Spring Cleaning

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actions, David, Ephesians, Jesse, leadership, light in the Lord, Samuel, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The choice of David as king of Israel (1 SM 16) was rather stunning and perhaps as difficult to understand in human terms by the populace of our time as we face a presidential election. We have been watching and listening to a large number of Democratic candidates during primary season and have looked for one thing most importantly: who can beat the incumbent so as to change things. In the Scriptures, the choice was made for the youngest of Jesse’s sons – someone who wasn’t even considered. They had to go to the fields where he was guarding the sheep to find him because none of the seven sons had been found suitable.

What was it that God (through Samuel) was looking for? Not appearance or lofty stature but rather the state of his heart. And how would we judge that in our day? Not by how much money he has (or how much s/he has raised to run a campaign) nor the promises made for the future. We must look deeper than the words and consider how the candidates’ actions and the way they live their lives is consistent with those words. That’s not easy in this huge country of ours. We need to do our best to follow what St. Paul said today to the Ephesians for our assessment of ourselves.

“Once you were darkness” he says, “but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” (EPH 5: 8-14)

Notice that I suggested that we are assessing ourselves here – not others – because if we cannot find truth and honesty and goodness in ourselves, how do we expect to recognize it in others? It will take a long time, I think, for this to become the way we find our leadership, but perhaps, as we live through this moment that is challenging our world so seriously, we will shed much of the darkness that has accrued around and within us. In so doing we might see new (or forgotten) light in ourselves and others and a new world order might emerge. Why not adopt that kind of “spring cleaning?”

Keeping Faith

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Alan Cohen, caught, centering prayer, Cynthia Bourgeault, faithkeeper, leadership, lesson, light, Onondaga Nation, Oren Lyon, Peace, prayer, sacred reading, spirituality, taught, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom groups

I had the privilege once of meeting Oren Lyon, the Native American “Faithkeeper” of the Onondaga Nation who lives just south of the city of Syracuse, New York about 80 miles from my home. I was pleasantly surprised that Alan Cohen wrote today about the role of “Faithkeeper” as it is embodied by Oren Lyon and others like him. This person in the tribe consistently holds the higher vision, having been designated to be the voice of hope, an inspiration to remember the bigger picture when others forget it. Cohen remarks that “each of us needs to be a Faithkeeper. When others around us go into fear or confusion, we serve best by remembering the light and holding peace.” When in the presence of Oren Lyon, it was easy to sense what this means and why he holds such a designation for his people.

This message is an auspicious start to my day as I prepare to travel to New Hampshire to begin a five-day experience with 15 people who have expressed an interest in leading “wisdom groups.” These are individuals who are choosing to deepen their own spirituality and help others do the same as they lead practice circles of centering prayer, sacred reading and chant, conscious work and attention, embodiment, and the attitude of presence that leads to unitive consciousness. My colleagues and I will speak of the underlying task of all this as “holding the post,” a term used often by Cynthia Bourgeault when she speaks of leadership. We are called, she says, to hold this post of leadership at certain times in our lives and/or work and then to relinquish it when another is called to step up. It is more than skill at giving direction or familiarity with the information to be imparted. It is rather a quality of presence – of remembering and embodying the light of peace and confidence for the good of the group.

With Oren Lyon as my guide, I will remember that this lesson is more caught than taught and will try, as will my colleagues Deborah and Bill, to model what we hope to impart to those gathered. Knowing many of the participants gives me confidence that the sharing will be rich and the entire event an experience of hope and light, the ripples of which will be far reaching for each one and for all of us together. May it be so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom Work

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Book of Wisdom, leadership, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision, wisdom, Wisdom Schools, wisdom work

I have a conference call today, the third (or maybe fourth?) in a month, as my colleagues and I do our best to prepare for the event we are offering at the end of this month. It is the first of its kind for us – similar in a way but not matching all the “Wisdom Schools” we have presented over the past five years. This one is called “Wisdom Group Leadership Training” and is defined as practical training in skillful “post-holding,” including ’embodying the wealth of wisdom’s vision’ and developing group skills for greater integration.

This work seeks to recover the deep and meaningful, mystical and unitive tradition in Western Christianity that seems to have been buried in the structure of one of the largest organizations in the world over the past several centuries. People often ask for a definition of “Wisdom work” and we are hard-pressed to offer a simple explanation. It is more easily known as a felt sense, a rightness, a recognition of God’s presence that leads to a way of life directed by a desire to live more deeply into God within ourselves and community. We often speak of “post-holders” rather than leaders because no one is seen as “higher” or “lower” but rather responsible during a certain time or situation in a role of service to the whole. The work of Wisdom spans the breadth of Christian denominations and speaks sometimes to those who have abandoned traditional church practice as well.

I speak of this now because of the first lectionary text for today from the Book of Wisdom, (7:22-8:1) that uses 37 words and phrases to describe Wisdom. I will not repeat them all here but the list begins with Wisdom being “intelligent, holy, unique” as well as “manifold, subtle and agile.” What I will offer as conclusion is indicative to me of the recognition that the spirit of Wisdom is caught, not taught and may be  more about our quality of being than the practices we offer when we gather for this event.

And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; and passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence; for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Regina

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authority, destiny, divine, judge, leadership, psalm 97, Queen Elizabeth, sovereign, The Crown, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weighty

The “common cold” has been getting a lot of attention recently. We’ve been warned about the danger of being heedless as it could lead to pneumonia – and that to death, especially for the elderly. Whether it be an excess of caution or a very serious infection, Queen Elizabeth of England has joined the ranks of those of us afflicted in this season, to the extent that she missed participating in her traditional Christmas church service for the first time in 30 years!

I was reminded of the Queen as I read a translation of this morning’s psalm (97) that used the word “Sovereign” for God in the first verse. It is God, I AM, who is sovereign over all, it said. We have been watching at our house the Netflix original series called The Crown which so far (only one season produced thus far) chronicles the period of Elizabeth II’s early life and the first decade of her reign as queen. The introduction to each episode is quite strikingly artistic, beginning with strands of molten gold, flowing and swirling and eventually forming the weighty (5 pounds, they say) crown of the queen. Just that piece and the title give a perfect introduction to the main theme of the entire series: the role of the sovereign which, as is clear from the oath at her coronation, comes directly from God. A weighty destiny indeed.

I have stopped after writing the above, not knowing where to take that thought. There is so much that flows from its meaning. Her serious demeanor seems rarely left behind, usually only when she has been seen walking her dogs in the countryside, for instance. That makes more sense to me now, having seen images of her struggling with the impossible task of one who is seen to have divine authority but at the same time is bound by centuries of protocols and traditions that seem ironclad, thus immune to her differing opinions. I feel a new compassion for her, rather than just a passing curiosity about what she is wearing or whether she is smiling when she appears on the news. Wherever this leads, it reminds me of the serious “job” of leadership and the task of the rest of us to research before we judge.