In Praise of Women

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Annunciation, beauty, blessed, child, courage, destiny, Elizabeth, God's name, hard grace, holy, justice, Luke, Mary, praise, pregnant, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, willingness, womb, women

I love the feast that we celebrate today: the Visitation of Mary to her kinswoman, Elizabeth. This was no “stopping ’round for tea” visit. Mary traveled “to the hill country” and stayed for three months. Elizabeth was a woman past child-bearing age – whatever that meant in those long-ago days. In her 30s, perhaps, and probably concerned since she had heretofore been unable to conceive. Mary was just a teenager, and likely frightened by the process of carrying a child. For both of them this “favor” wrought by God was what many would have called “hard grace.” On a human level, how lucky they were to have each other! We speculate that Elizabeth was further along in her pregnancy so it must have been a relief to have Mary around to help her. The Scriptures intimate that Mary had rushed off to Elizabeth soon after receiving the message from God that she was pregnant. Her comfort would likely have been an older woman, who obviously loved her, to lean on and share with as she interiorized what was happening to her body and her life. Such a great story!

The gospel passage from Luke (1:39-56) doesn’t stop with this loving, relational scene, however. Perhaps it was on her trek from Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home that Mary’s process of acceptance that began with her “yes” at the Annunciation was fulfilled. Or perhaps it was Elizabeth’s recognition of the child Mary was carrying that caused her own baby to “leap” in her womb. Whatever the transformation in Mary, her testimony to the power of God that she sang out on that day of her arrival in response to Elizabeth’s greeting was that of a strong woman who knew her role in the great drama of religious history that was unfolding within her. From this day, she proclaimed, all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name!

Those words are followed with a vision of God’s power to overturn the order of powerful and poor in a restoration of justice. Certainly, Mary did not know the specifics of how that would happen – nor did anyone, but she knew she had been chosen for a role in it. And the courage to speak, I believe, came not only from God’s grace but from the relationship of the older, more worldly-wise woman standing beside her.

Let us today (men and women alike) rejoice in those women in our lives who give us solace and courage when we need it and the companionship that keeps us on track in our living. Let us remember also, those who have gone before us who still stand as examples of the willingness to accept God’s grace in our lives that we might fulfill our destiny in praise and beauty.

Non-Denial

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consciousness, curious, denial, distress, engaged, facts, guidance, inertia, information, intelligent, isolation, Meg Wheatley, messages, Non-Denial, open, Peace, perseverance, reality, responsible engagement, signals, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was thinking yesterday how easy it is from here in our lovely, peace-filled location in rural Upstate New York to ignore all the turmoil in the world and in our country. If I don’t wish to allow the distress into my consciousness, I can just avoid watching or listening to or reading the news and go about my days in isolation. While I know that is not a valid choice for me, it is occasionally a temptation. I was reminded this morning of my need to be awake and aware by a page from Meg Wheatley’s book, Perseverance, that I will quote below in its entirety as a call to all of us to resist the pull of inertia in favor of responsible engagement in whatever way we are able to contribute to raising the level of light in the world. (This includes a willingness to discriminate between “fake news” and truth.) The page is entitled Non-Denial. It is not a message to be read quickly and dismissed. I would recommend reading it, as I plan to, several times, and seeking examples from our own life of applications for the message.

Looking reality in the eye is an interesting experience. Often, people are startled to realize how much information they have been avoiding, and how much information is out there, waiting to be useful.

“Facts are friendly,” a psychologist once said, but most of us don’t see it this way. We move away from all the information that’s available, we retreat into denial. It’s the way we keep our world intact and avoid being challenged or threatened. If we can just hold onto our opinions and views, the world will continue to work just fine, thank you very much.

We get led into the practice of non-denial by failure and defeat. When we have no choice, we seem to get curious. When our back is against the wall, finally we’re willing to look at all the messages we had avoided. This isn’t a graceful process. But when we’re ready to open to the signals, guidance, and information that have been swirling around us, ignored and unnoticed, it’s amazing what we learn.

And it’s remarkable what capacities we develop. Absorbing these messages, we suddenly see things differently. We discover solutions not available from our former position. We experience surprise, sometimes delight, sometimes despair that we didn’t notice things earlier. But the end result is that we become more open, more engaged, and more intelligent.

