Advent 4 Loving Yourself; Giving Yourself

The qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving, are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  I am exploring these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  I believe that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others.   In Advent 1, I explored caring for yourself.  In Advent 2, I explored knowing yourself.  Advent 3, I explored respecting yourself. Today I will explore giving to yourself.

Gifts come in all sizes and types to Forward Movement–from stocks and bequests to stamps purchased from the prison commissary. One donor sends us wrinkled dollar bills, never amounting to more than $5, with a return address from a residential healthcare facility. These gifts usually come with a note of thanksgiving, reminding me that generosity often comes from a deep well of gratitude. We give the gifts first given us out of joy, appreciation, and an understanding that nothing we have in this life comes of our own merit.  God has blessed us with garlands and gladness to share with the world.  -Lindsay Barrett-Adler

When we think of gift giving at Christmas, we can think of the materialism that has become the hallmark of the cultural Christmas.  I often wonder what the wise men, I sometimes blame for the frenzy of materialism that seems to overtake the Western World, would think if they could see the world today.  The above quote gives an alternate approach to gift giving which is more closely related to the actions of the wise men.  They are more related to the widow giving her mite, whom Jesus held up as an example.  However, what does it mean to give to yourself, which is the topic for today's part of the Advent journey?

 Giving to yourself seems to be a strange thing to do for Christmas.  We give gifts to others.  To give a gift to yourself seems to be selfish, doesn’t it.  Definitely not in the spirit of Christmas.  But if we ask ourselves what it is that we truly need for ourselves what would we say in response?  I know I do not need more things.   I do not need a roof over my head or more food, despite the high cost.  There are many people in Canada, much less the world, who do need these things.  I feed my body quite adequately (and sometimes more) in a very comfortable home.  However, what I do need is to feed my soul.  Despite my good intentions, I don’t always spend time with the divine in my life.  The divine is the manifestation of God as I experience it.  I do spend time in prayer and meditation.  However, that seems to be the thing that I forgo when life gets in the way. 

Like the little Shepherd Boy, I ask what can I give him, poor as I am - perhaps rich in many ways but not poor enough in spirit?  I can give my heart.  That is giving what I need to give myself.

As Advent draws to a close may you have been blessed and may you continue to be blessed in giving yourself what you truly need. 

Advent 3 Loving Yourself; Respecting Yourself

The qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving, are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  I am exploring these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  I believe that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others.   In Advent 1, I explored caring for yourself.  In Advent 2, I explored knowing yourself.  Today I want to explore respecting yourself.

The first things that comes to mind when I think about respect, is the great song by the great Aretha Franklin:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me
Sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me
Sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)

We all want to be respected by the people in our lives - those we encounter and especially the people that we love and who love us.  I have certainly had the experience of not being respected by people in my life, usually not people who I am close to.  I have also not always shown respect to everyone I have encountered in my life.  That has led to many regrets that are the ghost that visit me at 4:00 in the morning. I am sure that most people, if not everyone, has had that experience. 

That being said, what does it mean to respect yourself?  After all, that is the topic I am exploring this morning.  I believe that the basis for respecting myself and yourself is to know yourself.  Each person has aspects that he or she does not want to acknowledge or doesn’t even know is part of themselves.  Carl Jung called these aspects of ourselves as, the Shadow.  They can be most easily recognized in dreams as a dark, shadowy person who is behaving in ways that are not acceptable or even nice when assessed by our conscious selves.  They can also be recognized when we have an overreaction to someone, we take an instant dislike to.  We see aspects of ourselves in them that we have denied. 

If we are to respect ourselves – all of who we are we must acknowledge the whole package.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses but we are called to become those strengths that we embrace and celebrate do not come without those parts of ourselves that we do not embrace.  To love who you are, who God created you to be is to acknowledge all of who you are.  It does not mean you have to live out those aspects of yourself which you find it difficult to accept but you need to first be aware of them and to accept yourself as you are.  If you do that you may be able to understand yourself and decide how you want to live with all of who you are.  That will enable you to come to know what it means to respect yourself.  As Aretha says, you will be able to show yourself respect - just a little bit; Whoa, babe (just a little bit) and then even more.

