Meditation in Pentecost: Mind a Beginning? '23

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, 

but in the expert's mind there are few. 

~ Shunryu Suzuki* 

Dear Most Enlightened Creator, please help me to recapture my beginner's mind, the one that was insatiably curious, hungry for spiritual experience, searching for enlightenment, eager to sit with You in Christ through the Holy Spirit, to be filled with the pearls and diamonds of Your wisdom and teaching. I want to recapture the energy and the mystery and set aside much of what I now "know" through the academic, the intellectual, and from life experience. I want to learn in new ways with a fresh unfinished mind that is wide with wonder like those who have only just begun their first encounters with You. Take me out of my self, encourage me to breathe through my monkey-mind that jumps through the branches of distractions and never seems to settle in one spot long before turning and jumping again. Teach me to work on the inside, reaching deeply for the silent illumination that calls me back time and again, and to practice and to practice and to practice the silent non-thinking that allows me to simply “be” with You, until I apprehend the beginning even if not until my end.  amen.

*Shunyru Suzuki, a Sōtō Zen monk, born and trained in Japan, opened the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia. He is widely known for his book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind which was the onset of the popularization of Zen Buddhism in the West. He founded the San Francisco Zen Center and affiliate temples. Contrary to popular understanding, Buddhism is not so much a religion as it is a philosophy based on the teachings attributed to the Buddha. It is not a theistic religion as it has no beliefs in a Supreme Being or any "god". The teachings are complementary to Christian beliefs in many ways and have been known and studied by illustrious Christian scholars such as St. Jerome, of the 4th century, who was the first to translate the Bible into Latin. His commentaries on Scripture are still widely read today and he spoke of The Buddha in some of his other writings.

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Meditation in Pentecost: Sure'n Up '23

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh,” he whispered.

“Yes,” said Pooh.

“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw, “I just wanted to be sure of you.”*

Well, Dear God of all Hunny Bears and Other Sweet Creatures, 

     I’m having one of "those" days and weeks and even a month! It's been such a busy time, so very much stuff going on, some happiness here, a worry or two there, and a few other things. I might not have been paying as much attention to You lately as I could have, but here I am now, just sidling up to You. It seemed like it was past time for us to take a walk together and for me to check in. I just want You to be as sure of me as I am of You ~ ok, that might take some work on my part so here I am sure-ing things up with You. Thanks for being here even when I've wandered a little bit away. I'll try not to let it happen again but in case it does, I promise again to remember You quicker the next time and then I'll be sure to reach up. amen.

*Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet came from the fertile imagination of English-born playwright, author, and child's poet, A. A. Milne [1881-1956], who based the main character, Pooh, on the teddy bear of the same name belonging to Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne.   

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Meditation Moment in Pentecost ~ Conscious Amazement

Amazement

water color by Jamie Winter

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.  Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.

~ Abraham Joshua Heschel* 

God of gods, Lord of kings, Revealer of mysteries ~

     Being amazed when I get up in the morning isn't usually first on my list of things to do although some mornings it's amazing I've gotten that far. But before I know it the day has gone and I've missed it. The way I'm going, my whole life will be gone and I really don't want to wait until that specific moment to discover what true amazement is all about.

    God of Creation, so much time has passed t0o quickly and I want to experience this life and all that is in it as an act of radical amazement. You have hung the heavens, filled the seas, planted the earth and gave us and all living creatures the breath of our lives. Help me see, feel, hear, taste, touch, and know the spiritual wonder in every possible moment...in the moments that are joyful, in the moments when I am lost, and in the moments that are so ordinary they seem to meld into the next without notice. Grant me, each day, the vision to see the splendor, the ability to savor each breath, and the insight to expand my consciousness of amazement as my spirit absorbs and lives into the essence of You. amen.

