I started the Small is Powerful  series as a lark. They say “You only preach the sermons you need to hear.”  Apparently, I need to hear someone whisper “small is powerful” on endless repeat. Little did I know so many of my Magpie Girl readers would need that message too!

Turns out:

• There is a lot out there about passion, but little about sustainability.
• There are many coaches saying “go big or go home,” but not many saying “live small, welcome home.”
• There are plenty of inspiring stories about big achievers, but few whispered tales about all the small things you do that change lives.

When I started this series I wasn’t planning to offer anything for sale around it. But after seeing the response, I’ve decided to open up a small number of coaching spaces–in case you need to brainstorm about how you can live powerfully within your limitations.

I’m offering 6 folks Small Shot brainstorming sessions — 50 minutes of coaching via Skype for $50. Calls must be booked for May or June. (After that I’m off to spend a lot of time with some small people when school’s out for the summer!) Click the buy button to save your spot. I”ll email you to set up your session. Let’s be powerful together!

I want to close this series the way I began, with a blessing on your sweet head.

 Click here to get my blessing by bubble!

I’m glad you joined me here to tell each other true things about the power of small.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle
*your magpie girl

Hello Everyone. If you all will get settled down in to your pews, we’ll begin our service.

It seems fitting as we close our Small is Powerful series, that today’s sermon is brought to you once again by OkGo. This time they are collaborating with coreographer Trish Sie, and the Pilobolus dance company.

(image credit: OkGO Photos)

Remember when Aimee Mullins said you have to have poetry, technology and whimsy? The creative souls behind this video experiment have all three in spades. While it looks complex, this innovate piece really consists of a few small things: bodies, unitards, plexiglass. Add some clever digital editing, and you have a thing of great wonder. Type in a meaningful message in at the begining, and you even end up with a powerful sermon. (Might I suggest a new motto? Small Things. Great Love.)

To get your personalize sermon from OkGo just click here. (If your browser is buggy, use Chrome for  best results.)

***
What about you Magpie? What is your small and powerful motto?

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful (Part 1)
• Small is Powerful, (Part 2)
• Curated Care: The Power of Less (Part 3)
• Sustainable Passion (Part 4)
• *8Things: Small is Powerful (Part 5)
• Small is Powerful with Aimee Mullins (Part 6)
• Small is Powerful: Finding a Hand to Hold (Part 7)

I’ve been surprised the past few years to discover how many Magpie Girl readers and Flock members are isolated.

You might be isolated by geography. No one in your area can make sense of your creative souls.
You might be  isolated by your physicality. Chronic illness limits your mobility or availability.
You might be isolated by parenting. The demands of infants and toddlers keep you confined.

All of these groups are learning to live into the power of smallness. The first group has to learn to live with just one or two people who “gets” them, instead of a large supportive Tribe. The second group must discover how to hone their perceived “limitations” into superpowers. (Even if they never asked for those goddamn superpowers in the first place!) And the third group must learn to carve out some time for their own personhood, as they seek to care for and honor the personhood of their children.

This life, these lessons — they are challenging. And none of us hold all the solutions and ah-ha moments in our own heads. We need a pool of wisdom if we are to find our right-fit solutions. We need withmates for the journey.

That’s why I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover how online communities can sometimes fill this need. When I first dove into the world of blogs, and Facebook, and social networks, I was skeptical. Could real connection be found online? I’m happy to say that the answer is (sometimes), “yes.”

In this vintage video, I answer these questions:

• Is there a “There” there in online communities? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?
• How do virtual communities serve spiritual misfits who are geographically isolated from a relig-ish community?
• What is the role of online Place for people who are isolated by chronic illness?
• Can online community empower people to heal and serve in small and powerful ways?

Being with like-minded souls goes a long way when you are learning to be small and powerful. Here’s my 4 minute message about how virtual place can be Real Place, and how it might give you a hand to hold.

***

Want to be a part of our small, supportive community? Join us at Flock. We’ve made this cozy nest just for you. Welcome Home.

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful (Part 1)
• Small is Powerful, (Part 2)
• Curated Care: The Power of Less (Part 3)
• Sustainable Passion (Part 4)
• *8Things: Small is Powerful (Part 5)
• Small is Powerful with Aimee Mullins (Part 6)

(image source: The Dolls Factory) 

“If we want to discover the full potential of our humanity we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths and those glorious disabilities that we all have.”
-Aimee Mullins

I know it’s hard to feel your limitations, I really do.

