Marjorie George

Gathered Wisdom, Dec 13

December 13, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see.

-Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
Found at well for the Journey

Dec. 13 – St. Lucy Day

In Sweden and Norway, December 13 is the day to remember St. Lucy. The eldest girl in the family dresses in a white dress with a red sash and brings saffron buns and coffee to her family. On her head is a crown of candles that shines light on one of the daarkest days of the year.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

More about St. Lucy.

Imprisoned By Our Blinders

“Are you the one?” John the Baptist wants to know. “Or are we to wait for another?” Has John’s initial enthusiasm been blunted? Is he looking through blinders? Are we?

Read the sermon from the Rev. Mike Marsh.

From Interrupting the Silence.

Finding Home in God’s Flock

Maybe sheep aren’t stupid after all. Maybe they are just easily distracted and prone to wandering off on their own. How like them we can be. But, going rogue often leads to death and destruction says Br. Todd Blackham. Instead we need to listen for the voice of the shepherd.

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

The Mysticism of the Crib

For Fr. Ron Rolheiser, the Christmas crib with the sleeping baby Jesus recalls feelings of safety and snugness. We find the same when we lean on Jesus.

Read the reflection.

From Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Faith in Divine Presence

The Rev. Adam Bucko brought all of his skills to his ministry with homeless youth. Then he got himself out of it and God’s energy took over.

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Dec. 6

December 6, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Listen to the long stillness:
New life is stirring
New dreams are on the wing
New hopes are being readied …
God is at work.
This is the Season of Promise.

-Howard Thurman, The Mood of Christmas

From Well for the Journey

Advent is a season of hope and expectation. A time set aside to proclaim once again that our God is still with us, still ready to lead us to peace and reconciliation, if we are willing.

Our Advent gift to you is a daily text message of inspiration and encouragement. If you would like to receive this daily text on your cell phone, send your name and cell phone number to Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com.

Stand Up, Lean In

Advent, says Bishop David Reed of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, calls us to a “brief pilgrimage of active inactivity. . . a sanctuary of sanity.” He offers the practice of “Advent Judo” to live the season.

Read the reflection.

From the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

Advent: Curing Fire by Fire

We are born congenitally dis-eased, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. There is a fire that burns within us, and we have two choices of how to meet it. To quench it we can choose between the world’s definition of success, or we can recognize our longing for God.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

Let Us Pause and Be Grateful

The lowly stone cutter longed to be more powerful and important. Until he found out he already was.

Read the reflection.

The Terry Hershey blog.

An Evolving Faith

It may surprise us to learn that our God does not hate all the people we do. Or that we may have something to learn from others, or that revolutionary thinking may move us forward as opposed to our remaining stagnant.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Longing for Christ

It’s easy to lapse into nostalgia at this time of year. We may remember – or think we remember – Christmases past of a happy family going to church long after dark and singing Silent Night with lighted candles. But our faith is not about nostalgia; it is about believing the promises of God.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

More about SSJE.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Nov 29

November 29, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Advent 2022:
“Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).

Advent is a season of hope and expectation. A time set aside to proclaim once again that our God is still with us, still ready to lead us to peace and reconciliation, if we are willing.

Venting the Light

“All your life you’ve been getting ready for now. The light is probably dawning on you – what God is calling you to be and do – and you could easily feel overwhelmed. But God is the source of the light, and God is behind the dawning. You will have the inner light you need on the path ahead. There will be provision. Go ahead.”

Read the powerful reflection from Br. Curtis Almquist.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

School of Gratitude

The Beatitudes ask us to believe that even in – perhaps especially in – suffering we will be blessed (Matthew 5:3–12). We tend to read them as warm and fuzzy words but don’t much take them seriously. But Brian McLaren says they are “the deepest lesson of gratitude.”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Reading the Signs of the Times

What did Jesus mean when he accused his listeners of not being able to read the “signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3)? Fr. Ron Rolheiser says that reading the signs of the times means being able to name things properly.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Varied Paths for Varied Hearts

Everyone’s path to God is not the same. Some will search for years; others will stumble over it and immediately recognize it. No matter, says Br. Sean Glenn of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. People of faith all end up in the same place.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Nov 22

November 22, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Praise, my dear one.
Let us disappear into praising.
Nothing belongs to us

-Rainer Maria Rilke, Uncollected Poems.