May you be blessed to know and respect yourself on your journey this Advent. 

Advent 2 Loving Yourself; Knowing Yourself

The qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving, are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  I am exploring these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  I believe that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others.   In Advent 1, I explored caring for yourself.  Today I want to explore knowing yourself.

“I linger in the mirror and I don’t look away.” Cole Arthur Riley. To see yourself and not look away is, I believe, key to self-knowledge.  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 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.

May you have the blessing of knowing and loving who you are on your Advent journey.

 

Advent 1 Loving Yourself; Care for Yourself

The qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving, are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. What I would like to do is to explore these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  I believe that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others.  Today I want to explore ‘care’ as an aspect of loving yourself.

 First, I want to recognize that the first challenge in loving yourself is that it may seem to be selfish and self-centred.   Many of us grew up with the belief, transmitted to us either directly or indirectly, that we should put others first.  We should not put our own wants and needs ahead of others.  We are to love one another forgetting that the rest of this is Jesus loving us.  The question before us today is, how do we care for ourselves as part of loving ourselves?

The first step to do this is to realize in the depth of our being, that to care for ourselves is not selfish.  We might say that we understand that.  However, to understand with our heads, is not the same as understanding in our hearts – in the depth of our beings.  That is not easy and to truly know this in the deepest sense can and probably does not come quickly.  It requires attention over time. 

To be honest, I am not sure what the next step should be – or rather- I think there may be different steps for different people.  One possibility is to find something which resonates with you and tells you that you are cared for by God.  To resonate with you it is likely to be on a non-intellectual level. What comes to mind for me is the hymn, Jesus Loves Me – you know the one:  

Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong;
they are weak, but he is strong.

Refrain:
Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

It can be anything that resonates with you on a deep level and has the message that you are loved and cared for by the person or being that truly matters for you.  This can become your mantra which is repeated as a prayer which you use regularly.  I was going to say daily or even more frequently.  However, that would not be caring for yourself.  An important part of caring for yourself is to cut yourself some slack.  It is okay - and even expected by the creator – that you are not perfect and are not called to be perfect.  Just do it whenever and however, and see what happens.   I guess that is the third step – sorry for not being well organized in laying out the steps, but I’m not perfect either.

Finally, I suggest that we need to create space within ourselves for us to care for ourselves.  I won’t say anything more about that with the hope that it will be addressed in the other aspects of my Advent musings. 

In summary (my attempt to be well-organized) , here are the four steps that I hope will help you to care for yourself.

1.       1. Recognize that caring for yourself is not selfish or self-centred.

2.       2. Find something which resonates with you and tells you that you are truly cared for.

3.       3. Cut yourself some slack.

4.      4.  Create space within yourselves

Have a blessed Advent and take care of yourself on your Advent journey.

Preparing for Advent

 We are about to begin the season of the church year which seems to be overwhelmed by secularism i.e. the Secular Christmas.  That would be the season of Advent which is a time to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.  Christmas seems to be in full swing now with Christmas carols playing in the stores and Santa Claus parades in every corner of the land. 

I am proposing something which is probably way out in left field (to use a secular metaphor).  I am proposing that we spend a bit of time preparing for Advent.  In case you are wondering, Advent begins this coming Sunday.  We will be lighting the first candle in the Advent Wreath.  I also hope we will be singing some Advent carols – yes there are actually Advent carols such as O Come O Come Emanuel; or, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming.   

So, what does it mean to prepare for the season of preparation?  The first thing is to understand, as best we can, what Christmas is actually about.   For me this is best summed up by the carol, Love Came Down at Christmas by Christina Rossetti.  Here are the lyrics:

1. Love came down at Christmas,
   Love all lovely, Love divine;
   Love was born at Christmas,
   Star and angels gave the sign.
2. Worship we the Godhead,
   Love incarnate, Love divine;
   Worship we our Jesus:
   But wherewith for sacred sign?
3. Love shall be our token,
   Love be yours and love be mine,
   Love to God and all men,
   Love for plea and gift and sign.

