Connection is the Key

Three weeks ago I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of an amazing woman named Chung Hyun Kyung. Twenty-five years ago Chung Hyun Kyung was tortured for her political beliefs. The day I heard her speak, she invited the man who tortured her into a conversation. I hope that someday he takes her up on her invitation, and they have that conversation. Dr. Chung’s story was also an invitation to me. Today I also share her invitation with you. It is an invitation to let the broken places in our own lives deepen our compassion for others, and help us to have the courage to reach past the deep chasms which divide us, to the things that deeply connect us, one to another. Dr. Chung says there are two kinds of brokenness. There is a brokenness which devastates us and breaks us apart. But there is a second kind of brokenness, a brokenness which breaks us open, which expands us and connects us. Dr. Chung invites us to let our own brokenness break us open to others, especially to those with whom it is most difficult.

I met Chung Hyun Kyung three weeks ago on a three-day retreat at Ghost Ranch, located in the achingly beautiful, take-your-breath-away landscape of Abiquiu, New Mexico. The Retreat was called Wisdom Sharing: A Deepening Retreat. It was led by three deep, wise women: Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, and Chung Hyun Kyung. Dr. Chung is a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and also at Ewha Women’s University, in Seoul, South Korea. She is both a practicing Christian and a practicing Buddhist. Her book is called “Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women’s Theology.”

Her story is one of deep suffering, and deep forgiveness. Her story speaks to us who live in a world of televised ISIS beheadings, and fear-mongering. Her story is a key to connection, which she proposes as the way for peace. Since I heard her speak, not a day has gone by, when I have not reflected further on her words, and applied them to my own life.
Twenty-five years ago Chung Hyun Kyung was a student activist in Korea, then struggling under a cruel dictatorship. “One day,” she says, “I came home from the University, and there were five men in black suits in a cadillac. They took me somewhere. They said “If you die here, no one will care. You will never see your family, and they will never see you again. They will not know what happened to you.” Threatening her with torture, they wanted her to snitch on the leaders of the activist movement. She could not tell, could not turn in her friends. She was handed over for torture.
When her first torturer came in, she looked him in the eye and called him “Uncle.” “I asked him if I could tell him my story. I asked him about his wife, his daughters, his mother. He could not torture me. He left. The second day, the same thing happened. The third day, the same thing. He said, “I wanted to be a poet. What am I doing here at this job?” He left. Each day, she tried to connect with the eyes, with the heart , of the person sent to torture her. “If you connect, there is peace. If you disconnect, there is violence.”

She describes the fourth day: “I tried to connect with his eyes, but there was nothing there. His soul was empty, dead. The torture began.” She lost consciousness. The fifth day, he continued. This time, she clung to words, promises, which gave her strength and hope. “When I was a little girl,” she said, “as a good Presbyterian, I had memorized so many bible verses, because there was a contest and I wanted to get the prize.” As she was being tortured, the 23rd Psalm came to her: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” “In all things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
“I felt soft hands, holding my hands. I felt enveloped in love. I knew I was okay. I was held in love.”

As a pastor I see families broken apart by something petty. I see sisters and brothers in communities of faith who say they are Christian, but fail to see Christ in someone they find annoying, so treat that person as an anathema.
Then I see Chung Hyun Kyung, a brilliant beam of sunlight, showing us the way to peace: connection is the key.

But here is the thing you will not like. Gloria Steinem commented that a neurologist friend of hers insists that, neurologically, the “friend and befriend” bond can only be effectively created when all five senses are present. That means that Israelis and Palestinians need to sit down and break bread together. That means that North Koreans and South Koreans need to join hands. That means that sisters and brothers, and those people in my church who won’t speak to someone who annoys them, need to sit together, look each other in the eye, and hear each other’s story. Are we afraid that when we hear each other’s story, we might realize that we are really the same, underneath it all? Do we realize that we are just projecting our stuff onto someone else and calling them our “enemy?” It is much easier to fight a war against a nation we’ve labelled “the axis of evil,” than to realize they are mothers and fathers who love their children and long for their safety and fullness of life just as we do for our children.

When asked how to address terrorism, Chung Hyun Kyung said, ”Terrorism can only occur when we do not connect. When we meet another who is very different sometimes we react irrationally, we see no connection, we demonize them. We call them “The axis of evil.” That is bullshit. We are really projecting on them our own shadow. This is so different from the Asian logic of Yin and Yang: it is always circulating. You are what you hate. It is part of you.
Everyone I meet in the Islamic world says 911 was a fabrication. Thank you so much for thinking that we had the brilliance and technology to orchestrate that.”

Today, can we stop the madness? Can you stop projecting what you hate in yourself onto another? Instead, can you have the courage to look what you fear straight in the eye, and hear her story, his story? Can you share your story? Can we connect, on a soul level? Can we let ourselves be broken open for the sake of the world?

If you cannot, we will never know peace. Chung Hyun Kyung has convinced me: connection is the Key.

May you see the Holy in all you encounter;and may you reflect the Holy to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright November 11, 2014

Photo Credits:  Chung Hyun Kyung and Linda Forsberg, Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM, October 16, 2014; book signing, Ghost Ranch, NM; the Sun breaking through, Newport, RI; Quote from Dag Hammarskjold, Second Secretary General of the United Nations, on the wall at the UN; Eugenia and Sylvie; Sylvie and Grammy Linda; Sylvie and Grampa Ted; my father, Clifford Forsberg, with his grandson, John, and his first great-grandchild, John Luca, 2013

The Power of US!

A few weeks ago I went to a three day retreat at Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, NM. Abiquiu is one of those natural places of pure, raw beauty. The retreat was called Wisdom Sharing, and was led by three Women of Wisdom: Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, and Chung Hyun Kyung. Last week I blogged about what I learned from Alice Walker. Today I write about what I learned from Gloria Steinem. Next week I will blog about what I learned from Chung Hyun Kyung.

I was born in 1960. I could never have picked a more tumultuous, challenging, difficult, amazing, expansive, paradigm-shifting era in which to be born! Psychologists say that it is the very earliest years of our lives which most deeply affect us. No wonder I am an “Equalist,!” (see blog from two weeks ago) My most formative years I ate, drank, played, learned, grew, breathed in the Civil Rights movement, the Women’s Liberation movement, JFK and his hope-shattering assassination, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his hope-shattering assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Viet Nam War, the Peace demonstrations, the Beatles, hippies, the challenge of every single institution, the challenge to organized religion. What a decade for my most formative years! I could not have chosen a more fortuitous time to be born! I cannot imagine who I would be if I had not been a child of the sixties. The unquestionable, undeniable, foundational complete and total belief in the equality of all is in every gene of my being! How could I not be an Equalist?

