God with the Sick Bats
by John Fiedler
In a cave in Wuhan bats
cluster on rock faces
noses dripping, gripped by
the same virus splashing
across TV. Nobody pays
them much mind.
While the mind of God
fills with their suffering.
She feels their pain,
offers compassion
and empathy and
perhaps the bats
feel this, perhaps
they respond to these
gentling mercies,
perhaps one of them
is moved to raise
a creaky wing
and spread it over
the hot forehead of
his neighbor on
the rocky ledge,
fanning another beloved
of God, relieving the fever.
Dear Friends,
John Fiedler shared his beautiful poem God with the Sick Bats last Sunday at our church worship on Zoom. John is a gifted poet and teacher and his wife Julie a talented artist and they have founded an inspired school, St. James Santiago School in Lincoln City Oregon, www.sjsschoollc.org that celebrates and honors children and the arts!
This Lent our church has been exploring an inspired book, God Can’t, How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse and Other Evils by Thomas Jay Oord. The book and poem challenge us to remember that God's love is always with us and every creature. We are not alone and God calls us to love one another......abundantly and with faithful mercy and tenderness as s/he loves us.
Many believe that this pandemic began because bats became homeless after humans savagely cut down their forests and as a result they got sick. The animals who are tortured and disease ridden in live markets and the homeless bats have gotten sick because of our lack of awareness of their needs and relationships with us humans! What we do affects everything else. We are one organic whole here on Mother Earth. Our insensitively to other creatures feelings and lack of love for them is the cause of this pandemic. So much sickness and death these days, it boggles the mind. A projection from the University of Washington suggests that 1,000 Americans a day will die every day for the next 40 days, but that is better than worse possible scenarios and projections of millions more dying. It is a terrifying time and we need the God of love more than ever now. I believe we also are welled served to listen to the teachings of Jesus more, who taught us to "do unto the least of these." (Matt 25:40 It is time for a revolution of values on planet earth and God and Jesus calls us to imagine a new way to live in love and faithful tender mercies as we give up our cultural values of heartless greed, self centeredness and unsustainable growth that is destroying life on earth.
Some of us are lucky enough to experience faithful tender mercies of loving care from grocery clerks, doctors, nurses, and front line workers of all kinds that are serving us during a time of isolation. We give thanks for those who give and have given us faithful service and love. May we follow in their footsteps and give faithful love to every creature we meet and encounter.
Last Sunday two people during worship shared that babies had been born into their extended families. Life goes on despite the horror of millions of human and non human death and suffering.......and where there is life there is hope.
The last lines of Oord's book God Can't, say what I believe we need to hear. "God always loves us and all creation. God inspires us to love others, ourselves, creation, and God. Living a life aimed at love is the best and most fulfilling life possible...."Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does." (1Cor. 14:1 The Message))
Dear God,
We pray for the sick bats. We pray for our Mother Earth. We pray for all creatures that share our common home, Gaia. We give thanks for your faithful love. Give us the courage and imagination to live radical lives of love. Thank you for all the faithful and tender mercies of love we give and receive. Amen
Please contact me if you are lonely and want someone to talk to. May I call on you when I am lonely? May we be with one another in love and open our hearts to the vulnerability that is the truth of our lives together always and especially now during this crisis? As soon as it is safe we will resume church and counseling in person at our small farm, 15435 Strong Road, Dallas, Oregon 97338, less than a 30 minute drive from Salem, Oregon. Until then we will meet on the internet or phone and be united in our hearts and in prayer!
Zoom Church, Dream Group, Support Group Lectio Divina/Centering Prayer
Church for Our Common Home, a church and counseling center, has added more Zoom programs to provide support during this time of global crisis and isolation. Join us for Zoom worship, weekly Sunday 5 pm PST. During collective crisis dreams often become very powerful and meaningful. Come honor your dreams in our weekly Dream Group, Wednesday
7-8:30 pm. Also our weekly Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer Group is on Zoom now, Tuesday 10-11 am. We are also offering a new Support Group my husband Dr. Walt Rutherford and I will co-lead a Friday's, 10-11:30 am PST and it will begin as soon as people sign up. Please contact me if you are interested.
Sending love,
Rev. Bonnie Tarwater Minister Church for Our Common Home Co-President of UUSCM https://www.uuscm.org/