Still Waiting

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Advent, Incarnation, power, pray, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waiting, weakness

While I know that Advent is the season of preparation, of waiting: for Christmas, for the “coming of the Lord,” I’ve never encountered so many iterations of the same question to those whose are doing the waiting. My assumption always was that everyone knew the answer to the question, What are you waiting for? but this year people seem to asking for much more specificity in their seeking. This morning, in a great posting from Emmanuel Monastery sent to me by a friend, I read the following expansion with leading questions:

1. “What am I waiting for this Advent?” How will you recognize its coming?
2. We pray, “come in your power.” What would that look like for you?
3. We pray, “come in your weakness.” What would that look like for you?

The author invites us to go deeper in our pondering. Are you willing to consider both power and weakness in light of the Incarnation of Christ into the world?

Gaude! Gaudete!

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gaudete, Incarnation, joy, Latin, rejoice, sing for joy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zephaniah

I often think of my high school Latin teacher. We – all eight of us – persevered through four years of Latin because of Sister Thomas Aquinas. We not only learned a great deal of Latin but were treated to at least 45 minutes each school day of rejoicing in the love of learning and sharing community. We were confident not only of the love Sister Thomas had for her subject but also the joy she took in us. And it was a great lesson in reciprocal feeding. We loved her and the language too.

Today is Gaudete Sunday in Christendom. One can hardly get through the lectionary readings without a feeling of joy and confidence entering our inner space at the command to rejoice (Gaudete!). Zephaniah, a seldom heard from voice in the Hebrew Scriptures, leads off with the call to rejoice and be glad with all your heart because God will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love – even singing for joy because of you.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Paul tells the Philippians and us this morning to rejoice in the Lord always and have no anxiety at all because that will bring us the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

I listened this morning to a vibrant young woman speak about what she called “the rejoice choice”* – choosing a way to be that is not tied to outcome or circumstance but rather to a deep conviction of God’s presence. What a great message for this Sunday when the celebration of the Incarnation is so near. Let us all remain in this stance of expectancy and rejoice!

*Catholic Women Preach – Elyse Galloway

Hope Rising

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bad behavior, Incarnation, love, moral courage, natural disasters, psalm 80, rise up, special election, the silence breakers, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unrest

Given all the tumultuous and difficult news we have experienced in our country during this year – from natural disasters to political unrest and bad behavior – it is difficult to muster up much courage for the future. Just in the past few weeks, however, it seems there is a crack in the fabric of our culture and a sweeping broom of hope has appeared to offer a monumental clearing if we just pay attention. From the Time Magazine designation of “The Silence Breakers” as the “Person of the Year” with the domino effect in Congress and the media to the special election in Alabama this past week, it seems that there is a rising of moral courage among us. What we need now is an ongoing watchfulness and the fortitude that will keep that metaphorical ball rolling. Psalm 80 gives us appropriate words of petition to the God we believe is at the heart of change. I offer it today as a sign of hope and solidarity as we await once again the Incarnation of Christ into the world.

Rise up, come strong among our tribes and clans, and with your overflowing love, recall us back to life, O God of all, so we may see the shining brilliance of your face. Yes, that will be enough for us, for we will be restored to you again. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, Ps. 80: 2-3)

 

 

 

 

 

Prepare!

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Advent, Christmas, consciousness, Incarnation, Jesus, Messiah, prayers, preparation, prepare ye the way of the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Three times in the readings for this second Sunday of Advent we hear the call to “Prepare the way of the Lord!” We are accustomed to this directive but I always question how it is that we are preparing. Is the rush to Christmas shopping the way? The thought of gift-giving is certainly part of the thinking about that activity but it has become such a frenzy in our culture that I wonder how many of us stop to think about the genesis of the custom. Here are some questions for us – me included – for today’s reflection about preparing.

1. Do we really see this time of Advent as a true opportunity to go deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation – the entry of God’s promise into this realm of life?
2. Will we understand on Christmas day what the coming of Christ might mean at this moment to our individual lives as well as to our world?
3. What difference will our preparation make?
4. Because Jesus did not “fit the bill” of the Messiah for those waiting for the throne of David to be restored, only the really astute ones, those who intuited who he was (like Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna), really noticed his coming. What about us? Do we recognize the possibility that exists in our day? The possibility that the times warrant a new kind of Christmas, a new coming of Christ into the world?
5. Have we been preparing for the in-breaking of God to shake us up and create us anew? Is our consciousness, our recognition, such that we might recognize the Christ hidden in our neighbors? Our co-workers? Our families? Our church community?
6. In our preparation, have we set aside some special time to pray, to ask for the Christ presence to be born in our hearts so that we might face the challenges that are so evident and in need of our care and attention?
7. Do we expect our prayers to be answered?

