The Law and the Love - How do we grow?

Reading from Franciscan priest Richard Rohr's book  this week - Things Hidden/Scripture as Spirituality - I came upon the paragraphs below and have been thinking about them for a few days.  His premise (I believe) is that we Christians can get so hung up on the letter of the law that we cannot see nor hear Jesus' teachings to us about the law............maybe you'll read on, find it interesting, boring, confusing or enlightening - Happy Sacred Sunday!

"The reason we can move toward real freedom is because we started with moral laws and clear expectations from authority figures, which put good and needed limits to our natural egocentricity.  I'll bet most of you reading this book began rather conservatively.  A good therapist will tell you that predictability, order and tradition are really the only way to create a healthy ego structure in the early years.

Torah, or Law, is the best and most helpful place to begin, but not the place to stay, and surely not the place to end.  "Written letters bring death, but the Spirit alone brings life," as Paul said (2 Corinthians 3:6).

One person who understood this is Karl Rahner, the German Jesuit, possibly the single greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century.  He wrote volume after volume of theology as the church rediscovered itself before, during and after Vatican II.  Rahner wrote in his 1972 book, The Shape of the Church to Come:  "We must show men and women today, at least the beginnings of the path that leads credibly and concretely into the freedom of God.  But have no doubt, freedom is the goal.  Where men and women have not begun to have the experience of God and of God's spirit who liberates us from the most profound anxieties of life, and from our endless guilt, there is really no point in proclaiming to them the ethical norms of Christianity"  But that is exactly what we do. Unfortunately, most do not take the law as a foil, but rather as a fulfillment.

Until people have had some level of inner religious experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideas of Jesus.  Indeed, they will not be able to understand them.  At most they would be only the source of even deeper anxiety.  You quite simply don't have the power to obey the law, especially issues like forgiveness of enemies, nonviolence, humble use of power and so on, except in and through union with God.  But Paul comes at it from the opposite direction, "Give them the law until it frustrates them to hell!""

Any thoughts?.......

Sacred Life Sunday

Reading from the Episcopal Lectionary pages yesterday my eyes and mind paused and tried to absorb  these verses - seemingly a nice cap to my week of blogging about choices and changes:

Ecclesiastes 5: 19-20

Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil - this is the gift of God.  

For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

Choicing and changing, how can I avoid the undeniable gift of joy and free will, the opportunity to use my mind and physical being to care for others, to love those I would not love, to revel in the unimaginable beauty of this island home human creation calls earth?  How can I refuse to make the choices that will lengthen my life and the life of others, how can I refuse to live with no thought for the future of my great great grandchildren?  How can I deny for a single moment that God has given me the most wonderful gift of all - my life?

Choices and changes - may we all pay attention to those that we are called to make this day.  Amen

Waffle or Sugar.....

Image via Wikipedia

"Life is a reflection of your choices.  
If you don't like what it is showing you, choose differently."*

Eve Eschner Hogan from The Way of the Winding Path**

*Choices and changes - next week's topic here at the MINDSIEVE
**The Way of the Winding Path - a fascinating little book about one's journey through the labyrinth of life.  I highly recommend this read.

Teach Me

Psalm 25:4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord:

teach me your paths.

(The New Oxford Annotated Bible)

Teach Me - Let Me Know

As oft as the hour, the minutes, the seconds

As number the pebbles under my feet

 As the sun sparks the warmth of the past spring day 

As the spring warm breeze summons my senses

As many times as the beat of my heart

Teach me, show me, let me know

Psalm 25:4  Show me how you work, God; 

School me in your ways. 

 (The Message/Eugene Peterson)

Sacred Life Sunday

I like and related so much to the quote below that I absolutely lifted it from blogger Maureen at "Writing without Paper" I hope you'll read the quote then visit her site by clicking on the link's title below -

Thought for the Day: Lent's Challenges

Lent as a holy season challenges you to aspire to be as Godlike as possible in forgiving and loving. We've all heard how the average person actualizes very little of his or her potential mental powers; the same is true of our spiritual potential. Lent as a holy season challenges you to reach for that potential, to aspire toward the greatness of soul that comes from cultivating virtues 
like justice, mercy, and love.

