Never Give Up

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Acts of the Apostles, Bambelela, Gamaliel, God, hand of God, Marty Haugen, never give up, Sanhedrin, slow work, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Marty Haugen, one of my favorite composers of spiritual music, had a song on his CD, Turn My Heart, called Bambelela. Originally a South African spiritual hymn, Haugen’s arrangement was haunting – “got into the bones” – and called listeners to sing, sway or full-out dance. Bambelela means “Never give up.” Repeated over and over the message cannot be missed: “Never, never, never, never, never, oh…never, never give up.” (Bambe, bambe, bambe, bambe,bambe, oh…bambe, bambelela). Haugen throws in a couple of particulars along the way: “In times of trouble…when you’re in pain…” but for the rest it is 2:49 seconds of the repetition. One certainly cannot miss the message.

Today’s text from the Acts of the Apostles introduces Gamaliel, a respected teacher of the law in the Sanhedrin, who is remembered for a very wise piece of advice to his colleagues who were gathered to judge the Apostles present before them. He spoke of other religious movements that had come and gone and then said, “If this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” (ACTS 5:38-39) Good news for the Apostles and wise commentary for our lives as well.

I am reminded also by this example of the adage, “Trust in the slow work of God.” It’s easy to get discouraged if our pet projects don’t seem to be producing what we’ve desired as outcome. I doubt any of us has escaped such a situation in the totality of life. Never giving up and/or trusting in the slow work of God is not exactly at the heart of the 21st century culture in the United States of America.

Today I plan to look back to the times when I had to wait in order to see clearly the hand of God in my life. Perhaps this practice will strengthen my resolve to “hold on” for future outcomes, trusting that if I put each effort solidly in the hand of God, all will be correctly ordered in God’s time.

True Prophets

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creator of circumstances, deeper imagining, fuller awareness, hoping, hospitality, imagining, Jan Phillips, lauds, mystics, No Ordinary Time, poets, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, true prophets, waiting

I awoke this morning thinking about what Jan Phillips might like for breakfast. One might call this dedication to duty, as I will be charged with hospitality between her concert tomorrow evening and workshop on Saturday. I put that question on my virtual list of tasks for today and set about seeing if there was anything pertinent to this weekend that she offered me in her daily reflection for Thursday at lauds (sunrise). While I don’t believe that this was her intent, what I found was an excellent description of the person that I believe she has become. I share it with enthusiasm for what we might experience this weekend as well as a mirror for all of us in which we might find deeper purpose if we are willing to look and to change.

The true prophets of this time are the ones who are not just imagining, not just hoping for and waiting for the new dispensation to arrive, but actively bringing it into existence. They are stepping out of the old roles, abandoning what does not serve the common good. Rising above popular opinion, social conditioning, conformist behavior, prophets of today are daring to speak the unspeakable, as Copernicus did, as Galileo did, as the mystics and poets and scientists throughout the ages did, guiding us into fuller awareness, deeper imagining. To bring anything into existence, to be a creator of circumstances, we have to imagine the new, then speak the new, then usher it into reality with the fierce force of our belief in it. (No Ordinary Time, p.97)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angels Among Us

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Acts of the Apostles, angel, barriers, Christian community, deeper freedom, Good News, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we continue to read the Acts of the Apostles during these days of earth’s awakening from winter, it’s easy to find appropriate metaphors to explain events chronicled in the early Christian community of which we have little concrete experience in the present. Today, in chapter 5, we have the story of God’s angel opening the doors of the prison and leading the apostles out with the directive to preach the “Good News” in the temple area. Additionally, in one translation of Psalm 34:7 we have mention of “angelic forms” as follows: Know too that heaven surrounds you with angelic forms, those messengers sent out by God to guard and guide you through the many storms of life.

Although we have probably all seen magicians at one time or another who are able to escape impossible confinements, we generally do not assume angelic assistance from other realms to explain their release. Rather, they use long-practiced skills or sleight of hand to accomplish their freedom. Put God in the mix, however, and all things seem possible.

My thoughts today are somewhat more mundane and easier to conjecture. I simply wonder what my answer would be to the following question: Who are the angels in my life: those people who have broken down barriers for me and led me out to a deeper freedom than I could have achieved on my own? In small and great ways, I know God has gifted me with friends and teachers who, perhaps with just a word – or maybe for the “long haul” – have caused me to be a better and happier person.

