I’m making my way up two flights of wooden stairs to a modest apartment where a colleague, a former social worker, is living with his wife. Gifted with uncanny instincts on how to collaborate with diverse agencies and deal with difficult personalities, he’s worked most of his professional life, quietly, behind the scenes, in shadows of prestige and power. Now, day-by-day, he’s approaching the end of his life having carried the diagnosis of serious illness over the past four years.
I knock on the door. It’s unlatched, slightly ajar, as if expecting guests. He and his wife welcome me in. The view from their apartment’s window is mostly, at least today, snow-covered rooftops of commercial buildings. A grey, cold horizon is framed by bleak hills of hardwood forests, skeleton-like, devoid of leaves. The knife-edge of winter has descended.
I’ve come to ask him a question about how he sees things at this point in his life. My hope is I can learn something. I’ve made this a practice over recent years, speaking with selected colleagues and friends in similar circumstances.
I wait for words, instructions. When he smiles, offering nothing special, I am reminded that in other conversations like this one, I’ve left disappointed. No formal revelations. But today, there is a sudden turn in consciousness. I’m recognizing that it’s the life that he’s lived, not some abstract teaching I’ve been looking for. Let me explain. This afternoon I’m recognizing, on a deeper level, that my colleague approaches anyone he encounters, regardless of educational, financial or social status, with equal measures of respect. There is no “inner” or “outer” circle. I’ve watched him negotiate with bishops and hospital executives, the homeless and the addicted, physicians and bank presidents. He’s showed no deference to any of them. There’s freedom and energy in choosing to live like that. Where anyone may be a hidden god or goddess.
There are others, I’m realizing this afternoon, who appear also to be living out this secret: The retired university department chair who chose to take up a career as an elementary school crossing guard, the priest who travels with a circus each summer, the physician who chooses to be an informal advocate for patients denied medical care, a carpenter who travels through his neighborhood shoveling snow off rooftops for free.
Rising up from a wooden chair to leave, I bid farewell. Glancing briefly, once more out the window, I see in the distance the steeples of St. Peter’s Cathedral, the nearby local Roman Catholic parish.
A tradition is practiced there, during the funeral mass, where caskets carrying remains of the poor and the rich are each, in turn, covered with a beautiful white linen pall. My colleague is faithful to that tradition. One day a priest will sprinkle holy water upon such a pall, inviting him to disappear, like each of us, into anonymity, back from where he first came.
My colleague knows this. I think it’s what’s given him such degrees of acceptance, courage, intention. As I turn to the door, his wife says to me. “Oh, and a few weeks ago, Jon, you might be interested. My husband took up a new hobby. He’s learning to play the ukulele.”
Winter 2020 Ecotone Newsletter
CONTENTS
- JOURNAL NOTES
- THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
- ENCOUNTERS: SPIRIT OF PLACE
- INTERFAITH WATER STEWARDS
- IN MEMORIAM
- COMING UP 2020
JOURNAL NOTES
INSTITUTE OUTREACH
Congratulations to Bob Groleau, our Institute’s longtime “Courier de Bois” a French term for “runner of the woods.” With his faithful truck, Bob, for years, has moved supplies, hauled wood, and carried kayaks to river banks and shorelines for CTI projects. Born of French-Canadian lineage, he was recently voted by his fellow workers at Norlite Nursing Home as “Employee of the Month.” Bob works there as a janitor. His award included a special parking place at Norlite’s facility for a month and an invitation to sit in a place of honor at an awards banquet.
“Giving Thanks: Secrets of a Grateful Heart” is an article published in the 2019 December issue of The Marquette Monthly. Written by the CTI Director, it probes the paradoxes and hidden dynamics of the spirit of generosity. It can be found by visiting our writings page.
An update on the young man quoted in the 2019 Fall Issue of the Ecotone: On 12/4/19 he was sentenced in the Alger County Court to 19 months in a Michigan State prison. The CTI Director was present for his sentencing. A Native ceremony in the spring will honor his grandmother who died in November.
Catherine Parker, a local environmentalist and writer, wrote a remarkable essay in December 2017 for The Marquette Monthly on wolves in Marquette County. “Chasing Wolves” is a haunting, remarkable refection. A great night’s read.
On October 13th, the CTI Director led Sunday morning worship services at Trinity Lutheran in Ishpeming and Faith Lutheran Church in National Mine. On September 22nd, he served as guest preacher for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette. St. Paul’s continues to be one of the strongest supporters of interfaith environmental efforts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In September, CTI’s friend Jackie Medina, NMU Outdoor Rec Faculty, hosted a presentation on the mind/body practice “The Goldilocks Principle” facilitated by Cedar Tree Institute staff. The class format that afternoon was a playful discussion on emotional/physical balance and involved, not surprisingly, plenty of laughter.
