Stillness and Silence part 3

 

This week, as May wraps up and June is ushered in, we are engaging in stillness and silence.  Read aloud the quote below several times.  You can say the following words in your normal speaking tone and then try to softly whisper these words, barely letting loose an audible sound.

 

In quiet and silence the faithful soul makes progress, the hidden meanings of the Scriptures become clear, and the eyes weep with devotion every night. Even as one learns to grow still, one draws closer to the Creator and farther from the hurly-burly of the World. Thomas à Kempis

What does that quote provoke and evoke for you?

Find your phone or a timer and set it to 5 minutes.

~ Breathe in a deep breath and slowly exhale.  Try to have your exhale be longer than your inhale.  This means if you inhale to the count of five, exhale to the count of seven or eight. 

~ Choose a sacred word (love, peace, shalom, sun, Son, Creator) as the symbol of your intention to be open to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your openness to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ When thoughts start to compose to do lists or feeling agitation at why you are doing this or tension sits on your shoulders, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

~ At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed with three or four more deep breaths.

What was the experience of silence like today?  I invite you specially to name and notice where you sense some discomfort or dis-ease within you.  Maybe your mind keeps spinning and stirring (what is sometimes called the “Monkey Mind”, that keeps jumping from limb to limb trying to capture your attention to get you think about what someone said or did or that you need milk at the store).  Maybe your shoulders tighten.  Or maybe you gut feels uneasy or queasy.  Or maybe you feel physically fine, but emotionally something is whirling.  It is okay to say that three days into this prayer practice you have not reached perfection or levitation.  Remember, that in baseball hitting .333 is considered Hall of Fame worthy.  That means you strike out 6 or 7 out of 10 times ~ puts a new spin on our expectations.  Remember, there is NO one right way, no right experience, no expectations other than to be in God’s presence ~ awake and aware of the Holy hovering in your life.

Prayer that you are finding new expressions of the eternal in this experiment this week.  Amen.

Stillness and Silence part 2

 

This week we are entering the holy silence of God’s first language.  We are engaging our souls in slowing down and being in the unconditional (non-performance and production mode).  I love the following quote:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing

there is a field.

I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”  ― Rumi

Re-read that quote.  This is what silence offers us ~ a space with the sacred beyond the “shoulds” and to do lists and proving our worth and earning our keep.  Let’s engage the native language of our souls.

Find your phone or a timer and set it to 5 minutes.

~ Breathe in a deep breath and slowly exhale.  Try to have your exhale be longer than your inhale.  This means if you inhale to the count of five, exhale to the count of seven or eight. 

~ Choose a sacred word (love, peace, shalom, sun, Son, Creator) as the symbol of your intention to be open to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your openness to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ When thoughts start to compose to do lists or feeling agitation at why you are doing this or tension sits on your shoulders, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

~ At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed with three or four more deep breaths.

Now, take a few moments to write down what you experienced.  Maybe today you felt the same as yesterday or maybe something new stirred within you.  Maybe you are not sure what you are “supposed” to have happened, which is a good question.  But you may not like the response, which is, there is no “supposed to” here.  What happens is what happens, even if all you experience is five minutes of quiet.  Or it was really four minutes, because the neighbor’s dog started barking and a car door slammed and your phone dinged with a notification.  I mean didn’t that person know you were trying to find nirvana??  There is NO right way, no right experience, no expectations other than to be in God’s presence ~ awake and aware of the Holy hovering in your life.

May these five minutes remind you that God is with you every minute this day.  Amen. 

Stillness and Silence

 

What comes into your mind when you hear the word, “Silence”? 

Silence can mean quiet, calm, and slowing down.

Silence can mean loneliness and an unsettling stillness or even restlessness.

When have you experienced quiet in a holy way?

When has silence been uncomfortable, because sometimes silence can be hurtful or unwelcome.

Or maybe you have heard that the same letters are used to spell “silent” and “listen”.

Or maybe you have heard the quote, “God’s first language is silence.  Everything else is a translation.” which is attributed to Thomas Keating who is a leader in contemplative prayer, more on this in a moment.

Or maybe you’ve read Mother Teresa of Calcutta who wrote, “We cannot find God in noise or agitation. Nature: trees, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, the sun move in silence.”

This week, I want us to begin the season of summer with moments of stillness and silence.  Up front I want to say that my intention here is NOT to make you a monk or nun or levitate five inches off the ground.  I am not trying to sell you something or guarantee you that you will have a spiritual enlightened experience that transforms your life.  Sometimes meditation and centering prayer is five minutes of stillness amid the storms of life.  And that is what I am encouraging right now ~ 5 minutes. 