And so I ask: who are the angels in your life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disciplined Disciples

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adversity, Alan Cohen, challenge, compassion, discipline, Easter, gift, greatness, humble, love, Mark, opportunity, remain firm, sober, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vigilant, wisdom

I was a little surprised in this second week of the Easter season to read that today’s second reading was Mark’s version of the gospel for the feast of the Ascension of Christ into heaven. Then I realized the date; March 25th is the feast of St. Mark, Evangelist. Knowing that, I read again the advice that Jesus gave to his disciples before leaving them “in charge” to carry on his mission. Simply stated, his advice was three-fold: humble yourselves, be sober and vigilant, remain firm. Each of those imperatives takes discipline, certainly, and we can expect some false steps along our way to perfection.

I checked Alan Cohen’s thought for today and found a little solace for the road. In a page entitled “Best When It’s Worst” Cohen wrote the following: Adversity is a gift if we make it work on our behalf. Challenge is not a curse or a punishment, but an opportunity to shine. If life were easy all the time, we would not deepen in love, compassion, and wisdom, or learn how to sink a pipeline into the well of true strength within us. Often we do not know how powerful we are until we are faced with a challenge that draws forth our greatness.

When an act in life counts, there is a source of strength within us that grows to meet the challenge. Some people demonstrate superhuman abilities, such as pushing a wrecked car off an injured person. Where do they find the strength? It was within them all the time; the worst brought out the best.

Whatever our challenges today, may we remember to forge ahead, remembering that we are not alone and that our strength does not come from outside us – in external circumstances or events – but from inside where the living Spirit of God is our strength and our guide.

Living for God

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connectedness, grace, holiness, Jan Phillips, live for God, martyr, No Ordinary Time, No Time For Ordinary, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems a very long time since I finally asked Jan Phillips to come to my hometown to share her creativity and thoughts about evolutionary consciousness. I worried that there would not be enough people to “fill the house.” She’s rather famous now. Recently, however, when I raised that concern in an e-mail message to her (having already committed to bringing her all the way from California), it was the Jan that I have known for almost 50 years that responded. Whatever number we have will be perfect, she said. The fewer there are, the deeper we can go. I’m okay with any size.

So this is it: the week we’ve been waiting for. If there are any “last minute” folks out there who are close enough geographically to join us for a concert and/or a workshop entitled, No Time for Ordinary, check out the Sophia Center for Spirituality website for more information. For those of you too far away to be with us, see below for a little taste of Jan’s thought – from her book, No Ordinary Time.

When I was young, I prayed to be a martyr. I wanted to show God and everyone else that I loved Him enough to die for Him. I wanted to go into battle for Him, be another Joan of Arc, a hero for God’s sake.

Now all that’s changed. I wouldn’t think of dying for God, but am doing my best to live for God – not God as person, but God as Goodness, Justice, Mercy. There are no more lines of separation, only strands of connectedness. My eyes find holiness everywhere, in every living thing, person, in every act of kindness, act of nature, act of grace. Everywhere I look, there God is, looking back. (p. 12)

By Breath…

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Acts of the Apostles, breath, Easter, Epistles, faith, fan the flames, Hebrew Scriptures, joy, love, Peace, prayer circle, song, soul flame, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’ve often heard it said that faith is caught, not taught. During the Easter season, things shift in the lectionary which, on Sundays, ordinarily takes the first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures and the second from one of the Letters (Epistles). The change is made so that we might hear the stories of the early Christian movement and how the Spirit was working in the communities gathered around the charismatic leaders. This morning we have the quintessential example of Christian community in the first reading where, in ACTS 2:42-47, we hear of Christians “holding all things in common, dividing their property and possessions according to each one’s need…” which in our world and time seems incredible, although a worthy ideal and the likely goal of communes and monastic communities and perhaps small rural communities that we might find scattered throughout the world.

My thoughts this morning we spurred on, however, by the second reading from the first letter of Peter, that impulsive, fiery, deeply devoted apostle who wrote the following lines about faith in Christ. Although you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now but believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. (1PT 1:9) I learned early on in religion classes that “faith is a gift” and that “it is our duty to fan the flames of the Spirit into life.” This morning I found myself asking myself, “How does that happen?” It is certainly true in my life that I have been gifted with the Christian faith – otherwise why would I have spent the last 50 years in a religious community trying to live as a faithful Christian.

