Cloud of Witnesses at the Eucharist

“The gifts of God for the people of God.” —Holy Eucharist II, The Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing, 1979), p. 264.

I cannot keep from thinking about and praying for two women in my spiritual direction class, Vicki and Diane, who live on the North and South Carolina coasts, and whose towns have been battered by storms. My mind wanders back to Kanuga Conference Center at one of the graduations at the Haden Institute for Spiritual Direction. We are in the Chapel of Transfiguration. A flute is playing in the background. The eight women who are graduating process in and sit in chairs in front of the raised altar. They share their stories and their journey and the work they have done while learning how to lead others to find God in their lives. They receive their certificates and plaques, and then we prepare for taking the Eucharist together around the altar above us.

“The gifts of God for the people of God.” As the bread and wine are offered, they ask each person to come up the several steps to the altar to give herself the bread and wine.

Suddenly I panic. There is no rail for the steps to this altar, as there is at St. Luke’s and at St. Mark’s. Kind members built the rails after I came as a deacon and realized I had difficulty with steps. I say a prayer of gratitude for the kindhearted and thoughtful people of both congregations. What will I do tonight?

I remember the ten amazing women that I had spent the past year with studying spiritual direction. We have prayed together, eaten together, done spiritual direction, verbatims, and dream work, and most especially shared our life together.

Suddenly my group surrounds me. They do not miss a beat. “We will all go to Communion together, not separately,” they whisper. They will all stand with me at the bottom of the stairs to the altar. Ann, the priest in our group, will offer bread, and Bridget will serve wine.

There are not words to describe what it was like standing in the middle of that long, feminine line with my spiritual friends at the foot of the altar that seemed so far away—but instead was moved to be right in front of us. I had a glimpse of what it is like to feel Christ not only inside of me, but beside me, standing, walking with me on this journey. I felt myself surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.

I share a picture today from the following year at our own class’ graduation. I hold that group of spiritual friends in my prayers daily, and now especially Vicki on the coast of North Carolina and Diane in South Carolina as they often endure storms near their homes. I will never forget their kindness. I have experienced how well they care for others. I pray fervently that someone is caring for them today.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Book Signing Wordsworth Books

TOMORROW, Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast

All Saints: Generous Heart, Columbus

“God give me a generous spirit in all I say and do, generous in my words to speak kindly of others, generous in my forgiveness to restore relationships, generous in my support to those in need around me. Let my generosity not be an occasional act, but a way of life, the core from which my behavior emerges, generous in praise, patience and prayer.” —Bishop Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook page.

Today On Saints Day I remember “Columbus,” someone well known by all in the recovery community in Little Rock, Arkansas ,only by his first name. Every year, usually early in the morning on the birthday of your sobriety, you got a phone call from Columbus. You waited in anticipation for that call, celebrating one more year of new life with someone you knew only over the phone lines.

Columbus’ wife of forty-six years would leave him three times before he went into his last rehabilitation, after many DWIs and missed work, and days when she admitted not knowing where he was. Columbus died in the thirty-eighth year of his sobriety and was credited with having led to sobriety thousands of men and women all over the world.

Columbus made 15,000 calls a year and almost half a million calls before his death. He also called people he knew were no longer in recovery and told them he cared about them. Many people say they returned to recovery because of Columbus.

Columbus’ wife described his change when he went into recovery as “truly unbelievable. He became a dedicated and involved father and grandfather after he came so close to losing his family.”

When I hear people wonder what they could possibly do to make a difference in the world, I tell them Columbus’ story: one man with a generous heart, picking up the phone every day, and changing lives with a simple phone call. One day at a time.

This may be the way saints live. They are resurrection people. They know what Good Friday is like. They change themselves and the world one day at a time.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Book Signing Wordsworth Books

This Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast

Music

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” —Aldous Huxley.

When my husband and I were in training at the University of Iowa, the Department of Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and Throat) put on a program in which the entertainment was a slide show of scenes from Iowa called “Iowa: A Place to Grow.” The background music was the first movement of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, or the Pastoral Symphony. It is playing now on our Public Radio station. Of course, every time I hear it, I think of our four years in Iowa City.

It is amazing how, over the years, we remember only the good parts; and so, as Beethoven’s Sixth plays, they are exactly what flash through my mind: the friends we studied with, my first job as a pediatric radiologist and the amazing colleagues who taught me how to be a pediatrician and a radiologist; taking trips on Sunday afternoons with our two boys to small towns, looking for antiques. One of our favorites towns was West Branch, the birthplace of Herbert Hoover.

I remember the first house we were able to buy with the help of my husband’s parents; the fresh food from Iowa farms; Sunday dinners at the University of Iowa; concerts at Hancher Auditorium; the city park just around the corner from our house on Park Road; the large elm tree in our backyard and the apple tree between our garage and the house; riding our bicycle for two with our two boys on it unprotected; visiting the Amana Colonies; weekends in Davenport on the Mississippi River; and short trips to Chicago.

I hear the music and I am immediately back in Iowa with old friends. Music transports us to new places, but perhaps more poignantly, takes us to places we have been. These are soul trips that bring us comfort and peace, if we will take the time to allow them back into our minds.

Music can be one of our best travel agents to times and places where we were loved and cared for. This can lead us to a place of gratitude for opportunities, friends, and teachers, and many whom we forgot to thank at the time. But let’s both take time to do so this day.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Book Signing Wordsworth Books

Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast