Seasonal Notes from the Cedar Tree Institute
One blustery, overcast winter afternoon I sat with a retired Roman Catholic Bishop in his modest, comfortable, wood-paneled office. We talked about traditions of recognizing and blessing saints, acknowledging individuals who once lived among us and continue to shape the life of our respective faith communities.
In spite of long-held differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant understandings about such matters, we still found plenty of common ground. He and I talked at length about formal and informal power; about “privilege of office” in contrast to a natural spiritual nobility that has nothing to do with paid leadership, social status, or ecclesiastical visibility. He remarked that in the oldest of Christian teachings, there’s acknowledgment of a particular charism (“spiritual gift” in Latin) that speaks to this. Over the years, I’d met individuals who reflect such characteristics but never heard it formally acknowledged in religious circles. He sat back in his chair, paused, and said, “It has to do, I think, with being, with presence. Such persons, regardless of social station in life, appear among us to show transparency to a greater benevolent Mystery. Often rarely noticed, they are messengers: modest, dutiful, faithful.”
I stopped by Helen’s small apartment the evening before I left for a business trip to the Northwest. Seventy-eight years old. Her two adopted daughters answered the door and invited me in. A hospice nurse had stopped by to her check blood pressure. On the refrigerator was a note scrawled in black pen: “Do not call 911.”
Helen was a retired schoolteacher who lived and worked most of her life in the small mining town of Republic. Born in the Keweenaw Peninsula, she never became a school administrator or ran for any public office. She lived out her life apart from the world’s pretentiousness. She had a skin disorder she was very conscious of, especially in her youth. I knew her as a friend, and also as a member of the faith community of which my wife and I are active. Over the last ten years she traveled three times into the slums of Bogotá with a team of volunteers from our local parish, traveled with one of our former pastors to Jerusalem to meet with Palestinian refugees, and, on numerous occasions, organized meals for the Cedar Tree Institute’s local festivals and benefit concerts. During recent years, she assisted in coordinating our community’s Room at the Inn, an interfaith homeless shelter project. She recruited volunteers, ate with guests, organized protocols for hospitality and came to know each evening’s visitor by name. She also served as informal house mother for our campus ministry house. Once, following a difficult encounter a brash, irresponsible university student, she and I, shaking our heads, polished off a bottle of wine together in front of my fireplace.
I was among her last visitors. She was in a coma. Sitting alongside her in a darkened bedroom, I watched her breathe. Her body and face were hardly recognizable. I read the 23rd Psalm and whispered, “Thank you.”
Some years ago, for no apparent reason I could discern, she placed a small smooth rock in my hand with the word “GRACE” etched upon it. The night of her funeral, my wife Diana and I sat in a theater in Seattle, watching a 23-year-old perform in a dance recital, part of graduation requirements for the Cornish School of Arts. I’d baptized Annie in that city almost a quarter century ago. During the reception following her performance, I placed an envelope in the young woman’s hand with a prayer written on a note. Along with the small, smooth rock, I wrote about the funeral that took place earlier in the afternoon back in Michigan.
That night, a wise Bishop, Helen, and a young artist all danced, hand in hand, together among the stars.
– JWM
CEDAR TREE INSTITUTE WORKSHOPS & PROJECTS
CONTENTS
- EarthKeepers II
- Notes from a Religious Life
- The Iron Butter fly
- Mind Body Practices
- Spirit of Place
- Janus Project Seminars
- The Zaagkii Project
- Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language
- CTI’s Upper Peninsula Index
EARTH KEEPERS II
An Interfaith Environmental Initiative
In January, leaders from ten faith traditions representing 250 parishes joined together at Presque Isle Park in Marquette to launch a two-year effort to increase better energy conservation among their communities and build 30 community gardens across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Kyra Fillmore Ziomkowski is Project Coordinator, Doug Russell and Delta Green are technical partners, and Jan Schultz, Chief Botanist for the Eastern Region of the U.S. Forest Service is our garden advisor. Charlie West is interpreter to our faith traditions. At the heart of our project are three leaders for NMU’s Earthkeeper Student Organization: Katelin Binger, Adam Magnuson, and Tom Merkel. Special thanks to the US Environmental Protection Agency for their partnership with CTI and to those individuals who have chosen to make quiet contributions to carry out this vision.
To learn more about being involved, connect with our website: earthkeepersup.org
NOTES FROM A RELIGIOUS LIFE
On 4/21 the CTI Director will lead worship services at Eden on the Bay Lutheran Church in Munising and on 4/28 he will serve as guest presenter for the Unitarian Universalist community in Escanaba. On 3/20 he was guest preacher for Lenten services at Messiah Lutheran in Marquette and on 1/28 officiated at the graveside service for Albert Lowell Peterson.
He co-presented for Lake Superior Binational Forum’s webinar on mobilizing faith communities to address climate change. He continues to serve as the clergy representative for that federally supported citizens’ advisory group whose purpose is to protect the quality of life in the Lake Superior Basin.
THE IRON BUTTERFLY
A practice-oriented workshop from mind/body research and sports medicine on stress reduction, visualization techniques, and 7 key components that contribute to peak performance both mentally and physically.
