This was our first Earth Church held in the Sanctuary and our first service led by Reverend Jennifer Lee (Life Cycle Celebrant and minister of the Canadian International Metaphysical Church of Canada). Sheelah Megill provided the music leadership.
A Celebration of Mary on the festival day of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Space before us
Stars behind us
Companions to the left and to the right
Above us, the sky and the sun and moon
Below, a deep, dark and abiding friend
Within, a fountain of kindness
where even hummingbirds/ pause to rest
Any movement in any direction
is a movement in the direction of love
Absence and presence dance freely here
enfolding and unfolding in endless play
ideas of in body and out of body
right doing and wrong doing fall away
as uncomplicated gestures and words
arrive and depart in this time of ripeness
It is important to know
where you are – lest someone else’s great ideas
stand/ in the space / of your own direct and embodied knowing.
(Written by Penny Allport)
Welcoming of the Elements
I offer these Opening Words adapted from the book, Indigenous People’s Verse, by Sun Bear:
Here today, in ceremony,
We enter a sacred space.
For a short while,
Everything outside of this space
shrivels in importance.
Time takes on a different dimension.
Emotions flow more freely.
Our bodies become filled
with the joy and energy of life,
and this energy reaches out
and blesses the creation around us.
all is made new;
everything becomes sacred.
Candle and Bell
Welcome everyone to this peaceful sanctuary, and than you so much for being here! What a miracle it is to be here in this safe and beautiful space with all of you, gathered on this 12th day of December, in the name of Mary. This old space holds so much love and care, and today it has been so sweetly decorated. I would like to acknowledge with honour and respect that the land upon which this beautiful gathering place stands is part of the unceded territory of the Komoks first nation. It truly is a sacred womb that holds us with deep love. May we pause….. to feel together our deep gratitude and joy in being here.
“This Earth Church group is intended for people whose spirituality includes loving the Earth and respecting the paths of others. It is community-led and we come together to share inspiration, spiritual practices, rituals, connection, art and more. All open-minded perspectives are welcome. All races, genders, and all who increase our diversity are welcome.”
Let’s take a few moments just to breathe together, to feel our breath moving in and out, …to feel the quiet and peace and healing that surround us here, to feel the beauty that moves and stirs within and without.
Song: We can join our breath with song, along with the choir.
The river is flowing
Flowing and growing
The river is flowing down to the sea
Mother carry me
Your child I will always be
Mother carry me
Down to the sea
Today, as you know, is Mary Day. On this day 490 years ago in Mexico, Juan Diego, a young indigenous man, was out walking when the Virgin Mary suddenly appeared to him, as a young woman with black hair and dark skin. She identified herself to Diego in his language as “the one who crushes the serpent”, which to the Spanish sounded like “Guadalupe”. She tells him to go to the bishop and ask him to build a sacred space for her at that site. But the bishop is unable to believe what Diego has seen.
Maybe, the bishop can’t see the unexpected joy and blessing of the Virgin, because he isn’t on home ground. He is unfamiliar with the mother tongue of the place, and, perhaps, he is unable to see the divine in the land and the beings around him.
Once again, the Virgin Mary appears to Juan Diego and this time, she tells him to collect flowers from the top of the hill. This was December, and he knew there were no flowers there. Yet, when he reaches the top, he is amazed to see it covered with colourful and beautiful blooms. With her help, he collects them in his overcoat and runs again to see the bishop. When Juan Diego gives the coat full of flowers to the bishop, the image of the Virgin Mary is miraculously traced on the coat. In the years to come The Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe is built on that hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City.
The Beloved Virgin of Guadalupe appears as a pregnant woman, with her eyes downcast and her hands humbly clasped in prayer. She wears a bright robe covered by a blue mantle with a black sash, emblazoned with stars; eclipsing a blazing sun while standing atop a darkened crescent moon; a cherubic angel carries her train.
Scripture reading: from Luke 1
Reflection
The Virgin of Guadalupe was a simple miracle in a dark time, who brought peace and healing to the people. And so she continues to do, even five hundred years later. She doesn’t say, go to church or say the rosary. She says ‘If you love me, trust me and believe in me, I will respond.’”
Wikipedia defines a Miracle as: a supernatural event that seems inexplicable by natural or scientific laws. The Miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe continues to be universally understood without science or rational explanations – she is felt, more than explained.
On this third Sunday of advent, the blessing we immerse ourselves in and share is Joy – a joy that is ever present. When are we open to its presence, it is as miraculous as finding flowers blooming in December. When a community together holds this joy, we can hold it for one another, we can hold it for others, it flows. This is a simple mudra, or hand position that translates as “Arms full of flowers” – which can physically translate as joy. It also feels like “arm full of baby child”. Sometimes a gesture or action communicates more than words.
