Pentecost

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beauty, Genesis, language, lovingkindness, Pentecost, Spirit of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, upper room

As I sit waiting on this very special feast of the coming of the Spirit of God into us, I smile into a “letting go” stance because it’s as if I am back in the upper room with the disciples of Christ who have no idea of what is about to happen. Who could have imagined the whoosh of the Spirit that came upon them that day? Suddenly they comprehended so much of God’s message to the world and were able to speak to everyone in a language that could be understood. What was that language? Were they really “speaking in tongues” as we have come to understand that phrase? If so, that is all well and good but I wonder about another (perhaps concomitant) way that they might have been understood.

This weekend we are exploring “the original blueprint” of creation in a step by step journey back to the beginnings of the universe. Our presenter has shared in a complex but understandable theoretical presentation that before anything else the universe emitted two sounds that can be translated as lovingkindness and beauty.

In the book of Genesis (11:1) we read today that “The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words” until things got complicated and people began to gather into tribes in order to “make a name for themselves.” What if, before that happened – before they even had language, perhaps – they were operating in a manner based on the sounds of the universe where lovingkindness was the way and beauty the expression.

Just a theory – one more way to look at how the Spirit of God comes in order that we might heal the earth in service to one another. Today it certainly makes good sense to me. I will attempt to walk this day on the path of lovingkindness and be aware of the beauty in all that I experience.

Language That Speaks

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crowds, emotions, God, guiding light, happiness, Isaiah, knowledge, language, love, perception, prayer, psalm 126, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice

For thousands of years people have been trying to say just the right things that will catch the imagination of those wanting to find the essence of life. That desire is the stuff of religions, communities, nations or at least small groups of people who hear what seems to make sense of things and thereby decide to follow the one who speaks that truth. In some cases it is the power of the voice or, in another, some inexplicable quality that emanates from within the person that causes others to sit up and take notice.

This morning I was awakened by the prophet Isaiah whom I could hear shouting: Up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God! Not only hearing but seeing, in the distance of my mind’s eye, throngs of people streaming across a great space from all directions and climbing toward the sun-drenched plateau of a mountain. The home of God was certainly present and waiting for them.

Just writing that paragraph, seeing that image, reminds me that we sometimes need imagination as well as fact to come to deeper knowing. Even the words we choose to express our experiences to others are important. The psalm for today (126) is full of emotions: our mouths filled with laughter! great things! filled with joy! dreaming! I can just see the happiness of people released from exile dancing their way home together.

But here are the words that resonate deep within my heart today as essential to the good of all people everywhere. May they be a guiding light for all of us. This is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value…(PHIL 1:8)

The Words We Use

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, bless, honor, language, Lord, love, mercy, New American Bible, Psalm 103, Scriptures, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, words

I always marvel at the way good writers can convince readers of their stated purpose or evoke emotional response just by a turn of phrase. I am also well aware of the fact that each of us is affected differently by language, given our personality, culture and life experience. That’s why I sometimes use alternate translations from the Scriptures. Today is a good example for me because I find myself responding with joy to verses in Psalm 103 from both the lectionary translation and from Ancient Songs Sung Anew: the Psalms As Poetry. A sampling of lines from each may lean you toward a favorite or may allow each to touch you in a way that expands your appreciation – or you may find a translation that suits you better than both. Take a look and see what you think.

NAB (New American Bible): Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my being bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He pardons all your iniquities; he heals all your ills…For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness to those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us.

ASSA: (Ancient Songs Sung Anew): God, I bless you with my whole heart and soul. In honor I invoke your name. Each day I bless you, God of all; never will I forget the good that you have meant to me…I wear your love and mercy like a crown…For as the heavens reach infinitely beyond all space and time, we swim in mercy as in an endless sea… For like a parent who tenderly loves a child, so deep in love are you with those who honor you.

 

 

 

 

 

One More Time, Please!

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compassionate, deep message, Jesus, language, Mark, misunderstanding, teacher, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understand

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a concrete thinker. Simile, metaphor, analogy and other figures of speech can trip you up if you think people are talking on one level and they are really somewhere else. When Jesus spoke this morning about “the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod” (Mk 8:14-21), the disciples were worried because they only had one loaf of bread with them in their boat. Not exactly his point. The flurry of questions that followed (seven in all) reveal how frustrated Jesus became with their misunderstanding.

I have sympathy for everyone in this scene. Jesus was unlike anyone the people had ever known. They were simple (not to say stupid) people who were drawn to the light emanating from the person of Jesus but his language spoke a deeper message than even their rabbis offered! It wasn’t their fault! But it must’ve been very hard for Jesus as well, to speak their language when he was trying to make them understand by using examples from their lives – farming, fishing, baking, etc.

There are so many moments in my life now when I can stop in the midst of a frustrating situation and hear Jesus saying, “Do you still not understand?” You would think I would have learned certain patterns by now, certain behaviors that work (or don’t) in certain situations…but I still catch myself wondering how I could be so dense! I guess the progress can be seen in the fact that I actually do catch myself and see the lesson on occasion! It’s those moments that hold the possibility of self-forgiveness and gratitude for so compassionate a teacher as Jesus who will keep on teaching regardless of how many times he needs to explain!