We learn where we are. From here much more is possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Heart of Peace

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complaint, Hafiz, hearts, Peace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, world

Today as we pray for lasting peace while recognizing that our world is in peril on many fronts, and as we give thanks for those who have served and sacrificed for that goal, may we remember that it is up to each one of us to create peace in our own hearts as a first step to the achievement of universal peace.

The Sufi poet, Hafiz, has a pithy poem that creates what I see as a perfect image for our consideration as we strive toward peace today. He writes: Complaint is only possible while living in the suburbs of God.

 

 

 

 

 

Between the Times

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Acts of the Apostles, Ascension, crucifixion, Father, fear, John, Lectionary, Pentecost, pray, resurrection, Son, Spirit of God, The Great Commission, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The lectionary readings for this seventh Sunday of Easter find us between an ending and a new beginning and we, in the same manner as the disciples, need to be willing to sit in this empty space, reflecting on what has been and waiting for the movement of the Spirit to call us once again to a courageous future.

In the first reading (Acts 1: 12-14) we find the apostles trudging back to Jerusalem after having received “the Great Commission” from Jesus. He had finished his mission and passed on to them what was now theirs to do: to go out to the world and teach what he had first taught them. So today they are together again as they were after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. Was it the same “upper room” where they had huddled in fear for their lives? What were they feeling now? Fearful still, perhaps, without the certainty now that they would be safe going forward. Bereft, most likely, because they were again without the presence of Jesus for their strength. But at least they were together in the company of those who had experienced Jesus in what we would certainly call a privileged way. And together they were praying for the Spirit of God to come and reveal to them the manner in which they were to fulfill their mission.

In the gospel for today we have a glimpse of this ending from the perspective of Jesus. John’s Gospel (17: 1-11) could seem like a son reporting to his father his completion of a project – for school, maybe – by recounting all the steps he had taken and how successful the whole enterprise had been. This scene, however, was much more. Jesus was just on the cusp of leaving those he loved, that small band of followers who had listened to him, learned from him, supported him and sometimes disappointed him, but loved him enough to stay with him through death to new life. His care for and pride in these beloved ones is clear in his recounting to God. Consider your feelings if you had overheard Jesus saying to God: They belonged to you and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word…I pray for them. What a validation of their discipleship! Moreover, these lines seem to express a deep tenderness in which Jesus holds those he called his friends.

Let us take some time in these days between the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost to sit in this space of emptiness, preparing for a renewed outpouring of the Spirit in our lives and remembering that Jesus promises to us as he did his disciples: I am with you always, until the end of the age.

A New Day

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community, connectedness, Joan Chittister, love, reconcile, spark, spiritual journey, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center, transformation, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Wisdom School

Last evening we began our first “Wisdom School” of 2017 here at the Spiritual Center. It is different from past events in that at least half of the people came as strangers to us. Usually at least one of the three team leaders has met everyone. It was a wonderful gathering with lots of willingness on everyone’s part to participate. When we left the room two hours later to spend the night and early morning in silence, we were no longer strangers but companions on a search for deeper meaning. The next three days promise great blessings for the group. Even in this short time there is hope that we will begin in some small way to experience the truth of Joan Chittister’s words to me this morning. She writes:

In community we work out our connectedness to God, to one and other, and to ourselves…In human relationships I learn how to soften my hard spots and how to reconcile and how to care for someone else besides myself. In human relationships I learn that theory is no substitute for love. It is easy to talk about the love of God; it is another thing to practice it…Alone, I am what I am, but in community I have the chance to become everything that I can be. (Wisdom Distilled from the Daily p. 48-49)

I am not saying that major transformation will be achieved during this short sojourn together, but if my hunch is correct, something in each of us will be sparked into being and if we fan the flame, we will find ourselves a few steps further along on the spiritual journey. May it be so for each of us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the Student Is Ready

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, conscious labor, deep listening, good, meditation, prayer, spirit, spiritual seekers, struggle, student, teacher, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center, Wisdom School, wisdom work

Yesterday Deborah and Bill, my two colleagues in the “Wisdom Work” we have been doing for four years now, arrived here at the Spiritual Center for a time of planning as we await a group of eleven participants to our first weekend “wisdom school” of the year. They will come late this afternoon so we still have time for prayer and preparation, including final details for the weekend. Many of the participants are unknown to us and have found us in various ways (God bless the internet!). This is a rather new phenomenon and excites us as it seems indicative of the growing desire for “more” among spiritual seekers popping up everywhere.

