A pilgrimage is a journey to an unknown place. We embark to learn what we don't know about the world and ourselves. We will learn the news about what is happening in the Holy Land and the world. We will visit pilgrimage sites virtually to pray and learn about God and the Black Madonna. It is our job as people of faith to see, bear witness and learn the truth, to pray and listen to God's call. As pilgrims we long to experince the Sacred in order to wake up to difficult truths, to learn and see in order to live life's of purpose and love. We pray for a conversion experince. God, called by many names, S/he is witness to the truth, the Black Madonna, holds and calls us to radical love, even love of our enemies. God calls us to live in radical love.
Church for Our Common Home invites you to a virtual Lenten Pilgrimage to face the news of genocide in the Holy Land, Gaza, Palestine, Israel. We will also visit many different pilgrimage sites of the Black Madonna. This will not be in person but virtually viewing weekly PowerPoint presentations of holy sites with photos of art and icons. As we virtually travel to the Holy Land we learn news of unimaginable suffering. We cannot handle this alone but both Jesus and Mother Mary are with us. This program is during weekly Sunday worship, for six Sundays. Feb. 18 - March 31, 4-5 pm pst in person or on Zoom. Click here of find the Zoom link also found on our church website.
Lenten Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the Black Madonna
We will read and discuss what is happening in the Holy Land with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Presbyterian Christian minister, Chris Hedges. Please click here to sign up for
As people of faith we are called to see the truth of the suffering here on our common home Mother Earth. There are escalating wars, famines, eco system collapse and the suffering is growing. God calls us as Americans this Lent to wake up from our sleepwalking. How? We follow Jesus in the Holy Land and like him we give up materialism, power over habits of domination and idolatry. We are called to go to the Holy Land this year with Jesus and the Black Madonna to face evil within and in the collective of American Empire. Our country is complicit in genocide and endless suicidal wars, materialism and idolatry. We will use this six-week program and pilgrimage to learn the news and to pray and strengthen our relationship with God. We have never needed God more than now. As people of faith, we dedicate our lives to seeing the truth and working for justice and peace.
The arts are a way God and the spiritual worlds contact us. We will study, contemplate and pray with artwork of the Black Madonna. We will offer a weekly PowerPoint of images of icons as we study and pray.
The Black Madonna has a stern and haunting look about her. She has both experienced and has witnessed suffering. She reminds us that God is filled with feelings just like you and me. God is not a woman but God is like a woman like the Black Madonna. S/he will never leave or be separate from her baby Jesus, The Christ or anyone who suffers. S/He is Compassion, Presence and Love. S/he has suffered yet she nourishes and loves us. We are in awe and give thanks.
Sunday Feb. 18 Reading and Scriptures
Excerpt of letter Chris Hedges wrote to the children of Gaza
Dear child,
It is past midnight. I am flying at hundreds of miles an hour in the darkness, thousands of feet over the Atlantic Ocean. I am traveling to Egypt. I will go to the border of Gaza at Rafah. I go because of you.
You have never been in a plane. You have never left Gaza. You know only the densely packed streets and alleys. The concrete hovels. You know only the security barriers and fences patrolled by soldiers that surround Gaza. Planes, for you, are terrifying. Fighter jets. Attack helicopters. Drones. They circle above you. They drop missiles and bombs. Deafening explosions. The ground shakes. Buildings fall. The dead. The screams. The muffled calls for help from beneath the rubble. It does not stop. Night and day. Trapped under the piles of smashed concrete. Your playmates. Your schoolmates. Your neighbors. Gone in seconds. You see the chalky faces and limp bodies when they are dug out. I am a reporter. It is my job to see this. You are a child. You should never see this......." (emphasis from me)
Psalm 91 Those who dwell in the shelter of Infinite Light, and who abide in the wings of Infinite Love and pass the night in the shadow of El Shaddai, Will raise their voices in praise: "My refuge and my strength; In You alone will I trust." For you deliver me from the webs of fear and illusion, from all that separates and divides; You protect me as an eagle shields its young, Your faithfulness is sure, like an arrow set upon the mark, I will not fear the shadow of the night, not the confusion that comes by day, Nor the dreams that awaken me from sleep, not the daily changes that life brings. Though a thousand may deride this radical trust, the thousand laugh as I seek to do your Will, Yet will I surrender myself to You, abandoning myself into your Hands without reserve. For you have sent your angels to watch over me, to guide me in all my ways. On their hands, they will bear me up, lest I dash my foot against a stone. Though I walk among those who roar like a lion, or are stealthy as the adder snake, in your strength will I endure.
"Because you cleave to Me in love, I will deliver you; I will protect you, who call upon my Name. When you call to Me, I will answer you; I will be with you in times of trouble, I will rescue you so that you will know my Peace, All through the years, will I dwell in your heart, as Loving Compassion, Presence, forever."
Gospel of Luke 13: 34b. "How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a mother bird collects her babies under her wings—yet you refuse me!" The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Translation
Her mother instinct for survival is massive, primal. S/he is the dark of precreation, S/he is the Earth, the Cosmos, the night, the bringer of dreams and art. S/he is God called by many names, the I am what I will be, Spirit, Allah, Shekina, Sophia, El Shaddai a Hebrew word for God meaning large breasted one like the mountains.
