Today's Word : UNiTY

 During the past week, the word "unity" has been proclaimed frequently. Most notably in President Biden's inaugural speech, 

      To overcome these challenges --to

      restore the soul and to secure the

      future of America requires more than  

      words. It requires that most elusive 

      of things in a democracy:

                Unity.
                Unity.

He used the word "unity" or "uniting" nine more times in his speech, including, "With unity we can do great things. Important things."

Others in the government, as well as political and social commentators and religious leaders, recently have declared their hope for unity, as well. A noble hope after these disruptive and frightening years, but when we hope for unity, what do we mean? What does unity look like and how is it achieved? Do we all mean the same thing?

One of my favorite pastimes is to browse or shop my library shelves in the garret. Sometimes I scan my shelves not looking for anything specific, but simply seeing what appeals to me, what attracts me. Often, of course, I find what I didn't know I was looking for. Sometimes, however, I search for something specific. In this case, references to "unity." 

Here's a sample of what I found:

Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist's Way, has a lot to say in her three small books of "prayers and declarations for a changing life, " Transitions, Heart Steps, and Blessings. 

            We are one tribe. I cherish our unity. We are united
            by our suffering and by our joy. One life flows
            through all life. One heart holds every heart. 
                            Blessings, p. 89

In The Soul of Tomorrow's Church, Kent Groff refers to the Moravian tradition: "unity in essentials, liberty in nonessentials, and charity in all things," (p. 56). Of course, that leads me to wonder how it is decided and who decides what is essential and what is isn't. 

When I looked up the word "unity" in the index of The Seeker's Guide, Making Your Life A Spiritual Adventure by Elizabeth Lesser, I was directed to references to "inter-being." In a whole fascinating chapter that opens with a quote from Hildegard of Bingen and closes with words from Martin Luther King, Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail and inbetween is a long section on "Karma and Faith," here's what shimmered for me.

    ...unity-consciousness, a state of being where all things     
    are so deeply connected that they are no longer experienced
    as opposites, and therefore are not in conflict, but rather hold
    together in a meaningful and creative unfolding. p. 342

One book led to another--A chapter on "Sacred Wholeness" in Richard Rohr's The Universal Christ; uplifting words in A New Harmony, The Spirit, The Earth, and The Human Soul by John Philip Newell, which I have just started reading ("We and all people, we and those who have gone before us, we and all creatures, we and the universe are traveling together in one river of life. We carry each other within us. And the universe carries us within itself." p. 12); and many scripture passages listed in my thesaurus for the Bible under the category of "one."

I had definitely gone down a rabbit hole with a pile of books threatening to collapse on top of me at the bottom of that hole! What I needed was some direction, a practice or two, and I found that in Spiritual Rx, Prescriptions for Living A Meaningful Life by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. 

            The spiritual practice of hospitality helps us
            learn to respect differences and celebrate diversity
            in the Creation. Unity is about affirming commonalities.
            This can be as simple as acknowledging how you are
            like another person. It can lead to actions demonstrating
            your solidarity with others. Without unity, there is little
            hope for compassion, justice, or peace. p. 254-255.

And then they suggest using the phrase "just like me," to signify my unity with others. Whenever I feel the need to criticize or judge someone or even when I compliment someone, the Brussats suggest thinking, "just like me." For example, "He is so inconsiderate of other people's feelings, just like me." Or "What a nice smile she has, just like me."

All of a sudden unity becomes more than a theory and not just something vague or out-of-reach. Unity is something I can practice and live each day, and I believe individual practice creates collective change. 

One more reference, a good way to send us into a world that desires unity.

                                        Unifier
                    We need you, divine Unifier,
                    To join what has broken apart
                    in our human relationships.
                    Perceived wrongs separate.
                    Jealousies increase hostility.
                    Misuse of power divides.
                    Selfishness easily isolates.
                    Disloyalty dissolves trust.
                    Bring us closer to one another.
                    Unify us in your one great heart.
                                    Fragments of Your Ancient Name, 
                                    365 Glimpses of the Divine for Daily
                                    Meditation, prayer for August 8
                                    Joyce Rupp

Excuse me, I need to put all these books back on my shelf. Who knows what I will find as I do that! 