I smiled in recognition when I opened Alan Cohen’s book, A Deep Breath of Life, this morning to find that his title for reflection today was “When the Student Is Ready…” The second half of that quote, well-known now in spiritual circles is “…the teacher appears.” Cohen says, ” When Spirit wants to get through to you, It will find a way. We never need to struggle to connect with the right people or teachings. When the student is ready, the teacher appears…” He speaks of the need to connect energetically to the desire for our highest good by prayer, meditation and affirmation and then just be ready for life to unfold. Oh yes, and remaining alert to the happenings of every day is important.

I know that the participants will not be the only “students” on this weekend adventure. I have already learned a few lessons and had a few reminders of what I know in the brief time that our team has been together. We are clear on these weekends that we are all learners. Thus the balanced schedule we keep of meditation, deep listening as we read and ponder spiritual texts together, conscious labor that includes the physical, movement exercises that keep us in touch with our bodies, chanting that lifts our spirits and silence that creates a spaciousness necessary to reflection.

Cohen ends his thoughts with a prayer intention: I pray to attract my highest good easily, gently, and joyfully. He then adds an affirmation: I let go of struggle and allow Spirit to manifest my good. May it be so with us!

 

 

 

 

 

The Eyes of Our Hearts

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Acts of the Apostles, Ascension, enlightened, Ephesus, eyes, heart, miracle, Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Today Christians celebrate the feast of the Ascension, remembering the day when Christ left the earth after commissioning his apostles to “go into the whole world and tell the good news.” The gospels vary in their descriptions of the event and the book following these accounts, the Acts of the Apostles, opens with its own variation of the fact that “he was lifted up” and disappeared from their sight. It’s one of those events that I think “you had to be there” because it seems like something that has to be seen to be believed. Yet, for over 2,000 years, people the world over have heard and believed and followed the instructions that Jesus gave at that time. That is, perhaps, the best testimony to the truth of what Jesus was all about here on earth – the fact that those he commissioned did what he asked so effectively that the message has endured through all this time.

It’s a miracle, really, given that those same accounts add details about the event that reveal the on-going lack of understanding of the message on the part of the apostles. One says they asked if this was the moment when Christ would restore the kingdom of Israel. Matthew’s gospel says today that as they came to the mountain, summoned by Christ, “when they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.” There is a level of comfort – or maybe relief – in those accounts on days when it all sounds impossible to me, never having seen anyone disappear into thin air.

Once again it is Paul who gives the key to a solution today in his prayer for the early community in Ephesus. He says, “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call…” So, no matter how hard we try, our minds cannot grasp these mysteries; it is only by opening our hearts and seeing from that place that we can know and trust in a deeper way what Jesus, the Christ, was doing here on earth and continues to do through us in “a Spirit of wisdom.”

Paul’s Poetry

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Acts of the Apostles, Creator, God, Paul, seasons, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe

Paul was certainly waxing poetic to the people of Athens in today’s text, my favorite from the Acts of the Apostles (17:15, 22-18:1). He actually sounds like the psalmist, proclaiming that the God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth…gives to everyone life and breath and everything. This God, Paul says, fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for and find God, though indeed God is not far from any one of us. In God we live and move and have our being.

Paul’s ability to draw the Athenians’ attention was masterful, as he speaks of their religious nature that he noticed while walking around the city, especially in an inscription in an altar that read, To an Unknown God. Thus, after his inspired speech quoted above, Paul concludes by referencing their own poets who said, “For we too are his offspring.”

This God of whom Paul speaks, the Creator of all that we know, is not limited to any religion. Although we interpret Paul’s words through the lens of our own tradition, there is no defining feature that limits God in such a way. All spiritual people seek and find God in different circumstances, in inner and/or outer experiences, in our own time and place. At this moment we would do well to see the truth that God is not my personal possession – or anyone’s – and that we must allow others their image and relationship with God in the way that we hope others will reverence ours. Reflecting on the fact that we are all the “offspring” of God ought to bring us to the realization that we are all brothers and sisters in this broad and beautiful universe. And that is a good thing to know.

