So Many 40’s

We are in the midst of the season of Lent in the Christian calendar.  Lent is forty days long, excluding Sundays which are of Lent but not in Lent.  Last Sunday was the second Sunday of Lent.  I have been thinking of the fact that the number forty (40) occurs frequently in the bible.  If you are familiar with the bible, I’m sure you can think of some of the times when this happens.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  It rained for 40 days and nights during the flood which God sent to cover the earth.  The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years after escaping from slavery in Egypt.  Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and night in his encounter with YHWH (God).    That is just a few of the better-known examples of the number 40 occurring in the bible.  However, if we take a bit of a dive into this, we will find there are many more – including some that are rather obscure e.g. the Egyptians spent 40 days embalming the body of Jacob – how’s that for obscure.   

So, is this just a coincidence – or is there a deeper meaning in the number 40 than just a measurement of mathematics or a length of time?  Well, to explore this I did what most people would do these days, I started with a question to AI.  I found out that the number 40 occurs 146 times in the Old Testament and New Testament.  This is the type of question that AI is good at answering. As noted above, there are occurrences where the number seems to be significant and others where it is not so much.

Here’s a few more examples:

·         Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days between his resurrection and ascension

·         Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights without food to Mount Horeb

·         The first three kings of Israel—Saul, David, and Solomon—each reigned for 40 years

·         Several judges, including Othniel, Deborah, Barak, and Eli, served for 40 years.

·         The holy of holies in the Temple was 40 cubits long 

·         Mosaic Law allowed a maximum of 40 lashes (stripes) for a guilty person

·         Goliath taunted the army of Israel for 40 days before David defeated him

·         The prophet Jonah warned that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days

I will leave it to you to decide if the examples are significant or not – for me some are and some don’t seem to be.  However, taking the big picture view, it seems to me that 40 has a significance beyond just its use as a measurement or in counting.  Looking at the symbolic meaning of the number, we find that 40 can symbolize completion.  Forty can be used to represent a complete generation.  Turning to another source for symbols, the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols states, “the number forty marks the completion of a cycle, ending in a radical change or a passage to a fresh level of activity or of living.”  Symbols can be difficult to tie down their meaning.  However, it does give us a different way of looking at the biblical stories.  For me, the 40 in those stories don’t as much mean a measurement but, rather, can represent the story of completion.  Whether the Israelites were actually in the wilderness for 40 years, rather it was a completion of their time of preparation for entering into the Promised Land to fulfill the promise that God had made to Moses. In the bigger picture, we are not ready to move to the next phase of something until we have completed the current stage we are living in.  That’s why we are not born fully formed – like Athena who came fully formed out of Zeus’ forehead.  We need to grow through the stages of life from infancy to childhood to adult and on.  Hopefully we will continue growing throughout our lives.

Something to consider and pray about in Lent.  May your Lent be a blessed one.  

 

The Two Adams

Recently, I heard an interview with New York Times Columnist David Brooks in which he referred to the idea of two Adams in the biblical stories of creation.  He noted how the two stories of creation in the book of Genesis give a very different picture of Adam and how humankind is still living out those different models of humankind.  Brooks noted that this idea was not original to him and it is one that I had not heard of before but on reflection it contains a great deal of truth.

First, let’s review what Genesis tells us about creation.  There are two accounts of God creating the world – the first in chapter 1, and the second in chapter 2, which, in my edition of the bible (the NRSV) is captioned ‘another account of creation’.  In both accounts, God creates humankind.  However, the accounts are very different for how those humans live after the creation.  In the first account, God creates humans in God’s image, male and female God created them.  In the second account, God creates ‘the man’ (Adam) from the dust of the ground – and, of course, later creates the first woman from the man’s rib. 

That is very different, however, the differences only get even more different.  In the first account, God gives Adam (and Eve actually) dominion over the earth, with the charge that they should be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over everything that God has created:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1: 28)

In the second account of creation, God places the human couple in the Garden of Eden – first the Adam alone but then creating Eve as his companion, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Genesis 2: 15) 

The first account is one of domination.  Adam – humankind is to subdue the earth and all that is in it.  The world is to be used for humankind’s purposes.  Humans have been very good at this and continue to do it today.  We find new and improved ways of using the resources – both animal, vegetable and mineral – unfortunately, often to the detriment of the world God has created.  Admittedly, there have been benefits as well as detriments, but we are facing an ecological disaster of – well – biblical proportions, if we continue on the course we have set in conjunction with the first Adam.