Here is the link for a beautiful reedition of the carol, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UodfFV3A3M

You may be protesting that I am doing just what I object to – jumping over Advent directly to Christmas with this carol.  However, what I am trying to show is that the essence of Christmas is love.  To get ready to prepare for Christmas we must prepare to welcome love within us.  We cannot be ready to receive the love that is born in a stable in Bethlehem unless we begin to truly love ourselves.  That is easier said than done. 

How do we, then, begin to do that?  I received a missive from Kathleen Wiley, a wise person who spoke about the qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving. According to Wiley, Fromm states these are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  When I read this, I had not planned to connect this to Advent but that seems to be where the spirit has taken me this morning. 

What I would like to do is to explore each of these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  At this point, I am not sure what this idea will reveal as I have not tried to do this before.  So, I am very interested to see what this will reveal as I journey through Advent.  So, with this, I am preparing for the Advent season.  I hope you will join me.

Blessings  

 

 

 

The Peace of God That Passes All Understanding

Sunday, I preached on the bible passage, 2 Kings 6: 8-23.  In this passage, Israel is in one of the frequent battles with the soldiers of Aram.  The prophet Elisha, through the intervention of God, enables the army of the Arameans to be defeated.  He does this by means of sight being removed and restored.  First, he prays that God will send blindness upon the Aramean army.  Then he leads them astray into Samaria.  When their sight is restored, they find themselves in the midst of their enemies.  Rather than having the Arameans slaughtered – as would be the normal practice – Elisha tells the King of Israel:

‘No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.’ So, he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.

Here, Elisha shows that he is a prophet who is truly exceptional and one that has by some measures even surpassed his master, Elijah.  He does something that is probably unimaginable to the King of Israel and probably all the people of Israel, he shows mercy on the army of their enemies when the Arameans were completely within their power to utterly destroy them.  We have this account which illustrates the usual approach to conquered people:

When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.’ The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so, the place was called Hormah. (Numbers 21: 1-3)

Elisha’s action was toward the Arameans is radical and unexpected, showing them mercy and compassion.  We can only see this as a foreshadowing of what Jesus would be teaching the Jewish people so many years later.  Turning to the New Testament and Gospel theology, we have Jesus telling his disciples and telling us that we must follow the way of peace.  He does this both by his words and his actions.  In the beatitudes he tells us specifically that we must be peacemakers, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”  He tells us to turn the other cheek and not strike back when we are struck, “You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”   

So, it is very clear that as Christians, we are commanded by our Lord and Saviour to be peacemakers.  Israel is once again in a state of war with one of its neighbours.  It is responding to the horrendous and vile attack by Hamas as they have throughout its history by stickling back to defend themselves in what seems to be absolute terms.  As Christians, we are called to do what we can to strive for peace in this terrible situation.  Almost fourteen hundred Israeli citizens have been slaughtered or taken as hostages.  Many thousands of citizens of Gaza have been killed or wounded and the infrastructure has been devastated.  The residents of Gaza have had little relief from the embargo of water, food, medicine and fuel by the Israel government.  We can support the call for a ceasefire or at least effective humanitarian pauses to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to innocent residents of Gaza.  We can support the call for a true two state solution for the two nations, Israel and Palestine, where there is security and justice for all.  

Following the commandments of Jesus is not easy.  It is human nature to strike back and not turn the other cheek.  Indeed, the situation in the Middle East seems to be beyond the possibility of peace.  The peace of God is beyond our understanding at this moment.  But with God all things are possible.  We can and we must pray for the peace of God even if it is beyond our understanding.  A prayer from The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum, Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem.

O God of all justice and peace we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land. Be with those who need you in these days of suffering; we pray for people of all faiths -- Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and for all people of the land. While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace, we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples. Guide us into your kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.  In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.

May we be peacemakers on our journey. 

 

 

"Growing” Old; Growing Aware

 I shall say no more except that I already told you many years ago of the alternative journey you are now called to take – a journey which does indeed lie on the slopes of that mountain but holds no fame or glory for you; only loneliness and sadness.  The choice is yours.  Will you deceive yourself as Dante’s Ulysses did in a sin far worse than the deceit of the Trojan horse? (Old Age 12)

 These words of the poet Teiresias, the blind poet, imagined by Helen Luke, addressed to Odysseus resting from his toils and trials of youth.  They sum up the choice which all of us must make when we face the journey into old age.  Are we truly to continue “grow old”—to continue to grow in psychic maturity or will we simply succumb to the aging process—sinking, perhaps not gently, into that perceived, not so sweet night, fighting that inevitable journey every step of the way.