Enough! Let us get about preparing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenosis

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all-knowing, Christianity, God, Incarnation, Jesus, kenosis, kingdom of God, Paul, Philippians, Redeemer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’ve just spent a bit of time reading internet information about the Greek word kenosis. After plowing through much theological language seeking something different – since I know I have written about this before – I decided ( at the risk of repeating myself) just to say a few words about the concept as it appears in Paul’s letter to the Philippians (ch. 2:6-11) and as I have come to appreciate it in my life.

In many religious traditions, including Christianity, God is seen as all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful, as well as abiding in ” the kingdom of heaven” which is viewed as far from us and from our earthly dwelling place. As we progress in holiness of life, we come closer to God and hopefully, in the end, abide in heaven for eternity. Theological and spiritual traditions often refer to these concepts as The Master Story.

With the doctrine of the Incarnation, i.e. Jesus, “who was by nature God, but who did not cling to Godliness, rather taking on human form,” put a new spin on thinking about God and us. Because the one we know as Christ, the Redeemer, entered human existence as “one like us in all things but sin,” the distance between us and God is collapsed and we can know the kingdom of God within us through the teachings and example of Jesus. Just as Jesus “emptied himself” so must we do the same – letting go of self-interest in favor of love for others. In doing so, living every day in love and actions that reflect the life of Christ more and more deeply, we will truly become the image and likeness of God that we were created to be.

This sounds so simple on paper but in reality is the most profound message – for me, at least – that I have found as a goal for life. I am happy to be reminded of it again today and every day in the simple word “kenosis.”

All Things Automatic

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Advent, automatic pilot, awake, consciousness, habit, Incarnation, reveal, semi-consciousness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Recently I changed the password that is sometimes the first necessarily conscious moment for me in the morning. There is an element of semi-consciousness in getting out of bed these days especially if dawn has yet to arrive. I need to be aware of whether I left my bedroom door open when I went to bed or whether there is anything in the hall that I might trip over in passing, and then there is the staircase toward coffee that I need to negotiate…but all those repetitious actions have been wired into my brain long ago so as to require the achievement of only a marginal level of consciousness.

Today, as I turned on my computer, this all came to me in a flash with the sentence: “It takes 29 days to develop a new habit.” Not only do I have to remember the first letter of my new password  – which then leads to automatic pilot – but if I forget that there’s an asterisk somewhere, the whole thing is erased and I have to start over, paying real attention this time. I don’t know who decided that the magic moment for success is 29 days but I am thinking that once a month I ought to consider changing how I do things so I get out of the habit of taking things for granted or living on automatic pilot all the time. Think about it. We have remote controls for our televisions so we never have to get off the couch. Some of us now have a “rhumba” that zooms around our carpets and floors so that we don’t need to vacuum any more. Pretty soon we will have cars that drive themselves so we can relax more – and maybe multi-task (more?) – as we travel. Don’t get me wrong. All of these things that I have mentioned have excellent reasons for use. My concern is only if we come to depend on them so much that we are able to go through life in a state of semi-consciousness because we keep adding inventions that keep us “asleep.”

As we move toward the last week of Advent I hear the lyrics of a song I used to sing with the elementary school children in religious education classes. It urged us to “stay awake! Get ready! You do not know the hour when the Lord is coming. Stay awake! Get ready! The Lord is coming soon!” It started with a clap after each of the first two commands (so as to wake us up, I suppose) and then took off like a train going faster and faster so that by the time it got to the word soon everyone was, indeed, awake.

How close am I to being ready for whatever God will reveal this time as I celebrate the feast of the Incarnation? How can I be sure I will be awake? And what about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Incarnate

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all in, Angelic Mistakes: the Art of Thomas Merton, celebration, Christ, commentary, drawing, emptying Himself, God, happiness, Incarnation, life, marriage, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

One of the books on the “Merton shelf” of the bookcase that is directly to the left of my bedroom rocker is entitled Angelic Mistakes: the Art of Thomas Merton. The book really needs a deeper shelf to house it as it sticks out beyond its neighbors, begging to be noticed. It has a double value because it offers not only a large selection of what Merton himself called a collection of shapes, powers, flying beasts, cave animals, bloodstains, angelic mistakes, etc., that can perhaps have some visual effect on the local bisons…but also significant commentary and quotes to accompany each of the drawings. I have flagged some of those pages of quotes that are significant to me and was drawn again this morning to one of them that included the following:

In emptying Himself to come into the world, God has not simply kept in reserve, in a safe place, His reality and manifested a kind of shadow or symbol of Himself. He has emptied  Himself and is all in Christ…Christ is not simply the tip of the little finger of the Godhead, moving in the world, easily withdrawn, never threatened, never really risking anything. God has acted and given Himself totally, without division, in the Incarnation. He has become not only one of us but even our very selves.