Find your phone or a timer and set it to 5 minutes.

~ Breathe in a deep breath and slowly exhale.  Try to have your exhale be longer than your inhale.  This means if you inhale to the count of five, exhale to the count of seven or eight. 

~ Choose a sacred word (love, peace, shalom, sun, Son, Creator) as the symbol of your intention to be open to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your openness to God’s presence and action within and around.

~ When thoughts start to compose to do lists or feeling agitation at why you are doing this or tension sits on your shoulders, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

~ At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed with three or four more deep breaths.

Then, take a few moments to write down what you experienced.  It is perfectly acceptable and understandable and normal to write down, “Nothing”.  Or “I feel a bit calmer.”  Or maybe there was an insight that entered your imagination.  Or maybe you had to return to your sacred word what felt like 100 times in five minutes!  There is NO right way, no right experience, no expectations other than to be in God’s presence ~ awake and aware of the Holy hovering in your life.

May these five minutes remind you that God is with you every minute this day.  Amen. 

Friday Prayer

 

God, You are a circle who enfolds and holds us.  God, You are never fully known, but we have these glimpses of grace that delight us.  Thank you for your evolving and expansive love that we explored on Monday as we considered why we do what we do…and how difficult that question is to answer.  Thank you for Your light that can help us examine the shadow side, trusting in the truth that nothing separates us from you.  Thank you for the surprises when the sacred showed up this week.  Thank you for the unending exploration of faith where we will never cross a finish line or have everything all figured out.  Help us as your people to continue to be open, letting You co-author and edit our lives.  All this we pray in the name of the One who loved to ask questions, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Breath Prayer

 

Today I invite you to practice a breath prayer using scripture.  The way this works is to select a piece of scripture ~ usually one short sentence.  You could choose, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  Or “Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.”  Or “For God so loves the world, God sent God’s son.”

Once you have a verse, get comfortable ~ feet flat on the floor, shoulders relaxed, spin straight, and feeling centered.  When you breathe in, say the first part of the sentence, “The Lord is my shepherd”.  Then hold for the count of four, as you do open your sacred imagination to what those words provoke and evoke for you today.  As you exhale, say the second the part of the scripture, “I shall not want.”  Then ask, what do these words provoke and evoke?  I encourage you to repeat this process five or six times.  See what new ideas or insights dance within you each time you return to your selected sentence.  May this practice help you breathe and bathe in scripture this day.  May you know God’s love, hope, peace, and presence.  Amen.

Why did I do that ~ Part Three

 

Gracious God, thank you for the truth that You form and fashion me into being.  Thank you for the breath, this breath, right now.  Guide me this day.  Help me hold lightly my life for the unfolding mystery it is.  I do not always know for sure…I see in a mirror dimly…and won’t ever fully know…why I do what I do.  May I hold this playfully and prayerfully.  May I rejoice with each millimeter of my shadow side I discover.  May the question why I did that or said that, help me reflect with You, for You continually show up disguised as my life.  In the name of the One who is the light of the world and sets a spark in our souls and fire in our veins, Jesus the Christ.  Amen. 

Today, go back to your list of gifts and shadows from yesterday ~ keep reviewing and reflecting and writing.  The point of naming and noticing the light is never one and done.  Maybe you can add a new gift to the list and the shadow side that light casts.  That isn’t just Tuesday’s homework, it is the life journey we all are on.  I would love to talk with you more in the coming weeks about this exercise and what it is provoking/evoking for you.  I pray your reflections help you celebrate that you are God’s beloved and that God isn’t finished with you and God loves you just as you are.  May those truths mix and mingle together as good news for your life this day and the rest of this week.  Amen.  

Why Did I do That ~ Part 2

 

It isn’t a superpower unless you can use it for evil ~ recently heard on a podcast…and made me laugh!!

This week we are diving and dwelling into the truth that we are not always perfect.  We stumble and fall flat on our face with a splat.  Rather than deny or dismiss this, what if we embraced and celebrated this grace-filled human-sized reality?

To be clear, I am channeling my inner Brene Brown who writes extensively about vulnerability, to acknowledge our weaknesses (or I prefer the word, “humanness”).  One of the ways that we can gently and gracefully do this ~ rather than rush to beat ourselves up or harshly judge ourselves as not measuring up ~ is to start with a gift we have.  We start with an affirmation.

For example, I am someone who deeply desires to do things well.  I recognize that nothing is ever perfect, but I want to avoid possible pitfalls, especially if I fell in that pit the last time I went down this path.  This can lead to pouring equal amounts of energy into all tasks.  Therein is the shadow side of my recovering perfectionistic ways.  It is good to work hard, but sometimes my hard work is fueled by some anxiety and busyness for the sake of looking busy.  It is a modern-day addiction to hurrying, to seem so needed and necessary that our calendars don’t have any blank space.  Until our bodies give out or we burn out or days go by in a blur. 

