Scriptural Meditation - Take One

 

 Today was the first day of my offering of Scriptural Meditation to the church that I am serving as a student minister.  The meditation is sculpted around a Lectio Divina style reading of scripture, but like my mandala drawing, there is no real interaction with the people present.  The reflection and consideration of the scripture is supposed to be personal between you and God.  Our reading today was based on Psalm 1, but you can choose any short passage.  Here is the structure of the meditation as I walked participants through it. After we have gathered, welcomed each other, and lit the candle to symbolize welcoming God into our presence, the facilitator can begin.  Be sure to encourage everyone to find a comfortable position.  I personally sit cross legged on the floor, but I arranged some chairs also.

"Listen first to the reading .  Hear the word of our Lord.  After I finish reading it, we will pause for two minutes to reflect silently on what we have heard."  Read scripture of choice. Find a way to time two minutes so that even you are not interrupted.  I found a great Tibetian bowl timer as a free app on my phone. After the two minutes, read the following.

  

"Listen again to this reading.  What phrase or word is call to you.  Grab a hold of the phrase as I read the Psalm again.  Keep the word or phrase in your heart.  After I have finished, hold your word or phrase in your mind.  Let the word or phrase wash over you.  Mull on it.  Contemplate it.  Repeat it within your mind.  We will sit with our individual words or phrases for 5 minutes." Read the scripture again slowly and clearly. After the five minutes, take a deep breath and return.

"I am going to read this passage one more time.  You have heard the words.  You have found a word or phrase that is calling to you.  Now reflect on what God is saying to you.  These verses have been read by many, but the Spirit that is speaking through these words is speaking only to you.  Feel the words as I speak them again.  Feel God within you, moving you.  Hear the message you are meant to hear within these words.  Sit with this feeling for the next 12 minutes.  Let the Holy Spirit guide your thoughts." Read the scripture again.  Time 12 minutes. 

  

"Slowly finish your thoughts.  Bring your mind back to the present.  Let your body feel the ground below you.  Hold on to  your thoughts on this scripture.  While our time to meditate together is ending, you should carry this time, these thoughts, God’s words with you throughout the day.  Let the mediation of God’s words never be far from you."  Remind people that part of a spiritual practice is exactly that "practice".  It may have been very difficult to be still that long or keep focus.  They may not have "felt God" over the ache in their hip.  Encourage them though to continue with this practice multiple times before judging it.  Close together.

"Let’s take three full breaths together and then together, 'Thank God for being with me today.  Amen'"

I hope you will try this practice, if not with a group then within the quite time of your life.   We do a lot of talking to God, rarely are we quiet enough to listen to His response.

Religion and Art - Where do they intersect?

As we explore the intersection of Art and Religion, or perhaps I should say faith, we should consider those who have mastered the task.

Passing on the Word

The Bible is not a reading book.
     It is an action book.
If we do not act,
      then we relegate God to the history books.
How are the children to know if they do not see?
How are the children to do if they do not hear?
If we are quiet, God will speak,
     but who will know to listen?

Honor God's Glory
  in learning,
     in doing,
        in teaching,
  in living,
     in loving.
In all that you do, reflect God.

Here I am. Where are you God? - a poem

Here I am balancing numbers . . .

            Is God in these figures?

The phone rings, customers seek for a savior

            To stop the water from leaking in their house,

            To make their drains flow,

            Or to turn the heat back on.

            I try to schedule their solution?

Writing checks, paying bills, moving paperwork back & forth.

            Where?  Where is God in this?

Printing, stamping, filing

          God.  God, do you hear me? Do you know I’m here?

E-mail, Schedule, snail mail

God?

He slumps in his chair, “I don’t know how to deal with this?”

            The caller says, “My husband just died. He used to do all this stuff.”

                        My email pings back, “Thank you.  I appreciate your prayers for my mother.”

Thank you, God, for giving me the opportunity to serve you simply and for allowing me to recognize the benefits of unassuming service.