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
THE HORIZON PROJECT
Research in the medical field is sparking a revolution in the practice of conventional medicine. Thanks to studies of athletic performance, insights from Chinese Traditional Medicine, and a recovery of wisdom from the Great Religions, we are turning back to integrate natural systems of the body into approaches for healing and health. We know now that 70-80% of the body’s immune system originates in the digestive tract, that emotional trauma is as significant to health as physical assault, that the brain processing physical pain overlaps with circuits processing emotional pain, that how we choose to view the world is as important as lab tests and MRIs.
The Cedar Tree Institute continues its commitment to this emerging vision thanks to Mike Grossman, a hospice director and family physician, and Kelley Mahar, a community psychiatrist. Mike and Kelley are creatively integrating these insights into initiatives specifically oriented to address the medically underserved.
In recent weeks CTI concluded two training series. Both were presented to the community at no cost thanks to support from the Michigan State Extension Office in Marquette County and the Superior Health Foundation (SHF). Phase One of the Horizon Project, a program specifically oriented to seniors, consisted of nine sessions that took place at three different senior centers. Thanks to Jim Shirtz for his volunteer work with us and to Jim La Joie from SHF for his guidance and encouragement.
The other series, built on principles from Paul Lam’s Tai Chi Health Foundation, was oriented toward fall prevention and living with arthritis. This project consisted of 20 classes over 10 weeks and took place at Messiah Lutheran Church. We move into a new year with weekly Tai Chi classes along with monthly workshops. We thank Hope Connection Center for their hospitality over these years and to our recent guest presenter rehab physician Fred Maynard!
For more information, visit our Tai Chi page.
ENCOUNTERS: Spirit of Place
“A Theology of Water”
Spirit of Place 2019
Since 1996, the Cedar Tree Institute has carried out yearly retreats that focus on the interface of environment and spirituality. Nineteen of these events have taken the form of kayak trips along the Lake Superior shoreline, three of them at a monastery in New Mexico, and one with spiritual leaders from the Swinomish Indian tribe north of Seattle. In 2018, the Cedar Tree Institute hosted a retreat in El Paso where we explored both inner and outer realities of “The Wall.” That event focused on the immigration crisis facing our country but also explored dynamics of personal boundaries, illness, and health. Over the years, we’ve integrated these events with writings by St. Francis of Assisi, Henri Nouwen, Jim Harrison, Annie Dillard, Marin Buber, Carl Jung, Thomas Merton, and Thich Nhat Hanh.
This past October and early November of 2019, eleven participants from New York, Texas, Washington State, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan met together at Big Bay’s historic lighthouse to ponder the mystery and ethics of water as a threatened global resource but also as a symbol in the world’s faith traditions. We walked river banks and shorelines, pondered relationships of water quality and health, and shared perspectives on managing this gift in a framework of justice and reverence. Key resource for us was the 2017 haunting overview, “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” by award-winning environmental reporter Dan Egan.
Special thanks to Joseph Piccione, theologian-ethicist, and John Rosenberg, pastor-environmental writer, who served as facilitators for our group along with guest presenters Kathleen Heideman, one of Michigan’s best known poets, Scott Everson, physician, and Michael Waite, musician and composer.
INTERFAITH WATER STEWARDS
The Interfaith Northern Great Lakes Water Stewards now moves into our fourth year. Special gratitude to Paul Lehmberg, our local Buddhist priest who is working with CTI to co-lead this initiative with eight faith traditions. And to Jordan Mattarella who serves as our coordinator. This coming semester, Kaitlyn Shepherd, university student, joins us as liaison to the NMU community.
WITH GRATITUDE
To our supporters from all walks of life, some who have been with us since our inception in 1995, you continue to provide the foundation for the heartbeat of our work. By September 1, 2020, the planting of 750 trees will bring a total of 25,000 Northern white cedars planted over 25 years by CTI volunteers including dozens of folks from churches, regional Indian tribes, and at-risk youth from our Peninsula’s Juvenile Courts. Thanks to you, we carry on!
In October, Pasqua Warstler from Escanaba, assisted by Doug Russell, coordinated a five day visit by artists Garth Evans and Leila Philip who traveled to Marquette from Connecticut to serve as Artists in Residence fro the Institute’s Rising Water collaborative art festival. Thanks to Tiina Harris, Manager of the City of Marquette’s Arts and Culture Center for serving as a key partner in making this special event happen.
To Our Newsletter Readers
Thank you for your interest and support over the years. Let us know if your interests have changed and you no longer wish to receive this publication. We wish to be good and responsible stewards. Please keep us in your prayers.
IN MEMORIAM
Joan Maxwell Reynolds Miller 1947-1919
Joanie Miller lived a remarkable life as a daughter, mother, grandmother, wife and polio survivor. She and her husband Don, long-time supporters of Te Cedar Tree Institute, were among the first donors to the Institute’s 23-year-long cedar tree planting initiative in 1997. Both originally residents of Marquette, Joan and Don spent the last two years in Washington State to be near family. At Joan’s memorial service, her daughter Heather related an incident that occurred on the day of her mother’s death. Last June, a helium balloon became unfastened at Joan’s birthday party and floated to the top of their cathedral-ceiling living room. It remained there for months. On October 5th, the day of her death, it gently floated to the floor. At the close of the memorial service, Joan’s husband Don shared lyrics of a song they’d once learned together at a post-polio conference in Warm Springs. “Let it go. Let it out. Let it all unravel. Set it free. And it will be. A path on which to travel.”