~ Edward Hays

Photo Sunrise Sister - I'ao Valley Maui

 

In Memory

Recently I was privileged to be with Country Parson when he offered Psalm 18:1-19 to a bereaved family. Having just lost a family member who had lived a lifelong struggle with addiction, homelessness, and lastly kidney failure, I saw the family take comfort from these words - this is in memory of David.

^4-5 The hangman's noose was tight at my throat;
devil waters rushed over me.
Hell's ropes cinched me tight;
death traps barred every exit.

⁶ A hostile world! I call to God,
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence—
a private audience!

^16-19 But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!

Bible Verses from Eugene Peterson's "The Message"

Knocking....

"I bless Thee for that knocking at my heart's door that warns me of Thy waiting presence."

Quote from A Diary of Private Prayer - John Baillie

Trusting

Normally in the morning after prayer and meditation time, I open my computer, skim over my email messages and then read from the feeds of my selected bloggers. The comments I read are often continuations of my spiritual time. This quote from Diane Walker is an example of that continuation - I often find food for thought at Diane's site.

"Trusting God allows us to release our illusions of control and our
exhausting habits of separation"

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Photo SS - trusting at 30.0 feet

Something little

I have a habit, and maybe you do too, of planning what I think my day is going to "look like" in regard to scheduled meetings, errands to run, writing, cooking, etc. I check off the big pieces and then hope there's some time for little events to fall into place around the big ones. I find that normally works but right now with the big things loosely in my head, maybe I can plan some little things that will make my day and someone else's more pleasant....

1. Remember/reflect on a dream I had last night
2. Fetch newspaper (arf!), remove ad pages, place the comics on top, present to groggy loved one
3. Arrive at church in time to help somebody who needs it - out of their car - and into their pew
4. In church or at home, say a prayer for my enemies, ask that they forgive me
5. Listen to the preacher, I mean listen
6. Listen to God - in church or not - remembering I have to be quiet to listen and hear
7. Say hi to a person I don't know
8. Say hi to a child under 18 years old
9. Smile
10. Smile some more
11. Give thanks and more thanks
12. Give encouragement
13. Read or write a piece of poetry today
14. Enjoy my Sunday

Do you have a something little to do today for yourself or for someone else? I hope so.




Photo - SS - Dubrovnik, Croatia Cloister Cross

Taken for granted

So here I am with a thought for Sunday's post - one that I was sure I read in "Wisdom Distilled from the Daily - Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today", by Joan Chittister, OSB. Thumbing back through my many underlinings in this little book, I can't locate the quote. So now I think I might have come across it in "Embracing the Wide Sky" by Daniel Tammet - AND, of course, I can't find it there, so, I'm just giving both authors the credit for a thought I find fascinating..........

"What would we pay to see the sunset every day if it wasn't free?"

Yes, how would one feel if upon arriving in Maui or some other island paradise, or after driving out in the country and up a hillside to watch the sunset, to find that all the tickets for sunset were sold out.....the seats had all been reserved? You would not even be allowed to watch the glorious sunlight's reflection across the sky? How many gifts, like the sunset and the sunrise, do I receive each day that are so free and so taken for granted?

I pray that today I will take nothing for granted. I'm praying that for you also.

Discipleship Prayer

Let me not ask or expect too much for myself today
Rather that I should ask for help in expecting more from myself

Let me not wallow in criticism of others, nor waste time in regret
Rather may I rejoice in the work to repair and prepare my own path of discipleship

Generosity or judgment?

Help me to guard my tongue and sharp wit today
And to pray instead of speaking harsh and vapid words

Guard my inner steps while marking the pathway from heart to mind
Clear the spiderwebs, prickly brush, the dark and ready thorns

Keep my vision wide, my ears truly open
My lips speaking love, forgiveness, thanksgiving or nothing at all

Keep my heart beating strongly for the rights of others
While it, my mind and soul stand firmly resolved in this prayer

Sacred Life Sundays

A prayer from John Baillie's - A Diary of Private Prayer

Accompany me today, O Spirit invisible, in all my goings,
but stay with me also when I am in my own home and among my kindred.

Forbid that I should fail to show to those nearest to me the sympathy and consideration
which Thy grace enables me to show to others with whom I have to do.