As we baby boomers continue our journey into old age, the question of “growing old” or succumbing to the aging process becomes one which is looming larger in our lives.  I originally explored the questions raised by Helen Luke in her work, Old Age, about ten years ago when I was approaching the traditional retirement age of 65 (although I had retired for the first time quite a while before that).  Although, at the time, that age seemed to be appropriate for exploring the issue, I have realized that I was not truly able to appreciate the journey into old age that lies ahead of me.  I am beginning to appreciate the wisdom of Helen Lukes words to a much greater extent than when I began that exploration.  The question of whether I will “grow old” or succumb to the aging process is one that stares me in the face every morning when I regard the old man who stares back at me in the mirror.  It is one that I struggle with as I decide what I will do each day.  

Richard Rohr addressed this in one of his Daily Meditations this week:

It’s true that the second half of life is a certain kind of weight to carry, but no other way of being makes sense or gives us the deep satisfaction our soul now demands and even enjoys. This new and deeper passion is what people mean when they say, “I must do this particular thing or my life will not make sense” or “It is no longer a choice.” Our life and our delivery system are now one, whereas before, our life and our occupation seemed like two different things. Our concern is not so much to have what we love anymore, but to love what we have—right now. This is a monumental change from the first half of life, so much so that it is almost the litmus test of whether we are in the second half of life at all… Aging can be either a life of nostalgia or a wholehearted engagement with the future.  (Richard Rohr)

 I believe that what we face in our journey into old age is call to be aware, aware that we are created in the image of God for a purpose that can only be revealed throughout our lives.  The purpose is different at differ times in our life and can only be revealed if and when we are awake of the path that inner voice is calling us to follow.

May we be blessed to hear that voice on our journey.

 

 

AI and the Preacher

I am not what you would call an early adopter in terms of technology.  I do have a Facebook Page and a blog – neither of which could be called new technology any more – and I have never Tweeted (I do know Twitter it is not called that now), and I can send a text if I absolutely have to.  In effect, I can get by in the electronic age when push comes to shove, but that is about all.

All this said, I have recently become a stranger in the strange land of Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the encouragement of a friend, last summer, I signed up for ChatGPT.  In case you are not aware of this popular manifestation of AI, it is a system which can answer many complex and detailed questions and requests almost immediately.  Interestingly, I asked ChatGPT for the number of users and it wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me, “I don't have access to real-time data or specific user statistics, including the number of people who have signed up for the service.”  This is likely because I haven’t signed up for the paid service that is up to date.  The one, I signed up for, which is free, is limited to data from a few years ago.  I used the now old-fashioned way of finding out, and googled the question.  I was told that there are 180.5 million users of ChatGPT, “according to the latest available data.”  It is a real time example of why you shouldn’t blindly accept the information on social media.  It should be treated with care. 

However, with that caveat, my exploration of this strange new land has given me results which are quite impressive.  There has been much speculation about the future impact of AI will be.  It may bring about a new revolution as earth shattering as the invention of the printing press or the development of the assembly line.  The industrial revolution of the 20^th Century eliminated many manual labour jobs.  The impact of AI is going to be revolutionary according to most experts.  AI is predicted to eliminate many professional and white-collar jobs with mind numbing speed. 

What inspired me to write about this topic today specifically was the potential from ChatGPT to be used for composing sermons.   It is a temptation which I believe will be hard to resist by at least some many of my fellow clergy.  It likely has been used for this purpose already.  I tested out the potential for ChatGPT to produce a sermon – no, I didn’t use it. I asked my new friend Chat (for short) to give me a one-thousand-word sermon on John 11:32-44 – the account of the resurrection of Lazarus.  The results were what I would call competent but not inspired or inspiring.  I won’t reproduce it here given the limitations I have placed on the length of these missives.  I can supply the results to anyone that requests it. 

