Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 10, Give Up, Take On, Pray

I really only love God as much as the person I love the least.

~ Dorothy Day* 1897-1980

      How often do you talk about God in your everyday life?  There are many people, good church-going folks, who have difficulty discussing God, Jesus, religion, and/or spirituality in "normal" conversation.  It's one of the taboos of  polite conversation learned early: "Never discuss religion or politics," ostensibly because it leads to conflict and discomfort in relationships.

      Perhaps it sets us up for debates on right and wrong theologies. Maybe there's an element of proselytizing that we are anxious about giving or receiving.  Or it's just a matter of appropriate time and place. Yet those days seem to be gone, at least for now. Social Media and Communications Media are awash in religious and political debate and diatribe that push away as many as it draws in. We, as a people, seem to have lost sight of the difference between debate and dialogue. In formal debate, one argues one’s position against another’s differing position. Someone wins, someone loses. In dialogue, we discuss our position with each other open to one or both of us changing our minds somewhat or not at all, and walking away accepting your position for you, mine for me, with no loser or winner, simply remaining friends.

    What about privately ~ to yourself?  Do you talk to God ~ in joy and thanksgiving, blame and anger, frustration and supplication?  When is it right to talk about God? 

O God, Holder of my soul, 
         I come to You in my quiet and alone time to speak of needs and wants, for myself and for others. I speak to You during worship along with all the others as we lift our voices in prayer and response. But speaking about You to others outside of the Church's footprint has never come easy to me.  I worry too much about not knowing enough to discuss or fend off debate, or being perceived as some kind of "holy roller."  You don't need me to plead Your cause but I would like to be less constricted in doing so. For today, I will give up being embarrassed in talking about my relationship with You. I will take on finding at least one moment, as a start, outside of Church, to say some small thing about my relationship with You in a conversation with another person, even if only in a casual remark.  I pray to You for the right words at the right moment, and, for me to make things less difficult for myself and others as You would have them be. Amen.

   *Dorothy Day was a primary founder of the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s, a pacifist nonviolent organization that continues to aid the poor today. She began and continued as editor of The Catholic Worker newspaper from its founding in 1933 until her death, drawing contributors such as Daniel Berrigan and Thomas Merton. She wrote passionately about women's rights, free love, and birth control early in her life but in the 1940s, she became an Oblate in the Order of St. Benedict. An oblate is a lay person unprofessed as a monk or nun who makes a commitment to a specific Rule of Life ~ often called a Third Order.
    In 2000, Pope John Paul II titled Day "Servant of God" as a person whose cause for Sainthood has been opened. She has been named "a person Worthy of Commemoration" in the US Episcopal Church whose guidelines allow for an official remembrance in the liturgical calendar no sooner than 50 years after death. Day's extensive biographical history is amazing in its breadth and depth. She would never have thought of herself as a saint, but she was most certainly a force to be reckoned with. Her canonization process in the Roman Catholic Church continues, not without some bumps in the path.

 

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Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 9, Give Up, Take On, Pray

I do not ask my students at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison

about their spirituality — I would not intrude on something so personal.

On occasion, however, they do share their views with me.

For a number of them, perhaps for all, the class creates a setting where,

as one student put it, “For two hours a week, we are no longer prisoners."   