An Invitation
How do you define unity? I would love to know. 

                                      

My Word of the Year: WORD

I can't tell you the exact moment when I recognized my word for 2021. There was no flashing light or crashing sound. I didn't have a vision.  

No mystical experience. 

Instead, I gradually realized that I was carrying, sitting and living with my word.

                                    WORD

I have always been intrigued by the Gospel of John 1:1

                    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
                    was with God, and the Word was God.

As a writer, how important it is for me to find the right word, to create meaning and understanding and to offer pictures and perspective through words. I try to find words that speak to you, my readers. Just the right words. 

I know words make a difference.

I know words speak to me about my relationship with God, and words lead me to new life, to living life in the light.

                                    Word of God.
                                    Word of Life. 

But, I admit, I am a bit flummoxed by the gift of WORD. Somehow it feels different from the words I've received in previous years. My word in 2020 was "fullness," and other years included "spaciousness," "devotion," and "Sacred Yes, Sacred No." 

Why couldn't my new word be "hope" or "love" or "sanctuary" or something else that would seem to have a boundary, a direction, a motivation? What does it means that my word is "WORD"?

I don't know, but I do know that --just in all the previous years--this word will nourish me, challenge me, and lead and even wrestle me into new growth. Just as I didn't decide on a word, but instead received the word, I know that the word will work on me, rather than my working on it. 

And so I begin the journey of discovery. 

An early step as I cross the threshold into the Year of the Word was to make a collage. Instead of using pictures, as I have always done, this year's collage is just words. Words that nourish, challenge and lead me. The new collage hangs next to collages from the last two years along with a collage representing potential audience for my in progress spiritual memoir. 

What I am beginning to realize is how the words from the past interact with the new word; how integration of each word continues, and how the words are in active relationship with each other. Each one calls me forth. 

                            from Jan Richardson

                                ....to speak your word

                                into the world

                                to tell what you have

                                heard,

                                with your own ears,

                                seen with your own 

                                eyes,

                                known in your own heart:

                           

                                that you are beloved,

                                precious child of God,

                                beautiful to behold.

                    from Joyce Rupp

                                May each common word coming forth from me

                                Echo the magnificent love of you, the one Word. 

An Invitation

Have you received a word for the year? I would love to know. If you would like some additional guidance on this spiritual practice, email me, nagneberg48@gmail.com for a free guide on entering the new year. 

NOTE: Here's on excellent article on spiritual direction:

NYT article on spiritual direction 

Views of the Capitol

Sickened.

That's how I felt on Wednesday. I was working at my desk when a friend alerted me to what was happening at the U.S. Capitol. Frankly, I didn't want to know. Instead, I wanted to continue doing the work I planned for the day, but I took a deep breath and at first watched on my laptop the horrific events. Soon, however, I moved to the lower level of the house where our television is located and told my husband,  "You have to see this." 

He was comfortably reading, and I could see on his face, he really didn't want to know what was happening either. He didn't say it, but I could sense, probably, because I had felt the same way, "Can't we wait till we watch the PBS News Hour at 6:00?"

No, in this case we couldn't. And for the next hours, there we were, watching the destruction, the attacks, the violence, and later, our elected leaders resuming the process of receiving the electoral count declaring our new president and vice-president. 

A Memory from my 2017 Journal
Wednesday afternoon I happened to be re-reading my journals from 2017 in preparation for writing the next chapter in my spiritual memoir. In one entry I wrote about how an airline passenger was dragged off the plane. The flight had been overbooked, and his seat was randomly chosen to be vacated. He refused, and the result was his physical removal from the plane. Other passengers recorded the incident with their phones.