Facilitators: Jon Magnuson (CTI Director) and Breanna Carlson from the US Olympic Education Center
June 15th, 9 A.M. – 12 -Presque Isle Park Pavilion, Marquette
Contact 906-228-5494 or register online.
MIND BODY PRACTICES
The Cedar Tree Institute continues its weekly Wednesday TAI CHI CHUAN classes through May.
5:30 P.M.- 6:30 P.M. at Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette.
Monthly Saturday morning workshops are scheduled for 4/13, 5/11, and 6/1.
For more information call 906-228-5494 or check our Tai Chi Chuan page online.
SPIRIT OF PLACE
A 4 night, 5 day Exploration of Inner and Outer Landscapes.
August 5-9: Monday 4 P.M. – Friday 4 P.M.
Lee Goodwin will join us as co-facilitator and Sue Belanger as guide. No prior experience needed. Equipment and instruction are provided. Mind-body practices, prayer and readings from journals of 17th century Jesuit priests frame our experience. Participants will be joining us from across North America. Our group is limited to 8 participants. Evening discussions will focus on the writings of Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber.
For information contact 906-228-5494 or check our Spirit of Place page online.
JANUS PROJECT SEMINARS
Continuing Ed. for Physicians and Hospice Workers
Providing support and training for hospice workers, clergy, social workers and physicians is the focus for CTI’s Janus summer and winter seminars. Following this spring’s seminar on the disorders and treatment of the immune system (“The Dance of Defense”), we’ll be at Bay Cliff Health Camp for our summer Janus Project in late August. Thanks to Mike Grossman and Larry Skendzel, medical hospice directors for their vision.
For information, contact Dr. Mike Grossman: 906-475-4127
THE ZAAGKII PROJECT
A Native Plants & Pollinator Protection Initiative Effort to restore and protect native plants continues to be a key focus for CTI’s partnership with Native American communities over the last four years.
On April 11-12, the Institute coordinates a fifth Native Plants Workshop (“Kinomaage: Teachings from the Earth”) with the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. We’ll be exploring effective strategies to increase maple syrup gathering, stem cutting, and will honor traditional teachings about herbs and medicinal plants.
Special thanks to Tom Biron, Sault tribal member, and Katherine Brosemer, tribal Environmental Manager, who will be working with volunteers to coordinate these efforts with the support of Jan Schultz, U.S. Forest Service, and Anishinaabe ethnobotanist Scott Heron.
To learn more, connect with our website: wingsandseeds.org
DREAMS: GOD’S FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE
A workshop for Clergy, Priests, Counselors & Community Members
CTI will be offering two workshops on recovering the language of dreams in one’s own spiritual life, focusing on how this may be integrated into pastoral counseling and congregational life. A look at dreams in scripture, dream interpretation traditions in the early church, insights from depth psychology and an overview of clinical findings from sleep research.
Facilitated by Jon Magnuson and colleagues.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette, MI
Monday, April 27th, 10 A.M. – 3 P.M. April 29
• Good Shepherd Lutheran Church 1100 College Ave, Houghton, MI
Monday, May 6th, 10 A.M. – 3 P.M. May 6th
For more information call 906-228-5494 or check our Dream Workshops post online.
CTI’S UPPER PENINSULA INDEX
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is one of the world’s three migratory corridors for the Monarch Butterfly
- Percentage drop in Monarch butterflies over-wintering in central Mexico: 59
- Years, out of the past seven, the Monarch population has declined: 6
- Annual number of unhealthy air quality days in Menominee County, MI: 7
- In Wayne County, MI (Detroit): 8
- Michigan’s unemployment rate percentage, as of January 2013: 8.9
- Unemployment rate in Baraga County, as of December 2013: 18.3
- Number of Marquette public school days cancelled due to winter weather (as of March 18): 9
- Percentage of restaurants in Marquette County that are fast food establishments: 52
- Percentage of Chippewa County residents drinking alcohol excessively: 31
- Luce County’s ranking, out of 83 Michigan counties, for high violent crime rates: 6
- Estimated number of wolves in Michigan: 687
- Recorded wolf attacks on humans in Michigan: 0
- Number of bear and wolves, respectively, an Ironwood resident reported in his yard in January: 2 & 8
- Number of animals responding law enforcement found in the yard: 0
- Number of people attending a DNR wolf hunt meeting in Ironwood, in March: 272
- Length, in miles, of a proposed hiking and biking trail connecting Detroit with Ironwood: 924
Researched by Gabriel Caplett, organic farmer, writer and community organizer. References for the above data can be found on the cedartreeinstitute.org website.
The Cedar Tree Institute owns no property and has no full time employees.
“CTI exists,” our volunteer bookkeeper Anne Rydholm likes to remind us, “in time not in space.” We do not compete with United Way Organizations or with local faith communities for limited resources. We’re able to carry on our work because of donations by folks from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a handful of individuals, some as distant as New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Washington and New York. To you our deepest appreciation!
The Spring 2013 Equinox Newsletter is brought to you by Cedar Tree Institute.
