Through and Through

I call to you like your friend Karen calls to her dog. She lowers her voice, calling softly to him. And Cosmos hears her.  Does he always come when called? No.  But does he hear her? Yes. Does he recognize her quiet call? Yes. Does he know what she wants? Yes.

I am like Karen. I lower my voice.

You hear so many voices, most of them strident, assertive, aggressive, loud, bossy, in your face, it’s-all-about-me voices, needy voices, harsh voices, nosy voices, not-so-pleasant voices, sweet voices, syrupy voices. They are not all necessarily bad voices. Some of them are very good, very legitimate, and very important. You need to listen for them because they genuinely need you or have some legitimate claim upon you. And, like it or not, you are in relationship with every one of them. Near or far, friend or foe, they share the same world and this same moment in time with you.

But I am different. I lower my voice.

Because I do, I understand that it is sometimes difficult for you to notice when I’m calling, speaking, seeking to enter into conversation with you and wanting to teach you something. I get that! And I don’t do this to manipulate you, forcing you listen harder. If I did this, then mine would be just like all the rest of the voices out there.

No, I do it to separate mine from all the rest…so you will be able to distinguish it and hear it even in the midst of these other voices. Yes, you’ll have to work a little harder, be a bit more observant and discerning, and listen with love instead of ego.

But you'll know it is me. And I promise, I will always be here. You will always find me available when you want to talk. And if you will listen for me, I will teach what to listen for in all the other voices you are hearing. You will lengthen your days and soften your nights. You will experience the awareness of that flow which is Life itself. Me.

Listen for me. I’m here. I’m here for you and I’m here with you…so I can be here through…and through you.

You Called?

YOU call to me through the one who is the love of my life. You call to me through my children and their lives. You call to me through my friends. You call to me through the people I see each day but know nothing about. You call to me through those who are truly complete strangers in my life…those whose path my feet will never tread upon. You call to me through the terrorist who bombs my fellow Americans. You call to me through Obama and Putin and Iran and ISIS and Republicans and Democrats and the ultra rich and the utterly impoverished.

You call…as you have called all of my life…without ever stopping, without ever letting up, never ceasing long enough to take a breath. You call morning and evening. Again and again. Day and night. Night and day. Out of the dawn and into the dusk.

Am I listening? Do I hear you above the fray and beneath the din? In those rare moments when I actually do hear your call, it is always a sweet beckoning. It is a call that feels bathed in love. Bathed in compassion. Bathed in forgiveness. Bathed in joy. Bathed in a deep yearning for all people and all life to live knowing, sensing, listening for and hearing it.

There is no trace of judgment in your voices. No trace of condescension. No trace of anger, malice or vengefulness. Just the pure simple clarion call of love coming to me through the beat of a hummingbird’s wings.

It is a call to life…a call that rings out to all that you have made…every creature, every cricket.  And it is the call to life. It’s here always. But it’s a call that, most of the time, I’m missing…because I’m not listening.

The Path To Freedom

Richard Rohr, contemporary Franciscan mystic, wrote the following helpful explanation of the way to experience true freedom in our lives...

Authentic spirituality is always on some level or in some way about letting go. Jesus said, "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). Once we see truly what is trapping us and keeping us from freedom we should see the need to let it go. But in a consumer society most of us have had no training in that direction. Rather, more is supposed to be better. True liberation is letting go of our false self, letting go of our cultural biases, and letting go of our fear of loss and death. Freedom is letting go of wanting more and better things, and it is letting go of our need to control and manipulate God and others. It is even letting go of our need to know and our need to be right--which we only discover with maturity. We become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers: our need for power and control, our need for safety and security, and our need for affection and esteem.

If you'd like to see more of his writings, visit www.cac.org.

Come Hungry

Come hungry.  That’s the standing invitation to prayer, meditation, solitude with the One. Come hungry, not all put together, not having figured everything out, not full of ideas or problems you want resolved or worse, solutions you’ve come up with.

Come hungry. No grocery list of items to pick up at the God Store. No “TO DO!” list for the One. Come without expectations. Come thirsty. Come weak and weary. Come wanting. Come listening. Come because you have nowhere else to go. Or, come here first and save yourself the trouble of traipsing all over creation’s inner and outer spaces looking for answers. Come without requirements and parameters and stipulations and druthers.

Just come…and come hungry.

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Listen for the Holy
Today, having entered into what the church calls "Holy Week," let's listen whole-ly...wholly...for the holy in each day. Faith says it's here. Hope says if we give ourselves to such listening, we'll hear it. Love says it will be holy for us...that is, it will be what we truly need to hear.

Tuesday: A Radiance Within
Rather, the radiance within comes from beyond us and from beyond anything we can do. Through a staid commitment to pray and/or meditate, or in other words, to wonder, to ponder, to stop and take in both the physical world around us and the spiritual world within us, we become exposed to this Radiance. And we glow.

Wednesday: Available
The Christian's walk is about something even deeper. It's about making ourselves available to God above all others. It teaches that as we do this, we come to see and experience God helping us sort out how and where to make ourselves available in the world today.

Thursday: Simple As That
Thank you, Lord, for giving me such a simple way of understanding my life's purpose. Thank you for all the people who will make themselves available to You and to me today in order to make my life good. And, most of all, thank you for giving me opportunities to go and do likewise. Simple as that. Amen. 

Friday: So
I don't think any of us has the one, right answer when it comes to understanding God. I do believe, however, that when we stop long enough to ponder just this much of John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world...") we can all agree on one thing: We are so loved.

So

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)

These words from gospel writer John's account of Jesus' life are probably the best known, most cherished--and possibly the most disagreed upon words in the Bible. Did God actually believe in human sacrifice like the pre-Judaic religions did? Would God require that of his followers? Would he actually give up his own and only son to provide the human? Is this the same God whom Jesus spoke so lovingly of? Is this real love?

I don't suspect we're going to come to agreement on this today--this Good Friday.

But what can we agree on?

Let's just take the first part of that verse..."For God so loved the world that he gave..." Just that much is so much! God so loved the world and everything and everyone in it (not just the ones who believe in him) that God freely gave (didn't barter or bargain, didn't charge, didn't even charge interest on the account)--freely gave the world his own and only son. What an incredibly loving gift!