Today, I invite you to take a piece of paper.  On the left side list five traits of yourself you see as strengths.  This could be gifts such as creativity or curiosity or love of learning or honesty or enthusiasm or kindness or equity/justice or forgiveness.  If you are unsure, look at Galatians 5:22-23 for the fruits of the spirit to see which one causes your soul to stir.  Or go online to viacharacter.org for an online test to discover a few of your strengths. 

Then, celebrate those strengths ~ name a time recently when that strength was a superpower for you.

Next, is there a time that strength was a liability?  When maybe this strength wasn’t exactly helpful?  For example, being curious is fantastic…but can sometimes cause us endlessly to search rather than have moments of contentment or we keep coming up with more questions.  Or we can fall into analysis paralysis, where nothing seems quite right.  The more specific a situation you can describe and define, the better.

Remember, every light casts a shadow somewhere ~ that doesn’t mean the light should be extinguished!  Knowing the shadow helps us recognize where we might not be as aware or open or awake as we think we are.  This is okay, it means you are alive and still finding ways to grow.  May this exercise today bless you and remind you that nothing ~ not even our shadow sides ~ separate you from God.  Amen.

Why did I do that? Part One

 

Listen, I can’t explain my actions. Here’s why: I am not able to do the things I want; and at the same time, I do the things I despise. Romans 7:15 (The Voice)

I am a great and sublime fool.  But then I am God’s fool, and all His/Her work must be contemplated with respect.  Mark Twain.

"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh -- at yourself."  Ethel Barrymore

Before we leave Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, it is good to reflect on Romans 7 where Paul honestly and humbly asks, “For the love of all that is holy, why did I do that?” To be clear, “that” can be something you say or didn’t say.  “That” can be something you did or didn’t do.  Within every person, lives the 4-year-old version of yourself that was caught coloring on the walls with your markers or breaking a lamp while throwing a football inside or doing the very thing your parents told you was forbidden ~ which only made that activity more attractive.  And, of course, you got caught, because let’s face it, no one is born with Houdini-escape-artist-like skills.  In those moments, my mother, in her outdoor voice, would express exasperation by saying, “Why did you do that?”  I don’t think mom was looking for a dissertation of self-reflection.  I don’t think my mother wanted a theological treatise on the brokenness of humankind.  I am not sure my mother even expected any answer!  Because often I would mumble, with tears streaming from my eyes, “I don’t know.”

Do we ever outgrow this?

Most of us would prefer not to revisit or remember our mistakes or missteps when we showed up in our less-than polished and put-together side of ourselves.  When asked in interviews about our weaknesses, we usually turn to a humble brag.  “My weakness is I just care too much, and I work too hard, and I really don’t want to be rich, so pay me whatever you want.”  As much as we may try to deny or diminish or dismiss, there is a shadow side within us all.  This is what Paul is pointing out.  Centuries later Carl Jung would write extensively about the shadow as the unconscious part of our character or personality that doesn’t align with the ideal version of who we are aiming to be. 

Today, I invite you to reflect on a situation when the shadow side came creeping and peeking out to play in your life.  For me, last week, this was at a meeting where I walked in dragging the wagon of my soul.  I was in a funk, feeling punk, and exhausted by all the world’s junk ~ felt like being a bit poetic there.  In that moment, the Supreme Court that resides in my mind ~ who yesterday I said is made up of Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with a dash of Judge Wapner from the People’s Court of my childhood ~ were all rendering their verdicts of how I was not measuring up.  Like an attorney before the judge, those judges peppered me with questions of, “Why did you say that!?!”  “Quit looking like a Gloomy/Grumpy Gus.” I know this because I could see myself on Zoom and it will take years of psychoanalysis to uncover all that seeing our own self reflected on a computer screen is really doing to us.  In that moment, when I was already feeling mired in the muck, to have that inner critic/commentary/judge offer up-to-the-minute evidence for my less-than-brilliance ~ didn’t exactly help. 

Eventually, the next day, I realized and recognized that I have anticipatory grief of both my kids being in college.  My calendar tells me it has been a while since my last vacation.  And there have been several funerals recently at our church.  Was this the whole reason why I did/said what I did?  Maybe.  The shadow never is fully revealed/unveiled (Paul will say to the Corinthians, “We see in a mirror dimly” ~ amen to that).  Paul’s question is a wonderful one for reflection, inviting us to get to the balcony of life.  When we intentionally and prayerfully go to the balcony, we are removing ourselves from the stage/participating so that we might see a larger perspective.  Today, take time to reflect honestly on a human-sized moment recently in life when Paul’s words were your words.