Last night I had the privilege of gathering with 11 women, all of whom had worked together for all or part of the past 15 years. (I left my position but not my connection six years ago.) We have worked, prayed and played together and watched our lives and the lives of our families unfold together as women are in the habit of doing, more or less, in such a situation. Last night we were celebrating one of us, soon to be married, in a joyous, playful extravaganza of good food, good gifts and deep, deep happiness. I was reminded of the above quote as I reflected this morning on our party. There have been tragedies and illnesses and great sorrow in the lives of all of us over the years – some very recent and raw – but nothing was able to dampen the spirit of love for our sister, Theresa, and one another that was palpable throughout the evening. We were “all in” – God incarnate – as one single manifestation of divine love. Even in writing that last sentence I feel the shocking nature of it. How bold it is! How dangerous to talk like that…and yet I have come to understand, through such experiences as this, the possibility of total letting go of personal interest in the draw of love’s selflessness. There was nothing of ego in the room last night; we were all engaged in the purpose for which we were gathered and moved as a unit to make it happen. It was a glorious dance and will stand for me as a  touchstone of God’s love incarnate for a long time to come. And, as an old “folk Mass” song says, “And all we have to offer You is thanks. All we have to offer You is thanks.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Blessings

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baby Jesus, Christ, Christmas, Divinization (Christian), Epistle to the Hebrews, God, Incarnation, Isaiah, Jesu, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is so much to say this morning and yet nothing touches the greatness of the mystery, the gift that we are given this day as we commemorate the Incarnation. God comes to us once more as the prophet Isaiah foretold with a message that calls us to hope:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation…

The letter to the Hebrews speaks clearly about this miracle.

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

Coming to us in a way that we might understand and celebrate, even as we celebrate the beauty and miracle of every child born, living life with joys and trials that reflect our own, teaching those around him in his person and his words how to yearn for union with God by loving one another – all this Jesus did while he was on earth. Today we remember all of this. May we come to enter more deeply into the meaning of it all that we might carry on the mission that he left us to fulfill in our day, knowing that he is still with us guiding us to truth, leading us on the way, loving us toward our ultimate destiny in God.

Let the Children Lead

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Advent, Christmas, Christmas by medium, Gospel of Luke, Incarnation, Isaiah, Jesus, Santa Claus, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In a roundabout way this morning, I am led to reflect on Santa Claus. I tend to be one of those Bah! Humbug! types, resisting all mention of Christmas until December 24th when the season of Advent gives way to the joy of Incarnation. That trait is, of course, one instilled in me in childhood, a very long and lovely time ago, and is fueled by what seems the feverish need in our society to spend as much money as possible buying all the latest things that we cannot do without. This year, however, I am finding my resistance cracking as I sit many evenings with one of my housemates who loves the Hallmark Christmas movies – at least three or four of which are offered to us every day! (Thankfully there are 12 new ones this year and we have our fill at least by the second one…and not every night.) What’s happening as I watch is that I realize the pre-eminent role of children as the wisest of the movie’s characters as well as the focus on love and transformation that appears as a theme in each presentation. Often, a child will ask an adult if he or she believes in Santa Claus and the answer is never a gratuitous “YES!” but rather speaks of the spirit of love and generosity that symbolizes what Santa means. And by the end of the movie, all the adults come around to the truth.

When I read, therefore, from the prophet Isaiah that on that day, the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, I think of those children for whom all things seem possible and no one need be an enemy. Isaiah continues: There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord…with a little child to guide them.

The gospel carries on the theme as Luke 10 has Jesus praying, I give you praise, Father…Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike. Traditionally I have seen translations of that last word as ‘little children’ or even “the merest children” but it makes more sense today as a quality that is possible for those of us who are already advanced in age.

So today I will give thanks for the children and the childlike ones in my life who have taught me to live life, not judging by appearance or hearsay (Is. 11) but looking to the heart for the deep meanings of things and finding there the spirit that is the best of this season and of every day of our lives.