This Lent as we give up literalism and lies. Our soul's hunger for communion with God, the truth and radical love. We will talk about what is happening in the world, study scripture, go on a virtual round the world tour of her pilgrimage sites with photos of artwork, and learn about the Black Madonna. We do not go to on this pilgrimage to escape but to wake up, not to hide from the reality of our historic time or the ways we are tempted by lies and the powers and principalities but to listen to God's call and respond courageously in love. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the Black Madonna and people of faith alive today like Chris Hedges. He writes, "....I am a reporter. It is my job to see this." As people of faith, it is our job to see and bear witness to the suffering of "the least of these" (Matthew 25:45) and this is only possible for many of us because God has promised to love us always.
Each week we will pray with images and photos of artwork of icons of the Black Madonna from many different continents including the Black Madonna of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe. We will wrap ourselves in God's love during our planetary crisis and the escalating horrors. It is a God who is like a loving mother, who embraces us with unconditional merciful nourishing love. This is the God too often left out of patriarchal religions. This is not the white bread Mother Mary, but the mother of God with a huge diversity of skin tones with an awesomely strong mother instinct to survive and protect her children. This is the Mary who witnessed the torture of her son and calls us to devote our lives to love our enemy anyway. Thankfully we have modern saints like Martin Luther King and Ghandi who lived this way. Our Lenten pilgrimage will strengthen and protect us from the challenge of being alive today. The Black Madonna reminds us that truth is sometimes painful, but we are never alone. God always loves us and the "truth will set up free." (John 8:31-32) We invite you to also read Stephanie Georgieff's book, The Black Madonna: Mysterious Soul Companion available on Amazon.
Weekly scripture reading for the following Sunday are offered during our weekly Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer Group, every Tuesdays 9-10 am pst, available on Zoom.
We dedicate this Lenten pilgrimage to over 26,000 people killed in the genocide in the Holy Land, 70% who are women and children as well as all those in war torn countries in Israel, the Sudan, the Congo, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia, Yemen, Syria, those at the US borders, millions of refugees worldwide, millions suffering from famine......... We pray for Mothers. Fathers and Children of all species who are suffering from injustice and violence.
Lenten Program Schedule
Sunday, Feb.18 I Need to Get Another Mother; Visions of the Black Madonna in the Holy Land Sunday , 4-5 pm pst on Zoom or locally in Dallas OR. Please read or listen to Chris Hedges The Christ Hedges Report and The Black Madonna: Mysterious Soul Companion. Preface, Forward and Chapter 1-3 p. 1-18. Scripture Psalm 91 translation by Nan C. Merrill (see above) and the Gospel of Luke 13:34b Virtually we will visit the Holy Land and photos The Black Madonna of Czestochowa in Poland.
Sunday, Feb. 25 Black Madonna Pilgrimage for Survival Sunday 4-5 pm pst The Black Madonna Chapter 4-6 p.21-46 Scripture announced the Tuesday before on website and during Lectio Divina and the Chris Hedges current news story announced on Tuesday for the following Sunday.
Sunday, March 3 Taize Chanting and Icons Sunday 4-5 pm pst The Black Madonna Chapter 7-11 p51-73 other readings and scriptures TBA
Sunday, March 10 God communicates in Dreams and Art, 4-5 pm pst The Black Madonna Chapter 12-15 p.77-91 other readings and scriptures TBA
Sunday March 17 Pilgrimage and Walks for Peace , 4-5 pm pst The Black Madonna Chapter 16-18 p.99-122 other readings and scriptures TBA
Sunday, March 24 The Earth and Our Lady of Guadalupe Sunday , 4-5 pm pst The Black Madonna Chapter 19-21 p.129-146 other readings and scriptures TBA
Easter Sunday March 31The Black Madonna, Mary Magdalene Jesus and the Partnership Way , 4-5 pm pst
Many of us are still partially brainwashed (often we are unaware of how we have been brainwashed) by our materialist dominant over world view which largely contributes to our feelings of alienation from God and the Holy. Millions of people of faith go on pilgrimages and use icons in prayer and devotion regularly. We have much to learn from these ancient religious practices. As you ready for A Pilgrimage with The Black Madonna and Chris Hedges, please pack your computer to join us Sundays at 4 pm pst on Zoom if you are unable to join us in person, a pencil and paper as well as colored crayons or pencils of some kind will suffice. Please plan to spend a little time each day in prayer, study, writing or art making, dream incubation and honoring.
Our own Church for Our Common Home icon is seen above. S/he is The Black Madonna of Czestochowa that I have altered giving The Black Madonna an Earth in her hands as well as an earth halo for her and her baby Jesus the Christ Child. I will share my first experience with the Black Madonna underground in the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem when I was seven years old. The photo below is recent and please note that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Black Madonna of the America's is now hanging on the wall. I will share several synchronistic events, pilgrimages, dreams, visions and artwork that have contributed to the founding of Church for Our Common Home, a God centered and guided church with close ties to the Black Madonna. We ask for prayers for this Lenten program and all those who participate. May God bless us all.
From my heart to your heart and in love, Rev. Bonnie Tarwater
Minister Church for Our Common Home
15435 Strong Road Dallas, Oregon 97338 Zoom ID 3025719458
(858) 248-5123, revtarwater@yahoo.com www.ourcommonhomecounselingcenter.org