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Welcome to Holy Time

April 13, 2023

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Here’s what we’re going to do:

  • Setup, Announcements + Intros
  • Breathing and Settling
  • Third Things
    • “Mediated by a third thing, truth can emerge from, and return to, our awareness at whatever pace and depth we are able to handle — sometimes inwardly in silence, sometimes aloud in community — giving the shy soul the protective cover it needs." - Parker Palmer
  • Open Space
  • Blessings

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Setup

  • Keep your video on (if you can).
    • In the top right hand corner of the zoom screen, select Gallery View so you can see everyone’s faces
    • Recommended: choose the option to “turn off self view”
  • Embrace quiet and put away anything that might distract you (phone, other tabs, etc.).
  • Touchstones - Presence, invitation
  • Invitation
    • Feel free to invite others to join us. I will send a blurb as a follow-up with today’s deck in case you’d like to pass it on. Folks should email me if they’d like to be added to the calendar invite

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Intros

What is your name?

What movie(s) did you watch frequently as a kid?

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Breathing and Settling

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Third Things

“Feelin’ Good” - Nina Simone

(Holy Time Playlist)

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Third Things

All your years learning how to live to win,

how others judge you, who counts--you know

it's wrong: but those habits cling that brought you

this freedom. You know how to earn it but

you don't know what it is--a friend that you

make is conquered, like an enemy.

Somewhere you'll rest, have faith, even

lose sometimes, accept the way you are, say

easily to the world: "Leave me alone, Hours.

I'm just living here. Let Now win."

Learning How to Lose

By Jennifer Grotz

listen

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Third Things

I’ve been watching stars

rely on the darkness they

resist. And fish struggle with

and against the current. And

hawks glide faster when their

wings don’t move.

Still I keep retelling what

happens till it comes out

the way I want.

We try so hard to be the

main character when it is

our point of view that

keeps us from the truth.

The sun has its story

that no curtain can stop.

It’s true. The only way beyond

the self is through it. The only

way to listen to what can never

be said is to quiet our need

to steer the plot.

When jarred by life, we might

unravel the story we tell ourselves

and discover the story we are in,

the one that keeps telling us.

Understory

By Mark Nepo

listen

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Third Things

“Planting that orchard… reminded me, or illuminated for me, a matrix of connection, of care, that exists not only in the here and now, but comes to us from the past and extends forward into the future. A rhizomatic care I so often forget to notice I am every second in the midst of. By which I came to be, and am, at all. Despite every single lie to the contrary, despite every single action born of that lie—we are in the midst of rhizomatic care that extends in every direction, spatially, temporally, spiritually, you name it. It’s certainly not the only thing we’re in the midst of, but it’s the truest thing. By far.”

(Ross Gay)

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Third Things

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Blessings

Finish the sentence: “May you…”

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About Holy Time

Holy Time is a weekly online gathering created and curated by Betsy Symanietz for people who are craving more of the sacred in everyday life.

We gather for 30 min - 1 hour on Thursdays at 8:45pm CT (during evening post-kid/pre-adult bedtime) to:

  • Breathe
  • Experience readings and music
  • Share silence
  • Speak (optional) and listen (required)

Do you want to come? If you decide to join, all that will be expected of you is your respectful presence - the kind that you would bring to a ceremony or an afternoon visit with your grandma.

As we all try to make sense of the grief, exhaustion, conviction, love and yearning circling around us - space with a community of friends and strangers to just be in it together may be exactly what we need to stay clear, engaged, and well.

Join us on zoom at https://zoom.us/j/94849428936. If you have any questions or if you'd like to be added to the weekly calendar invite, contact Betsy at bgmatheson@gmail.com.