Found a t Well for the Journey

Adverbs for Advent

An Advent online study

Nov 27 to Dec 15.

From the Wisdom Years

In the season of Advent, which starts Sunday, Nov. 27, we open ourselves to the birth of something new in our lives. Just as God was incarnated in Jesus, we are assured that God’s Spirit is incarnate in us; we are pregnant with possibility for ourselves and for our world. Join us as we read daily meditations from Adverbs for Advent by Marilyn McEntyre then gather weekly on Zoom for insightful conversation.

To learn more and register.

Giver of All Good Gifts

– A Thanksgiving Prayer

In this profound Thanksgiving prayer, Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB calls us all to be grateful as we remember that so many have so much less than do we.

Join the prayer by listening to it or watching the video.

From Grateful Living.

Also from Grateful Living,
a collection of Thanksgiving prayers and blessings.

An Attitude of Gratitude

“All the truly great persons I have ever met are characterized by what I would call radical humility and gratitude,” writes Richard Rohr. “They are deeply convinced that they are drawing from another source; they are instruments. Their genius is not their own; it is borrowed.” The only appropriate response is humility, gratitude, and loving service to others.

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Agent of Illumination

The New York City bus driver knew what his passengers needed on that cold day during rush hour traffic. He invited them to drop their troubles into the palm of his hand as they exited the bus. He was an agent of illuminations, as we all are invited to be.

Read the story.

Found in Daily Good.

Good Bones, Pushing Water

A water leak that initially went unnoticed turned into a huge and messy repair job. Fortunately the flooded house had good bones. Writer Carrie Newcomer likens it to ignoring small spiritual issues that have the potential to require major healing. It is then that we must rely on our spiritual “good bones” and get to the hard and messy work of looking to inner and outer resources to repair what is broken.

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Nov 15

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is the central prayer and invocation for the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). It reflects their relationship of giving thanks for life and the world around them.

“You can’t listen to the Thanksgiving Address without feeling wealthy,” says Robin Wall Kimmerer. “And, while expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical proposition . . . . The Thanksgiving Address reminds you that you already have everything you need.”

Read this beautifully illustrated Thanksgiving Address.

Found at Grateful Living.

The WY Thanksgiving Celebration

Thursday, Nov. 17, 4 p.m. on Zoom

Join us for a litany of thanks and a time of prayer and community.

For the Zoom link, email Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com. before 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Adverbs for Advent

How will we live Advent this year? Generously? Expectantly? Patiently? As we read daily meditations from Marilyn McEntye’s Adverbs for Advent, we’ll gather on Zoom weekly to share inspiration and encouragement. Advent begins November 27.

Find all the information and indicate your interest on our Wisdom Years website page.

Why You Should Write That Thank You Note

Your mother was right: you should write thank you notes. Researchers have found that writing as few as three weekly thank you notes over the course of three weeks improves life satisfaction, increases happy feelings and reduces symptoms of depression. And read Robinson Crusoe again for a model of gratitude in the face of what could have been despair.

Read the essay.

Found in Daily Good.

Small Kindnesses

What if it’s the small everyday kindness we express and receive that is the true dwelling of the holy. Danusha Laméris calls such kindness “fleeting temples” that we make together.

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

Living with Limitations

The CDC reports that 61 million adults have a disability that has a major impact on their lives. Joanna Seibert believes there is possibility of a “new pathway” in limitations that can open a new direction in becoming the person God created us to be.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Nov 8

November 8, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Our words and actions will contribute either to reconciliation and peace, or to conflict and strife. We need to be reminded again and again that what we choose to think, what we choose to say, and what we choose to do will shape our lives and the lives of others. We have an important role to play in creating our reality.

