I’m a bit behind in preparing for the winter that’s now descended upon us. I should have known better.
A 17 ft. kayak with a broken rudder is still outside on the trailer. It needs, among other things like bags of soil and large garden pots, to be carried inside and placed in their proper spots in our yet-to-be-cleaned-out basement. There’s tending to be done.
One of my friends works as a janitor in a local nursing home. Tending. Not just facilities and things, but also the subtle needs of residents who now call that place home. Bob is a steady worker. Grew up with seven brothers and sisters. Their parents died when they were children. It was a hard life for them in rural Michigan. The experience taught him a lot about caring for tools, equipment. And people.
This past summer, a neighbor of ours and member of the faith community of which I am a part, faced the challenge of caring for two elderly parents as they transitioned into a nursing home/memory care facility. The funeral for her father occurred shortly after. I discovered that, in appreciation for the attentive staff, she ordered lunch for all 30 employees.
Not everyone knows that her family arrived here as immigrants to the U.S. 50 years ago. They came under sponsorship of a church near Chicago. As a family with young children, they were recipients of circles of care from that faith community. She came to understand some things. She, her husband, and two sons have long continued a quiet practice of giving back. Being attentive and caring with a spirit of generosity, has little to do with the number of possessions or wealth one accumulates in this life. Instead, it has more to do with pausing, slowing down. Becoming part of a deeper, divine, hidden music playing around us.
Our Mother earth is crying out to us through polluted waters, contaminated foods, and toxic waste dumps. We’re out of balance, forgetting to tend.
Here’s a first step. Ask yourself a few questions: Am I paying attention to my own need for nurture, rest, and healthy food? Are the dishes put away? Are relationships with my family and close friends being nurtured?
We are all connected. Tending to ourselves is critical. Then we can reach out to care for and tend to those around us. Are the poor being fed? The homeless sheltered? Are children and elderly among us being called by name, honored, respected?
This all begins with a pause. A breath. Then a look around us.
Some of you who are aware of my own failings in this area may be shaking your head with a smile. But know this. I’m going for a walk with our dog right now. Then, I’m going to put the kayak away.
Winter 2023 Ecotone Newsletter
CONTENTS
JOURNAL NOTES
PROJECTS & PRESENTATIONS
Thanks to John and Pauline Kiltinen, a collection of essays “The Gift of Water: Refections on Ecology, Art, and the Spiritual Life” will be available in January 2023. As part of the Northern Great Lakes Water Stewards Initiative, this small, handsome, hard-bound volume consists of articles written from 2016–2022 with 15 original pen and ink illustrations by Diana Magnuson.
These essays were originally published in the “Marquette Monthly Magazine” over the course of four years by 42 local writers, ages 19–87, from all walks of life.
The writings represent thoughtful perspectives on nature and spirituality. Copies will be distributed as gifts to faith communities in our area. Additional copies will be available for a donation of $20 to support our Water Stewards efforts in 2023.
A special note of gratitude to Paul Lehmberg, retired English professor from Northern Michigan University, who edited this collection. Paul, a local Buddhist priest, serves as co-coordinator for the Interfaith Water Stewards Initiative.
On September 14, 2022, The Cedar Tree Institute received the Catalyst Award for Service Organization of the Year from the Community Foundation of Marquette County. Melanie Mottinger and Nathan Meadows, with their son 4-year-old Oakley, accepted the award on behalf of CTI. Melanie and Nathan continue as volunteer support staff, serving as guides and providing food on retreats along Lake Superior, in monasteries on the border of Mexico, and on Michigan Indian Reservations. Steve Mattson, graciously present, represented the Institute’s mission in our community.
Appreciation goes to Scott Ehle and Lee Goodwin for co-facilitating, with CTI’s Director, a men’s retreat at Fortune Lake Camp October 28-29th. Supported by Jim Duehring and co-sponsored by the Northern Great Lakes Synod of the ELCA, we focused on spirituality in the second half of life. Sixteen men participated. We gathered to ponder the insights of Richard’s Rohr’s insightful work, “Falling Upward.” A sacred fire was lit outside our meeting facility and continued to burn over the course of our 24 hours together.