To give you a taste of what it can do, here is a short introduction to one of the readings from last Sunday, 1 John 3:1-3.  I asked Chat for 20-25 word summary of the passage.  In our parish there is an introduction to each of the readings. Here is what Chat gave me almost instantaneously:

In 1 John 3:1-3, the apostle emphasizes God's incredible love, portraying believers as His children. Despite worldly confusion, the promise of transformation into Christ's likeness offers hope and purifies hearts.

This use is just a small example of the ways AI can be used.   Perhaps if Jesus was to be tempted by Satan today, this would be one of the temptations.  There is no doubt what we are facing is a wilderness of potential uncertainly and possibly chaos, about a future which includes AI.  It is something we need to be concerned about and pray for guidance and wisdom on our journey into that strange land.

Blessings.

 

God’s Pronouns

There is a trend – perhaps it can be called a movement – for people to identify the pronouns that they prefer to be used for themselves.  If I was going to identify which pronouns I prefer, I would out (he/him) after my name.  To be clear I am using this to illustrate the issue and not to indicate that I will start  doing this.  This probably means I am not ready to begin doing so at this time.  I may start doing this at some time in the future but I am not at that place yet. 

That raises for me, the issue of what pronoun we should use when referring to God?  It has been the practice throughout the history of Christianity to refer to God as him (sometimes capitalized Him).  This use is, of course, supported by Jesus Christ himself (note the pronoun), when he referred to God as Father (at least in translation), or his heavenly Father, especially in the prayer that he taught us – the Lord’s prayer. 

I raised this issue in a sermon I preached this past Sunday when I raised the issue of our tendency to put restrictions on our idea and understanding of who and what God is.  To think of God as Father, and use the pronoun He for God, is to put God in a box and to restrict our understanding of God.  As I noted in my sermon, God is beyond anything that we can do to describe or identify God.  We are limited by our humanness so; however we think of God, God is beyond our definitions or descriptions.  Theologians have been exploring this for millennia in more ways than most of us can imagine.  Indeed, if we look to the Bible, we will find innumerable ways in which the people of God have described God.  Here are only a few examples: Abba, Adonai, El Shaddai, Elohim, El, Yahweh.  Of course, we can describe God as The Force a la Star Wars to move beyond the bible.

Beyond names, God is also given characteristics that can be seen as feminine (I found these on the internet):

• God comforts his people like a mother comforts her child (Isaiah 66:13)
• Like a woman would never forget her nursing child, God will not forget his children (Isaiah 49:15)
• God is like a mother eagle hovering over her young (Deuteronomy 32:11)
• God seeks the lost like a housekeeper, trying to find her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)
• God cares for his people like a midwife that cares for the child she just delivered (Ps 22:9-10, Ps 71:6, Isa 66:9)
• God experiences the fury of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8)

It is not wrong to describe God as masculine and use the pronoun Him and all its derivations.  God can be described as masculine.  However, in doing that we need to remember that we are limiting God just as we do if we describe God as feminine (Her) or in any other way.  God is beyond any description we can use for God.  He/She/It…and so on, is perhaps necessary for us limited people to try and understand God.  However, let’s try not to put God in a box and limit God for convenience or any other reason.  It’s not fair to God or yourself or others.

Blessings 

 

 

I am one of the performers at this event - local talent as we are dubbed - please join us if you are able to and support the PArkhill Carnegie Gallery.

Humility

I have been thinking about the state of relationships in our community both our local communities and our larger communities.  This has been in response especially to what is happening in politics in Canada as it seems to be importing many of the divisions and antagonism which is permeating politics in our neighbours to the south.  This can be extended to the devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas.

I believe that what is desperately needed in all these relationships is humility.  I recall once reading a definition of humility as being a state in which one sees clearly.  This surprized me when I first read it but on reflection, I came to understand what was being said is that if you see yourself clearly you will understand where you belong in relation to other people and the world that God has created.  If you see yourself and others clearly, you will realize that the proper response is humility.  This is regardless of what God-given gifts you possess or what you have accomplished in life.