As we quietly contemplate the Mary within us, we recognize this powerful joy and energy and love is found not just in the vision of her, but is reflected everywhere in the world around us – particularly where there is darkness, confusion, sorrow, beauty, or uncertainty. At their very core is a shining light that has no beginning and no end. It shines from within every thing, including ourselves, with the same power and awe we saw with the moon a few weeks ago within the darkness of the eclipse. It shines within our grief and our joy. Within death and life itself. This may be why Mary becomes more vivid to us in the winter, or during times of difficulty, when our hearts are torn open. Maybe this is how one comes to “know” Mary. As you move toward her, she moves toward you, or as she says, “I will respond.” She comes bearing roses.
With her downcast eyes she humbly opens us to our grief, opening our heart and senses to this exquisite and brief miracle of life. “Don’t be afraid to be sad! To open yourself to your love of life! There is a great uncertainty facing us all. Don’t let it shut you down. Don’t be afraid”, she seems to say. Her hands are in the prayer position, hands together at the heart, which supports inner harmony, balance, silence and peace.
The poet Rilke says, “We must accept our reality in all its immensity. Everything, even the unheard of must be possible within it. This is in the end the only courage that is required of us: the courage to meet what is strangest, most awesome. And most inexplicable.” This means letting our hearts break open to welcome life, joyfully “holding ourselves to the difficult”, as Rilke described it. Genuinely attending to the world, just as it is, is difficult. But with joy and love it is possible.
I think of this joy as a light that illuminates but does not eliminate the darkness. Like a candle at night. Focusing into, with a soft gaze, rather than turning away from difficulties, we shine the light of our awareness into them, we give them our loving attention, illuminating.
The winter and the world around us may seem to be dying, while underground, and out of sight, the earth thrums with the potential of new life and new possibilities. We see that the Virgin of Guadalupe is pregnant. Unlike hope, which looks to the future, this undefended joy brings something new and vital and rich to the present. Though we may not see it we sense it. As Brené Brown says, “Vulnerability, is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, accountability, and authenticity.” —
We can gently breathe into it and give it our sacred attention and care, as though it was a sweet child. This inner well of joy holds our suffering, and everything we have. “Violence arises when we do not know what else to do with our suffering.” says Parker Palmer. As the Virgin of Guadalupe says, “If you trust me and believe in me, I will respond.”
The Mary I see in my mind’s eye is streaming light. It flows out from under her robes, out of her sleeves and her hands, like the moon flooding out behind the eclipse, like unexpected light shining in a deep dark cave. Having no beginning or end, it burns without a flame — the source, the origin and mystery of everything, from which we come and to which we return — joy, giving birth to love..
Today, may Mary’s very simple, quiet and profoundly powerful presence, draw out and illuminate our own deepest presence. There is great power in this quiet, simple, deep unshakable Joy. As Starhawk says, “There are two kinds of power. One is power over, which is always destructive, and the other is power from within, which is a transcendent and creative power.”
Here, Rilke speaks again:
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
So that what no one has dared to wish for
May for once spring clear
Without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, dear one, forgive me,
But this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river
No forcing and no holding back,
The way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
These deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
Streaming through widening channels
Into the open sea
Song: Let us sing together for the joy of it, along with the choir: Mary Mary, Quite Contrary” by Fred Kaan
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
rebel, giving ear to God,
earth soprano, singing freedom:
Zion’s song in ‘yes’ and blood; earmarked Mary, world affirming,
in compliance giving birth,
your defiance, raising Jesus,
Healer, Rebel, run to earth. Mary, mouthpiece of God’s people,
Sister Chosen, giving voice,
Ave Mary, Eve of Easter,
Bibi Maryam, Sister Choice;Mary/Miriam, ever bearing
life as hope for all to share,
make us, women, men and children
as expectant as you are!
Joy is Presence. Presence is Holy. To be fully present with another person, place or being, – is to give Blessing. If we take a moment to look within ourselves, is there a place to which you can bring Blessings and Joy? Joy that welcomes – everything?
What about in your family, or this community, is there a place that you can give attention to, and shine your Blessing upon?
And in the world or the universe around us? Where might you give Blessing? – An unexpected, miraculous joy- like roses in December?
As we sit in quiet contemplation, if you like, please come and light a candle or leave a stone or offering in Blessing.
This is adapted from words of the poet, Victoria Safford, “What if there were a universe in which a world was born out of a smallish star, and into that world flew red winged blackbirds, and into it swam salmon and beluga whales, and into it bloomed crocuses, and into it blew wind to lift the tiniest hairs on the naked arms in the spring and into it, at some point, grew nettles, miraculously, out of soil, and in went the western mountains and glaciers, and also the deer we see now and then flowing through the woods. Into that world came all the animals and elements and plants and imagination and the mind and the mind’s eye. If such a world existed and you noticed it, what would you do? What song would come out of your mouth, what joy? What prayer, what praises, what sacred offering, what whirling dance, what religion and what reverential gesture would you make to greet that world, every single day that you were in it?”
Sacred sharing from the group
As we go out from this womb back into our bright day, may Joy be present with us, around us and within us whether we are able to sense it or not. May we be kind to those who are in too much darkness or suffering to sense the joy that is here. May love be reflected in all we see. And may joy radiate from us, blessing and illuminating wherever we turn our gaze.
Closing of the Elements
