Blog Posts

SSJE Covid closing

7/18/2022

The worship services and the guesthouse at the SSJE Monastery in Cambridge, MA is again closed to the public. Two brothers and a guest tested positive for Covid. Hopefully this will be a short term ruling; hospitality is one of the callings of the society. SSJE is not an inclosed group of monks, but a group of men who are called to do God’s work out in the world, which implies being in community with others.
Maybe that’s why I feel so drawn to SSJE. It gives me a model of how I might live my life. I can learn from their daily routine of worship, which is their foundation in preparing to help others in myriad ways—by praying, listening, speaking, helping, teaching. Notice those general words—something is there for everyone.
The good news is that worship services will continued to be live- streamed. August, however, is ‘an away time’ for the brothers, but I can listen to past services, and, of course I can create my own.

Mt. Auburn Cemetery

6/24/2022

SSJE Retreat

6/20/2022

On Thursday I will be on retreat for three nights at SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist), a monastic community affiliated with the Episcopal Church, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We are a community of men giving our whole selves over to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rooted in the ancient monastic traditions of prayer and community life, and critically engaged with contemporary culture, we seek to know and share an authentic experience of God’s love and mercy. We live a common life shaped by worship, prayer, and our Rule of Life.

I will stay in a room in their guest house, eat meals in silence with the brothers, and attended the daily office with them. That’s all I know. I assume I will spend time in silence, praying reading, walking, and sitting in the guest garden along the Charles River. That’s what I assume. I have nothing planned other than that.

Praying in the mystery

6/19/2022

In our prayers we often admit that although God already knows the situation, we’re going to pray anyway. We may be serious, but when I think about praying such a prayer, I feel disingenuous. At best, such a prayer helps me be more compassionate toward the person or situation prayed for. In other words it helps me, and for sure I need help in that area.
If that is the most that prayer does, however, I will remain an egocentric person because I am praying for my own salvation. Maybe I’ll be moved to help the person or situation, but there has to be more.
Let’s look at this another way. What happens when we believe that our prayer has an affect on God, that in some mysterious way we can change God. I say mysterious because I keep my prayer in the mystery. My words are brief and unspecific; they touch on asking for love. I visualize light and love surrounding the person or situation. I breathe. That’s it. In faith I know that my prayer is heard; in hope I know that my prayer is answered; in love I know that all is well.

Prayer cues

6/11/2022

I haven’t posted in the last few weeks but I have been praying, which seems like the most satisfying, comforting and hopeful thing I can do these days. I start the day with good intentions but then life happens and I get distracted. But then, I get called back. It has to be God doing the calling because I know I’m too self-involved to take much credit. And yet, I do believe that God is giving me a say in this prayer life of mine; God does not have robots! Rather I (all of us) am called to co-create with God.
I have my cues (I’d use the word triggers except I’m trying to stay away from war metaphors) to help me remember God; my meditation time which has become hardwired into my life; my little post-it prayer list that I write each day; the Jesus prayer that arises from my subconscious; and my daily walk.
What signals do you have in your life to remind you to pray and lift yourself from worry and despair that arises when you think human kind, including yourself, is running the show?

Worship with love, not guns

5/25/2022

Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him all the earth. Psalm 96:9
When I read this this morning, I thought, OMG, the earth is trembling with the noise of guns killing school children. No holy splendor in sight. People of faith, religious or spiritual, need to tremble with love, not with excuses why they can’t stop the worship of guns.

May 21st, 2022

5/21/2022

One of the challenges I face in being called to pray for people is that the need often comes from a difficult, sad, tragic, you name it, situation. Thus, I find myself unwittingly dwelling on the negative, and forgetting to give thanks for all the positive.
Case in point: climate change, which for sure can use some prayers. But gratitude is also part of intercessory prayer. We can also notice the beauty around us and give thanks. Balance the negative with the positive.

On my walk and in our yard

Comfort the grieving--show up

5/9/2022

I just attended visiting hours at the local funeral home for our neighbor who died of a heart attack at age 41, leaving a wife and two year old. I know they celebrate Christmas but I have no idea what they believe and practice. (Many of the people I know who celebrate Christmas wouldn’t say that they are Christian.)
Regardless, when responding to the grieving I keep away from expressing in words any beliefs. No one wants to hear, ‘He is in a better place’. It is up to the grieving to conjure from inside themselves what comforts them. One of the benefits of a church or temple service is that we who are grieving take the words of the minister, priest, or rabbi into our hearts, and say, “Yes, I know what that means; I feel comfort; in the midst of this loss, I feel hope.”

Worshipping in person at SSJE

4/25/2022

On Sunday I worshipped in the chapel of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (www.ssje.org) in Cambridge. Worshipping in person, eye to eye, even with masks coving the rest of our faces, always take me to a deeper place with God. The communal love of God becomes transparent.
After the intensity and excitement of Holy Week services, this Second Sunday in Easter service was calm, routine, and welcoming. Although church ritual and creeds were present, the service was about each of us coming to faith—personal, no fanfare, no hierarchy The brothers were present, and except for a few, were sitting amongst us, worshipping among us. It made me smile to think that very likely they were grateful for that.
Brother Geoffrey was presider and preacher, a role he knows well. This day he was especially relaxed and comfortable. He preached on John 20: 19-31, about Thomas coming to faith. Yes, coming to faith was the theme of the sermon, a theme that Br. Geoffrey often mentions. Coming to faith does not come from the mind, but from God when we open our heart to God.
I know that I can’t make myself come to faith, even as much as I try or wish. But how to let go of that? I don’t know how, but I know that it happened. I feel free.

Praying scripture

4/5/2022

Peter Paul Rubens

Lectio Divina is a popular, traditional way to study scripture. A Google search offer the following:

Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First a passage of scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.

This process, which is laborious, time consuming, and intellectual, usually doesn’t fulfill my needs. When I go through the process I might feel ready to write paper for a divinity class, but I don’t feel prayerful, more loving, or closer to God, which is what I desire.
Here is another, and clearly a simpler way to pray scripture, offered by the student minister at church on Sunday.

Read a scripture.
Ask where you see God in it.
Ask where you see yourself in it.

That’s it. Give it a try.