Silverwalk Hermitage

Holy Spirit Stained Glass

I’m tired this morning.  I put too much coffee in my maker last evening; consequently, I was sick because it was so strong and then didn’t sleep well at all – no surprise there!  Yet, I have read and prayed the Morning Office.

Do prayers count when one’s mental attention is low?  I know God and the Holy Spirit know what we need and for what we pray; I hope they understand when I am more faithful in praying but less so in attention and involvement.

What do you think?

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thank you

“If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is “thank you,” that would suffice.”  Meister Eckhart

I/we make prayer way too complicated.  Prayer is meeting with God.  Sometimes we are yelling at Him, sometimes we are bargaining, sometimes we are pleading, sometimes we come in gratitude.  Have we said our prayer in the correct manner – did we include intercession, confession, praise and in summation, did we make sure it was said in the name of the Savior?  And who on Earth, by the way, decided exactly the “correct” manner?  Why do different denominations have differing prayer forms?  Be careful – I love praying “in form;” it helps me, particularly in praying the Daily Office, to know I am in like prayer with others around the world…however, formal prayer is not the end all but the beginning.

G-d wants to meet us, where we are in all our dirt and grime.  She already loves us according to Scripture:

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

What do I need to do?  Not much but a lot –

• I need to make myself present,
• I need to acknowledge the presence of God with, around and in me,
• I need to be still and listen.

This is a lot in our world – it has been a lot throughout history which is why the desert mothers and fathers went to the desert – to be away from the world as they wrestled with their selves while meeting God.

The prayers, needs and desires will come – they will float through your stillness, being lifted to God by the Holy Spirit.  Be not afraid of being still; be afraid of NOT willing to be still, not willing to listen, not willing to act in faith.   If your walk with Christ is as busy as your daily life in the world, how are you meeting God, really?   Some days I am not still – and I miss out and so does God.  She knows every hair on our heads – how can He not care about our daily needs, wants and concerns?  

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Billy Graham Crusade in Cleveland Ohio

I was planning to share a very conservative prayer attributed to Billy Graham.  In researching the proffered articles and thinking of the prayer to be published, it didn’t sound right; my gut said this was wrong.  And it was – it is a prayer not offered by Billy Graham, it had been featured on Paul Harvey but in checking my facts, they proved my gut reaction to be correct – so, the prayer is ditched.

Why do I go on about this?  In this day and age of instant communication, too many “facts” are being played loose and fast with readers not taking the time to fact check.  Snopes is my go to website for those emails and articles which don’t ring true.  On occasion, they are – and I learn something new.  Most often, they are not.  I then email back to everyone I am able the Snopes link so they, too, can learn to be more discerning in what they read and believe.

I do the same in my prayer life.   When I come across someone handing me Bible verses, I want to check them out in context.  Not only will I gain a better understanding of what is being said, I will more appreciate to where God is leading me.   I once read a book called The Christian Agnostic.  To me, being an agnostic Christian is being able to leave some things in mystery.

Guess what?  No earthquakes today, no rapture – we don’t know when Christ is coming back; certainly we cannot predict – it is a mystery.   Because you tell me something or inform me what God’s will is for me does not make what you say true – or not true.  Being an agnostic type of Christian, I am going to take what you say, assess the spirit in which it was said and bring it to God for affirmation.  I do not want my ego to make the decision – oh, no.  God Alone – She is the one to whom I try to listen.   Am I perfect in this?  Uh, no.  Am I improving? Yes, I think so because just writing this blog almost every day forces me to think of how God is part of my life, forces me to look closely at how and why I respond to what happens not only to me but to my colleagues, my family, my work, and the world.

Mystery made the disciples who they were after Pentecost.  A rag-tag group of followers of Jesus, how often they did not understand what He was saying or to Whom He was pointing.  Despite occasional flashes of understanding, for the most part, the disciples took the long road in understanding who and what Jesus was really about – till Pentecost.  They had remained as a cohesive group, they were supported by men and women and then, they re-met God in the form of the Holy Spirit.  Before that, they were agnostic – they believed Jesus but remained in mystery.  After Pentecost, the world exploded with the ring of truth and understanding emanating from these men and women.  They were willing to be in mystery, to not need every tittle and tot explained but to live in faith.   And then, to Live in Faith to Death because, having allowed themselves to be steeped in the mystery of the Lordship of Christ, they were christened into Apostles, ready to take on the world.

Many times, we don’t know everything right away.  We learn to trust.  We learn to question.  We learn to live by faith in one another and in God.  Uff da.

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Image via Wikipedia

I want to follow-up a bit on yesterday’s post.  I as a lay person needs to more fully appreciate the responsibility and freedom of being a walking, talking member of the body of Christ.   I am responsible for seeing Christ in everyone I meet – whether I like them or not, whether they like me or not, in any circumstance.  The Egyptians who died in the Red Sea were as beloved by God as the Israelites.  Osama Bin Laden was as beloved by God as those whose murders he plotted and carried out.  I do not have the mind of God; I do not know Her thoughts but I do know this: I am a child of God,  beloved and charged with two most important commandments:

1. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might,
2. And to love your neighbors as yourself.

Loving others who I would rather not is a hard pill to swallow.  God loves us even when we “do wrong,” by any definition.   Christ first loved me.  I can do no less than to love those others whom He loves as well.    I am pushed out of my comfort zone – meeting people of different social strata,  hearing stories I would rather not hear, biting my tongue when I want to shout, but I am expected to avoid reaching for the smelling salts and listen with the heart and love of God.

God is with us, God is with me.  The Holy Spirit is speaking would I listen.  The path has been demonstrated on Earth in human form by Jesus.  Help me follow with a meek, seeking and loving heart.