*Abraham Joshua Heschel [1907-1972], a Polish born American philosopher, theologian, and rabbi  is considered one of the leaders of his disciplines in the 20th century. He authored many books and was a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. A strong advocate of the American Civil Rights movement, Heschel lost close family members in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

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Prayers of the People: Two Men and a Bird, Really? ~ Trinity Sunday, First Sunday after Pentecost Yr A '23

For Sunday, June 4, 2023, Readings: Genesis 1;1-2:4a; Canticle 13, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, 

Matthew 28:16-20

  In the beginning...God created the heavens and the earth...God said, "Let there be light...called the dry land Earth and the waters seas...Let the Earth put forth vegetation...and living creatures of every kind...Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness" and God saw everything that he had made, and...it was very good. [Genesis 1:1]

  Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever…in the high vault of heaven, glory to you. [Canticle 13 ~ additions to the Book of Daniel between 3.23 and 3.24]]

   The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. [2 Corinthians 13:13]

 

    Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them...And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." [Matthew 28:16-20]

       How do you think about the Trinity? Many of us were raised to simply wonder about this enduring mystery or ignore it. A frequent image we’ve been given of the Trinity is two men and a bird within a triangle. It’s past time to think outside that triumvirate. 

      The imagery of the Holy Trinity is as varied as it is old and has always been intended to help us, and all who came before us, attempt to articulate that for which there are no adequate words or images. The Dove of Peace and Tongues of Fire are two examples. God is an old man on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Creation of Adam. Perhaps Michelangelo painted the white bearded God as old metaphorically to suggest God's timelessness that is impossible for human comprehension. Jesus was human as well as Divine so that is maybe a bit easier to grasp, except he is too often depicted as lighter-haired, blue-eyed European rather than the browner middle-eastern Jewish man he was. But how to express pictorially the inexpressible? Perhaps St. Patrick really did use a shamrock to explain how three are all in one. All of history has tried to understand the Triune God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit yet we simply cannot.

      Of course, a mystery explained is no longer a mystery. There is no specific Scriptural reference to the Trinity. The Jews knew God as the Wisdom, the Power, and the Glory and tried to wrestle with ways to make God relatable to humans. It was through Jesus that the Apostles came to know God as their personal “Father” made manifest in the Jesus they knew and came to understand as God’s Son. The Holy Spirit fell upon them with the Gifts that gave them, and us all, the Great Commission in this Gospel ~ to go forth and make disciples of all nations.

     The mystery of the Trinity is nothing if not confounding and controversial. One God/Three Persons ~ separate yet one, equal with different roles that are ultimately the same, belief in one is meant to be belief in all and the One that is the same but different. Got that? That’s probably why we have Trinitarians, Unitarians, and No-tarians.

    Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr tells us that "...Niels Bohr, [a Danish physicist who was a major contributor to quantum physics and nuclear fission] said the universe is 'not only stranger than we think, but stranger than we can think...' The doctrine of the Trinity is saying the same thing: God is not only stranger than we think, but stranger than we can think...Perhaps much of the weakness of the first 2,000 years of reflection on most of our doctrines and dogmas is that we've tried to understand them with a logical or rational mind instead of through love, prayer, and participation itself..." Perhaps we are called, as one mystic suggested, to be almost a fourth person in the flow of God...

     If rational knowing all that God is becomes the substance and goal of our faith, are we merely reducing God to our level?

     One of my favorite ways to attempt a kind of explanation/ understanding is through a piece of a 6th century creed from Dublin known as Tírechán’s Creed, albeit with the seemingly eternal and problematic masculine pronoun when speaking of God it says:

He has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

   and similar in all respects to himself;

   and neither is the Son younger than the Father,

   nor is the Father older than the Son;

   and the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

   If we think outside the Triangle that was developed to try to contain and explain, perhaps we can arrive at the beginning where all things are possible with, in, and through God. So, now that the mystery of the Trinity is solved, any questions? Ok, ask around and let me know! Well, at least we have looked beyond the two men and a bird image.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Divine and Holy Trinity, from You is every form of the Creation and its Life, including our redemption and the fire of Pentecost within us. Even with all You’ve given, we beg You yet again, to urge our souls to discard the obstacles of our own making, that prevent us from fully dedicating our lives to You. 

