Dear Friends,
My friend Joanna is a minister of cookies. Whether chocolate-chip, oatmeal, raisin, or ginger, they are big, round, and delicious. She bakes them at a moment’s notice. Your beloved family is coming from out of town? They will need cookies. Is your heart aching from grief or worry or exhausted by the weight of the world? You need a cookie. Maybe two. She packages them in lovely bags with ribbons and delivers them with smiles and wise words. They are made with sugar, butter, and flour, but they are experienced as love and kindness, most especially when they are still warm.
Faithful messages spoken in worship, ones that come through us from the Divine, are rather like Joanna’s warm cookies. They are what someone’s heart in the circle is yearning for—whether they are aware of it or not. The messages feed hearts with truth, courage, mercy, peace, and a sense of belonging. Sometimes they are a bit misshapen when offered, and that’s okay, because what matters is the warmth and the generosity of spirit with which they are given.
We aren’t all bakers, but we all have something to offer that is grounded in our experience and understanding of that of God. It might be writing an urgent note to an elected official regarding an upcoming vote for justice. It might be interrupting someone’s racist language. It might be asking a neighbor “How are you today?” and then waiting to hear the full answer. It might be turning off our phone and going outside to watch the sunset for 5 minutes—alone. It’s not the form that’s as important as the ingredients, the freshness, and the warmth in response to the needs of the now.
Moments of grace reminding us of the Divine happen within and around us frequently. When we keep our hearts open, we tend to see more of them. A lot of times they just don’t look like what we think we’re looking for, which is why it’s good to go through our days practicing again and again to be in that open-hearted space we strive for when we gather to worship. How many times have I mistaken Light for an inconvenience or interruption?
How many warm Cookies-of-Light have you given out today? How many have you received with gratitude and attention?
Sending each of you love and hope,