Br. David Vryhof,
Society of St. John the Evangelist.

A Prayer for election day

Gracious and loving God, you have bound us together in a common life. We commend ourselves, our communities, states, and country to your merciful care, that, being guided by your providence, we may dwell secure in your peace.

Read the rest of the prayer by the Rev. Mike Marsh.

From Interrupting the Silence.

The Holy Water We Share

“I was not imagining two separate yards with neighbors leaning over a shared boundary. I was imagining a single reservoir of living water, with two people looking into it. One might have been a Muslim and the other a Christian, but there was nothing in their faces to tell me that.”

Read the reflection from Barbara Brown Taylor.

Found in Daily Meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Everything Happens for A Reason & Other Lies I’ve Loved

Kate Bowler believed, as do many Americans, that God gives good things to good people and reserves bad things for bad people. But then how could she justify her cancer diagnosis at the age of 35?

Watch the video or read the transcript.

Found in Daily Good.

Waiting on God

There are so many variables in life over which we have little, if any, control. Rather than seeing life as a series of obstacles, frustrations, and impenetrable questions, we could instead see life as an endless stream of invitations to cooperate with whatever God is up to, and to abandon ourselves into God’s hands and God’s time.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Adverbs for Advent
A Wisdom Years Collaborative Study

Find all the information and indicate interest on our Wisdom Years website page.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Adverbs for Advent

November 3, 2022Marjorie George

A Wisdom Years Advent study

November 27 to December 15

Gathering for conversation by Zoom
on Thursday, December 1, 8, and 15

4 p.m. (Central time)

How will we live Advent this year? How can we be intentional about answering the call of Advent to wait with expectation that our God is sending the Holy One to live among us as one of us? In Adverbs for Advent, author Marilyn McEntyre offers daily Advent meditations that can shape our lives, preparing us to be holy vessels for the coming Christ so that we too can declare a message of love and peace to our hurting world.

The adverbs we encounter in this devotional challenge us to live as Jesus did – patiently, harmoniously, joyously, boldly, and simply. In this Wisdom Years study, participants will read the meditations on their own, then gather on three Thursdays by Zoom – December 1, 8, and 15 for conversation and community.

Each week will end with a brief time of prayer and reflection. Participants should bring candles.

Participants can also opt to receive a daily thought or inspiration by text throughout Advent.

There is no cost for study. Participants will buy their own book.

To indicate your interest in the study or if you have questions, send an email to Marjorie George at marjoriegorge62@gmail.com.

To support independent book sellers, order from St. Mark’s Bookstore at https://www.stmarksbookstore.com

Gathered Wisdom, Nov 1, All Saints Day

November 1, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

I have been out walking with ghosts again, the shimmering images of my ancestors,
always present, but barely visible, walking before me in the cool shadows of evening.
I know better than to talk too much, for silence is the language of the sacred.
Instead I listen, as any youngster should,
the wisdom of those who have seen more seasons than can be counted.
I receive their thoughts like a benediction.
I hold their vision in my mind like a familiar dream.
Do not be afraid, they whisper, as we walk on to find the moon already waiting.
– Bishop Steven Charleston, Facebook, October 26, 2022

Bold, Brash, and Incredibly Audacious

On this All Saints Day, Br. James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist reminds us that for the Christian, death is not the ultimate disaster, for in Jesus, life is changed, not ended (from The Book of Common Prayer p 382) and death becomes not the end, but a door, not a wall, but a gate, not the end, but a new beginning.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the evangelist.

A Communion with the Saints

Fr. Ron Rolheiser reflects on the death of his parents and on a book in which the husband feels his deceased wife’s presence. This is a must-read for anyone who has recently lost a loved one.

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser.