I don't think any of us has the one, right answer when it comes to understanding God. I do believe, however, that when we stop long enough to ponder just this much of John 3:16 we can all agree on one thing: We are so loved.

And that is so good to know and remember on this Good Friday.

Simple As That

The Christian Church's observance of Holy Week (which immediately precedes Easter) focuses on a different theme each day. Today is called Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" is the Latin word for commandment and the commandment being referred to is the one that Jesus gave his disciples when, after a meal together, (probably their last), he washed their feet--an ultimate act of servanthood in that culture. He said to them, "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you." (John 13)

Was he literally telling them they were to go out and wash people's feet? No. He was using his action as a metaphor. Its message was simple: Our life's purpose (and therefore, meaning) will be discovered through the act of being available to each other--in helping meet each other's needs. Simple as that.

This being Holy Week, this maundy or commandment implies that to live this way is act-ually holy. That is, it's a way of making ourselves available to God through treating all of God's creation with reverence--one person, one situation, one experience at a time.


Lord,
     Thank you for giving me such a simple way of understanding my life's purpose. Thank you for all the people who will make themselves available to You and to me today in order to make my life good. And, most of all, thank you for giving me opportunities to go and do likewise. Simple as that. Amen. 

"...and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)
 

Available

We want God to be available 24/7. If God is God, we reason, God can do anything and everything. Further, if God is love, as the Bible tells us, then God should be "there" (here) for us...available. Always available. 

But it doesn’t seem to work that way. Maybe because this approach attempts to turn us into God and God into our lackey--instead of our Lord. 

No, the message of the Bible seems to be quite the opposite: that we are here to make ourselves available to God...to be God's servants, God's hands, feet and heart, God's presence in the world. 

With this message comes a promise: If we do this, we will discover that God is already available to us. Which, in a roundabout way, starts us back at the beginning. God is, in fact, available 24/7. 

The Christian's walk is about something even deeper. It's about making ourselves available to God above all others. It teaches that as we do this, we come to see and experience God helping us sort out how and where to make ourselves available in the world today.

Holy Week is all about Jesus Christ being available to God above all other availabilities. Easter is about the promise of what happens because God is available to us.

 

A Radiance Within

"God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity. But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance of wonder renewed daily, the source of which is beyond all reason." (Dag Hammarskjold, UN Secretary General 1953-1961 and Nobel Peace Prize recipient)

I love it when people say things that make my thinking stop in its tracks. Dag Hammarskjold had that ability. It's like the first crocus in the Spring. Once you see it, you can't help yourself. You just have to stop for a moment and take it in. Its tiny radiance doesn't just fill you with a sense of joy. It points to something far bigger than itself. It heralds Spring!  

The radiance that Hammarskjold says can be present within each of us isn't based on a particular set of beliefs about God--be they Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Christian or whatever. These are all human constructs created in an attempt to understand something far beyond all reason--that which we have named "God." Our beliefs have their place, yes, but they are not the source of our radiance.

Rather, the radiance within comes from beyond us and from beyond anything we can do. Through a staid commitment to pray and/or meditate, or in other words, to wonder, to ponder, to stop and take in both the physical world around us and the spiritual world within us, we become exposed to this Radiance. And we glow.

Listen for the Holy

There it sat perched on a small coffee table next to Dad's favorite chair.  It was a mug we kids gave him at his 80th birthday party. Inscribed on one side was the caption, “Dad...thanks to your lectures, I never change horses in the middle of a job worth doing, I know the squeaky wheel gets the worm, and I never count my chickens until I’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” and on the other side, it read,”And you thought I wasn’t listening!” 

“How true!” we chuckle.  But what, exactly, is the truth of it? Sadly, it seems to be this: we listen in half.  Oh, we may hear the whole but only half (on a good day!) is heavy enough to sink into our consciousness to be applied at the moment or stored for future retrieval. Then, having listened in half, we attempt to put the whole back together.  It doesn’t work and we chide ourselves, “Why didn’t I listen more carefully?!”

And it gets worse.  We may think we really were listening!  We may think we heard our parents’ words correctly so we proceed—but on an erroneous basis.  No wonder we get confused.  No wonder things go awry in our lives.  It’s like trying to navigate New York City while reading a map of Minneapolis. We wander. And we wonder. 

Today, having entered into what the church calls "Holy Week," let's listen whole-ly...wholly...for the holy in each day. Faith says it's here. Hope says if we give ourselves to such listening, we'll hear it. Love says it will be holy for us...that is, it will be what we truly need to hear.

“If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Night Games
I was blessed with a mother and father who loved my siblings and me deeply...deeply enough to call us in--or call us out, depending on what was needed. No, I'm not a kid anymore. Life's circumstances have become far more complicated than back in those idyllic days. All the more reason why I am thankful that God's all-prevailing love comes to us...and through us...no matter what we think or do.

Tuesday: Water Ride!
Having someone explain what an experience is like is virtually nothing in comparison to experiencing it ourselves!!! So it is with following Jesus Christ.

Wednesday: Awareness
When Jesus speaks of denying ourselves, might he be saying that we are to deny our ego-centricity...and that we learn to do this through the awareness that comes to life in us through following him?

Thursday: Missing the Point
Because we grossly underestimate God's meaning of "being," we reduce our existence to the level of valuing ourselves and each other on the basis of doing. In other words, our greatest sin is that we diminish ourselves and each other.

Friday: All Consuming Ego
Gracious God,
       Help us to become more aware of our egos and their power in our lives and relationships. Help us to love the "things" that will add life rather than the ones that make promises they can't deliver. Most of all, thank you for creating us with the potential for true awareness and the freedom to make life-transforming choices. Amen.

All Consuming Ego

Eckhart Tolle, in his book, A New Earth: Awakening Your Life's Purpose, shares the best understanding of the ego and some of its ramifications that I have come across in some time. Here are a couple more snippets...


"Paradoxically, what keeps the so-called consumer society going is the fact that trying to find yourself through things doesn’t work: The ego satisfaction is short-lived and so you keep looking for more, keep buying, keep consuming." (Pg. 36)

 and...

