Category: Substacks

Oh, how I love to sing. Thankfully, I have a good voice, so I’ve gotten to sing on stage, in choirs, in Peace Marches, and in groups around fires and altars. Well, and sometimes I sing in the car. Why listen to the radio, when there’s something you’re interested in or a new chant to write? The song referenced in the title is by Holly Near. She wrote a lot of songs that are perfectly suited to Peace Marches and a few good for singing around the fire. That moment in a group when someone starts a song, and we all search for our harmonies and simply sing out, these are Sacred moments to me.

We’re watching this type of singing happen in Minneapolis right now. There is a group called ‘Singing Resistance’. They’ve organized sings in churches and auditoria where the acoustics allow the sound to envelop the singers. They’re on the street inviting other protestors to sing along. And they do, oh, do they! In between the cadence of “this is what democracy looks like” arise voices prayerfully, harmoniously, raised in song. There’s still a beat, often slow and stately.

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What effect does the singing have on ICE officers, I wonder. Does it enrage them? Does it provoke violence? What if that singing has the same effect on them that it has on the protestors? One of the things I adore about music is that singing together has the power to transform us. It brings us into the song, the beat, the words, the sensation of it. That’s why hymns are so important in Protestantchurches and communities of faith. They took the music from the choir and gave it back to the congregation. Music solidifies team spirit, It’s why we hear so much of it both in war and football games. But folks in Minneapolis are standing up in Peace. Their songs are not only saying no to ICE; they are saying “yes,” to their neighbors. They are saying, “we’ve got you.” They are saying this is our country. They’re singing, for as the song reminds us, “We won’t be silenced anymore.” Not simply resistance; but also, another equally unlikely truth of Possibilities for Peace. These are shared truths that give us all courage — encouragement to stand fast.

While I focus on standing and working for Peace in these moments, at the same time, many amazing people are working against this brutal regime (who would have thought I would be saying that about an American presidency?) As I keep saying, it takes all of us if we’re going to turn this around. We have different gifts. If we use them in collaboration, we’re moving toward a new democracy. The ICE agents who are standing there are not moving toward democracy. They are moving us closer to authoritarianism. However, when we’re singing, we’re wielding a powerful tool. I believe the songs that are joining our hearts, our whole bodies, and minds, uniting us, have to be impacting them as well. This is the life giving, life changing, power of music. Bulletproof vests can’t keep music out.

Even now, as ICE defends against Music’s power, the pulse will be working against their anger likewater dripping on intransigent rock. Song has the power to drip and drip and slowly erode that rock.So, have courage, my friends. And sing out! In fact, Lift Every Voice and Sing!

People are writing new songs. Have you listened to Jesse Ware? He’s singing out. To no one’s great surprise, Bruce Springsteen has written a protest song that honors both his earlier era’s “The Streets of Philadelphia” and a tune by Bob Dylan. Other people I probably haven’t heard about yet are doing the same. I’m grateful for them. I look forward to listening to them — and maybe even singing along.

Yet what really changes us as people are simple repetitive choruses that we sing together. Choruses that we can embellish with harmony. Remember “We shall Overcome?” Together with Negro Spirituals, songs like this are how the Civil Rights Movement gathered their courage to march across that Bridge in Selma and endure everything that came before and after it. Dylan wrote “And the Times They Are A’Changin’” in the middle of the Race Riots and the Vietnam War Protests. Before that “Which Side Are You On?” was a Union “zipper song,” which allows you as one, to offer an example of injustice and finish with the repeated question: Whose side are you on? Decide. Bread and Roses was an anthem.That anthem reminds us what is still true today: “We need bread and we need roses, too.” Yes. We need Peace and we need Justice, too. We are desperate for “Justice to roll down like water, and righteousness like and ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24

My ancestors have been singing in little stone Protestant churches for generations. My roots are, among others, of Welsh miner stock. The first tunes I learned to play on the piano were hymns. I taught myself to play as I was learning to read music. Thump, thump, thump. Those hymns echo through generations of my forbears, right down to me, even when, as is often the case, I can’t stand the theology they convey. Hymns were written to bring our hearts into the same pace, the same place, the same Peace. Early hymnodists may not have known about the way our nervous systems react to music, but they had the formula down. And ‘Singing Resistance’ is finding it, spreading it, transforming it into the slow, steady drip to erode hardened hearts and minds.