 

 

 

 

 

Good Examples

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Black History Month, conversation, healing, Jesus, language, Mark, opinion, prejudice, public service, sharing, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Last night I watched a special program – part of a series, I believe – celebrating Black History Month. It was Robin Roberts interviewing Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama for the full eight years of his presidency. It was more like a living room conversation with about 100 friends sitting around the perimeter asking the occasional question or adding an opinion. And Valerie Jarrett was so fine! It was a delight to experience two such vibrant women speaking clearly about the privilege of public service, the challenges of life in any situation and their desire to be a force for good for the next generations of Americans. What I found most helpful was the fact that they did not need to preach about those topics. Both were just strong women with no need for abrasiveness or negativity to make a point. They simply shared their experiences and ideas and the tenor of the conversation caused truth to shine through.

I thought back to that event this morning when I read today’s rather brief and stark gospel from Mark (7:24-30) about the Syrophoenician-born Greek woman who challenged Jesus at what appeared to be not his finest hour. The text tells us that Jesus “entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice.” He must not have had anyone with him because it seems the woman just slipped in unannounced and unimpeded to beg his intercession in curing her daughter. He was clearly not in a mood to deal with this foreigner – a woman, no less – at that very moment but even his uncharacteristic, unkind reply could not dissuade her. After being called “a dog” she retorted that “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

We know the story. Her chutzpah got her what she wanted; her daughter was healed. Unwilling or unable to see Jesus in such a bad mood, I’m always left wondering if perhaps he is testing her for some purpose…But then I decide to allow Jesus at least one day of grumpiness! The point is that the woman didn’t need to rant and rave about how unfair he was being or walk off in a huff questioning his integrity. She just saw her chance and took it, saying what was true in the same challenging metaphoric language that he had used.

So here’s to women (and men) who don’t use prejudice against them as a weapon but rather take the high road in situations that could be volatile or destructive, turning them to lessons of right action. They shine like the sunlight on the strong, shimmering tree outside my window, covered this morning in the icy remnants of yesterday’s storm, now transformed into light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer

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Aramaic, cosmos, Earth, heaven, language, love, Matthew, mother, Neil Douglas Klotz, Our Father, prayer, The Lord's Prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Today’s gospel contains what is probably the most familiar text in Christianity. We know it as The Lord’s Prayer. (MT 6:7-15) Recently I listened to a series of lectures about the prayer by Neil Douglas-Klotz, a scholar of Aramaic, the language that Jesus likely spoke in his everyday life. I went looking this morning for his translation because I found it beautiful and expansive of what I have known since early childhood. I found first a comment about Aramaic, then a translation in first century Aramaic and finally, Klotz’s translation using more modern terms. I share them all here for those of us whose love of words affects the feeling level of our prayer and as one more way to connect to others on our planet who speak different languages but whose hearts are united.

Comment: The Aramaic language has (like the Hebrew and Arabic) different levels of meaning. The words are organized and defined by a poetical system where different meanings of every word are possible. So every line of the Lord’s Prayer could be translated into English in many different versions.

First Century Aramaic: O Thou, from whom the breath of life comes, who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration. May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest. Your Heavenly Domain approaches. Let your will come true in the universe (all that vibrates), just as on earth (that is material and dense). Give us wisdom for our daily need, detach the fetters of faults that bind us, like we let go the guilt of others. Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations), but let us be freed from that which keeps us off from our true purpose. From you comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act, the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age. Sealed in trust, faith and truth (I confirm with my entire being).

Neil-Douglas-Klotz: O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, focus your light within us – make it useful. Create your reign of unity now – through our fiery hearts and willing hands help us love beyond our ideals and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures. Animate the earth within us: we then feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all. Untangle the knots within so that we can mend our hearts’ simple ties to each other. Don’t let surface things delude us, but free us from what holds us back from our true purpose. Out of you, the astonishing fire, returning light and sound to the cosmos. Amen.  (from Prayers of the Cosmos)

Amen, indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jerome

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God calls us, language, scholar, Scripture, seekers, St. Jerome, St. Paul, temper, The Jerome Biblical Commentary, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, traveller

There is a book that I would always carry with me – except that it is almost too large and heavy for me to lift! It is called The Jerome Biblical Commentary, a title given it, not for the author but in honor of the man who, in the 4th century, translated the Bible into Latin, the scholarly and universal ecclesial language until the 20th century. “The Jerome” (as many fondly call the book) is the most commonly used commentary in the Catholic Church today, the work of many Scripture scholars, gratefully received by students like myself and others always willing to go deeper in finding meaning in scriptural texts.