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Church of St Julian, Norwich

Seeing the comparatively mild damage and loss from the flood here at Silverwalk, I know many, many others have suffered far worse, even to the loss of life.  My heart and prayers go out to all of us who have lost and sometimes gained through this experience.

As I survey what needs to be cleaned, trashed, repaired, my goal of living as simply as possible is energized.  What better time when you have lost things than to take stock as to whether or not they truly need to be replaced.  If they do, what else in my house, yard, decor, can be given away, sold, shared with others in need to give my home and soul some much-needed space, to free up time currently spent with things enabling me to spend that time with people, horses and dogs, picking up more shifts at work, or in prayer.  Oh, you say, but simple living means you try to work less for the man and more for yourself.   Perhaps.  To me, as I read blogs, books and articles about living simply, the focus is not unlike that of Christ – “putting away childish things to put on the armor of God” – which I fear is a poor paraphrase of St. Paul.

My need to find God in my daily life, in the minutiae as well as the spectacular, to know She is with me every minute, to turn my heart, mind, soul, and life truly over to God, to actively listen with intention and a humble heart, is one reason I am so drawn to the Examen of Ignatian Spirituality.   The Examen walks me through my day previous in gratitude, then helps me anticipate the day to come under God’s love.  I crave and fall short on a daily basis to do the Will of God Alone.  He is the one I love – She is the one I seek.   Taking advantage of losses at this time seems providential.  I have been glacially, it seems, moving toward living a much more simple life.  An opportunity had been presented to push forward on the physical front, creating space for mind, body and soul.   Carpe diem!   Saints be with me and us: Brother Lawrence, who found God in the pots and pans of the monastery; Julian of Norwich, who was expected to die but instead was blessed with showings from Christ which enriched her life and, because God uses all, She ensured Julian would be the first woman to write a published book – at least in English; Paul, who can drive me crazy with his edicts and yet, when I read the context in which he wrote, he wrote to edify and address the spiritual and social conflicts of his day and ours; St. Benedict, who has blessed us all with his Rule; St. Francis for his call to poverty, to denounce excessive worldly possessions and to embrace with love and care the lives created by God: human, animal, flora, and fauna; and St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose writings I am just beginning to read.  The path and method he left us is making a deep impression on my heart and life.

K (keep) It S(simple).  I left off the “stupid.”  I thought it redundant .   Reading the Gospels, listening to Jesus, I hear a man of God who also is God telling us, showing us to love one another first.  Jesus made himself a servant, physically washing the feet of his disciples because he knows we are all slow on the uptake sometimes.  First, serve – glory comes from the Father, not from humankind and certainly, not from ego.   Rules and laws are good as guides, as tools but they can never take the place of meeting the needs of people, of animals, of our planet.   Jesus saw people first – he healed on the Sabbath, he had no place nor palace to lay his head, he depended on and loved his friends and he knew, he KNEW, God would provide.

KIS.  Have in you the mind of Christ.  Simple, do what needs to be done for those in need.  Keeping my life physically simple will better free me to follow God, where ever She may lead, even unto death.

P.S.  I am a Julian “fan.”  Hence I could not resist using a photo of the her church in Norwich, UK.  Please, read the related article below.  It is a splendid, clearly written treatise on how we should feel blessed by Holy Week, not bruised nor shamed by our sin.  I highly recommend it.  Thank you, Paul.

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Do You Still Dream?

Live with Flair: Do You Know What Quiescent Means?.

I have linked to Heather’s blog before.  This one today speaks of spring and the change and growth happening when nothing appears to happen during the winter.  In my family, a long time ago, my aunt sent me a card with a duck on the front – the duck looked tranquil on its water but was furiously paddling beneath.  The line was “just keep on paddlin”  We have shared that line in our family during any trial or tribulation.  When life gets rough, appear composed but keep on paddlin’.   What is making you paddle furiously today?  What has given you “quiescence?”  Quiet growth during an apparently dull time?

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Image via Wikipedia

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”

~ Habakkuk 3:17-18

I am reminded today of how fragile our normal lives truly are.  I was reading some online articles about the earthquake in Christchurch, NZ.  So many lives lost, so much destruction during a time when most everyone was about their daily business.  The quote above fits very well today in the light of their distress and loss of life.  I can never take for granted that tomorrow or this night will be “normal.”  I can only trust and rejoice in God that whatever may come or not, She will enable me to climb heights hitherto unimaginable.

I am reminded today of the uproar in the Middle East, where the Muslim countries are being up-ended by protesters tired of the status quo, demanding more responsiveness from their governments and some losing their lives, both in Egypt and particularly in Libya.  As I listen to the response of my country, the USA, I wonder how tolerant we as a nation truly would be should this happen here – and then it did, in Wisconsin….not the same premise but a similar protest en masse.

As these people come together assisted by the Internet and a desire for change, I worry about that particular change – who will really lead it?  who will really end in charge?  But, after today, I will remember Habakkuk – when all seems lost, I will yet rejoice in the Lord and I will pray.

“Lord God, much is happening on our blue marble, this planet you made we call Earth.  I pray for those suffering, who have died, who are seeking to help in the tragedy of NZ‘s earthquake, knowing You are there.  I lift up our Muslim sisters and brothers in the Middle East as they seek a better future and more responsive government, putting their lives on the line – I pray the governments which emerge are compassionate, seek the common good, and at last, find Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  I recall to you our fellow countrymen in Wisconsin, where good people face a loss of benefits because our economy was so greedy in the past.  Be with all those involved – help them reconcile not as red and blue, Democrat and Republican but as Wisconsin citizens.  I lift up those unmentioned here, of whom I know not but they are in need but You know; the Holy Spirit moves among them in Haiti, in the Sudan, in the Koreas, throughout our world and beyond.  All this I pray in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for always.  Amen.”

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