Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

Bright Blessings on Summer Solstice

Brightest blessings for the (Northern Hemisphere) summer solstice, sometimes called Litha! I enclose here my little video blessing and contemplation for you – just something short, spontaneous, and (I hope you think) sweet! I had a great time doing it. It is really another love letter to YOU, with some of my evolving thoughts about […]

Solstice, Justice, and Welcome

Beloved– The December solstice is less than tend days away. If you’re anywhere far from the Equator, the sun’s rays are important this week. For comrades like Katharine Liese in Johannesburg, South Africa, things looks very different from the way they do in North America, for example. Or our comrade Onyxe Antara in Thailand — […]

Why So Rushed?

Beloved– Let’s talk about the term “white supremacy,” and how it relates to our own personal and communal spiritual journeys. Let’s think about what many of us consider “normal” interpersonal behavior and how that might shift if we consider various cultural perspectives. First of all, the term “white supremacy.” I know it puts a lot […]

Hope Against Hope

(For those looking for Turning the Wheel, see the bottom of this post.) Today is the second day of Christmas, the third day of Chanukah, and the first day of Kwanzaa. Oh, and the Feast of St. Stephen and Boxing Day. The sun is rising earlier and setting later. The holidays just keep coming. And […]

Hospitality of the Holidays?

complex woven Christmas ball with lights inside

In some ways, this is a season of hospitality or its lack. Many of us hear the story of the emigration and return of Joseph and Mary to and from Egypt, reminiscent of the time the Israelites spent in Egypt generations earlier. Many of us hear the story of the pregnant Mary being welcomed by […]

The Coming Solstice Dark

What comes with the solstice, the last and deepest dip of the sun, Midwinter here in the Northern Hemisphere? The first last and deepest is answer is darkness, darkness, darkness. In some parts of North America, the continent where I live, it means bright sun on very short, very cold days; cloud-packed skies where it […]

Advent: Waiting and Hope

Through my years as a Roman Catholic, especially as a teen, I became enamored with the liturgical calendar, the sort of Wheel of the Year for Catholicism (and many other Christian traditions, as well). Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and everything that followed, including saints’ and Marian days and other holidays. The liturgical year began this past […]

The Privilege of Rebirth: Compost

Last night, I had the privilege of talking with folks about the metaphorical and material power of gardening, of plants, of the powers of weeds, watering, thinning, and composting. Composting as a metaphor for “putting death in its proper place.” The need for death to feed life. Recognizing that even human death feeds the cycles […]

The Questions of Solstice

frozen river in a forest

In three days, we will go into the dark. We will begin the three days leading up to the December Solstice, Midwinter, or Yule, in the Northern Hemisphere. That first day of the three, I have invited you—and I invite you now—to make a day of retreat. A day of renewal. Let it be a […]

Collaborations of the Winter Solstice

solstice sunrise with snow and tree

Sometimes—and today is one of those times—I think, How great it is to have colleagues and comrades in spiritual community. Or, if you will, for the Psalm-loving among us, How blessed it is when we live together in unity! I am just happy and feelings fortunate, so I thought I’d share my heart’s gratitude with […]