We lift you up, Don, and your extended family in our prayers. Joanie, thank you for your courage, insight, and resilience.
Reuben Cordell Twin Sr. 1950 – 2018
News recently arrived that friend and colleague Reuben Twin Sr. died in 2018 on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Reuben was a member of the Lakota Sioux Indian Tribe. During teenage years, he suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident in Rapid City, leaving him severely paralyzed. He maintained only limited use of his arms and hands. His spirit remained strong.
During years that followed, he was part of the American Indian Movement (AIM), also traveling across Western and Pacific Northwest states as a traditional drummer on the pow-wow circuit. During our time together, he served as a strategist for the Church Council of Greater Seattle’s Native American Task Force and finished a graduate degree.
His wife Marlie faithfully walked beside him. His son Reuben, Jr., following Marlie’s death in the early 1990’s, secured a rope line to traverse the top of Puget Sound’s Snoqualmie Falls. There, with his father Reuben Sr. praying on the edge of the nearby riverbank, he scattered his mother’s ashes into the cascading streams of water tumbling down into the river hundreds of feet below.
Years later, after I moved to Michigan, Reuben traveled two hours in a van to meet me on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation when he learned I was attending a seminary training event for clergy working with cross-cultural ministries. That night, to the sound of traditional drums, a hundred tribal dancers, one by one, step by step, passed by his wheel chair paying tribute, lightly touching his forearm.
At noon on April 5th, 2018, Reuben Cordell Twin, Sr. was buried in a traditional Lakota ceremony at the Yellow Hawk Family Cemetery in Kyle, South Dakota.
COMING UP 2020
RETREATS, WORKSHOPS AND PROJECTS
The Iron Butterfly: A Mind/Body Workshop
(Marquette, June)
The Cedar Tree Institute’s Midsummer Festival of Thanksgiving
(Marquette, July)
Our Interfaith Northern Great Lakes Water Stewards working in collaboration with the Initiatives’ codirector Buddhist priest Paul Lehmberg on the following:
- The planting of 750 cedar trees with volunteers (June-July)
- A Public Forum: “Lake Superior: Gif and Challenge” with Dr. Nancy Langston, MTU (April)
- The training of 3 faith-based volunteer water monitoring teams working with congregations to protect Upper Peninsula drinking water.
- A Benefit Concert in Marquette, Michigan with Mike and Pam Shirtz in support of the Institute’s Interfaith Water Steward Initiative (Summer, 2020)
Spirit of Place Retreat: The Mystery of Trees
(September, Marquette, Michigan TBA)
Spirit of Place: Pain and Pleasure in Vegas
An exploration of brain science, addiction, spirituality and justice in the heart of America’s adult playground.
(November, Nevada TBA)
BLESSINGS TO NORA MALOY, of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan Foundation, who since 1999. has gracefully guided and supported many of our Institute projects focusing on rural health needs. Nora will retire in January of 2020. Your legacy lives on!
From Samantha Powers, former Ambassador to the United Nations, in her recent memoir “Education of an Idealist” published in 2019.
“The most important advice I have received was from a senior Foreign Service Officer. “Samantha,” he said, “there are broken places everywhere in this world. Choose your battles. Then go out and win some.”
As we move into 2020, this echoes for many of us the spirit of the Cedar Tree Institute, often limited by resources, but firm in our mission.
CTI BOARD
- Jon Magnuson, CTI Executive Director
- Steve Mattson, Financial Consultant, Wells Fargo Private Client Services, Retired
- Jim Elder, Attorney, Elder Agency
ADVISORY COUNCIL
- Larry Skendzel, Physician, Hospice Care
- Gareth Zellmer, Consultant, Trainer
- Ken Kelley, Professor Emeritus, NMU
- Rick Pietila, Project Technician, Lebanon
- Jan Schultz, Botanist, USFS, Retired
- Michael Grossman, Family Physician
RESEARCH FELLOWS
- John Rosenberg, Lutheran Pastor
- Joe Piccione, Ethicist
- Kent Fish, MD
KENTON FISH
CTI’s New Research Fellow.
Welcome to on-the-ground theologian, recently retired ophthalmologist, musician, and long-distance runner Kent Fish as our new CTI Research Fellow.
Kent lives in San Angelo, Texas and has been part of Cedar Tree Institute retreats including kayak trips on Lake Superior and Washington State’s Columbia River.
Along with his presence at three of the Institute’s workshops at a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico, in 2018 Kent served as host in El Paso for CTI’s Spirit of Place retreat on “The Wall.”
O. K. Kent, here we go!!!
Thank you for reading the Winter 2020 Ecotone Newsletter, the official Newsletter of the Cedar Tree Institute.