Going back to my initial statement above, however, I think the answer to my question of fanning the flames is two-fold. I do believe it is my responsibility to spend time and energy in “the cell of my heart” nurturing my relationship with God in silence and reflection. Concomitantly, however, I believe that what Jesus did on Easter night in his visit to his disciples in the upper room (JN 20:19-31) is still happening for us. We have only to feel it, to recognize it. John says, “Jesus came, stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'”

How do we breathe the Spirit on one another? Is it just at ceremonies like sacramental Confirmation or Ordination where the bishop lays hands on the heads of the candidates? Maybe it’s every time we offer peace to one another at a religious service or an interfaith gathering…Energy exchange may be even more elemental than that, bringing the Spirit to life in song – in a prayer circle, perhaps…

Yesterday, I heard again a song by Sara Thomsen that I have come to value as a good example of all these words of mine. It’s one of those songs where the refrain gets a foothold inside and will not let go. I will repeat only the last verse and that refrain here and hope that you get the point or search out the entire song to catch the Spirit that is living and active to this day and beyond.

By breath, by blood, by body, by spirit, we are all one.

The fire in my heart, my soul flame burning/ Is the fire in your heart, your soul flame burning./ We are Spirit burning bright, by the light of day, in the dark of night./ We are shining like the sun, and like the moon, like the Holy One. By breath…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Is the Day

Tags

depth, Gospel, Lectionary, message, paying attention, psalm 118, purpose, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I scrolled through today’s lectionary readings, I realized that I was skipping over the gospel acclamation (often called “the alleluia verse”) without much thought. It says: This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it. (PS 118:24) “Why,” I asked myself, “am I not paying attention?” “Most likely,” I answered, “because it is so familiar.” “And why,” I pursued the thought, “is that the case?” The answer was quick in coming as I looked back over the daily texts for the past week. On all but one day, the verse was the same, so of course it would sound familiar.

When I begin my search for a message for the day, I always begin with the Scriptures. Sometimes I do not end up there, but it is always my first stop. One of the dangers of having listened to the same Scripture passages over one’s whole life – albeit in a 3-year cycle, is that familiarity often causes distraction, i.e. skimming over a passage that one can almost quote verbatim without really paying attention for some new nuance. I often now make myself go back to re-read when I recognize that happening because, although the Scripture reading may be the same as the last time it appeared, I may be different, having learned something new in the interim.

This morning I feel like a very young child for whom God has an important message. On this fifth day of reading it, I think I finally hear God saying, Do you understand the depth of those words? Do you know that it entails a recognition that I have created every day with just what you need to live a full and meaningful life, whether or not it seems so to you? Even though it’s gloomy outside and the outlook for the coming week at work may be dismal, or your plan for tomorrow may be changing, can you not allow that whatever happens may have a purpose for your good? And when things are going well, can you celebrate the blessing in that?

Perhaps I should tape a copy that verse to the door leading from my bedroom to my every morning, just so I begin the day with the correct attitude, knowing that every day is the day God has made and every day is worthy, in some small or grand way, of joy and gladness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gone Fishing

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breakfast on the beach with Jesus, disciples, fish, fisherman, fishing, Gospel of Thomas, John, Nag Hammadi Codex, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel recounts the wonderful beginning of John’s 21st chapter that takes us from an early morning fishing experience to breakfast on the beach with Jesus. In this post-resurrection story, seven of the disciples were together at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee, probably still wondering what to do now that the bottom had fallen out of their world. Peter, leaning into all he had known before meeting Jesus, said to the others, “I’m going fishing.” They all jumped at the chance to do something familiar so off they went. Unfortunately, they caught nothing all night. It was at dawn, John records, that Jesus yelled to them to try again with the nets in a new way. In his version, they didn’t quibble with the seemingly ridiculous dictum that just moving the net to the other side of the boat would be a good solution; they just did it. And the rest, as they say, is history: 153 fish in a net that should have torn under the weight of so many but didn’t. Even stopping right there in the story gives a great deal of food for thought.