"Ego-identification with things creates attachment to things, obsession with things, which in turn creates our consumer society and economic structures where the only measure of progress is always more. The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease." (Pg.37)

Contrast Tolle's understanding of the ego with the Bible's understanding of how we have been created:

"Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." (I Timothy 6:6-10)

Gracious God,
       Help us to become more aware of our egos and their power in our lives and relationships. Help us to love the "things" that will add life rather than the ones that make promises they can't deliver. Most of all, thank you for creating us with the potential for true awareness and the freedom to make life-transforming choices. Amen.

Missing the Point

"According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of humanity is one of  “original sin.” Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted.  Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the NT was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence." (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth)

Maybe we have missed the mark by thinking that "sin" refers to the things we do that we shouldn't do and the things we shouldn't do that we do.  This definition is both narrow and shallow. 

What Tolle is suggesting is much bigger...that sin has to do with missing the mark of our "being" and not our "doing." According to him, our definition of being is too narrow and shallow. And here's the kicker! Because we grossly underestimate God's meaning of "being," we reduce our existence to the level of valuing ourselves and each other on the basis of doing. In other words, our greatest sin is that we diminish ourselves and each other.

I think the psalmist was thinking the same thing as he sang, "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!...When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8: 3-5)

Awareness

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24 NRSV).

To become free of the ego is not really a big job but a very small one.  All you need to do is be aware of your thoughts and emotions—as they happen. (E. Tolle, A New Earth)

One of the bridges between psychology and theology is the concept of awareness--which lies the heart of both Jesus' invitation to follow him and Eckhart Tolle's words about being free of the ego's power. When Jesus speaks of denying ourselves, might he be saying that we are to deny our ego-centricity...and that we learn to do this through the awareness that comes to life in us through following him? I think so.

Water Ride!

“Here goes!" you say somewhat unconvincingly to your 9-year old self.

Standing at the top of the water ride, you're out of breath. You've just climbed the ladder to the "Start Here" platform. And what a ride it is! Twisting. Turning. Skidding. Screaming. You pick up speed in the rolling, roiling froth, as you torpedo down the big blue tube. Can’t see around the next corner or the next or the next, but you know exactly what's coming. After a few seconds of what seems like forever, you break into the sunshine. You blast into the light. A huge wet 'n wild splashdown! Water everywhere! Fist-pumping fun!  You laugh out loud! You catch your breath, then you get back in line to do it all over again.

Sound fun? Yes! Whether we're 9 or 90, our imaginations can take us there. We can see the dazzlingly bright light. We can almost smell the water as we bounce off the blue walls. We can feel it sloshing against our skin.

But having someone explain what such an experience is like is virtually nothing in comparison to experiencing it ourselves!!!

So it is with following Jesus Christ. Consider the personal invitation below which comes from the Bible's Song of Solomon 2:10-13. Actually, the invite comes from God, the Beloved One.

My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; 11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."

Night Games

When I was a child one of my favorite evening activities from the first of spring to the last of autumn was to gather with my young friends in the neighborhood and play outdoor games...Captain May I, Anti-Over, Red Light Green Light, Vanishing Riders, King of the Mountain. Chasing after one of my cronies or racing to escape his or her clutches, I felt, "Life doesn't get any better than this!" In deed, in those moments life was good, very good.

But then, from somewhere between houses and hedges in my quaint little Minnesota town, I heard a voice. Felt like God but no, it was Mom or Dad calling, "Jerry...time to come in!" I was being summoned to bath, bed and beyond. And I hated it. I pretended I didn't hear it. I did my best to ignore it. I'd argue "I only heard you call once!" when I finally showed up, hot and sweaty at the back door. "Just a little while longer? The other kids..." But it never worked. Instead, love prevailed. Whether I understood it as this or not, love prevailed.

I was blessed with a mother and father who loved my siblings and me deeply...deeply enough to call us in--or call us out, depending on what was needed. No, I'm not a kid anymore. And, the names of the games have all changed. But I am one of the fortunate ones. My parents loved me with a love that prevailed. And so, most days and nights, I still feel "Life doesn't get any better than this!" 

Life's circumstances have become far more complicated than back in those idyllic days. All the more reason why I am thankful that God's all-prevailing love comes to us...and through us...no matter what we think or do.

"The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore." (Psalm 121:8)

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Eternal Delight
"God" is a word we have been using to describe the life force at the root of all for a very, very long time. And we must admit we have made "God" in our image. Have we boxed this life force, this energy, this "eternal delight" in by doing so? In naming it, have we created a way to control or contain it? Have we unwittingly created a golden calf just as the Israelites did?

Tuesday: At Last
As the ultimate expression of God's love, creation is yearning to tell us that we are inextricably linked together. Every move, great or small, toward this linkage is a movement toward Life. Every move away from it is a movement toward Death.

Thursday: Disturb Us
"Disturb us, O Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the water of life; when having fallen in love with time, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build the new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to grow dim." (Sir Francis Drake)

Friday: Risk It
There are three risks we can't afford not to take: 1. Believing we are each created in the image and likeness of God; 2. Believing we are each irreplaceable and unique in all the world; 3. Believing we are each of authentic worth solely because we exist.

Risk It

There are three risks I can't afford not to take...

1. Believing I’m created in the image and likeness of God.
In other words, every person I meet today is created to be creative and compassionate.

2. Believing I am irreplaceable and unique in all the world.
In other words, every person I meet today is a one-of-a-kind expression of God’s love made flesh.

3. Believing I am of authentic worth solely because I exist.
In other words, every person I meet today has inherent dignity and eternal significance.

If you and I do not take these risks, we resign ourselves and each other to lives that are narrow, shallow, and determined by all that we fear. Insofar as we do take these risks, our lives are broadened by each other's perspective, deepened by each other's wisdom and transformed by each other's power.

I’ll take my chances. Will you?


“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-control.” (II Timothy 1:7)

Disburb Us

Today I share with you one of my favorite prayers attributed to 16th century explorer Sir Francis Drake. If you are familiar with his colorful but disturbing exploits, once you read this prayer you'll see that God can work through any of us...even you and me!

Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves; when our dreams come true because we dreamed too little; when we have arrived in safety because we have sailed too close to the shore. 

Disturb us, O Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the water of life; when having fallen in love with time, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build the new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to grow dim. 

