Dear church family,
Many of us spent last weekend up at the beautiful Ralston-White retreat center, among the trees and under the stars, enjoying our annual Women’s Retreat. Thanks are due to Jean Roggenkamp, Margaretha Derasery, and Gloria Alexander for their leadership on this amazing weekend, as well as the many people who shared talents and time to build a weekend full of art, story, beauty, prayer, and connection.
But while we were away in such a beautiful place, we received the unbeautiful news that Judge Kavanaugh was voted on to the Supreme Court, despite accusations of sexual assault and many other grave misgivings about his fitness for a lifetime appointment to the highest court of the land. We took some time to recognize this, sang “we shall overcome” together, and stayed focused on our theme: how to maintain hope in times of despair. It could not have been more fitting.
In our group brainstorm session at the retreat, we shared techniques and strategies for keeping hope alive within us in such times. Many ideas were mentioned, and the theme that kept coming back to me was the idea of taking a very small action against a very large injustice. The actions themselves might not have much of an effect on the injustice, but they do take a stab at that injustice’s sidekick, namely the feeling of helplessness. One of the women said “thwarted creativity causes despair.” If the inability to take a creative and life-giving action brings us despair, finding even the smallest of creative and life-giving actions we can do is a way to find hope. Unless you were Susan Collins you couldn’t single-handedly change the Kavanaugh nomination; but you could choose another candidate to support in the upcoming elections, or another advocacy group to lend a bit of support to. The UN climate report, also released this past weekend, urges action on a level far beyond what any of us can take, and we could easily get overwhelmed. But we must release ourselves from getting paralyzed by the enormity of it all, and take whatever small action we can take today to reduce our carbon usage and protect the earth and its resources.
Sometimes even an off-topic action can release us from that feeling of despair. Maybe it’s just making your bed – I’m not kidding, I never want to make my bed, but I always feel good about myself when I do. Reminding yourself that you are capable of changing the world is important, and that might just start one messy bed at a time. It might help to even dedicate the task, prayerfully; “O God, the world is a mess. Please help me to be a part of your creative process bringing beauty and justice into the chaos of this world as I ______ (fill in the blank: make my bed, walk to the store, take care of a person in need, make dinner, donate $3…) Amen.”
On a more personal note, I shared with the women at the retreat, and I’ll share with you all now, that my mother has been diagnosed with bladder cancer and is about to begin chemo. I will be traveling to New York to see her some time in the coming weeks, and ask that you all keep her (and our family) in your prayers.
Every Blessing,
Talitha