(un)Stuck and Anticipating
It’s our first Fifth Sunday at the Haven Collective. When these come along, we use them as a chance to reflect on what God’s been doing over the last month. So today’s reflections are all designed to help us settle into and appreciate the growth we’re experiencing! Listen to the music, consider the poem and pictures, reflect on the last month of your life.
Visual Meditations:
These three images are some of the best photographs taken in 2023 (click to enlarge them). Each has a caption to give some context. What do the images communicate to you about being (un)stuck? How do they interact with your own journey over the last month?
A child passes over a narrow stretch of the Rio Grande at the U.S. border with Mexico on March 29. Driven partly by a surge of Venezuelans seeking asylum, a record number of people migrated from South and Central America to the U.S., with arrivals reaching 2.5 million in the federal fiscal year that ended in October. | Go Nakamura - The New York Times
"Costaleros", who carry on their backs the portable dais platform which supports a statue of Jesus Christ of the "Padre Jesus Nazareno" brotherhood, participate in the holy week procession in Priego de Cordoba, southern Spain, on April 7. | Manu Fernandez—AP
Every winter at Ras Al Khaimah, camel handlers take their camels into the sea of r a wash and bathe. The saltwater helps rid the animals of parasites. Bathing camels in this way is an old Arab tradition, but it is becoming less common in the region due to the construction of new hotels and resorts along the coastline. | "Tradition", Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates - Shyjith Onden Cheriyath (UAE)
A Poem:
“I Consider Doubting Thomas at Pet Kare in a Sonetto and a Half”
by Julianna Baggott in Instructions, Abject & Fuming
There is only love at Pet Kare. These girls
hold empty hermit crab shells to their ears
like matching headphones. These boys caught crawfish
at a pond and want to keep them alive.
One clerk holds our bunny upside down, blows
on the fur between its legs then pushes
until something pink emerges. A boy,
she says. But her manager disagrees.
No. Look. It’s a girl. We don’t really care.
The boys have their crawfish, mini-lobsters
floating in pond water, souls suspended;
we have our bunny in a cardboard box.
My daughter says, If our small bunny dies,
let’s hope it dies within the first ten days
so the warranty gives us a new one or
store credit to buy a bunny leash.
But it may not die, Thomas. It may not
ever die. The boys know that the crawfish
could outgrow the glass jars, get transported
to the tub, and then expand forever.
See how we believe, Thomas. We believe.
Musical Meditation:
“scared of my guitar” by Olivia Rodrigo
Spend some time listening to this song. How does this song intersect with your spiritual journey over the last month?
Prep Questions:
The Beacons open with reflection on some questions that spring from the teaching. Spend some time this week journaling, meditating on or discussing these questions:
- Which of the various media most resonated with you? How does it resonate with your journey over the past month?
- How would you describe your spiritual journey over the last five weeks?