                               Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
RESPONSE:                In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
 
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, quicken our fervor with the intellect, love, and courage You have instilled in us, to exhort the political leaders in this Nation, on this Planet, and in our Community, to immediately turn to principled governing with integrity, mercy, justice, and in peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
 
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, infuse an extra measure of the grace of hope upon all who are ill in mind, body, or spirit, along with strength and perseverance for those who give them continuing care. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
           
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, in our earthly grief, we cling to the knowing that You carry those who have left our realm, into the warmth of holy comfort and the peace of Your life everlasting.   We pray especially for… add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit

                             In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
 
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, we pause in this moment to offer You our other thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
                      
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, bestow peace of heart, strength of mind, and courage of conviction, on all You have called and anointed, as guides for our souls in this life. We pray especially for: add your own petitions  
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
                                                                                                      
The Celebrant adds: Eternal Whole, All Who are One, we are each endowed with Your essence to accompany us in all that we pray, think, and do. Enhance and enrich the desire of our souls to seek our ultimate fulfillment in humble service to Your call. We beseech You as our Holy Creator, our Messiah Christ, and our Sacred Spirit, Who together are One God, forever and ever.  Amen. 

 

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Meditation Moment in Easteride: Saturday, Week 7 '23

I do not fear death, in view of the fact that I had been dead 

for billions and billions of years before I was born, 

and had not suffered from the slightest inconvenience of it.

 ~ Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain* 

     Of course, grief is for those who are still earthbound, feeling lost, and sometimes more than a little shell-shocked when a loved one dies. Whatever normal was, it is now really gone and, while a new sense of normal will come, it will take time to adjust. In addition to the enormity of the change in everyday life without that person, and the emotion and pain attached to this powerful loss, there's all the bureaucracy ~ the funeral plans, the paperwork, the finances, the notifications, the legalities, the details that come out of the woodwork just when you can’t think straight. More sad is that because some are so fearful of the inevitable, and can’t even think let alone say the word death or worse: dying, they’re too afraid to make the plans that will so very much help those left behind, and it truly is a very heavy burden on those who are grieving. 
    Death is an open-secret usually discussed in hushed tones and quickly diverted to something else. Of course none of us really want to die and so we sure don't want to talk about it. But we really do need to think and talk about the really helpful preparation for the eventual, the definite, the - yeah, THAT. 
    Whether or not I believe in eternity with Jesus at the end of life is ~ for some purposes ~ irrelevant, and is another sort of preparation to think about with a priest or minister. But what is uppermost in my heart is how do I help those who will be left to do all the required paperwork and funeral stuff all in the midst of missing me (they'd better miss me!)? And what if I suddenly can’t talk, or think, and no one knows how I want to be cared for before the end arrives?

     Lead me sooner, Lord God of the Inevitable, into accepting that my life will end at some point. Let me live into the understanding that all will be well for me and wholly better for my family if I, or we together, do the planning, the will, living will/advanced directive, what kind of memorial or service, and whatever other arrangements such as burial or cremation and where to put me in order for things to go as I'd like. And guide me to have the conversations with them to explain it on a sunny day when all is well and everyone is still healthy and not wait until I’m 80 or 90 or... Perhaps if I give it the "matter-of-fact" treatment, we can then move through the cloudy parts quickly and move back into the other reason we got together ~ just to be together because we can, now. By then, if we work on it together, they'll have all they need to know about how to do the necessary stuff in the aftermath more easily and they can just continue to remember the many happy nows we have had. And I will go easily on my way into eternity without the slightest inconvenience. amen. 

*Samuel Clemens [1835-1910], with his pen name of Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist most famous for his The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was known as the greatest American humorist of his day leaving a treasure trove of great quotes and he has been called the Father of American literature.

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide: Friday, Week 7 '23

Life is not the way 

it's supposed to be. 

It's the way it is. 

The way you deal with it

is what makes the difference.

~ Virginia Satir*

                                                                    

    How many times, after something awful has happened, have I heard ~ and said ~ "it's just not fair; that shouldn't have happened; it's not the way it's supposed to be," especially when those something awfuls have happened in my life. But yet I can't remember ever saying ~ or hearing ~ those words when something spectacularly good has happened. How IS life supposed to be? We are born through no fault of our own, we grow up, go to school, work, marriage or not, divorce or not, kids (or not), loved ones die, and there are tragedies...and all the other stuff that happens good and bad until...we die.
                  