We have the other option - humans (Adam and Eve) who were set in paradise and lived in harmony with nature.  That has not gone nearly as well as fulfilling the first account.  I must be honest and admit that I don’t see how that vision of humankind could be brought about in this world as it stands now.  We were, after all, expelled from paradise.  The best we can do is to take steps – small ones and perhaps not so small ones – to use that second vision of creation as a guide to how we should be living in harmony with creation.    That is something to consider in this season of Lent.

Being Truly Humble

I am currently leading a Lenten book study at my church, St. John the Evangelist, Strathroy, Ontario.  We are studying The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.  The book is an analysis of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son. 

One of the points the author makes is that the Father in the parable puts aside his station and acts in a way that the patriarch in his time would not.  He accedes to the demand of the younger, prodigal son to give him his share of his inheritance.  Keller notes that this is like the son saying to the father, you are dead to me as the inheritance would not be given until the father was dead.  If this happened in that time, the father would normally have disowned and driven out the son in disgrace.  Further, when the prodigal younger son comes to his senses and returns in defeat, the father sees him in a distance and runs to greet him.  Keller notes that in those times, a patriarch would never run as it was undignified.

In effect, the father in the parable is portrayed by Jesus as putting aside his pride and humbling himself because of his love for his son.  I would like to explore what it means to be humble.  I believe that the key to true humility is to see yourself clearly. 

Cole Arthur Riley declares, “I linger in the mirror, and I don’t look away.”  To see yourself and not look away is, I believe, key to self-knowledge which, in turn, is necessary for true humility.  It can be a challenge to see yourself clearly.  I remember reading a definition of humility that really grabbed hold of me.  To be truly humble is to see yourself clearly.  This was a bit of a puzzle initially, but on reflection, I realized that if you see yourself clearly you will realize that you are not the self-image that you have constructed for yourself – this is sometimes called the persona.  To look in the mirror and not look away is to see yourself clearly with all the wrinkles and spots - age spots and a hairline which seems to be receding each day.  Of course, that is the physical part of myself.  It is also true for the soul and spirit as well as the body.  The impulse is to look away or at least not look too closely at any of these parts.

Author Judy Cannato speaks of an alternative way of looking at yourself in all your imperfections.  It is to take a long loving look at the real:

She speaks of the approach to contemplation by “Dorothee Sölle [1929–2003] who maintains that radical amazement is the starting point for contemplation. Often, we think of contemplation as a practice that belongs in the realm of the religious, some esoteric advanced stage of prayer that only the spiritually gifted possess. This is not the case…. The nature of contemplation as I describe it here is one that lies well within the capacity of each of us. To use a familiar phrase, contemplation amounts to “taking a long loving look at the real.”

God knows – literally and figuratively – that there are aspects of myself which I wish I didn’t have.  They are the ghosts that visit me at 4:00 in the morning – things I have done I wished I had not done or had done differently and the things I had not done I wish I had done – it is tempting to complete this with the line form the prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, ‘and there is no health in me’.  But no matter in what way my reality of myself does not live up to my self-image, I know that there is health in me because I am created by a loving God. 

However, what I have learned over the years is that I am loved despite, or perhaps even because, of who I am.  I can love myself because this is the way that I was made with my strengths and weaknesses.  I can love myself because God created me this way and God loves all that God created.  I have not learned this easily and am still learning it.

I will close with another saying about humility, ‘being truly humble means that you cannot be humiliated.’  As someone who has been humiliated at times in my life, I know that I have not achieved true humility despite my best efforts.  That is something I can seek this season of Lent.

May you be blessed to greet the person you see each morning in the mirror with humility and also acceptance and understanding.