Some mornings it’s heartbreaking to wake up, once again in pain.
Some days the weight of spending another 18 hours with a newborn seems unbearable.
Some months the shortage in your checkbook feels like a death blow to all your dreams.

Sometimes small does not feel powerful.

Once when I was struggling with the umpteenth day in a row of migraine pain, a friend tried to be helpful by saying something like, “But you can still do your work. I mean, look at what Stephen Hawkings has overcome!”

I wanted to throw a book at her head.

But regardless of her timing, she had a point.

Your limitations may change the way you pursue your passions, but they don’t have to stop you. Indeed, they can make you something more.

Click to Tweet the Good Word.

I’ve yet to find someone who personifies this truism more clearly than Aimee Mullins. Aimee is a para-athelte. She runs (and wins) races on her high-tech prosethic “cheetah” legs. Gorgeous, intellegent, and well-spoken, Aimee’s talents have opened many doors — including the opportunity to own more than a dozen kinds of legs. Running legs. “Glass” legs. Model legs that let her be 6′ 1″ instead of her “normal” 5′ 8″.

Through experiencing these different sets of legs, Aimee has synthesized a message about how one might turn a dis-ability into a superpower. It involves a marriage between technology and poetry, with a good does of whimsy added in. (She had me at “Whimsy matters.” )

In this 2009 TED Talk, Aimee explains how one might begin to live as a superhero:

“…People that society once considered to be dis-abled can now become the architect of thier own identities, and indeed continue to change those own identities…from a place of empowerment “

My blessing for you today, Magpie, is this:

May you find inspiration to start seeing your “smallness” not as a limitation,
but as a superpower.

May innovation, and poetry gaze dreamily at each other across your kitchen table.
May moments of solutions be slipped under your door like a love letter.

And today, may you walk 6 feet tall.
(Amen? Amen.)

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful (Part 1)
• Small is Powerful, (Part 2)
• Curated Care: The Power of Less (Part 3)
• Sustainable Passion (Part 4)
• *8Things: Small is Powerful (Part 5)

Most Thursdays on the Magpie Girl Facebook page, we have a practice of listing *8Things we are grateful for. This week, in light of our Small is Powerful  theme, I’d like to change it up a little. Can you think of *8 Small Things that have made a big impact in your life and in the life of those around you?  I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours…

*8 Small Things (With Big Impact)

1. Holding my friend’s fussy baby for an hour so she could get some much needed sleep.

2. Helping a hard-up neighbor by paying to have her windshield repaired.

3. Sending an email because someone was on my mind, only to find out it was just what they needed to get through a depressing day.

4. Using a hour of my precious “my-mind-is-still-working” time to write a blog post that brings someone to tears because it offered just-right companionship for them.

5. Writing just one 10-minute “sermon” a month so a small group of thoughtful folks can practice their core values in the world every. single. day.

6. Making french toast so our family and our partner-family can support each other in living a simple, attentive existence with each other and with our friends.

7. Saying hello, making eye contact, and offering my name while passing on a dollar to someone in need.

8. Providing a little after-school care so my co-parenting friends can go make Big Plans for social change overseas. (Big is right-fit for them.)

None of these things are dramatic. None of them would make the news. But each of them made a significant difference in the life of another – without burn-out. Why? Because they were right fit. Because they honored my personhood, and the personhood of others. Because Small is Powerful.

That’s so counter-cultural, I better say it twice:

Small, right-fit acts of kindness, justice, and caring honor your personhood, the personhood of others, and bring healing to the world.  Small is powerful.

(Click to Tweet the Good Word!)

What about you Magpie? What small things are you doing these days that evoke real change? What small thing has been offered to you that impacted you in surprisingly significant ways? Do Tell! (Because like I always say, “There ain’t nowhere to go, but together.”)

***

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful (Part 1)
• Small is Powerful, (Part 2)
• Curated Care: The Power of Less (Part 3)
• Sustainable Passion (Part 4)

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” ―Frederick Buechner

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about sustainability. When I meet people who are doing loving things in their neighborhoods, I ask them “What does it mean to do this work in a sustainable fashion — without burnout?” When I gather with movers and shakers, I ask, “what are you doing to create a sustainable pace of passionate work for a lifetime?”

