Author: Carol Bradsen

We have a new community member.
She has 16 children, 19 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren and
she had her latest baby in 2022, Miso.

We adopted Salt in a symbolic act of solidarity with this GRAND grandmother, an integral part of the health of the ocean and its capacity to sequester carbon. Whales not only feed on plankton but feed plankton with the fertilizer of their nutrient rich poop. These small creatures take in CO2 and produce oxygen, providing half the oxygen we breathe. They are like the Amazon Forest of the ocean.

The impetus to adopt a whale came from our Earth Circle and was approved by St Hildegard’s Council. We also sent a contribution to Nan Hauser, a researcher on Cook Island who is 70 and still researching and loving whales. You can see videos of her work at whaleresearch.org. This is a scientist who exudes excitement, connection, and compassion for the whales. Check her out and consider your own donation if you are able.

Earth Circle meets once a month on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm Central via Zoom. If you’d like to join us, please email us at sthildecommaustin@gmail.com to get the link. We’d love to have you join us as we lament the loss we feel as Earth is ravaged, and as we find joy in connections between humans and the natural world. When we gather, we recognize our interdependence with all life and the efforts of many to work in harmony with our great Mother Earth, for we are the Earth.

Another way to get involved is to download the app on your phone: ClimateActionNow.org which gives an easy way for you to take actions to work in harmony with Earth. We use it and it keeps us aware, awake, and engaged.

I hope to see you at Earth Circle on the third Tuesday evening of the month!
Nancy

Adopt your own whale! See  whales.org 

In today’s Lenten journal, Rev. Judith Liro ponders circles—the circle made by prayer beads, the circle we gather in to worship, and the great circle of life.

The circle itself feels healing to me, familiar and meaningful to St. Hildegard’s for all of our years together.  We’ve experienced years of transformation in our circles and so I naturally expect the circle of beads in the rosary to be full of life and healing.  In the beginning those of us who were liturgists of St. Hildegard’s were instinctively drawn to the circle.  We realized that sitting in pews wouldn’t work for the liturgies we were dreaming so we chose the parish hall—bare, yet spacious and flexible.  We chose to arrange the chairs in a circle or oval creating an intimate space to share our lives and look into each other’s faces.  We wanted room to dance and experimented with styles.  We were blessed when Lila taught us sacred circle dances, some contemplative and quiet and others lively and celebratory. We enjoyed free-form movement in response to our Song of Celebration that was held by the circle.  Years before we were called as a community, we gathered in smaller circles for transformative study and to share our lives and these transformative circles continue.

As a symbol the circle can mean wholeness, inclusion, the power of the female, goddess.  It can symbolize Mother Earth, the sun, the universe. In our eyes a circle meant respect for a non-hierarchical wisdom, that each being offered something of value.  I’ve been seeking daily prayers for Hildegardians to share and now the circle of rosary beads seems to fit in a way that other forms of prayer haven’t.  We may want to fill the circle and pray the circle in a variety of ways but it may give shape to our prayers in a way that flows organically out of our life together.

When I pray around the circle I’m reminded of belonging to the Circle of Life and of being loved and embraced here no matter what.  I’ve discovered that these prayers help me to embrace all of life with its joys and sorrows, its glory and devastation. I’m reminded of sitting in our circle for the Service of the Word, passing The Peace, and gathering close around our round Altar-Table for Holy Communion. For me the circle of the rosary is a sign of community where all of creation is welcome and honored, experienced locally and globally. 

What is your experience of circle and of praying with circles?

Love,

Judith

“Within our community we’ve been longing for a shared practice that is Hildegardian and organic, a dance with Spirit and traditional form resonating with our life up to now and fitting our new reality of being dispersed across many time zones. Perhaps praying with beads together in a Hildegardian way could enhance our healing container for this new time.  It’s a rhetorical question and we won’t know until we see if Sophia will bring this to birth in us.  We’ll have to live the question and see what happens.” 

“During Lent we are exploring this for ourselves, and invite anyone who finds themselves drawn here to consider trying the practice for yourself. We are sharing some thoughts here on our blog and on Instagram over the next 40 days.  It’s an invitation to a Lenten practice for anyone who is seeking a connection with the Divine. 

“Praying with beads is a daily practice that can go anywhere with you—you can carry your beads in your pocket, wear them on your wrist or keep them near you throughout the day. Praying with beads represents a deep spiritual practice that offers daily prayers that can fit into a busy life in the world. One round can be prayed at the same time each day or prayed in fits and starts if your day has many interruptions.

“In the days to come I’ll reflect and post more here on the blog. Thanks to each of you who is sharing this Lenten journey with me. And thanks to each of you praying daily for our country and world with all of our challenges and Earth, our beautiful home.  We are part of a larger circle yearning for healing and peace.