Something different for our reflection today can be found perhaps in Logion 8 from the Gospel of Thomas, probably the most commonly known text from the Nag Hammadi codex – the treasure trove of manuscripts found in the Egyptian desert in 1945, a Coptic version of what may be some of the earliest teachings of Jesus. This gospel is comprised of 114 sayings (logia) of Jesus and, while at least two-thirds of them overlap the four canonical gospels, some give a different twist to the message Jesus was hoping to impart. Such a message is contained in Logion 8.

Yeshua says, “A true human being can be compared to a wise fisherman who casts his net into the sea and draws it up from below full of small fish. Hidden among them is one large, exceptional fish that he seizes immediately, throwing back all the rest without a second thought. Whoever has ears, let them understand this.

Reflection on both versions of what has been written above might deepen our comprehension of what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples regarding the mission that was now theirs. What new thoughts come to you from these words or your Spirit-filled silence in their presence?

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 8

Tags

Ancient Songs Sung Anew, born again, David Haas, Everything will live, nature, night sky, psalm 8, rebirth, resurrection, stars, Ward Bauman

This is the moment when, in concert with the Scripture texts about resurrection, the earth in my neighborhood begins to come alive again. I always say I would never want to live anywhere but in the Northeast of the United States because of the beauty and example of the cyclic nature of life that we see in the seasons. As I write, I hear somewhere deep inside the strains of a hymn by David Haas, repeating the words Everything will live! over and over. As I look out, I see the red that is the first sign of renewal on the maple trees. Soon there will be a red carpet on the ground and the tiny leaves will take their rightful place, having been “born again” from the sleep of winter. The psalmist sings the refrain: O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! (PS 8:2) Surely it is a moment to join in praising the Creator for such a gift and to recognize as well our own place in the creation.

Ward Bauman reflects on this theme, saying: This psalm is a beloved hymn to the God of the universe. Imagine the psalmist standing at night under the bright canopy of stars singing this poem. The night sky has always been for humanity a source of wonder and awe. Looking up on a clear night with the vast star-field spread out above puts our lives and world into a very different perspective. We see ourselves as small and insignificant in this vastness, but are we? A voice out of the universe seems to answer our question, “You have a sacred place and a role to fulfill.” (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 17)

As we move more deeply into this season of rebirth, let us be mindful of our relationship to the universe in which we live and to its Creator. In that mindful space, may we come to understand and to value more deeply the role that we are called to fulfill in the sacred place that we call our home.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Minus Nine…And Counting

Tags

balance, harmony, Jan Phillips, joy, light, love, No Ordinary Time, radiance

Because we are anticipating the Jan Phillips concert and workshop at the end of next week, I decided this morning to see what she had to say to me from her book No Ordinary Time. I’m never disappointed with what I find in this book. Here’s what found me today.

“Imagine that when we’re born, each one of us comes to earth with the radiance of, say, a hundred watt bulb. That’s our natural state – 100 watts. As we go through life, our job is to maintain that brightness, and even improve it if we can. What dims it, we learn through experience, is negativity, anger, resentments, regrets. What brightens it is harmony, balance, joy.

If you consider the people you encounter on a regular basis and reflect a little on their energy level, you could probably bring to mind a few who fit the 100 watt category, and others who are in the 50-60 watt vicinity. And you probably encounter 10 watt people every once in awhile, though chances are you don’t linger long. It’s the 100 watt-ers that keep your attention. These are people who don’t complain, who don’t say negative things about themselves or others, who are the first to offer help and the ones who stay until the work is done.

Hundred watt-ers laugh a lot, they draw people in like bears to honey. They’re the ones you wish you were more like. And now, you can choose to become one, if you want. All it takes is a little practice. First, you must become an observer to your own thoughts and words, so you are conscious of your thoughts and the words that you speak. Second, you must speak as if your words were materializing into your very life. This means no self-deprecating remarks and no negative comments about others. In other words, you must actually love yourself and love others as yourself.

If we operate from this premise, then we have a good chance of keeping our light bright. If we speak positively, think reverently, then we maintain our original state of grace. If we enter into a meeting imagining that every person there is a peer, then our encounters will begin to change. Once we start noticing our thoughts, becoming aware of their power, letting go of judgments, resistance, opposition, then we experience a more radiant energy. As we think, so shall we create.” (p.74-75)

(Learn about Jan’s visit to Binghamton at www.thesophiacenterforspirituality.org/events.html)