“Come Back to Me”

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Gregory Norbert, Hosea, loving presence, remember, return, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The Book of the Prophet Hosea is replete with messages of love and forgiveness. God sometimes seems more human there than in any other place with regard to the “chosen people,” Israel. In today’s lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures (HOS 11: 1-4, 8-9), we hear Hosea speaking for God saying, “When Israel was a child I loved him…It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms…” but then, disappointed, God laments, “Yet though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer…My heart is overwhelmed; my pity is stirred…” Like a disappointed parent, God is challenged by feelings of anger toward the ones on whom he has lavished so much love and care. But like those parents who love their offspring unconditionally, God remembers who he is: “I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you…” and, like a loving parent, God repents.

My heart is always stirred when I hear the song “Hosea” by Gregory Norbert that speaks of this relationship from God’s perspective. That we have a God so desirous of us, so willing to forgive in any situation, is enough for me to know. It reminds me that God is never absent but rather with me in every moment if I will just wake up to that loving presence that ignites my willingness to live my best possible life. It is in God, as St. Paul says, that we “live and move and have our being.” All we need to do is remember and return.

Sturdy Shelters

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Arizona, Cynthia Bourgeault, experiences, faithful friend, Ordinary Time, Peru, return, shelter, Sirach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, travel, Wisdom School

Here I sit, finally home again and happy to be. As I often think and sometimes say, I believe travel to be one of the best means of education. I’m sure it will take a long time for me to understand exactly how much I have learned from the people and the environments of Peru and Arizona over the past six weeks. How amazing that both of those experiences happened in such a short period of time and how wonderfully expressive of today’s first lectionary reading they both were.

In the Book of Sirach, chapter 6, we find that a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; the one who finds one finds a treasure...and, as I read it this morning, faces flooded through my consciousness. The welcome of our Sisters in Lima and the joy of my longtime friend and traveling companion, Maryjean, created a virtually seamless and delightful dive into a very different culture in Peru. Several familiar faces from past Wisdom Schools became a comfort zone in the desert during this past week and the sharing with many seekers of deep spiritual truths whom I met for the first time bolstered my confidence that the world will indeed endure. To share such an experience under the tutelage of the extraordinarily gifted Cynthia Bourgeault is always a privilege – never more than in this experience.

Not the least notable were the moments of return, sitting in our living room with photos and attempts at recounting all the happenings as well as hearing what had happened in my absence. And there will be phone calls and meetings in the days ahead with the others who share the “ordinary time” of my life. In knowing all of this, I know too that I am most blessed with all those who make up the collage of my life.

Who makes you grateful to be living in this moment of time?

God Calling

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Benedictine, coming home, fear, frailty, heart, Hosea, living deeply, new life, return, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Weston Priory

In the early 1970s the Benedictine monks of Weston Priory in Vermont began a music ministry that has enhanced the spiritual growth of innumerable people over the past half century. One of the most beloved of their early compositions that still appears in church hymnals and touches hearts of those who desire relationship with God, even while knowing human frailty, is Hosea. It is based on passages from the book of the prophet Hosea in the Hebrew Scriptures, which is one of the most tender texts in the Bible as it recounts the relationship of Hosea and his harlot wife, Gomer – a representation of God’s relationship with Israel.

Those words in this morning’s lectionary (HOS 2:16-22) float through my mind and call me back to the song. The music itself is full of longing while the words simply and directly present God’s desire for us. It sings in my heart this morning as I listen to it again on YouTube.

God calls: Come back to me with all your heart. Don’t let fear keep us apart. Trees do bend, though straight and tall. So must we to others’ call. Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life.

How can I resist?

 

 

 

 

 

Do It Yourself

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challenge, crimes, Ezekiel, gentler, heart, kinder, live, return, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The daily Scriptures continue to surprise me. Just when I think I have the important messages memorized, a verse shows up saying something I don’t remember ever hearing before. This morning it’s from Ezekiel. I’ve been confident for as long as I remember, knowing that God said “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you…” but this morning the verse before the gospel stuns me with: “Cast away from you all the crimes that you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” (EZ 18:31) That sounds like the retort of Jesus when the disciples tell him the huge crowd that’s been following him needs food and he says, “Give them something to eat yourselves.”