Holding On To Hope

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build foundation, evil, generous, goodness, hope, Manchester, spiritual willingness, strong, suicide bomber, terror attack, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, victims

It seems ironic that only 48 hours after I wrote my thoughts about optimism, we are faced with the shocking reality of the dangerous world in which we live. At this moment in Manchester, England, we know there are 22 people dead and dozens more with serious, even critical injuries because of a powerful bomb blast perpetrated, it is reported, by a single suicide bomber. Many of those victims of violence are teenagers. This is an unspeakable horror and ought to shake us to our core.

So where does the hope come from in this situation? Is there a balance to be had in this moment of evil? Even in the few stories I have read this morning, I would say a grateful and resounding YES! The example I choose that illustrates the goodness and solidarity that stands against evil is the 48-year old woman who gathered and led out of the arena a group of teenagers, took them to a hotel, stayed with them and gave them her cell phone number so that all their parents could call her to assure that their children were safe. In addition, hotels were opening their doors to anyone in need, taxi drivers were offering free rides and pictures from the scene showed any number of concert attendees helping the wounded. As all this was happening, no group claimed responsibility for the attack. To this moment it appears to be the work of one person.

This may be impossible for many of us but I (who have never birthed a child, let alone have one involved in this atrocity) must ask us to pray not only for the victims but for the soul of the perpetrator of the event. It is a stretch of our spiritual willingness, to be sure, but if I continue to speak of unitive consciousness and hope for “one world” I must not veer from the principle of universal love in any situation. I take the example of the woman I spoke of above who acted spontaneously out of the goodness that was already in her – as in all the rest of those generous people – to respond in contrast to the act of one person. How will we continue to build and not tear down the foundations of a world where this type of event cannot happen because of the light of love that exists in every citizen? It is only our work in this direction that can move us forward.

Are we strong enough? I can only pray that our corporate answer is “YES.”

Cycles

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activity, centering prayer, cyclic life, dancer, divine dance, eternal, flow, hearts, list, Lord, mind, Quaker, schedule, taize, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waltz, work week

Today is Monday, the traditional beginning of the work week for most people. For me it is always a time to “gear up” and make a list (or add to my already long one) of the things I hope to accomplish in the week ahead. Then there is the “long term list” of events that will be taking place in this season of spring into summer…As I began that litany in my mind, I realized again how cyclic life is for me and how much better I respond to it if I hold the schedule lightly so it flows like a dance rather than a race. Let me explain.

My work as the program director for the Sophia Center has a few on-going offerings: centering prayer every two weeks on Wednesdays, Taizé on the fourth Sunday of the month (but not next Sunday because of Memorial Day which is the unofficial beginning of summer), etc. Then there are the individual events or series which we have found to be less successful in the summer if just judged by the numbers, when life slows down a little and vacations punctuate the weeks.

At the same time that we are slowing to a waltz at Sophia, the rhythm at the Spiritual Center where I live is picking up as the temperature rises. Only open from May to October, the Center is blooming with the flowers and activity here goes forward like a well-oiled machine: spring cleaning, mowing the lawn, planning menus and shopping…all in preparation to welcome friends new and old who come to renew their commitment to spiritual practice or, occasionally, just to relax.

I am grateful for this alternation of levels of activity as it allows me to focus on the most important work of all: attention to the people who enter the dance at any point in the on-going music of my life. Yesterday as I was working in the kitchen for the first of my “on-duty” weekends serving workshop participants at home, one of the Quaker melodies from last week ran through my mind consistently – a perfect reminder to be open to any encounter. Ye have no time but the present time (3X), therefore prize your time, for your soul’s sake, I sang. This morning it was another tune that carried me to coffee. Mind that which is eternal, which gathers your hearts together up to the Lord, and lets you see that ye are written in one another’s hearts.

Presence to the moment while also conscious of the flow of eternal time is a rare achievement in this world of ours but as our world turns and we allow the turning, we begin to notice the patterns. It is then that gratitude enters, for the opportunity to partner with the Divine Dancer who leads us so seamlessly that we cannot get lost.