In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Cleta Crisman has edited a reflection from Arthur Roberts, first written and shared with pastors in Northwest Yearly Meeting in June 2003. At the time, Arthur’s wife, Fern, was struggling with an outbreak of “a particularly vicious variety of Clostridium bacteria.... A routine application of antibiotics in dental surgery” had compromised Fern’s guardian bacteria, and this “monster” was wreaking havoc on her body.
Arthur writes that “maybe there’s a parable here: We live in an environment not only inhabited by good and bad bacteria in the gut, but also good and bad influences, persons, ideas, and spirits.” I might add that there are also systems, attitudes, perceptions. There is also our response.
A friend of mine frequently asks, “When you’re under stress, what is your default?” And how might we overcome such defaults (this bad bacteria in our guts)?
Arthur admits that he’s not sure exactly “what powerful combination of truth and love enables you to fend off the ‘destroyer.’” He’s too tired from battling these lions “that prey upon a loved one ... but love makes it not only bearable but spiritually fulfilling. In bearing one another’s burdens – whether burdens of the body, mind, or spirit – we fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Cleta offers a prayer suggestion at the end of Arthur’s reflection: “Lord, show me how to do my part to stay strong against any form of evil that would try to trip me up. Thank you for your constant and loving protection!”
Eric Muhr
The miracle of food
In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Pam Ferguson reflects on her work managing a community food pantry. “In six years, I’ve handled over a million pounds of food. I watch food items come and quickly go.” And Pam wonders at her “various motivations: feeding children, saving food from landfills, meeting an increasing need in my community, increasing the amount of fresh food and protein to the most vulnerable . . . creating a network of volunteers.”
I relate to Pam’s experience, thinking about the number of words I’ve edited at Barclay Press, or from back when I was teaching, the number of students who moved through my classroom. I wonder what you would count in your own reflection about what you’ve accomplished over the years.
Pam writes that the more than “a million pounds of food” represents “much time and energy wondering how I am going to fill the shelves at the pantry or where the money will come from.”
I can relate to this as well – the sense that the problems I face are too much and that I am not enough. Pam writes that long ago, she “gave up the need to know how it will be done,” and she claims the story of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath as a source of hope. “The miracle of nourishment is a gift from our Creator and a reminder of God’s care for every human being, especially those who have little.”
This week, a week of Thanksgiving, is a time for many to think about family and food. (I’ll be at my grandma’s house in southern Oregon. I’ll roast the turkey and bake crescent rolls. My sister will make pie. My grandma will eat all the olives.) Pam writes that this is also a week when people remember their neighbors in need, “a week of increased donations to the food pantry. Being present to watch the miracle of food filling the shelves blesses me. It reminds me that miracles come in all forms – and the miracle of nourishment should never be taken for granted.”
Eric Muhr
Letting the Light In
We did it.
Nearly sixty writers from across the country gathered outside of Newberg for the first of a series of annual writing retreats – Letting the Light In: Writing for the Growth of the Soul. The retreat, hosted by Tilikum and jointly sponsored by Barclay Press and Renovaré, was for Christian writers who “need the vision to wrestle honestly with the complexities of the human condition and the skills to articulate those realities in ways that are crisp and imaginative.”
We explored writing as a spiritual practice, prayed together, made music together, ate together, shared readings from our work. We explored the spiritual disciplines that inform good writing. We talked about the rhythms of the creative process. We considered what it means both to tend the light we’ve been given and to shine light into the lives of those who read our stories. On Saturday afternoon, we celebrated the life and work of Richard Foster with the groundbreaking for a Writers Cabin that will sit next to Tilikum Lake, just a few hundred yards from the spot where – nearly 40 years ago – Richard worked on Celebration of Discipline.
We agreed to write light into the world.
And we were reminded what this work of writing light requires: we dare not avert our eyes from the darkness. Where the heartbreak, the injustice, and the hatred is – that is where we must do our work.
During the weekend, I met personally with a handful of writers. People pregnant with stories. On tenderness. On trauma. On life. Some of these stories will be books for Barclay Press to help birth.
I could use your help.
I shared last week that our goal this year is to raise $25,000. That amount will allow us to continue cutting into our long-term debt while increasing the number and diversity of titles we publish. This is not an exciting fund-raising project. But after my experience this weekend, I know it’s important. Please consider one of the following:
- Click on Share Stories Change Lives in the right margin of this letter to donate through Paypal. Any amount helps, and if you click the “Make this a monthly donation” box, you can spread out the effect of your gift and increase our financial stability.
- Mail a check to Barclay Press, 211 N. Meridian St. #101, Newberg, OR 97132; or call us at (800) 962-4014 to make a donation by phone.
In her presentation on Saturday night, Gina Ochsner reminded us that “we are light keepers.... We send the light because we know that if we didn’t, lives would be lost.”
The world needs more light.
Eric Muhr