It was not until later, when I was in high school, college, and beyond, that I actually read the works of Dr. King and Malcolm X; of Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker. In truth, I was in shock and disbelief when I got my newsletter from Ghost Ranch, where I have been many times, and have led many retreats, and saw that BOTH Alice Walker and Gloria Steinem, not one but two icons from my youth, would be there at one of my favorite places, to share their wisdom! The third woman, Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung, I had heard of, but had never read any of her works. She turned out to be a powerful inspiration for all of us. What I had not realized before attending this retreat, is that all three women are friends, and companions in this difficult work of ushering in full equality for all.

Today Gloria Steinem, mother of the civil rights movement and the feminist movement, is 80 years old, and proud of it! She is still going strong at 80! Her age alone is an inspiration for those of us of younger generations, to keep on keeping on! Before I went to this retreat, I had extremely high expectations for Gloria Steinem. She far exceeded them. Before going I had just re-read her book, The Revolution from Within: A Book on Self-Esteem. I had read some of it as a young woman, but now at 54, I realize the deep wisdom of this book, which I highly recommend. I knew from reading Ms. Magazine for many years (founded and edited by Ms. Steinem),and re-reading her book, that she is highly intelligent. I had not realized how brilliant she is, and I use that word for very few people. The other thing that most impressed me about Gloria Steinem, is that, even after all these years, she is not negative. The struggle for equality for all has not worn her down. She is still positive. She is still hopeful about the future, and she is still working, every day of her life, to usher in that future.

Her talk focused on the practical ways that we can continue to work to bring about equality for all. She had two simple pieces of advice: for all of us to use the power of our money and the power of our vote. I do this. Ms. Steinem said, “I would not buy a toothpick at Walmart,” and I cheered. My husband gets very annoyed with me because of my personal boycott of Walmart. He loves Walmart, and I will wait in the car, while he goes in and shops. Second, Ms. Steinem encourages us all to vote! How appropriate that today is election day! Ms. Steinem gave a concrete example of an election in Saint Louis which came down to just 2000 votes, but how that local election set off a chain of events, that set us back in the movement for equality by decades. So, VOTE! Particularly if you are a woman, VOTE! It was really when women were active in the abolitionist movement, and they realized that they had no political power to bring about equality for African Americans, that they then began to also advocate for equality for themselves! When you realize the price that the early suffragists made for the right to vote, I do not care how long I have to wait in line, I am voting!
Finally, my greatest “take-away” from sitting at the feet of Gloria Steinem is the power of US. After hearing her speak, I called my husband and said, “I hope you don’t mind that I will be coming back from this as even MORE of a feminist.” He said, “Is that even possible?” My entire life I have lived and worked in such a way that I have educated others and advocated for the full equality of all people. But I have done most of my work alone, or as the leader of different groups. For example, at every church I have been at in the twenty-eight years of my ordained ministry, I have started a women’s group, a women’s circle. I have also led countless retreats to help empower other women. I have been a part of anti-racism groups. Recently I was a part of the RI interfaith Coalition for Marriage Equality. I realized how energized I am when I work together with others toward a common cause. Not only that, but there is a power in numbers. We actually got the Marriage Equality Act passed here in RI! I remember standing on the state house lawn, exultant as our governor signed the the Marriage Equality Act into law before my very eyes – history in the making.

Just a few years beforehand I had gathered in Minneapolis for the historic vote on the full inclusion of LBGT persons at the church wide assembly of my Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). I will never forget casting my vote, and then literally seeing the power of a single vote. A two thirds majority was needed to adopt a new policy for the ELCA. I sat beside the statistician for our New England Synod of the ELCA, who sucked in his breath when the vote came in and said, “It is to the decimal point!” That vote passed by 67% to the decimal point!

Why, then, have I never been a part of a women’s coalition, until just a year ago? In 2013, after a fortuitous meeting with an amazing woman named Christine Mangale in New York City, I participated in the United Nations 57th Commission on the Status of Women. I was part of the Lutheran World Federation, and also represented the ELCA. At that commission I also became part of a third coalition, Ecumenical Women, and again, realized the energy and power of US, of a group working together for change.

So, for myself going forward, I will do three things. First, today I will vote. Second, this Thursday I will go to one of the women’s circles I started at my church, and present them with a challenge: how can we use our little circle not just to strengthen and encourage each other, but to actually work to bring about change on a larger scale, together?

Next month I will present our other women’s circle with the same challenge.

Third, I will seek out or create a group or coalition for myself, where I am not the leader, but where I can be fed, challenged, inspired, encouraged, equipped by the power of other women and men, working beside me, in the never-ending movement to create equality for all! Because together we can do so much more, and remain so much stronger, than when we work alone. I realize the unconquerable power of US!

Today may you see the sacred in all you encounter,
and may you reflect the sacred to all you encounter.
Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright November 4, 2014

Photos:  Steph Smith, Gloria Steinem and I at Wisdom Sharing, Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM Oct14, 2014; Mural from Trinity Lutheran Church, NYC; Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, and Melanie Harris, Wisdom Sharing, Ghost Ranch, NM; my granddaughter Sylvie, and her cousin, Ayden (my great-grandchild!), 2014; Governor Chafee signing the Marriage Equality Act, May, 2013, the statehouse lawn, Providence RI; our Lutheran World Relief and ELCA coalition at the UN’s CSW57, May, 2013; some of the women from my church’s SOS (Sisters of Spirit) group; some of the women from my church’s SIS (Sisters in Service) group; together with colleagues at my doctoral graduation, the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, May, 2010!

The Color Purple: The Beauty and Wisdom of Alice Walker

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, recently I spent an amazing few days at a women’s retreat called “Sharing Wisdom – a Deepening Retreat,” held at the breathtakingly beautiful Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, New Mexico. The retreat featured three brilliant, strong, inspirational women: Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, and Chung Hyun Kyung. In this blog, I will focus on the first speaker, Alice Walker, and what I learned from her. Next week I will focus on Gloria Steinem. The following week I will focus on Chung Hyun Kyung.