Wild Church, a venture of the Episcopal and Lutheran (ELCA) ministries in the Upper Peninsula, continues to lead the way with creative gatherings, celebrations of seasonal festivals, and opportunities to connect symbols of faith traditions to real life challenges of living. Please lift up in your prayers the prophetic work of Wild Church’s leader Lanni Lantto. Also, for long-time volunteer and CTI Advisory Council member Ken Kelley. Ref: www.upwild.org
On August 28th, CTI’s Director served as a guest preacher for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette. The theme of that morning’s worship gathering was “The Gift of Water.” During the following two weeks, as signs of hope, volunteers planted 250 trees along the banks of Lost Creek in the Yellow Dog Community Forest.
WITH GRATITUDE
CTI has chosen to remain small, focused and intentional in our mission. We are project-driven, committed to working with partner agencies and organizations with which we share common values and visions.
Deep thanks to all of you who continue to support our mission. Along with our ongoing pro-bono work, we are sending a donation to humanitarian relief work in the war-torn country of Ukraine.
VISIONS and PROJECTS – RELATIONSHIPS and HOPE
THE MYSTERY OF TREES
On October 19–21st, fifteen folks from six different states met together in Big Bay for a long-awaited (two year post COVID-19) CTI retreat, “The Mystery of Trees.” Retreat participants traveled from Kentucky, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, and Texas. Six of us were from Michigan. One of our participants traveled by pickup truck from Bozeman, Montana, a 20 hour-drive.
Sessions on botany, ecology, and spirituality shaped our time together. At the retreat’s conclusion on Saturday morning, our group planted 100 Northern white cedars along the Yellow Dog River in Powell Township. During those same hours, Louise Hanna and Bob Kraus, good friends and long-time partners with CTI, prayerfully planted native trees on their own beloved coffee farm on the island of Hawaii.
A shout of thanks to our retreat’s resource team: Jan Schultz, botanist, Erica Thomas, guide, Joe Piccione, ethicist, Ruth Almén, coordinator, John Rosenberg, researcher, Jeff Noble, forester, and Kent Fish, field theologian from West Texas.
SONGS FOR THE JOURNEY
Thanks to the partnership of Great Lakes Recovery Centers (GLRC) and the vision of Mike Grossman, a benefit community concert took place on December 8th to support the work of folks in recovery from substance abuse and addiction. Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris, nationally known song writers and musicians, played in Messiah Lutheran Church. A hundred votive candles lit the sanctuary.
Our appreciation to Corrie Vilsaint, researcher in the field of addiction medicine, who traveled from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School to join us for a 24-hour training workshop. It took place for on-line recovery workers at Big Bay’s Thunder Bay Inn. Also, thanks to Patty Ryan, who served as The Cedar Tree Institute’s volunteer coordinator And especially to GLRC’s Greg Toutant and Amy Poirier who provided, with help from the Superior Health Foundation, essential support for the training component, “Journey of Hope.”
THE RETURN
On October 12 and 14th, the Fresh Coast Film Festival premiered a 22-minute documentary film to standing-room only at Marquette’s Peter White Library and Marquette’s Front Street Masonic Building.
The film tells the story of the return of Fr. Jacques Marquette’s remains (a set of 19 bone fragments) back to the “Black Robe’s” original gravesite in Michigan’s Mackinac County. The effort was led by Native American spiritual leaders, members of the Jesuit community, and staff of the St. Ignace Museum of Ojibwa Culture.
Donations from readers of this newsletter and friends of the Cedar Tree Institute supported this extraordinary reburial event. Deepest appreciation from the Museum of Ojibwa Culture to all of you who chose to help us.
Film Showings
The Marquette Regional History Center is scheduling a special showing of this documentary for the public on October 25, 2023. Film director Makari Rising, along with project historian Dan Rydholm, will be present. Representatives from St. Ignace’s Museum of Ojibwa Culture will be traveling to join us as special guests that evening.
