Expansive Worpswede
First, this post is too long for email, so to see the whole thing, click / tap on the title above.
Second, before getting into the rest of my post for today, I want to ask a favor. So much of what I share here is based in what I experience in nature both right where I live and in other places I have been lucky enough to visit. Unfortunately, there’s a new government proposal that has been opened for public comments to open up 58 million acres of pristine land for logging, development, and oil exploration. This will affect land in many states, including my beloved home state of Colorado. We do not need more land opened up in this way but instead need to find ways to use what we already have and draw upon renewable resources. Please visit this link to learn more and to be connected to the website for public comments. Thank you.
Onto Worpswede
I never studied German but I do love me some German words. A few days ago, I came across this one, Worpswede. It isn’t so much of a word with a deep definition but instead a place - it is a town in Northern Germany that hosts an artists colony that began in the 19th century and continues to be vibrant and creating still today. Gotta admit as well that when I read the word, I think of “warp speed” from Star Trek...which honestly given what I’m about to share... might not be too far off.
I came across this word in the daily Rilke readings I have been doing when it was noted as the location where a segment of Letters to a Young Poet was written. Here’s the section that Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows entitled, This Vast Landscape.
Here in this vast landscape, swept by winds from the sea, I wonder if there is any person anywhere who can answer the questions that stir in the depths of your being. For even the best miss the mark when they use words for what is elusive and nearly unsayable. But nonetheless, I believe you are not left without a solution, if you turn to things like those that are refreshing my eyes. If you ally yourself with nature, with her sheer existence, with the small things that others overlook and that so suddenly can become huge and immeasurable; if you have this love for what is plain and try very simply, as one who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, perhaps not in your conscious mind, but in your innermost awareness.
Worpswede, July 16, 1903
Letters to a Young Poet1
My first sense of reading this was that it was about finding meaning in nature and, to an extent, that is true. But there’s more to it of course. Upon reading it and sitting with it for several more days, what I hear in it is to open yourself up to the vastness of all that is around us but also in the vastness of the “small things that others overlook” as Rilke wrote. I love how this moves to the sense that as we open ourselves to this expansiveness that it makes life “easier...more coherent and somehow more reconciling...in [our] innermost awareness.” I don’t think that Rilke was saying that life was easier in a prosperity-gospel sort of way but instead that we are able to navigate life in different (maybe easier) ways. Allowance of mystery and wonder makes a significant difference.
This is so against the mindset that says that everything has to be explained and understood and that the vastness needs to be brought into coherence. This opens the door to mystery, wonder, awe, and...yes here’s that word again... expansiveness. And this way of living also opens us up to not only living better internally but how we engage the world. As I walked on Tuesday morning, I listened to a poem from The Slowdown podcast called And Then It Was Less Bleak Beacuse we Said So (Wendy Xu) and, in the pre-poem reflection, Maggie Smith (podcast host) shared this:
“Cynical, despairing, numbed out people are easier to control than people who are in love with their lives, who see possibility in the world into our wide awake for it all.2
This followed Smith’s sharing about a banner in her home that says, “Joy is an act of resistance” which reminds her daily of how she has to center on practices that often fly in the face of the mess that the world often is. Before and following the above quote, Smith says, “we can enjoy our lives, and refuse to become cynical, or despairing, or just plain numb…Today’s poem so beautifully addresses the importance of holding onto joy—and onto one another—when the world feels dismal.” I encourage you to take a listen to the 6 minute podcast along with this reflection (link in footnote below)
In science fiction stories “warp speed” takes people to new places they could never have gone otherwise. As the opening to Star Trek says “to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.” Worpswede here isn’t about going to another planet but it aligns with the idea that Jesus speaks of throughout the Gospels of the Realm (or Kingdom) of God. It isn’t a ruling-over or a power-over but instead a transformation of what is to what can be. It is the possibility of something bigger and more expansive than we have experienced - both internally and with others and through the world.
I was grateful to experience a little bit of this on my two walks down a community path in Boston on Monday and Tuesday this week. I was in Boston to help move one of our kids back into college for another academic year. Each morning, I went out on what ended up being 5 mile out-and-back walks along this community path. Honestly, on the surface, much of the path didn’t feel “expansive.” After staring out with trees and some really interesting and fun community artwork, the majority of the path was bounded by a chainlink fence on one side and walls (wood, cinder block, cement) on the other. The fence separated the path from the Boston transit trains so there was the regular sound of the train going by.
But in the midst there was much that felt beautifully expansive. There was unique graffiti painted with messages calling for liberation and freedom both locally as well as places far from here like Ukraine and Palestine. There were calls for inclusion and equal rights for all people and there was graffiti art that I wasn’t quite sure of the message (and that’s ok). And there were flags bearing different messages - social and religious.
There were sculptures of a yellow elephant, of a heron/dinosaur hybrid, and of two giraffes named George and Big Poppy along with other sculptures that were just fun to take in. A “town” made up of all kinds of toys and small figurines also lined one part of the path.
There were flowers growing out of cracks in the walls that vibrantly lit up the walk with yellow, purple, pink, and blue. In one patch, a single sunflower grew alone in the midst of a bunch of other plants. A blue/purple flower also stood out among other blooms of different colors from what seemed to be the same bush.
And there were these - political signs for a regular competition to elect the feline mayor of the community path. Yes the cat mayor of the community path.
Dog people had to get in the acts as well as their was also a competition from dog-people to have their own election as well. Unfortunately Scout isn’t eligible to be elected.
Encouragements and affirmations also lined the way - a utility box painted with messages for all people but seemingly especially for young girls who get so many hurtful messages from society.
And little glimpses of symbols that might not mean a lot others but meant a great deal to me - a hidden heart that went into a shared photo album my sister and I keep and also a twisted hair tie that fell into a Celtic shape that represents the Trinity
And then this mirror.
I walked by this mirror on Tuesday morning at exactly the right time as the sun was reflecting off it and it was just stunning. But behind the mirror was this big message that I believe was tied to someone stopping to look in the mirror. The message for anyone looking into that mirror? “You are beautiful”
Friends, there’s a lot of ugly in the word right now but there is so much truth to what Jesus shared thousands of years ago, Rilke wrote over a hundred years ago, and what Maggie Smith said just this week in a podcast responding to a beautiful poem. Opening ourselves to the true vastness that is around us not only changes us but helps us to be a part of the transformation of this world into a place that is more just, more open, and more loving.
Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed
Barrows, Anita; Macy, Joanna. A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke (p. 241). Kindle Edition.
From The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily: 1342: And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu, Sep 1, 2025
Such an interesting message and great pictures to help us see the broader view. And of course kitties can run for office. The mayor of Rabbit Hash, KY is a dog!
Amen grace peace and love 💕