Saturday Morning, 8:00

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calmness, Celtic Benediction, John Philip Newell, morning prayer, Peace, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Saturday has long been a “catch-up” day for me. Two of us were just sitting in the kitchen downstairs speaking of our plans for the day. Most of the time there is at least a resemblance of, if not a completed check-list at the end of the day, but it’s always good to begin that way. Now I’m sitting upstairs, looking out at the stillness of the giant tree that stands ready for the day, waiting for the sun to break forth from the fog that is now dissipating, waiting as well for a morning prayer to emerge. It is all so quiet that I would prefer a longer preface…so I yield my active self to John Philip Newell just for a little while. Pray with me if you will.

In the busyness of this day grant me a stillness of seeing, O God. In the conflicting voices of my heart grant me a calmness of hearing. Let my seeing and hearing, my words and actions, be rooted in a silent certainty of your presence. Let my passions for life and the longings for justice that stir within me be grounded in the experience of your stillness. Let my life be rooted in the ground of your peace, O God, let me be rooted in the depths of your peace. (Celtic Benediction, p.77)

Monday, Monday

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Alexander Wollcott, morning prayer, morning ritual, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Here I am in the kitchen at 6:30 AM, having made the coffee and recognizing that nothing much has changed toward the immediate future. Oh yes, “the curve has flattened” somewhat and there are small businesses that have re-opened. Most people are wearing their masks and are able to gauge a distance of six feet if there are no markings on the sidewalk or the floor of the grocery store – if there is a grocery store with food on the shelves. I find myself singing the old “Mamas & Papas” song, “Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day…”

As I reach for my coffee mug on the small table beside my chair, a small unfamiliar picture frame catches my eye. There’s no picture, just a quote which will have to serve as my impetus to greet the day. It says:

There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day. (Alexander Woolcott)

I’ll try to remember that as I go to my virtual morning prayer…and beyond.

No Longer Strangers

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Alleluia, Bill Redfield, chanting, common experience, Easter, morning prayer, movement prayer, presence, silence, strangers, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, virtual retreat

“Today is a day for a new hymn!”

That’s a line from a long ago poem that I read somewhere and liked the sentiment enough to pen my own feeble attempt at poetry as response. A lot of life has passed since then. I have changed, of course, as there is no life without that reality, but the quote seems apt for this Easter morning. One could say that it might fit each day if we were paying attention.

The run-up to the Easter feast has been more than just a calendar notation this year, to be sure. I was more or less able to be present to a “virtual retreat” all week, a genius idea and amazingly successful creation of my friend and colleague, Bill Redfield. There were morning prayer services each day that included silence, chanting, movement prayer to stirring music and short readings, in addition to a reflective session for the evening. There was a “conference” for the day with probing questions as well. All of this had been recorded ahead of time and added to the whole each day on the internet, enabling participants to come to prayer as their schedule allowed, knowing that there were others around the country and the world who were adding to the communal consciousness. It was a different, quite effective way of participation.

The most amazing part of this experience, however, came at 4:00 EDT every afternoon when as many of us as were able clicked onto a ZOOM call where Bill introduced a topic and then sent us to a virtual “breakout room” to share with one or two other participants. The common experience was instant comfort and generally deep sharing with people who will never again be strangers to us. In 15-20 minutes each time we touched into deep topics and feelings about the Holy Week and Easter experience from a Wisdom perspective. There were only 30 to 50 people each day – of the many more participants – whose schedules allowed this miracle, but the sharing was extraordinary and seemed to shout that each of the days was a time for “a new hymn.” The technology is there and as a person who sits on the fringe of the technological age it was a glorious turn-around that I fully embraced.

Last night I worshiped in a church where I sat in the midst of over 100 people I could not name and a few cherished friends but the experience of my retreat created in me the recognition that in that prayer together there were no strangers because of the enthusiasm of our corporate prayer. We were all there for the same purpose and offered our energy and our voices to the conviction that Jesus had risen not only 2000 years ago in a place far away but also in Endicott, NY in our very present experience. If we stay awake, we might just continue to live into that presence each day with our sisters and brothers near and far.

So I shout “Alleluia!” to a world brought closer kinder this Easter Day. Blessings to all!

Respite

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flow, John Philip Newell, morning prayer, Praying With the Earth, river of life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thirst

Finally it seems that we have a break from the intense heat and high humidity that hinders movement and keeps effectiveness at a minimum. We were spared the violence of the storms that gripped the Northeast Corridor of our country yesterday but at one moment it was as if some caretaker in the heavens turned a spigot to let all the humidity out of the sky and gave us some moments of straight-down driving rain – a curtain of water to slake the thirst of the land. As I celebrate the freshness of this new day I am drawn to another image of water in a prayer for unity by John Philip Newell. I offer it as a morning prayer for us all.

All things come from you, O God, and to you we return. All things merge in your great river of life and into you we vanish again. At the beginning of this day we wake not as separate streams but as countless currents in a single flow: the flow of this day’s dawning, the flow of this day’s delight, the flow of this day’s sorrows – your flow, O God, in the twistings and turnings of this new day. (Praying with the Earth, p.26)

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Light

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dawn, day, healing, joyful, Macrina Wiederkehr, Mark, morning prayer, night, retreat, seven sacred pauses, shining, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Waking up very early (5:20am) has its benefits as I am experiencing today. I need to be in my car by 7:30, in order to be able to breathe when I arrive at the retreat venue where I will share the day with probably about 50 people. During the event we will share reflections on three questions from the gospel of Mark:

1. Jesus, what do you want from us?
2. Who do you say that I am?
3. What is it you want me to do for you?

There is always a bit of trepidation on days like this, hoping that I have written – and/or will say – something relevant to the lives of those who participate in the retreat. The overarching feeling this morning, however, is gratitude and wonderment that I have been given this privilege. As I read a psalm prayer from Macrina Wiederkehr’s book, Seven Sacred Pauses, I am reminded that God is in charge of this day:

With joyful silence I receive the soft light of a new day, light born from earth’s turning. O Medicine of Dawn, healing are your morning rays. I lift my face toward the ointment of your splendor as I become a morning prayer. As Morning Blossoms, I go forth to meet the great shining, the dear unfolding of the day. With the fading night I begin a sacred dance in the arms of your shining.

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Praise

Tags

Henry David Thoreau, Jesus, Macrina Wiederkehr, mindfulness, morning prayer, Rumi, stay awake, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday I made my way along four hours of beautiful New York and Vermont highways, bowing inwardly to the majesty of mountains, trying not to be disappointed that there is no autumn color yet on the trees. It is, after all, still September. I sit this morning in the familiar gathering place aptly named Hallelujah Farm, ready or not to begin the annual meeting when we are privileged to recommend grants that will assist worthy organizations to continue the work of spreading wisdom – so needed in our world today. This will be the last of these privileged granting events as our dear friend’s money has been generously distributed over the past five years and is now doing its work. Helen Daly was a delightful, determined, dedicated woman who passed from this world too early for our liking but whose surrender was a lesson to us all. Her vision will continue to be manifested in the work of more people than she could have imagined in projects that continue to be birthed in ripples all over our country.

As we begin this time, our gratitude for Helen and for those who are doing the work that she so valued is great. Soon we will gather for morning prayer and I will read a reminder from Macrina Wiederkehr which seems appropriate for anyone willing to accept the challenge of morning. Please join us.

What will this day be like? Will I choose to walk through the hours mindfully? “To affect the quality of the day is the highest of arts,” Henry David Thoreau tells us. And the mystical poet Jalaluddin Rumi reminds us, “The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you; don’t go back to sleep.” Jesus says, “Stay awake.”