Holy Peace

 

"Loving God,

Only open

your wings

and I will climb beneath their shadow

and find holy peace.

Amen"

Suzanne M. Lewis

 

 

As the second week of Advent unfolds, we are reminded of the importance of Peace.  For many this seems like one of those things that we may achieve after all that we "need" to do is done.  This time of year it is so easy to look around our lives and find so many things that legitimately need to be done.  We have work commitments, church commitments, family commitments and then when we do stop and look around we see all the need in the world.  Peace, what a great idea, if only I had time. 

 

It has taken me many years to realize that it is actually when we can operate from a place of peace that we are able to get far more done.  Maybe the lists change, maybe the "must dos" change, or the "must haves" are turned on their ear. 

 

The reading today from the "Living in Joyful Hope" speaks to the idea of crawling under the wings of God.  It is when we feel secure and safe that we are most able to invite God into our lives.  The Holy Spirit has a way of turning our world upside down, or perhaps turning in right side up. 

 

As we pray today and reflect on the idea of Peace, I invite us all to slow down.  What does Peace mean to you?  How are you prepared to invite God into your life? 

 



 

"Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

Luke 1;34

 

Dear God,

Mary's whole life sounds

a single pure note,

perfectly in tune

with your plan.

Like Mary, I will listen for the music of your joy

with my whole self.

My only wish is to place myself in your hands

so that you can make me vibrate,

like Mary,

one with you.

Amen   

 

                                                                                                                    Suzanne M. Lewis

 

In a reading from "Living in Joyful Hope", Suzanne makes the comment that Mary dares to ask a question of the angel.  She dares to speak up.  How hard it is sometimes for us to use our voices.  For some it is equally important to discern how to use them as instruments of good. not pain or as a weapon.  We live in a world so full of ways to communicate, words and noise surround us.  Sometimes I wonder if anything is really being said. How can we best decide what is important or true. 

 

Recently I was away for a week on silent retreat.  It was a blessing and long overdue.  I have been going on silent retreats for years.  That might seem strange for some of you that know me, and can't imagine me not talking for days at a time.  The truth is that I love the silence, I love the permission to just be and drop all those parts of our personality that allow us to engage in the world around us. 

 

In yesterday's reading, Suzanne tells us that "when we pray, we curl up on God's lap, we share the throne of David and we abide in eternity."  Being away allowed me to remember that feeling.  I was reminded when we step away and turn to God, we also return to our selves, return to the source of being that begins and ends with the divine.  The messages of judgement, fear, and anxiety are all connected to the world around us.  It is in stepping away that we are reminded that God is always with us and that finding our voice, asking God where we can best be used and how is an important part of our journey.  Of course, with that comes the necessity to listen. 

 

"If once we have received a real taste of the sacred, we become hungry for more. Our small awarenss leads us to recognize how scant, how provisional, how circumscribed we are.  And though limited, we thrist to be complete.  To live with this sense of lack is part of our human condition.  To meet this need becomes our quest.  Our hunger, though painful, is a tremendous gift.  It animates and energizes us for all the work the Spirit invites us to do. Our huger impels us to seek the Eternal."

 

 

In this season of advent, we are called to make room, to be still and come to know God.  We are called to look throught the darkness in our lives and the world and see the glimer of light.  We are also called to be that light.  During this time we are also inudated with messages about buying the right gift, baking the right food, making joy and light in ways the world tells us will fill us up, will satisfy that hunger. 

 

I love the holidays, I love the fun, the gifts, and the smell of homemade cookies.  Christmas music of all kinds makes my heart sing.  All that said, my hunger for more is always only fed by the spirit.  I am fooled often and try to quell that hunger with any number of other things.  But in the end, it is when I step back, when I am able to go into the quiet and rest in the loving lap of my God that I know how truly blessed I am.  It is then that I know blessing and joy. 

 

"If we can honestly and bravely face the truth of our finitude, even while refusing to abandon our conviction that there must be a response to our deepest need, we will soon discover an interior door.  This door opens onto a world of wonder. With hearts open, we will be propelled on a journey to seek everywhere , and in every person we meet, after the face of God.  We will find God in the most unlikely, most humble and ordinary places!  And on that day we will have all we need."  

 

Let us give thanks this day for the hunger that reminds us of our yearning, reminds us of the all powerful, all consuming love of God. 

 

Let us place ourselves in the longing arms of God on this day.  Let us use our voice to ask the important questions.  Let us find ways to the the light in the world that best serves God. 