Most of us know Alice Walker from her book, The Color Purple. I have read this book about ten times. I have quoted it countless times. I have watched the movie (directed by Steven Spielberg) also maybe about ten times, and have used it for women’s and youth retreats. I also saw the play on Broadway with my daughter, Juliana. I have also read about ten other books written by Alice Walker, which is only about half of the books this amazing, prolific woman has written.
The thought of meeting her in person was a bit intimidating. In real life, she is a bit intimidating. She has reached that stage in life where she says what she thinks, and does not really care whether you like it or agree with it. I like this in a person, especially since I recently entered this stage myself!

Four things in particular have stayed with me from her wisdom sharing. First, I was struck by what she said about fear. “I’ve been called fearless all my life. I am not fearless.” She told the story of living in Mississippi with her white husband and their newborn baby when they were young and interracial marriage was illegal. They had one rifle and a German Shepherd. Every week the KKK would send them warnings, that they were coming to kill them. “I was afraid,” she admitted. She told a more recent story of being in a small boat with a group of peace activists, who set sail from Greece to Gaza, and were approached by a huge boat filled with guards with guns, who boarded their little boat. She and the other older women were asked to sit ion the perimeter of the boat, and to pray. “Do you think we were not afraid? We were afraid,” she confessed. “Do not let anyone tell you how you should feel, or that you should not be afraid. Sit with your fear, and pray. Pray that you will hold your ground.”
That’s something that will stay with me. In truth I must admit that I have been letting fear prevent me from writing that book I have been wanting to write since I was a young woman. The day after Alice Walker spoke, I began writing. Thank you, Ms. Walker!

I was also struck by her anti-war writings and activism. “I have been anti-war my entire life. I think that war is stupid. How do we expect to ever have peace by making war? This is why our president is such a huge disappointment. You have a grandmother teaching her grandchildren to pick okra, and they all were killed by a drone. War not only kills our enemies, it also kills our mother earth and all its creatures. Part of why we have war is because we have greed. Someone has something and we want it for ourself. I grew up really poor. I don’t need a lot of stuff. We need to think about this greed in ourselves.” She then shared a new poem called “Why Peace is a Always Good Idea.”

Finally, I was struck by what she said about becoming our true selves, and especially what she said about “sin:” “Don’t waste one moment trying to be something you are not. Find out what is good about the place where you are. I found somewhere in my research that sin is inherent in our being, so as we become our true selves, as we grow, we sin. This is not a negative. It is a positive. For me to be, I have to sin. Sin is part of being. It helps us to learn. She then shared one of her most recent poems: “Hope to Sin Only in the service of Waking Up:”
Hope never to believe it is your duty or right to harm another simply because you mistakenly believe they are not you.
Hope to understand suffering as the hard assignment even in school you wished to avoid. But could not.
Hope to be imperfect in all the ways that keep you growing.
Hope never to see another not even a blade of grass that is beyond your joy.
Hope not to be a snob the very day Love shows up in love’s work clothes.
Hope to see your own skin in the wood grains of your house.
Hope to talk to trees & at last tell them everything you’ve always thought.
Hope at the end to enter the Unknown knowing yourself. Forgetting yourself also. 
Hope to be consumed to disappear into your own Love.
Hope to know where you are –Paradise–if nobody else does.
Hope that every failure is an arrow pointing toward enlightenment.
Hope to sin only in the service of waking up.

For the first time in my life I understand what Martin Luther meant when he said “Sin boldly.” I will sin boldly in the service of waking up.

Finally, the commentator asked her, “How do you pass on wisdom?” She responded: “By surviving…to this point…and being an example of how you can do that.” She then shared a story of a time when she lost someone she had deeply loved, and the suffering and pain that had followed this loss. She went to visit her good friend, June Jordan, and asked her, “How long does it take to get over someone?” June Jordan replied “Two weeks.” Alice said, “That taught me that you can’t follow another’s way. You must follow your own way. You can’t rush things. But you need to know you are being formed into something new from it. Be a warrior. Feel it to the core because something else is being made in it. You will go on to love again. And to be loved again. But in a new way.”

Thank you, Alice Walker, Woman of Wisdom, for sharing your great wisdom with us. May you know our deep gratitude.

May you see God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Linda Forsberg, Copyright October 28, 2014

Photos:  Alice Walker, Melanie Harris, Steph Smith and I at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM; purple orchids, Kaua’i, HI; I (left) am in the same frame as Alice Walker and Melanie Harris (right), Ghost Ranch, NM; Alice Walker, with Gloria Steinem and Melanie Harris, Ghost Ranch, NM; Ocean Cliff, Newport, RI; Iznik in the rearview mirror, Newport, RI; Linda and brand new grand baby, Lola Jane Gibbons, RI

I am an “Equalist.” Are YOU?

Last week my friend Steph Smith and I went to an amazing three day retreat at a place called Ghost Ranch, in breathtaking Abiquiu, New Mexico. This is where the artist Georgia O’Keefe lived and did most of her work. The retreat was called “Wisdom Sharing – a Deepening Retreat.” The leaders, drum roll, were Alice Walker,who wrote The Color Purple and about twenty other books, most of which I have read; Gloria Steinem, one of the key figures of the civil rights and feminist movements, and founder of Ms. Magazine; and Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung, Korean ecofeminist and Asian Women’s theologian at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. These three amazing, inspirational women took turns each of the three mornings presenting from their life work. Then after each individual presentation, there was a panel discussion with all three women, moderated by another amazing woman, Dr. Melanie Harris, a Professor at Texas Christian University. At the end there was time for a few questions from the audience. At the start of each day was a morning circle prayer, led by a Native American woman. in the afternoons, there were also Wisdom Circles, led by visiting Native American women of wisdom. Or you could explore the exquisite Ghost Ranch landscape, and process the almost overwhelming material from the morning. Despite some organizational snafus at Ghost Ranch, it was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. It was so inspiring, in fact, that I began writing that book I have been wanting to write since I was in my twenties!
I called home and said to Ted, my husband, “I hope you don’t mind that I will be coming home even more of a feminist!” to which he replied, “Is that possible?”