Stir us, O Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms shall show thy mastery and, where losing sight of the land, we shall find the stars. 

In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes and invited the brave to follow, even the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

At Last

Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to understand it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all embracing love...Things flow and are indirectly linked together, and if you push here, something will move at the other end of the world. If you strike here, something somewhere will wince; if you sin here, something somewhere will suffer. (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov)

As the ultimate expression of God's love, creation is yearning to tell us that we are inextricably linked together. Every move, great or small, toward this linkage is a movement toward Life. Every move away from it is a movement toward Death.

Eternal Delight

"Energy is eternal delight," wrote William Blake, the English poet/painter (1757-1827).

Scientists tell us that, to the best of their knowledge, they believe that energy lies at the very core of the universe, of all that is--animate and inanimate. Christianity (like most religions) teaches that God is at that same core of all that exists. Could the two be one? Can energy be benevolent? Forgiving? Gracious? Is energy the "father" of all life? Have we religious types personified energy and named it "God?" Are we somehow reducing God if we think of God as the energy that lies at the heart of all that is? Or, are we expanding our understanding of God?

One thing seems certain; both God and energy are committed to Life with a capital "L."

"God" is a word we have been using to describe the life force at the root of all for a very, very long time. And we must admit we have made "God" in our image. (Even Jesus suggested we call God "Our father in heaven.") Have we boxed this life force, this energy, this "eternal delight" in by doing so? In naming it, have we created a way to control or contain it? Have we unwittingly created a golden calf idol just as the Israelites did when Moses spent too much time on a mountaintop getting the Ten Commandments?

Challenging questions! Questions that take us to the edge of the "universe" of our understanding of both God and energy. They invite us continue the ever-important conversation between science and religion. And they invite us to revisit what we believe, how we came to believe it and why we continue to believe it--certainly an appropriate endeavor in the season of Lent.

Meanwhile, we can eternally delight in both science and religion, in both the physical and spiritual "worlds." Along side the physical universe, we can expand spiritually.

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Score Keeping
The True Self (God Self within each of us) not only has the capacity to truly forgive the False Self of others. It can and will forgive even our own ego-based False Self. We can do this not seven times, as Peter asks Jesus, but "seventy times seven" as Jesus replies (Matthew 18:22).

Tuesday: Dual Consciousness
To enter into this training in consciousness is to be faithful to God, to life, to love and oddly, to your True Self. Consciousness is about being attuned to both what’s going on at the surface, and what’s going on deep beneath it. It is dual consciousness, that is, awareness of both the physical and the spiritual dimensions of Life at the same time.

Wednesday: If You Continue In My Power

One kind of power kills us by getting in the way of our spiritual clarity and deep lucidity; the other enlivens us with spiritual awareness and resolve. It's as if one doesn’t care about us except for what it can draw from us to support itself. The other cares so much that it gives of itself to enliven us. Jesus said, "If you continue in my word (power?)...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

Thursday: Soul Level

The spiritual awareness that comes from stepping back (or is it forward) into prayer gives us the power to recognize our anxieties as outside and separate from our “selves.” From our new vantage point we can experience an inner peace with which to deal not just with the anxiety itself, but with the issues that bring on the feelings of anxiety.

There are no anxieties at the level of the soul. As St. Paul put it, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV).

Friday: Dealing in Immensities

We deal in self-gratification and self-aggrandizement. You deal in care and compassion for “the least of these.”  We deal in inadequacies, insecurities and idiosyncrasies.  You deal in courage and integrity, wisdom and truth. I thank you, God, for dealing in immensities.  I will be more mindful of them today.  I will celebrate them and do my best to share them just as freely as you do.

 Amen.

Dealing in Immensities

Dear God, 
Once again, I’m aware in this moment of solitude, that I am enveloped in the immense beauty of your natural world…and in the immense quiet around me…and and immense joy inside of me.  I thank you for this, God.  I believe it is you who has put it in me. And I believe it is you, God, that brings the immensity outside of me to the immensity within.  You bring them together.  You, who have created them, connect them.  And by your graceful power, you make me aware of them.  
I thank you and I will be eternally grateful to you because you obviously have an immense love for me, for my brothers and sisters of this world and for this world itself—earth and air, sea and sky.  
We humans deal in “commodities” and “securities.”  In truth, we mostly deal in trivialities…and frivialities.  But you, God, you deal in immensities.  You deal in the immensities of grace, forgiveness and mercy.  You deal in the immensities of peace and patience.  We humans deal in days, hours, minutes and seconds.  You deal in eons and eternities.  We deal in dollars and cents.  You deal in faith and hope and love.  We deal in micro-biology and macro-economics. You deal in energy and matter…the stuff of galaxies and universes.  We deal in self-gratification and self-aggrandizement. You deal in care and compassion for “the least of these.”  We deal in inadequacies, insecurities and idiosyncrasies.  You deal in courage and integrity, wisdom and truth.
I thank you, God, for dealing in immensities.  I will be more than mindful of them today.  I will celebrate them and do my best to share them just as freely as you do.
Amen.

Soul Level

The power of anxiety can literally stop us in our tracks, especially if we feed it by giving it our attention, and therefore, our energy. It can cut off the vital line of communication between our rational thinking (with its knack for problem-solving) and our spiritual awareness (with its capacity for seeing the whole picture). It is especially formidable because it attacks us at the root of our power—our sense of self—and here, when we feel powerless we feel worthless. Further, we often think we can do nothing about the situations or circumstances that are stressing us. 

This is never the case.

The spiritual awareness that comes from stepping back (or is it forward) into prayer gives us the power to recognize our anxieties as outside and separate from our “selves.” From our new vantage point we can experience an inner peace with which to deal not just with the anxiety itself, but with the issues that bring on the feelings of anxiety.

There are no anxieties at the level of the soul. As St. Paul put it, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV).

If You Continue In My Power

The power of distraction…it keeps pulling us away from our center, from our intentions, from our purposes and goals. It is relentlessly present. The power of desire…it pulls us out of our Life-given orbit. It takes us places we think we want to go but later often regret. The power of perceived hunger…it keeps making us think that we need something in order to feel full. 

All these other powers…we unconsciously feed them! We let these powers suck life and passion from us. 