Forbid that I should refuse to my own household the courtesy and politeness
which I think proper to show to strangers. Let charity today begin at home.
Amen

SS Photo - Grace Episcopal Church, Dayton, WA

A Prayer for Sunday Morning

O God,
give me grace this day to recognize the stirrings
of Thy creative spirit within my soul
Help me to listen to all that you say to me today
Let not the sounds of the world,
nor the sounds of my mind,
hinder my ability to recognize your voice
Amen

SS Prayer offering at "Awakening the Creative Spirit" retreat May, 2009

No limit on how close?

From Julia Cameron's book, Faith and Will, comes this scripture and reminder to me and maybe to you too-

"Proverbs 1:5 - Let the wise also hear and gain in learning. This scripture advises that no matter what level we have reached in our faith, there is always another level to which we can go. There is no limit on how close we can get to God."

It is so true that my faith and confidence in that faith can sometimes swell to perhaps just short of righteousness/arrogance? Conveniently and sometimes painfully, because the compassionate God to whom I worship is ever protective of my "over-confidence/conceit," I find She always has a way of putting out that stumbling block and saying "whoops" where is it you were going with that confidence?!

Have a great Sunday, worship some, play some, and let's be downright outrageously generous with our faith and thanksgiving! God will let us know if and when we over-do it!

Photo - Sunrise Sister - St. George Episcopal Church, Leadville, CO

Are you caring for your soul today?

Image via Wikipedia

From Thomas Moore's CARE OF THE SOUL - chapter 6, page 119 -

"In the soul, power doesn't work the same way as it does in the ego and will. When we want to accomplish something egoistically we gather our strength, develop a strategy, and apply every effort. The power of the soul, in contrast, is more like a great reservoir or, in traditional imagery, like the force of water in a fast-rushing river. It is natural, not manipulated, and stems from an unknown source. Our role with this kind of power is to be an attentive observer noticing how the soul wants to thrust itself into life. It is also our task to find artful means of articulating and structuring that power, taking full responsibility for it, but trusting too that the soul has attentions and necessities that we may understand only partially."

According to the book cover, Mr. Moore "is a leading lecturer in the areas of psychology, mythology, and the imagination and he lived as a monk in a Catholic religious order for twelve years, having degrees in theology, musicology, and philosophy." For whatever reason, I had predetermined that the book was probably written from his Roman Catholic point of view, while in fact he speaks of the soul really from his disciplines of psychology, mythology, and the imagination - perhaps, so far anyway, not neccessarily tilted from his Roman Catholic faith side - his degrees there being in theology, musicology, and philosophy. So, coming up against a "different" or more diverse representation of the soul than that I expected, how do I feel about the book so far - like it, not, am suspect from a Christian point of view, disappointed that he views the soul from other than what I expected?

I am NOT disappointed - rather from my own rational, perhaps simplistic point of view, I find this book provokes my awareness of a gift from the only unknown source that I feel comfortable in crediting and that would be God. I embrace the concept that my soul is part of the total gift of life from my Creator and that viewing it as "a great reservoir or, in traditional imagery, like the force of water in a fast-rushing river," gives me tremendous comfort and grounding knowing that I've probably just tiptoed into the water of what my soul is capable of achieving while in this mortal life and that through awareness of the gift, perhaps I can hope to grow into a life to be worthy of that for which it was intended.

So, I'll be continuing in this book and looking for the message that is there for me and my soul together to interpret or not.

Have you found books in your library borrowing or buying that you thought you would know all about and suddenly found a new concept that you either totally disliked or totally embraced? Do you cast aside books with which you disagree or labor on? Do you read an occasional book because you should? Do you think your soul (the shrinking or the expanding soul) has anything to do with the book selections you make?

I hope you think about and care for your own soul this day and perhaps in doing that you 'll be caring for someone else's as well. Happy Sacred Life Sunday!

Words out of context

Reading in Erik Kobell's, The God of Second Chances, I came upon these words on page 6, "I go to church to hear sermons about how the gospel ratifies my beliefs rather than shapes them, how the poor will always be with us, why masters must be good to their slaves and wives subservient to their husbands."

Words taken out of context are so easily twisted and turned to one's advantage. Certainly the phrase that Mr. Kobell uses is meant to be a question to the reader ...."Do you got to church to, etc." But just reading the phrase above, out of context, one could get the impression that Mr. Kobell has chosen to sit in a congregation where his personal needs are the only thing that matters i.e., he takes the biblical phrases he chooses to hear and reads no further, studies no more, listens without heart to the message that God is trying to deliver through Holy Scripture.

