Day 315 January 25th 2021:

i met christ

jesus)my heart

flopped over

and lay still

while he passed(as

close as i'm to you

yes closer

made of nothing

except loneliness

Some thoughts on conversion by Geoff Wood

A peasant met us, from whose mouth we learned / That from the spot which had perplexed us first / We must descend, . . . / We questioned him again, and yet again; / But every word that from the peasant’s lips / Came in reply, translated by our feelings, / Ended in this, - ‘that we had crossed the Alps’.

Those words are taken from William Wordsworth’s The Prelude – Book 6, written over the first half of the 1800’s. It includes poetically a chronicle of a walking tour he made with a friend into the Swiss Alps.

Have you ever undergone a conversion?

I mean an experience in one way or another that so carried you beyond the everyday worries of life, your preoccupations with pressing concerns, from the chatter of the media and even the routines of piety itself, that left you, as St. Paul describes in today’s second reading,

weeping as not weeping, rejoicing as not rejoicing, buying as not owning, using the world as not using it fully . . . [because] the world in its present form is passing away?

In other words: leaving you (at least for a moment) at a loss before a clean slate – old habits and opinions somehow no longer operative (at least for a moment) – as if, after climbing day after day after day, you are surprised to learn that you have just crossed the Alps? I had an experience like that – as I have mentioned in talks here at St. Leo’s – it happened in a classroom in Rome during a lecture on St. Paul himself so that when I left the classroom I was in a different space and even time – as if my calendar had opened to a “thirteenth month” of the year.

You plod along from infancy through this and that situation, subscribed to this or that answer to things as society has conjured up. You acquire the appropriate identities – ethnic, national, racial, economic, even ecclesiastical. You carry your necessary “passports”. Things are predictable from day to day, leaving you with the usual errands and appointments for weeks ahead.

You climb the ever ascending incline of time and then somebody or something informs you that “you have just crossed the Alps.” As Wordsworth continues: . . . I was lost; / Halted without an effort to break through; / But to my conscious soul I now can say / - “I recognize thy glory.” Given the boundless grace of God, such moments need not be rare – though they can, as happened to St. Paul, toss you to the ground, engaging you to reorient the way you see, speak, hear and do things: as with amazing grace.

Often conversions need no conscious effort on our part. God has plenty of time to waste – until by a word spoken, a question posed, a lyric heard and you pause. Or only if one day it crosses your mind to ask yourself

who am I?

what am I?

where do we all come from?

Such moments can open you up to a revelation, an experience, even as a flower opens up to a honeybee. Poets speak of such shocks, as did E. E. Cummings when he wrote:

no time ago

or else a life

walking in the dark

i met christ

jesus)my heart

flopped over

and lay still

while he passed(as

close as i'm to you

yes closer

made of nothing

except loneliness

Untitled Poem 92

by e.e. cummings

Reflection by Geoff Wood

Monday Announcements

1.

Pat O'Connor reminds us that the mother of the family she's working with needs a job. She would gladly work as a caregiver. Please call Pat if you hear of anything.

2.

Peter Schneider, head of our tithing committee reminds us to get those tithing requests in during the next 2 weeks. The Cutoff Date is February 8th, 2021.

Please submit your requests to Peter Schneider

Email: rigsail@gmail.com

OR MAIL:

6270 Anderson Road, Forestville California 95436

And if you have questions Peter would love to hear from you:

(707) 477-6670

3.

Steve Lyman suggests we watch a film "One Night in Miami"

The film is a fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s.

Take a look at the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8vf_Cmh9nY

4.

Peace and Justice Center preparing a nutritious, hot meal for the homeless

Alice Waco suggests we donate as individuals to the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County (a 501-c-3 non-profit) in order to support their outreach efforts to the homeless. Specifically the provision of a ht meal which is brought to the homeless.

Read about the Center at:

http://www.pjcsoco.org/

According to their website: Your donations, large or small, help support our nonprofit organization so that we may continue to do our vital work striving for equity and justice. A convenient Donate tab is on our website so that donations can be made online via the secure PayPal link at

www.pjcsoco.org/donate

Donation Checks can be mailed to:

Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County

467 Sebastopol Avenue

Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Mission & Vision Statements:

The mission of the Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County is to inform, support and energize the Sonoma County community to create peace and social justice through active nonviolence.​

The Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County envisions a world of Peace & Justice, where differences are respected, conflicts are addressed nonviolently, oppressive structures are dismantled, and people live in harmony with the earth and one another.

4.

Jim McFadden invites us to call members of the Board of Supervisors to lobby on behalf of our friends and neighbors who are in danger of eviction. They are meeting on Tuesday the 26th starting at 8:30 am to further discuss the matter. (But please be aware that the agenda item is far down the calendar at item #42B

The January 26, 2021 Board of Supervisors Meeting will be facilitated virtually through Zoom. Members of the public can watch or join the meeting using one of the two following methods:

1. WATCH LIVESTREAM:

https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Once the meeting has started, click the “In Progress” hyperlink to begin viewing.

2. JOIN THE ZOOM MEETING:

Participate by computer, tablet, or smartphone application:

Go to: https://sonomacounty.zoom.us/j/96249055004?pwd=ejc5VmMrS0RkbGs4Z2NPVnZuM1MvUT09

Enter meeting ID: 962 4905 5004

Enter Password: 278432

Participate by phone:

Dial +1 (669) 900 9128

Enter meeting ID: 962 4905 5004

Enter password: 278432

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Public Comment may be made via email or during the live zoom meeting. To submit an emailed public comment to the Board email bos@sonoma-county.org. Please provide your name, the agenda number(s) on which you wish to speak, and your comment. These comments will be emailed to all Board members. Public comment during the meeting can be

made live by joining the Zoom meeting using the above provided information. Available time for comments is determined by the Board Chair based on agenda scheduling demands and total number of speakers.

Eviction protection will be discussed as part of a larger discussion on COVID Response In Agenda item 42B

COVID Response - Local Ordinance Options and Considerations - Item #42B will be 42B. COVID-19 Renter Protection Information and Discussion of Options 2021-0045 A) Receive information on limiting allowable bases for eviction during COVID-19 crisis via just cause ordinance; Board of Supervisors authority to limit late fees in the residential rental context during COVID-19 crisis; and potential adoption of right to counsel ordinance for residential eviction matters.

B) Provide direction to staff regarding drafting or ordinances to be considered by Board of Supervisors at a later date.

5.

A song suggestion from Jacqueline:

The City of God by Dan Schutte:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXZTYV1Pq_M