 

Lent for All of Us

 Sunday was the first Sunday of Lent.  Lent is not something that you will find in the bible.  There is no Lenten observance in the bible.  It was not and is not part of the Jewish religion, so it was not something that Jesus observed or even the first Christians who were all Jews. It is one of the seasons in the church year like Advent or Pentecost or Christmas or Easter.  Advent and Lent are similar in that they are times of preparation.  Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas and in the same way Lent is preparation for Easter. 

Lent began last Wednesday, and we marked it with the Ash Wednesday observances.  If you were at the Ash Wednesday service here or other places you would have received a cross in ashes on your forehead.  The ashes were produced by burning the palm crosses from last Easter. 

When the priest marks you with the cross, he or she states, ‘remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.’  It is a reminder that we are mortal and our time on earth is limited.  We must consider how we use that time.  We know that we do not always live the life God intends for us.  That is one way of looking at sin.  We sin when we separate ourselves from God and do not live God intends us to live. 

So, we are now in a time of preparation for Easter.   We have forty days in total to reflect on our lives, to repent those things that keep us from being in relationship with God.  We do this in two ways.  First we acknowledge that we have done things we should not have done and commit to not do them.  Second, we acknowledge those things we have not done that we should have done and commit to doing them.  We know that being human and imperfect we will not succeed all the time but we have the intention of making the effort to do just that.  Often in Lent we focus on giving up something as a sacrifice.  We will forego something that we desire as a way of following God.  We can give up a favourite food or some activity we enjoy as a symbol of our need to change our lives.  You could call this the way of negation.  You can also take the way of affirmation by doing something that you have not been doing previously.  This could be contributing time, energy, and financial resources assist those in need. 

Lent is, in its essence, a Christian practice.  However, it can be helpful for non-Christians.  Here is a quote from a Christian source, Anne Germond, the acting Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, which can be applied to everyone’s life in this time:

But what if we thought of Lent as a God-given time of disruption the normal flow of our lives, inviting us to re-examine them, laying bare and shining the spotlight on all that is wrong – the pathological unease or “disease” in our world?  In the context of global warming, greed, violence abroad and at home, and of our inability to seek peace with our neighbours…

 

I found the following on the internet which addresses both ways – giving up things i.e. fasting and doing something new i.e. feasting or feeding our souls:

Fast from fear; Feast on Faith
Fast from despair; Feed on hope.
Fast from depressing news; Feed on prayer.
Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger and worry; Feed on patience.
Fast from negative thinking; Feast on positive thinking.
Fast from bitterness; Feed on love and forgiveness.
Fast from words that wound; Feast on words that heal.
Fast from gravity; Feast on joy and humour.

May we all find ways to fast and feast in this season of Lent. 

Decoration or Foundation

 One of my daily spiritual practices is to engage in Centering Prayer.  This is a form of meditative prayer in which you empty your mind (as much as possible) and open yourself to God.  When I do this there are inevitably thoughts which come unbidden.  The idea is to not dwell on them but let them float away and return to the open mindfulness.  Recently one of the thoughts which came to my consciousness was the word ‘decoration’.  Now I usually don’t remember what the images or thoughts are as the practice is, as I noted, to let go of them and not dwell on them.  However, this one stuck with me.

What, then, could the word decoration signify?  My first thought was what it rhymes with foundation.  I also noted that we are on the cusp of the season of Lent.  Lent is a time in which we remove the decorations – the things which are not essential or foundational in our lives and deepen our relationship with God in preparation for the Easter Resurrection in our lives.

What, then, is foundational to our relationship with the divine?  Coincidentally – not that I truly believe in coincidence – I began reading – rereading actually – a small book on prayer and contemplation, Encountering the Depths, by Mother Mary Clare SLG.  I picked this book from my bookcase shelf while looking for something after finishing the book I had been reading – A Short History of Myth, by Karen Armstrong.  You could actually say that this book chose me as I had forgotten it was there and I don’t remember how it came into my possession but it was used and cost all of 25 cents.  I will quote from the part I have just finished reading which seem to answer this question:

Prayer and daily life are indivisible.  We must learn to pray as we are, and not as the ideal people we would like to imagine ourselves to be.  We must grow to understand ourselves and accept that it is at the time when our passions are most active, and our minds most distracted, that we can grow to a knowledge of ourselves as real persons.  That is the point of tension at which we must offer ourselves to God in prayer… Prayer, which is the fruit of true conversion, is an activity, an adventure, and sometimes a dangerous one, since there are occasions when it brings neither peace or comfort, but challenge, conflict and new responsibility.  This is why so many old ways of praying, and books about prayer seem to let us down.  Too often when we use them, we were hoping to get something for ourselves from prayer, perhaps security or a growing sensible realization and knowledge of God.  To seek such things in prayer is a mistake. The essential heart of pray

That seems to be foundational to me and a good Lenten observance.  I invite you to offer your true self as you are to God in prayer on your Lenten journey.  May it be blessed.

Shriven by COVID

Today is Shrove Tuesday or, less traditionally, Pancake Tuesday when Christians and non-Christians alike feast (pig out) on pancakes.  Christians traditionally observe it as a feast before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent and prepare for this solemn season by not only feasting but also going to church to be shriven.  This is somewhat contradictory.  Christians were to be shriven – to confess their sins and be forgiven as a prelude to Lent.  Shrove Tuesday is therefore a day to not only indulge yourself in a feast before the Lenten fast in preparation for Easter.  But there you go, who says that religious observances need to be completely logical – let the mystery be.

So, let’s celebrate and get fat (it was also known as Fat Tuesday) and turn our minds to what we do or don’t do as part of our Lenten observance.

It seems to be that we have now had a year of being shriven – we are down to the basics in our lives.  We haven’t been partying with others – or have not supposed to have been doing that.  We have been eating at home instead of eating in restaurants albeit perhaps having take out meals.  One of the things I look forward to when we are back to some semblance of normal is going out to our local restaurant on a Saturday morning for the breakfast special and reading the Saturday Globe and Mail.  Or there is the other old favourite of a movie and dinner which sometimes means the guilty pleasure of a double feature with popcorn and pop for “dinner”. 

That is not much of a sacrifice when you think of all that many people have had not give up in the last year – not to mention those that have been infected with COVID and the serious medical consequences and even death that can result.  Personally, I have little to complain about and much to give thanks for.

Will this year-long shriving – being shriven of those things which are so important in life – have a lasting effect on people and how we approach life once COVID has been defeated or at least controlled?  Will it make us appreciate more fully the joys of family gatherings, or gathering with others for many different occasions?  Will practicing Christians or those of other Religions return to worship together in person or will we be satisfied to worship by gather remotely via social media?  Christians have the assurance from Jesus Christ that where two or three are gathered together in his name he will be there.  Does gathering together via the internet qualify?  Perhaps, but I am not sure that Jesus would concur if he returned tomorrow.  To go down that theological rabbit hole further, can a concertation of the Eucharistic elements – the bread and wine in the communion - be valid if conducted electronically.  I leave that for our Bishops to ponder. 

Another thing I have truly missed is gathering with others to sing – whether it is in church or in secular gatherings.  There can be some singing on-line but, truly, it is not the same muting your self and singing along with a leader or singing your part alone on Zoom and having it put together remotely and listening/viewing the modern miracle of all the singers coming together in song in the same tempo and hopefully in tune. 

Returning to normal will, I am sure, not be the same.  However, we can reflect on this past year of being shriven by COVID and appreciate what is important and meaningful in our lives and what of that experience we want to incorporate to enable us to live more fully as God intends us to live.  The end seems to be in sight but do not let your guard down – keep social distancing, wear your mask, and don’t forget to wash your hand for the full recommended period – what is it, singing Happy birthday twice? 

Blessings on your Lenten journey shriven or not.

Holy Boredom

Last week I listened to the C.B.C. Ideas program, The Tedium is the Message, http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-tedium-is-the-message-1.3862159.   

There were a number of “ideas” in the program which I found interesting.  Some were surprizing and some were not.   One of the not-surprizing ideas presented was that boredom is becoming all pervasive in society.  Ironically, this is happening when we have more and more ways of avoiding it with the availability of social media and media in general.  Our smart phones are always with us with ever more functions and apps to catch our attention and distract us.  However, boredom does seem to be inevitable and the more we try to avoid it the more we are subject to it.  The question that this poses for me is, “what we are being distracted from?”