In reflecting on humility, I checked into what has been said about it in one of my go-to sources, the daily reflection by the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) which is entitled, Brother, Give Me a Word.  I found that there were a number of daily offerings about humility.  I want to share a few of them with you to give you a flavour of the brothers’ thoughts on this subject.  The first is in line with that quote that I referred to:

Humility

Humility is not about self-abasement. Rather, it is about living into the truth of who we are, recognizing both our gifts and our shortcomings, our abilities and our limitations, our righteousness and our sinfulness. Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

 

Here are a couple of other of the brothers’ thoughts on the subject:

Humility

Making a right estimate of ourselves involves appreciating the natural gifts that have been given to us by God, but also realizing that we are beneficiaries of God’s undeserved, redeeming love. The humble person knows he cannot exalt himself, because all that he has and all that he is proceeds solely from God’s generous love. Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

 

Humility

One of the easiest things in the world is to be clearsighted when it comes to others, and to know exactly what another needs to do to address their shortcomings. It is not so easy to address, or even admit, our own shortcomings. Real humility is about knowing ourselves as God knows us: imperfect creatures, whom God loves. Knowing ourselves loved by God means first recognizing that we are loveable. To do that, we need to be clear sighted, not about the other person, but about ourselves. -Br. James Koester SSJE

 To be humble is a challenge for different reasons especially because of our egos.  The ego demands that we are in charge of all that we do and all that we are in relation to others.  The ego compares itself to others and judges our worth on that basis.  This means that we are put in situations where we judge the outcome on the basis of whether we believe we have won or lost and consequently whether we are better or worse than the other and whether we are worthy of being loved.  There are, of course, other factors such as anger and hate which will drive our response to situations and events.  In the worst situation we will want to humiliate the one we see as our foe.

I will close with one more quote form my friends at SSJE on what is required to be in community with others.  It does not refer to humility but if we are humble we will be thankful for what we have been given in life by others and especially by God:  

Community

We depend on one another for support. As we Brothers know well, community is a fragile organism that can only survive where thankfulness and reconciliation are allowed to thrive. Br. James Koester, SSJE

May we be blessed with the gift of humility on our journey.  

  

Beyond Information

I remember a long time ago – perhaps forty year or so - thinking that all the information I had to deal with in my job was rather challenging.  Well, little did I know – perhaps in my naivety – that what lay ahead for everyone was an overwhelming flood of information.  That seems to be what we have now – so much information available at our fingertips – literally with a click of a mouse (if you still use are old fashioned enough to use one), that, if we are so inclined or trapped, we can spend all day every day falling down one rabbit hole after another on social media in a never-ending desire for more information.  At least Alice only had one rabbit hole to fall into. 

Today, we seem to be consumed with the search for more information and usually we only want to look for information to affirm and confirm what we already believe.  The algorithms on the various social media platforms seem to ensure this will happen or at least make it difficult to avoid.   The question we have to face today is, is there such a thing as too much information?  The answer is probably self evident – of course there is! (I don’t use exclamation points very often but I think this is an occasion to use one).

I realize my wording has been rather convoluted and meandering but perhaps that reflects the nature of the subject and is an example of more of something not always being better. 

So, given that we are faced with an epidemic of information of all kinds – good and bad, relevant and irrelevant – how can we deal with it?  I believe the answer lies first in the realization about what information does.  I was helped in gaining an understanding about the nature of information in one of Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations this past week, “Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies.” 

For me, this summed up what is so evident today in the dominance of social media and the availability of information in the cloud of computing.  As I write that, I realize how that phrase, cloud computing, is so unintentionally revealing about its nature.  Instead of the cloud of knowing, it is the ‘cloud of unknowing’ (with apologies to the unknown author of the classic in mystical writing).  I guess we could all join in with the cry of TMI, TMI – too much information.

The idea that mere information breaks things apart, really gets to the essence of the problem.  We need to work to bring things together and not engage in things that separate us.  What we need is not more information; what we need desperately, is to find wisdom.   That is not an easy thing- true wisdom is hard to find and perhaps is not always easy to recognize.  However, that statement of Rohr’s is an example of wisdom, “Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies.”  Here is the complete quote which addresses one way in which we can find wisdom

Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies. Wisdom received through contemplative seeing puts things back together again. At the CAC (Center for Action and Contemplation), we have found that the most radical, political, and effective thing we can do for the world and the church is to teach contemplation: a way of seeing beyond the surface of things that moves people toward credible action.  

