Held in Deep Community | August 3, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Kathryn Benton

(possible translation from the Hungarian)

Lughnasadh, oh Lughnasadh, rock-rocking

Lughnasadh, oh Lughnasadh, popper Wheat gold seed,

Our Lady donation Lughnasadh,

 oh Lughnasadh gives us over Lughnasadh,

oh Lughnasadh, fruit ripening Lughnasadh,

oh Lughnasadh, quiet in the autumn Sun-Lord's golden light,

a fiery wedge of heaven Lughnasadh, oh the shining treasure of Lughnasadh Lughnasadh,

oh Lughnasadh, a basket full of bread Lughnasadh,

oh Lughnasadh, the earth is waiting for harvest

There is a promise of life being renewed Lughnasadh,

oh Lughnasadh, your eternal beauty

These blessings come from the celebration of Lughnasadh, a Celtic Harvest festival. It is a time when our interdependence is celebrated…through the harvest and through the sense of the seasons…of belonging to nature.  I remember when I lived in Austria, we celebrated the Waldfest every year on this day. It is a time when the people of the town gather at a clearing in the woods to eat, drink, talk and dance together. It is a time of the celebration of belonging to community…to humanity…and thereby to nature itself. Of this belonging…this interdependence, Karl Marx said:

The statement that the physical and mental life of [the human being], and nature, are interdependent means simply that nature is interdependent with itself,

for the human being is a part of nature.

These words from Karl Marx are perhaps not what we would expect from a Sunday worship service. Yet this idea…that the human being is a part of nature is key to so much of what we struggle with today, from religion, to politics, to social and psychological problems. Without this foundational understanding, we are lost…adrift in life…not knowing where we come from or where we are going…not knowing our origins, our history…without a sense of belonging…of being held by life. West African teacher Malidoma Somé speaks so eloquently to this sense of being held in Community…of belonging and of connection to the spirit of life… 

It's so effective when we realize that maybe the problem that we feel are actually an

indication that we have been chosen as the vessel of an issue that needs

Community attention which means therefore that in that way we're privileged. This is why in my culture they say that if you witness a crisis somewhere that's because the answers have brought you to that specific intersection simply

because the ancestors know that you have inside of you what it takes

to tend to that problem.

They don't bring you there so that you can be just a reporter

Saying…always finger-pointing at the things that are not working, complaining about the world not doing right. And this is why your life is not as bright as it should be. Instead, the capacity to see is the offer to let loose the gifts and healing powers that we carry inside of us.

I forgot to mention in the beginning that it is in this context that Dagara people believe that no one comes into this world for no reason, that we come into this world carrying a gift and with a purpose to deliver that gift in the brightest way possible. Maybe that's the reason why birthing is a community thing, maybe that's the reason why life in community is necessary in order to bring out those gifts.

 It takes Community to see the beauty the gifts that a person is carrying.

Isolation does not contribute to that and so therefore whenever we become unaware of the gifts inside of us, ancestors always bring in front of us issues that can be handled easily if we were able to unpack all these or this beauty…

this bag of goodies that we carry inside of us in defiance of any kind of cultural or social concept that maybe we don't have anything.

Imagine that! We have a bag of goodies inside that defies the belief that maybe we don’t have anything. And it takes community to see the beauty of the gifts…isolation does not contribute to that.

I was meditating on this reality the other day when I was talking with someone. This person has suffered from major depression for so many years and is beginning to realize that at the heart of it is a history of trauma, that includes neglect, isolation and loss. This person is now able to imagine the young child inside…the one bestowed with a bag of goodies that was not able to be recognized by Community…not able to be drawn into consciousness…not able to be recognized fully when life has brought before them issues that needed to be processed not only by the individual alone, but by the individual that is held in community…in the interdependence of all life. It highlights our lack of understanding that we all matter…that we matter together…interdependently, and not as isolated beings. As isolated beings we devolve into what bell hooks describes as a world of greed…a world without love where the passion to connect can be replaced by the passion to possess. Sweet Honey in the Rock expressed greed like this:

Greed is a poison rising in this land.

The soul of the people twisted in its command.

It moves like a virus seeking out ev’ryone.

Greed never stops its work, is never ever done.

A creeping, killing, choking invading ev’rywhere,

There is really no escaping greed’s tricky snare.

It’s been around a long time since before we began.

Before this was a nation, Greed drove people to this land.

Greed is a strand in the American dream,

Having more than you need is the essential theme.

Ev’rybody wanting more than they need to survive

Is a perfect indication Greed is settled inside.

I can see it in you. You can see it in me.

We can see it in big corporations,

All through the government.

See it in the banks, I can see it in the military.

See it in church. I can see it in my neighbor.

It all shows up clearly. You and you and your Greed.

These words remind me of the power of both individual responsibility and responsibility in community…again resting on the foundation of our relatedness…our interdependence. We are being called by courageous individuals like Bernie Sanders, Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to not only pointing out the wrongs, but using our gifts to right the wrongs…to heal ourselves, our nation, the planet. A Native writer, Helen Knott wrote:

Healing has no choice but to ripple out when we are real with ourselves and others.

And this is the hope…that by responding to the spirit and to the encouragement of the ancestors and our current Beloved Community…utilizing our original instructions…our original bag of goodies, we may heal those wounds which we witness within and around us. We need only be real with ourselves and others in order for the healing to ripple out…to Palestine…to Europe…to Africa and the Middle East…and ultimately to the entire planet…human, animal, plant, elements.  In the words of one of these ancestors, Howard Thurman…

In the quietness of this place

Surrounded by the all-pervading spirit of the Holy

Our hearts whisper…

May we take the time to be aware of this voice…the voice of our creator calling us home…home to a passion to connect with all life…working toward that Beloved Community that our ancestors and we ourselves envision. Let us remember that the spirit did not bring us here to be reporters, but active participants. Let us pause in this quietness…listening deeply…someone is calling our name.