I am so thankful that I was accompanied on this spiritual adventure by my friend and colleague, Rev. Stephanie Smith, whom I have known since she was twelve years old, which means for over twenty-five years! Steph, her twin sister, Sue, and their older brother, Dave, used to be in my youth group many years ago when I was the Associate Pastor at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Warwick, RI. All three of them also babysat for my three kids. One of the twins for each of my two girls, who were just sixteen months apart, and their older brother Dave for my son, my eldest child. Steph’s mom, Kerstin, a single mother of these three amazing teenagers, was my support and inspiration when my marriage ended when my three children were two, three and six years old. Steph is now also a Lutheran Pastor, and so for the past few years, we have travelled and done our annual continuing education together. It is always good to have a companion for these spiritual adventures, with whom I can process all of the overwhelming new things I am learning. Each evening at Ghost Ranch we also saw a documentary film. All three films were provocative, and films I intend to purchase and use in my teaching.

The first day the writer Alice Walker was our leader. Her life has been spent fighting for equal rights for persons of color as well as for women. She calls herself an activist, a feminist, and also a womanist (feminism from the perspective of women of color). From her earliest childhood, she has experienced God mostly in nature, so also could be called an environmentalist or ecofeminist. She said, “I gave up on church a long time ago. The earth is my church. Nature is my church.” The documentary film about her life, “Beauty in Truth – Alice Walker,” directed by Pratibha Parmar, is something everyone should see.

The second day was led by Gloria Steinem. Having just re-read her book, “The Revolution from Within: A Book on Self-Esteem,” and being an old follower of Ms. Magazine, I had high expectations for Gloria. She far exceeded them. She is brilliant. She calls herself an activist and a feminist, but really began doing anti-racism work during the civil rights movement. Only after devoting herself to anti-racism work did she realize that the rights she was advocating for for others, she did not have herself as a woman. She is also passionate about our Mother Earth. In fact, as all feminists know, feminism and environmentalism are deeply interconnected.  The film which she had a part in is called Miss Representation.  It is about images of women in the media.

Finally, the woman many of us did not know that well before this event was Dr. Chung.  The film she is featured in is called Jesus & Buddha: Practicing across Traditions.  For the next three weeks I will be blogging about what I learned from each of these three women. Dr. Chung  blew all of us away. She is both Christian and Buddhist. She would call herself an activist, pacifist, ecofeminist, womanist, etc.
Steph and I realized that we are all of these things. The last day of the conference a high school girl got up to speak. She said she had always thought feminists were ugly women who burned their bras and didn’t like men! She said she now realizes that she IS a feminist, but wonders if the word is sometimes misunderstood by people, especially by young people today.
So, Steph and I propose a new word: “Equalist.” I already ran it by a few people at the conference, and they liked it. An “Equalist” is someone who believes in full equality for all, which crosses all sectors of relationships: equality for women and men; equality for people of every race and ethnicity; equality for people of every sexuality/sexual orientation; equality across economic, religious, and political lines; equality across species; equality for all aspects of the earth/cosmos, including the earth and the cosmos themselves as living beings. All these “ists” and “isms” can be confusing and divisive. So, from this day forth, Steph and I are declaring ourselves “Equalists.” How about you?

This day may you see God in all you encounter;

and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Linda Forsberg, Copyright October 21, 2014

Photo credits:  Rev. Steph Smith in front of dining hall, Ghost Ranch; Steph and I, Georgia O’Keefe tour, Ghost Ranch; Alice Walker, Dr. Melanie Harris, Steph and I; Gloria Steinem, Steph and I; Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung and I; processing it all at Ojo Caliente, Hot Mineral Springs, NM

Do You Love Your Body?

I am excited because Monday I travel to one of my favorite places on this earth: Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico. I am excited also because I am going there for a workshop called “Wisdom Sharing: A Deepening Retreat,” which features such amazing women as Alice Walker,(author of The Color Purple and many other amazing books I have read) Gloria Steinem (feminist, activist, leader of the women’s liberation movement, and founder of Ms. Magazine), and Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung (Christian Theologian and Professor at Union Theological Seminary, NYC). So to get ready for this event, I have been reading Gloria Steinem’s book Revolution from Within: A Book on Self Esteem. The part I just finished had to do with body image, and how so few people feel comfortable in their own skin.
I remember during one of my last visits to Ghost Ranch I treated myself to one of the few massages I have ever had. At the end of the massage, the massage therapist, a young woman in her thirties, said, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I could tell that something was weighing on her mind. “Not at all,” I replied. She looked me in the eye and said, “I have given massages to a lot of people over many years, and I do not think I have ever worked on anyone who seemed to be as comfortable in his or her own skin as you are. How did you get that way?”

I instantly recalled another experience, this time a women’s weekend away retreat at Camp Calumet in New Hampshire. About eighty women had just been regaled by a creative, sharp, hysterical one-woman comedy show,”In My Head I’m Thin,” by Susan Poulin. This show was so funny our stomachs literally ached from laughing. After the show a group of about twelve of us gathered in a large bedroom to talk about the performance. It was early November and some of the women had brought all of their children’s leftover Halloween candy, which they dumped onto one of the beds: a mountain of chocolate! As we ate and chatted and laughed, I naively said, “The only thing I disagree with is that she made it sound as though women spend most of their time thinking about our bodies and what we look like.” Dead silence. Finally one woman bravely confessed, “I do. Every time I eat something,” and she popped another piece of chocolate into her mouth,” I think that I shouldn’t be eating this.” Everyone laughed. But woman after woman went around the circle and said, “I think about it all the time. Everywhere you look there is some airbrushed super model making you feel like crap about yourself.” Every single woman in the room, young and old, large or small, nodded her head in agreement. All I could think of was, “What a tremendous waste of intelligence, talent, and energy that could be used constructively in this world.

We ended up talking about it for hours. I ended up scrapping the sermon I had prepared for the next day and writing a whole new one, called “Woman, Be Set Free!” (based Luke13:10-17). Be set free from these images of our bodies which enslave us.
I also could not help but wonder, “Why don’t I feel that way?” I came to the conclusion that I feel so comfortable in my own skin for two reasons. First, my lifestyle , thankfully, pretty much removed me from the influence of the media. I have never been a television watcher. As a child I was outdoors 90% of the time. I still am, every chance I get. As a woman, I was always too busy in school, or working full-time, and caring for three young children as a single parent to waste one minute watching television or reading women’s magazines. The result? I am pretty oblivious to what the media say my body should look like! Thank God!
But the second reason, the more important reason why I love my body, is because of the spiritual component of life. If you truly believe, as I do, that each and every human being is created in God’s own image and likeness, then that is the bottom line. Period.

