night)
Email Jane at plainjanestudio@earthlink.net
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For Writers and Multi-Media Artists
MISSOURI REVIEW AUDIO AND VIDEO COMPETITION_
Click here for details
Deadline September 15, 2008.
WHIDBEY ISLAND MFA SCHOLARSHIP_Click here for details The Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Program is one of the most flexible low-residency MFAs around. The WWW MFA has a limited number of scholarships available. Location Langley, WA.
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