I wrote in my journal my hope that I would have stood up and said, "Enough. Take my seat. This violence is not necessary or right." I hope I would have done that. I hope I could have set aside any entitlement I felt and instead, made a stand for the greater good. 

Of course, we have been waiting for President Trump to set aside his inflated view of himself, his need to always win, his delusions, and instead, to defer to the peaceful transfer of power and to acknowledge that Joe Biden and Kamila Harris are our newly elected leaders. That has never been too much to ask--until now, it seems.

Therefore, we must ask more of ourselves. We each have to discern what that means. First, however, we must be a presence. We must witness, and not wait till it is convenient to see what is happening. 

                 

                     Please reveal to me, Lord, a way to stand in my
                    power, through love instead of fear, and through
                    peace instead of violence. 
                    May I hear not the voice for anger, but only the 
                    voice for love.
                    And teach me, dear Lord, how not to hate those
                    who hate me.
                    Transform all darkness into light, dear God,
                    And use my mind as an instrument of Your 
                    harmlessness... Amen.
                                    from Illuminata, A Return to Prayer
                                    Marianne Williamson

An Invitation

What are your prayers for the coming days? I would love to know.  

NOTE: The new year is still young, and it is not too late to request my guide, "Crossing the Threshold, Honoring the New Year, A Guide to Reflect on the Old and Prepare for the New." It is free and available by emailing me at nagneberg48@gmail.com

 

My Favorite Books of 2020

 The past year was an excellent year for reading. At least it was for me. Much to my amazement, I read 137 books. --87 fiction and 50 nonfiction. At the beginning of 2020 I noted in my book journal that I didn't want to focus on the number of books I read, and yet, I admit, I keep track. What's more important, however, is what I read --the quality and the gifts of what I read and the gratitude I feel for the company books provided me during the pandemic.

At the beginning of the year, before we knew about COVID, I set some intentions for my reading year. These included using the library more and "shopping" my own bookshelves for books I own, but have not yet read. How grateful I was when our St Paul Public Library system offered curbside pick-up and then a bit later limited browsing in the libraries themselves. Over the course of the year I requested over 100 holds. I read many of those and others only a few pages before deciding the book wasn't for me. Feeling free and comfortable to say "no" to a book before finishing it was another of my intentions.

And along the way I removed many books from my shelves and took them to Little Free Libraries, and will continue that process. 

So here are my lists:

My Top Favorite Fiction Titles of 2020

1.    Kindred by Octavia Butler. This was the first book I read in 2020, and it stayed with me all year. Published in 1979 and classified as science fiction, a time-traveling tale, the story is about an African-American woman married to a white man who travels back and forth between today's world and life on a Southern plantation where she is a slave. Will she be able to return to the life she knew and how do her experiences as a slave impact life with her white husband? Don't wait to read this as long as I did.

2.    The Street by Ann Petry. I had never heard of the book published in 1946 until a book group friend recommended it, and I now rank it as one of the best books I have ever read. Written by an African-American woman, the book is set in Harlem, post WWII. The main character, Lutie Johnson, a single mother, lives in a crummy apartment with her young son, trying to survive and make good decisions. Lyrical, painful, moving with strong characters.

3.    Monogamy by Susan Miller. I was totally absorbed by the characters, Annie and Graham and their adult children. Early in the book Graham dies and Annie discovers a secret in their marriage. The story is not so much about secrets as it is about the way we love in spite of or because of love's complications. 

4.    Books by Madeleine St John. An Australian author new to me, and I read her entire backlist: The Essence of The Thing, A Stairway to Paradise, The Women in Black, and Pure, Clear Light. Always insightful, usually in few words, St John died far too young at age 52, and I wish she had written more.

5.    The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, winner of the National Jewish Book Awards in 2017. Jewish documents from the 17th century  are discovered by two Jewish historians. The documents indicate that a woman who became a scribe for a rabbi corresponded, using a male name, with philosophers of the day, including Spinoza. The book moves back and forth between both time periods. 