God, remind me that nothing, not even my boneheaded-ness, separates me from You.  And I may need that reminder early and often today…and tomorrow…and well, every day, this week.  Amen.  

Prayer

 

Tomorrow, our daughter, graduates from high school.  This is one of those moments when the past, present, and future all collide and come together.  The past of dropping her off at preschool, taking her to dance lessons, trips taken to Disney, events attended, and cheering her on as she found her voice in this world.  When she walks across the stage, it is a threshold moment.  She will begin to move from one chapter of life to another.  Tomorrow she will begin that transition from living with us, to venturing out to college.  As we celebrate, we look forward to the unfolding (unknowable) future.  Sure, we know some things.  We know where she will go to school starting in the summer, what day she will move into her dorm, and soon enough what classes she will take.  But there is so much that we don’t know about relationships or what will bring joy or sadness or challenges.  This is all part of life.  We are constantly in transition.  We live in the present, but carry the past with us into this moment, which will impact/influence tomorrow.  It is my deepest prayer for our daughter to know what doesn’t change is our love.  I deeply believe that love is elastic and expansive and inclusive.  Love can hold what was, what is, and what will be lightly.  Love can bless, through tears, as we move her into her dorm.  Love can be expressed over Facetime calls (there are some great things about technology!).  Love can be felt even when you are five hours away (or more).  In the end, love can be the thread woven through the fabric of life.  Love doesn’t issue a report card or degrees or demands but receives you fully as you are.  Love seeks to redeem what is broken.  To my daughter, I know this world doesn’t always work like what I have said above.  There are times pain or hurt will pay unwelcome visits.  Life is not smooth sailing, as much as I may wish you a life free from stormy seas.  Yet, it is my prayer that even on the most difficult, darkest nights, you will never doubt the love we have and will always have for you.  I pray for God’s love to embrace all those who are graduating this year, to celebrate joyfully, to sense the holiness of this time, and to take that step into the unknowable future knowing you that love is true and can be trusted. 

Prayer

 

Breathe in God’s strength to name the struggles…as we did on Monday.

Breathe out our deepest longing for God to be our help amid the hurt.

Breathe in God’s prayer for you to be fully alive…as we did on Tuesday.

Breathe out the cynicism that carries the pains of the past. 

Breathe in God’s wholeness that knits us together…as we did on Wednesday.

Breathe out the questions we return to time and time again about who/whose we are and what we are up to in the world.

God of holiness and wholeness, Your prayerful imprint on our life was a promise to embrace all that is and will be.  Help us be open to You in the good and not so great times of life.  Enliven us, fan to flames the fire in our veins, to share our life, even when others may not understand.  Remind us that You are not grading us, but guiding us with a love that will never let us go.  Release us from the words that have left wounds; those we’ve heard and those we’ve said to ourselves.  Release us from the constant demands for more and our addiction to busyness.  Release us to a way of life caught up in Your unending grace every day, especially this day.  With each breath renew and remind us we are yours.  Amen.

Finding our Faith Part 2

 

We continue today with the quote from Ronald Rolheiser.  Yesterday, we paid attention to what fills us with life, puts fire in our veins, lets our souls loose in this world…not because we “have to” but because life is about participation and practice and playfulness.  This was the first part of a healthy soul.  Rolheiser continues, “Second, a healthy soul has to keep us fixed together.  It has to continually give us a sense of who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and what sense there is in all of this.  When we stand looking at ourselves, confusedly, in a mirror and ask ourselves what sense, if any, there is to our lives, it is this other part of the soul, our principle of integration, that is limping.”

When cynicism, despair (recall from Easter that despair tells you that you already know the end of the story and it isn’t good!), and bitterness pay a visit, it often picks and pulls us apart.  Rolheiser is talking about wholeness (not perfection…it isn’t that I am supposed to get it right all the time, rather I can see beauty even in my amateur watercolors and crooked photography).  Rolheiser says that wholeness is putting together the puzzle of

~ who we are

~ where we come from

~ where we are going

~ what sense/meaning/hope/love there is in all of this

~ I would add…who is around us because faith is a group project!