As noted in the introduction to the program on the website, “Boredom is really about that connection between me and the world. But when we're bored we're disengaged. That connection between us and the world breaks down” (John Eastwood).  It almost seems as if there is some force at work which is attempting to get our attention. 

Another idea presented in the program is that boredom functions as a mechanism for creativity.  If we are bored we are more likely to be encouraged to be creative.  If creativity is one of the God-given gifts which is part of what it means to be created in the image of God―which I believe it is―then I would suggest that God is behind, or perhaps in front of, the force at work attempting to get our attention.  I like the idea of God standing in front of us and desperately waving His/Her/Its arms at us to get our attention. 

The program demonstrated the lengths that humans will go to, to avoid boredom.  It cited an experiment which placed the subjects in a state of boredom i.e. they were put by themselves with nothing to do for fifteen minutes.  They were given the facility to shock themselves with a painful but not harmful electric shock.  As reported a “large percentage” of subject chose to shock themselves to relieve the boredom.  One subject even shocked himself over one hundred times―but perhaps there was something else going on with that person than boredom. 

In the Boredom Lab at York University people were given repetitive tasks to induce boredom.  The key to these tasks was that they were meaningless.  The implication from this is that boredom will be lead to the impetus to find meaning in our lives.  Again, this seems to be the force at work behind boredom.  

If we go back to the quote above, boredom seems to be an impetus to connect us to the world.  I propose that the ultimate connection is with God; after all, connections with the world are a way of connecting with God’s creation.  Perhaps that is why we were created with the capacity for boredom―to find the ultimate meaning in life; connection with the divine.

A Lenten practice which you could consider (it not too late), would be to live with boredom when it occurs―even for a short period like fifteen minutes―and see where that takes you.  You may be surprized. 

Blessings on your Lenten journey.

Manumission

Manumission; from Latin manumittere, literally ‘send forth from the hand’.

This past week, Lorna and I had one of our discussions that landed on the issue of the history of slavery in Upper Canada (Ontario).  We realized neither of us were really aware of the details of that history.  After some exploration by Lorna, what we found out was very interesting.  As significant as the issue is to our history, that is not primarily what I want to talk about this morning―at least not directly.

To review briefly what we discovered The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire (with the exceptions "of the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company").  This was the result of a movement lead by such worthies as William Wilberforce.  However, Canada, which was a colony of England, led the way in this area. In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe, signed the Act Against Slavery. Passed by the local Legislative Assembly, it was the first legislation to outlaw the slave trade in a part of the British Empire.

In the course of our investigation we came across the word “manumission” and, being unfamiliar with the word, I was interested in its meaning.  I was only aware of the concept of emancipation in relation to slavery i.e. the abolition of slavery by a country as in the case of the Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada.  However, manumission deals with the setting free of an individual slave by his or her owner.  The root of the word is Latin; manumittere, literally ‘send forth from the hand’.

It stuck me that this is a very apt term to consider in the season of Lent.  If we consider that in Lent our journey is to be more intentionally the people that God intends us to be, then what God does is to set us free from the bonds of sin i.e. those things which keep us separated from God.  If that is the case what are we to do with this new-found freedom?

Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidence), at my new parish we are using the video series, “Thy Kingdom Come” for our Lenten reflections.  This series is produced by the Church of England and features a discussion led by with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.  The topic of Sunday’s video was evangelism

. 

At St. John the Evangelist in Strathroy we had technical difficulties in trying to access the series.  The first week the video series could not be downloaded from the website as it crashed.  The second week was more successful but not entirely as the sound quality of the speakers on our parish hall did not provide a very clear sound (complicated by the English accents of the participants).  That was overcome (at least from the perspective of sound quality) this week with the addition of a blue-tooth speaker.  I mentioned to Rev. Karen Nelles, the Rector, that these days theological training should include training in electronics.  She noted that the evaluation form currently used for clergy in the diocese has a section on competence with electronics.  It makes me very happy I am retired and don’t have to worry about that being an honourary assistant. 