No one ever has an answer.

Maybe this is just the gap between people with illnesses and people with in-tact health. Maybe it’s just a personality difference. Regardless:

I want to live in the place where my deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet – and I want to do it for the long run.

After parenting, the hardest job I ever had was pastoring. The pay was minimal. The hours were long. There were basically no boundaries. I loved the work, so I threw myself into it, body and soul. I thought my “deep gladness” would carry me through.

Then my body collapsed.

That was 6 years ago. My health will probably never fully recover. But the last year or two I’ve been strong enough to start again. And out of necessity, I’ve learned a thing or two about what it takes to live a sustainable passion. Here are Three Major Habits for Sustainable Small-and-Powerful Living. Perhaps you recognize some of these things too:

Habit One: Rites and Rituals.
These small practices create a pattern of sustenance in your life. Morning meditations. Dinner with your children. The daily run. A half an hour before bed with a good book.  (My personal favorite is an episode or two of TED whilst soaking in the bathtub.)

Your little rituals aren’t indulgences, they are the selfcare you need to engage in worldcare.

(Click to Tweet the Good Word.)

Habit Two: Right Fit Patterns
Are you a morning bird or a night owl? Do you work best in one long sustained writing weekend, or from noon to 4 everyday? Are you more productive with a single project, or do you need the energy of juggling multiple things at a time to keep you going? Do you like to help intensely in an emergency, or are you better at giving a slow-drip of support over a longer period of time?

So what if your favorite author always wrote for 3 hours starting at 5am? If someone you admire has their fingers in five different pies, should that influence how you work? Who cares if your best writing happens in your insomniac hours under the caring light of the moon? What if you don’t like living in an intense “life-commitment” intentional community?

(Right-fit, my friends, right-fit will carry you through.)

Know Thyself. You can only work within your body’s own system. Trust it.

Habit Three: Champion the Small.
Lately, when I am at conferences and people are turning the spotlight on all the big and impressive work that’s going on out there, I feel my posture shift. I stand up straighter. I plant my feet more firmly. My thinking becomes really clear. Why?

Because I am a becoming a champion of the small.

Let me give you an example. Recently I was in a workshop where the speaker was talking about the eight bazillion things his church was doing in their neighborhood. It was impressive, it really was. But his approach was especially driven and his core value was one of self-sacrifice. I could feel the hopeful learners around me start to shrivel in their seats.

There was no Q&A in that workshop, but when it came time to share ideas about what sustainable service-work might look like in the next workshop, I raised my hand. “I think, to be sustainable, it might have to look small. I think that for many people, extending love into the world might not look like being present to my whole city, or even to my whole neighbor hood, but maybe just to my block. Maybe just to half a block. Because honoring personhood and extending care takes time.”

An interesting thing happened. The women nodded their heads. The men quickly moved on to making Big Plans.

It’s okay to be big if that is your call. But if your life is simple, if you like a singular focus, if you are willing to let small, consistent efforts shift the current – well, then I suspect you will be changing lives not just for now, but for the long run. Plant your feet very firmly on that reality. Stand in your own power — the power of small.

My blessing for you today is this:

May you find the place where the world’s great hunger and your deep gladness meet; and may you dance in that glory for a lifetime.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle
*your magpie girl

***

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful (Part 1)
• Small is Powerful, (Part 2)
• Curated Care: The Power of Less (Part 3)

There is a lot of literature out there about Going Big. But what do you turn to when you want to be small and powerful?  (You’re a little concentrated fireball of goodness, you are!)

The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life

When I was first coming into acceptance of the limits my chronic illness imposed upon me, this book was a godsend. My copy, now loaned and lost, was covered with highlighting, and full of scribbles in the margins. (There are nice wide margins. Leo likes white space.)

The Power of Less was the perspective shift I needed. Before I read it I kept thinking that maybe I could do things in spite of  my limitations — a dis-empowering turn of phrase to live by! After reading this concise little gem book, I moved into a place where I could see myself working because of  the way my limitations honed my focus, and called out my passions.

That’s so good I’m gonna say it again:

Are you working in spite of your limits, or because of  your need to go small? Which feels more empowering?

