The air is crisp,
The trees are ablaze in gold and orange,
And gardens lean under the weight.
Bountiful God,
While harvesting ripe vegetables and blossoms,
My attention turns to the fullness of life,
The richness of the bounty,
And the connectedness of all things.
- From Garden Prayers

Connectedness

I spent some time this morning with the women in the Prayer Shawl ministry – I didn’t bring my knitting with me, but I hope to in the future. There in the choir room we shared stories and I watched the shawls take shape as we spoke

. We talked of who might benefit from the gift of a prayer shawl; the challenges of aging; the church’s perspective on young adults; missions in Honduras and New Orleans, concerns, opinions, children... As I said goodbye, I came away with the sense of our connections – to one another, and to other, unknown faces for which we pray – connections that go beyond proximity, but come down to the very core of all things.

There are times when those near us, even those who don’t know us well, can encourage us in our walk with God. There are times when we are bowed low by the sad brokenness of another. Our hearts yearn for peace in the Middle East, even though we know few, if any people there. One person’s writing in a book may affect us in ways the author did not intend. A dozen things connect us; and that connectedness is part of our humanity, part of our faith, part of Creation itself.

There are times when being alone is a good thing; but even when we are alone, we are connected to God, and the natural order of things around us. Our connectedness is inescapable. Yet how often we retreat into our own worlds, concerned with our own needs, or those of our families, without taking in the wider context of our lives.

This week’s gospel is about blindness and healing. Part of the healing of our world comes through our own understanding of what surrounds us. Let us not be blind to the needs of others, or to the joys of others – let us celebrate the fact that we are, indeed, one body.

There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
- Ephesians 4:4, 5

Fire of the Spirit, life of the lives of creatures,
Spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures,
Glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste
Of sweetness to sinners, be with us and hear us…
Composer of all things, light of all the risen,
Key of salvation, release from the dark prison,
Hope of all unions, scope of chastities, joy
In thy glory, strong honour, be with us and hear us.
- St. Hildegarde

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
And they called the blind man, saying to him,
Take heart; get up, he is calling you.
From Mark 10:46-52

This week's healing story in Mark is familiar to many of us. "Blind Bartimaeus" is its short hand name.
Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus - "have mercy on me."
The crowd wants to shush him, but he will not be silenced.
And then, like the clearing of a storm, Jesus turns toward him and invites him forward.

These words, "take heart" are for Bartimaeus and they are for anyone who feels desperate-at the end of hope.
"Have mercy", we often feel within and yet how often to we actually cry out to the Lord?
Prayer begins, I believe, when the spark of passion is ignited within the heart.
Anger, despair, love, adoration, praise--all of these are the seeds of a burning flame.
When passion is addressed and expressed to a loving God-it becomes prayer-
it becomes the beginning of healing.
So-take heart-literally-
open your passion to the source of all passion-
the Lord of life.

"Take heart; get up, he is calling you."

Blessings,
Debra

The Christian Meditation Group will start an exploration of the three-fold mystical path which leads to fuller union with God. Join us at 7 p.m. tonight in the Ashland Presbyterian Sanctuary.

You, O Eternal Trinity
Are a deep sea into which,
The more I enter,
The more I find,
And the more I find,
The more I seek.
O abyss,
O eternal Godhead,
O sea profound,
What more could you give me
Than yourself?
- St. Catherine of Sienna

Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm

This week at St. James
Today: 4:45 Seafarer’s Cruise
Thursday: 10:00 Narnia Book Study
Friday: 7:30 SJA Teen Center
Saturday: 9:00 Halloween Hustle K5 race; 10:00 Altar Guild Brunch; Noon – Soccer tournament; Fall Back! Set clocks back one hour Saturday night.
Sunday: Andrew Curley Memorial Breakfast
Tuesday: SJA noon dismissal
Wednesday: 8:30 Healing Eucharist; 9:15 Bible Study; 9:30 Prayer Shawl ministry.

Upcoming Events:
November 5th is All Saints’ Sunday. There will be several baptisms during the morning services. In the evening at 4:45, Entertaining Angels host the Newcomer’s dinner.

Our annual Advent Quiet Day will be Saturday December 9th. Come and learn with us about Praying with Mary – an Anglican perspective on Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Prayers, Etc.
For those on our prayer list:
Dick; Doris; Emily D.; Mary; Fowley family
Ryan; Lee U.; Betsy; Dennis K.; Miss Chung
Prof; Sara R.; Ray; Fritz S.; Valerie & her children
Brenda; Fiona; Nancy; Matt S.; Don & Leslie D.
Louis; Allison; Linda T;. Annabelle; Tom & Kathy H.
Avery; Auds; Gage C.; Gus; Joan L. & Family
Sharon; Matthew; Harold; Pat; Traskey family
Lovisah; Jeffrey; Miriam; Brian; Leib & Carlyn
Brooke; David; Anna; Joel; Sarah
Bill; Lori; Sue; Dot

For peace in the Middle East.
For those who are deployed and their families.
For Laura and Lyle in seminary.

We beg you, Lord, to help and defend us. Deliver the oppressed, have compassion on the despised, raise the fallen, reveal yourself to the needy; heal the sick, bring back those who have strayed from you, feed the hungry, lift up the weak, remove the prisoner’s chains. May every nation come to know that you are God alone, that Jesus is your Son, that we are your people, the sheep of your pasture.
- Clement of Rome

In Closing:
Now, into the keeping of God I put
All doings of today.
All disappointments,
Hindrances,
Forgotten things,
Negligences.
All gladness and beauty,
Love,
Delight,
Achievement,
All that people have done for me,
All that I have done for them,
My work and my prayers,

And I commit all the people whom I love
To his shepherding,
To his healing and restoring,
To his calling and making;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Margaret Cropper

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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