I think of people as a flower garden: some flowers are tall and wispy; some are short and full-bodied; the variety of color, shape, size and texture is what makes the whole garden so amazing. Each and every flower is stunning in its own way.
But the more I read Gloria Steinem, and see the statistics of how few people can say in all truthfulness “I love my body,” the more I began to think of that massage therapist, and the longing behind her question. The more I thought of those amazing women on that retreat. The more I thought of my daughters, who thanked me for always helping them to feel good about their bodies, and that they are truly beautiful just as they are, even if the media try to convince them otherwise.

So I made a pledge right then and there that I would be an ambassador to help girls and women, boys and men, learn to love their bodies. That afternoon I sat the teenagers in my karate class down and told them how amazing they are, how strong, how beautiful, how powerful. That night I led our women’s spiritual support group, and we talked about the woman in the bible story who had been bent over for thirteen years, and how Jesus said, “Woman, be set free!” and she raised her head and stood up straight. We talked about the text “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” 1 Corinthians 6:19. We talked about how we need to love and respect our bodies, and the bodies of others.

Let us teach this to our children. Let us affirm this in each other. Let us unplug ourselves from the media and help to heal each other of all the wrong messages we have taken in. Let us raise each other up so we can stand, and proclaim, “Yes, I love my body.”

This day may you see God in all you encounter,

especially may you see God in yourself,

and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, copyright October 12, 2014

Photos:  Sylvie’s feet, photo by Tim Alperen; Linda at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM; Linda in Cappadocia, Turkey; Linda on wedding day, Newport, RI; flower garden, Hawaii; Juliana in her fabulous tee shirt, Yellowstone National Park; Natalie, loving her body!

Sometimes S#&! Happens!

So last Friday was our Century Bicycle Ride to raise awareness and funds for Church Beyond Walls, a street ministry in downtown Providence, which ministers to peoples’ physical and spiritual needs. My friend , Eveling Vasquez, and I got this idea to do a 100 mile bicycle ride for CBW. Well, the good news is, we both completed a 100 mile bicycle ride, and raised thousands of dollars for CBW.
The bad news is, some S#&! happened along the way. Eveling and I began our 100 mile ride at 8:30 am from my church, First Lutheran Church of East Greenwich. The first leg of the ride was picture perfect.

At two and a half hours, around 11:00 AM, we were making record time, and at 43 miles had almost reached our halfway mark! We were on Route 1, at the far end of Charlestown. I looked down and gasped! My front tire was nearly flat!

Miraculously, we were almost directly across from Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church. Eveling had planned ahead and had come equipped with a small hand pump. But when I tried to fill my tire, it only released the little air that was left in it. Some men working at the church offered their air compressor. I love church men: always there when you need. them. Unfortunately, not one of their various attachments fit my funky specialized bicycle valve. But I too had planned ahead. I had asked my husband, Ted, who, with my daughter Juliana, had previously done my first century ride with me, if he wanted to do it again. “Hell, no!” was his response. “But…I will be your back-up support if you get a flat or anything.” I called Ted. But by the time we got my tire fixed, we had lost about two and a half hours. I had encouraged Eveling to go ahead on her own, but it was still early, so she said no. Tire pumped up, we headed out from Saint Andrews at around 1:30 PM.
We completed our first half. Our turning point was Ocean House in Watch Hill, Westerly.

We headed back for the return half of the ride. Again, I was feeling great: powerful, energized, excited to be back on the bike, and wondering if I could even break my own record riding time. But alas, after completing another twenty miles, 63 miles total, my front tire was almost flat again! No worries this time. I now had the necessary pump. We quickly got off our bikes, and began inflating my tire. “Oh, S#&!” we exclaimed as the entire valve stem broke off in my hand. There was no pumping up that tire anymore. Plus, it was already 4PM. It would be getting dark in just a few hours, and we still had 37 miles to go. This time, I insisted Eveling ride ahead, so at least one of us would complete the ride before dark. She reluctantly headed out on her own.

I called my husband Ted again. He brought his bicycle as our second back up plan. I rode his bike for ten miles, when his bike frapped out and became unrideable! What was going on? I was deeply disappointed, and on the verge of tears. I had ridden 73 miles, had two bicycles with me, and neither one was rideable. I had a brief pity party. Then I turned my hope and my concern to Eveling. Old enough to be her mother, I told my husband we needed to follow her in our car, to see if she needed support, especially especially as it grew dark.

Ted and I drove the route until we found her. Since the last seven miles of her ride were in total darkness on dangerous Post Road, where there is essentially no bike lane, we rode beside her for the final leg with our flashers on, to keep her safe.
I love Eveling’s spirit. Eveling does not give up. As grueling as the last part of the ride was, she kept pedaling! My fierce, mother lion love filled me with tears and pride, as I watched her finish the ride!
This is the thing. This is the amazing thing that every parent knows: when your child accomplishes something you are not able to, it feels strangely even better than if you had done it yourself. Although Eveling is not literally my child, to see her smile, to know the confidence she will always have because of this accomplishment, filled me with a deep joy for her, for us.

We celebrated! We went out for Mexican food and a margarita for me and a mojito for her!
But…the next morning, I got to the bike shop literally as the guy was unlocking the front door. I told him I was upset, because my bike had NOT been fixed after as he had assured me, so I had NOT been able to finish my century. He examined every inch of that tire, rim, tube, etc. He replaced the tube with a more expensive, thorn-resistant tube at no cost. Why hadn’t he told me about those tubes before the ride? Then, in rain and fierce winds, legs tired from the 73 miles the day before, I finished the damned ride!!! Like Eveling, I am not a quitter.

