Open to the Spirit

Today’s word: Relinquish

1) The word for this week is “relinquish”, which means many things: to let go, to abandon, to give up your control, to cease your obligations, and is some cases to let go of your rights. The word is used in many modern questions: “Should the monarchy relinquish their power in the Commonwealth”, “If you choose not to vote, do you relinquish your right to complain”, “Should Canada relinquish the land they took from First Nations tribes?” Since September 30 is a National day of acknowledgment for truth and reconciliation, that last question is very relevant to all of us this week.

I struggled at first with ‘relinquish”. Then my memory kicked in. My father was very careful with his tools. We could borrow an axe, or screwdrivers, or even the tool kit, but had to return it. He encouraged us, as children to use them carefully, and never said no, but there was a condition. He used a word “custodian” to ensure they were returned in good condition. “Children you can borrow hammer to build your tree house, here are some used nails.” Then he would pick one of us and say “Remember though, I make you custodian. I want them back.” This gradually changed as we got older and we learned to be more careful and he learned to trust us. We were all driving his car at 16, and when I was 18 I was given his old Toyota. I became the owner. I was a custodian no longer. It felt good. He trusted me.

The Bible does not use the word “relinquish” specifically, but does talk about giving up control of our lives to God. Jesus used that method himself in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed the same prayer three times. In it he said, “Yet not my will, but yours be done”. He is our example. We all should be more open to relinquishing our need to own things and have power over others. Let’s all be like my father and show trust to others. Perhaps some Commonwealth countries should stop simply being “custodians” of their own lives but have more independence. Perhaps many of us need to relinquish some of our privileges too. Lots to think about with this week.

) I live in a country that has 4 distinct seasons and I am grateful for the yearly reminders from the outer world that parallel themes from my inner world. In the autumn we witness the graceful and spectacular way in which trees relinquish their crowning glories and we, humans, are permitted the pleasure of rustling

2through, falling into and gathering up these colourful reminders of past summer days. These days we are in a period of transition, closing down the cottage for the year, putting up storm windows, and preserving the last of the garden’s bounty. Unlike the deciduous friends that surround me, I sometimes have difficulty with transitions. My inner world becomes fraught with regrets and nostalgia. I harken back to days that seemed simpler and my role in life more obvious. I remember times when I was reluctant to let go of some urgent desire or past reality in order to make room for the new and the lifegiving.

As the wise author of Ecclesiastes tells us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” And although we cannot spend all our time looking back there is value in honouring the thoughts and emotions that make us reluctant to relinquish the past. As author Linn explain in the book “Don’t Forgive Too Soon”, until we have unearthed the source of our reluctance we cannot be healed of the wounds of the past. Acceptance of the mistakes of the past, our own and that of others, can only come by sitting with those thoughts that make us uncomfortable. Finding the peace that allows us to relinquish the past is the work of a lifetime and the reward of a life well examined. Each one of us is unique and precious, courageous and imperfect. Blessings on YOUR journey.

) In just a few days, we will enter the Yamim Noraim, the season of the Jewish High Holidays. Beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and heading into Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, it is a time of community celebration, but also of deep introspection. We gain strength from gathering together as a community and the knowledge that we are all working to fix the brokenness in ourselves and the world with the support of each other, and we do the spiritual work through prayer, reflection, song and learning to enter the New Year with more clarity and hope.

Yet the problem is, each and every year, we are still not perfect people! We still have problems, and the world is still broken. When we leave the season through the holiday of Sukkot, “dwelling” for a week in sukkahs, shabby outdoor huts exposed to the elements, we are asked to let this reality sink in. We relinquish all desire for perfection and know that we should above all be happy with who we are and our situation in life. We relinquish the need for riches, and for a stable protection from the world around us. Literally surrounded by only thin walls and a roof filled with holes, we practice being “happy with our lot”.

Heading out of the holiday season, we hold on to all of the lessons we have learned, but let go of the spiritual and physical baggage that is holding us down. Simply put, we don’t need to be perfect, and we don’t need to be in a perfect world, as long as we are on the path. With this more clear and

3simple outlook, we can better make our way through the year, and have more space to experience the world with fresh eyes. Sometimes, you have to let go to move forward.

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) This week we marked the Autumn Equinox, summer’s end and the first day of Fall. Otherwise known as Mabon, it is the point in earth’s pathway round the sun when day and night are equal, twelve hours each of light and darkness. Since the Summer Solstice, sun has risen later and set earlier, light decreasing by a mere two-three minutes daily. The Equinox (Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring in the South) is that brief pivotal moment of cosmic balance, before the season shifts from blossoming to dormant rest.

Interconnected as we are to all of nature and the cycles of the seasons, we humans are reminded that impermanence is integral to the grand design. We have observed the change of seasons and learned from earliest times to celebrate the world over. In what I like to call the Earth School, the Autumn curriculum includes such essential life lessons as change, mystery, preservation, protection, comfort, balance and letting go.

This past Wednesday evening a circle of us gathered to celebrate the turning of the great Wheel of the Year. We spoke of the themes of the season, and declared our intention to live in the present moment, not wishing for summer warmth but embracing the crisp fall air, giving thanks for the harvest. Preserving summer’s abundance by storing up food for the coming cold.

What can we learn from nature now? As much as we wish to hold onto summer, the season has past and we must move on with it. How to relinquish what we want desperately to hold onto is taught us by the very leaves now changing colours before they fall. A dance they do so brilliantly, bursting into flaming oranges, reds and golds —in one last fling before fluttering to ground. Aligning ourselves with nature, we might learn to do the same. To relinquish not only summer but whatever holds us back from living more fully in the present moment. What would you relinquish and let fall away in this season of transition? During my morning haiku practice among the trees just beginning to turn I had a wish that it could be this easy:

leaf lets go floating gracefully to ground

my own hands fall open

Rev. Mead Baldwin pastors the Waterville & North Hatley pastoral charge; Rabbi Boris Dolin leads the Dorshei-emet community in Montreal; Rev. Lee Ann Hogle ministers to the Ayer’s Cliff, Magog & Georgeville United Churches; Rev. Carole Martignacco, Unitarian Universalist is retired from ministry with Uuestrie and now resides in St. Andrews by-the-sea NB, but keeps one foot in the Townships by continuing with this column.