Meditation in Eastertide ~ Wednesday, Week 7: ONLY a Smile?

May 15, 2024 ~ Wednesday, Week 7

It was only a smile,

and little it cost in the giving,

but like morning light

it scattered the night

and made the day worth living.

~ Anonymous* 

    How rapidly the darkness of a storm is diminished by the wonder of a rainbow. No matter how many times I’ve seen one, it is as the hope of Noah, the smile of God, the moment of respite in a storm of life. The Oh! Look! on everyone’s lips when the gleaming colors appear as if an apparition, a token of Creation’s brilliance, a moment when smiles illuminate faces otherwise clouded with anxiety, anger, despair, or just plain general disinterest in everything around them. Who can resist a rainbow?

   A smile to a passerby, in a grocery line, an elevator, especially with a hello, can be a rainbow in someone’s day. It is for me when my head is in a storm or distracted by cranky people, or on a day when I am moving too fast in a cloud of oblivion. A simple smile from another breaks in like a rainbow, quieting my internal thunder, and reminds me to pass it on.

 

Lord of the Dark and Deep, 

     As I walk alone and quickly through the streets of the city with eyes downcast or, stroll in a solitary ponder on the beach looking out at the sea, or wander with my cart through the aisles of the supermarket lost in my own if-only thoughts, suddenly a stranger says, Hello, smiles, and moves on. The bigger surprise is that this small action expects no response. The place I'm in becomes immediately brighter and I feel enveloped in a circle of warmth that is almost the light and colors of a rainbow in my soul; my return smile is automatic and sincere, if unseen.

     In receiving a smile unexpectedly and from an equally unexpected source, I whisper a prayer of thanks for the one who smiled. In offering a smile to another that is unexpected, I return the gift to Creation. Guide me, Lord, to always remember to receive and give a moment of warmth that will lighten up all around, and always intended in Your Name. amen.

*While often attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald [1896-1940], the poem has been found to be published in a variety of similar forms as early as 1893, none with attribution. As brilliant a writer as Fitzgerald has been proclaimed, he likely wasn’t able to have written much of anything before he was actually born and perhaps not until a bit of time after that.    

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

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Tuesday, Week 7 '24: How DO We Love Ourselves...

May 14, 2024 ~ Week 7 

 Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health

in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.

And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;

the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;

he lives as if he is never going to die,

and then dies having never really lived. 

~ The Dalai Lama*

My first reaction to the above quote, more than a decade ago, was to write this:

We sacrifice our health to gain our wealth,

we work we sweat we slave.

Then we sacrifice our wealth to regain our health,

only to end in the grave. 

     Such is life in the so-called First World of privilege and means. We don’t need an explanation of what life is like for those who live in other levels of living, or perhaps we do. But what is the truth of any of us and our “view” of everyday living. Many of us wouldn’t think we were quite so “privileged” as those who are fantastically wealthy. Yet do we stop to think what we take for granted? The things of nature ~ even in a bustling city there are sunrises and sunsets and birds and people who smile or scowl ~ a humanity created by God, whom Jesus says we are to love whoever, whatever, however they are. And yes, to repeat yet again: and to love ourselves ~ in the manner to which we and they want to be loved, with fully flawed personalities, poor and wealthy, and innocent and guilty and all the parts of being human that each of us are. 

Dear Creator God ~

   It's true, that sometimes we really do "love our neighbors as we love ourselves" although not in the way You/Jesus intend.  The world is such a discouraging place. Everyone I know has their own personal laundry list of the frustrations, disappointments, trials, and tragedies in their everyday lives and then there's the "news" from around the globe and from wherever here is to us. It serves to push many of us into de-sensitizing and/or self-medicating with food or other unhealthy activities or substances. At the very least we avoid and deny.

