Showing up
Annie & Alison Newsletter #6
I awoke on Friday morning to an email from my friend, Alyssa. She writes a wonderful blog called “bird songs and saints.” The email contained an announcement of her latest blog post, which I read all the way through while sipping my coffee. This blog post titled, “unforced rhythms of grace,” was exactly what I needed to read.
Among other things, Alyssa is really good at paying attention to the world and being fully present. In this post, she talks a lot about The Paschal Cycle, which I had never heard of before. It’s essentially a framework for moving through the inevitable and continual journeys of grief, hope, and surrender that make up our lives. This cycle is reflected in the events of Easter and Jesus’ final days on Earth. Through discussing this cycle, she reminded me that rather than trying to manufacture the steps to get us from grief to hope, we need to simply show up to the process. It will happen on its own if we let it, because that is the way that God works. Beauty is not forced, it is discovered. Undeserved moments of grace are continually unfolding in the world. We will see them if we pay attention.
I’m very much in the middle of transition right now. My life feels like its “on the cusp” of new adventures, but the adventures aren’t at all clear. Though I have a tendency to want to take things into my own hands and manufacture outcomes, I am trying to simply show up to what God is already doing. Agency matters, but so does patience. And if there is hardship, there will most certainly be hope and newness next.
In the midst of the journey, there’s still food to be made! This week’s reviewed recipe round-up:
During this week of cooking…
I learned… (surprise!), I might actually like olives! (Now that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.) The Skillet Chicken recipe (which is downright incredible) uses crushed Castelvetrano olives (apparently one of the more mildly flavored varieties), heated over a skillet with vinegar and sumac. And I enjoyed them, though I didn’t expect to!
I read… Last year's Holy Week and Easter occurred just as the long-term reality of the pandemic was settling in. I distinctly remember feeling like all the lights of the world were slowly dimming to a darkness as I realized just how differently the rest of the year, or longer, would be from how I had pictured it. Since college, Holy Week has been my favorite week of the year. A time to gather and practice centuries-old liturgies like feet-washing on Maundy Thursday and sitting in darkness with tiny candles on Good Friday, reflecting on the death and sacrifice of Jesus. To have those gatherings stripped away from me only amplified the feeling of hopelessness. My friend Amy Bornman felt this too, and asked a group of us to write poems about our reflections on the various services and traditions of Holy Week, in lieu of gathering together. She compiled them into an anthology that is available for free download, here: Poems for the Great Vigil of Easter. The hope is that wherever you are during this year’s Easter, hope or no hope, belief or disbelief, that you feel met in these poems. Held as you consider “your place in the family of things.”
I listened to… Even the Rich. A light-hearted, comedic podcast that explores the history of various family dynasties in America. It’s funny and fascinating. My favorite ones so far have been Beyonce & Jay-Z and The Kardashians. I’m currently listening to the Murdoch Family series. I like to listen to these kinds of podcasts while I clean or run errands.
May we all notice at least one unforced moment of grace this next week.
xo,
Annie