Contemplation is, unfortunately, not something which is natural or easy to people, especially these days when we are distracted and obsessed by all that information.  However, that recognition is a place to start. 

May you be blessed with the gift of contemplation on your journey.

 

All Embracing Thanksgiving

I have two subjects in mind today; thanksgiving – because it is the Canadian Thanksgiving, and perfection which I have intended to write about before I realized it would be Thanksgiving Monday today (not great planning ahead but there you go).  I hope I will be able to connect the two topics in a reasonable, if not meaningful way.

I have been interested in the issue/topic of perfection for a while now and wrote an article about my encounters with perfection – which I have dabbled in over my life.  The issue of perfectionism, or the drive for perfection, came into my awareness and consciousness some years ago when I was attending one of the intensives as part of my training as a dream group facilitator with the Haden Institute.  Here is the passage from that article which I want to share with you:

While I was at the Intensive, I found a small book at the Kanuga bookstore, or I should say, it found me. It is entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation from Aramaic sources of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus. One of the passages that the book addresses is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, that is traditionally translated, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, the translation by this author reads, “Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” I felt my discovery of this book and this passage to be a physical gift from the Divine.

The gift of this book came after a dream which challenged my desire for perfection which I had not recognized consciously.  I had, for many years been uncomfortable about the commandment by Jesus that we should ‘be perfect’ so I was very grateful for this different interpretation of Jesus’ words. 

One of the impetuses for writing about perfection this week was that it was the theme for Richard Rohr daily missives last week.  Here are two excepts from his Daily Meditations:

Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness—mine, yours, ours—need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.

On one level, soul, consciousness, love, and the Holy Spirit can all be thought of as one and the same. Each of these point to something larger than the self, shared with God, and even eternal. That’s what Jesus means when he speaks of “giving” us the Spirit or sharing his consciousness with us. One whose soul is thus awakened has the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:10–16). That doesn’t mean the person is psychologically or morally perfect (my emphasis), although such a transformed person does see things in a much more expanded and compassionate way. Ephesians calls it a “spiritual revolution of the mind” (4:23)—and it is!  Our outer world and its inner significance must come together for there to be any wholeness—and holiness. The result is both deep joy and a resounding sense of coherent beauty.  Richard Rohr 

To emphasize the selection of this topic for today, when returning from a family gathering in London today, there was an interview with Thomas Curran, the author of a book about perfectionism in our society, The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough.

So, what has all this perfection have to do with thanksgiving and Thanksgiving?  We can be thankful that we are who God created us to be in all our strengths and weaknesses – I know that those weaknesses are the ghosts that visit me in the wee hours of the night.  However, they are what make me who I am as do the strengths. They are what makes me who God created me.  Now if only I would truly believe that in the depths of my soul all manner of things would be well – that would be good enough but not perfect thank be to God.

May we be thankful for all that God has given us on our journey.    

 

Sowing Seeds Today for Tomorrow

I had decided that today that I would write about planting seeds for the future.  Low and behold the Society of St, John the Evangelist (SSJE) word for today (Brother Give Us a Word) is just that “seed”.  Here is the offering for today. 

Seed

The desire to meet Jesus directly is a good and healthy desire. It is a healthy desire to cultivate, day after day, with the seeds of prayer and work. The good news is that Jesus is already available. If you feel the desire to meet Jesus directly, that means he is already calling you. God is already at work inside of you. Br. Jack Crowley, SSJE

 

I don’t know if this is a coincidence or a case of synchronicity.  However, I am glad that it confirmed for me that this should be the subject of today’s musings.

So, the question arises, what are we going to plant today that we want to harvest tomorrow for the world we want?  I suggest that you consider planting four seeds that each represent a value which you would like to see bloom and grow and become the crop which will help the world become the one we want for ourselves and the next generations.  I chose four seeds as four is the number of wholeness and completion.  Each seed can represent a quality that you want to care for and see bloom into something wonderful in your life and the life of the world.  As Br. Jack states, “a healthy decide to cultivate, day after day.”  These can be values and characteristics that you want to cultivate in yourself as that is always the place to start. 

