Blog Archives

Praying for the Fruit of the Spirit~

11/30/2013

Tomorrow I return to the cottage after the Thanksgiving holiday week with my family. I’m grateful for all the time we spent together and now I’m grateful for time alone. I’m continually amazed at how the busyness of life draws me away from prayer, and yet, how my faith is sustained by this non-prayer time. If I didn’t have community, how would I stay grateful? How would I know of people to visit and pray for? Where would I find strength to strive for the fruit of the spirit, which Paul tells us is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? (Gal. 5:22-23).

My pattern is to be alone at the cottage praying for the fruit to enter deep within me, and then, to go out in the world to practice. I falter all the time but thankfully Christianity is a faith of hope. God forgives me again and again, offering me the trust to forgive myself.

So back and forth I go, cottage to home, home to cottage, finding the fruit, losing it, and finding it again. I believe that cottage time, this extended time alone, tips the balance toward the good. Jesus went off alone to pray, and we must do the same. I go to the cottage but I also find other times and places in the midst of community. You see, the cottage is a metaphor for that time away with God. I pray that you can find yours.

A Gratitude Blessing

11/27/2013

Dear Friends:

First, let us offer a blessing for those celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, and for all of our contemplative friends around the globe:

"Contemplative Outreach, Ltd." <clp@coutreach.org>

Loving God we thank you
For the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth,
and the mystery and wonder of all creation.
For the love of family and friends,
and the blessings of our global contemplative community.
For health and strength, and the courage to bear ill health and weakness.
For the gift of work, and for the opportunities of creative leisure.
For this and for all our many blessings we are grateful.
Amen.

(Adapted from Romans 7:25)

Prayer diary~

11/24/2013

I was stunned, well at least surprised, to learn that C.S. Lewis and JFK died on the same day. Maybe I already knew it, but this year, on the 50th anniversary, was the first time really thought about it.

     C.S. Lewis, an intellectual, a Christian, who wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

    JFK, a politician, a Christian, who said, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”

    Scholars don’t have to hide behind their faith.; those in public life do. So where does this position the rest of us? It’s something I ponder for myself, and although I don’t talk much about my faith, writing this blog seems just about right.

Hope in the midst of affliction~

11/22/2013

So many friends with afflictions, sorrows that feel like more than one can bear. And yet, with God’s help we do get through it. Jesus suffered but then we remember, that's not the end of the story. We call His words, “I will be with you until the end of the age.”

Obedient to God~

11/20/2013

On my walk today I got thinking about what it means to be obedient to God. Obedience is an emotionally charged word, especially when linked with the demands that organized religion gives as criteria for membership in its particular denomination. Where does one’s obedience lie? In religious (or social) norms that we adhere to, or in ourselves, in the God within? Sometimes the two dovetail and that makes it easy. Other times, big conflict.

     Right now I’m not talking about issue of obedience that we study as part of church history. I’m talking about obedience now, in the twenty-first century, as the obedience button is being pushed over acceptance of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer persons. While my denomination, UCC, has officially welcomed all of God’s children, others are speaking out a little less boldly, and some individuals, lay and clergy alike, are defying their denomination and acting from conscious to marry (and welcome) couples from the GLBTQ community.

     One such individual is Rev. Frank Schaefer who yesterday was found guilty by a United Methodist jury in Pennsylvania of performing a same-sex wedding six years ago for his son Tim, and of “disobedience to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church.” Within thirty days Schaefer has been told he must decide if he can uphold the Book of Discipline in order to retain his “ministerial credentials”.

      I mention this, not to get involved in church politics, but as a way to gain some clarity about obedience to God. I have to believe that Schaefer acted out of obedience to a God of love, to Jesus who preached love, and to the Holy Spirit who entered his heart with love. Whatever I’m pondering, I have to look into my own heart to see what is right for me, to discern what I want to be obedient to. My sense of right and wrong isn’t always clear cut, which is why I walk the beach praying for answers, hoping to hear God leading me to my obedient answer.