6.    Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. A barber in a small town, Port William, loves a woman all his life, although she is married to another man and does not know Crow loves her. He is an observer, a philosopher, a seeker. A book about love, yes, and also a deeply spiritual book. 

7.    The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. This book was on many 2020 best book lists. Two sisters who are black, but very light-skinned make opposing decisions. One passes as white and marries a white man. The other marries a very dark-skinned man. The daughters of these two sisters meet when they are grown and the secret is revealed. I thought Passing by Nella Larsen, published in 1929, which deals with the same issue, was just as compelling. 

8.    Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin. I read or re-read several books by Godwin in 2019, and loved them all. This book was like being with an old friend. Set in the South in the 50's in a private college, the roommates become friends for life--and both are writers. 

 Other Favorite 2020 Fiction Titles

1.    Disobedience by Naomi Alderman
2.    Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
3.    Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen
4.    Swede Hollow by Ole Larsmo
5.    Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
6.    The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
7.    All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny
8.    Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie
9.    I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
10.  Nora Webster by Colm Toibin
11.  The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

My Top Favorite Nonfiction Titles of 2020

1.    Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States. 2017-2019.  A gentle memoir of growing up in a loving, middle class black family in California. The last chapter focused on her mother's death and reminded me of myself when my own mother was dying.

2.    A Good Time for Truth, Race in Minnesota, edited by Sun Yung Shin. Not much has changed in Minnesota since this was published in 2016. This quote from one of the essays says it all: "The white people here are very white. The white people here don't like controversy or conflict. The white people here like to think of themselves as white." Ouch. 

3.     Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community by Padriag O'Tuoma. I keep returning to the prayers in this little book.

4.    Just Mercy, A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stephenson. In my mind, Stephenson is a hero, a super hero. The focus of this book is the racism that results in the incarceration of far too many black people. At times the book feels like a suspense novel, but the facts and information given make it all too real. Read this book. 

5.    My Grandmother's Hands, Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. I find myself returning to this book periodically to reflect and do the exercises. This would be an excellent book to read with a group. We have so much to learn about trauma and its lasting effects.

6.    Acts of Faith, The Story of an American Muslim by Eboo Patel. I heard him speak on a St Olaf College Zoom event, and was so impressed and wanted to know about him and his story and work. He is committed to interfaith youth work, and the work he does is inspiring and profound. 

7.    This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear. I  love her Maisie Dobbs mystery series and thoroughly liked her own memoir. 

8.    Always A Guest, Speaking of Faith Far From Home by Barbara Brown Taylor. I will read anything by BBT, even sermons, which is what this book is, a collection of sermons given when she was a guest preacher in various congregations. Always thought-provoking and fresh.

Other Favorite Nonfiction Titles of 2020

1.    The Orphaned Adult, Understanding and Coping with Grief and Change After the Death of Our Parents by Alexander Levy
2.    Dialogues On: Race. (Augsburg Fortress)
3.    Sparrow, A Book of Life and Death and Life by Jan Richardson
4.    Active Hope, How to Face the Mess We're In Without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. 
5.    Wintering, The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May.
6.    The Pen and the Bell, Mindful Writing in a Busy World by Brenda Miller and Holly Hughes.

What are my reading intentions during 2021? Well, I've decided to be more intentional about rereading. During December I started rereading Louise Penny's mysteries in order of publication and have now read the first 4 and intend to move steadily with great pleasure and delight all the way to number 17. I am thinking about rereading Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, and Marilynne Robinson--all modern day classics. I also have a number of spirituality books I want to reread. I must admit, however, that the latest sparkling book is always tempting. Stay tuned and happy reading. 

An Invitation

What was on your Best Books list? I would love to know.

NOTE:  My guide, "Crossing the Threshold, Honoring the New Year, A Guide to Reflect on the Old and Prepare for the New" is still available and it is free. To receive a copy, email me at nagneberg48@gmail.com and I will send you a copy.