The above are life-long questions.  You don’t answer them once, you return day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month.  I invite you today to sit with those five prompts.  You don’t have to answer them all at once.  As a matter of fact, I would love for you to take all summer to hold those questions.  You may want to get out five sheets of paper, write one question at the top of each page, then take time each week to write down a few sentences.  If you do this, date your writing, so that you might notice how your responses in June are different than May and how by September something new is still stirring within you.  I pray that the writing prompts over the last few weeks have opened you to God’s presence and participation in your life.  That you will continue to reflect and write your faith, letting God co-author and edit and revise and redeem the story you tell yourself…for that is the story you are living…and I pray, deep desire, that your story is overflowing with good news of God’s love every day.  Amen. 

Fire in our veins

 

Ronald Rolheiser writes, “A healthy soul, therefore, must do two things for us.  First, it must put some fire in our veins, keep us energized, vibrant, living with zest, and full of hope as we sense that life is, ultimately, beautiful, and worth living.  Whenever this breaks down in us, something is wrong with our souls.  When cynicism, despair, bitterness, or depression paralyze our energy, part of our soul is hurting.” (We will get to the second part of a healthy soul tomorrow).

Today, I invite you to reflect on what is putting fire in your veins and energizing you?  Or where and when do you feel most fully alive?  I am not looking for a Sunday School answer here.  You don’t have to say, “Sunday morning listening to Wes preach.”  I want you to listen to your shy soul sing out where you feel like, “I could do this forever and never get bored.”  For me, teaching, writing, and talking about the Bible does this.  The ancient stories of scripture still reverberant and resonant with meaning for me each time I open the Bible.  This Lent as I read the gospels, I kept think, “Yes, there is truth here and here and here.”  I love talking with others about the Bible, hearing other’s insights and ideas.  This isn’t the only place.  I sense the beauty of life when walking in creation, when having meals with my family, when having coffee with a friend.  I think one of the lies cynicism, despair, and bitterness tell us is that those moments “don’t matter.”  Our inner critic may even make us feel bad for enjoying a conversation when there is suffering out there in the world.  Our inner critic may tell you that it doesn’t make a difference or that you are being selfish, that surely there is some volunteer opportunity that would be “better.”  This isn’t new.  Throughout the Christian faith we have struggled with what is called, “Works righteousness”.  This means that sure God’s grace is free, but not free…free.  God still wants you to do something right now.  God has expectations, wants to give you a gold star as I talked about on Sunday, and you end up feeling like you need to “earn” grace…that unconditional love isn’t so unconditional after all.  Suddenly, there is something that stands in the way between us and God’s love.

This is the tension.  You are not God’s employee…you are God’s beloved.  So, does that mean I can just sit back and binge watch Netflix and do nothing?  Yes, you could.  We won’t and don’t earn unconditional love.  But return to what I said above, binge watching Netflix…or constantly scrolling social doesn’t put a fire in my veins ~ at least not a healthy fire!  Our souls are hurting partly because we are wrapped up in a world that pulls us in too many directions, and we feel like a Stretch Armstrong Doll from my youth!  This is when cynicism comes in and despair and bitterness.  We are invited to return to a center, ground of being, where we share our life ~ not because of a demand or decree (like Caesar), but because life is beautiful and worth living and sharing.  I pray the sentences above sings to your heart…but I would love to talk more about this with you if you’d like. 

Today, ponder and write down a life-giving list of what fills YOU with hope and gets you caught up in the beauty of life (for we are created in God’s image and infused with the breath of God.).  Amen.   

Writing our faith

 

During the month of May, we are letting our shy souls get a word in edgewise; we are listening to our life, we are rewinding and reviewing the “mixed tape” that has served as the soundtrack of life up to this moment.  So far, we have reflected on who God is, who we are, and today I want to invite you to reflect on the soul…the “you” you sometimes hide because you are not sure that the world will accept you.

Here is a deep truth…everyone is fighting a battle right now you know nothing about.  Your doctor has something that feels difficult and demanding…the clerk at the grocery story is grieving…the person in the pew next to you yesterday who said she was doing, “Fine,” has a struggle that simmers in her soul.  Everyone is fighting a battle right now physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, or all the above. 

On the last night of his life, Jesus said, ‘I will not leave you orphaned (isolated and alone), but will give you the gift of the Spirit ~ the Advocate ~ the one who is on your side.”  The Spirit is the still small voice that says your first, middle, and last name is, “Beloved”.  Not because of what you do or produce or how busy you are…but because God’s love is.  Period. 