But I have learned from this. I have learned that some things are within our control, but some things are not. When the things that are not within our control go sour, all we can do is choose how we respond to them. As a person of my word, as a person of integrity, I needed to finish that ride, not just to be true to those sponsors who had pledged $1 a mile for 100 miles, but to be true to myself.
When I announced to my sponsors what had happened, I was moved to tears by their applause. Ted said, “There was no doubt in my mind that you would do the right thing and finish somehow.”
Remember the Jamaican bobsled team? When their bobsled broke down, they got out, picked it up, and carried it across the finish line. The way they handled defeat was more inspirational to me than the way many other Olympic athletes handled victory.
I have not yet shared my saga with the folks at Church Beyond Walls, but I sense that when I do, they will remind me of the prayer we all say together at every CBW worship service, which is known as the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

This day may you see God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright October 7, 2014

P.S. I did bet my riding time record!

Photos:  Eveling Vasquez and Linda Forsberg, at First Lutheran Church of East Greenwich; Eveling Vasquez and Linda Forsberg after the first leg at the Towers, Narragansett; Eveling Vasquez and Linda Forsberg at Ocean House, Watch Hill, Westerly; Ted Gibbons, my husband and rescuer; Eveling Vasquez at the finish line:  First Lutheran Church of East Greenwich (this photo thanks to Catherine Thenault, fellow cyclist, and supporter from CBW); Linda Forsberg, after completing the final 27 miles of my century for CBW; Altar at Church Beyond Walls, featuring the Serenity Prayer

Okay, so talking about Life as a Spiritual Adventure, a friend and I will be embarking on a spiritual adventure this Friday, October 3. We will be doing a 100 mile bicycle ride for a ministry called Church Beyond Walls. Church Beyond Walls is a ministry in Providence, RI, which ministers to peoples’ spiritual and physical hunger. CBW gathers for outside street worship every Saturday at 2:00 PM in Burnside Park, right next to Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence.

Every Saturday ALL are welcomed to worship, and to the sacrament of holy communion. The invitation includes: “Come you who love Jesus and you who wish you could; come you who are sober, and you who are not; come you who are straight and you who are gay; you who are homeless and you who have a place to rest your head; you who are citizens, and you who are not; here at this table we are all citizens of the reign of God.” Every time I speak those words of invitation to the table, I am deeply moved, because I feel that we are all participating in a foretaste of the feast that is to come – the heavenly feast – where ALL the people of God are truly welcome. After all have received the eucharist the communion table becomes a table for an actual meal, just as any church has a time of fellowship and hospitality following their time of worship. I too wait in line with the crowds of fifty to a hundred who gather each week at CBW. When I receive my lunch I sit and have conversation with some of CBW’s other members. The conversations are often very intense. All I can think of during these conversations is one of my favorite post-resurrection stories of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who meet a stranger who walks along beside them, share in conversation, and then share a meal together. It wasn’t until they broke bread together that they recognized the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread. Week after week as I break bread with those who come to CBW I see Christ in my lunch companions (companion literally means “one with whom you break bread”).

Church Beyond Walls was started two years ago by a young Episcopal priest, Rev. Edmund Harris, and the people of Epiphany Episcopal Church in East Providence. I first heard about it a year ago, when I met Father Edmund at a meeting of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches. When he told me about CBW I told him he should meet my close friend Stephanie Smith, a Lutheran pastor who is involved in a very similar ministry in North Hampton, MA, called Cathedral in the Night.

Cathedral in the Night is a ministry partnership between Lutherans, Episcopalians and the United Church of Christ. Stephanie came and preached at our church, and showed a slide show about the ministry of Cathedral in the Night. Our church awarded Cathedral a grant, and also did a “field trip” to North Hampton to help out, prepare the meal, and learn more about this ministry. We were very moved to get involved, but as one woman from our church said, “It’s too bad Cathedral is not closer, so we could participate more frequently.” Ironically just a couple of days later, she gave me an article she had read in the Providence Journal about CBW, exclaiming, “There IS such a ministry closer to us that we CAN get involved in!” The article was all about CBW. Ironically Father Edmund moved to Seattle last June, but not before he passed the baton to a young man named Waylon Whitley, who is now the coordinator of CBW. Waylon and the board of CBW have put together a team of clergy and lay people, Episcopal and Lutheran, who participate in this ministry together.

My friend,Eveling Vasquez, and I love the openness and expansiveness of CBW’s ministry. Eveling and I are also both avid cyclists. So…we got this brilliant idea: why not use our gifts of energy, creativity, athleticism and enthusiasm to raise awareness and also badly needed funds for Church Beyond Walls? That is exactly what we are doing!
How can you help? You can join us for our 100 mile ride this Friday at 8 AM at First Lutheran Church of East Greenwich, 124 Division Street. OR you can support us by praying for us, and sponsoring us in any amount. (Cash or checks can be made out to First Lutheran Church, who will get matching funds and present one grand total check to Church Beyond Walls). We will receive some matching funds from Thrivent Financial.
I am a bit anxious about completing this ride. Eveling is 27 and I am 54 – exactly twice her age! But I am also excited about this spiritual adventure we are embarking on together. The following passage from the Jewish prophet Isaiah gives me inspiration:

“Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall ride (actually walk, but I changed it to “ride”) and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) Also the words from Psalm 103: “The Lord satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’ s.” (I am praying for THAT:) Tune in next week to see how this adventure turns out!

Today may you see God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright September 29, 2014 (The Feast Dy of Saint Michael, the Arch Angel and All Angels)

Photo credits: CBW sign; CBW gathering; CBW altar; my friend Steph Smith and me, cycling in Nashville; Eveling Vasquez cycling; me cycling; me standing at the spot the Olympic torch is lit; my bare feet at the ORIGINAL Olympic starting line! (originally runners would run totally naked, including bare feet of course:); me with Wings at Deborah Faith’s Woman Power Party!

Stressed? Try Tuning In with Prayer

When I was in my early twenties, my internship supervisor, a pastor nearing retirement, asked me, “Can you teach me how to pray?” Which just goes to show you that lots of people might not actually know “how.” The thing is, I do not think there is one definitive answer. In fact, I think there are as many ways to pray as there are people. I think prayer is going to be different for each one of us, depending on who you are, how God made you, what your particular personality is.
The older I get, the more I realize that my definition of prayer is really just tuning in, paying attention, realizing that all of life is connected. My personal definition is that prayer is relationship, or “communion” (literally oneness with), oneness with that source of strength and peace, which I call God, which we all have within us.

