This blog was for a particular time and place. I am continuing to exercise mind, body and spirit in a number of ways.
See our book group about flunking sainthood and the spiritual practices that go with that.
Blessings!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Steadfastness and Encouragement: lectio divina
Romans 15: 4-6
4
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
My thanks to a fellow student, Liz, who led a lectio divina meditation on this passage at chapel yesterday. I'd like to share those steps and this passage with you.
Read this aloud the first time and just let it wash over you. Take it all in and sit for a minute with it.
Read it a second time and listen for a word or phrase that speaks to you particularly and spend a couple of minutes meditating, focusing on that word or phrase.
Read it a third time and be open to whatever feeling, emotion, or image comes to you, and focus on that for a minute or so.For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Read it a fourth and final time and let the passage lead you into prayer.For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The phrase that struck me yesterday was "steadfastness and encouragement." That is truly a gift of God's presence with us. The image I had was of a grand and glorious choir singing in harmony, and I could hear the chord. My prayer is one of hope, that the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant for us all that we live in harmony with one another.For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Soul Keeping: Spiritual Wholeness
The soul is not some metaphysical construct, not separate from the body, mind and emotions. The soul is the same essence as, is the spark from, the Divine, and so theologians struggle to find metaphors for something that is omnipresent within each person. Ronald Rolheiser defines it: "Our soul is not something that we have, it is more something we are. It is the very life-pulse within us, that which makes us alive."(Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing, New York, NY: Doubleday, 1999, p. 12) So, keeping the soul cannot neglect the physical self, the mental self, the emotional self, or any part of one's self. Keeping the soul is central to each person's health, wholeness and well-being. Paradoxically, why then is soul keeping such a challenge, especially for ministry?
There is a certain inherent arrogance, yet vulnerability in many of the helping professions. Feeling the call to ministry, to teaching, or to service says on one hand that one knows that she has something worthwhile to give, while on the other, when facing burnout, fearing that there's really nothing worth giving inside. This echoes the dynamic in the soul as the desire to give, and give—pouring out energy, is balanced against our need to seek union and communion with the divine, with the still small voice in ourselves. Rolheiser explains that the soul has two functions: it must keep us energized and vibrant, full of desire, and it must keep us glued together or integrated, in oneness, and that "these two functions of the soul are always in a creative tension." (Rolheiser, p. 13-14.) If these two functions are out of balance, then going to the extreme of either can lead to one's end: a wild dissipation of energy or a slow stultification or turning completely inward and stagnant. Soul keeping then must include the practices that provide energy, the practices that encourage oneness, and the practices that bring those two into balance. Through life's demands, as ministers and as people, we lose touch with either our desires or our integration, or sometimes both. As we seek recovery in our spiritual selves, we then have to recognize our default soul patterns, and have to find compensating practices, and incentivizing and motivating practices to restore balance. Soul keeping is about finding and owning the spiritual practices that both fill the energy well, and sustain the integrated self: mind, body, spirit. It is not just about the reflective and quiet; it must also be about the vibrant and exciting. Soul keeping may be alone or within community or sometimes, too often, in spite of the community.
Where to start then, with those practices? "This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know," says Mary Oliver, "that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness." (Quoted in Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004, p. 34.) Thus out of the tension of the soul's creative functions must come attention, and also intention, a stretching toward (from the Latin tendere) that is both readiness and resolve. (Webster's 9th Collegiate dictionary) Webster's Dictionary alternatively defines attention as notice or observation. First, then, in soul keeping, especially as ministers, we need to open our eyes, our ears, our selves to what is around us. Especially in things that don't nurture our souls we are barraged with what's going on, and that is much of the problem, because it leads to inattention. "Two streams in our culture contribute to our inattention. One is secularism, which regards the human self as a social construct with no created core; the other is moralism, which regards all concern for self as "selfish." (Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness, p. 35.) To pay attention, we must know or discover the love of God the creator for each of us, and we must reflect that love for and in ourselves and in everything else as part of God's creation. We are unique souls, loving, loved and lovable. We must tend ourselves, and love ourselves.
