Author: revdbeth

I am a retired Episcopal priest after serving over thirty years in Diocese of Texas and a Benedictine Oblate of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana. I'm also an eighth generation Texan. My daughter, The Homesick Texan, has moved back home to Texas. My son and his wife live in Bend, Oregon, with my two grandsons who call me Grandma Texas.

A blessing for the final days of Lent


I met with my spiritual director yesterday. Of course we talked about how Lent was going. I’ve said before that being raised in the Baptist tradition, tithing my money to God comes easy, but Lenten disciplines, a later in life practice, is always a challenge. 
I’ve learned by years of starts and stops, of twists and circle backs, that my day by day through Lent is best defined as a rhythm. What surprises will God have in store that will take me to new places of mystery?
So on this day of Sabbath, as I prepare myself to walk beside Jesus leading our dear parish through Holy Week, I ponder the rhythm God has given me. 
To light incense and pray. 
To read poetry. 
To dance healing prayers for a friend with cancer. 
To remember to rest. 
To write notes of love. 
To be thankful for all of my stuff as I give away those things which no longer give joy. 
To pray with an icon. 
To travel on rabbit trails while reading Scripture. 
In the Rule of St. Benedict, we remember that everyday we begin again, and so I offer a blessing for all who walk these final days of Lent, written by a woman whose writings have been a path for me these Lenten days:

May every road
you travel
draw you deeper
into the heart
of God
May each moment
of the path
open you to
eternity
May God be
your guard
and your guide
in the way
that you 
And may time
turn well for you
and spiral you
always home.

Written by Jan Richardson ((c) janrichardson.com) 

Prayers like incense


I made a trip to my mother’s to celebrate, belatedly, her 89th birthday. Our wonderful associate, Katie+, took the evening service on Sunday so that I could arrive in time for dinner with the bonus of my youngest brother being able to join us.  His birthday was a week ago, so we had a double celebration which, of course, included pie.



When I’m at my mom’s, I like to get up early and make her special coffee (this time beans from my vacation on the Georgia coast), and clean out the dishwasher while the coffee brews.  That way my mother will get up to the smell of good coffee and a kitchen ready for the day. 


The bonus these past two mornings  is that I got to see the sunrise. 



My mother lives in the country (my daughter, Lisa, calls it The Farm), and the acreage includes a small lake.  Standing outside in the quiet of the beginning of the day, how can one keep from praying?


The verse that shimmers up is this:


Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
The lifting of my hands as an evening sacrifice.  Psalm 141.2


The morning sacrifice, too. 


I pray for those God places on my heart. 

For the young man from the parish who was driving home, and a pedestrian crossed in front of him on the freeway. 

For the St. Mary’s staff who will be meeting without me today. 

For all of those walking through Lent.

For the gift of time with my mother. 

For family. 

For friends. 

For the many who are afraid. 

So many more…….


Soon I’ll spend a lovely morning with my mother. 

We’ll have oatmeal bread baked from my grandmother’s recipe. 

Spring is coming, and we’ll spend some time in the yard. Mother is sending me home with bluebonnet seedlings. 

We’ll chitchat. 

We’ll have lunch of her homemade soup, and then I’ll, sadly, but filled with love, drive home. 


As the sisters of Our Lady of Grace sing, Until we meet again, know that you are loved. 







Traveling home

The last full day on Tybee yesterday, and it was a cold and gray day. The decision was made to have a nearly non-driving day (Friday is my Sabbath, after all).

The morning was lolled with coffee and card-making
In the afternoon, I put on all of my layers and went on a brisk beach walk which was followed by a labyrinth prayer walk near the marsh. 

On the short drive back home, my best friend and I noticed a plea for food at the local food pantry. Blessed with such abundance and filled with gratitude, we stopped at the local IGA and filled up our grocery cart with cereal, juice, canned fruit, peanut butter, and macaroni and cheese. What better way to thank God?

This morning, with temperatures near freezing, bundled up once again, there was time for one final Tybee time beach walk. Prayers were said sitting beside the water before returning to my little cottage to prepare to return home. 

As I sit awaiting my plane at the airport, I prepare mentally to celebrate the third Sunday of Lent in the morning back at St. Marys. I have been unoccupied for the past four days.  I have been recreated. I have been on vacation, and it has been very good. 

And now it is time to be occupied with all the God calls me to do in the quotidian. For the people who will join me in serving at St. Mary’s tomorrow and everyday I am truly thankful. 

A vacation day in Savannah

Vacation comes from a Latin word which means to be unoccupied. Vacation has a sense of being a time of recreation, or re-creating.

Yesterday, after greeting God on the beach at sunrise, I recreated through play in Savannah. I was on vacation. 
Breakfast at my favorite bakery in Savannah, Back in the Day. 

Pedicures at a day spa. 

Walk around a favorite museum. 

A movie, Still Alice, that overwhelmed with tears and how we care for those with life challenges of aging and cognition. 
Drive home after dark in the rain to the island. 
God showed the way to re-create. Thank you, God, for a day of vacation.