But the power that comes from God is different. We actually feel it give us roots of joy and thankfulness. We feel it give us lift...wings of hope. So, we can become spiritually airborne. This is a hugely different experience. 

One kind of power kills us by getting in the way of our spiritual clarity and deep lucidity; the other enlivens us with spiritual awareness and resolve. It's as if one doesn’t care about us except for what it can draw from us to support itself. The other cares so much that it gives of itself to enliven us. 

Jesus said, "If you continue in my word (power?)...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

Dual Consciousness

I need constant reminders of God's power for and in me. And life gives them to me; this morning’s sunshine, that cardinal’s sweet song, the breath I’m breathing. I’m surrounded with signs. 

But do I see them? How can I be aware of them? How many road signs have I missed? And how lost I have become! 

Slow down, Jer. Train yourself to be intentionally conscious in this moment, and then the next moment, and the next. Stop yourself right in the middle of things, right in the middle of today, right in the middle of Life and you will momentarily see deeply again and again. 

To enter into this training in consciousness is to be faithful to God, to life, to love and oddly, to your True Self. Consciousness is about being attuned to both what’s going on at the surface, and what’s going on deep beneath it. It is dual consciousness, that is, awareness of both the physical and the spiritual dimensions of Life at the same time.

Dual consciousness...it is the discipline of Lent. 

Score Keeping

In Immortal Diamond, (Chapter Two) Richard Rohr writes...

Before transformation, sin is any kind of moral mistake; afterward, sin is a mistake about who you are and whose you are. In that sense, only the False Self can and will sin. The False Self tells lies because it somehow, is a lie. It steals because it has allowed itself to be stolen As Jesus said to those who were killing him, False Self "do not even know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). The True Self is conscious, the False Self is largely unconscious, and you do evil only when you are unconscious.

Rohr quotes Jesus from the cross here, only he omits the words which precede them, "Father, forgive them..." But his line of thinking reveals what they mean; Jesus is speaking from his True Self (or "God Self" as I like to think of it) when he says these words. 

It is the ego which lies at the heart of the False Self that "feels" hurt, and that encourages us to hold grudges, that can't (or more correctly won't) forgive--because it feels threatened and endangered. 

The True Self (God Self within each of us) not only has the capacity to truly forgive the False Self of others. It can and will forgive even our own ego-based False Self. We can do this not seven times, as Peter asks Jesus, but "seventy times seven" as Jesus replies (Matthew 18:22). 

In other words, when we like Christ, live out of our True Selves/God-within-us Selves, we feel no need but to forgive.

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Immortal Diamond
The season of Lent, with its emphasis on spiritual discipline, invites us to look at the huge impact our "small ego" has upon our lives, our relationships, our thoughts and actions. And, it encourages us to see ourselves from the vantage point of God, that is, being made in God's image. This was the essence of Jesus' message.

Wednesday: The Problem of Good
Yes, as Richard Rohr says, the “death side of things grabs us,” but like winter, it can’t hold on forever—even if it feels this way sometimes. Resurrection—in all its various forms—lies at the heart of all Life.

Thursday: Here All Along
This is one of the things I find both comforting and inviting about our faith, i.e. God’s faithfulness. Like the prodigal son, off we go on our own, certain we know what we’re doing with our lives! So, we relate to God on a "Don't call me. I'll call you," basis. But we are doing this while living out of our ego-driven False Self...and the results speak for themselves. Fortunately...we can come home. God even invites us to live here. Taking this invitation seriously is nothing short of life-changing in the most positive sense of the term.

Friday: Just Sit Still
This is the job of our True Self which we can only discover through opening ourselves ever more deeply to God.  To some this sounds simply esoteric and largely unattainable. Not so. It just requires a willingness to detach ourselves from our False Self shell, sit still and listen--until we hear God speaking into our center, our core, our soul...as God has promised to do.

Just Sit Still

Today's thought by Richard Rohr from his book Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self is...

Your False Self is how you define yourself outside of love, relationship, or divine union. After you have spent many years laboriously building this separate self, with all its labels and preoccupations, you are very attached to it. And why wouldn't you be? It's what you know and all you know. To move beyond it will always feels like losing or dying.

As Rohr points out earlier in his book, the False Self is not inherently bad, it's just not enough. It will only take us to a certain level of maturity in life. It was never intended to take us all the way.

This is the job of our True Self which we can only discover through opening ourselves ever more deeply to God.  To some this sounds simply esoteric and largely unattainable. Not so. It just requires a willingness to detach ourselves from our False Self shell, sit still and listen--until we hear God speaking into our center, our core, our soul...as God has promised to do.

This, like many of the greatest promises in our lives, is simple, but not necessarily easy. Nonetheless, it's worth it. But you can not take my word for it.  You can only experience it by yourself, for yourself, and in yourself.


Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it..." Matthew 16:24-25

Here All Along

Our thought for the day from Richard Rohr’s Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self is…

I promise you that the discovery of your True Self will feel like a thousand pounds of weight have fallen from your back. You will no longer have to build, protect, or promote any idealized self-image. Living in the True Self is quite simply a much happier existence, even though we never live there a full twenty-four hours a day. But you henceforth have it as a place to always go back to. You have finally discovered the alternative to your False Self…You are like Jacob awakening from sleep and [saying] “You were here all along, and I never knew it!” (Genesis 28:16) 

This is one of the things I find both comforting and inviting about our faith, i.e. God’s faithfulness. Like the prodigal son, off we go on our own, certain we know what we’re doing with our lives! So, we relate to God on a "Don't call me. I'll call you," basis. But we are doing this while living out of our ego-driven False Self...and the results speak for themselves.

Fortunately...we can go home. God even invites us to live there. God's faithfulness is always available to us. Taking this seriously is nothing short of life-changing in the most positive sense of the term.

The Problem of Good

Our thought for the day from Richard Rohr’s book Immortal Diamond is…                      

We are not so at home with the resurrected form of things despite a yearly springtime, healings in our bodies, the ten thousand forms of newness in every event and in every life.  The death side of things grabs our attention and fascinates us as fear and negativity always do, I am so sad to say. We have to be taught how to look for anything infinite, positive or good, which for some reason is much more difficult. We have spent centuries of philosophy trying to solve “the problem of evil,” yet I believe the much more confounding and astounding issue is “the problem of good.” How do we account for so much gratuitous and sheer goodness in this world?

