142 – Eastertide – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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Easter Sunday has come and gone but Easter is not over ….. Right

It’s not over if we pay any attention to the church calendar which calls the 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost “Eastertide,” or the “Season of Easter,” or “The Great 50 Days of Easter.”  This can be a season to rejoice in the resurrection, proclaim resurrection and attempt to get a little better grasp on what it could mean to live as a people of the resurrection.

Last Sunday verses of Psalm 118 were read in many churches and some churches will read parts of that Psalm this Sunday.  Verse 24 goes,

‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Certainly that is an appropriate sentiment for Easter Day.  Maybe it can characterize the days of Eastertide and beyond for us.  Could you begin each day of Eastertide with those words as your prayer for the day before you?

Recently I came across these words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

“The beginning of the day should not be oppressed with besetting concerns for the day’s work. At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness of the night retreats  before the clear light of Jesus Christ. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore at the beginning of the day, let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs.”

Could our “first thought and … first word” of the day be, “This is the day the Lord has made”?

 

141 – Holy Week – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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Where do you find yourself this week?

Palm Sunday has passed; we are moving through Holy Week, on to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then …. Easter.

I need to remember a few things today and I want to share those with you.

First, don’t rush too quickly from Good Friday to Easter Morning.  I firmly believe each day has something to teach us and we need to pay attention.

Second, don’t let the busyness of the week distract you from what is most important.

I saw this quote from the Philokalia this past week,

“Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection … they are its tools…. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within themselves and … [is] always with God.”  Philokalia (Vol. 1)

Do you think someone can get so involved in church activities this week, that the activities become the most important thing?  Can these activities obscure God’s presence?

For me, the answer is yes.  I can get so focused on doing this or that activity right that I forget why?

So, take a breath, maybe slow down a little, and think about Jesus’ call to love God and our neighbor and ourselves.

And maybe think how that love was manifested by Jesus and can be manifested again by us.

 

 

140 – Palm Sunday – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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The days of Lent have moved on and in a few more days we will come to Palm Sunday.  At some churches people will hear of Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem, and may see a few Palm branches, and some might receive crosses made from Palm branches.  For the past several days those Palm crosses have fascinated me.  I cannot get the image of the Palm cross out of my mind.

Let’s say one Sunday on the way into the church building you are handed this piece of plant that has been folded to shape of a cross.  And then on your way out of the building you notice that people are leaving the Palm crosses in a basket.  And maybe you know or maybe someone tells you that the Palms that were crosses today, will be burned and used as the ashes for the services next Ash Wednesday.

From branches to crosses to ashes.

What image do we take from Palm Sunday?  The crowd waving Palm branches and shouting Hosanna? The palm leaves folded into crosses? Or the palm leaves reduced to ashes?  Do we have to settle on one image?

When I take the three images together I am reminded that the Christian life is truly a journey.  It may have starts and stops, right turns and left turns and maybe even at times some backtracking.  But it is nevertheless a journey.

Part of the lyrics to “Circle of Life” (from The Lion King) keep coming to mind,

It’s the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life.

While not making any exaggerated theological claims for these lyrics, they do contain the recognition that life is a journey.

Where does that journey find you today?  Is today characterized by Palm branches and shouts? Or a cross? Or ashes?

Does one image hold the key to understanding the others?

In which image does God’s voice speak to you the loudest?

 

 

 

 

139 – Lenten Meditations – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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A few days ago I was reading the lectionary readings for this Sunday and the passage from Philippians 3:4-14 struck me with particular force.

What hit me so hard was,

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…. I regard them as rubbish…

Paul gives a litany of things he “boasted” about.  Things that in his thinking were worth being proud of and that made up a substantial part of this identity.  Maybe it even constituted his entire identity for a time.

Yet, here, he can call them “rubbish.”  And if we look at a few other translations, we might think, “rubbish” is too weak a word.

Why?  The simple answer is, he found what was most important and what gave his entire life a different orientation.  Everything became judged in terms of “the surpassing value of knowing Christ.”

Paul’s words challenge me.  They challenge me to ask “what matters most to me?”  What do I value and what do I let determine my identity?  And to go a step further, what have I given up and what can I give up for that of “surpassing value.”

Maybe as we consider “giving something up for Lent” we need to hear Paul tell us once again, that what he had once valued, he came to regard as worthless.

What are you learning about “surpassing value” this Lent?

 

 

 

138 – A Lenten Prayer – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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Did you make room during these past days for the Lenten Prayer we shared last week?  How did it go?

I have to confess that I did not make time everyday to pray it but I did on several days and I learned (and relearned) a few things.

One day, as I prayed my way over the words, the phrase “Fast from hostility; feast on nonviolence” jumped at me.  As I stopped and thought about it, I was bothered by the word “nonviolence.” I do not see my self as a violent person.  Maybe “bothered” is not the right way to express my feelings.  I felt downright defensive.  Then as I stayed still a moment, my thoughts came back to a moment the day previous when I was very short with someone.  Are short, sharp words hostile and violent? I had to admit, yes.  That evening, I looked back over the day and while I cannot say I was “perfect” that day, I do think I was slower to speak and that was a good thing.

