Prayer part two

 

Yesterday I invited you to listen and lean in to God’s still small voice.  One way you can do this is through five deep belly breaths with slow, controlled exhales.  Let’s do that now:

Breathing in through your nose a breath so deep the oxygen reaches your right pinkie toe.  Then, exhale slow and steady, pushing out all that pain or toxics that if kept inside could poison us. 

Breathing in through your nose, which are connected to your ears/eyes/mind.  Exhaling all the ways we can be so captivated by the cynical and critical ways of life.

Breathing in deeply the One who still sings to the depth within you.  Exhaling all the chatter that is saying, “You don’t have time for this slow breathing silliness right now!!”

Breathing in a love that will not let you go.  Exhaling all that which says, “You gotta keep struggling and striving, otherwise you won’t get anywhere.”

Breathing in stillness.  Exhaling noisiness.

 

Breathe and be.

Breathe and be.

 

In the stillness, what do you hear?

 

Listen.  Lean in.  May the Sacred sing you a soft lullaby that guides your whole day.  Amen.

Prayer

 

Yesterday's heartbreaking, soul aching shooting of innocent children at a school in Uvalde, TX leaves us all grieving. This follows last week's racially motivated shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo. I woke up this morning with a heavy heart for parents who now are planning funerals and frustration at leaders who refuse to pass legislation that, while may not stop this epidemic, could help. With the psalmist I find myself crying out, "How long, O God". I can feel inept and powerless and even discouraged that I could make a difference.

But then I remember the Hebrew concept of Tikkun olam ~ literally means the healing of the world. There are so many beautiful stories about how in the beginning the light or spark of God was shattered into a thousand shards and settled into every - all - living beings. Our call in the world is to not just let our light shine, but to join with the lights of countless other people that we might collaborate with our still Creating God in healing this broken, bruised, grieving world. It is a calling we may not complete in our live time, nor can we stop sharing and shining as long as we have breath.

On Sunday, we invite you to wear ORANGE to honor the children in Texas and our African-Americans brothers and sisters shot in Buffalo. We wear ORANGE because every day 35 people are killed with a gun, more than any other country in the world! We wear ORANGE because we believe God is calling us to help in the healing and restoration of this world.

Please pray with me:

God wrap Your loving embrace around all families who are grieving today, especially the families in Texas and Buffalo. God inspire and infuse our imagination to work toward a world where such stories don't happen every day. Let our heartbreak turn to hard work. Let our frustration guide us to meaningful action. Let Your presence move us deeper in the holy work of creating a world where the shards of light come together. Hold all those whose hearts are heavy and help open the ears of those who can make a change and inspire us to cry out for Your justice here on earth. In the name of the Light of the World, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Morning Meditation

 

What new insight arrived in your awareness yesterday as you paid attention to the stories you told yourself?  What new ideas are percolating?  Did you see some seeds of God’s presence trying to sink into your soul?  What is still perplexing you about why you tell the stories you tell? 

 

How can we be more open to God, the gardener, of our soul?  There is an ancient story about a prophet named Elijah.  Elijah lived in a time when the King and Queen were leading the people astray from the relationship with God.  Imagine a world where the leaders don’t act in the best interest of the people!  I sense that wasn’t too difficult given the headlines today.  There is a story in 1 Kings 18-19, about Elijah facing down priests who worshipped the god of Baal, which was the religion of the Queen of Israel at that time.  Notice that religious tension and differences is a tale as old as time.  Elijah wins by having God bring fire before Baal even sends a spark.  You would think Elijah would be elated, rather he is afraid because the Queen is not happy, so she puts a price on Elijah’s head.  So, Elijah runs away so fast he leaves skid marks in the sand to get out of Dodge and flees to the wilderness for safety and shelter out of fear. 

 

There is a story Elijah is telling himself here.

 

Out in the wilderness, Elijah takes shelter under a tree where an angel makes him breakfast.  Elijah goes and hides in a cave.  Elijah tells himself, “It would be better if I was dead.”  Notice the tension?  God provide, Elijah pouts.  God offers nourishment, Elijah only sees the broken and bad.

 

There is a story Elijah is telling himself here!

 

Then, the ancient writers say this, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.  When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:11-13).  Feel free to go read the entire story.  It’s okay.  I’ll wait.

 

A quiet voice is how God speaks and sings.  Or your Bible might have the translation, “A still small voice”.  Amid the cacophony and chaos and constant 24-hour-news-cycle and dinging of our phones with “alerts”…the still small voice of the Sacred.  Not in the whirlwind of worries, but in the question, “What are you doing here?”

 

That’s a holy question.  How would you answer, “What are you doing here?  You can answer that question with all that is filling your calendar, all that you are catching in the net of your life, all that is filling your days.  Or you can answer, “What are you doing here,” on a deeper level.  For example, I am trying to live from a grounded place of grace and let the light of love shine through. I am seeking to practice laughter’s healing art with as many people as I can.  I am seeking to live from a place where life is an adventure…like all adventures there will be unexpected exit ramps and people will say things that hurt…but there is also a generous and gracious and generative God that is at work in the world too. 