LIving in joyful Hope

 

 

 

As I was wondering what kind of Adult Formation I wanted to do at St. John's I knew we needed to try something a little different.  People's schedules, gas prices and the mere distance that people must travel to get here all contributed my deciding to try something new.  This year we have begun using Facebook as a forum for a discussion on the book, Living in Joyful Hope, by Suzanne M. Lewis.  I have also told people in the congregation that are not on Facebook, that I will post things here and all are encouraged to comment.  The group has taken off in a really exciting way.  If you are reading this and would like to be sent an invitation to the group, please let me know and I would be happy to include you.  It is only a closed group for privacy reasons. But in no way means to exclude.  We are all learning this new field of technology. 

All of that is an introduction to the thoughts that will be posted here during Advent. 

"The light of the Good Shepherd is more solid, more dependable than any object found in the physical world. When we lean against it it bears all our weight. And when we abandon ourselves to it completely, it will lift us up."

During this Advent time, what gets in your way of allowing God to love you into wholeness and light?

 

Reflction from Day 1:

‎"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary." Luke 1:26-27

I love being reminded of the wonder of God. In light of the many things that have already been shared here, the readings for today are food for the soul. They are also ideas that we are all wrestling with and longing to accept.

" God intervened in our history. God created time but lives in the ageless eternity of wonder. Our God sanctified time and made of it a tabernacle where he might be forever revealed. God, whose omnipresence transcends all points of the compass, took sanctuary in a town, thereby making of town life something both awesome and hold. God will not be co...

nfined by limitless possibility!"

During this season of Advent we spend time reflecting on Mary and the birth of Jesus. We are reminded that Jesus is the way that God was able to come and walk and "be" with us. This reading helps me remember that God also becomes present and lives among each of us. As each of us are born, God becomes a little more manifest in the world. That is not to say that we are not flawed, that we are perfect or "God like". But that even in our fallibility and humanness we are able and called to live out God's grace in the world around us.

"God reached across the chasm that separates us from transcendence so that we who inhabit our own historical moment, our own town, may live richly, full of grace now, here."

"What a responsibility you have given me,
to be your eyes, your lips, your hands!
You invite me to pay attention
to what you do now, with my own hands, with the
hands of stranger, outcasts, the friendless, children.
Your marvels are everywhere!"

Last week I was on retreat. Each time I would say something that would negate myself or what I had said, the spiritual director would say: "That is just a distraction, God does not work through fear." How would our lives feel differently if we were able to look at the negative, fear based messages as a distraction, and imagine being God's instrument at work in the world around us. How can God best use us today?

Thank you all for this chance to spend Advent together. God is soooo  good!

 

Reflection from Day 2:

 

‎"And he came to her and said,, 'Greetings..." Luke 1:28a

One of the many interesting things about reading scripture is the chance to look at the words, to remember that the New Testament was written originally in Greek. I love her uncovering for us that the original meaning of the word 'Greeting' is Chaire, or Rejoice! What a wonderful and different way to say Hi, especially if you are an angel(:

As Tina very aptly reminded us when God comes to us in scripture the words that are used are important. God does not seem to muddle things up with chit chat. When we are approached by God, the words 'Don't be afraid' are always there. As I read the word Rejoice today, it felt very joyful.

After reading the mediation I took Riley and myself for a long walk. I did not listen to any technology and we were in the quiet of the woods. I kept hearing the word , rejoice, in my head. On this damp, dreary, day I was walking through the woods rejoicing. God comes to us in the most unlikely and yet, perfect places.

"On the brief occasions when we do experience joy, we are almost always surprised, or even shocked, into it. For this reason, joy seems to come more easily to children-for them so much of life is new and surprising. But by the time we reach adulthood, even the experience of being surprised can seem to be routine."

When my son was a toddler, he had this way of doing joy that took over his whole body. He would look at something, or open up a box, look up and with wide eyes and a perfectly pitched noise, you knew that you were looking at joy. His father and I used to say that he did joy really well. How do we do joy? Why as adults do we need to become jaded or used to the wonders of the world around us?

On the walk in the woods we took today, we always pass a tree that has many branches. They begin low to the ground and progress up into the sky. When my children were young we would walk another path in the woods and there was a tree very similiar to this one. Each time I walk by it I think of my son and how he always called it the bear tree. I can see in my minds eye my daughter sitting in the branches posing for pictures. I can remember thinking on a day, on that path that I always wanted to remember this feeling, this day. I remember thinking they will be grown soon, they will be off. Today as I passed by that tree, I rejoice, I give thanks for the memory of my children and the bear tree. I rejoice in the memory and the grace that it brings. I also rejoice and give thanks for the wonderful and amzing young people that they are becoming. 