The Scriptures do note that occasionally Jesus says something to challenge them before he does something extraordinary to solve the situation – as in the miracle of the loaves. But this is different. This is the God of the Hebrew nation speaking about radical life change. Jesus does become the model for this, teaching us to live from the heart in compassionate love regardless of the consequences. It cost him his life. If, however, we are to develop such a generous spirit it has to come from the inside – from our own decision and action. A prayer of “God, make me kinder, gentler” isn’t answered with the wave of a wand. It takes constant practice and sometimes vigilance to achieve and there is always possibility for us to fall back into selfishness or lassitude.

There is a bit of encouragement for us here, however, as Ezekiel ends God’s message with the following verse intimating that it isn’t all on us to succeed; God will be our cheerleader in the process. “Why should you die, O house of Israel?” God asks. “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. Return and live!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even Now…Come!

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God's presence, heart, Joel, open arms, Psalm 95, return, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Between the prophet Joel and Psalm 95 this morning, I find it impossible to resist the invitation I hear from the God who never gives up on us. Come, sings the psalmist, calling us to be in God’s presence. Come and bow in worship before the one who made us and guides us as a shepherd. And as if that were not enough, verse 8 pleads with us: Oh, that today you would hear God’s voice! Harden not your hearts…! It’s as if God is saying, “Yes, of course I know everything: the good, the bad and the ugly! Your past is totally open to me, but I can’t resist you, can’t let you go! Even in your darkest moments, I have loved you and you belong to me.  So in this present moment, come!”

It’s Joel that seals the deal with those two enticing words. When we feel at our lowest, least lovable, Joel speaks God’s message: Even now, return to me with your whole heart, for I am gracious and merciful.

This season of Lent is one that has traditionally called Christians to repentance for past failings and to a “firm purpose of amendment” – actually something we ought to commit to every day of the year. This determination is not, however, something that should depress us because of our lack of perfection but rather encourage us because God’s expectations are probably more reasonable than our own. Waking up each morning to a God whose first word to us is “Come!” ought to be enough to move us toward the day with a heart full of gratitude and hope, of longing and confidence toward the God who turns toward us with open arms.

 

 

 

 

 

Return!

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come back, coming home, forgive, God, Hosea, protests, receive what is good, return, soul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, violence

One of the most popular and heartfelt “holy songs” of the early 1970’s, written at Weston Priory, Vermont in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, was based on the Book of the prophet Hosea. The haunting melody drew us in with the monks speaking for God, singing, Come back to me with all your heart. Don’t let fear keep us apart…Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life. There is a circle dance that we do now in wisdom schools that similarly calls us as we walk while singing: Return again, return again, return to the land of your soul…

Both of these melodies play in my head this morning as I read the text from Hosea calling Israel to a return to God. (HOS 14:2-10) The violence in our country is a daily thing this week – violence erupting last night among the people in the protests against violence! Like Israel of old, we seem to have lost our way. How are we to turn back now? Re-turn, God says. Keep turning. Turn until you meet the other turning toward you. Return to who you are. Return, says the Lord to Israel. Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say to God, “Forgive all iniquity and receive what is good…” Let the one who is wise understand these things; let the one who is prudent know them.

Whom will you meet and where will you find peace as you turn – and re-turn – this day?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Embrace of Reconciliation

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exile, glory, mercy, perfect peace, psalm 85, return, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, turn toward God

Psalm 85 is seen by some scholars as a hymn based on the experience of return from exile and is expressive perhaps of what can happen to us first personally and then corporately when we turn toward God as the center of life. This is beautifully expressed in all three translations that I read this morning. Here is my favorite.

To everyone who turns their face towards you, you come so close and glory floods the landscape of the soul. And in the secret places of the heart your mercy and your truth shall meet at last in full embrace, and right-relationship and peace kiss one another there. So truth is finally born in full; it springs from earth full grown, and heaven reaches out restoring balances to all. And from that marriage, prosperity unmeasured fills the lands and yields a harvest of unimagined good, and makes the path of justice smooth between all peoples everywhere, for everything in you knows perfect peace. (vs. 9-14)

May it be so in our world in our time!