Little Christmas

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blessings, Eckhart Tolle, epiphany, gratitude, present moment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Eckhart Tolle has an appropriate message for today. His “Present Moment Reminder” says the following:

When you make the present moment the focal point of your life instead of past and future, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the quality of your life – increases dramatically.”

That seems a perfect corollary to the celebration of the Epiphany, the date of which is usually January 6th but has sometimes been changed to accommodate the faithful whose work schedule is Monday – Friday. I think of the song from the movie “Mame” that shouts out how “we need a little Christmas, right this very minute…we need a little Christmas now.” It was difficult to have a “normal” Christmas this year so maybe what we ought to try is a “do-over,” spending some time on this day when we celebrate the manifestation of Christ to the world to consider how we see Christ in those people who cause gratitude to rise in us whenever we think of or encounter them – and all of the blessings – spiritual and physical – that we have been given over the past year.

Epiphany!

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be kind, epiphany, Herod, Magi, silence, stars, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “appearance” or “manifestation” and in Christian circles it is used in recounting of the story of the Magi’s visit to Bethlehem. We loved that story when we were children – most of all, I would guess, if one happened to be a boy who had a great costume in the Christmas play, that of a king “from the East.” The real event was more complicated than just their arrival, which happened significantly later than the date of Christmas and caused a massacre of boys under two years old.

There were no television cameras to announce these visitors. As is frequent in Scripture, the details surrounding this event are few. What we can extrapolate from the story is that these men were attentive to a “message in the stars” as well as to their dreams which told them to avoid Herod as they were leaving. There is a component of intuition and trust necessary for such an “epiphany.” One has to be listening deeply not to miss the signals. Isaiah the prophet gave a hint long before the Magi began their trek. ” Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow…” (1 Is 60: 1-6)

Have you ever had an “epiphany” in your life? It’s not always a religious experience. I remember a day in my college days when my philosophy professor failed to help me understand something important and suddenly one of my study partners said it in a way that illuminated it perfectly – clearly an epiphany! But how much more meaningful are the days when something touches us in a way that manifests God’s love – like a flash of light or a kiss directly to our heart! We can’t force an epiphany but we can make ourselves ready. Stay awake. Practice silence. Be kind. And once in awhile, at least, look up at the stars.

It’s True

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epiphany, Jesus, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, Luke, Matthew, St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure, truth, willingness

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning. (Is that possible, or is an epiphany always spectacular?) I was reading the gospel from today’s lectionary – very brief and so familiar – which read:

Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. (MT 13: 44-46)

It’s such a pair of vivid images, so easy to see and understand that we can’t help but get the message of the need for willingness to give everything to experience it. Maybe because of the prayer of Ignatius Loyola that I offered here yesterday (who knows?) or maybe just because it was time for me to make the connection, as soon as I read that gospel, the following verse (LK 17:21) flashed into my mind. It’s not a simile but a statement that speaks of us and I wondered why that truth is so difficult for us to comprehend.

The kingdom of God is within you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epiphany Today

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Christ, compassion, epiphany, essential meaning, experience, insight, intuitive, occurrence, perception, recognition, Revelation, success, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universal love

I just read my post from yesterday to refresh my memory of what I said or didn’t say about Epiphany. As it happens, I think that post turned out to be a bit of an example of the meaning of the word. As celebrated in Christianity, the Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles represented by the Magi: a moment of great revelation. In a modern dictionary definition it is seen as “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”

I was talking yesterday about the possibility of overcoming fear through simple, commonplace practices of eating, walking and talking to a friend. It isn’t the practices themselves, however, that overcome the fear. It is rather our recognition of our ability to achieve success in those things that gives us new confidence in facing what frightens or stops us.

It is all well and good for us to celebrate the revelation of Jesus to the larger world 2000 years ago but that revelation is only “activated” in our day if something related to the event is triggered in our lives. If we consider the most important lessons we have learned from the life of Christ, which I believe to be universal love and compassion, it would seem that our job is to manifest the reality of those lessons in our daily lives.