This film can be viewed here: cedartreeinstitute.org/the-return-full-documentary/
The film’s final edit will be completed January, 2023.
IN MEMORIAM
Over recent months, the Cedar Tree Institute Director assisted in two funeral services. Nina Johnson and IC Chien. Each lived long, remarkable, graceful lives. Between the two – a total of 187 years. We lift up prayers of thanksgiving for their lives among us.
Nina Johnson
1924-2022
Nina chronicled, for many years, along with the support of her husband Harold, the wildlife that frequented lakes and marshes near their family’s summer cabin. She was, years ago, once honored for her detailed documentation of the bald eagle by the State of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources.
IC Chien
1931-2022
A gifted architect in IL and CA, as a child, IC Chien grew up in a peasant farming family in Wuxi, China. In honor of his years as a youth, the following poem by Mary Oliver was read at IC’s funeral at Messiah Lutheran Church in September. During the memorial service, a bowl of freshly prepared rice was given as a gift to his wife Grace.
RICE
It grew in the black mud
It grew under the tiger’s
Orange paws
Its stems thicker than
Candles, and as straight.
Its leaves like the feathers
Of egrets, but green.
The grains cresting,
Wanting to burst.
I don’t want you to just sit
At the table.
I don’t want you just to eat,
And be content.
I want you to walk into the
Fields
Where the water is shining,
And the rice has risen.
I want you to stand there,
Far from the white tablecloth.
I want you to fill your hands with mud,
Like a blessing
ON THE HORIZON
The Mystery of Trees 2023
A three day retreat on Ecology and Spirituality. Big Bay, Michigan
September 2023
The Iron Butterfly
A Saturday morning workshop on mental focus, training, and emotional balance at Presque Isle Park Pavilion.
March 2023.
The Art of Walking
A three-day retreat in a Benedictine Monastery, Santa Fe, NM.
November 2023
The Interior Castle (Zoom Series)
A 7-week series on spirituality, the unconscious, and the inner life with perspectives from depth psychology, Christian, Native American, and Buddhist traditions.
February – March, 2023 (TBA)
Riding the Tiger: A Retreat
Men and Spiritual Life
In partnership with Jim Duehring, the NGLS of the ELCA, and Fortune Lake Camp
October 2023
Tai Chi
(Mind/Body Practice)
On-site sessions
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette
Wednesdays 5:30–6:30 P.M.
January – May 2023
View our Tai Chi page for more information.
Economics, and Ecology
False arguments float around about what many see as a simple choice: Environmental protection and human health vs. Economic development. We can do both. Responsibly.
Current areas of concern needing our voices and involvement.
Marquette County – Proposed commercial spaceport
REF: www.citizensforasafeandcleanlakesuperior.org
See also: The New Yorker Magazine’s take on this issue: April 2022
Menominee County – Proposed sulfide mine
REF: www.upenvironmental.org
Mackinac County – Proposed oil pipeline
REF: www.cleanwateraction.org
CTI BOARD
- Jon Magnuson, CTI Executive Director
- Steve Mattson, Financial Consultant, Wells Fargo Private Client Services, Retired
- Jim Elder, Attorney
ADVISORY COUNCIL
- Larry Skendzel, Physician, Hospice Care
- Gareth Zellmer, Consultant, Trainer
- Ken Kelley, Professor Emeritus, NMU
- Rick Pietila, U.S. State Department
- Jan Schultz, Botanist, USFS, Retired
- Michael Grossman, Family Physician
RESEARCH FELLOWS
- John Rosenberg
- Ruth Almén
- Kent Fish
- Joseph Piccione
THE CHALLENGE
“Each morning I arise,
torn by a desire to save the world
and a desire to savor it.
It makes for a difficult day.”
-E.B. Stone
Thank you for reading the Winter 2023 Ecotone Newsletter, the official Newsletter of the Cedar Tree Institute.