Recently I haven’t been able to get a song out of my head — the big song from Les Misérables, ‘Singing the Song of Angry Men.’ And each time I hear it, I think this is doing exactly what I don’t believe in. However, since it persisted, I messed with it, with great apologies to Les Miz composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricists Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer. I put my “first take new lyrics” into the beginning of my February the 4th Daily Musing, which now I offer you below.

Please, take heed, these are unusual times. What that means to us as citizens of America, is that we have the possibility, we have the power to change the direction and the culture of our country. Possibilities of substantive change are opportunities that We the People are confronted with only every 100 years or so. We can’t focus on and wring our hands over the horror of it all. We must search for the Peacemaking Possibilities that exist. We Need Peace and we need Justice too.

John Lennon composed “Give Peace a Chance” as an anti-war anthem. C’mon, take my arm, let’s sway and sing together, Sing for our neighbors. Sing for our Country. Sing because it joins us to those who stand with us, so you need no longer feel as I/you/we are alone. We need Peace, and we need Justice, too. Take my arm, my friend. Let us sing together. Let us make Peace together.

*Thealogy: while I will explore this more thoroughly in a future Substack, I experience the world through the perspective of the Divine Feminine, and, thus, use Thea (the feminine of Theo) as prefix to -ology, which means systematic study, hence Thealogy is the study and composition of the Knowledge of the Feminine Divine.

Have you been reading about the Great Lakes’ reactions to the cold snap? Although, actually — can you call it a cold snap, when it goes on and on and on? Lake Superior is 51% frozen. Lake Michigan is 34%, Lake Huron is 67%, and Lake Ontario is 26%. Lake Erie? It’s at 95% and climbing. All of these lakes are reaching historical percentages of ice. We’ll see if our 34˚ days do anything to melt the ice. If in fact, the wind stops blowing.

Then on Monday, the 9^th, the ice on Lake Michigan cracked. One huge crack right across the middle. Yeah, stay off the ice! Somehow, this made me think about that old adage, “when Hell freezes over.”

I’m not talking about this gorgeous Lake as Hell… Instead, I’m feeling as if we have encountered a situation that is responsive to the claim, “America will no longer be a democracy, when hell freezes over.” Uh, huh. Well, here we are. Now we can no longer pretend that we are not experiencing authoritarianism. Let’s acknowledge that this presidency feels as if it can act with impunity in terms of finance, in rule of law, in treatment of citizens and those who have sought refuge in the Land of the Free.

But here we are, the Crack! That’s us. That’s Minnesotans singing “Somebody’s hurting my neighbors, and it’s gone on far too long, and we won’t be silent anymore:”* — as they stand in front of neighbor’s houses, outside schools, as they deliver hot meals to those for whom it is unsafe to leave their home. Crack! That’s people’s understanding how dangerous this administration is to the well-being of the American People and our Guests. Crack! That’s Survivors, Newscasters, public, and finally, perhaps, the House and the Senate saying the Epstein Conspiracy is too despicable not to be exposed. Crack! Suddenly many more of us are standing up together singing for all our lives.

To make a wild leap from song to song, what happens when the legislative bough breaks? Down will come Evil, plotting and all. I don’t believe in hell. I do believe in Restitution and Reparation. These are actions of Peacemaking. The people who have been pretending that all is ok, will have to face the Truth. How is this going to happen? Historical Groups, such as the Sons of Liberty are rising up. Martin Luther King’s Legacy is being revived in the Poor People’s Campaign. Old singer/songwriters are re-emerging singing familiar songs of Peace. New songwriters are picking up the banner. I heard a great country song the other day. The public is walking the streets with signs and hearts crying out for Justice and Safety for our neighbors. We’re writing to our legislators, demanding they honor the wishes of the many not the few. Luckily for us, the hell-bent keep doubling down with the smoke and mirrors, nothing to see here. Crack! Crack! Crack!

As a Woman. As a Feminist. As a person who lives with the Sexual Assault I experienced. I am standing up. Speaking out. People want me not to mention Sexual Assault — not because they are protecting me, but rather because they don’t want to have to “imagine” it. Well. Let’s be clear the children in the Epstein files have had to do far more than imagine. The abuse that is recounted could be called unthinkable, except many male someones (and a few women) thought about it and rather than be repulsed, did it repeatedly. Over and over again.