There are formal ways of praying which I sometimes do, like praying written or memorized prayers, like the Serenity Prayer or the Lord’s Prayer. There is an ancient form of prayer which is called Lectio Divina (Sacred reading). This involves reading a scared text slowly, meditatively, and tuning in or paying attention to the word, phrase, image, which strikes you, then pondering that one word, phrase or image, perhaps journalling what insights might come as you ponder that image. I used to use lectio just with explicitly “sacred” texts. But now I use it with all kinds of things I read: science, history, psychology, etc. All of life can become sacred when we tune into it in this way.

Some people pray what is called “intercessory prayer,” which means praying for people we know and love who are going through a difficult time. Some people pray in certain postures: kneeling or prostrated to show our humility and utter dependence on God. Some people fold their hands, or close their eyes, to remove distractions, and go within. Some people use something tactile, like prayer beads, a rosary, the fringe of a prayer shawl, etc., as any rhythmic, repetitive motion can serve to lift us out of thought and distractions, and help us to tune in to the source of strength and peace within us.

I do all of this. But mostly, I pray with my body. I am a very physical person, active, athletic. That is why I like yoga: it is praying with your whole body. I also used pray while I ran on trails. For the first mile or two my thoughts were racing, focusing on all of the things that were stressing me. But running also is rhythmic and repetitive. After the first couple of miles, the things that stressed me started to fall away. I would tune into a whole other dimension, into the source of strength and peace I call God. I would also pray for people I know and love, and sense a deep communion with them. I would be surrounded by trees, ocean, other creatures, and felt the connectedness, the oneness of all that is.

I am getting older, so I do not run as much. Instead I bicycle. I pray as I ride, feeling the wind against my body, breathing it in, conscious that in every language I know the same word for wind and breath is Spirit (Hebrew Ruach, Greek Pneuma, Sanskrit Prana).

When my son was little we used to fingerprint together. Again, I would feel a connection with that source of strength and peace inside, as my fingers meditatively moved in spirals through wet paint. When we were done, we would hang our masterpieces on the fridge. My friend Ginger, who lived with us at that time, would come home and say. “Wow! That reminds me of death and resurrection.” “What? My finger painting?” I would ask, and brush it off. Many months later, having been through some devastating struggles, yet emerging from these with a sense of a new beginning, I walked into my kitchen and saw that old finger painting in a new light. It WAS about death and resurrection: my own!

So, maybe for you prayer is sitting in silence. Maybe for you prayer is playing the piano, and losing yourself in the music. Maybe for you prayer is cooking, or gardening, or knitting or lovemaking, running or swimming or sharing a deep conversation with someone you love.

Saint Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” Many people say he didn’t mean that literally. But I think he did because prayer is not a bunch of stuff that you do but a state of being you live in, in which you do all that you do. Prayer is tuning in. It is paying attention. As Alice Walker said it is walking through a field of purple flowers and noticing the purple flowers.

Prayer is realizing the deep connectedness of all that is, living in the awareness of the communion, the Oneness we share with all that is. Prayer is breathing. Prayer is breath.

This day may you pray without ceasing;
may you see God in all that you encounter;
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright September 22, 2014

Photos:  Linda as Mother Lion, Yellowstone National Park; Morning Prayer in Nova Scotia; Morning Prayer in Cappadocia, Turkey; Yoga in Greece; Running in Nova Scotia; 100 kilometer bicycle ride in Nova Scotia; ancient caravanserai, Turkey; a walk  with Jules in Yellowstone National Park; wildflowers in Glacier National Park; taking a deep breath with Sylvie

The Tree of Life

As far back as I can remember, I have always had a thing for trees. I feel a connection with trees, as though we are related, cousins on our Mother’s (Earth’s) side. Two trees in particular played an important role in my life, and although neither one of them remains standing, they both stand strong, tall, and majestic in my memory.

The first tree is an elm, which was part of a small park, “Elm Circle,” at the end of my childhood street, Willow Drive. I was an outdoor child in the days when even my overprotective mother would let me play outside all day long, and only return home for meals. My friend Bobby and I would say to each other, “Elm Circle, as fast as lightening!” and race each other on our bicycles to my Tree. When I got to be about eight or nine, I most often rode my bicycle to Elm Circle by myself. There I would hoist my long, skinny girl-almost-woman body up into the branches of “My tree.” I would sit in my leafy perch, pouring out the contents of my young soul to my Tree: my struggles at home or with classmates, my joys and triumphs. From my perch I could see high above the houses in my suburban neighborhood, to the tall buildings of the city beyond, appropriately named “Providence.”

It was not until my early thirties, when I participated in a three-year spirituality program, that I came to realize that my Tree was one of my earliest experiences of God. For that program we had to do a life-line, recalling our experiences of the Divine beginning in our childhood years. It was one of the instructors for the course, who also was my spiritual director at that time, who helped me to see that my Tree was one of my earliest images of God. Since then I have called it my God Tree. It had been struck by lightening in a storm, and so was tilted at a severe angle.

I organized a team of children who every day would go to my Tree with me, and lean against it, trying to push it back into proper alignment! In retrospect I like the fact that my Tree was wounded, and bent toward the earth, making its branches lower and accessible to me as a child. All of my heart’s aches and longings were poured out in that tree. When the winds blew I felt held by its branches, rocked through the storms of my life. It was a shock to me when, in mid-life, I visited Elm Circle to discover that my Tree was no longer there. But it is eternally with me, part of me.

The second Tree is the last one that lined the drive at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, which leads to the Eisenhower House, the President’s former summer home. I only discovered this Tree eleven years ago, when I met my husband, and we went on our first bicycle ride together. We still ride the same seventeen-mile route almost every day, spring through fall. Our Tree is the place we would stop and rest. When we were married eight years ago, that Tree was our witness. In fact, my introverted husband’s desire was to have our wedding consist of me, him and our Tree. Ultimately, we also had some family and close friends stand with us under our Tree that day.

Three years ago, I noticed that our Tree had been struck by lightening, or infected with some kind of disease. Again, I was deeply shocked when we returned from my sabbatical in Turkey and Greece that summer, went on our bicycle ride, and found that our Tree no longer stood at the end of the drive. I deeply grieved its loss. But my husband consoled me: “It is as though our Tree was just for us. No one will ever be able to get married under that Tree again.” Again, that Tree is eternally with me, part of me.