After a winter of severely cold temperatures and record snowfalls in many parts of the country, we are on the cusp of spring…on the cusp of nature’s resurrection. Thank God! This is also the season in which the Church triumphantly engages in the celebration of Easter—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Yes, the “death side of things grabs us,” but like winter, it can’t hold on forever—even if it feels this way sometimes. Resurrection—in all its various forms—lies at the heart of all Life. And, fortunately for each of us, the problem of good remains in force, whether we comprehend it or not. 

Immortal Diamond

This week I'm going to share some of Richard Rohr's book Immortal Diamond. Here is today's thought:

"We are made for transcendence and endless horizons but our small ego usually gets in the way until we become aware of its petty preoccupations and eventually seek a deeper truth. It is like mining for a diamond. "

The season of Lent, with its emphasis on spiritual discipline, invites us to look at the huge impact our "small ego" has upon our lives, our relationships, our thoughts and actions. And, it encourages us to see ourselves from the vantage point of God, that is, being made in God's image. This was the essence of Jesus' message. How do we examine our egos, increase our self awareness and seek a deeper truth?

This is the role of prayer and meditation in our lives. Take some time for these today.

Wait and see.

Refreshing Reflections

Monday: Bucket List
No private jet, Jesus never traveled very widely himself. And when he got to his destination at day's end, his accommodations were never very cushy.  But more importantly, when he arrived, it seems great joy and raison d'être came to him while using his limited time remaining on earth for others.

Tuesday: A Lover's Voice
How are we to articulate our deeply personal and unique experiences of this Sense or Presence or Lover's Voice that is as close to us as our breath? (I'm convinced that language is the biggest barrier we face here. Yet, ironically, it's all we've got.) Perhaps a first step is to acknowledge our ineptitude and its grandeur. 

Wednesday: Forget Something?

To love and let ourselves be loved. That's vital. The rest of the time, let's keep laughing.

Thursday: Taken
I thank you, God, for creating me in your likeness--and for uniquely recreating something of your very self in me. Though I know I can never fully understand or realize the truth and scope of this gift, I will live my days in joyful discovery of your essence within me--and in all of your creation.

Friday: Forest of Prayers
Let us pray...

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom 
     sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, 
     now and for ever. 

Amen.

Forest of Prayers

Today I invite us to spend some quiet moments with this version of the Lord's Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book. Each phrase is like a lovely tree we can gaze up into while leaning against its magnificent trunk or while lying on the ground beneath it. Together, they make for a stunningly beautiful forest of prayers in which we can safely lose ourselves.

Let us pray...

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.

Amen

Taken

Richard Rohr, in his book Immortal Diamond: The Search for Your True Self  writes...

Your soul is who you are in God and who God is in you. You can never really lose your soul; you can only fail to realize it, which is indeed the greatest of losses: to have it but not have it (Matthew 16:26). Your essence, your exact "thisness," will never appear again in another incarnation. As Oscar Wilde said, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

     I thank you, God, for creating me in your likeness--and for uniquely recreating something of your very self in me. Though I know I can never fully realize or understand the truth or scope of this gift, I will live my days in joyful discovery of your essence within me--and in all of your creation.

Forget Something?

According to a recent poll of 2000 adults conducted for the Post-It Brand of 3M, the average person forgets four things a day. 

"Only four? You're kidding!" you say. (Perhaps you and I are above average in something after all.)

No, seriously... 4. And the top ten we're most likely to forget? 

1. What we went into a room for
2. Our keys
3. An item on our grocery list
4. Someone's name
5. Where we put our pen
6. Taking meat out of the freezer
7. Responding to an email
8. Posting something
9. What we were looking for on line
10. Where we parked the car

So, how'd you do? Oh. Well, could be worse, you know, like...where you work or...that you work. Etc.) 

Again, seriously this time! Forgetting things is frustrating and may occasionally feel life-threatening but, in the grand scheme of things, not so much. When you really stop and think about it, what is surprising is the number of things we do remember each day!

More importantly, there's a helpful distinction to be made between what is vitally important that we remember and what is not. I would argue that the list above falls into the category of "not." What is? Consider e. e. cummings' poem "i carry your heart with me."


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

To love and let ourselves be loved. That's vital. The rest of the time, let's keep laughing.

A Lover's Voice

"Start with the breath," meditation experts advise us, recommending long, slow, deep, smooth breaths. This helps the body enter into a state of deep relaxation. It also helps the conscious mind to turn off so that the unconscious mind can turn on. Long. Slow. Deep. Smooth. Long. Slow. Deep. Smooth.

Someone once suggested that I “breathe from the heart.” What a nice thought!  Like slow dancers pleasingly intertwined in each other's embrace, in this picture our heart and lungs swing and sway together, creating life for us. Sweet.  

So, I was focusing on breathing from my heart while meditating when I heard a voice say, "Now...breath from my heart." Whoa! Where did that come from? It sounded like an invitation to dance. But with whom?

All I know is it felt like it was coming from somewhere deep inside me--as close as my breath--that somehow, it was me and at the same time, it was beyond me. Actually, it's a "voice" with which I am very familiar...one I'm in frequent conversation with, especially while praying or meditating...a voice that I listen for and trust keenly...a lover's voice that has profoundly touched and shaped me throughout my life. And yes, it is an invitation to dance.

I choose to believe it is what many call "God" although I believe that this, too, is a metaphor which, like all metaphors, works well for some but not for others. It's one among many, all of which give us but a glimpse of something greater than any one of them--or all of them. 

How are we to articulate our deeply personal and unique experiences of this Sense or Presence or Lover's Voice that is as close to us as our breath? (I'm convinced that language is the biggest barrier we face here. Yet, ironically, it's all we've got.) Perhaps a first step is to acknowledge our ineptitude and its grandeur. 