(Click to Tweet the good word!)

Noticing this paradigm shift and trusting the truth of it were two different things. It took time to accept this new reality. But eventually I learned to turn my chronic illness into a kind of unwanted superpower. You know the saying, “If you get bitten by a radioactive spider, make lemonade.” (Wait…How does that one go again?)

Whether you are herding cats raising toddlers; dealing with a health issue; or your pace of life has just gotten too darn nuts, The Power of Less will help.

***

Curated Care. I take pride in referring you to the most trustworthy, totatlly-worth-it products, teachers, and coaches. (I like you.) To see some evergreen products and service providers I enjoy, click here. To read all my review posts, click here. Thanks for being here today Magpie!

***

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful, Part 1
• Small is Powerful, Part 2

There are lots of reasons for being small.

• Maybe your actions are small because you are chronically ill, and your energy is limited.
• Maybe your actions are small because your two year old is bidding you to come away from the computer (or the easel, or the guitar…)
• Maybe your passion project is tiny because you are working difficult jobs to keep the pantry stocked and there’s not a lot of time leftover for your creative dream.

This is reality. And in spite of what Facebook posts might lead you to believe, lots of us live here.

I have good news for you though: Small is Powerful.

People often ask me how I get “so much done” in the midst of parenting, and chronic pain, and the general demands of Gremlins and Procrastination. I often guffaw at that comment. I don’t feel like I’m getting “so much done.” What I feel is frustrated that the migraines only let me work a few hours a day. But I know I can’t always trust my self-assessment skills on this one. So I’m learning to receive this oft-repeated observation as gods-honest-truth: Everyone says I’m productive. It might must be true.

So how do I get so much done?

I work small.

Everyone has the same number of hours in a day. But how much energy we have to invest in those hours varies widely. And the flexibility around how we might be able to use those hours varies as well.

There are not many available hours in my day for what I think of as my “work.” And there is not much energy to pour into them. (I suspect your day is not much different.)Most of the hours are taken up by doctors appointments and Epsom salt baths, quietness and ice packs. What my illness doesn’t consume the household cries for — peanut butter sandwiches to make, stew pots to fill, laundry to swap.  What is left are mere minutes. (Small things they are, minutes.) This limitation requires me to know what game I’m playing. And that game is focused. That game is small. Small and powerful.

In this smallness, I change lives. When people step out of church, lost and tribe-less, I help them find their way. When families want rituals to anchor thier year in meaning and value, I help them create traditions. I write things that bless people. And I do it all in a small amount of time.

If you are on the interwebs today, reading about Passion and Big Dreams and Growing Your Business, I want to tell you something important.

Your small, sustainable efforts will produce beautiful results. Small is powerful.

(Click to Tweet the Good Word)

Hold on to hope, friend.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle Mee-Chapman
*your magpie girl

***

What about you Magpie? How have you experienced something small as something powerful? What small thing would you like to notice and celebrate today?

***

You Might Also Like:

• Church of Art: Small is Powerful

Hello Everyone. If you all will get settled down in to your pews, we’ll begin our service.

I’m beginning a week-long blog series next week on how Small is Powerful. Let’s kick it off with today’s sermon, brought to you by Trish Sie, Moti Buchboot, and OkGo.

1. It’s Ok to Hold on to Hope. Your world can change from blackness to color in an instant. Take one step.

2. It’s Okay to Go Slower than Usual. Slow, languorous, at it’s own pace — this Tango is atypical and beautiful. So is your uniquely paced life.

3. It’s Ok to be lost for a moment. (You’ll find your way if you look up.)

4. It’s Ok to Hold Just One Hand. I know you want a Tribe. But, sometimes you just need a partner. And sometimes that partner is just for this particular dance. (Longevity is overrated.)

5. It’s Ok to be Just Ok. Trish’s, while being a creative and gifted choreographer, is not a Tango specialist. Yet look at what she brings to the table when she performs at a right-fit level for her skills!

Don’t wear yourself out trying to be Big. Be You. Beauty will follow.