As a chaplain, I work in an emergency room. I witness what arrives in the Trauma Bay. I’m there as support. I’m not the patient. I’m not part of the medical team that is having to use their skills to repair and heal these broken bodies. I am a person who offers comfort and stands steady in the horror. That’s my job. That’s my Work. That’s my Faith.

I also respond with images of Peace and Peacemaking. That is a deep part of my healing, to rest in Life’s Abundance. I’m also standing up in resistance to tyranny in the ways I am able.

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Hurrah for those who are standing up, lending their voices and actions. And for those jumping and widening the crack. If you are Black or Brown, Queer or Trans, you’re not wrong to be frightened about these gatherings. Do not join these protests without clear understandings from your community that you will be supported. I don’t know if I have the courage to step in front of people being harassed with a gun. I have stepped in front of others before but there were no guns. Now there are. It doesn’t make me comfortable. But it does make me determined. I, You, We are worth this. I, You, We’re the next Crack! United together, we can prevent this country from freezing over into hatred and violence. We can stop bending the knee to those who want complete dominance over We the People.

Make no mistake, our actions are breaking ice/ICE. And down will come Evil, plotting and all. I hope there’s redemption. I’ll even work for it. But I won’t allow a lack of it to keep me away from the work of Peacemaking. I won’t miss the opportunity to stand by you and for you. If I can be the Crack! that makes room for you and others, if you can be the Crack! that makes room for me and others, then those Cracks! are places of Peacemaking.

You know what? I’m going to draw a Tarot card and see whether I there’s advice to support our work. Well! Wisdom… Wisdom is always turning to learning from Innocence — and it’s taking our hard-won Wisdom with us. It’s asking us to honor the Wisdom of those who have been discriminated against forever and to learn from that. Let us balance our Wisdom with its application; the great value you place on it with the humility required for us to be Peacemakers. Hey you, wonderful people: I’ll see you on the sidewalks, where we are singing, singing for our lives and everyone else’s. Crack! Watch out for falling ice!

* Words from the incredible Yara Allen’s song written for the Poor People’s Campaign.

As I move through this life and these times, I am constantly looking to respond in Peaceful ways to all the horror happening in our country. As a Peacemaker, I understand my work to be helping the Sacred Village, here at home as well as globally, to respond to Creation and the Gift of Life to which we are heirs. My work is usually present tense; I want to help people understand that we are born to be Peacemakers. This is our work, our calling, on this Earth. Every day is a day to make Peace. So many people are at risk right now; the urgency is upon us.

The other day, I was – as I do – thinking. A phrase an old beau from Arizona used to employ came to mind. “Well, I’ll be go to hell,” which always made me laugh. I work in a business where I hear people worry about hell regularly. I blame lazy theological thinking. People come into the hospital, having led fine and upright lives and followed the laws of their tradition. So often in the fear of Death, an Almighty Judgement gets raised and crushes people’s ability to remember the wonders of their precious human being’s Life. Or in the face of Death, one of Life’s most amazing moments, they get caught up in denying the Possibility of Heaven to anyone else.

When I became a Unitarian Universalist, I was asked to struggle with a new way of thinking about Heaven and Hell. If you grew up Christian in the 50s and 60s in this country, you’ve thought a bit about heaven and hell. As I grew up, and then as I became clergy, I became far more interested in how we live now and less and less interested in thinking about an afterlife. But UUism is interesting, because Universalism is the notion that we all go to heaven. There is no ‘go to hell.’

After my dear friend Carolyn died, her brother had a dream – the sort of which was not a normal occurrence in his life – Carolyn was on the ‘Go to Heaven Bus’. This was a big yellow school bus and she was waving out the window as she left, along with everyone else who had died and was headed to Heaven that day. She was simply Joyous. I have cherished that image.

Unitarian Universalism offered a challenge for my delight in this “mythical” bus — If there was a bus, everyone would be on it. I would be on that bus with people I did not feel “deserved” that right. Additionally, I would be on that bus with a huge lesson to learn about judgment and purpose in this life: I cannot be cavalier about Love in this world. Everyone, no exception, deserves it. Everyone, no exception, deserves every opportunity to learn, to exercise forgiveness and grace and have them granted to them. If I forget that, please help me remember.

