Blog Posts

Clarifying my faith

11/22/2019

At the Pittsburgh Airport

The other day I had a chat with a friend of a friend about our Christian faith. I was giving her a ride; our congenial and loving time together was about 20 minutes. I mainly listened.
     A few of the phrases she offered during our conversation helped me understand the wide expanse of beliefs among Christians, and brought me more clarification of my faith. These stood out to me: Jesus is my Lord and Savior; my church is Bible based; John 14:6. No one can come to the Father except through me.
      I never use these phrases, because they don’t describe my faith. But more than that, they are code for what I believe is an exclusive Christianity, one that puts conditions on Jesus’ message of love.
     They limit me to a belief in a confining, judgmental ‘father-God; a God living more in my mind than in my heart; a God not of mystery or the ineffable, but of dogma and constrictions; a God of the past, not of the present and future; a God of limits, not of what I can hope for or imagine; a God worshiped more through formal liturgy and word, and less through contemplation and silence; a God who must include Jesus as THE Way, rather than someone who is A Way.
      There is so much more I could say about this, but enough words. One more comment, however. I don’t write this as a judgment about this person or her faith, but as a way for me to strengthen, affirm, and clarify mine.

Thoughts and prayers

11/6/2019

www.coffeewithsistervassa.com I try to stay away of telling people, “You are in my thoughts and prayers.” Thoughts * and prayers as two different things, and using them in tandem feels like a casual social comment, similar to have a nice day.
     In fact, I think long and hard before telling someone I will pray for them.
Maybe they don’t want to be prayed for; not everyone does. For some, it might be a personal invasion or they might feel I am tampering with their very life, or trying to seek my faith upon them.
    Sometimes, after discernment on my part, I might ask someone if they would like me to pray for them. Asking demonstrates a strong commitment on my part, both to the well-being of the person and to the power of prayer on mine.
    * I find it easy to tell people I am thinking of them.

Healing

10/25/2019

According to Scripture Jesus healed people plagued with extreme physical and mental difficulties. For me it is very challenging to make senses of these healings. My go-to response is to throw up my hands and proclaim them as miracles, which may be true but doesn’t help me as I try to follow Jesus. I may feel called to follow him, but not to heal people in miraculous medical ways. For me, healing is opening up channels for people to feel peace in the midst of difficulties. I can do this by empathic and compassionate listening, providing a meal, running an errand, offering a ride, and by praying.
Curing has more to do with disease; healing with making whole. Jesus did both; I focus on one, healing.

Iona Prayer Circle

10/14/2019

I am a member of the Iona Prayer Circle. Every three months I receive a list of prayer requests from around the world. There are ten groups, each with approximately 12 names. I am in Group One. The requests remain on the list until the sponsor who has placed the name on the list asks that it be removed; conditions have improved, cures have occurred, or death has happened. We intercessors are asked to pray for our group on Tuesday when the names are lifted up at the Service of Healing at the Iona Abbey. I pray for mine every day, which draws me close to them.
Chris Polhill is the coordinator for this important ministry. Here are her comments about prayer from the October Iona Prayer Circle newsletter.

We need wisdom too when it comes to prayer for others. Prayer is not about God getting someone else to do or be as we think they should be, everyone has free will, even those we pray for. When I first thought about this I stopped asking for anything particular and just prayed for God to bless who or whatever situation was on my mind. I shifted a bit when I thought about God as papa, and it being fine to ask anything as children do and that sometimes I just need to ask, but the difference now is that I know I cannot use prayer to manipulate anyone/thing or God, and I like the prayer for blessing. Rowan Williams talks of prayer as taking people or situations into the presence of God and being there with God. Then living as best we can.

Daily gratitudes

10/12/2019

I’ve expressed many prayers of gratitude in the past few weeks: for the healthy arrival of a friend’s granddaughter; for the comforting passage of a friend onto hospice; for God leading me to visit a friend in the hospital; for my parents (married October 12, 1935.
      There is the early morning start of the day between my husband and me: What are you grateful for this morning?
      There are the daily gratitudes I learned from my mother: Every morning I thank God for friends and family, my health, my life, and my faith.
     The challenge is to keep expressing gratitude throughout the day, which is easier to do when I start the day being thankful.

Praying for peace in Rome

10/2/2019

You can read about my experience praying for peace in Rome in September and see a sampling of the pictures I took of some of the thirty-six of the city’s 900 churches. Now that I’m home, I’m still praying.

www.acottagebythesea.net/a-solitary-traveler

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me….

9/29/2019

I was lay leader at church today. Here is what I shared. (I sang the first line.)

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me….

We gather here today knowing and believing that peace on earth begins we each of us and that it is strengthened when we come together as a community.

As the psalmist tell us,

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
(Psalm 85:10-11)

Increase our faith O God, open our hearts to love so that righteousness will spring up from us and peace will look down on us all.

Today, right now, let peace begin with me, let it begin with each person here, in this town, in this country, and in the world.

Prayer times in Florence

9/24/2019

Prayer walks seem to be my prayer way here in Florence. I go into churches but they don’t hold the same power as walking along the Arno does. And yet, there was prayer as I entered the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and heard the liturgical music and viewed Michelangelo’s Pieta. Stay open, stay present.

(Still having trouble loading pictures.)

Prayer walk at San Marco

9/20/2019

I did it again. I can’t help but take pictures of Fra Angelico’s frescoes in the monk’s cells at the Convent of San Marco. I snap away every time I go there.
     As usual I arrived when the doors opened at 8:15, and thus pretty much had the place to myself. This year I spent more time looking, less time photographing. Walking slowly along the two corridors, looking in each cell, meditating on each fresco, became an inside prayer walk.
     A majority of the cells depict the crucifixion. The Dominican monks of fifteenth century Italy were expected to contemplate on Jesus’ suffering and death. I wouldn’t have wanted one of those crucifixion cells; my choice would have been the first cell on the corridor picturing Jesus in the garden with Mary Magdalene after his crucifixion and resurrection but before his ascension.
     When I was in college we studied Renaissance paintings from an historical and artistic perspective. We were NOT to tap into the religious story or attend to any spiritual feeling we might glean. That was the 60s and unless you were Roman Catholic school, there was no way to include both. In the classroom, art appreciation and religious decrement were mutually exclusive.
      Thank God I don’t have to deal with that any more.

Morning walk along the Arno

9/19/2019

In Rome I prayed for peace in thirty-six different churches. I will continue to do the same in Florence, but prayer walks are my preferred way in this city. I’ve always claimed that I go to Florence to walk around with God, and that still holds true. The Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.” How could I not say it as I walking along the Arno?
This morning I started out among clouds. I stopped for a cappuccino and continued on my way. God’s creation was changing. I stopped in a little chapel along the Arno. God’s love remained constant. (I'm having trouble loading pictures onto my blog, so for now I'll only offer one of the sunny ones.)