"Perfect Love desires our puny, stumbling love. Joy invites us to partidipate with our own imperfect joy in the divine life. "

" O LOrd,
I know
that you rejoice
in the work of your hands.
When I work with my own hands
please let me fill the world
with the glorious melody
that I become when you touch
the ten strings
of my heart.
Let others join this heavienly music,
until that day when the whole world is filled
with your song.
Amen "

My prayer is that we allow ourselves to remember that God is always with us. That we do not need to be afraid, and that we are greated with Rejoicing!!!!

 

Civil Conversation

 

The Civil Conversations Project (CCP)

 

Recently I came upon a resource that intrigues me, and draws me back over and over.  It is called The Civil Conversation Project  .http://www.onbeing.org/project/civil-conversations-project/1960   On the top of the web page it says:  ideas and tools for healing our fractured civic spaces.  This seems like such a novel idea in this season of political retoric and constant commercials.  How can we learn to listen to each other and not live in the fear of losing the illusion of power, control or money?  How can we learn that we all called to learn more about the world we live in, be in relationship with those me most don't understand, and find God in the midst of those very things.  How are you challenged by these conversations? 

Pick up your brush

 

 

 

"Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny."
  Paul Tillich

I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me. "
William Blake

Fall has come to the North East. The air is crisp, the sun dances off the water and the leaves have begun to splash color on the canvas that is theirs alone.

Almost two years ago, I began the journey back to fitness. This was the direct result of turning 50. On one of the many forms of technoly that I gather information, I heard that to maintain your weight one must walk at least 10,000 steps. After those steps would be the ones that would allow your body to burn calories. This shouldn't be so hard, I thought.

On my next trip out, I bought a pedometer. For any new endeavor, doesn't a person need new equipment? In my mind I thought that if I began the process of making some kind of investment, I would stay with it.  Let me clarify here, this had never worked before, but maybe this time would be different. Years ago, I heard a wise woman say that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. This thought never occurred to me, I was on a mission.

For the next week, I wore my pedometer. This was actually a great exercize, pun intended. Not one day that week did I get even close to 10,000 steps. What I came to realize was that my life consisted of moving from one seat to the other. Seat at home, seat in the car, seat at meetings, seat in people's homes, back to seat in my home. Whew, what a day!! To say this was discouraging and a bit of a wake up call would be an understatement.

What am I going to do? For years I had heard about this "Couch to 5K" program. There was no doubt that the couch part fit me, but I had never seen myself as a runner. But, it was free, I could do it on my own time and on my own terms. Ok, back to the store! New sneakers were an important investment in my new endeavor. All the websites agreed that this was necessary and I agreed. I will say that this was a good investment and was important.

I began slugging through my neighborhood. It became clear how very out of shape I had let myself become. Earlier in my life, I was very active in sports, coached and just loved being active. I found myself really thinking about how long ago that had been. Time passes sometimes and the narrative of our lives unfold, time does not occur to us. I had been busy raising children, working, getting my masters degree two states away, doing internships, changing careers, leaving a marriage, relationships, new commitments, new jobs, moving to a new community. This does not feel like a sedentary life, but somehow that is what it had become.

How do we abandon our physical health? We carry these bodies around. Wait, they carry us around. Yes, we are blessed with the amazing physical structure that is our body. How often do we thank it for all it does? How often are we aware of the miracle that is our physical structure? I became very aware of how much I have taken my good health for granted. Being blessed is one thing, being stupid is another. I joke, but when I became aware of the lack of care and attention I paid to my physical health, I knew that I had to do something.

With God's help it has been almost two years since I bought that pedometer. It has been a journey of coming to terms with the reality of my own limits. But with that has come the empowering experience of working hard, getting to know myself in a new way, and learning that my physical being and spiritual being live in the same house.

On this day, I was able to put on my sneakers, not the same ones. On this day I was able to go out into the beautiful fall morning, put on my ear buds, listen to a wonderful book, see the beauty around me and run(not what some would call run, but for me it is), not really fast, but steady for 1 hour. Isn't that what life requires of us? To show up, have the proper equipment, listen to the narrative that calls us that day and pay attention to the world around us. I am grateful to be learning the patience that running teaches me. It is only for this day. I can train and learn and improve. I am growing and thriving even on the days that call for rest.

We are called to be present and attentive to the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects of who we are. The order and perfection of these areas are not important. What is important on the days when we feel like we do not know what direction to take, what path calls us, where are we supposed to turn, put on what ever are your sneakers and go one step at a time. Perhaps you are a painter, pick up your brush, perhaps you are a photographer, pick up your camera, Perhaps a knitter, pick up your needles. Whatever calls you to be still of heart and mind, whatever allows you to be present to God, pick it up.