What does love of neighbor mean in 2018? How are we able to practice compassion when we see a need – either spiritual or physical? It takes keeping our hearts open and, yes, “eating our vegetables” to push us beyond our limits – one step at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fear vs. Love

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, connected, creative, darkness, epiphany, fear, great, love, powerless, shine a light, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

January 6 is the traditional feast of the Epiphany but the liturgical calendar – like the “secular” one – is now fond of moving feasts to a more convenient time, in this case a Sunday. So more about that tomorrow. For now I want to borrow a message from Alan Cohen’s book, A Deep Breath of Life, that seems to me a good reflection on how to proceed in this new year.

Fear tells us that we are small, powerless and separate. Love affirms that we are great, creative, and connected. Which voice do you choose to be your guide?

The way to dissolve a limit is to step right up to it and look it in the eye. When we shine the light on the darkness, we see that the thing we ran from had power over us only as long as we kept it at a distance. When we face what frightens us, we discover that we are bigger than it is. We can do anything we choose; we were not born to live in fear, but in love.

Sometimes all it takes is a step toward a trusted friend who will listen to us. If that seems too difficult, I suggest starting with food – no kidding. Eat a vegetable that you’ve never tried that you can’t imagine liking. Even if you find it distasteful, you probably won’t die from it! (If you already love every vegetable available, try some tofu or guacamole: something foreign to your taste buds). Then stand up and walk a short distance, imagining that you are on the edge of a precipice. Don’t look at your feet; just feel each step and know that you will be able to keep walking without falling over the edge. When you’ve concluded those two exercises, find your friend and give her/him the privilege of listening to you!

Coincidentally, you will probably come to understand the meaning of the word epiphany!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epiphany

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Christ Child, discovery, Emmanuel, epiphany, essential nature, gifts, intuitive, light, Magi, manifestation, Matthew, message, perception, presence of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

“What gift will you bring to the Christ Child?” we were always asked in Catholic school when we were young. Our answers were all about ways in which we could be “good boys and girls” – behaviors that would make the Christ Child smile and our parents happy. There was certainly a devotional value to that practice, a teachable moment that gave us a sweet and kind image of God “in flesh” to whom we could easily relate. Of course there was still the hope that we might get the gifts for which we were so longing, usually in those days rather simple and less expensive gifts than what is “expected” in today’s society.

The story of the gifts brought by the Magi from far away lands perhaps factored in to the consideration of what our gifts to the Baby Jesus would be. We needed to give him our best. Reading the gospel this morning for this feast of Epiphany (MT 2:1-12) brought back those memories as well as songs about the little drummer boy (with his drumming) and the shepherd boy (with his lamb). Importantly, in the end, the child who had nothing to give determined to give Jesus his heart.

The dictionary meaning of the word epiphany is a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking, or an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure: a revealing scene or moment. We think of the Magi’s search for and meeting with God-come-to-earth as indicative of the world-wide importance of the Incarnation. Their recognition of Emmanuel (God-with-us) was intuitive and clear.

It is for us in our day, I believe, to recognize the presence of God – however we perceive this presence – and to spread the message of that presence in deeper and broader ways. May each of us be open to on-going epiphanies in our lives so that we move toward the light that we are seeking and share that light with the world.

Epiphany

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Christian, epiphany, God is love, heart recognition, incarnated, Jesus, John, Little Christmas, love, Magi, sudden realization, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Even though Christian Churches have chosen over the last several years to celebrate some feasts on the Sunday closest to their traditional date, something makes me rebel when January 6th rolls around. When I was a child and didn’t yet comprehend the word Epiphany, I knew we called this day Little Christmas. It was the day when we sang, “We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts we traversed afar…” It was all about gold, frankincense and myrrh and, of course, the star. As I grew older I learned that the visit of the Magi was significant because it represented the fact that the birth of Jesus was celebrated in a much broader way than just by those present when he was born. The word epiphany means a showing, as when the three kings (astrologers?) came to see Jesus. It has also come to be defined more generally as a sudden and profound understanding of something, a sudden realization about the nature or meaning of something.