There is tension in this, because part of us wants to believe and live in a world where love makes those battles easier or erases them entirely…please!!  Today, I want you to pay attention to both your battles and beloved-ness.  I believe the two are connected.  We are invited to name where it hurts…also ask for help.  Where does stress or suffering swirl in your mind, cause your heart to race, or your gut to do gymnastics?  Name and notice this, try to describe and define the ache.  Second, what would help look like, feel like, sound or even taste like?  This is prayer…when our deepest hurts reach out to the One who longs to help.  Note: this is not a magic genie.  Just because I want to reconcile with that person, doesn’t mean the phone will ring right now.  When we begin to shine a light on our ache, rather than push it down into the corner of the cellar of our soul, just naming the hurt can help.  Naming alone doesn’t resolve or dissolve our pains, but I find the more honest I am, the more I can be open to how God does show up disguised as my life.  So maybe the phone isn’t ringing right now, but I might send a text to open the conversation.  Maybe the text doesn’t get answered immediately, but a few months (or years) from now I find myself in the same room with that person.  Remember nothing separates us from God’s love.  Today, let your faith hold the good, the bad, and the ugly of life…because God loves us fully ~ even the “you” you hide.  Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

God, we know that matter matters to you.  With every breath, we breathe in oxygen that fills us and sustains us, with every exhale we release our life into this world.  Every breath contains the truth of life and death, this breath right now, contains what sustains and what I cannot keep inside.  Help me notice You throughout this day.  Help me find places and spaces where we can be together.  Help me move beyond my humanness to see Your holiness in all creation.  God, grant me wisdom and openness and willingness to see wearing skin and this human life as a prayer practice throughout the days to come.  Amen.  

More than Individuals

 

As we wrap up and wind down the practice of incarnation/wearing skin/being human ~ I want to move from the individual to the communal.  Paul says that we are the body of Christ ~ individually and collectively.  You are Christ’s hands, and we are together.

Did you catch that tension?  It really feels like a contradiction.  I want to say, “Um, Paul, is that I bear Christ’s image or that anytime two or three of us gather to sing, pray, have a committee meeting, or talk over coffee that/those moments together are the image of Christ?”  I sense Paul would smile and say, “Yes.” 

So, what does the church, being the body of Christ visually look like?

What does the church, being the body of Christ together, sound like?

What is our aroma?

What is our taste?

I could say, the church looks like all races and gender expressions and human understandings, singing and praying together whilst eating Jell-O salad that smells like limes and pineapple, with smiles on our faces and tears in our eyes.

I could say, the church looks like three people sitting silently while a pumpkin spice candle fills the room before they quietly serve each other bread, or wash each other’s feet, feeling the bread and hearing each other say, “This is the body of Christ for you!  And this is the cup of life and love for you!”

Or I could say, the church looks like a modern-day version of Hollywood Squares, each of us in our zoom box staring at a screen, as we laugh together, all of us with a candle burning next to us, and touching the keys of our computers to communicate.

Or I could say, the church looks like people gathered around a campfire roasting s’mores and singing songs and telling stories under the star-filled sky ~ that evokes and provokes all the senses!!

The body of Christ cannot be confined or contained in a box ~ that there are endless, evolving expressions of what it means to be together ~ something bigger than just the unholy trinity of me, myself and I.  May you and I continue to explore this through our bodies interacting with other parts of creation in these Easter days. Amen. 

What's it like to be you??

 

This week, we are paying attention to our lives, what we receive and perceive around us ~ how that impacts what is within us.  We have reconnected with our five senses, tried to slow down to taste our food, smell what hangs in the air, notice the movements of this world, let the sensations of our skin awaken us to the sacred.  How our senses connect us to our memories.  How ice cream tastes like a Friday night for me.  Petting my dog is a prayer practice of touch, sight, and even the smell of her breath!  There is more to this world than we can ever comprehend or contain or control – as we heard yesterday.  This is the practice of embodiment/wearing skin/being human sized is a condition we all share.

On Monday, I asked you to do a five-senses portrait of someone.  Hopefully, you did that for one or even more people.  On Tuesday, I asked you to write down three times during the day what you were seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, and hearing. 

Today, I invite you to engage our sixth sense of your gut/intuition/soul.  When does your soul come most fully alive?  Or when do you know that you are most fully loved?  Write down the who, what, where, when, and why of your life.  As St. Irenaeus said, “the glory of God gives life; those who see God receive life.”  Your life right now.  Not when you get that new iphone or go on that dream vacation.  We don’t need to delay or defer joy and enjoyment.  Our joy doesn’t need to depend on the external.  Herein lies the tension, because the world does often threaten to extinguish our joy.  I know the headlines swirl and stir causing heartbreak and soul ache that makes it difficult for joy and fear to hold hands without fear getting the upper hand (yes, that is a throw back to Easter because we are still in the season of Easter for another few weeks).