This week I was praying over the words of the prayer one morning and also thinking about how busy a couple of days were going to be, and it was hard for me to settle on a single phrase because so many grabbed my attention.  Then I read, “Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.”  That was it!  I knew I needed prayer those days.  For me unceasing prayer often takes the form of the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy.”  That day, especially, those words were not far from me.  I found them coming back to me again and again.  And that was a very good thing, because otherwise the day was not one of my best.

Here’s a question.  And it is not about one prayer or another.  What does spending time in quiet prayer near the beginning of a day do for you during the day?  What do you take from those moments of prayer and stillness with God?  Is there time for a morning prayer and maybe an evening prayer but no return to that stillness and quiet during the day?

What has surprised me and continues to surprise me and give me reason to rejoice is how often prayer returns to me during the day without my bidding.  In part I suspect it has always been near, but maybe I sometimes am just better at noticing it.

What might you notice today, if you give yourself the room?

Fast from judging others;
feast on the Christ indwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences;
feast on the unity of all life.

Fast from apparent darkness;
feast on the reality of light.

Fast from words that pollute;
feast on phrases that purify.

Fast from discontent;
feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger;
feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism;
feast on optimism.

Fast from worry;
feast on trust.

Fast from complaining;
feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives;
feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressures;
feast on unceasing prayer.

Fast from hostility;
feast on nonviolence.

Fast from bitterness;
feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern;
feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety;
feast on eternal truth.

Fast from discouragement;
feast on hope.

Fast from facts that depress;
feast on truths that uplift.

Fast from lethargy;
feast on enthusiasm.

Fast from suspicion;
feast on truth.

Fast from thoughts that weaken;
feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from idle gossip;
feast on purposeful silence.

Gentle God,
during this season of fasting and feasting,
gift us with your presence
so we can be a gift to others in carrying out your work.
Amen.

(William Arthur Ward (1921-1994))

 

 

137 – A Lenten Prayer – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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A few weeks ago I mentioned a couple of lenten devotionals that seemed to point toward finding balance in our lives.  Several years ago I came across a lenten prayer that addresses in its own way some aspects of our daily lives that might benefit from a little more attention to balance.

Take a few minutes to slowly read this prayer, then I want to ask  you question –

Fast from judging others;
feast on the Christ indwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences;
feast on the unity of all life.

Fast from apparent darkness;
feast on the reality of light.

Fast from words that pollute;
feast on phrases that purify.

Fast from discontent;
feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger;
feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism;
feast on optimism.

Fast from worry;
feast on trust.

Fast from complaining;
feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives;
feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressures;
feast on unceasing prayer.

Fast from hostility;
feast on nonviolence.

Fast from bitterness;
feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern;
feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety;
feast on eternal truth.

Fast from discouragement;
feast on hope.

Fast from facts that depress;
feast on truths that uplift.

Fast from lethargy;
feast on enthusiasm.

Fast from suspicion;
feast on truth.

Fast from thoughts that weaken;
feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from idle gossip;
feast on purposeful silence.

Gentle God,
during this season of fasting and feasting,
gift us with your presence
so we can be a gift to others in carrying out your work.
Amen.

(William Arthur Ward (1921-1994))

This next week why don’t you pray this prayer each day.  Each day reflect on what in the prayer stands out to you the most.  Pay attention that day to how the prayer “shows up” as you make your way through the day.  And sometime in the day, maybe near the end of the day, see where God has been praying this prayer with you.

So, my question is – Want to give it a try?

Let’s check back next week and see what happened.

 

 

 

 

136 – Forced Spirituality – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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This past Monday as I looked over the many lenten readings in my email (maybe too many, but that is a discussion for another day) one especially caught my attention, “Forced Spirituality.”  The writer begins with an account of a comedian being asked to rewrite a very funny script to include a character not in the original script, owning a hot dog stand, also not in the original script, and something funny about hot dogs.  The writer goes on to say, “I’m no comedian, but being forced into anything, let alone being forced to make someone laugh, seems impossible and awkward.”  And then asks about “being forced to be spiritual.”

He suggests. “All joking aside, spirituality cannot be forced. And we certainly can’t be forced into taking on someone else’s.”

I fear that is how many take on spiritual disciplines, perhaps especially during this Lenten season.  We hear, “if you want to do the right thing for Lent, you should refrain from this or that, not eat such and so, and by the way start doing this particular spiritual discipline, this exact way.”

Rather than merely copying another’s practice, let us open ourselves to hear what others have done, notice how the Spirit has opened new depths for them, and then ask ourselves (and the Spirit) what will help us move toward living each day more fully a resident of the Kingdom of God.