All of the practices that we have discussed, have done, and continue to do link together, and as well link to that great commandment of love present in all of the great faith traditions. It is, in summary, to love ourselves, our neighbors and our God. I define spirituality as being in relationship with yourself, others, the Other--as you experience or express that which is greater than you, and with all of creation/the universe. We are all spiritual beings, and it is my hope that in sharing these practices with you that you and I are becoming more spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy and whole and able to be in loving relationship with ourselves and with others and with God, the Divine and Whole Other. Perhaps we are not yet Olympic caliber in our emotional, mental and spiritual health, but we have practices that point the way.
Thank you for sharing yourselves, your stories, your sacred time and for listening attentively to my stories as well. My thanks also to those classmates, colleagues, teachers and spiritual leaders who companion me and have guided and are guiding my own work and journey on this path for spiritual wholeness. I hope that they see the fruit of their work and of the Spirit reflected here. I suspect this will be my final posting on this blog for a while, as I must focus on other projects for a while. I welcome your comments both here and directly.
There is a certain inherent arrogance, yet vulnerability in many of the helping professions. Feeling the call to ministry, to teaching, or to service says on one hand that one knows that she has something worthwhile to give, while on the other, when facing burnout, fearing that there's really nothing worth giving inside. This echoes the dynamic in the soul as the desire to give, and give—pouring out energy, is balanced against our need to seek union and communion with the divine, with the still small voice in ourselves. Rolheiser explains that the soul has two functions: it must keep us energized and vibrant, full of desire, and it must keep us glued together or integrated, in oneness, and that "these two functions of the soul are always in a creative tension." (Rolheiser, p. 13-14.) If these two functions are out of balance, then going to the extreme of either can lead to one's end: a wild dissipation of energy or a slow stultification or turning completely inward and stagnant. Soul keeping then must include the practices that provide energy, the practices that encourage oneness, and the practices that bring those two into balance. Through life's demands, as ministers and as people, we lose touch with either our desires or our integration, or sometimes both. As we seek recovery in our spiritual selves, we then have to recognize our default soul patterns, and have to find compensating practices, and incentivizing and motivating practices to restore balance. Soul keeping is about finding and owning the spiritual practices that both fill the energy well, and sustain the integrated self: mind, body, spirit. It is not just about the reflective and quiet; it must also be about the vibrant and exciting. Soul keeping may be alone or within community or sometimes, too often, in spite of the community.
Where to start then, with those practices? "This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know," says Mary Oliver, "that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness." (Quoted in Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004, p. 34.) Thus out of the tension of the soul's creative functions must come attention, and also intention, a stretching toward (from the Latin tendere) that is both readiness and resolve. (Webster's 9th Collegiate dictionary) Webster's Dictionary alternatively defines attention as notice or observation. First, then, in soul keeping, especially as ministers, we need to open our eyes, our ears, our selves to what is around us. Especially in things that don't nurture our souls we are barraged with what's going on, and that is much of the problem, because it leads to inattention. "Two streams in our culture contribute to our inattention. One is secularism, which regards the human self as a social construct with no created core; the other is moralism, which regards all concern for self as "selfish." (Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness, p. 35.) To pay attention, we must know or discover the love of God the creator for each of us, and we must reflect that love for and in ourselves and in everything else as part of God's creation. We are unique souls, loving, loved and lovable. We must tend ourselves, and love ourselves.
All of the practices that we have discussed, have done, and continue to do link together, and as well link to that great commandment of love present in all of the great faith traditions. It is, in summary, to love ourselves, our neighbors and our God. I define spirituality as being in relationship with yourself, others, the Other--as you experience or express that which is greater than you, and with all of creation/the universe. We are all spiritual beings, and it is my hope that in sharing these practices with you that you and I are becoming more spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy and whole and able to be in loving relationship with ourselves and with others and with God, the Divine and Whole Other. Perhaps we are not yet Olympic caliber in our emotional, mental and spiritual health, but we have practices that point the way.
Thank you for sharing yourselves, your stories, your sacred time and for listening attentively to my stories as well. My thanks also to those classmates, colleagues, teachers and spiritual leaders who companion me and have guided and are guiding my own work and journey on this path for spiritual wholeness. I hope that they see the fruit of their work and of the Spirit reflected here. I suspect this will be my final posting on this blog for a while, as I must focus on other projects for a while. I welcome your comments both here and directly.