   On this day and all that are ahead, let me feel Your breath in my soul, my Lord.  Surround me with Your presence and whisper into my heart. Call me out of my hesitation to spend a little time with you each day. Kick me out of my whining and self-absorption and draw me closer. Only by consciously, deliberately, and willingly loving You, can I begin to love myself. Then, I can consciously, deliberately, and willingly, love my neighbor and discover what positive differences I am to make in Your Creation.  Amen.

 

    *Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and incumbent Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives in exile as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
    The traditional function of the Dalai Lama as an ecumenical figure has been taken up by this 14th Dalai Lama, who has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exiled community and has become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile. From 1642 until 1705 and from 1750 to the 1950s, the Dalai Lamas or their regents headed the Tibetan government in Lhasa, which governed all or most of the Tibetan Plateau with varying degrees of autonomy. This Tibetan government enjoyed the patronage and protection of Mongol kings. In 1913, several Tibetan representatives signed a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China. The legitimacy of the treaty and declared independence of Tibet was rejected by both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. The Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government until 1951. ~ excerpted from Wikipedia

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

Prayers of the People: Feel the Fire ~ Pentecost! '24 Yr B

For Sunday, May 19, 2024, Readings: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

   I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord. [Ezekiel 37:14]  

   When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house...Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  [Acts 2:1-4]

  You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the LORD endure for ever…Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah! [Psalm 104:31, 32a, 37]

  Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth…he will testify on my behalf. You are also to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” [John 15:26-27]

    We have arrived at the 50th day after Easter, and the 10^th day after the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus. It is Pentecost – the word itself comes from the Greek for fiftieth – and it began long before the time of Jesus. In the Jewish calendar this ancient feast is Shavuot [shav-oo-AHT] and follows 50 days after Passover. It celebrates the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

    This Jewish celebration would have been one of the reasons that the disciples had gathered and it may well have been comforting to be together in the familiar structure of this ancient feast. Of course, they were also waiting with some trepidation, no doubt, for the sign promised by the resurrected Jesus just 10 days before, in his last in-person teachings. He said he would send them the Advocate, the Spirit of truth. What must each day have been like for them, individually and collectively? In only a few recent months they experienced praying ~ and failing to stay awake ~ with Jesus in the Garden, then his sudden arrest, Peter’s denial, the mock trial, the carrying of the cross through the City, and the violent execution of Jesus, followed quickly by his resurrection, time spent with him after he was back from the dead, then his ascension, to mention only a few breath-taking details. I think they would still be reeling in their own shock, grief, and fear trying to cope with these inexplicable turns of events. Now here they are gathered together again without quite knowing what is coming next, let alone when whatever “it” was would arrive. Perhaps in their remembrance of God giving Moses the Law, they also remembered the encounter Moses had with God in the burning bush. They would also have known the words of the Prophet Ezekiel. And, perhaps they were wondering about when and what was coming with each other when suddenly, a sound like a violent wind and tongues of fire resting on them, gave them more than good reason to be bewildered and amazed! 

     Today it's easy for us to be blasé, to know the story too well, to be immune to the thrill, the astonishment. Whatever the planning, hopes, and desires of the Liturgists, sadly and often it seems, that the wonder of it all has been lost, especially when not everyone is physically present in the Church.

     So today is the day to STOP knowing the story. Today is the day to START to have an experience with the Spirit ~ to BE THERE, be amazed and astonished and bewildered!  We have the Spirit within us, and God’s grace, and the love and Salvation of Christ merely for the wanting of it! Peter reminds us in the words of the prophet Joel, that when Christ returns, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Jesus tells the disciples, from whom we follow on, that they/we are to testify on behalf of Jesus. The Gospels tell us how to do it: God filled our lungs with breath, and the Spirit gives us our voice and strength to make Jesus known through our words and actions.

     Let us rejoice and be glad and joy-filled, and alive in it ~ after all, it's Pentecost, time to feel the fire!

       

      Also known as the Birthday of the Church, Pentecost marks the official beginning of the ministry of the Apostles beyond their local area and into the known world to bring the message of Christ to all.