However, I digress; to get back to my topic for today, if we are set free from the slavery of sin and sent forth from the hand of God, that is exactly what evangelism is about.  To evangelize is literally to follow the example of the disciples who were sent forth to spread the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Good News is perhaps not great news for most Anglicans, at least in this part of the world, who are not raised in a tradition of evangelism―at least in the traditional sense. Evangelism is not something that Anglicans are comfortable with.  The Church of England and the Anglican Church in Canada have been the established church and the church of the establishment.   Traditionally Anglicans didn’t need go out and convert the non-churched around us because most people were already churched. 

However, I take comfort in the words of one of the participants in the video discussion that we can never convert someone, whatever that may mean for the person; that is God’s work.  What then is left for us to do?  It is, I believe, sharing with people what it means for us to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.  It also means living lives that reflect what that means for each of us and to show that to the world.  To do that we need to know it for ourselves and be clear about it; or at least to have questions which we are seeking answers for.  That is the challenge for Anglicans and all people of God. 

Blessings on your Lenten journey,

Kenosis part 2

On December 18^th, I wrote about Kenosis or self-emptying as a way of observing Advent.  I want to continue my thoughts on the subject as a way of observing Lent.  The Gospel reading for yesterday, the First Sunday of Lent, was Mark’s account of the baptism of Jesus immediately followed by Jesus spending forty day and nights in the wilderness (Mark 1. 9-15). 

I appreciate Mark’s account of Jesus going into the wilderness as the Gospel states that “the Spirit immediately drove (my emphasis) him out into the wilderness.”  The other two synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Luke, have a different description of this action by the Holy Spirit, they both say that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.  There is a significant difference between being led into the wilderness and being driven into it.  I have long preferred Mark’s version because it emphasizes Jesus’ humanity.  In my theology, if Jesus was fully human he had, to some extent, the human reluctance to fully embrace what he understood as the will of his Heavenly Father.   This is most dramatically demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane before Good Friday.  I’m sure that Jesus had a very good idea of the trials and challenges that he would face in the wilderness and did not embrace those with open arms.  However, he also knew that he would need to have the wilderness experience to prepare him for his earthly ministry.  Therefore, I appreciate the idea of the Spirit, shall we say, strongly encouraging Jesus to undertake that necessary journey.

In my scenario, Jesus was experiencing the dissonance between what we want and what we believe that God knows we need.  That is why Jesus had to be driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit―God in action.  This is an ongoing challenge for most, if not all of us; to do what we know we should be doing and do what we want to do.  St. Paul expressed this very well, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15). This is where the ego comes in.  The ego wants to be in control and wants what it wants.  It is an ongoing challenge to have the ego serve God and not the other way around―but that is a topic for another day. 

The challenge for my Lenten journey is to give up some of priorities set by my ego and to let it be in the service of God.  To do that I need to empty myself of some of the things that I want and allow space for God to enter.  Actually, it is more a case of recognizing God’s presence in myself and my life because God is always there.  However, I often am not aware of God’s presence as I am distracted by all the activities and wants and desires in my day to day life.

One way which I do that is through Centering Prayer.  This practice involves emptying you mind of all thoughts―or at least trying to because our western minds are not welcoming of having no thoughts.  In Centering Prayer, the minds tendency to fill up any empty spaces is referred to as “the monkey brain”.  I have practices Centering Prayer for some years now.  I was introduced to it in the Spiritual Direction training.  I have attempted to do it regularly but have not always been successful.  By regularly I mean one session daily for 20 minutes.  When thoughts come into your head during the prayer session, as they inevitably do, the idea is to not dwell on them, just let them float away. 

Hopefully, this respite from brain activity and thoughts will make me more aware for God’s presence in my life.  I have decided that my Lenten practice will be to engage in Centering Prayer every day in Lent.  I must admit I was not successful yesterday.  I did attend three worship services including a wonderful sung Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The others were at two congregations in my new parish where I preached at both services.  Fortunately, Lent does not officially include Sundays, so I guess I am off the hook.  However, I think that is my ego trying to justify the things I have not done that I should have done. 

I am eternally grateful that God is good and forgiving of all our shortcomings, both large and small.   

May you have a Holy Lent.