You can find the full text of the Credo reading at –

http://www.episcopalcredo.org/CREDO2/assets/File/Lent2013/Day06.pdf

 

 

 

 

135 – Ash Wednesday – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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A few days ago I saw on the High Calling website information about a Lenten devotional booklet ( http://www.thehighcalling.org/lent ) that can be downloaded or followed online.  In the booklet Mark Roberts describes some of the things he finds Lent is and isn’t:

Lent is: (1) A six-week season in the Christian year prior to Easter…. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter). (2) A time for spiritual growth… in the ancient church, Lent was a season for new Christians to be instructed for baptism and for believers caught in sin to focus on repentance. In time, all Christians came to see Lent as a time to be reminded of their need for forgiveness and to prepare spiritually for Easter. (3) A time to give something up, to add something new, or both. During Lent, many Christians choose to give up something they enjoy in order to focus more on God. Others add a spiritual discipline (like a special Bible study or feeding the hungry at a food shelter). Of course, some folks choose to give something up and to add something new. (4)  A time of preparation. In Lent, we prepare for a deeper experience of God’s grace through the cross. We also ready our hearts for a more jubilant celebration of the resurrection and its promise of new life.

Lent is not: (1) A biblical requirement. (2)  A way to earn more of God’s love and grace….  we must not think of Lent as a time to earn what has already been given to us in abundance. Rather, it is an opportunity to open our hearts to receive more of God’s grace, to grow in God’s love for us, and to share his grace and love with others.

Beyond being a time to give up something, Lent is a time to give more of ourselves to God in response to his giving of himself to us in Christ. This is only one person’s perspective on Lent but I think the description of Lent as, “… a time to give more of ourselves to God in response to his giving of himself to us in Christ” is worth keeping in mind and heart.

Roberts also offers this prayer of St. Richard of Chichester (and popularized in the musical Godsell) to take with us into Lent,

Thanks be to Thee,
my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits Thou hast given me,
for all the pains and insults which Thou hast borne for me.

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,
may I

know Thee more clearly,
love Thee more dearly,
follow Thee more nearly,
day by day.

Amen.

 

Might this be our prayer this Lenten season … and beyond?

134 – Seeing – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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What do you see right now?  At home, at work, in the car, in the shopping center, at the gym, walking, running, at the park, What do you see?

One of the themes in Scripture that keeps bothering me is the reoccurring note about those who have eyes to see and do not see.  I always wonder what am I missing.  Maybe it is good to be bothered that way.

John Muir makes me wonder what I miss when I am look at the world around me,

“Long, blue, spiky-edged shadows crept out across the snow-fields, while a rosy glow, at first scarce discernible, gradually deepened and suffused every mountain-top, flushing the glaciers and the harsh crags above them. This was the alpen glow, to me the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God. At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed like devout worshipers waiting to be blessed.”

In this week before Lent (and during Lent), I encourage you to open your eyes to all the common and uncommon vistas around you and look for what the “touch of … divine light” shows you.

 

 

133 – Lent – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

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With Lent arriving in two weeks I see more and more “advertisements” for ways to spend some of your time during Lent.  Publishers and book-sellers offer suggestions, well known (and lesser known) religious/spiritual writers offer suggestions, and churches/denominations/organizations direct you to resources (often ones they publish and sell).

I would like to direct your attention to two resources.  One from Renovare and one from the Episcopal Church.  What I find refreshing about both is the attempt to point us toward balance.

Renovare is offering a devotional booklet entitled, “Less is More.”  It invites us to make time during Lent to practice several spiritual disciplines and presents then as:

Confession:  Less Guilt/More Grace

Solitude:  Less Noise/More Listening

Fasting:  Less Consumption/More Compassion

Simplicity:  Less Stuff/More Freedom

Frugality:  Less Spending/More Peace

Intercession:  Less Me/More Others

Reflective Reading of Holy Week Story:  Less Fear/More Love

I very much like this balancing of less and more with each of these disciplines.  Since I have not read the booklet I can’t speak to how well they “pull-off” this balancing act, but I think they are off to a good start.

At the Credo web site of the Episcopal Church the opportunity to subscribe to a series of Lenten devotions “Feeding and Fasting” is offered.  Again, we have balance in view.  On the site they write,

“We celebrate a holy Lent both by taking on those things that bring us closer to God, and shedding those indulgences, habits, and practices that steal our attention. Ironic as it seems, we sometimes are fed only by fasting—by denying ourselves that which distracts us from the truly nourishing. When we fast, we clear out space for God. We forego the diversions that keep us occupied and instead make room inside for an expanding spirit, one that is nurtured on prayer and worship and the feast of love that is offered to us.”

” … taking on … shedding … fasting … nourishing … “

It seems to me they are encouraging some balance also.

What do you think?  What can you do to find balance in your life this Lent . . . and beyond Lent?

You can find more information about the Renovare booklet at –

https://www.renovare.org/giving/renovars-lenten-guide

http://blog.renovare.org/2013/01/13/new-a-lenten-guide-for-personal-renewal/

and you can find out about the emailed devotions at –

http://episcopalcredo.org/publications/credo-reflection-series/Lent-2013/