     In Ireland and the UK, this day is known as Whitsun/Whitsunday, a descendant of a Gaelic celebration from medieval or perhaps more ancient times. 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY 

Leader:  ~ Lord GOD, Almighty, pour Your Spirit upon us again! Bewilder us out of our distractions and detachment, fling us out of the ordinary into the stunning wonder and exquisite joy of the Holy Spirit within.

                                            Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth

RESPONSE:        Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness

~ Lord GOD, Almighty, awaken our souls in a blaze of faith-filled consciousness. Push us to engage and insist, in ways small and large, that political leaders of our World, our Nation, and our Community are held accountable for basic human rights and needs, justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                               Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth
                                               Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness

~ Lord GOD, Almighty, lighten the burden of pain for all weakened in body, spirit, or soul. Fill them, and those who give love and support, with the peace of Your Presence.  We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                               Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth

                                               Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness

~ Lord GOD, Almighty, Lord GOD, Almighty, our souls and our hearts bless You with great Hallelujahs as You rejoice on the arrival of our beloved into the promise of everlasting life. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                               Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth
                                               Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness

~ Lord GOD, Almighty, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                               Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth
                                               Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness     

~ Lord GOD, Almighty, as Your Holy Spirit falls afresh upon us all, may those who lead us in Your Church feel quickened to energize and excite us, to live every moment of every day through You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                               Holy Advocate, Spirit of Truth
                                               Enflame our Hearts, Embolden our Witness

The Celebrant adds:  Living, Loving, Holy Lord, You put the Spirit within us, filled us with the fire of faith, and gave Your breath to our lungs to power our voices. Let us exhilarate in all Your works and testify to Your enduring glory and the gift of salvation for everyone who calls upon Your Name. Our joyful and unending prayers ascend to Jesus, our Risen Christ; and the Holy Spirit, our Eternal Advocate; who together with You live as One God, now and forever.  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

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Monday, Week 7: Ask Them What They Think!

May 13, 2024 ~ Monday, Week 7

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*

O Ruler of the Universe We Know and All the Ones We Don't ~

    It's amazing to watch even very young 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 far more 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 and among other accolades she was a Newbery Award winner for her junior novel A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle was a devout, learned, and dedicated Episcopalian. 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 accidentally have her all to myself for over an hour once long ago and how lovely was our time together.

 

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

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Saturday, Week 6: What's Enough?

May 11, 2024 ~ Saturday, Week 6

Aging Baby Boomers aren't the only ones that still rock out with gusto on

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

     Or maybe, we do get satisfaction but it’s short-lived. We need a constant supply of MORE and MORE and MORE of this, that, and several of the other. We're always chasing after satisfying every possible known desire and those soon-to-be discovered through the next advertisement, the next spectator sport, “reality” show, the next extra-large of everything edible especially that over-sized calorie-laden sugar bomb, highly caffeinated and/or alcoholic drinks, casino-video-fantasy game, ever larger TVs with paid streaming services that supply continuous ads for what we must have, see, do, eat, drink, and yet ~ no matter the cost to wallet, health, or life perspective: More is never Enough. 

   A modern interpretation of the 13th century Persian poet Hafiz says: Being so preoccupied as we are with needing to be satisfied, it seems we would be better at it by now. Wow, that was 10 centuries ago and we still haven't found it?!  

   Dear God of Real Life, whether it's Christmas or Tuesday I must stop my head rant of: I need to buy more, have more, and physically exhaust myself more to do more to prove everything I'm supposed to prove. And to whom and for what do I need to prove anything? Maybe I just want to think I am proving myself to be more than I actually think I am. And what about all that stuff I think I need but really just want?