The four seeds that I want to plant and cultivate are, peace, joy, hope and love.  I will incorporate these values into my daily prayers and in my relationships with others.  I am not suggesting that this is easy but remember that the longest journey begins with a single step, however small. 

May you be blessed to plant seeds on your journey. 

  

Where Two or Three are Gathered Together

Recently, the Pew Research Center published data on worshippers in the United States.  Here are the basic findings along with selected comments by respondents on participation by Americans in Worship:

Why some Americans prefer in-person religious services.

Some 17% of U.S. adults regularly attend religious services in person and watch them online or on TV, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Roughly three-quarters of this group – making up 13% of all U.S. adults – say they prefer attending in person, while 2% prefer viewing services virtually and 2% have no preference.

Among those who prefer in-person religious services, the most common reason respondents give is a stronger sense of connection and community with fellow participants. About half (52%) say this – more than three times the share who name any other reason.

Another 8% of these respondents cite the quality of the worship practices at in-person services, saying that things like communion and singing can’t be replicated online:

“As a Catholic, you cannot receive communion at home.”

“For over 60 years I have been a church musician (organist/pianist) so congregational singing is very meaningful to me. Also, I think it is important to see, talk to and encourage my fellow believers.”

“I enjoy taking part in the service; i.e., singing hymns, taking communion and seeing other church members in person.”

I found some of this information surprizing.  For instance, the number of respondents who attend worship services regularly is only 17%.  This seems surprizingly low to me as I was under the impression that the United States was an exception to the rule for countries in the Western World that attendance in worship was in sharp decline.  If these results are to be believed – and I don’t have any reason not to believe them - this is also the case in the United States.   

Checking these results on the internet (which of course could be wrong) another source stated that 27% attend worship more than once a month.  This is the generally accepted criteria for regular church attendance.  So perhaps the decline is not as great as the Pew Research would indicate. However, the same source noted that pre-pandemic in 2018, the number of people who attended regularly was 42%.  We might conclude from this that the reason for this decline is the pandemic in which attendance in worship was restricted and discouraged. 

In comparison, data from StatsCanada reports that in the last available data 2018, 23% of Canadians attend church services at least once a month.  So, Americans still are outperforming Canadians on that front.  I couldn’t find any post-pandemic stats for Canada.  But if the Canadian trend follows the American it will probably show a significant drop as well.  This raises significant questions for the future of church – or at least church attendance in both countries.

Much of worship was done through social media during the pandemic.  There has been lots of speculation about this being the future of worship.  However, speaking from experience, it has severe limitations as a worship experience.  I found some of the results of the Pew Research data to be revealing on this front.  The connection to the community expressed in the Pew results (52%) are not surprizing.  Community has been a strong pull to worship throughout the history of people worshiping. 

The importance of music is also not surprizing to me as a lifelong member of church choirs and one of the factors that I have found important to my experience of worshipping God. One thing that I find interesting is that the quality of preaching did not appear on the Pew results.  It might fall under the general response of the quality of the worship (8%).  This is hardly encouraging to those of us who believe that the proclamation of the word is central to worship. 

There is much to consider in this information for people contemplating the future of worship.  Will the on-going decline in how we worship continue unabated?  Will on-line worship be an attractive alternative in the future?  If so, what does the church writ- large need to do to make it successful.  The present attempt by many congregations to put the present form of worship on-line has been rather unsuccessful in my humble view.  IF we are going to do this there needs to be a major rethinking of how platforms such as Zoom and YouTube can be used successfully for worship.  What production facilities and skills are required and what form should the worship take.  For Anglicans and Catholics and other Eucharistically based denominations, how do we do this on social media i.e., what are the implications  theologically possible or appropriate for worshippers attending through social media e.g. is an exclusively on-line congregation truly a worshipping community? 

Perhaps there needs to be a complete rethinking of what it means to worship and how we worship.  One of the important factors in worship for me is the experience of the divine.  I believe that this is central to many people and is reflected in the sense of community and in such things as music and the Eucharist and yes and even the preaching.  Unfortunately, it seems to me that many people, especially in mainline Protestant churches, don’t have an experience of God that they can identify as such. 

Those are my thoughts and musings on this for today.  May you be blessed to have the experience of the divine, however it manifests itself, on your journey.