So today’s writing prompt is to think about what it is like to be you ~ the good and not so great ~ the fears and joys ~ the faith and doubts.  What is like to be you?  There has never been another you before and won’t ever be the exact combination of atoms that stared back at you in the mirror this morning.  You, crafted and created in God’s image right now, what is that like?  Again, share this with someone else and listen to his/her/their response to that same question.  May God, who continues to show up in our lives, surprise you with the sacred in ways that remind you that this is holy ground. Amen.

Paying Attention Prompt

 

This week, we are paying attention to the incarnational (fancy theological word for the practice of wearing skin or being human) part of our faith.  Yesterday, I asked you to connect your five senses to someone else.  Like how a butterscotch candy makes me think of my grandma (as does peanut brittle that she made every Christmas).  Like how canoeing makes me think of my call to ministry.  Like how hearing Patsy Cline singing transports me back to our living room growing up and my parents playing her music on a stereo that was bigger than our couch!  Our five senses are portals to our past. 

Today, I want to invite you to pay attention to what you are hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling.  Three times today, pause and survey your surroundings, naming and noticing what you are picking up in all your five senses.  At breakfast ~ notice the taste of your cereal and its crunching sound and smell.  Or the bird that is chirping outside alerting other birds that breakfast is served.  Or the smell of the earth after the rain.  Or the touch of laundry right from the dryer. 

We move so fast in this world that we miss God showing up in the ordinary sacredness of the everyday.  Andy Warhol once said, “Nobody really looks at anything – it’s too hard.”  We glimpse and quickly convince ourselves that we have it all figured out…and then act like we are certain and confident.  But if we slow down, dare to dive deeper, there is a mystery that can never really be known.  Or as Emily Webb says at the end of the play, Our Town, “I can’t look at everything hard enough.”  That play was written in 1938, when Europe was in turmoil.  Wilder knew nothing of phones that constantly ding with notifications and texts that demand our immediate response and emails that have piled up while you are reading this morning meditation.  Too often, we don’t recognize that we live with joyless urgency.  And Wilder’s message is to slow down and savor. Perhaps we need to hear now more than ever. 

Be present to your beautifully imperfect life today.

Be present to all that is around you and what awakens within you.

And may God show up, because God already is there, disguised as your life.

 

Amen.

Writing Our Faith Prompt #5

 

During the month of May, we are taking time to write down our faith, inspired by the Apostle Paul’s letters.  We are doing this not to be published or receive praise or pontificate to others.  We are writing down because so often faith lives within us unexpressed.  For faith to be faith, it needs to be released from the cobwebbed corners of our souls to see the light of day.  To be sure, this is vulnerable.  Someone may point out that we’ve contradicted ourselves.  We might notice where our understandings are not linear or logical, because faith isn’t always neat and tidy.  We might even write something that we don’t really believe, but think we are supposed to believe.  We might write down something, erase it, and realize we don’t quite know everything.

Remember a few weeks ago that the disciples, standing right before the resurrected Jesus, had faith and doubts.  Why should you or I be any different?  Secondly, as we are writing, I invite you to do this not as an isolated, individual project, but turn this into a group sharing moment.  Call up someone else in church to talk about a hymn that is meaningful and why the words of that hymn make a difference.  Talk to someone about an experience of the sacred, even if you can’t find the “right” words, try anyway.  And then, listen to your conversation partner’s encounter with the holy.

Today, I want to invite you to do a five senses portrait of someone you love.  This person could be still living or now in God’s embrace.  To do this, start by bringing into your heart and mind someone you love.  Now, remember a food that the two of you shared ~ write that down.  Now, remember a sound or song the two of you shared ~ write that down.  Now, recall a moment of touch between yourself and the other ~ write that down.  Now, a smell you associate with that person.  Now, a sight or place that makes you think of that person. 

Here is an example of what I mean.  One food that makes me think of Gina is homemade rolls because she made those for me early on in our relationship ~ from scratch ~ hot from the oven with melted butter.  When I taste a warm roll, I think of Gina.  A sound could be the song we danced to at our wedding, which could also be a touch that comes into my mind as we moved across the dance floor.  A smell could be pine trees in the Boundary Waters of MN where we spent our honeymoon, which could also be a place that the two of us share. 