(Click to Tweet the Good Word)

***
What about you Magpie? What did you learn from today’s sermon?

I’m feeling Generous! Watch this 2-ish minute video to hear why…

Generous Extras in Flock this month include podcasts on some or all of the following:

• Creating A “Yes” Reflex
• Noticing Enoughness
• Relational Giving (my family’s right-fit practice)
• The Tyranny of “Smart Philanthropy” & The Psychology of Generosity
• Tips and Tricks for Right-Fit Stress-Free Giving
• Generosity on a Limited Budget

Ready to join us? Click here to start your subscription. Got a question about Flock? Email me! I’m happy to help.

“It’s not about the smartest investment we can give, it’s about me. I want to stop saying no. I felt like what was going on is I was hiding behind what was smart and it was keeping me from doing what was right.

Pretty soon ‘no’ becomes who you are, and what you do when somebody comes asking for help.

I needed a new habit and a new reflex.”

-Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer of the Acumen Fund

Sasha — through his blog and TED talk — is serving as our Muse in Flock this May, as we develop a practice of Juicy Generosity.

Want to develop a pattern of sustainable giving that is right-fit for you and your family? Join us this month in Flock as we debunk old stories about “smart” giving, and move into life-giving Generosity.

This is a Juicy, Generous month in Flock, and instead of one video lesson I’ll be sending out several audio lessons including:

• Relational Giving (my family’s right-fit practice)
•  Tips and Tricks for Right-Fit Stress-Free Giving
•  The Psychology of Generosity
•  Generosity on a Limited Budget
•  Avoiding Compassion Fatigue

Break out of the “I should’s….” and jump into the “I can’t wait to…” giving pool. Click here to join us. (It’s fine to join us then month, and bow out next if that’s right-fit for you.)

See you there, and Much Warmth,

Rachelle
*your magpie girl

***

Want to be a part of our small, supportive community? Join us at Flock. In May our value is Generosity and we’ll be exploring sustainable Giving. Click here for my welcoming video.

Generosity is juicy. It’s not about guilt trips, or white-people’s angst. It’s not about rigidity or 10% mandates, or voluntary poverty. It’s not about judgment.

Generosity is living abundantly. It’s about giving more power to enjoying what you have, and less power to worrying about what you don’t have.

Generosity is grounding your giving in an ethos of care. It’s not about giving out of guilt.

Generosity is finding the place where your deep passion and the world’s someone’s needs meet. It’s about dancing without angst on that common ground.

Next month in Flock we’ll be exploring what it means to live out of place of Juicy Generosity–

• where it’s fun to give!
• where you feel confident that you are making a difference.
• where you extend love and justice into the world in a way that is soul-nurturing for you. (Because there is no point friends, no point at all, in giving if it feels like crap.)

We’ll also look at ways to live generously even if you are in tight financial times. (You’ve got time, you’ve got talent, and baby, small is powerful!)

Come with us this May in the Flock, as we find right-fit giving solutions so you can give–and receive!–Juicy Generosity.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle

*your magpie girl

***

Want to be a part of our small, supportive community? Join us at Flock. In May our value is Generosity and we’ll be exploring sustainable Giving. Click here for my welcoming video.

Is there a “There” there in online communities? Or is it all smoke and mirrors? How do virtual communities serve spiritual misfits who are geographically isolated from a relig-ish community? What is the role of online Place for people who are isolated by chronic illness? Can online community empower people to heal and serve?

This weekend, I’m going to the inspiring, inclusive Inhabit conference to exchange ideas about Place-Based Ministry — where I, with an online community, will once again be the outlier. But before I go, here’s my 4 minute message about how virtual place can be Real Place, and how it creates space for the disenfranchised.

P.s. Thank you to my brilliant friend, Dwight Friesen, for engaging me in discussion around Place and for helping me understand the deep value of Flock for my beloved spiritual misfits.

Thanks for being here today!

Want to be a part of our small, supportive community? Join us at Flock. In May our value is Generosity and we’ll be exploring sustainable Giving. Click here for my welcoming video.

Hello Everyone. If you all will get settled down in to your pews, we’ll begin our service.

Today’s sermon is brought to you by Leanna Ramsey-Corrales of Which Way is Home Again. Leanna and her family are brunch partners with our clan. Twice a month we gather for french toast, check-in, and a poem. In between we do other things like laughing, drinking whiskey, co-studying in coffee shops, and did I mention whiskey?