  So, God of All That's Supposed to Be, I don't really believe in "Fate," I believe in "Stuff Happens," and that some days, weeks, months, years are better than others, some are less better and some are plain awful. I know what to do in the good times, but I need Your help in the not-so-wonderful moments. I want to be able to quickly accept the reality of a moment, however crazy, difficult, or tragic, and find a practical way forward ~ to have a sort of spare tire plan. I've already had quite a bit of very ordinary, very lovely, and very difficult life experience. Looking back and realizing my initial shock when the sudden blowouts have hit, I can remember only fragments of those first moments, and now I understand that it takes time to find my footing. With my car, having a spare tire gives me a precious first step toward a measured, if shaky, response about what to do next.

   Of course, I can't possibly predict or plan for every eventuality but with Your help, a lot of deep breathing, even more attention to You with a regular conversation like this one (that is really my way of prayer), I'll have a spare tire attitude ready for almost anything. I will work on not blaming myself wondering what I might have done differently when things happen that I cannot control. The best part is that I always have You to lean on through every day.  amen.

*Virginia Satir was an American author and psychotherapist specializing in family therapy. Her role play formats in family reconstruction and family sculpting among other aspects of her work have been widely used and she received many honors within her profession.  She often used meditation and poetry in her written work and lectures. The following, one of her best known pieces, was written in response to angry teen-aged girl but is certainly useful for us all:

I am me

In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me

Everything that comes out of me is authentically me

Because I alone chose it – I own everything about me

My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions,

Whether they be to others or to myself – I own my fantasies,

My dreams, my hopes, my fears – I own all my triumphs and

Successes, all my failures and mistakes Because I own all of

Me, I can become intimately acquainted with me – by so doing

I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts – I know

There are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other

Aspects that I do not know – but as long as I am

Friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously

And hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles

And for ways to find out more about me – However I

Look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever

I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically

Me – If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought

And felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is

Unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that

Which I discarded – I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do

I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be

Productive to make sense and order out of the world of

People and things outside of me – I own me, and

therefore I can engineer me – I am me and

I AM OKAY

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ’This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself.” ~ Matthew 22:37-39

 

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 7 '23

 When I have something to say that I think will be too difficult for adults, 

I write it in a book for children. Children are excited by new ideas; 

they have not yet closed the doors and windows of their imaginations. 

Provided the story is good... nothing is too difficult for children.   

~Madeleine L'Engle* 

Ruler of the Universe We Know, and All the Ones We Don't ~
    It's amazing to watch children at play. They see the wonder, the color, the surprise, and have the imagination to find excitement in a beautifully creative understanding of life. They accept revelation, move boundaries, and effortlessly disentangle enigmas. They ask why a thousand times without caring how many times they get the same answer and never stop looking for another.
    Lord, when did my world become so limited, fixed, and absolute? How did I lose my curiosity and agree to be constrained by imposed and unexplored assumptions?  Please help me find the child in me that my education, life experience, and trying to prove my worth to others has set aside. Open my eyes to possibilities, potential, insight, and a new experience of You. Let me learn how to play again and to expand my inner vision to rediscover delight, joy, laughter, and un-seriousness in my relationship with You. Grant me the gift to know now what I knew then and the non-sense to live it.  amen.

*Madeleine L'Engle,  an author of many books and articles, among other accolades she was a Newbery award winner for her junior novel A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle was a strong Episcopalian, and later in life she was a "writer-in-residence" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where she is now buried. Because of some of her theological views such as universal salvation and a limit to divine punishment, many Christian libraries and bookstores refused to carry her books while at the same time she was criticized by secular reviewers as being "too religious." On writing for children, she often said that children could understand very complex topics better than adults and she emphasized the importance of being childlike and not childish. I had the extreme delight and pleasure to have her all to myself for over an hour once long ago and how lovely was the time together.

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