Why are we doing this?  Thank you for asking!  One central part of Paul’s theology is that we,  you and I, are an embodied/incarnational/in the flesh/living expression of faith.  It makes all the difference that God comes to us human-sized wearing skin.  God, in Jesus, is born as a vulnerable infant.  God, in Jesus, experiences hunger, thirst, sweats, cries, laughs, eats meals, has friendship, and feels love.  God, in Jesus, is betrayed, denied, suffers on a cross, and faces death.  God, in Jesus, shows us new life where faith and doubts can be held together within us.  One of the ways we experience the Eternal is through our bodies, which is why I am asking you to pay attention to your five senses today and this week.  I pray this writing prompt awakens memories and holy moments within you.  Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

Please pray with me.  Gracious God, thank you for moments You show up disguised as my ordinary life.  Thank you for the moments You hover in my life and I pray that as I reflect on the past, this might open me to the present and Your presence here in my life this day.  Thank you for words and drawings and poems and hymns that sing out about the multitude of ways You can be known.  Thank you, God, that we don’t need to confine You by defining You, but for the ways You break/burst forth from our understandings that cause us to laugh in delight.  Thank you, God, for moments of interruption and disruptions when our craftly constructed understandings/theologies come crashing down ~ for in the chaos O God, Your Spirit can create anew and afresh.  Thank you for people, places, and practices that can open me to You.  Let the prompts this week continue to open me to the stories I tell myself and the story You, O God, are co-authoring/editing in each of our lives now.  Amen.   

Writing Your Faith Prompt #4

 

We continue to write letters of faith to ourselves and others.  So far this week we have shined a light on where/when the Holy hovered and showed up.  We tried to write about how we understand/feel/sense God in our lives.  Yesterday, we focused on times when we have felt the gap between what we think about God and how we experience (or don’t experience) God.

Prompt #4 ~ What people, places, and practices open you to God?  This could be a list or even a chart for those who really like structure and order.  Think through people who in his/her presence you can be most authentically yourself.  Think through places where you have felt on holy ground…and I hope a few are local and you will go there this week.  Think through practices that help you feel alive.  I might list family and friends ~ names of people who make God’s love real rather than just words I speak about.  I might list the camp I attended growing up, the Boundary Waters in MN, and being out in creation.  I might think of practices like writing, building Legos, reading, watching sitcoms with Gina, and singing on Sunday mornings.  Come up with a list of ways you are filled with life…and then go and practice some of those ways this day.  May this be an encounter and experience of God’s grace amid these difficult days.  Amen

Writing Your Faith Prompt #3

 

This week we are writing our faith, inspired by Paul who wrote to churches about his experiences of God and encouragement to people.  Paul often stepped into difficult debates in his day.  He weighed in on whether you had to convert to Judaism if you were a Gentile.  He wrote about dietary restrictions, how to worship, what to bring to the church potluck, and how to deal with people who got on your nerves. 

Yesterday, I had you reflect on who God is.  For me, God is expansive and inclusive love ~ One who fuels and feeds my life.  I long to be caught up in the great symphony of God’s love ~ to be (to quote St. Francis) an instrument of God’s love. 

Prompt #3 ~ write a bit about a time when you felt the gap between who you believe or trust God to be (building on yesterday) and how you experience God.  Building on what I wrote above, I want to be caught up in our still conducting/composing God, but then some other human goes and does something that throws me off.  Staying with the metaphor, someone hits me with the trombone slide or jabs me with the violin bow!  And then, I am frustrated and flummoxed and off my game.  I want to blame the other person.  But, the deeper truth is that it isn’t only other people, it is my own inner critic that loves to knock me around a bit too.  It takes time for me to get my composure back and figure out what sheet of music God is on and back in the rhythm. 

Today, take time to explore moments when you longed for God to be a certain way and life intervened or interrupted or intruded in ways you didn’t expect.  I pray these prompts are helping you discover faith within you and ways to share your faith with others. 

Writing Your Faith Prompt 2

 

Yesterday, I encouraged you to join me in writing down your faith ~ not that it will ever be published or on the New York Times bestseller list ~ but to get that which lives deep within you onto a piece of paper.  Our faith longs for expression and to escape the confines of our minds.

We started with a time you experienced/encountered God.  I could tell you about canoeing in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.  How God was found in the water, in campfires, and the wilderness of that area.  Each day, we spent time out in the canoe exploring and swimming and being a community.  We laughed, cooked, sang, and felt God’s love in real ways.  It was holy ground.

Prompt #2 ~ write a bit about who God is for you.  Note: I am not asking for a theological tome or some essay about God.  I want you to write words that stir your heart.  If you want a place to start, go to the hymnal.  Our New Century Hymnal, the first 39 hymns talk/teach/tell about God.  You can read through those hymns to see what stirs.  Or maybe you want to come up with a list of words about God ~ try to find fifteen words that describe God (not that you can ever fully capture God).  Or maybe this is a time to pick up the colored pencils or crayons to draw God.  Or write a poem.  Or… fill in the blank here with your idea.  This doesn’t need to be only words; you are welcome to let this prompt take you on an adventure.  I pray you will continue to let your faith loose into the world in some way this day.