It was almost 9:00 pm and the Worship Team meeting had been going on for two hours. We were dealing with all the mundane details of schedules and volunteers; and all the difficult details of COVID risk, of new technology and new policies for attendance. All the while we were trying to keep in mind the core purpose of Sunday worship: being welcoming to all; supporting each other through life’s ups and downs; stimulating our intellectual and spiritual selves. I had some grouchy moments in the meeting that my team members didn’t deserve. We were all tired as the meeting was ending and it was time to do our check out – what are you taking away from this meeting?
 
I looked around at the dedicated lay leaders who had just given up their Wednesday evening for this work. I thought about all the decisions we had made together, the problems we had solved or begun to solve, and the relief that I felt. “My takeaway from tonight is that I don’t have to do it alone. Sometimes I get stuck in that belief and that’s unhealthy.”
 
Is this true for you too? Do you get stuck thinking that you have to do it by yourself? I keep getting stuck there, even though I know that reaching out for help and collaboration is the best practice. This is a feature of the culture that we live in, and as such reflects whiteness and maleness. Not exclusively, but largely, women are better at working together and asking for help than men. Not exclusively, but largely, traditional and indigenous cultures value community above the individual. Therefore as I confront this go-it-alone tendency in myself, I am resisting white supremacy culture and patriarchy culture.
 
The Worship Team meeting reminded me of this through the messy and joyful process of decision making and scheduling, of agreeing and disagreeing. The work of community of collaboration.
 
PRAYER:
Spirit of Life and Love, bless our committee meetings. Bless our Fellowship board meetings. Bless our school board meetings. Bless our family meetings and our work meetings. May the divine presence of messy collaboration, of figuring out together what is best for the common good, bless our gatherings.
 
Spirit of hyper independence, I banish you. Begone from here, the notion that I can and should do the thing by myself without consulting with others, without asking help, wisdom and advice from others. This notion does not serve my greatest good.
 
This I pray, in the service of greater love and justice for the whole world, with no exceptions.
 
Amen.

Like many of us in this country and around the world, I watched with surprise and dismay as the Taliban swiftly took over Afghanistan this week. I listened to President Biden’s speech and to the news analysts, trying to make sense of this moment in history. This news overshadowed the earthquake in Haiti. Meanwhile, the wildfires in the western U.S. have become so sustained and commonplace as to be less newsworthy.
 
In the context of this news from other places, I am extremely grateful for what I have right here. I am grateful for a house that is standing, not demolished by rocket fire, burned to the ground by wildfire, or knocked down by an earthquake. I am grateful for the ability to travel: for decent roads, for rest areas with running water, for the ability to stop along the highway and get something to eat and re-fuel my car. It’s easy to take these things for granted—but today I am not. Living in a functioning society is a blessing, and it’s a luxury that not everyone has. The far-way disasters of war, fire, and earthquake give me this perspective—and so does the experience disaster of the COVID pandemic, which upended life as I know it.
 
I heard a man on the radio say that gratitude is like a “cheat code” for life. Practicing gratitude is key to living a spiritually grounded life and being happy in it. May we all be grateful for what we have.
 
PRAYER:
Spirit of Life and Love, I see now that I am lucky. Thank you for this healthy body, for the abundance of material things I have access to, for the presence of loved ones.
 
All-knowing God, help me and all others to be grateful for the things we have. May gratitude bless each day and bring us joy and connection.
 
Divine Spirit of Mercy, be with those who are hurting and in danger today. May the people of Afghanistan be comforted and may they be safe: may wisdom and peace and mercy prevail in the aftermath of the recent violence there. May the people affected by wildfire be safe: may homes and businesses be protected and may life be spared. May the people of Haiti be well: may they find shelter; may they work together and receive help from abroad in rebuilding what is lost; may their mental anguish be eased.
 
In the name and faith of all the world’s people: Amen. Aho. Blessed Be.

Last week I was at a beach in Manistique, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I sat at the water’s edge and gazed at the waves gently lapping the sand in front of me. I noticed a uniquely beautiful pattern occurring before my eyes, and I sat mesmerized by it.
 
The sand there consisted of two types: a darker sand that formed a mostly solid background, and a lighter sand of shell fragments that floated on top of the darker sand. As each gentle wave pulled the lighter sand across the darker background, a pattern would form for about a second before disappearing as the wave receded. The patterns often featured finger-like lines of the lighter shell sand spreading out across the darker sand. Each one was different, and it was endlessly beautiful.
 
Every beach has its own beauty in the waves, the sand, the rocks…but I had never seen anything quite like this before. It was always beautiful and always changing: just as the wave painted its picture with the sand, it erased it again. Because this particular beauty was literally flowing in front of me, I felt connected to the flow of life. I was present to the moment and not worrying about anything else. May we all find such moments, and be willing to become absorbed in the simple beauty around us and before us.
 
I collected a bit of water from this and a few other places of natural beauty on my trip: water which I will add to the congregation’s sacred water at our Water Ingathering ceremony on September 5. I invite you to bring your water on that day and your experiences of being in, on, and with the water this summer.
 
PRAYER
O Spirit of Life and Love, where does beauty come from? How can it be created by the water and the waves, by the sunset and the growing things? I am awed by beauty. I am overjoyed by beauty.
 
May the beauty of natural creation bless each human being. May all of us know the beauty of rain, of wind, of sun; of earth and flower and rock. May this beauty bring us peace and a sense of connection with the mystery of the universe around us.
 
Aho.
 
Amen.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
August 12, 202