Sabbath in Blessings—attention and gratitude
In the first two chapters of Genesis there are three blessings: at the end of the fifth day when God blessed the birds and sea creatures to be fruitful and multiply; at the end of the sixth day when God blessed the animals, creeping things, and humankind to be fruitful and multiply. "And on the seventh day God finished the work that God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work that God had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation." Genesis 2:2-3. Abraham Joshua Heschel notes that, "It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh [holy] is used for the first time … How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: 'And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.' There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness." (Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1951,1979, p. 9.--a wonderful book!)
To create a mini-Sabbath, a brakha or blessing can also set aside time. Time can become holy as we pause to honor gifts received or grace perceived. In the Jewish tradition there is a rich practice of saying blessings that are rituals designed to increase mindfulness, gratitude, relation and connection. "We begin in the silence that precedes any sound or movement. Jewish tradition asks that we not say a brakha until we have quieted the mind and focused our attention on the blessings' purpose." (Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing, New York: Bell Tower, 1998, p. 31.) The spiritual practice of blessing is to open to the sacred, and "each acknowledgment of divine abundance cycles more blessing into the world." (Prager, p. 13.) In the Jewish Orthodox tradition, the goal is to say one hundred blessings a day, thus opening the world to the divine at least one hundred times each day. (Mary Beth McCauley, "100 Blessings")
While the practice of a full 24 hours of Sabbath is something I would recommend, the practice of blessings ties Sabbath to attention, gratitude and mindfulness in a powerful abbreviated form that can create a spacious and relaxing time in a much shorter amount of time all through the week. Bless you, and the blessings that you share.
To create a mini-Sabbath, a brakha or blessing can also set aside time. Time can become holy as we pause to honor gifts received or grace perceived. In the Jewish tradition there is a rich practice of saying blessings that are rituals designed to increase mindfulness, gratitude, relation and connection. "We begin in the silence that precedes any sound or movement. Jewish tradition asks that we not say a brakha until we have quieted the mind and focused our attention on the blessings' purpose." (Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing, New York: Bell Tower, 1998, p. 31.) The spiritual practice of blessing is to open to the sacred, and "each acknowledgment of divine abundance cycles more blessing into the world." (Prager, p. 13.) In the Jewish Orthodox tradition, the goal is to say one hundred blessings a day, thus opening the world to the divine at least one hundred times each day. (Mary Beth McCauley, "100 Blessings")
With a deep breath I reached toward the basket of warm dinner rolls and lifted it up, closing my eyes to be alone with the sensations. Steamy-hot, just-baked bread. I inhaled its warm sweetness. For just a moment it seemed that I held the fertile earth sprouting ripening wheat and saw the dough rising in an extravagant explosion of yeast. My fingertips touched the hot loaves. I sang: "Barukh Ata Adonay, Eloheynu Melekh Ha'Olam, ha'motzi lechem min ha'aretz. A Fountain of Blessings are You, Source of Life of all the Worlds, Source of the nourishment that is this bread, which You bring forth from the earth."The hallowing of time in blessing, as in observing Sabbath, gives an important foundation for the ritual practice of blessings. "In making a brakha we separate out time before we consume, use, or enjoy something of the world in order to create a space where something other than thoughtless appropriation can unfold." (Prager, p. 13.) This personal ritual has a form and spontaneity, and is done with intention, and not only can address our hopes, but also our fears. When hearing thunder, for instance, one woman prays, "Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the universe, for Your strength and Your power fill the world. … Isn't that better than [telling a fearful child], 'God is bowling'?" (McCauley, "100 Blessings".)
After sharing the bread the husband spoke:
"I grew up so angry!" he said. "All these blessings, these brakhas and prayers that I had to memorize. Always some rote formula to recite, another phrase to mumble. When I finally discovered Buddhism, it was such a relief. I embraced meditation and cultivated a practice of insight and mindfulness. … One day, … I was with someone and he stopped what he was doing to make a brakha. Like you just did. Suddenly I got it! All those years of cultivating mindfulness and I didn't see. Making a brakha, the act of blessing, it IS a mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is what blessing IS." (Prager, p. 2-3)
While the practice of a full 24 hours of Sabbath is something I would recommend, the practice of blessings ties Sabbath to attention, gratitude and mindfulness in a powerful abbreviated form that can create a spacious and relaxing time in a much shorter amount of time all through the week. Bless you, and the blessings that you share.
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