God Says, “LISTEN TO ME!”

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, deeper, gratitude, hear, joy, listening, psalm 50, thankfulness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformed

I’m always interested when the Psalm response in the lectionary consists of some verses from a long psalm that fit a specific purpose directly without any extraneous “sidebars” of intervening verses. Today my antenna was up because the stated title of Psalm 50 in the book Ancient Songs Sung Anew was “God Calls the World to Listen.” Since I had spent yesterday presenting to two different groups on the topic of “The Art of Sacred Listening” I was, you might say, “all ears” for the message. I wasn’t disappointed. Here are the salient points.

Hear me, my people, I am your God…I do not fault you for your offerings; your holocausts are clear. But I ask for no more heifers to be brought from flocks and farms. I need no more goats offered up from all your herds. Do you not realize I have all these and more? I’ve made my case; here’s what I want, a sacrifice of thankfulness in all that honors me. (vs. 8-10a, 23)

I have this vision of someone sitting on an over-stuffed recliner chair (a Lazy Boy?) surrounded by all kinds of material gifts – but all alone with the stuff – looking very sad. Perhaps we might interpret God as saying to us in our own time and place something like this: “I know you’re doing your duty – coming to church with items for the food pantry and your weekly envelope – but it seems lately that it is just that – a duty! I don’t need your duty! I want your heart!”

I’m not suggesting that we stop supporting the place where we worship, nor do I think God would want that. I do think, however, that this might be a good time to go to a deeper place to see if we are being transformed by our participation in the worship services, awakened to love of those who worship with us. If so, it seems that our only response would be one of consistent gratitude and heartfelt joy. And God would be happy too.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sacred Scripture

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action, divine inspiration, Elijah, facts, faith, James, Jesus, John, listening, love, Mark, Moses, Peter, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration, trust, truth

Sometimes the strangest thoughts bubble up when I’m reading the Scriptures for the day. This year we’re reading Mark and today’s section is the familiar story of the Transfiguration (9:2-10). None of the gospels provides all the details for any story but Mark is especially brief – the first written and shortest gospel. In some cases it’s like reading shorthand. Over the years I’ve become brave enough to try filling in some of the blanks in the stories. I doubt it can hurt; it’s not dogmatic teaching but just  conjecture for my own deeper understanding. I think of it as a kind of similar activity to that of movie makers who try to give us pictures to accompany the most visual texts – not always successfully, I might add.

Just now as I was reading about the transformation of Jesus into a being of light in the presence of his associates, Peter, James and John, it was the appearance of Elijah and Moses conversing with Jesus that led to my musing. In seeing that vision, Peter blurts out to Jesus the famous lines, ” Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” My immediate – unbidden – reaction was: How did he know who they were? It’s doubtful there were photos in their homes…Then I laughed at myself and went back to imaging the event.

A couple of reflections remain from that experience.

1. Regardless of the vast resources of biblical scholarship available to us today, there are still things we may never be sure of but these are generally questions like mine today – details rather than central points of the stories.
2. The importance of what we read is the truth rather than the facts that we find there. Sometimes the two coincide but not always. We need to be aware of literary forms and the purposes of their use. (Consider the stories of Adam and Eve or Jonah, for example.)
3. Reading the Bible is an exercise of trust in divine inspiration, not only as it was present to those who first told of God’s actions but also those who heard, those who sat in community and “edited” by common consent and then those who left us the texts that have been passed down.
4. We ourselves have the responsibility of faith that God is still speaking and that we have a part to play in our own communities by delving deeper into the words we read, the images that arise in us during the sacred times of listening together and the inspiration of the Spirit among us that can lead us to deeper truth, deeper action and deeper love in community.

 

 

 

 

Wait in Silence, Listening

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, hear, hearing, heart, listen, listening, mercy, mindfulness, Psalm 130, sacred art, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice, waiting

Last winter we decided to offer a series on Mindfulness at the Sophia Center because it seemed that this concept was being talked about in many circles and there were many ways to go about presenting it. We decided on five sessions during which we would explain and then offer examples of a different “mindfulness practice” each week. The topics were diverse: chanting from several traditions, Buddhist meditation practices, centering prayer, etc. and each of them touched somehow on a more quiet approach to life. The series was one of the best-attended efforts of the year so we have decided to continue our exploration of mindfulness. For a number of reasons we chose the topic Hearing With the Heart for this year’s series. It is our hope that we will come to understand more deeply the concept and practice of contemplative listening and contemplative dialogue as we explore hearing and speaking out of spacious silence.

I am the first presenter and have found it quite difficult to organize my thoughts on the subject of “Listening as a Sacred Art” because – ironically – there is so much to say! It seems that in our fast-paced world we have (more or less) lost the capacity to listen well. Take a look at most of the commercials on television or consider that now studies show a 5-second attention span in our youth. (I actually heard that in a report this week!)

I’m running out of preparation time for my presentation so I smiled when I read this morning’s lectionary selection of Psalm 130. I am now thinking it is a perfect lead-in to the entire event. See if you agree.

My whole being waits for you, my God, listening in your presence. I long to hear your voice again, speaking. So like a watchman who anticipates the crack of dawn, my heart waits for the first-light of your word. Listen, listen, wait in silence listening for the One from whom all mercy flows…(Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 334)

 

 

 

 

 

Smiles All Around

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, consciousness, contemplative, dialogue, Divine Presence, inspiration, kindness, listening, message, mindfulness, psalm 57, smile, smiling, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wellness

I have to smile this morning as I sit here waiting for a message to arise when prompts are all around me. My brain feels like a broken record and I wonder if I will ever move through a day – or even an hour – without falling out of consciousness. Here’s what I mean.

1. On Tuesday I met with the two other persons who are working with me to create a second series on Mindfulness to complement what we offered last year during Lent. We’re moving toward weekly presentations on contemplative listening and dialogue – skills that are not easily practiced in our culture. We easily talk about them but practicing is another matter.

2. On Wednesday I was at a pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled when my eye fell on what appeared to be a coloring book in the magazine rack at the checkout counter. It was, rather, a creative magazine called Breathe: The Well-being Special. A banner that ran across the cover announced Wellness, Kindness, Mindfulness, Inspiration. Since I had never before seen anything like it, surrounded as it was with offerings of Hollywood gossip and political distress, I had to buy it! I have not been disappointed.

3. This morning Psalm 57:8 sings out: Awake, O Spirit that sleeps within…So I myself can wake the dawn with music in the morning’s light. The commentary speaks of the divine Presence as so powerful that it can affect changes in the outer world.

4. Last but not least, Alan Cohen (A Deep Breath of Life) uses the image of how shoes are all lined up neatly at the entrance of a Japanese house – except his which were “criss-crossed and strewn out of line.”

Happily, I have come to feel that God is not wagging a finger at me when I fall out of consciousness these days. I trust that God is smiling with me when I return from the mindless, interfering thoughts to renewed awareness of the Divine Presence that comes with my next breath in the now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can You Hear It?

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, divine energy, Divine Presence, evolution, instruction, listening, natural word, nature, reality, silence, still, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe

In keeping with what I said yesterday about Chardin’s vision of evolution in the universe, today we have Psalm 19 in the lectionary readings. One commentator sees this psalm as containing “a grand cosmological vision of a vast universe, alive and full of the divine Presence.” In this psalm we hear the message that God’s word is heard through the natural world as well as in church sermons and our life experiences. I am always happy to read and hear others speak of the importance of the natural world as a conduit of God’s presence and teaching since I learn a lot from observing the depth and function of nature. Here is a suggestion for all of us, the busy people of the world, that might be something to try with the goal of opening us more fully to a deeper way of seeing.

Sometimes our difficulty is that we are not silent and still long enough to hear the subtleties of this quiet yet pervasive form of instruction. Allow yourself to become still and silent for a period of inner and outer listening. Listen with your whole being. Ask this divine energy and communication flowing through you to become a cleansing wind blowing the dust and debris away and opening you more fully to God’s inner Reality. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.46)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do You Really Know?

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community, conscious loving, give, grow, Joan Chittister, listening, love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

I feel myself sounding like a broken record sometimes lately but the prompts are everywhere. Today it was Joan Chittister, in her book Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, who took up the importance of listening to one another – really, deeply listening. She says the following in Chapter Two, Listening: The Key to Spiritual Growth.

Not to listen then, is not to grow. but more than that, to be unable to listen is to be unable to give as well. It is easy to know what is good for someone else. It is difficult to listen to them and let them define themselves…It takes a lot of listening to hear the needs of those around us before they even speak them. But there is no good human community without it. Listening and love are clearly of a piece. (pp. 18-19)

It is that last sentence that brings the crux of the issue to light. The lesson there calls me to assume nothing about another person unless s/he has revealed the pertinent information to me. A good exercise would be to think of persons whom I know well and ask myself questions about their likes and dislikes to see if I can answer for certain (things like foods, types of music, exercise choices – even colors…simple things) and then ask them for their answers. This would be most interesting, I think, if asking those with whom we share life on a regular basis, especially people that we love. We might be surprised about how people have grown and changed without our even noticing. Just a thought…another practice of conscious loving, this one closer to home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Voice of the Shepherd

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God's voice, Good Shepherd, Jesus, listening, longing, messages, psalm 42, sound recognition, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice

Last night I took a chance and left my bedroom window open. Because the day had actually been warm enough to make me believe that spring had finally arrived, I thought that the fresh air would be worth the gamble on my being warm enough all night. Not only did I win that bet with myself but I didn’t need my alarm to wake me up this morning because the birds were busy very early and there was one outside with a big voice that sounded like a repetitive wake-up call. As I settled in with my coffee, I said aloud, “I don’t know who you are but I appreciate your call to slide me back from dreamland to this day.”

There it is again: hearing a voice – this time not one I recognize, but I’d be happy to be introduced to the bird it belongs to. This theme of sound recognition has been with me since my Saturday retreat and keeps calling me to pay attention. It wasn’t surprising then as I turned to the Scriptures of the day and found Jesus speaking of himself as the shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and follow him because they recognize his voice.