Jerome was a traveler, leaving his birthplace of Stridon in Dalmatia in the Middle East to travel to Rome, Germany and Palestine where he settled at the end of his life, choosing to live a life of prayer, penance and study in Bethlehem. His travels remind me of the life of St. Paul. I am always amazed at those early seekers whose passion for knowledge or the desire to share God’s word led them to travel far distances regardless of difficulty or danger. In addition, the fact that Jerome spoke five languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Chaldaic in addition to his own), learned no doubt for the purpose of understanding the ancient texts which he was to translate, is a feat I do not expect from the people of his time. The greatest surprise to me in what I read of Jerome this morning, however, was that Jerome was plagued by having a terrible temper! How does that square with the personality of such a saint?! Was it that passion that allowed him to complete such a work as a translation of the entire Bible?

Once again, I am reminded that God calls us all – no matter our character flaws – to the service of love. So even in days of torrential rain, like this morning, I am compelled to get up, get dressed and get going!

Diving Deeper

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generous heart, language, Luke, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, translations, Word of God

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance. (See LK 8:15)

As I skipped along from psalm to gospel looking for something to inspire me, I quickly read the above citation. I thought it was a fine thought to pass along but wondered about the reference that said “See Lk…” Of course I had to look it up. When I did I found something that was similar but not matching. That led me to think of how language shifts and the necessity of care that translators need to take in interpreting the texts they are translating. Sometimes (although not in this case) there’s no equivalency in meaning for words so we just do the best we can. Occasionally that results in some funny phrases, like the person who was trying to figure how to tell an airport security person in France that she had an artificial hip that might set off alarms. She had found a translation in the dictionary but instead of the hip she wanted to describe the word meant “rose hips” – much more meaningful when talking about tea.

Here’s how I pursued the advice from Luke. I asked myself three questions that start from the presumption that the “word” is the word of God: 1. How do I characterize a generous heart? 2. What is the harvest I hope to see brought to fruition? 3. How persevering am I and how might I increase my capacity for perseverance?  

Reading the statement and the ensuing questions slowly and aloud, reflecting deeply on each word or phrase and listening to the resonances inside me should take awhile. And the “yield” will – no doubt – be interesting!

 

A Grammar Lesson

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abstract, God, God is love, grammar, Jesus, John, language, love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’m beginning to think like a broken record as I read the First Letter of John but it’s really John who’s responsible for that. The letter is repetitious; that’s clear. It’s all about love. There’s something else, though, that’s happening as I read. It’s becoming a bit of a language lesson about transitive and intransitive verbs (specifically the verb to be) and abstract nouns. Here’s what I mean. Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. 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. (1 JN 4:11-12) Okay so far, but later comes the following: God is love…(vs.16). It doesn’t say God shows love (although that appears frequently elsewhere). It doesn’t say God has love for us (We find that too in lots of places.) but rather God is love. “The verb to be never takes an object,” the nuns taught me. Anything that follows am, is, are is called a “predicate nominative” and refers back to the subject. In other words, what precedes the verb and what follows it are the same. But, I counter, love is an abstract noun, impossible to concretize, and we’re talking about a person. (Light dawns slowly in this early morning mind…) God is not a person in the same way we are; spirits are hard to see even if possible to perceive. Ah, but therein lies the crux of the matter. In order to see the personification of love – the example we need to become like God as God is – we need a concrete person, a flesh and blood being, a human being like us. That is Jesus, the personification of God’s love. If that sounds like circular reasoning or just an attempt to show of my early education, so be it. Just hearing “God is love” might be enough for some. But the grammar lesson works for me and calls me to make an intention to go back to the gospels and to contemplation in order to see how Jesus lived and how he manifested the love of God which surpasses our understanding but calls for our best attempts at imitation.

The Power of Words

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Jesus, language, Luke, prophesy, Psalm 103, psalm 119, Revelation, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, words

All three readings for this morning speak of words. The Book of Revelation (10:8-11) and the Psalm (119, vs. 103) create strong visual images. The first is of “a voice from heaven” to John that commands him to swallow a scroll (!) after which he is to prophesy – apparently about what he has eaten which, by the way, soured his stomach. The psalmist sings of the word of God which is “sweeter than honey to the mouth.” In the gospel (LK 19:45-48), Jesus has some harsh words for those selling things in the temple saying that they have turned the temple from a house of prayer into a den of thieves. It seems that “every day he was teaching in the temple area while the chief priests, the scribes and the leaders of the people” were trying unsuccessfully to silence him – actually by putting him to death. The reason for the failure of this project, according to Luke is that “all the people were hanging on his words.”

There is so much here to contemplate! Language is the most fundamental method of communication and even the way we “deliver the message” can change it entirely. People with the gift of oratory can woo us into compliance – sometimes without our knowing it. Tone of voice can make us cower and sometimes those messages received can do even more damage than “souring” our stomachs. When there is a sign language interpreter at church the ritual becomes more profound for me if I listen and watch at the same time. In singing I find that my words of praise or longing touch me deeply as I hope they are touching God. Words have power for great good or devastating destruction.

All of this leads me to spend the day watching and listening to the words that inform my day, assuring that what comes out of my mouth adds to the building up rather than the tearing down of my personal “universe.” Let my first task be to wish you “Good morning!”