Now I don’t have any idea what I truly believe about Heaven. My focus is on the Present and being present in this life, this world. Quite frankly I don’t talk about Heaven unless I’m helping people die, which is actually part of my work as Chaplain. I can tell you that people die more easily if they are reminded that others are waiting for them, if their struggle is finished, and if they can then just relax into the beauty of a life well-lived and hopefully well-loved. The reassurance that there will be others waiting ‘on the other side’ often seems to send people off with a smile and an easier end. At that moment, as chaplain, I’m focused on comfort. The Absolute Truth, as I increasingly understand it, is that we are made of Love for Love. In my Thealogy, it only makes sense that we would return to Love.

The other day, I heard an ad, about something, I have no idea what, but that somehow caused me to wonder what it might be like if Heaven really is a place to rework our lives. One thing it could mean is that perhaps we could also work on our own growth and sense of Peacemaking Possibility right now, when we know it matters. I have to accept that, in this country I call home, there is currently a government I abhor. I can’t change them. But I can change the focus of my work, because I must be part of what models and creates Possibilities for Peace. The more of us who undertake that work, the less able this government will be to continue their monstrous behaviors.

Let us not be naïve. Our Peacemaking response will not be simple or short-term. But what we are seeing already, my friends, is remarkable and inspiring. Among others, Clergy of all traditions are showing up to proclaim Love in the face of greed, hate, and violence. Clergy are being warned by their higher-ups to get their affairs in order, and write their wills, because there will be demands on them – and on all of us – to stand for Justice.

This may seem overwhelming. Most of us are not prepared to put our beliefs or our lives on the line for our neighbor’s well-being. Some feel like we worked once before on civil rights and ending the Viet Nam War and shouldn’t have to do it again. We proved then that our efforts in nonviolent resistance and protest made the needed difference. Sadly, despotism and tyranny are not waiting for us to make decisions and take action. The Time has arrived. We have a lot more to do than wring our hands. Call your lawmakers. Make realistic choices about where you can make a difference. Choose the people you are called to defend. Gather your support. Choose your fellow Peacemakers. Start making plans. What’s happening in Minneapolis is so very likely going to be playing in a town square near you. You will be prepared to resist it because you have prepared yourselves. You will be prepared to resist it because you are amazing, talented, organized and ready to do what is needed to transform ugliness into a World of Welcome. A World of Abundance. A World of Peace.

It’s true there are those among us who are well-suited to bring this establishment down. That’s not me. I’m in awe of my friends who can. I’m built to work for Peace. We will be working simultaneously. Be realistic about where your efforts will be best utilized. I couldn’t go to Minneapolis with the Clergy last weekend, so I stayed at the hospital under snowy conditions so others didn’t need to risk their lives. I have acquaintances, friends, and experts whom I follow on social media and in hard copy. There are others who follow me. We are in this together, for each other, and for the betterment of our lives and our nation.

Let’s be Peacemaking in whatever ways best suit us. Let’s contribute to the health of the Great American Experiment. I believe that we can make this come true, even now. Let’s not waste time consigning people to imaginary fiery depths of hell. Our focus now is not on the judgment to come but on Present Peacemaking through non-violent resistance and care for the vulnerable.

The title of this article was taken from a song by Tuck and Patti. They wrote and sang a beautiful love song. Recently, I’ve found myself singing it as ‘love song as call to Peace action.’ Here are their words:

“What are you waiting for, believe in me
Isn’t it love in this life that you need
You can offer your soul to an altar of sacrifice
But give your heart to me

Let’s bring Heaven down here
Let’s bring Heaven on down
I don’t want to wait for the angels
Let’s bring Heaven down here.”

If we simply changed the first line to “What are we waiting for, believe in Peace, then “we” every time they sing you and then the last line of the verse becomes Peace, once again. My friends, then let us throw back our heads and sing out. Let’s use this as a call to righteous and tender living right down here. A Call to Peace.