Greg

Sermon March 13, 2016 Lent 5

¹⁹I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, ²¹the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

During Lent we have been exploring our journey with Jesus as we travel to the Easter celebration by exploring ways of Spiritual Renewal.  Spiritual Renewal is a way which can help us navigate through those times in life in which we feel as if we are tottering on the edge of the pit.  It can also help us to more closely follow our Saviour each day – in the good times as well as the bad times.  

Today Isaiah declares that God will give water to God’s chosen people in the wilderness.  Spiritual Renewal calls us to different ways of drawing  on the water of salvation.  This is an echo of what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well:  “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus tells us to draw of the water which he provides— that water of eternal life.  This is the goal of Spiritual Renewal.  The first way we explored was a method of reading scripture - Lectio Divina, Holy Reading .  This is not bible study in the traditional sense.  Rather it is a form of prayer using scripture.

We next explored walking the Labyrinth - the moving prayer in which we follow the twists and turns of our spiritual life to the centre and back.  Sometimes it seems we are getting close to the centre and then there is a sharp turn in our lives and we seem to be moving away from our goal.  However, if we follow the path that our savour prepares for us we will reach it.  Last Sunday we explored a way that God speaks to us which has been lost for many centuries—dreams which can be called God’s Forgotten Language.  Today I invite you to experience a form of prayer which also helps us draw the water of eternal life from the well; Centering Prayer.   Centering Prayer is a form of silent prayer in which you make space for you to be more aware of God’s presence in your life.  God is always there but we often have difficulty perceiving that presence.  The process is quite simple with just a few steps. 

Choose a word or phrase that resonates with you as an expression of your intent and desire - It use the word ‘return’.  Sit comfortably and upright, eyes closed, breathing naturally, and begin to repeat this sacred word silently. As your attention is focused on the desire behind the word, gradually let the word slip away; Rest in silence.  You will find that thoughts and images and feeling may come into your mind.  We are not used to quiet in our culture – our brains want to fill silence.  This has been called our monkey brains - which is very descriptive.  When these thoughts, images or sensations arise, gently return to the sacred word as a symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within you. 

The recommended period for prayer is twenty minutes each day.  However, we will begin today with five minutes to give you a taste of the experience.  When the time is up I will close with a prayer.

Sermon February 14, 2016 Lent 1

We are now in the season of Lent.  Last Wednesday should have marked with the imposition of ashes on our foreheads with the words, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.  Unfortunately Mother Nature did not cooperate and we did not observe Ash Wednesday or Ash Thursday.  Therefore today, in addition to being the First Sunday in Lent will be Ash Sunday and we will mark it with the imposition of ashes. 

Lent is a time to put into focus not only our mortality and all that that means, but also our humanity.  We are created in the image of God and are called to live in a way that will explore and fulfill that image.  Lent is especially a time in which we can focus on the renewal of our calling to answer that call from God to become more fully a reflection of God incarnate—the image of God made flesh.  It is a time of spiritual renewal. 

One of the great prophets of Spiritual Renewal is Henri Nouwen.  He had a great connection with the L’Arch Daybreak Community in Newmarket living there in the final years of his life.  In his book entitled Out of Solitude Nouwen writes:

In solitude we become aware that our worth is not the same as our usefulness. We can learn much in this respect from the old tree in the Tao story about a carpenter and his apprentice:

A carpenter and his apprentice were walking together through a large forest. And when they came across a tall, huge, gnarled, old, beautiful oak tree, the carpenter asked his apprentice:

"Do you know why this tree is so tall, so huge, so gnarled, so old and beautiful?"  The apprentice looked at his master and said: "No . . . why?"

"Well," the carpenter said, "because it is useless. If it had been useful it would have been cut long ago and made into tables and chairs, but because it is useless it could grow so tall and so beautiful that you can sit in its shade and relax."

Nouwen goes on:

In solitude we can grow old freely without being preoccupied with our usefulness and we can offer a service which we had not planned on. To the degree that we have lost our dependencies on this world, whatever world means--father, mother, children, career, success or rewards--we can form a community of faith in which there is little to defend but much to share. Because as a community of faith, we take the world seriously but never too seriously. In such a community we can adopt a little of the mentality of Pope John, who could laugh at himself. When a highly decorated official asked him, "Holy father, how many people work in the Vatican?" he paused a moment then replied, "Oh, about half of them I suppose."