On all of my travels, while some people are drawn to museums or cathedrals, I am drawn to Trees. Every place we have visited, I have felt deeply connected to a certain Tree, and chronicled my trips with photographs of my Tree companions. My favorite Trees are Beech Trees, whose huge majestic trunks and branches remind me so much of the human form, their branches like limbs entwined in an intimate dance.

This morning I was reading the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, preparing for my Wednesday morning bible study. In the Story of Creation in Genesis 2, it speaks of the Tree of Life, and also of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or what the footnotes call the Tree of Wisdom. To my surprise the footnotes also say that in biblical times Trees were considered the feminine aspect of the Divine!!! How appropriate! In the New Testament, the Cross is said to be the Tree of Life, transforming death into eternal Life!

Finally, in the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, it speaks of the Tree of Life, whose leaves bring the healing of the nations. People who know me know that the necklace I wear most often is in fact of the Tree of Life.

So, I guess my thing for Trees is not so weird after all.
How about you? If you were to do a life-line, where in your life have you experienced God’s presence? My daughter always had a thing for rocks, another image for God. One of my sisters experiences God’s presence in the Ocean. The mountains. The desert. The forest. The Sunlight. In many and various ways the Divine speaks to us.
Today may you see God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright September 16, 2014

Photos:  A volcanic park in Utah; Koa tree behind Iolani Palace, Honolulu; Koa tree, World Botanical Gardens, Hilo, Hawaii; Georgia O’Keefe’s most frequently painted tree, Ghost Ranch, Abiqui, New Mexico;  tree trench in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; our wedding under our Tree, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, Rhode Island; a road stop, Greece; a Beech Tree, Broadway, Newport, Rhode Island;  Cross at Christ in the Desert Benedictine Monastery, Abiquiu, New Mexico; cottonwood tree, White Sands, New Mexico

Male and Female: a Dance of Opposites

This fall I am officiating at a lot of weddings, which means lots of premarital sessions with couples. I always ask a couple to tell me their “Story.” How did they meet? What attracted them to each other? How and when did they know that this is the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with? Over and over I hear the truth of the statement “Opposites attract.”
In my own marriage I experience this as a reality. My husband and I continue to grow into what feels like a dance of opposites: a balance that is in constant creative tension, never stagnant, always shifting, moving, flowing back and forth. The symbol that best depicts this for me is the Buddhist Yin and Yang symbol: black and white, opposite shaped puzzle pieces that fit, but whose shape also depicts movement: when the black part is small the white part is large; when the black part is large the white part is small. Each part also contains a small circular piece of the other within itself. There are times in our marriage, when I yield to my husband, when I let him be the large one, and I the small. There are times in our relationship when it is better for me to be large, and him to be small.

Many people do not know that the white part of the yin and yang symbol is the yin, the feminine energy, and the black part is the yang, or masculine energy. In Hatha yoga, which I teach, we have the same principle: Ha means sun, masculine; Tha means moon, feminine. A Ha yoga or solar practice is hot, strong, and intense, a strength-building, kick-butt kind of practice. These must be balanced with lunar practices, which are cooling, calming, and restorative, like the moonlit night.

Yoga in fact, means “yoke.” Yoga is about balancing the masculine and feminine energies within ourselves. Psychologist Carl Jung says the same thing, only he calls these attributes: anima (feminine) and animus (masculine). 
The fun part is that both male and female persons have masculine and feminine energies or attributes. My husband and I joke with each other because he loves romantic comedies, and always cries at the predictably happy endings; I on the other hand love a good boxing movie! He who is a strong, athletic (former professional football player) male sometimes has more female energy, and I, a pastor but also an athlete and black belt, at times exhibit more masculine energy. We both have both energies within us.

One of my favorite thinkers, Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, who also edited The Portable Jung), says, in fact, that marriage is a spiritual exercise in which two truly do become One. “What is marriage? The myth tells you what it is. It’s the reunion of the separated duad. Originally you were one. Now you are two in the world, but the recognition of the spiritual identity is what marriage is…Marrying the right person, we reconstruct the image of the incarnate God, and that’s what marriage is…the two really are one…but the one isn’t just you, it’s the two together as One. And that’s a purely mythological image signifying the sacrifice of the visible entity for a transcendent good.” (The Power of Myth)

In other words, I love the Tao (literally the Way) symbol of Yin and Yang because both halves are contained within a circle, a symbol of wholeness. Two opposites held together in a creative tension, a dancing balance, within the whole, the circle, the One.

Each person, male or female, must live this dance within him/herself. To be out of balance is to become ill. The words health, wholeness, and holiness all have the same root. When we live with a healthy balance of male and female energy within ourself, then we can live in a healthy relationship with another, male or female. The “opposites attract” idea works in same gender couples too, as they tell me that this is their experience also. What about organizations? I have learned the hard way that organizations also need a balance of male and female energies: too much of one and things go amuck!

A dance of opposites is essential on a large scale as well: institutions,including religious institutions, nations, governments. It does not take a genius to realize that many of the problems in our world today are because we have an imbalance of power, which gives a high value to male energy, and devalues female energy. Do we not realize that we are shooting ourselves not in the foot but right through our core? 

A friend told me that Bill Gates travelled to Saudi Arabia, and was asked what they needed to do to become one of the top ten technological nations. He said, “Well, if you are not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you are not going to get too close to the top 10.” Amen! No person, marriage, religion, tribe, organization, nation will ever reach the fullness of its potential until it incorporates this dance of opposites, in which both are equally valued and realize their interdependence.
My husband tells me I need to coin a new word which captures this balance of female and male energies. I like the word balance, but he says that word is too static. I agree. When I picture the Tao yin and yang, I picture it as made up of a zillion pixels, all dancing in motion, interpenetrating, infusing each other. Alive. Energizing each other. Whole. I will let you know when I come up with a word that names this.

This day may you see God in all you encounter,
may you reflect God to all you encounter,
and may we come to be holy whole together.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright September 8, 2014

Photos:  Painting of Genesis 1, by Victoria Forsberg-Lary; Yin and Yang symbol; Sun in Newport, RI; Moon in Boulder, CO; Yoga in Greece; photos from our wedding, thanks to Bonnie Anderson; photo of Tara and Greg, Easter Sunrise, Sandy Point Beach, Warwick, RI