Many don’t believe in an afterlife, but I’m not sure it negates the call to believe in what we imagine its qualities to be right here, right now. Why would we consider that only a few will be worthy, when worthiness isn’t the point, Loving Justice is. When Divine Love isn’t a ‘they’ll be pie in the sky when we die’ reward hoarded away but spread generously now. Whatever our tradition or philosophy, we are called to be kind, generous Peacemakers.  We are not to withhold our love. “Why should we wait for the angels? Let’s bring Heaven down here.”  Let’s give ourselves to Peace.

* Thealogy: I experience the world through the perspective of the Divine Feminine, and, thus, use Thea (the feminine of Theo) as prefix to -ology, which means systematic study. Hence Thealogy is the study and composition of the Knowledge of the Feminine Divine. I will explore this more thoroughly in a future Substack.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!

The other day, I had a lovely conversation with my brother. My brother is ‘keeping company’ with a truly wonderful woman. Don’t you love that old phrase? What a nice thing to do with another person, to keep company. It holds a reminder that we are not alone. It seems to demand a certain tending to the relationship. It has expectations and agreements. We should allow ourselves to keep company not simply with those in whom we have romantic interests, but perhaps also with those who are our friends. Let’s keep our expectations of loving relationships — and what the heck — of interactions with strangers, high. Let there be cordiality among us while keeping company.

At Church one morning, a woman spoke of returning to her hometown for a bit. She realized that if there were anything anyone could say about her, it was that she was a child of her parents. My brother Tom has since done a lot of reflecting on that topic, and then we reflected, on how much we too were children of Betty and Sam — each a different mixture of the two, and Deb,  my now deceased sister, was as well. In last week’s article, I wrote about how differently my thought process works from Dad’s, Deb’s, and Tom’s. In those ways, I’m much more my Mother’s Child. It’s sad that Betty’s not here when I’m writing some of my poems, because she would have loved illustrating them. But I can’t complain too much because she taught me to feel into things, and my poetry is in its own way, homage to her.

As with other families, the ways we solved problems were not the only inheritances we received. I was very lucky growing up. There were certainly challenges as there are in any household where different personalities have to adjust to the family dynamic. And we all adjusted and responded differently. There were, however, family expectations that we, each, despite our different temperaments and personalities, learned which made life so much easier. It was expected of us that we be open and interested in those we encountered. And we are, and in Deb’s case, were. It wasn’t a matter of introvert/extrovert; it was a matter of understanding that everyone is interesting. And it was our job to discern that. I don’t know that I ever got a lecture on the subject, that was just the conduct that was expected of us — and it made life rich. In one way or another, everyone has an interesting life. None of us ever came to the dinner table without a story to tell about something we learned during the day or someone we interacted with.

What an incredible gift we were given. This gift seemed to be one that was valued in our family’s community. The people I still know from my early years are people who also can, by and large, hold conversations with friend and stranger alike. It has served us all well in our work and personal lives. I hadn’t really thought much about this, until Tom brought it up.

Keeping company is a skill I employ at the hospital. I’ve always thought that it was because I’m an extrovert. And that’s probably right enough. However, my brother is equally good at it, and he’s not anywhere near as extroverted as I am. Deb, like me, could transcend the boundaries of extroversion to full on Golden Retriever status. But the training isn’t something I’d quite thought through until that conversation with Tom.

Reflecting on that now, I think, oh, that’s why I envision Peacemaking as an activity of invitation. Come along and keep company with me. What do we have in common? Where do we find Beauty? How do we honor those things through our words and actions? This is why I can write a poem every day. Because every day, something is Wondrous. And when I focus on the Wondrous, I can share that with you and we can build a bond that may give us space to disagree — yet continue focusing on the Peacemaking.

Peacemaking is about keeping company and adhering to some of the social rules about being interested in our neighbors. Peacemaking is about keeping company in such a way that we are totally present with and for those we care about. Peacemaking may sound like something large and grandiose that happens on diplomatic levels and not here among those with whom we keep company. But this is where Peacemaking starts. When it works here, we develop a hunger to have that spread outside our groups, to believe that we have the right to ask our diplomats to be focusing on Peacemaking among the countries our nations keep company with. Because Peace is for everyone, everywhere.  We’ve got something, anything, to talk about — and from that we can build some Peace, no matter how small, no matter how large.

Want to keep company with me? Let’s find something warm to drink in this cold weather, shall we, and see how far we can stretch the Peace between us.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!