My source of information: The United Methodist Reporter: An Independent source of news and commentary on the life of the United Methodist Church http://unitedmethodistreporter.com/2013/11/19/schaefer-jury-30-day-suspension-possible-surrender/

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

11/19/2013

I just got word that a young mother, a wife, friend, a woman full of light and love has died. What can we make of such unfairness? We lament like Job, like the psalmists. Like Jesus we call out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

I am grateful for all these laments, especially for Jesus’ words that let me know that I can be angry, that anger, despair, and even hopelessness are all part of the human condition. Simone Weil writes: “Affliction constrained Christ to implore that he might be spared, to seek consolation from man, to believe he was forsaken by the Father. It forced a just man to cry out against God, a just man as perfect as human nature can be, more so perhaps, if Job is less a historical character than a figure of Christ.”

Jesus and Job called out to God in their affliction, but they never left God, they never stop believing in God’ love; they just didn’t understand.

That’s where I am now, trying to understand, waiting in hope for the resurrection. Thank God the story isn’t over.

Prayers heard and answered~

11/18/2013

I’m at the cottage, so grateful to wake up in this sacred place; the silence, solitude and simplicity is palpable. I arose at 5:15 and sat of the deck (living room) for almost two hours, just being in God’s presence as it washed over me—it remains with me still. I am blessed to be here with no obligations other than to take care of myself in the most rudimentary ways--eat, sleep and be safe. But blessings are not to be coveted or selfishly held, and so I know I have another obligation, one that God has given me, and that is to pray for others. When I am here, it is easier for me to clear out the cobwebs of chatter, judgment, critique and analysis that get in the way of being with God. When I am here, the space between God and me (and others) is transparent, and that, I believe is when prayer is heard and answered.

Prayer, God, faith, hope, all such mysteries, and yet today I sense I have a handle on it all. I am especially praying for a friend whose son just took his life, and for a few others who are walking a precarious road. I know that my prayers are being heard and answered. ‘Very grateful.’

Off to the cottage~

11/16/2013

Tomorrow I’ll be settling in again at the cottage. For those of you who are wondering, What cottage? here’s the quick story. This is the fourth winter season that I have rented a cottage right on the ocean. It’s an hour and a half drive from my home, so I can easily go back and forth, and that is just what I do. Usually I’m at the cottage during the week and at home on the weekends.

I love the silence, solitude and simplicity there. I watch the sunrise every morning--even when it’s cloudy. Also, in no particular order, I pray, read, write, enjoy jigsaw puzzles, walk the beach, and gaze at the ocean. I check my email twice a day, morning and evening, and I don’t talk on the phone. Sometimes I cover the clocks and live a timeless day.

It is in this simple, silent life of solitude that I let go of the chatter (read judgments) in my head. Then, I can pray for others, which is why I go to there-- to pray and to be with God.

Thinking as prayer~

11/13/2013

I’m finding there is more than one way to pray without ceasing. There is the traditional “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,” which is the way of the starets of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. I like that one, humming in my mind at various times, like intentional background music.

    Recent news that a friend’s son had taken his life catapulted me into a new level of praying without ceasing. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, about his mom, about his family and friends. The thinking, which was the prayer, kept going, without form or words. All I knew was that I was joining everyone in their array of emotions. I was doing this all my waking minutes, including the last minute before sleep and the first in the morning, and, I have to believe, while sleeping, as well. God was right in there, right in the midst of it all. It was the best I could do and it was good.

    Then I heard myself praying for my friend’s son. God was leading me to pray for him during those three days as his soul was leaving. God was asking us all to help him on his way. And then I saw God reach down and scoop him up into God’s embrace.

    Don’t ask me if I actually saw this, or if it was actually happening. I’ll never know. What I do know is that my friend’s son is with God and it is good.

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming~

11/11/2013

In The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, Rod Dreher suggests that at some time in life all human beings come face to face with their own particular Lenten experience. For his sister Ruthie and his family it was the two years between the moment she was diagnosed with lung cancer and her death. There was the suffering, with all those times filled with doubt, fear, anger, physical pain, you name it, but also moments of resurrection, times of joy, peace and reconciliation. Ruthie’s ‘little way’ was to follow the treatment prescribed by her doctors, and stay clear of delving into the medical analysis and prognosis of her condition, which she believe would keep her from hope. Ruth knew that it was through hope that resurrection finds its eternal home.