Last weekend Leanna and Mark came by to toast Baby George’s successful surgery. Whilst she was lounging on the sofa, I noticed the dirty windows. Leanna noticed this:

What about you Magpie? What unexpected beauty are you noticing in your life today? Take a moment. Take it in.

Amen? Amen.

****

Feel like being snappy? Show us your noticing photo on my Facebook page. (*click!*) Or put your Instagram link in the comments below. Thanks for being here today.

Flock is my online soulcare community, where a small group of us practice our  core values throughout the year. Our motto is: One month. One value. One practice. One “wild, precious life.” The practices we are creating together in our cozy nest are simple, lovely and sustain the soul without feeling like a burdensome self-help program.

Would you like to join us? What’s that? You need to know more about us first? We totally understand! You can find out all about us on our Flock invitation page. We also wanted to share with you a little of what we are learning this month.

In April our core value is Growth and our practice is Noticing. It’s amazing what you can learn from a the simple act of paying attention! The Flock has been sharing photographs of growth in their lives on our private Facebook page. Here’s a small collection from my first week’s practice, along with the lessons I (unexpectedly!) learned.

My blessing for your today is this: May growth and new life greet you gently at every corner.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle Mee-Chapman
*your magpie girl

***

Want to work with me in a small group setting? Join us at Flock, my online relig-ish community. In May our value is Generosity and we’ll be exploring sustainable Giving. Click here for my welcoming video.

Originally posted March 2008.

is it enough
this story,
this ideal,
this wistful thing—

the teacher speaking soft in the garden,
mouthing my name,
warm-blooded and real.

when I grow tired of picking,
sorting fact from fiction,
lies like stones among the lentils,
truths as yellow bulbs among the rocks,

when I tire of this painstaking plucking

i hold instead,
one smooth egg
one round stone
one child, with chocolate on her mouth and songs on her tongue.

he is wisen, comes the lisp
he is wisen indeed!

tell me true things, i whisper,
my face held close,
warm against her neck.

she sings to me
an edict, a lullaby,
ubi caritas, maman,
ubi caritas et amor
ubi caritas, deus ibi est.

where there is charity, there is love
where there is love
there god is.

enough, i think,
to hold this egg
this stone
this child
enough, to say ‘amen.’

Originally posted 2010. (Still holds true.)

This Easter morning, before the chocolate rabbits come out of hiding, Paul and I will take inventory. In what do we really believe? …A literal Resurrection? Actual God-and-Man? Redemptive violence? An empty grave?

Two years ago Easter came to me all bittersweet. It felt like letting go of a loved one’s hand as the train pulls away. Last year I was angry at the messages being handed down to our little ones. This year, after a Winter of snow and depression, Easter finds me already awash in the arrival of Spring — fields of snowdrops; a blanket of crocuses spilling out from the doors of our local castle; the magnolias tight in the bud and waiting to open. In the midst of this earthy glory, the theology of Easter arrives as a late comer, tagging on the coat tails of a natural spectacle.

Every year Easter it comes out of its cocoon with wings of different shapes and colors. This year, I may have finally stopped trying to pin it to a board. This year, I’ve realized that I’ve developed a new practice – a practice of allowing Easter to be born again, to bring new flavors of belief, new forms of adoration. I doubt I shall ever be able to ascribe to a permanent creed. All I can say is this Easter morning I believe…

I Believe…
In a Source larger than myself which at its core is creative, healing, and restorative. I choose to call this Source God, though I recognize her by other names and have seen her in many incarnations. I believe in all the ways renewal, regeneration, and rebirth flow forth from this Source. I look eagerly to understand her better, and to live her life of creativity and renewal more completely.

I Believe…
In a man named Jesus whose tale has been carried, replicated, and expanded through many cultures and many eras. I believe in his habit of telling meaningful stories; bringing the outsider home; and being dangerously compassionate. To these I do aspire. I believe his Sermon on the Mount creates inside me a passion for justice, equity, and inclusion. I strive to live these in increasingly meaningful ways. I hear him in the mouth of a all the great teachers. I see him in a thousand faces. I try to reflect him back to others from my own.

I Believe…
In a guiding force which resides within each of us, sometimes called Spirit, who has made herself known to me as The Muse. I believe in her creative capacities, in her skills as a guide, and her residence in my intuition. I believe in her connection to God, and strive to align myself with her.