“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”  Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

  

Bucket List

Back in 2007 Rob Reiner's hit movie The Bucket List thrilled us with not one but two of the greatest titans in the acting world; Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It was tender at times, hilarious at others. Watching each of them individually, we gained insight into some of the heart wrenching, personal agony of dealing with terminal illness. Watching the two of them together, we vicariously experienced the ecstasy that can come from the kind of deep, rich, abiding friendship which they enjoyed. While critics gave it mixed reviews the general public, self included, loved it. In fact, we loved it to the tune of some $175 million in worldwide box office receipts.

The movie's greatest success, however, was not actually financial. It was social, and therefore far greater! The Bucket List's 'wish list' theme struck the cord of one of our culture's deepest values with such force that it spawned a phrase that has become commonplace in our language even today; With surprising frequency, we hear people refer to what's on their bucket list. Truth be told, we've probably said it ourselves.

Excuse me for being blunt but, with our focus on the movie's excellent acting, compelling story line and box office receipts, aren't we missing something pretty big here? Like, say, the movie's questionable premise; that the essence of one's life is to be found in determining what you want on your bucket list and then doing everything you possibly can to make those things happen before you kick that bucket.  

"It's different," you say, "if you know you only have a short time to live." Well, thanks for making my point for me, i.e. I can agree with some of that line of thinking, but you and I use the bucket list mentality even though we have no idea when we're going to die. ( Hopefully later rather than sooner.) In so doing we make this mentality into our compass, taking both our current bearings and future heading from it. 

Our bucket list is a 'to do' list of pleasures. Even seeking 'fulfillment' and 'personal meaning' in life are exercises in self-gratification. Same old, same old. These words are just socially affirmed because they have attractive spiritual connotations. (Read Anthony de Mello's Awareness on what he calls 'enlightened selfishness'). My bucket list is all about me. It’s all about serving and satisfying my ego.  Again, I beg your imperturbability here, but weren't we supposed to grow out of that sort of thinking while we were still in the sandbox? Did we not get that memo? Worldly speaking, we certainly haven't learned to play nicely together!

Could our premise be the problem?

No private jet, Jesus never traveled very widely himself. And when he got to his destination at day's end, my guess is, his accommodations were never very cushy. But he, too, had good friends. And, as in the characters played by Freeman and Nicholson, we see in him both the ecstasy of life and the agony of death. But more importantly, when he arrived (and his definition of "arrived" was way different from ours), it seems great joy and raison d'être came to him while using his limited time remaining on earth for others.

Hmmm.

Refreshing Reflections

Sunday: Musings Under the Fig Tree
This blog’s purpose is to create a cool, comfortable place where we can sit, relax and chat. Hopefully, it will be a place of refreshment, inspiration and maybe even transformation for all who come here.

Monday: It All Begins With Ashes

Ash Wednesday reminds us that just as Christ taught and personally experienced, we can move through life's many little deaths and back into life—in some eternal sense that begins even today—right here, right now.

Wednesday: The Gift
The season of Lent which begins today is all about acknowledging our spiritual path. This is something we can only truly do if we acknowledge the path of others as well...whether they come in our particular wrapping or not.

Thursday: Fast Forward
The real intent of fasting is to help us more deeply understand and more joyfully live in intimate relationship with God and all "things." This is why, biblically speaking, we are called not just to fast from, but to fast forward...to fast for some purpose that is out there beyond ourselves. What might that be? Well, here's the nice thing: We each get to choose.

Friday: Wait and See
Practicing meditation is both spiritually meaningful and practically helpful. It primes us for whatever is next, grounds us in a palpable peace, increases our creativity, and helps us prioritize what matters and what doesn't. Most of all, through meditation we can experience the sense of a safe, loving “presence." Is it a gentle encounter with God, the divine, our higher power? Whatever your terminology, I think so. What about you?

Wait and See

I'm a believer…in meditation. Wait! Before you click away, let me explain.

I make time for meditation in my day. Everyday. I do it for one BIG reason. It works for me. Twenty minutes? Once in, sometimes considerably longer. It’s both spiritually meaningful and practically helpful. It primes me for whatever is next. It significantly increases my creativity. It grounds me in a palpable peace in the middle of busy, high-octane days. It prioritizes my day/week/life with astonishing efficiency and effectiveness. And the frosting? It often gives me the sense of a safe, loving “presence." Is it a gentle encounter with God, the divine, our higher power? Whatever your terminology, I think so.

Wait! Don’t freak yet.

How? Lots of methods out there, but here are some basics: I find a comfortable, reasonably calm place (Peripheral noise? Absorb it.) and sink in. Remember Mom saying, “Just sit still!” Go there.

Wait! We're getting close.

Then, I do my best to eliminate potential external interruptions. Phone muted? I tablet things I can’t forget. Next, I close my eyes and just breathe. Some people light a candle, etc. Occasionally I'll prime the pump with a bible passage, a quote or someone's writing that I've been inspired by, but usually I just breathe. Long...slow...deep...smooth breaths.

Wait! Almost there.

Next, I mentally release internal distractions like strong, unpleasant emotions, "shoulds" and scripts. Most of all, I try to unhook from me, myself and I. Then I wait. I breathe and I wait. In a still silence I...

Wait and See. 

And I mean SEE! See things clearer than ever before. Connect dots I’ve never connected before. Feel a sense of deep well being like never before. It feels great. And seriously, once you’re "all in" meditation, even five minutes of this can be mesmerizing. It’s like being in flow or zoning. And it just gets better.

One or the other. For many of us, either we live such highly velocitized lives that making time for meditation seems ludicrous or we've resigned ourselves to being so bored (and boring?) that even to consider practicing it seems like a lot of work. But! If you’re already doing it then you know its value, in which case I’m preaching to the choir. If not, and you're game, get ready! You'll be surprised at how quickly you’re singing its praises.

“Be still, and know that I am God…” (Ps. 46:10)

Fast Forward

A classic theme in the season of Lent is fasting.  It is one of the traditional "Lenten Disciplines" along with prayer, repentance, study and works of love. The fact that it exists as one of these might imply that the rest of the year we are free to focus on its counterbalance: feasting. And don't we love that idea! If this agrees with your line of thinking then I've got very good news for you: We don't have to wait till Lent is over to feast.

But, of course, there's a caveat.

People frequently think in terms of fasting from something; foods, especially sweets, and, for some reason in particular--chocolate. (Please, pick on something else!) Actually, refraining from most any of our guilty pleasures will probably qualify according to this definition of fasting.