   Ok, I'm taking a breath here...my real prayer is:  Please help me stop thinking of "wanting" as "needing." Let me find the true gift of being in the ordinary, the routine, the everyday. A simple smiley face in a text or email feels as good to give as to get to say "I'm thinking of you." Not only on those "special" holidays and holy-days, but every single day I want and need to remember that less really is more.
   Oh, yes, and Thank You, Lord, sometimes I just need a place to stop, rest, and think about what life can be all about if I just give it a try. You are always there waiting for me to remember.  I'm working on it. And at least in terms of being the Great Listener, You're the best! I really don't have to explain or make excuses.  Even when I don't get what I (think) I want, with You in my heart there is always ENOUGH, always. 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

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Friday, Week 6: Foot Power

May 10, 2024 ~ Friday, Week 6

The sun is the width of a human foot.  

~ Heraclitus*

   Well, ok, then, maybe two human feet...and my first reaction is to laugh at an old memory! I remember myself as a child lying on the grass blocking the sun with my foot and feeling powerful. And there you are, Sun, in all your resplendent presence pouring light upon us, brightening, dazzling, blinding, warming, heating, wilting, frying us, and then suddenly we're chilled by a passing cloud!  

   So much of life is a matter of perspective. Seemingly too much of a good thing followed by too much of a bad thing which makes the bad seem even worse than the good ever was...and here I am trying to find balance, harmony, and just the right measure of objectivity. But when I get swept away in emotion, I can easily lose my perspective and feel overwhelmed.     As in anyone's lifetime, there have been moments when I was so lost in love I could hardly think or breathe. There have been those deep and heavy times of grief that plunged me into such darkness, with the weight of all the world pushing me down, that I didn't want to see the sun again or ever just stand up. And then those moments when anger has sent my blood pressure nearly to explosion. When the extremes of any kind of passionate response to life take over, truth is lost.

   Help the soul You gave me Lord of Sun, Moon, and Stars, to find the warming light of You in the darkness, the cooling shade of You in the heat, the balance between want and need, and, the wisdom to check the width of the sun in my heart every now and then.  amen. 

 

*Heraclitus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher born to an aristocratic family in Ephesus in what is now Turkey. He insisted that the "only constant is change" and most famously that "No man steps into the same river twice."  

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

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 6 ~ The Ascension of Jesus

May 9, 2024 ~ Thursday, Week 6

   ~ Luke 24:50-53:  Then [Jesus] led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple 

blessing God.                             

 

          Forty Days after Easter comes the Ascension of the Resurrected Christ into Heaven. One of the five major milestones in the life of Christ ~ the others are baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, and resurrection.

        The Ascension is professed in both the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Whether actual, mystical or metaphorical, it is one of the great feasts of the Christian liturgical calendar. It signifies the completion of his earthly presence as he takes his divine presence seated at the right hand of the Father [Nicene Creed, Book of Common Prayer, 1979]. 

        The readings for today give us a direction for our own earthly lives. In the Acts of the Apostles 1:11, we hear that as Christ's body was being elevated, suddenly two men in robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" From Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul prays ...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ...may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe...

       Holy Jesus, Son of God, as Your Church we are now Your Body on Earth ~ Your Hands and Your Feet, Your Eyes and Your Ears to carry out Your mission in our own time. On this Ascension Day, let us ascend in our hearts, minds, and souls and raise our own continual prayers that we may be fully Yours in our thoughts, words and actions.

      Help us to be mindfully caring for all the People of God ~ all colors, races, ethnicities, genders, all differences and similarities, in every way they and we are created. Embolden us to follow Your command to love one another in the unjudging, compassionate, unselfish, and generous way we are also to love ourselves.

     Guide our steps as we seek to discover You in in every encounter, to understand that ALL, Every, and Each of us are Created by God and worthy of our compassion for as long as we have the Breath of Your Spirit within us. Grant us the wisdom to know the hope to which we are called with the eyes of our enlightened hearts, eager to be Your True Disciples following Your Way for All of Your People.  Amen. Alleluia! 

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