Meditation in Eastertide ~ Friday, Week 7 '24: Swirling Between Faith and Doubt?

May 17, 2024 ~ Friday, Week 7

The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love. 

                                            ~ Parker J. Palmer* 

Dear God ~ It seems counter-intuitive to me that the deeper my faith and hope and love becomes the crazier that life can get. But in truth, that has been my experience. Things can get all tangled up so that the dark nights can burn through the bright sunlight but then the bright sunlight can also shine through the darkness. Sometimes I've tried to hide in a quiet space away from fear, and pain, and hopelessness, and then discovered my quiet space was just empty. Guide me, my Lord, through all of my momentary and long-term trepidations. When I remember that You are always here, I’m better able to navigate the twists and the turns, the light and the dark, the highs and the lows of all that the life You have given me has to offer. amen.

*Parker J. Palmer [1939 - ] is an educator, activist, poet, and prolific author on issues in education, community, social change, and spirituality.  A member of the Religious Society of Friends, he has said that doubt is not the opposite of faith, but it is fear; we are afraid to be disillusioned.  He also says that "before you can have a spiritual life, you must have a life."  It is in a blending of our active and contemplative life that our sense of spirituality finds a balance.  The recipient of many distinguished awards, Dr. Palmer lives with his wife in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 7: How It's "Supposed" To Be?

May 17, 2024 ~ Friday, Week 7

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/do we hear ~ 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 own life. But yet I can't remember ever saying ~ or hearing ~ the words “that’s perfectly fair; it’s supposed to happen that way” 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, to work, into marriage or not, divorce or not, kids or not. Our loved ones die, and there may be other tragedies...does anyone escape grief? Life brings  all that happens, good, bad, even boring, until we die.
                  

 So, God of All That's “Supposed to Be” ~ 

    I don't really believe in "Fate" since You have given all of us Free Will. I do believe in "Stuff Happens" sometimes because we or others made "free" decisions or it's just a-day-in-life 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 better able to find my way to 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 very difficult life losses and experiences. Looking back and realizing my initial shock when the sudden blowouts have hit, I only remember fragments of those first moments and for a good while beyond, and now I understand that it takes time to find my footing again. With my car, having a spare tire gives me a precious first step toward a measured, if shaky, response about what to do immediately and then what's 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 (my way of prayer), I'll have a spare tire attitude ready for almost anything even if it takes some time to find the repair I’ll need to move forward. I hope (and pray) that for some freedom from more of the really hard times but I understand that life will bring whatever it brings. 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 terrible, unspecial, and terribly wonderful day in this life and bloom through the ice of the storms. amen.

 

*Virginia Satir [1916-1988] 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 including being recognized by colleagues as The Mother of Family Therapy.  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 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.    

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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

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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.

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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.

 

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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!

 

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