I Believe..
In community wherever it may be found. In dancing in the overlap. In everyday holiness. I believe in rites, rituals and worship which connect us to God – primal, traditional, and emerging. I believe in sacred spaces and thin spots. In inexplicable fore-knowing, sometimes called prophecy. I believe in an unending source of love, which translates into abundant acts of charity. In generous curiosity. In the high value of hospitality. In miracle, and whimsy. And above all, I believe in love.

____________________
 What about you Magpie? What might be the opening lines of your creed, circa 2012?

Today is Good Friday and people are writing poetic things about the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. They are telling me that his death “paid for our sins.” They are testifying that Jesus suffered because we suffer, and that his pain helps us through our own.

This line of thinking is very helpful for many people. But not for me

Today is Good Friday and I am waiting while sweet baby George goes through a five hour six hour surgery. I am waiting, and hoping that when he wakes up he will, for the first time, be able to eat; be able to breathe without pain; be able to live without tubes down his nose and his throat. I am waiting knowing that even if this is true — and I believe it will be true — that he will still be in pain. This little struggling body will be in pain, and so will his parents with their aching, bruised hearts.

Knowing Jesus suffered does not help me understand George’s suffering. His hours on the cross do not help me come to terms with my own ten-year illness. The brutal death of one man does not make me feel any hope about the deaths of many. His suffering does not make me feel less alone.

I weep for him at Tenebrae, I do. I know loneliness. I know pain. And what mother doesn’t connect with Mary’s loss? But I don’t like it when this story, when his story is used to as device to inflict guilt, to induce shame. And I don’t like it when someone I love is suffering and a well-meaning soul says “Well, Jesus understands because he suffered too on the cross.”

Jesus’s suffering may not help me, but blessing George does. Wrapping him up in love and affection before sending him into the cold bright lights of the surgery, into his doctors’ careful, practiced hands–that helps. Blessing his head with a finger tip of oil for sweet, sweet dreams. Blessing his feet that they may stay tethered to this Earth, here, with us. Blessing his trachea to heal and his esophogus to function. Blessing his immune system to rally. Blessing his heart to beat steady and his pulse to rest easy. Blessing his hands, those tiny curled hands, that he might feel his mother and father’s finger tucked into his palm all through the long, scary day.

This is my Good Friday. And the cross, it is not helping me.

But hope is holding my hand.

***

Update: I am happy to report the George is out of surgery and in recovery. His grandmother sent the blessing I wrote for him all around the world via Facebook, and a whole community of people spoke it over him. I feel grateful for his safety, and for the opportunity to minister in and with a community, as is my calling. May your Friday be Good as well. Much Warmth, Rachelle

***

You Might Also Like:

• Feeling Pissy About Easter? Join the Malcontent’s Club
• Notes from The Secretary of the Malcontent’s Club (part 2)
• The Spiritual Benefits of Being Pissy

Also: Kathy Escobar is the coolest pastor I know, and she writes about the cross here.

For George, who is two months old and in a five hours surgery today.

Love,

Rachelle

***

Little George,

You have worked so hard to get where you are today.
You’ve worked to breathe,
to digest,
to grow.
We are so proud of you, and there is no way, absolutely no way, that we can say in words how grateful we are that you are here.

We know that you have to do something hard again now.
And we want to give you all the love and protection we know how to muster,
to soften the hardness,
to put ease around the edges.

So we bless you today, Baby George,
in the name of Love,
in the name of Life,
in the name of God.

We bless your sweet head, George, as a kiss from the Divine.
We bless your mind to rest easy. We seal in the loving memories of your mother,
and of your father,
of your grandmother,
and your grandfather,
and of all who have held you safe in their arms.
May beautiful colors and images come to you.
May your dreams be sweet.
And may all that goes on in your consciousness be of good health.

We bless these small hands, George. Already so nimble. Already so eager to explore.
We bless you that you might feel your mother and father’s fingers tucked into your curled palm;
beside you throughout the hours,
always at your side.

We bless your heart, George, to beat steady, and your pulse to rest easy.
We bless your immune system That it might be at the ready, strong and ready to do fulfill its role in your healing.
We bless you trachea and your esophagus,
that they might find their proper resting place besides one another,
healed to fulfill their proper role

And finally sweet baby, we bless your feet,
that they may stay tethered to this Earth, the source of support of life,
that you might feel at home here.
That you might know your place,
here in this family,
here in this world,
here in our arms.

