God’s Handiwork

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being, blessing, doing, God's handiwork, lesson, love, psalm 100, reality, sing joyfully, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, work

People often ask me these days if I am retired. I’m no longer shocked at the question, especially since I am now 70 years old (an amazing statistic that still surprises me sometimes!). I have been blessed thus far with good health and am grateful for meaningful and creative work that continues to present itself.

This morning I was reminded in two of the lectionary readings of this blessing. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul is talking about faith and says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” Psalm 100 follows this theme, opening with a call to “Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness; come before God with joyful song!”

On Saturday, I spent the day with over a hundred Sisters of St. Joseph – a few younger and many older than myself. Many of these women are retired from active ministry but virtually all of them continue to understand the truth that we are God’s handiwork. This, then, becomes for all of us the most important “work,” calling us daily to love as God has loved us. It is about our being rather than about our doing. For some of us that is a difficult lesson but once learned, it makes all the difference. It is my hope to have totally accepted that reality when all I have left for others is love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s In A Name?

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, God's name, knowledge, Lynn Bauman, name, personal, psalm 100, relationship, relationship with God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Psalm 100 is brief but clear and direct in how we are to be in relationship with God. The psalmist calls to us to “know that the Lord is God” and assures us that we are “the sheep of God’s flock.” We are instructed to sing joyfully, serving the Lord, giving praise and thanksgiving to the One who is good, kind and faithful to all generations. Very succinct and all-encompassing advice, we might say.

One phrase deserves special notice, I think, for our everyday lives. It not only says “Give thanks to God” but follows that clause with “bless God’s name.” Having just come from a retreat where we were introduced to the Sufi practice of chanting the 99 names of God, I was reminded of my effort to learn the names of all those on retreat. There were only 16 of us so it was obviously much easier than learning all the names of God, and since we were in silence throughout the retreat one could argue that it wasn’t as essential as in most other situations. For me, however, knowing someone’s name implies at least a beginning of relationship and is important, no matter the situation. How might this also be true with regard to our relationship with God? In his commentary on Psalm 100, Lynn Bauman seems to agree as he writes the following:

If you do not know someone’s name, what is your relationship like? When you both know the name and the person behind the name in a personal way, how does the relationship change? Pause and reflect on your own knowledge of the name of God. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 252)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Known By Name

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Jesus, Mary Magdalene, name, name of God, post-resurrection, psalm 100, reflection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I spent the 24 hours from Friday evening at 7:00 to yesterday at 7:00pm with four lovely women delving into the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. I was going to say we took time out to sleep Friday night into Saturday, but I think in situations like that even our sleep is engaged in the reflection. One of the most beautiful moments in those Scriptures takes place in the garden where Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene who does not recognize him; she thinks, rather, that he is the gardener and pours out her distress that someone must have stolen the body of Jesus and she doesn’t know where they have taken him. We spent lots of time with the lines in the stories that we considered which note the lack of recognition of Jesus on the part of those to whom he appears and how they came to finally know him. This encounter with Mary is the most touching, I think, because most of us can relate to it from personal experience. When Mary begs to know where Jesus is, he simply replies by saying her name: “Mary” with, I imagine, all the feeling and tenderness of a beloved companion.

Our conversation about this text was spent in consideration of the way our name sounds from the mouth of one who loves us. Just the sound reveals the relationship. On hearing her name, Mary knew immediately that, however changed he was, it was certainly Jesus who was speaking to her. This morning I was reminded of this conversation and of the names we use to call on God by the appearance of Psalm 100 in the lectionary. I share the translation and commentary that I read as a synchronistic chance to reflect not only on the names of God but also of our human relationships and calling one another by name.

O, lands of earth, fill up with joy, and overflow in service to your God. Come before the holy presence, singing. Know this: I AM alone is God, and all that is and we ourselves are creatures made. Like sheep we enter through the gates of life to feed upon the living pastures unafraid. Our praise becomes the doorway to that realm where we can know and speak the sacred name and taste the everlasting good of God from age to age.

COMMENTARY: Verse 3 introduces the use of the sacred name, which has already been mentioned in verse 2 (as I AM). To know God is to know and be able to use or speak the name of God much in the same way we get to know someone and are able then to speak their name. Think about this imagery and the knowledge we have of the name of someone. If you do not know someone’s name, what is your relationship like? When you both know the name and the person behind the name in a personal way, how does that relationship change? Pause and reflect on your own knowledge of the name of God. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 252)

 

In the Midst of Little Miracles

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buds, Earth, fresh air, garden, gardening, joy, miracles, psalm 100, soil, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning my intention is to get outside early to work in my garden patch a bit and then to “play pick-up-sticks” gathering all the branches strewn all over the land by winter and early spring winds. That way I’ll be able to mow the lawn unhampered this afternoon when the temperature rises above normal, making the effort of this morning’s tasks prohibitive. One has to plan WITH the earth for greatest efficiency – as she can be capricious and always wins the spontaneity game. But how I love the days when I am able to be outside in the midst of little miracles: the feeling of the fresh air, the scent of newly turned soil, the bursting of buds! Today I will sing with the psalmist as I walk out the door: “O, lands of the earth, fill up with joy, and overflow in the service of your God. Come before the holy presence, singing…” (Ps. 100:1)