The Continuum of Life

Writing in Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations, Dr. Barbara Holmes says the normal pattern in history is for each generation to pass over, and to build the bridges of love and trust for the next generation coming afterwards. We are all part of a continuum of life that does not end with death, but transitions to a life after life.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Restorative power in sanctuary

When we become untethered, says Terry Hershey, we lose our way. We feel disconnected and wearied. “In our world so full of diversions and distractions, I see the toll untethering takes. And this disconnect matters more because we forget that we are here to walk one another home.”

Read the reflection.

From Sabbath Moment.

Loneliness and the Second Half of Life

Both the young and the old experience spells of loneliness. In the second half of life we come to the realization that there is a part of us that will always be alone. We would do well to listen to the Persian poet Hafiz, who cautions us not to surrender to loneliness too quickly.

Read the reflection.

From Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Oct 25

October 25, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

Though your destination is not yet clear,
You can trust the promise of this opening.
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

John O’Donohue, “For a New Beginning”

Found in Well for the Journey

Catching up to who we are

When we push people away to keep ourselves protected and safe, we end up being alone and isolated. When we guard ourselves against people who are different from us, we lose some of ourselves too.

Read the reflection.

From Terry Hershey.

Unlearning And Climbing Down Ladders

“The way down is the way up,” says Richard Rohr. In thinking about that, Joanna Seibert comes to realize that we are always learning and unlearning, climbing up and climbing down. In our spiritual life, the descent becomes an ascent as our outer life becomes less important and our inner life becomes heard.

Read the short reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

Justice is Love in Action

Talking about justice is not the same as doing justice, says contemplative activist and Episcopal priest Adam Bucko. Writing in a daily meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation, Bucko outlines concrete steps to begin a practice of contemplative action.

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Struggling with our Complexity

What is normal? What does it look like to be a normal human being? Fr. Ron Rolheiser believes it includes being complex and accepting that. “We aren’t necessarily over-greedy, over-sexed, or over-restless,” he says. “We are just normal human beings, walking around inside of human skin. That’s what real life feels like!”

Read the essay.

More about Ron Rolheiser.

Pilgrims Journeying Within

As we close our study of Pilgrims Journeying Within this week, we are reminded that the spiritual journey never ends. We never arrive at a destination, but we learn so much on the path. Find readings and reflection prompts for “Coming Home,” the last chapter of The Soul of a Pilgrim here https://wisdomyears.org/journeying-within-our-next-online-offering/the-practice-of-coming-home/

Readings, reflections prompts, and practices for all chapters of he book are on the WisdomYears website at
https://wisdomyears.org/journeying-within-our-next-online-offering/

The study is good for individuals on their own or for small groups.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Oct 18

October 18, 2022Marjorie George

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.

I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.

Sojourner Truth, The Book of Life
From Well for the Journey

A Lesson in Aging

“I always thought of myself as young,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser, “even as the years piled up and my body began to betray my conception of myself as young.” Our souls, however, don’t age says Rolheiser – they mature. And in these later years, the soul wants to delve ever deeper into “the mystery of life, of community, of God, and of itself.”

Read the reflection.

From Kolbe Times.

A Second Gaze

Growing older gives us the opportunity for a second look at a situation. It is then that God offers us the grace to weep over our sins more than to perfectly overcome them, to humbly recognize our littleness rather than to become big.

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

A Flower’s Job Is To Bloom

Who makes us feel important? Do we seek acclaim from a particular group? If we do, says writer Srikumar Rao, we are putting ourselves into a prison and handing that person or group the key.

Read the essay.

From Awakin.

To Care

To care for the aging,” says Henri Nouwen in this meditation, “means first of all to enter into close contact with your own aging self, to sense your own time, and to experience the movements of your own life cycle.”

Read the brief meditation.

From the Henri Nouwen Society.

Pilgrims Journeying Within

What if we embraced the unknown as sacred wisdom for the unfolding of our lives? What if we welcomed all that distresses and disorients us as having something to teach us? Chapter 7 of The Soul of a Pilgrim is The Practice of Embracing the Unknown.

Find reflection prompts and a weekly practice for The Soul of a Pilgrim study here.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.