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ancestral clearing, Ancient Songs Sung Anew, barakah, blessing, creation, divine Source, God bless you, grace, Jewish, John Newton, Muslim, power, Psalm 103, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Psalm 103 calls for blessing not only for us but from us and from all of creation. We are to bless the Lord as the Lord blesses us. In addition, we ought to be sending out blessings to all people not just in God’s name but in our own. “God bless you” has been a familiar phrase throughout my life but what has sounded like shorthand for that (“Bless you!”) has recently gained new significance for me.
John Newton (www.healthbeyondbelief.com), on his webcasts for ancestral clearing, ends his conversations with people who call in by saying, “Bless you” and many respond, sometimes in addition to “Thank you, John,” with “Bless you!” I thought perhaps that John was just being sensitive to all the ways callers might name their “higher power” rather than God – as is clearly true in his conversations. This morning, however, in a commentary on Psalm 103, I was suddenly brought to a fuller awareness of the power of that phrase of blessing, as parents who bless their children as they send them off to school have known for generations. I’m grateful for that inspirational moment (a gift of Pentecost, perhaps?) and offer two paragraphs in hopes that some of you may share in my experience.*
The word barakah is Hebrew for blessing. It means something more in Hebrew than it does in English, a power and grace that flows from one being and place to another through the universe from its divine Source. Interestingly it flows both ways, from the divine Source to ourselves and from ourselves back to the Source. Apparently we are catalysts in the flow of blessing.
The subject of blessing is much neglected in modern theological and spiritual thought. It does, however, continue to have a strong role in both contemporary Jewish and Muslim thinking. In both traditions blessing is a power that flows and is available to human beings. The source of this energy is transcendent and is not subject to the normal laws of cause and effect. It can flow backwards in time, for example, or appear instantly across great distances in time and space. It is as though the universe is a body with barakah (blessing) flowing through its veins. Envision this if you can, and open yourself to its flow. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.260)
*A visit to John Newton’s website may be in order for your further information and inspiration.
Bless you all today!
I was listening to a program last night on my computer about “re-writing our own life script.” During the call-in portion the speaker, John Newton, asked the caller how it would feel to live in a place of “not knowing.” What would that feel like? I found the question rather interesting because I didn’t react negatively to it! Usually my first thoughts upon waking in the morning find me running through my schedule for the day (after I am focused enough to even know what day it is!) in order to know how quickly I have to move, whether I have had enough sleep to meet the challenges of the day and how much of my incidental agenda I will be able to fit in between appointments and meetings or whatever has been previously scheduled.
The prayer we know as “The Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father” can be found in two of the four canonical gospels – Matthew and Luke – and, although translations vary, the wording of the two is virtually the same. What differs are the verses that follow. Luke, chapter 11, gives an example of what Jesus meant by telling a story. Today we have Matthew’s version which tells people how they are to act when doing spiritual practice – not looking gloomy and neglecting their appearance so people know they are fasting, etc. (That always makes me smile as I know how easy it is to moan to let others know when I am in pain from some small injury or distress…). I noticed something in between Matthew’s directives this morning, however, that surprised me and made me wonder if I will ever have a new thought that doesn’t touch on our relationships in today’s world situation. (See the past few entries of this blog.)
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 