“May you know that you are Beloved.”

—Judith 

For this Lenten experiment, you may already have beads that are special to you. You can use beads from any tradition or make your own. 

​​As you choose your prayer beads, or gather your supplies, begin to think about what quotations, stories, memories, images, songs, poems, prayers you will choose to accompany you through Lent this year.

There are formal and ancient prayer practices in several religious traditions that include beads. 

In the Catholic tradition it is called praying the rosary. A rosary has 59 beads.

In the Buddhist tradition, the string of 108 prayer beads is called a mala. 

Worry Beads

St Hildegard’s is part of the Episcopal or Anglican Tradition. Anglican prayer beads have 33 beads.

You may choose to make traditional prayer beads or something of your own creation. You could even use a bracelet that you already have. It comes down to the simple point that the beads are tangible objects that help us focus. Through touching the beads, seeing them, maybe even smelling them, we bring our focus on the here and now. As we pray or sing or recite a poem, while holding the beads, we increase the ways our whole body is awake and aware and open to the Divine Mystery.

The internet has many videos and links to books about making your own prayer beads.  Here are some DIY prayer bead resources: 

You don’t have to spend money, you can make your own beads from recycled paper:

https://craftingagreenworld.com/articles/how-to-make-prayer-beads-pope-francis/

Here’s a video on how to make Anglican prayer beads

Rev. Andrea Morrow at  St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wyandotte, Michigan, made this easy to understand video for her church’s Sunday School kids, but it works for us all. Her cat even makes an appearance! 

We hope you will send a picture of your beads and come back for more discussion of praying with beads during Lent. 

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/02/21/episcopalians-explore-embrace-green-burial-as-a-final-act-to-care-for-creation/

From the article by BY HEATHER BEASLEY DOYLE, see link above for full article
” Episcopalians are helping to shape the future of funeral practices as people increasingly consider the economic and environmental costs of typical American burials, while also seeking to reconnect with the circular nature of life and death in the natural world.”

“In 2016, Cindy Ybarra bought the 30 acres of land that have become the conservation cemetery. “I’ve been keenly aware of the environmental crisis to the point of almost despairing, so this gives me the feeling of doing all that I can to address it,” she said. After Cindy read the book “Wilding,” she and her son Michael decided to somehow return the land to nature. They “almost jokingly” considered starting a cemetery, Michael said. When they met Sarah Wambold, a licensed funeral director who had left the mainstream funeral industry, the idea was no longer a joke. Wambold was eager to meet the Ybarras, with their land and vision.

“When the pandemic began, they had finished the legal work for the cemetery, but Covid-19 ruined plans to offer in-person green burial workshops. Wambold and Ybarras successfully changed that plan thanks to the creation care grant they received from The Episcopal Church in 2020. Michael and Cindy are both Episcopalians and Cindy is a member of St. Hildegard’s Community in Austin. The community’s priest, Judith Liro, helped apply for the grant on behalf of Campo de Estrellas.

“The money has allowed the co-founders to teach people throughout the United States about green burial practices via online workshops. “The grant came at the perfect time,” Cindy said. The trio considers education the most important part of their work. “We need people to start to think about these concepts and processes prior to a death occurring, and to ask the questions and to get comfortable,” Wambold said. No funerals have taken place at Campo de Estrellas yet, but eight people have indicated that when the time comes, they want to be buried at the conservation cemetery.

“Although few Americans choose natural burial, more than half of those surveyed by the National Funeral Directors Association expressed interest in green funerals. Founded in 2005 to demystify the options, the nonprofit Green Burial Council sets best practices for practitioners and answers consumer questions. Curiosity first peaked about five years ago, Green Burial Council President Edward Bixby said, adding that the pandemic has prompted more inquiries. Covid-19 “has made society reflect on their mortality,” he said. Most people who choose green burial for themselves are cremation converts, he said: “They didn’t realize that an option like this existed,” but it aligns with their values and desire for a more affordable burial.”

St. Hildegard’s will offer our annual Lent Silent Retreat March 8-10, 2019 at John Knox Ranch. This silent retreat is for anyone wanting a place to come with the intention of deep listening. It is a time for “being” rather than “doing.”

In supportive companionship you are encouraged to “be where you’re at,” and listen to the place that is calling out in your heart. Wisdom from Native American vision quests will be offered to deepen our understanding of Lent and its invitation to seek God in vulnerability.

When: The retreat beings Friday, March 8, with community supper at 6 pm and concludes Sunday, March 10 after lunch and clean-up.

Where: John Knox Ranch near Fischer, Texas

Cost: sliding scale: $110-140 + helping with one meal for the group.

Contact Judith for more information and to register: jliro@swbell.net