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Tag Archives: stars

Epiphany!

05 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

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be kind, epiphany, Herod, Magi, silence, stars, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “appearance” or “manifestation” and in Christian circles it is used in recounting of the story of the Magi’s visit to Bethlehem. We loved that story when we were children – most of all, I would guess, if one happened to be a boy who had a great costume in the Christmas play, that of a king “from the East.” The real event was more complicated than just their arrival, which happened significantly later than the date of Christmas and caused a massacre of boys under two years old.

There were no television cameras to announce these visitors. As is frequent in Scripture, the details surrounding this event are few. What we can extrapolate from the story is that these men were attentive to a “message in the stars” as well as to their dreams which told them to avoid Herod as they were leaving. There is a component of intuition and trust necessary for such an “epiphany.” One has to be listening deeply not to miss the signals. Isaiah the prophet gave a hint long before the Magi began their trek. ” Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow…” (1 Is 60: 1-6)

Have you ever had an “epiphany” in your life? It’s not always a religious experience. I remember a day in my college days when my philosophy professor failed to help me understand something important and suddenly one of my study partners said it in a way that illuminated it perfectly – clearly an epiphany! But how much more meaningful are the days when something touches us in a way that manifests God’s love – like a flash of light or a kiss directly to our heart! We can’t force an epiphany but we can make ourselves ready. Stay awake. Practice silence. Be kind. And once in awhile, at least, look up at the stars.

Count the Stars

28 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Abraham, Abram, covenant, descendants, Genesis, God, night sky, silence, stars, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weather

astarrynightskyLast night when I finally turned off my bedroom light and got into bed I immediately had to get up again. I have a high window on the wall beside my bed and in the dark I saw that the night sky was resplendent with stars! I knelt on my bed to see what I could from there and then moved to the window that looks out on the back yard. Not enough of a view, I went into the room next to mine to see if I could escape the fullness of the trees…Not really. I needed to be outside to get the full effect – but it was late and, not willing to disturb the lovely, absolute silence of the house, I went back to bed, but smiling inside and out.

This morning I felt a little envious of Abram (not yet Abraham since God’s covenant with him was yet to be made) as I read that God took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” God added, “shall your descendants be.” I can only imagine Abram’s feeling inside – a complex mix of amazement, wondering and perhaps doubt, since he and his wife were getting old and had no children. Maybe it was the enormity and beauty of the stars that convinced him to trust in God’s promise; the Scripture says that at that moment, “Abram put his faith in the Lord.” (GN 15:1-12)

Back in my own backyard, I was thinking more about the day with reference to Abram’s life and mine. The weather held everything yesterday: a cool breeze, magnificent sunshine, a quick, loud and torrential thunderstorm – even the smallest arc of a colorful rainbow, just for a moment – and, of course, the stars. I’m guessing, by what we know from the Scriptures and from what is easy to extrapolate from those texts, that Abram’s life was a bit like the weather – as is mine. It wasn’t all, as they say, “sunshine and flowers” but the rainbows and glorious night sky were likely enough for him to hold on when the hard times came. (Who of us would be happy to uproot our whole clan and move to another country at age 75? Maybe a modern-day refugee could give us a good sense what that costs.)

God made a covenant with Abraham that day and kept it. I’m certain that it had to be renewed in Abraham’s soul on a regular basis. We would do well to pay attention to the stars or whatever prompts us to bow down to the marvelous things God is doing in our lives that reminds us to stay the course for another day.

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 8

20 Thursday Apr 2017

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, born again, David Haas, Everything will live, nature, night sky, psalm 8, rebirth, resurrection, stars, Ward Bauman

astarrynightThis is the moment when, in concert with the Scripture texts about resurrection, the earth in my neighborhood begins to come alive again. I always say I would never want to live anywhere but in the Northeast of the United States because of the beauty and example of the cyclic nature of life that we see in the seasons. As I write, I hear somewhere deep inside the strains of a hymn by David Haas, repeating the words Everything will live! over and over. As I look out, I see the red that is the first sign of renewal on the maple trees. Soon there will be a red carpet on the ground and the tiny leaves will take their rightful place, having been “born again” from the sleep of winter. The psalmist sings the refrain: O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! (PS 8:2) Surely it is a moment to join in praising the Creator for such a gift and to recognize as well our own place in the creation.

Ward Bauman reflects on this theme, saying: This psalm is a beloved hymn to the God of the universe. Imagine the psalmist standing at night under the bright canopy of stars singing this poem. The night sky has always been for humanity a source of wonder and awe. Looking up on a clear night with the vast star-field spread out above puts our lives and world into a very different perspective. We see ourselves as small and insignificant in this vastness, but are we? A voice out of the universe seems to answer our question, “You have a sacred place and a role to fulfill.” (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 17)

As we move more deeply into this season of rebirth, let us be mindful of our relationship to the universe in which we live and to its Creator. In that mindful space, may we come to understand and to value more deeply the role that we are called to fulfill in the sacred place that we call our home.

 

 

 

 

 

A Gift From God

19 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

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gift, God, Hafiz, harmony, love, Love Poems From God; Twelve Voices from the East and West, St. Thomas Aquinas, stars, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theologian, war

amilkywayYesterday’s celebration was for me a great – and surely lasting – gift, a “love fest” of sorts where energy is high and everyone is happy for everyone else. Late in the day I opened a gift from a friend and found a book that I was thrilled to receive entitled Love Poems From God; Twelve Voices from the East and West. The book fell open to the poem I will type below that I assumed was written by the mystical poet, Hafiz, because of what it sounded like. This morning I was surprised to find the author to be St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the great (but in my acquaintance usually cerebral) theologian of the Roman Catholic Church. I have been softening to Thomas lately and will surely have a broader appreciation for his spirituality by the time I finish this book! Because it’s a book of poems, I suspect it will be a companion of mine for many years to come.

WE ARE FIELDS BEFORE EACH OTHER

  How is it that they live for eons in such harmony – the billions of stars – when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their mind against someone they know.

There are wars where no one marches with a flag, though that does not keep casualties from mounting.

Our hearts irrigate this earth. We are fields before each other.

How can we live in harmony?

First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.

Hymn to Matter

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

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atoms, blessed, evolution, God, matter, mighty, stars, Teilhard de Chardin, The Heart of Matter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, violence

astarWhat follows is only the beginning of a text found in Teilhard de Chardin’s book, The Heart of Matter. It touched me with its power so I offer it as my thought for this third day of my retreat.

Blessed be you, harsh matter, barren oil, stubborn rock: you who yield only to violence, you who force us to work if we would eat. Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion: you who unless we fetter you will devour us. Blessed be you, mighty matter, irresistible march of evolution, reality ever new-born: you who, by constantly shattering our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further in our pursuit of the truth. Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. (p.75)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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