Singing Our Praise!

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beloved, faithful, glory, harmony, Holy One, humble, love, Nan Merrill, Peace, praise the Lord, presence, psalm 149, psalms, Psalms for Praying, sing, sing to the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes at our Tuesday “Lunch With the Psalms” meetings, one of us will ask, “Didn’t we just have this one…really recently?” I think about young people over the centuries who have studied the Hebrew Scriptures, part of which was memorizing the psalms, getting tripped up by the similarities, especially in the last five (146-150) which all start with Praise the Lord! with the possible exception of 149 that in most translations we’re told to sing to the Lord!

Wanting a fresh image or two from the psalm of the day to remind me of the fact that we are still in the joyful season of Christmas, I turned to Nan Merrill’s Psalms For Praying this morning. I smiled at her first words: Praise the Beloved! She follows by calling us to song but cannot begin without reminding us of the responsibility of offering the gift of praise to the one who guides us in every moment. Her translation of this psalm is lovely; why not sing the whole thing with full voice?

Praise the Beloved! Sing a joy-filled song praising the Blessed One among the people! Be glad in the Creator, rejoice in Love Divine. Praise the Holy One with dancing, with melodies and voice! For the Beloved dwells within, journeying with us through all our lives, leading us in truth and love. The humble are adorned with honor; the faithful exult in glory, singing for joy with thankful hearts! With truth on our tongues, with gratitude as our friend, we are in harmony with the universe, as we hold hands with all the people. The chains of oppression are broken, the fetters of injustice unbound. The realm of Peace and Love shall reign! Glory abides with those who are faith-filled. Praise the Beloved! All peoples on earth, welcome Love’s Companioning Presence into your hearts!

 

 

 

 

 

The Baptized Life

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baptism, beloved, Episcopal, immersion, initiation, Jesus, John the Baptist, liturgy, Mass, name, Roman Catholic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, water, worthy of the name

Although I have been present for many celebrations of the sacrament of Baptism I have no memory of my own. That’s not unusual in the Roman Catholic Church, since like many of us, I was baptized when I was three weeks old. As was tradition then, it was my aunt Millie and my uncle Dan who witnessed that significant moment and I grew up knowing that, as my godparents, they would be responsible for raising me “in the faith” should my parents die or not be able to do so. I can’t remember any specific conversations with either of them about that duty; I just knew I had a safety net for my spiritual life if it became necessary. (Happily my parents were quite good examples of loving, faithful Christians who lived their faith all the days of their long lives.)

Today we have come to understand that baptism is a significant event not only for the family of the one being baptized but for the entire church congregation as well. There are classes for parents and godparents – often before the baby is born – to help them understand the seriousness of what “initiation into the Christian community” means. On the day of the ceremony many parishes welcome the families at the door of the church before the service begins and have them march in procession with the priest and other ministering participants in the Mass. The baptism ceremony takes place not in private but in the middle of the liturgy and all present are called to pledge their support to the new member. Over the last 25 years, adult converts to the Church are celebrated in the same manner. In his Episcopal congregation, my friend, Father Bill, always wrote a letter to the child being baptized to be kept by the parents to be read when the child was able to understand the love that was present in the baptism ceremony and the support that would be available from the congregation for his/her entire life.

The dictionary definition of baptism includes sprinkling or immersion with water to symbolize purification or regeneration as well as initiation into the Christian church, often accompanied by name-giving. I must admit that sometimes it got tedious to grow up being called Lois Lane and asked the whereabouts of Superman, but eventually I “grew into” my name and have come to understand that each of us is called by name in God’s family and as such we respond in our own unique way to God’s plan for our life. When someone we love addresses us by name it has a particular sound, doesn’t it? It’s a wonderful thing to know we are cherished simply by that sound.

Today our Church celebrates the feast of the Baptism of the Lord by John when God’s voice is heard from a cloud saying, “This is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well-pleased.” Whatever our faith commitment or practice, might we listen for those words in our own life, (e.g. This is my daughter, my beloved Lois, in whom I am well-pleased.) and renew our resolve to live in a way worthy of the name by which we are called?

Schooled in Love

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beloved, God is love, John the Evangelist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was in 8th grade many Roman Catholic parishes had their own schools, some of which went all the way through grade 12. I was in a small school whose classes ended after eighth grade. In order to continue to receive a Catholic education I and my classmates were required to take an entrance examination and indicate at the conclusion of the test our first three choices of the high schools we desired to attend in order of preference. There was no preparation for the test and I remember nothing about it except the venue. It was on a Saturday morning in the winter. Anxious 13-14 year-olds were admitted to a large basement cafeteria through a chain-link fence in what I remember as orderly silence. We had spent many conversations in the previous weeks discussing the relative merits of possible choices of schools. Should we go for those that had the best reputations or settle for the ones closest to our homes or those to which we could be more certain of gaining admittance? I have a feeling parents were more involved in the choice than I recall, but my choice between the two top schools on my list came down to the uniform. St. John the Baptist girls were wearing rather unflattering maroon jumpers with long-sleeved tan blouses while St. John the Evangelist had navy blue blazers, white blouses and red & blue plaid skirts. Who wouldn’t have chosen to be an Evangelist girl? The joke was on me as the Baptist uniforms were changed the next year to be exactly like the one I was wearing – except that the plaid skirts were maroon and white! Regardless of the reason, I was lucky enough to be accepted for my first choice and loved everything about my high school days.

Today the feast of St. John the Evangelist is celebrated in my Church. Scripture scholarship now dates the Gospel of John as having been written at the beginning of the second century in the Christian era, thus making it virtually impossible for the disciple “whom Jesus loved” to be the author of the text. it is clear, however, that the themes of the gospel, three letters and the Book of Revelation (those books attributed to him) were carried forward until written down by John’s disciples. One commentary touched a chord in me as my own “golden rule” – a theme which undoubtedly permeated my high school days as well as my adulthood and was more important to my inner life than what I wore to school. The website http://www.americancatholic.org says:

A persistent story has it that John’s “parishioners” grew tired of his one sermon, which relentlessly emphasized “Love one another.” Whether the story is true or not it has basis in John’s writing: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)

The Face in the Mirror

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beloved, doer, God, hearer, letter of james, mirror, serve, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I have a friend who used to do workshops for women wherein she would ask the question: “How many of you get up in the morning, look in your mirror, smile and say, ‘What a woman!'” I’ve used that line (with obvious changes if there are men in the room) and the first reaction is usually hearty laughter. If pushed to really answer the question, there’s rarely more than one or two people who admit of the practice or even the possibility that they might be able to say those words about themselves.

This morning’s reading from the Letter of James reminded me of this sad commentary on our self-esteem. But James is getting at something different, albeit related, in what he says. Never one to mince words, James is talking about daily behavior when he says that “everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…[and] humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you…” Then comes the relevant paragraph.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts; such a one shall be blessed in what he does. (The lack of inclusive language here only proves the point more forcefully, were this a contemporary text!)

Truly knowing ourselves as beloved of God, we are enabled to look deeply into the inner mirror of ourselves, accepting what we find there. In that way, we do not forget our call to live what we have accepted, knowing also that each person’s face reflects God’s love in some way and is worthy of our care. Thus we will act on this knowledge, never forgetting our call to serve.