 

What are you doing here?  You have a response to that which is impacting the story you tell yourself.  And God is seeking to help co-author your response to that question.  May you today take time to listen, lean in, and learn from the One who comes with a still small voice today.  Amen.

Morning Meditation

 

In a book I was recently reading, the author asked a great question: ‘Growing up, were you told and taught that life is something to be endured, a constant struggle, and a slog to just get through??  OR were you taught that life is an adventure?’  I admit that the lessons I learned put me firmly in the first camp.  What I learned growing up was, to quote Norm from the television show, Cheers, “It’s a dog-eat-dog world…and I am wearing Milk Bone pants.”  The stories I heard as a child and teenager often focused on what was broken and who was to blame.  There was a powerlessness to it all, as if the world was out to get us.  And, of course, if something good did happen…well, enjoy it now because it won’t last.

 

Pause for a moment, what are some of the stories you can remember hearing growing up from parents, grandparents, aunts, teachers, pastors, and those around you?  Did the stories help you see the world as generative, generous, and grace-filled – like a seed scattering God?  Was there an abundance and awe to life – God who would plant seeds anywhere?  Or was the menu served in your home full of resentment, anger, and anxiety?  These stories shape us.  They impact and influence us.  Sometimes, because we love the people who first loved us, we can be defensive about the way we were taught to see the world. 

 

You have a story you tell yourself every day.  For example, you get stuck in traffic do you think: “Great, just my luck.  This always happens!”  Can that one moment ruin your whole day?  Or do you see being stuck in traffic as a chance to listen to your favorite music longer than you would on a normal commute?  As a recovering “life is a struggle and slog” person, I hear the chatter in my mind that tells me, “Humph, listen to music longer, what a silly suggestion!  I don’t want to be late (read here: seen as irresponsible or disrespectful)”  For us schooled in life as a struggle, especially when we have reached Jedi-level, our minds can twist and turn the most amazing moment into something that is lacking.  More and more I am realizing and recognizing that my running late because of traffic really isn’t going to be the worst thing ever.  Afterall, I am not late to perform major surgery.  Afterall, I have this amazing device called a “cell phone” and can usually call the person I am meeting to tell them what’s going on.  Afterall, someone must listen to 80s hair bands with nostalgia.  It is one of my gifts to the world.

 

This week, I encourage you to pay attention to the stories you are telling yourself.  These are, to use the metaphor from yesterday in church, seeds that are planted and tended in the soil of your soul.  I invite you to listen to the color commentary being offered by the chatter of your brain about what you are experiencing and encountering.  I invite you to be awake and aware for God’s voice, how God is tending the soil of your soul.  Tomorrow, we will turn toward and tune in to an ancient story about God’s voice.  But for now, may you and I listen to our words, pay attention to our responses and reactions, and see how God is seeking to co-author our story in such a time as this.

 

Prayer: Creating and collaborating God, when I get too focused today on all that is wrong, open my heart, ears, imagination, and life to remember that You bring life to mangers and tombs and to all sorts of places that are peculiar and odd and unusual.  If you brough life to the strange in the past, may I be open to You cultivating life in my soul today.  May this truth help me tell and live a better story in these days.  Amen. 

Tomorrow

 

Tomorrow, our son, Ethan, graduates high school.  The deeper truth is, that as parents, we are graduating too.  There is a new chapter both for Ethan and for us.  His chapter holds being a camp counselor and getting ready for college in a few months.  His chapter has plot points of new friendships that will form in the days to come, even as he continues friendships with those he has known for years.  His chapter looks toward crafting and creating life with God who is co-authoring with him.  Honestly, neither he nor we, as his parents, have any idea of all the other fish (experiences and encounters and events) that will get caught in the net of his life in the coming years.  For Gina and me, our chapter is about change where Ethan’s energy isn’t always present in the house and his voice won’t be there each night at the dinner table.  For Gina and me, our chapter is about new schedules that we can create without first consulting the school calendar.  For Gina and me, we also are graduating to a new way of being.  We rejoice with Ethan on this accomplishment and will cheer on his growth in the years to come.  We will continue to walk with Olivia into her senior year in the fall.  But, on the horizon, there is a change ~ which is why I offered you the quote from Joan Chittister yesterday.  Change, Chittister wrote, “demands that we be willing to believe that where we find ourselves now, bad as it may seem, must be at least as good – at least, eventually, as where we ourselves wanted to be.”  When we welcomed Ethan into our arms, our home, and especially our hearts eighteen years ago, we knew this day would come.  Part of the journey of parenting is that one day there is an empty nest.  Tomorrow is a moment when the past, present, and future all come together.  Tomorrow some things will end, some new ways begin, and other realities will continue.  After all we will still be Ethan’s parents.  We will still treasure memories of holding him as an infant, how he broke through every childhood lock we could buy for the kitchen, telling the story about the time in a basketball game he threw the ball through the bottom of the net and it came back down through the rim (the point counted by the way), when he discovered music as filling his soul, and celebrate how the ways he is shining his light as a young man in the words.  Endings and beginning and continued threads are woven together.  Tomorrow, we hold this holy moment, realizing all moments are holy.  There is more to unfold in the coming days.  Tomorrow, we will celebrate, shed tears, and know that this moment God is there remembering, blessings, and holding us in love.  I welcome your prayers as our family graduates, trusting God’s presence will be there with us.  Amen. 