George, May God bless you and keep you.
May God make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto.
May God lift up her face upon you, and give you her kiss of peace.
In the name of the God who birthed and created you,
Jesus your brother and friend,
and the Holy Spirit, she who is your guide. Amen

During this week, which is sacred to two large branches of faith, you may be struggling with a clash between your current beliefs and your traditional practices. You can have a right-fit Passover/Easter/Spring practice. Something that’s rooted in the best parts of your heritage, authentic to who you are today, and creative enough to grow with you.

To help you along the way, here’s is a re-print of a post that will help you decided what to keep, what to set aside, and what to create new for yourself and your family.

May this week be full of life and new growth for you.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle
*your magpie girl

Creating a Right-Fit Faith Practice

Our nativity lambs stand in for a shankbone at our vegetarian inter-faith Seder. E.Claire, Pastry Child Photography

Friends, I want you to know something. To know it deep in your core.

You can create exactly the kind of spirituality you want. Half this and half that. With a dash of x and a sprinkle of y. You can special order. And once your find the perfect combination, you can (and will) change it again.
If you are a new kind of soul, you recognize this desire. The desire to customize, to blend, to create anew. It’s thrilling. It’s motivating. And it can be overwhelming. When you do this kind of work, when you live this kind of life, you dig up the very ground you stand on. Why?

Because you are mining. You are looking for the buried treasures you want to keep: the traditions your foremothers that you want to pass on; the good habits you’d forgotten that work so well; the bits of your past you want to polish up. They got lost. Lost in the dogma, and the rules, and in the expectations of others. You want to find those valuables, so you mine your past.

Because you are plowing. You are preparing the soil. You are planting the seeds of something new: something that may not bloom when you expect it to; that comes in a mix of unknown colors; that may bear a lot of fruit or a little. You are creating fertile soil for something you are curious about. Something that will bring beauty, or sustenance, or provision into your life.

Mining or Planting – either way things are getting churned up. Things are getting lumpy. So, how do you stand when you aren’t sure what’s solid ground?

• Start with functionality. What works for you? What creates fruitfulness in your life? Not what’s supposed to be helpful, or what “they” say works. What serves you well? Do that. (Screw the rest.)
• Follow Your Muse. You know that impulsive surge that rises up when a new thing strikes you? The brief clarity of an ah-ha moment? That rush of energy that comes with new idea, just before your naysaying voice kicks in? That’s your Muse. She may seem like a flibbertigibbet, especially when viewed through someone else’s lens. But for you, she’s rock solid. She’s the oracle in The Matrix. She’s the Huntress who comes to guide you out of the woods. She knows what you need to create new life – even if it seems wildly impractical. Even if – especially if – no one else is doing it that way. Her ideas don’t feel burdensome—challenging maybe, but not burdensome. That little thing you’ve been dreaming of in your subconscious? She sees it. She’s making sure you see it too. What makes your pulse race and your blood boil? That’s your Muse turning up the heat. Jump in.
• Assume it will Change. We the Dreamers, we are not stagnant people. We look for the growing edge. For the flower slipping free from the bud. People like us do not find a way of be-ing and stick to it. We evolve, and so do our beliefs and practices. Our way of be-ing changes with the seasons, with the decade, with the location. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay. It’s brilliant. Settle into a way of being when it’s time to settle. When you get twitchy, when the things that once worked stop serving you, bounce on your toes – it’s time to change. This doesn’t mean what you were doing before was wrong. It just means you’ve noticed something others might let pass by unseen. And when you notice that little niggling prompt, you alter your ways once again. Life is change, sister. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
• Connect the Dots. The way you pray might suddenly convert. The names you call God might change. Your understanding of friendship might grow. Your relational rules might expand or contract. Your career goals might radically alter. The way to keep your footing during these little earthquakes is to connect what you are doing back to your values. Your values are deep rooted. They act as touch stones in your fantastic journey. Feeling lost? Gremlins telling you mean things? Wondering why you can’t just be happy with the status quo? Connect the dots back to your core values and feel yourself come into alignment.