~ Dr. Amy-Jill Levine*

      What does it mean to be a prisoner of unexamined faith?  Have you ever asked yourself, "What exactly do I believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and/or the Bible, the rules and expectations of my particular religious affiliation and practice, and, perhaps more importantly, why do I believe or accept it? What or who has influenced you in your beliefs? Maybe you do have questions but aren’t sure who or how to ask.  Sometimes it is just easier to go with the flow, follow the crowd, and just believe what an authority figure tells you is correct, especially if they’re ordained and/or extremely persuasive. But Lent is a time to begin to look more closely. There are no easy answers but within a trusting community, there are great opportunities to examine your absolutes, your maybes, your confusions, your questions. Maybe you’re curious about other denominations and even other faiths and practices, how they are different and similar yet not certain where to look for dependable and trustworthy information. Ask a librarian, search online, read several articles or books on the same subject by different authors with different backgrounds and credentials to think about. Perhaps you've examined your faith in the past and are confident in all that you believe, great! Yet now and then it is useful to review as in the grocery or hardware store list updates; some things retained, some things crossed off, some new things added. Think about finding or beginning a reading group to discuss, agreeing first that agreement on content isn’t necessary and will not be forced. Lent is the perfect time to check in with yourself again for some self-examination and discovery of what it means to oneself to be "faith-full" even with certainties, doubts, questions, and uncertainties that linger and change.

We have heard with our own ears, O God,
    our ancestors have told us,
What deeds you performed in their days,
   in the days of old ~ **
And those stories are so important in our faith journey and yet, there seems to be so much conflicting information, differing opinions ~ go this way, that's right, that's wrong, don't ask...I get confused. She said/he said/they say, and I like all of them, how can they think so differently?  I think I know what I believe about all the important things but I'm not always sure why or if what I believe is the right thing given all the shouting and controversies. Another moment for a long, slow, deep, breath... Today I will give up going through the motions of believing that I completely understand my faith. I will take on asking people I trust how to begin to sort out what I really believe and why. I will pray for an open mind and for the opening of the gates of my heart and soul to allow for changes in thought if they should appear; and also for the patience to accept that the journey of examined faith will ebb and flow with doubt and certainty and be as long as my earthly life.  amen.


*Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University School of Divinity.  She self-describes as a "Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Protestant divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt," Levine "combines historical-critical rigor, literary-critical sensitivity, and a frequent dash of humor with a commitment to eliminating antisemitic, sexist, and homophobic theologies."

**Psalm 44:1  NRSV

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Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 8, Give Up, Take On, Pray

       Rumi was a 13th century Persian Poet, Teacher, Theologian, and Sufi Mystic. He gives us much to think about this Lenten season and in every day of our lives.  He was described as America's favorite poet in 2007.  I'm slowly realizing, after years of reading Rumi's poems, quotes, and thoughts, that I could be a much better human if I acted on more of his messages instead of merely enjoying them.
     Teaching unlimited tolerance, goodness, charity, and awareness through love, his message appeals to a wide range of creeds and sects around the world. Continuing on from yesterday’s message of love,  people ~ whether they are liked, disliked, loved, hated, or invisible in our sight ~ create all sorts of reactions and responses in our lives. Pay attention to the people you meet today ~ family, friends, co-workers, customers, clients, drivers on the road, fast food workers, store clerks. What words come to mind with each encounter (be honest with yourself!)...is there a lesson for you to think about?  How will you accept or resist them? How will they accept or resist you?


Dear Loving Creator of All Humanity,  
           We, Your people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, temperaments, personalities, beliefs, etc., and we judge them all according to our own sense of right, wrong, or indifference as us and them. Yes, yes, I know I'm not supposed to do that however it just seems to come all too naturally ~ meet, size up (also known as judge), decide, all in a nano-second. For today, I will give up deciding about someone based on a snap-judgment. I will take on an attempt to remember that I do not know the stories behind their eyes from a lifetime or an hour ago, as no one knows mine, and that smiles, disinterest, or anger doesn’t teach me anything about who they are. I’ll try to learn something, especially about myself, from each individual I encounter even if it is only seconds long. I will pray for everyone I see, or as many as I can, even if only with a quick "Bless her/him/them, Lord," even if the moment is unpleasant, or, perhaps because it is. I'll try to change the ugly words that sometimes come into my head in order to be the kinder, more considerate, and thoughtful person I want to be, as You want me to be. Help me, Lord, to remember that each person is Yours as I am, and to be grateful that “we” are in Your Creation together. amen.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com