Easter Continued

Joan Chittister wrote: “Unwanted change – the only kind of change that is real, if the ancients are to be believed – requires more than simply a transition from one state or stage of life to another.  It requires conversion of heart.  It requires acceptance.  It demands that we be willing to believe that where we find ourselves now, bad as it may seem, must be at least as good – at least eventually as where we ourselves wanted to be.  Conversion assumes an openness to the God of creation, of newness, of wonder and surprise.”  Scarred by Struggle; Transformed by Hope.

 

When I read the above quote, I had to stop, rewind, and re-read what was being said here.  First, the season of Easter is one that dances with change.  Jesus comes back to the disciples in bodily form and still showing the signs of crucifixion, yet the disciples don’t recognize him.  Something has changed about Jesus or something has changed within the disciples or perhaps both.  Perhaps what changed for the disciples was a belief that resurrection was true and could be trusted.  Perhaps what changed was the notion that following Jesus could mean letting Jesus’ light shine through us.  Perhaps was changed was something so deep on a soul level the disciples could not articulate what was stirring and swirling.  Perhaps, resurrection, can be that “unwanted” change.  Unwanted, not because we don’t deeply desire the full, abundant life of Jesus; rather, unwanted, because what being a disciple will change everything.  It is, as Chittister suggests, more than just a transition.  It is more than being whisked away to some exotic location.  It will ask us to be open to God in ways that will challenge our control and ask us to respond to others in ways that go against the scripts of life.  No longer will success be defined as fame, fortunate, and followers on social media.  No longer will we compare ourselves to others.  No longer will we race and run through life.  Resurrection can convict and compel us to live with wonder and surprise each day.  This is why I believe Easter is fifty days, we need to practice prayerfully this way of being and living.  We need to be honest that this doesn’t come naturally and can feel abnormal.  What will our friends think when we are kind to someone who hides knifes in words rather than offering a sarcastic comment?  What will people think when we stop playing a game where there is some imaginary score board out there?  What will others say when we stop complaining, start naming and noticing that amid the brokenness there is blessing?  Will anyone understand the sort of seismic shift in our soul?  That no, things are not always awesome, but is it really our job to be the savior/superhero of the world?  Or is our job to participate in what the holy is preparing?  How can we know what God is setting before us if we never slow down or stop long enough for God to get a word in edgewise?

 

So breathe today.

Prayerfully ponder what is in your net?

Examine the fish (that is, the experiences and encounters and events and people and places);

Listen for God’s wisdom to help you sort through how all that we carry can shape us;

Listen for God’s wisdom as you craft a response.

 

May you know more than a trace of God’s grace; may you be lost in wonder, love, and praise.  Amen.

 

Battery Check part Three

 

How is the battery of your soul doing today?  Does it need to be re-charged or replenished?  Sometimes we can connect to a source of energy that charges our battery in less than helpful or healing ways.  I can think that overscheduling myself can feed and fuel my life, only to find that I am always running on fumes.  I can think that I have to do this, I must do that; only to find some obligations are not holy.  I can get caught up in reading off a script of life where I am an actor playing a role I think I am supposed to play, rather than an agent called to let my life shine in ways that the world may not recognize or realize was possible or plausible.  To be sure, when you shine your light, some people are going to comment that what you are doing is too bright or you are doing it all wrong.  When we offer our light to the world, some might want to squelch or put a basket over our light.  

Not everyone is going to sign up to be president of your fan club, or even want to be a card-carrying member.

 

That hurts.  We like it when people like us.  It is a desire of the human heart.  And while we can nod our heads that we can’t be all things to all people, at the same time secretly in our hearts we plot and plan to win over 99%, only to find that we still want that last 1% to join in the fun.

 

How is the battery of your soul?  Today, can you find ways to tend your life and light?  Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.  Choose one way you might do this.  You might go get a massage or go for a walk.

You might talk to a counselor, your pastor, or a friend about both the good and not so great in life.

You might read the Bible passage for Sunday (Matthew 13:1-9) or pray.

You can notice your breath.

 

There are countless way to collaborate and create with our Creator this Wednesday.  There are countless ways God can help you co-author the story you are telling yourself.  There are countless fish (experiences and encounters) to be caught.  There is a holiness today.  Today is a beautiful day to live holy and wholly held by God.  May you and I be intentional and turn our attention toward God’s presence here and now.  This is the Easter way of life.  Alleluia and Amen.