Juxtaposed with that gospel this morning is Psalm 42, a psalm of great longing for God. As the deer longs for running streams, so my soul longs for you, O God! Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? Even here in the great desire to see God’s face there is the undercurrent of listening. I imagine native peoples walking through the woods as quietly as possible, listening for running water that they might slake their thirst (and avoid confrontation with danger, of course!).

Today, then, I hope to dedicate myself to listening intently – but also in a relaxed mode, not forcing anything – so that I may hear messages hidden in everyday events and conversations, insights shared in my spiritual practices group this afternoon or tones of voice in our chanting that lift my heart…In other words, I hope to stay awake all day to the longing for God that rises not only from my visual world but also from the sound of God’s voice everywhere present within and without.

Going Home

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essential goodness, listening, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, potential joy, prayer, service, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, together

Our work at this meeting is complete. We have had three extraordinary days – intense and sometimes difficult, but never contentious – that yielded some surprising and welcome results. This was all done in an atmosphere of prayer and deep listening which,, for me, is the best explanation of our success. Meg Wheatley wrote something in her book, Perseverance, that expresses how I feel this morning; it could apply to any situation so I want to share it here.

The potential for joy is always present in us but, like everything in life, that potential only becomes evident in relationship. We can’t analyze whether joy exists, or hope to discover it from a remote, isolated position. We have to be together. We have to be in service to one another to discover our essential goodness.

Today I pray a blessing on the ten women who have shared these days with me and all the people who have welcomed us in so many ways here in St Louis, as well  as those who will welcome us home today or tomorrow in New York, Minnesota, California, Hawaii and Peru. May all of us – and all of you – help each other to discover our essential goodness every day!

Missionaries

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gift of our time, greater good, helping people, jesuits, joy, listening, Matthew, missionary, preach, sacrifice, St. Francis Xavier, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the founding tenets of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) is the willingness to go anywhere in the world that there is a call to serve God. A hallmark of this service is the willingness to share the life of the indigenous people, adopting their language and living habits re: food, dress, etc. Today is the feast of St. Francis Xavier, a contemporary of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in the 1500s. Francis was an academic in Paris who, at the age of 24 took to heart the question of Jesus: What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his [spiritual] life? (MT 16:26) It was Ignatius who asked Francis this question which appears for us in today’s lectionary readings. It took awhile, but Francis eventually joined Ignatius in his new community and after ordination as a priest in 1537 went as a missionary, sailing first to Lisbon and then to the west coast of India serving the poor as one of them wherever he went. He ministered especially to the sick, particularly to lepers, and while he often had no time for sleep or for prayer, his letters testify to the joy that always filled his life. He moved on to Malaysia and Japan, learning Japanese and establishing missions for those who would follow him. Although he dreamed of going to China, he became ill and eventually died on the island of Sancian, a hundred miles southwest of Hong Cong. In 1925 the Catholic Church declared him, with St. Therese of Lisieux, co-patron of the missions.

Commentary from americancatholic.org on this feast says the following: All of us are called to “go and preach to all nations” (see MT 28:19). Our preaching is not necessarily on distant shores but to our families, our children, our husband or wife, our coworkers. And we are called to preach not with our words but with our everyday lives. Only by sacrifice, the giving up of all selfish gain, could Francis Xavier be free to bear the good news to the world. Sacrifice is leaving yourself behind at times for a greater good, the good of prayer, the good of helping someone in need, the good of just listening to another. The greatest gift we have is our time. Francis gave this to others.

Who is waiting for your listening ear today? Who is waiting for mine?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Beams and Splinters

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beam, change the world, contemplative listening, conversation, discussion, Jesus, listening, Luke, mirror, splinter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes Jesus seems to exaggerate to make a point. This morning we have a familiar example that seems to stretch that tendency beyond any other. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, he says, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? (LK 6:39-42) Even the least schooled person could not miss the impossibility of that scenario but the truth underneath the words is frequently ignored. I may see, with what I think is totally accurate clarity, the truth of my own argument and then, in a discussion with a colleague, hear a totally opposite position that is just as clearly presented and stridently held. We have only to look to American politics as we gear up for a presidential election to see good examples of this situation. Often we are so convinced of our own ideas that we jump into a conversation before the person speaking has finished a thought. We haven’t the time or willingness to consider the value of another person’s argument. Neither are we willing to let go of our own need to be right.

I just spent three days at a meeting in California listening intently to the conversations of eight women from around the world. We needed to speak a bit more slowly as everything was being translated simultaneously into Spanish; this was very helpful actually. We needed to listen carefully to all gathered and measure our words before speaking as we had committed ourselves to contemplative listening. Allowing space to let the words and their intention enter our minds and hearts was a freeing experience and one that produced more fruit than could have been achieved in a much longer time frame. There was a fair amount of letting go in that room but it wasn’t difficult because of our desire to move toward unity and the common good.

Today seems a good day to look in the mirror – first for splinters in our eyes and then perhaps for the bigger things that cloud our vision. That willingness could be a beginning practice that might just change the world.