But biblically-speaking, there are two things worth reminding ourselves of here. First, fasting is more than a physical behavior. It's actually, first and foremost, spiritual in nature. In this definition a physical act takes on symbolic value as it points us to the spiritual dimension of our lives. In other words, the real purpose of our fasting is not to help us lose weight. Sorry.

"But..." you object, "...that should make God happy, too, right?" Ha! Nice try! But no. Such thinking is totally ego-centric and precisely the opposite of fasting's real intent; to help us more deeply understand and more joyfully live in intimate relationship with God and all "things."

The second reminder is this: Biblically speaking, we are encouraged not just to fast from something but for something. We are called to fast forward...to fast for some purpose that is out there beyond ourselves. What might that be? Well, here's the nice thing: We each get to choose. John the Baptist might have had this idea in mind when he said of Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease." (John 3:30)

Consider the following words from UCC Church of Canada Sunday School Curriculum and then let's walk the walk together. Try one of these for a day, a week, or for the whole season of Lent. Or, let's be creative and make up our own fast/feast Lenten discipline. Then we will really be doing Lent.

Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.

       Fast from criticism; Feast on praise.

Fast from self-pity; Feast on joy.

       Fast from bitterness; Feast on purposeful silence.

Fast from jealousy; Feast on love.

       Fast from discouragement; Feast on hope.

Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.

       Fast from selfishness; Feast on service.

Fast from fear; Feast on faith.

       Fast from anger; Feast on patience.

Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.

       Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.

The Gift

Be it a birthday, a holiday, or some other special occasion, we're often amused when watching young children open gifts. We joke about their fascination with the wrapping rather than the gift itself!

I wonder. Are we adults any different even when it comes to much more substantial things? Take religion, for instance. Could this be a way of understanding what we’ve done with Christianity and Judaism and Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism--and all the rest of the world's religions? Are these not just the wrapping rather than the gift within each of them?

I consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ. To say that being one has profoundly shaped my life would be an understatement. Way under. I'm extremely grateful to all who have nurtured and walked with me down this particular spiritual path. But even I am leery of being called a "Christian" these days--because of the packaging associated with the term. Most Christians, and I suspect, most other religious types as well, have become so fixated on the wrapping, (i.e. the interpretation of their sacred scriptures and the creation/promotion of their doctrines, dogma, traditions, practices, etc.) none of us can see that, like little children, we are frequently more fascinated with the gift wrapping than with the gift inside! 

Yes, gift wrapping has its purpose. It highlights the significance of the gift. It adds to its specialness and it protects it. But it pales in comparison to the gift, doesn't it? Shouldn't it? Is it any wonder then, why "non-religious" types want nothing to do with us church/synagogue/mosque-goers? Might this not be a significant reason why many people so quickly acknowledge they are spiritual but not religious? If so, I'll have what they're having!

So what is the gift inside? Is it God? Spirit? Our "higher power?" Nirvana? Well-being? Unconditional love? Is it this moment--the present in all its potential and splendor? Is it life? Our aliveness? Collective consciousness? Karma? Joy? Beauty? Ground of Being? Might it be all of the above? Might it be something that lies far beyond all doctrines and dogma, beyond all words and language? Might it be something that is so indescribably wonderful and powerful that it can only be experienced beyond the packaging...and then respectfully and reverently expressed in the presence of another being? Now we're getting close.

I won't speak for you, but for me, whatever the gift is, I want to be fascinated with it rather than with all things external. And I believe I actually need you to help me do this because I have a hunch that you and/or the relationship between us--no matter how distant--just might be the gift.


ADDENDUM

For those among us who are followers of Jesus Christ, the season of Lent which begins today is all about acknowledging our spiritual path. This is something we can only truly do if we acknowledge the path of others as well...whether they come in our particular wrapping or not.

It All Begins With Ashes

Ash Wednesday, February 18th, begins the 40-day liturgical “season” of the Christian church year known as Lent. The Ash part of its title is morbid, I know, but serves a helpful two-fold purpose. One, it reminds us, as ancient liturgies chant, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” We all die—a point so powerful that it can inform and transform how we live…if we will let it do so. Two, the metaphor of Ash Wednesday reminds us that just as Christ taught and personally experienced, we can move through death to life—in some eternal sense that begins even today—right here, right now.

This liturgical season, like each of the other five (Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany), focuses on a particular part of Christ's life. Lent, which culminates in the celebration of Easter, directs our attention to the final earthly stage of it as described in the Bible. It begins with the first of three announcements to his closest disciples that he is “turning his face to Jerusalem” where he will suffer, be crucified and die a very human, if not humane, death (Matthew 16:21). It ends with his resurrection to new life (Matthew 28:6)—and a new way of being in the world—a new beginning…something we all long for at times.

During this season of Lent, I invite you to take a few moments each day to focus on what it means to experience Christ (or God, or the Sacred, the Holy, a Higher Power, etc.) in your life.  Each post will offer some personal reflections and/or words of those who inspire me in my spiritual journey. Your comments will enrich the conversation.

I'll meet you there…under the fig tree.

Musings Under the Fig Tree

Since ancient times the fig tree has been prized for its succulent and nutritious fruit. But that’s not all! Certain species of the tree grow to great size, providing lovely shade beneath their outstretched leafy arms. They also produce surface roots, which in time—a long time—grow large enough to create raised “benches” for informal seating. In dry, temperate climates (like the Middle East) these trees grow prodigiously and their lovely combination of shade and seating creates cool, comfortable places for people to sit, relax and chat.

First century talmidim (disciples) of the Talmud, the Jewish Book of Oral Law, went a step further. They received lessons from their Rabbi in these outdoor classrooms. In fact, “under the fig tree” became a colloquialism for anyone who sat beneath the shade of a Rabbi’s instruction to feast upon the sweet fruit of his teachings--whether it took place under an actual fig tree or not. In time, the phrase became a metaphor for any place of study, prayer and contemplative conversation.

This blog’s purpose is to create just such a cool, comfortable place where we can sit, relax and chat. Hopefully, it will be a place of refreshment, inspiration and maybe even transformation for all who come here.

TODAY.
LET'S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.
LET'S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.