Spiritual renewal is not just a personal calling; it is a special calling of the church in the world today.  It is a renewal that is not is not based on action and activity in the outer world. 

Our culture is very good at that and the church also sees the need in our society and responds by doing things to meet the needs which are there.  However, there is another kind of renewal which is unique to the church and is something that our society is very much in need of—it is Spiritual Renewal. 

One of my callings is as a Spiritual Director.  In 2014 I completed a Spiritual Direction program offered by the Haden Institute and the Mount Carmel Centre in Niagara Falls.  In the program I learned how to help people discern where God is in their lives and how to be more aware and open to where the Holy Spirit is calling them.  For the past three years I have been working particularly with theology students at Huron University College to accompany them on their journey with God. 

The ministry of Spiritual Direction is actual not the best name for what we do.  The Spiritual Director does not actually direct the directee.  Rather a Spiritual Director is a companion on the person’s spiritual journey.  There are actually three persons in Spiritual Direction—the Director, the Directee and the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit who does the direction and shows both the Director and Directee the way in which God is working in their life.

During the Sunday’s in Lent, I propose being the Spiritual Companion for St. Anne’s and St. John’s.  Each week we will explore a different way in which we can learn to pay closer attention to how God is working in our lives and where The Holy Spirit is calling us to travel in this Lenten journey which lies ahead of us.  It is also my hope that you will find some of these ways to be meaningful for you and that you will chose to incorporate one or two of them into your lives on an ongoing basis.

I will close with the prayer I use to begin a Spiritual Direction meeting. 

Celtic Prayer for Spiritual Direction (Adapted)

Bless this time, in the name of the Three who are over us.

Bless this time, in the name of the One who guides us.

Open our eyes to see how our lives

Can reflect something of You.

Aid us in understanding Your will

With our hearts as well as our minds

Give us the wisdom to discern Your intention for us;

The strength to follow the path You prepare for us;

And Your comfort on the journey You offer to us.

Amen 

God Pitches Her Tent in the Midst of Us

I waited patiently upon the Lord; *

he stooped to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1)

The Diocese of Huron has made a booklet of Lenten Devotions available; 15 Minutes with God based on the Psalms.  The devotion for today is based on Psalm 40.  Reading it over, verse 1 jumped out and grabbed me—specifically the phrase ‘he stooped to me’. 

This resonated with me as it is a variation on a phrase (or perhaps I should say concept) that I have been engaged with since my last Spiritual Direction session—`God pitched her tent among us`.  That passage is connected with a photo on the wall of the office where I had my session.  I won`t go into the background about how the picture came to be in the office.  However, my Spiritual Director offered to lend the picture to me and it now (temporarily) hangs on the wall of my office where I am writing this.  Below is a photo of the picture on my office wall.

The phrase ‘God came and pitched Her tent with us, beside us, among us’ is a variation on the translation of the passage from the Gospel of John 1: 14 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us”.  I am not a good enough biblical language scholar by any stretch of the imagination to comment on the validity of the translation.  However, from the little research I have done on line it appears to have some validity.  The feminine aspect of God is of course controversial and a don`t want to dwell on that here.  But it appears from what I can find that the Word became ‘flesh’ (sarx σάρξ) is feminine.  Also the translation of the Greek ‘lived among us’ is more directly ‘booths in us’ as in booths or tabernacles so tent would be appropriate.  This brief exploration of semantics on my part opens up some possibilities in looking at the passage.  One commentary by Anna Woofenden notes, “God established a residence that moves, that is transient, that accompanies, that’s every changing.”  

The idea of God (masculine or feminine) stooping to dwell with us, beside us, among us and in us presents a wonderful possibility and assurance that God is always with us.  God`s presence will travel with us as God travelled with the Israelites in the wilderness and did reside with them in a tabernacle—a tent that travelled with them.  May God stoop to pitch Her/His tent with us, beside us, among us and in you each and every day of your life.  Blessings

God Pitches Her Tent in the Midst of Us