Jesus came into our world – was incarnated – to manifest God to humanity. The First Letter of John gives us a hint of this profound reality. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us and God’s love is brought to perfection in us…God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in them. (1 JN 4:11-18) John doesn’t say that God has love for us but rather God is Love. How, then, does Jesus manifest God in the world? By loving, by becoming the incarnation (the coming into flesh) of God. So this means that our call to be the manifestation of God in the world in the following of Jesus is also to be love at all times and in all our actions. Mental recognition of this fact is one thing. Heart recognition takes a lifetime of study – of the Scriptures to see all the ways in which Jesus showed the love of God and of our personal experiences to learn the nature of pure love, both the giving and receiving of it, and from the appreciation of the gift of life itself.

May you be blessed this day with a deeper recognition of the meaning of the reality that God is Love and thus may you grow into your truest self which is also a manifestation of God in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epiphany

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chain of light, Christ, Ephesians, epiphany, link, manifestation, Matthew, Paul, responsibility, stewardship of God's grace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Today Christians the world over celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, a Greek word that means manifestation and symbolizes the day when Christ was manifested to the “world” as represented by the visit of the Magi (MT 2:1-12). In a larger sense, the word has come to mean the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something (Urban Dictionary).

In the second reading for today’s feast Paul writes to the Ephesians: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely that the mystery was made known to me by revelation. (EPH 3: 2-3A). The phrase “stewardship of God’s grace” amplified for me the meaning of epiphany by adding to it an element of responsibility. Paul had a private revelation of Christ, certainly a powerful and sudden realization of the meaning of Christ to the world. What it caused in him, however, was the necessity of spreading the news of what he had come to know, spreading it as far and wide as he was able with the passion engendered by that one moment of recognition.

Just before I began to write this reflection, I read a passage from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours that came originally from his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. Merton is offering morning praise to the God of creation and gives another perspective, I think, on the vastness of an “epiphany” of God’s presence.

Today, Father. the blue sky lauds you. The delicate green and orange flowers of the tulip poplar tree praise you. The distant blue hills praise you, together with the sweet-smelling air that is full of brilliant light. The bickering flycatchers praise you with the lowing cattle and the quails that whistle over there. I, too, Father, praise you, with all these, my brothers, and they give voice to my own heart and my own silence. We are all one silence, and a diversity of voices. You have made us together, you have made us one and many, you have placed me here in the midst as witness, as awareness, and as joy. Here I am. In me the world is present, and you are present. I am a link in the chain of light and of presence.

If we are also links in the chain of God’s presence to the world, how do we, how will we in this new year perhaps, manifest that presence in our own unique way that will help to spread that recognition to someone somewhere who is ready and in need of the light?

Name That Tune

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carols, chanting, Christmas, epiphany, psalm 96, sing to the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The Christmas carols have disappeared from radio stations and MUZAK locations around the country, although Church calendars tell us that we still have a long way to go in the Christmas season. On January 10th I’m doing a short presentation on the topic of chanting so I’m beginning to think about breath and tone and vibration and mode – as well as lyrics. And again we wait, in the midst of this week between December 25 and January 1, for something “new” to dawn in us, most likely some resolution that we hope will last longer than a few weeks.

Psalm 96 is a good place to pause for reflection this morning. The psalmist urges us: Sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all you lands. Sing to the Lord; bless God’s name!

If I were to create a new song to the Lord for this coming year, I wonder what title I would give it. Would it be a complex song, one that would necessitate some exercise so I’d have enough breath for each line? Would I foresee a major or minor key in its expression? And what would be its highest note? Do I have any idea of the lyrics at this time or will I have to spend some time in prayer to form my intentions for deep living out of the gift of the year to come? I’ll have about three hours of travel time in my car today – a good opportunity perhaps to tune up and begin to rehearse…