A Pause That Refreshes

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breathe, chant, mantra, pause, present moment, relax, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Many times during the past week, the members of our assembly have been invited to take a short pause, sometimes as brief as two minutes, to gather ourselves and breathe into the present moment. The silence at those times is deep and palpable. Occasionally, as an additional prompt to renewed consciousness, we conclude the silence with a chant that has a become a beloved mantra for us during these days and, I trust, for the days going forward.

Sacred is our call. Awesome indeed the entrustment. Tending the Holy. Tending the Holy.

Yesterday we reached the mid-point of our time here in St. Louis. Our reward for work well done is an entire day to pause and relax and become tourists, regrouping for the second half of our work. So I’m off to meet my sisters from New York and Hawai’i, likely meeting up somewhere in the city others from Japan and Minnesota, California and Peru! And in our “play” we will, of course, be tending the Holy all day long.

The Call for Healing

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, centering prayer, chant, Cynthia Bourgeault, forgiveness, healing, mercy, Psalm 130, psychic healing, silence, silent listening, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

Some years ago in a Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault, we learned a chant that was quite instructive for me. We sang: Listen, listen, wait in silence listening for the One from whom all mercy flows.” It was a very quieting verse and, sung over and over, had a mesmerizing effect, bringing us to stillness as we began our periods of Centering Prayer. I found those words again this morning in a translation of Psalm 130, verse 6, where the psalm was subtitled “The Call for Healing.” Even without the music, the words of that verse themselves could lead one to feel the healing presence of God, the One from whom all mercy flows. I was grateful for the additional commentary on the psalm, however, which emphasized the possibility contained in those words. See if you don’t agree.

The contemplative tradition of silent listening in prayer began in the ancient world and has strengthened across the centuries. Prayerful listening in the modern world is called “the Prayer of Quiet” in which thought, speech, image, and imagination are stilled, and one remains silently alert and expectant before the Holy One. Such a form of silence, however, is not inert; it is an active, open and attentive space. After a time of mental or imagistic prayer, enter into a period of silent meditation. Imagine yourself listening for the voice of God who speaks softly in the heart…It often takes time to heal the wounds in our experience. Like healing for the human body, spiritual and psychic healing is a process that unfolds through stages in time. The healing mercy of forgiveness is the medicine. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.334)

In this noisy, busy world where we find so much sadness and regret, sitting is such a posture of silent expectation of God’s merciful presence might be just the thing that brings us peace today.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s About Being

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Alan Cohen, chant, Darlene Franz, God's face, heart, inner awakening, light, peace of God, presence, psalm 27, seek, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transform the world, transformation

There’s a line in the Psalm response of today’s lectionary that got me singing – internally, of course, since I haven’t been awake long enough to trust my outer voice! What I heard inside my head was Darlene Franz’s chant, a call and response that says Seek my face in all things. Your face, O Lord, I will seek.  (cf. PS 27, vs. 10) Although it’s usually annoying to have a tune running just below the surface one’s mind for days, I think I would welcome this one since it reminds me where I should be putting my attention. I was encouraged by that train of thought when I read Alan Cohen’s ‘daily word’ in which he offered the following paragraph.

To walk with the peace of God in your heart is to transform the world by your presence. When love is your keynote, there is nothing in particular you need to do; your gift is your being. Many people seek to change the world by getting everyone to join their religion or organization, use their product, agree with their philosophy, or replicate their experience. But real transformation does not come from manipulating people or events; it proceeds naturally from inner awakening and then living in the light.

May our footsteps today seek to awaken us to the light of God’s face.

 

 

 

 

 

In Beauty

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beauty, chant, determination, helpful, living, Navajo prayer, positive, respectful, seasons, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, walk, walking circle meditation

My first waking thought this morning was a line from a Navajo prayer that became a chant and then a walking circle meditation long ago. It expresses how I wish to leave Stonington, Maine and move through days to come that may not be easy. I intend to remember it every day as my determination to be positive and helpful, respectful and willing for whatever is called for in my living.

In beauty may I walk. All day long may I walk. Through the returning seasons may I walk. Beautifully I will possess again. Beautifully birds. Beautifully joyful birds. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk. With grasshoppers around my feet may I walk. With dew about my feet may I walk. With beauty may I walk. With beauty before me may I walk. With beauty behind me may I walk. With beauty above me may I walk. With beauty below me may I walk. With beauty all around me may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively may I walk. Living again may I walk. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty.

Postscript

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chant, Cynthia Bourgeault, fall fearless into love, Kanuga, lesson, retreat, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

Everything was quiet at Kanuga Retreat this morning as I trudged to the dining room for coffee. The morning star was visible in the dim light reminding me of the Scripture that promises the morning star shines clear in the sky, offering the Word of life. Everyone but the 19 interns and staff to our Wisdom School departed yesterday, knowing that we had truly experienced God’s word in so many ways this week.

Those of us who remain will continue what began yesterday afternoon as an attempt to process how such a large gathering could have felt so intimate and what we learned about ourselves and about wisdom both in the teachings of the wise and wonderful Cynthia Bourgeault and in the practices that we did together in small and large convenings. This has definitely been one of those times when “you had to be there” in order to catch the depth and meaning. None of us will be able to adequately explain it because it was not just the activities themselves but the energy generated that created the experience. One way I will remember the lesson of it all is through a chant that rose up in me to the rhythm of my walk to the coffee machine this morning. I hope I am able each day to “Fall fearless into love, fall fearless into love; fall fearless into Love.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Light!