I do not mean to offend anyone who is a literal reader and believer that God dictated every word of Holy Scripture. So if you are that reader, I hope you'll bear with me and just keep reading. Although I do not believe that God dictated every word exactly as it was taken down by scribes and translated over the centuries, rather I believe that God's messages were written into the words of Holy Scripture and that I, as a believer, must work at understanding the messages that are being delivered to me. For me that means reading the text in in its context - meaning the historical time and events of the recording. Furthermore, it means trying to understand what those words would have meant in that place and time and most of all listening, truly listening and honoring what I believe the scriptures say to me today in my life as a living being, as a woman, mother, friend, artist, colleague, and Christian - in other words what the scripture says to me in regard to all of the roles that I find myself filling at this time in my short history.

Some would scoff and say "listening?"......you hear words in your head? Well, I can't explain the knowledge, courage, power, peace and direction I feel after engaging in active study, reading, and listening to Holy Scripture, but yes, though I could not articulate the "words" that are given me, I know as surely as I write today that God does speak to me, to us, through the words we find in the Holy Bible - any translation of it. I have begun to cease being startled when I come upon a familiar passage - familiar in that I've heard and studied it since childhood, when suddenly the words impart a new message to me so clearly I find it ridiculous that I've never "heard" that message before......

So, taking scripture out of context, quoting it as a tool or even a weapon occasionally does not make sense to me. The context, for me, is essential to my listening and hearing what the scriptures are saying - saying not to justify my goodness in attending church and hearing words from the pulpit, choosing those that make me feel most comfortable, but to justify my actions of peace, love and good will in my everyday life. Make sense? Maybe, maybe not. Thanks for listening!


Have a wonderful Sunday!

You, your soul and you

Slowly reading, mouthing the words, breathing the scriptural text one a.m. this week, I stumbled on these descriptive words in a footnote relating to Galatians 2:20 -

Paul's union with Christ did not destroy his own personality, but sustained and molded his (Christian)* life

I think I've probably spent a lot of time in my life thinking about personality - of self, and of others', what it/they should be, what it/they aren't, how to change it/theirs, and how one can't change it or theirs'. There's little to certify how my personality has been shaped, will continue to change, hopefully mature, and age.....but for me there's some comfort in knowing that if God chose "Mr. Bad Guy" himself, Paul, with the strengths and weaknesses of his personality, then sustained and molded Paul's life into that of a Christian, then there is hope for me and my personality to sign up as well without changing my personality into something I would find objectionable.

God's union with Paul did not change Paul's stubbornness, nor his self-confidence and boldness, nor probably his moods in the a.m. but it did mold his life and the lives he influenced into closer relationship with God. With Paul's life's words and actions revered for centuries, it is a comfort to me to know that no, I don't have to a become namby-pamby, meek and mild mouse, nor raging, bible-thumping evangelist to live out my faith in Christ. I just need to be - to trust, to accept, to unite, to build my own life and personality confident that my creation is a gift from the Creator.

And your personality - do you choose to allow it to happen, to take it for granted, to use it as you well please? Has a union with God, Allah, Creator, Mother God led you, your soul and your personality in places you did not expect it to go or are the questions I ask of you tedious, pointless, and unnecessary - depending upon your answer - well good for you:)!

Cease and Peace.....

From scripture reading this past week, two small phrases came into my being for reflection. The first thoughts were stirred by the last few words in Ephesians 6:9 - "with Him there is no partiality." The second reflection was prompted by words from Mark 35:39 when Jesus was speaking to the wind.

Cease to judge - Peace, be still

Can I, do I, live by these words? Can I compose myself for prayer, for active listening? Do I wish peace upon all those I encounter? Can I cease to judge? Do I wish to BE judged? If all I pass my judgment upon turn and judge me in return, can I stand or will I crumble? Will I weep in sorrow or anger, be surprised, or wish to explain how the judgment was unfair or maybe not quite right? Do I judge too much, too little, or too harshly? Why do I think I am qualified to pass any kind of judgment on others - those I know and even those I do not know? I fear I fall painfully short on these questions or proposals for my life. Perhaps you do too. Today I pray for myself and for others that I/we will feel the promise of these words and actions in our lives-

Cease to judge - Peace, be still

Photo - SS, neighborhood stroll