New Year's Letter 2023

Sacred Bond by James Neafsey,
a favourite image of mine
that can be found if you click here.

Happy New Year, friends far and near!

Hope you’ve had a Christmas break blessed with the presence of family and friends. We’re back from Christmas with Lee's Dad in Lethbridge, just celebrated Ukrainian Christmas with my family here, and as usual, I’m late with my greetings! How did 2022 treat you? Here are a few highlights for us:

January – Volunteering Sunday mornings at the Community of Emmanuel's worship services and reopening to allow people to actually come in after a long Covid stretch of handing coffee and lunch bags out the door to folks on the streets. Finishing basement suite renovations where our nephew, Iain, is staying as he completes his engineering degree.

February – Hanging out with my sisters and watching Hallmark movies as mental health required. Hiking and walking with friends. Holding small, masked rallies to support health care workers, and mostly avoiding convoys with Christina, Landon, and friends.  

March -- Returning to work (masked) at the Francis Winspear Centre for Music (my dream job!) two years and eight days after my last 2020 shift when Covid began. 

April – Warmer weather and walking to a local coffee shop with Suzanna (who recently moved back home -- rent is cheaper here). Helping Pastor Quinn save a life with Naloxone/Narcan. Lee feeling happy that the Hydrogen Centre of Excellence he worked on for the previous year was announced and is underway.

May – Working with Lee to convert more of our lawn to garden and sharing the remainder of a huge load of free wood chips with family and friends. More of that coming in 2023. Gardening experiment this year was growing asparagus from seed (we should get to eat some in two years if we're lucky). 

June – Taking Lee's 90-year-old Dad on a trip down memory lane (to Vancouver Island and back) with brother-in-law, Les, and enjoying visits with relatives there. Lee happily transitioning to full-time at Innotech Alberta after a 16-month secondment there from the Government of Alberta.

July – Growing a pretty good garden (and almost too many tomatoes). Taking Suzanna and Jay to see “Hamilton.”  Giving our pear tree a serious haircut (took three Saturdays) to try to save it from fire blight (fingers still crossed).   Having the Pope living 2 blocks away (holy security, Batman!)

August – Golfing with my folks and sisters at Spur Valley, BC, and canoeing with Mom from Invermere to Radium. Saying goodbye to Auntie Mary, my other godmother, and seeing Prediger and Stang cousins at the celebrations of her life in Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

September – Celebrating Christina's 9-year Bachelor of Arts degree. Singing Taizé music in person again. Attending an International Healing of Memories workshop and meeting some people I will never forget. Good autumn dog walks with Shadow, who is 10 and slowing down.

October – Meeting some of the many kind and generous people who provide 200 bagged lunches every Sunday of the year for Inner City Pastoral Ministry. Receiving Murchie's Tea deliveries from the coast after Jay's trips there (thanks Jay!)  

November – Getting the garden under wraps just an hour before the snow came (many thanks to Lee’s brother, Louis!) Flying to Vancouver Island (aka Hallmark Christmas movie land) to catch up on the missing pieces of the past three years with my best friend, Cathy (amazing how much never gets said on the phone!)

December – Succeeding in finding a condo home for Lee’s youngest sibling, Lynn (move-in date mid-January, we hope).  A much-needed spiritual retreat with Ron Rolheiser. Hearing amazing Christmas concerts at the Winspear and enjoying friendships that have developed there. Celebrating with family.

It's hard to imagine the highlights coming in 2023. Completion of Landon's Master's degree in Community Engagement, for sure. Retirement for Lee? I’ll believe it when I see it. 

A visit from friends far and near would definitely be a highlight -- you're always welcome at our kitchen/picnic table. And if Edmonton is too far to come but you feel like connecting in a different way, my writings here at www.simplemoodlings.blogspot.com can drop into your inbox occasionally if you put your email address in the box on the right sidebar (where the words “Get Simple Moodlings by Email (easy peasy)” appear).

In the meantime, we wish you and yours a wonderful New Year. May you be blessed with good health, happiness, and just enough that you can share with those in need.

Hugs, and peace on earth to people of good will!

Hey, you missed a few!

It's been a busy Advent this year, making it hard to get to moodling here. But I have a sweet story that I've been thinking about all week.

Last Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent, two fellows I had never seen before joined us for Sunday morning liturgy at the Community of Emmanuel. Or maybe I had seen them before, but many of our community are irregular in attendance, coming and going depending on their circumstances.

These two came in last minute and sat toward the back of the room, chatting with each other, clearly friends who were happy to come in from the cold and have a cup of coffee together. I wasn't really aware of them at first, busy as I was greeting people, singing the Magnificat to the tune of Wild Mountain Thyme, and supporting Farley in his music ministry during our weekly service.

It wasn't until we were into the Eucharistic Prayers that one of the fellows decided that something was wrong with the Advent Wreath and its three lit candles. In his assessment, the fourth candle and the white Christmas candle in the middle had gone out and needed to be relit. The two buddies conferred and one came forward as Quinn was praying, took the rose Advent candle, and lit the two remaining candles. Satisfied that he'd made things right, he turned around and headed back to his seat. He didn't see Quinn promptly blow out the two he'd lit.

When the candle-lighter got back to his seat, he looked back toward his handiwork and did a double take -- there were still only three candles lit. Huh? He looked bewildered. But his buddy waved him on to go make things right, so he got up and tried a second time. He picked up the rose candle, lit the last purple one and was going for the white Christmas candle when Quinn reached out and gently took the rose candle from him, saying, "We don't light those two yet."

I stepped forward and whispered a quick explanation about how the Advent wreath's four candles are lit on four different Sundays leading up to Christmas, and it was only the Third Sunday so far. "Oh, my bad," the fellow replied, looking sheepish, and I said, "It's okay, you didn't know, and you were only trying to help."

Later on, I saw him and his friend outside, and we had a little conversation about the Advent Wreath and the Mother of Jesus being everyone's mom, which made him happy because he misses his own mom. I invited him to join us for the lighting of candles for the next two weeks. If he comes, I hope we can get him to light those last two candles for us. I'll be watching for him!

A blessed last week of Advent to you all!

How to give thanks

It's been at least two years since I first ran into the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address in Robin Wall Kimmerer's wonderful book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions 2013, ISBN978-1-57131-356-0). The Thanksgiving Address is a wonderful expression of gratitude for all created beings in our world, a deep wisdom that is frequently voiced by Indigenous communities. 

The Thanksgiving Address is made up of the Words Before All Else -- which means that nothing should be said to start a day or a meeting of people or any kind of community event until we "join our minds as one" and give thanks for all that we have received. This little video explains it quite beautifully.

I've been thinking a lot about gratitude lately, and -- no surprise -- after a period of having forgotten about it, I find that the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address has reappeared in my life all over the place in just the last few days. Just in the nick of time, as we head into the biggest season of consumption. I know better than to think it's just coincidence. 

If you have not heard of the Thanksgiving Address yet, here's a link to a beautiful website that shares it just a small piece at a time, with gorgeous art to accompany the words. I invite you to savour the Words Before All Else at whatever part of the day in which you find yourself right now, and realize the many gifts we have received, and that really, most of us are fortunate enough that we don't need to go out and buy more stuff.

All the gifts we have freely received are enough -- and they are no coincidence, either.