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blind, bond of love, chant, Cynthia Bourgeault, Helen Luke, Jericho, Jesus, mercy, sight, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, Wisdom School

Once again this morning, the gospel repeats the question of Jesus (this time to a blind beggar on the road to Jericho): What do you want me to do for you? He was, of course, asking for sight. Last evening, 240 people gathered for the opening of our “mega wisdom school” and our voices soared with a lovely chant asking, Lord, as you will; Lord, as you know; have mercy, have mercy. Based on the teachings of Thomas Merton, Helen Luke and Cynthia Bourgeault, we know that word mercy to signify a deep, reciprocal bond of love from God to us and back again. The resonance in the song built like a gentle plea gathering strength and then breathing back into silence like the confidence that comes with receiving a response. And everyone left with only the silence and a smile to say “Goodnight.”

I awoke with the chant still accompanying me and the question: What is your desire for this day? Perhaps you might entertain that question as well…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Again

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be in the moment, chant, consciousness, Divine Presence, Easter, God, Pentecost, resurrection, spirit, taize, Teresa of Avila, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trouble, truth

When last I wrote just before Easter, noting that I was heading for the hills of North Carolina, I said I wasn’t sure I would have internet access during the event that lay before me so promised to return today, my first morning home. I found that access was not what was lacking to me there. Rather I had entered into an experience that took all my time and focus where it seemed right to “be in the moment” with 51 others, all of us seeking a deeper commitment to our spiritual path. There was much silence, frequent centering prayer, the presentations of two inspired teachers, mindful physical work and constant attention to living in the present moment. I woke up this morning with a Taizé* chant singing inside me. It’s based on a prayer of Teresa of Avila and says, “Nothing can trouble; nothing can frighten. Those who seek God shall never go wanting. Nothing can trouble; nothing can frighten. God alone fills us.” This is what I know as I return to my “regular” life. We tasted God’s presence in many ways last week and were reminded throughout that each moment is filled with this presence, no matter where we are or what we’re doing, regardless of the circumstances that surround us. All we need to do is constantly come back to the consciousness of this truth.

Our celebration of the Resurrection is not over. Our lectionary tells us that today is “Monday of the Second Week of Easter.” We are moving toward the great feast of Pentecost, the remembrance of the moment when the Spirit of God, promised by Christ as the One who would be with us always, was poured out on the apostles and the gathered crowds in all fullness. That Spirit remains among us and causes us to grow into the Divine Presence more each day asking only that we be willing to open our hearts. So this morning I take a breath and walk forth into the day, not knowing what God has in store but joyfully determined to be there today and every day to find out.

*Taizé is a small town in France known for an ecumenical community of monks – about 100 in number now – who welcome thousands of pilgrims from all over the world (many of them young people) whose worship style of silence, Scripture and chanting punctuates their daily community living and has become a model for contemplative spiritual practice for many groups worldwide.

Identity Clues

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Bible, chant, divine, energy, Jesus, Kinneret, Lake Tiberias, Mark, Mediterranean, Muslim, recognized, Sea of Galilee, sheikha, Sufi, the Lake of Genneseret, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zikr

I am always fascinated by what I learn each day from reading the Bible selections. Some simple realizations belie the fact that I ever heard the word geography in elementary school! It struck me this morning as I was picturing the gospel scene (MK 6:53-56) – again about Jesus and the disciples in a boat crossing the sea – that all seas are not created equal. Since the Sea of Galilee, variously known as Kinneret, the Lake of Genneseret and Lake Tiberias, has a total area of 64 square miles (166 sq km) it would indeed be possible for people to follow “to the other side” – unlike the journey if they were traveling the land around the Mediterranean Sea, for example.  (I might as well laugh at myself; humility is good for the soul.)

The other sentence that gave me pause today came next. “As they were leaving the boat,” the writer reports, ” people immediately recognized him.” If they had never before encountered Jesus, I wonder what it was that separated him out from the others in the boat. Had they heard physical descriptions that set him apart? Was he dressed differently? (Not likely) Did he let the disciples moor the boat while he sat and waited? (I doubt that too.)

I remember an evening at a retreat near New York City that included a Zikr – a Sufi prayer of remembrance where participants chant the names and attributes of God. Since part of the prayer of the week was Christian chanting, this was an opportunity to expand our experience of other similar forms of prayer. It was a wonderful opportunity for me and others to recognize how beautifully devotion to God can be expressed in different forms. The evening was led by a sheikha. This leader of the Muslim prayer circle was a surprise; I didn’t know women were allowed this title in the Sufi world. There was no question of her identity, however, when she arrived with her entourage. Her brilliant energy filled the room with light and joy and welcome to her world. Her close connection to the Divine was evident in every word she spoke, in how she treated her disciples and her kind instruction to those of us who were “first-timers” to this experience. It was a memorable evening and she was the most memorable part of it. No wonder people wanted to be close to her.

I think I understand from experiences like this why the crowds “scurried around” gathering their sick, bringing them to Jesus on that day. Just “touching the tassels of his robe” was enough. I hope I would have been one of those to recognize him then, even as I strive every day to recognize him now…