Blessing

There are times in our lives when we are aware of new beginnings more than others.  In truth each day is full of new beginnings.  We open our eyes in the morning, become aware of our surroundings, stretch our limbs and anticipate the new day ahead.  Some mornings we feel like life will forever be exactly what it is today.  We may want to cling to that reality or we may feel very discouraged by it.  Either way, what I know to be true, is that with each breath comes the passing of time.  With each breath comes the dawn of something new. 

"We seem to think that beginning is setting out from a lonely point along some line of direction into the unknown.  This is not the case.  Shelter and energy come alive when a beginning is embraced.  Goethe says that once the commitment is made, destiny conspires with us to support and realize it.  We are never as alone in our beginnings as it might seem at the time.  A beginning is ultimately an invitation to open toward the gifts and growth that are stored up for us.  To refuse to begin can be an act of great self-neglect."     John O'Donohue

September is a time when the weather begins to change, people go back to school and schedules are required again.  How is it on this day you can embrace the blessings that await you?  How can we each see today as an invitation? 

A Morning Offering- John O'Donohue

I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.

All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder for this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed,.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more. 

"Be Still and know that I am God"

"Be Still and know that I am God"  Psalm 46:10

Why is it so hard to quiet our minds and be?  Are there people other than me that try to be present, but when the day takes off, and life begins, can become completely attached to circumstances.  There are days when I feel like a kite flying high above the beach, dipping, climbing, twirling.  All while on the outside, looking calm or maybe at worst restless. 

" How we relate moment by moment to what is happening on the spot is all there really is.  We give up all hope of fruition and in the the process we just keep learning what it means to appreciate being right here."  Pema Chodron

Reading that this is the moment in time, right now, that we have.  Reading that my work here is to be present to that is liberating, while at the same time frustrates me.  Of course, this is the very process that lives in my head always. ' Breath and take in the liberation,' comes the voice in my head.  Why can it be so hard to hold onto the moment? 

Holding on to a kite on a windy day at the beach takes strength, concentration, flexibility and being grounded.  Sometimes it can feel like wrestling with the wind.  Holding on for dear life.  We learn ways to play with the string that impacts the flight, we learn tricks about how to move and play with the wind, but at the end of the day, the wind knows best.  Ahh, could this be the Holy Spirit? 

When I am present I find myself walking by lilies in the rain and must stop and pay attention to the beauty.  The colors and the abundance of blossoms and buds remind me of all the blessings we have.  I imagine God creating lilies and being so excited about how beautiful they were, that God couldn't stop painting them.  When I am present I am not worrying about what I haven't done, or what needs to be done, I am payng attention to what God has put in front of me in that moment. 

Pena Chodrom is an American Buddhist nun.  She has written many books, but the one I am reading now is called, Taking the Leap, Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears."  One of the things that I am reminded of as I work with this book is the reality that when we are on a spiritual path, God is never finished with us.  There are many days when I would guess we could stop and look at our lives and marvel at what we are able to do , what we have learned, who we are.  And yet, how often are we aware of all the things that get in out way of continuing to grow and learn.  How often do we fall back to a comfortable, old pattern.  How often does the critical voice drown any of that out?

"It comes from continually strengthening habits of grasping and aversion and distancing ourselves.  In particular in comes from our internal conversations-our judgements, embellishments, and labels about what's happening." 

We live in a world where we are told all the time that something outside ourselves will make us better.  Or if not better, will numb the pain or anxiety of the moment.  Maybe we just don't know how to be?  Maybe we have been taught that 'being' has no value, maybe someone said you were supposed to be productive, and after all just 'being' is not productive.  We live in a world that encourages us to strengthen those habits of grasping outside ourselves to keep a distance from that quiet place inside. 

When I am fighting with the string and the kite is dancing above me, I feel like the kite is the present moment.  I feel like the kite can rejoice in the rise and fall of the wind, can use the construction of itself to fly in a special way.  God has created us each in a special and sacred way.  We are each called to rise and fall, we are called to ride the wind in our special way. 

Today, the rain is falling, the grass and flowers are giving thanks for the long awaited drink.  Today, I am present to this moment.  Moving fast and being distracted are so easy, but with the knowledge that there can be breaks from that we can step back, take a deep breath and just be. 

"Instead of getting better and better at avoiding, we can learn to accept the present moment as if we had invited it, and work with it instead of against it, making it our ally rather than our enemy."