                                

Jesus, My Jesus - a devotional poem

Jesus, my love

                Who are you?

I am enamored, and yet you elude me.

As the colors of the sunset melt into the sea,

I try to get a full understanding of you, but you evaporate away    ͠    I am left in awe.

Like my shadow you are always near and unattainable.

I feel you by me, I search for you.  I try to follow you.

You are my heart, my soul, my life.

Whatever you are, whoever you are, reveal yourself to me.

Let me know you!

Jesus, my Jesus . . .

Let me understand you!

Jesus, my Jesus,

You are more than I can ever comprehend.

Jesus, my Jesus, my love! My inspiration!

I am yours!

How to Stay Strong in Your Religious Beliefs

I wrote the following poem in answer to the question, " How do you hold your own commitments while remaining open to encounters with those who hold different commitments?"

As I Grown by the River

As I grow by the river,

I stand straight and strong.

                My roots hold me still in times of flood

                             and stretch deep in times of drought.

                My branches reach for the sustenance of the sun.

I have stood here long, as my trunk attests,

                through strong winds and cold nights.

I stretch my arms so that I may feel the breeze.

                I welcome birds to nest with me.

               I play with the chipmunks and squirrels who scamper about.

I try to be strong when children tie ropes to me to jump in the waters.

Sometimes, I grow weary.

My arms sag in the snow

 or my leaves fall to the riverbank. . .

                But my roots are deep. My trunk is strong.

                              And life will rise in me again.

                                          And if I am really very lucky,

Perhaps one seed will fall from me 

and stick in the mud 

and there

                Another tree will grow 

                    – perhaps it will not be exactly like me, but

                                It will have deep roots 

                                           and 

                   outstretched limbs that reach for the sun.

Looking for Places to Listen to Faith

This is just a quick note to let you know if you enjoy thoughtfully, provocative radio broadcasts, especially around issues of faith, I would like to give you two recommendations:

12 Enough - which is a podcast produced periodically by two New England  Protestant ministers.  They are witty and fun to listen to while also forcing you to think about theological questions.  You may agree with them or disagree but you won't go away without having a new thought.

On Being with Krista Tippett is my second recommendation.  This show carries a much broader view of faith and may introduce you to ideas that you hadn't considered before as well as allowing you to hear from and about some of the great theologians of our time.  (I was introduced to this show as a way to listen to the work of Reinhold Neibuhr and haven't stopped listening since.)

Both of these shows also have blogs and other media that you may want to explore as well.  Is there anything that you listen to that you find helpful in your spiritual growth?  Please let us know.

Comparative Religion Course for Homeschoolers

This year I have begun to undertake a bit of a comparative religion course with my son.  It is probably not fair to use the word course because that implies that I am using a curriculum or have created a specific timetable with specific resources, and this is not so.  Maybe I should call it an exploration of religions.  We are Christian - - -Protestant - - - Congregationalists by experience and practice, but I think it is important to know about other world religions.  We have thus far been reading about the three main monotheistic (One God) religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, but also came by a great book about Buddhaism.



DS has kind of expanded on this by visiting a Jewish service this past summer at the Boy Scout Jamboree.  So I am always on the look out for additional resources to add on to this exploration.  Last night, I came by a great resource on PBS to further explain Buddhaism.  If you have any interest in learning more or teaching about this religion, I recommend the show itself and the resources availalbe on the PBS website.

Watch the full episode. See more The Buddha.

The Cure for Depression

This weekend our family hosted a new foster child for the weekend.  This is called respite.  The child comes for a short period of time between placements, or, in this case, while the "regular" foster parent(s) take a break.  We were pleasantly surprised with a delightful teenage girl who fit in wonderfully in the family.  This morning we took her to church.  Afterward during coffee hour, I asked her what she thought of the church.  She looked around and said, "Everyone . . .everyone is. . . is, so . . . .happy." She was profoundly impressed by this. As I looked around I saw the younger girls marching in a parade, some middle grade boys playing Foosball, guys chattering, people eating.  I saw laughter and smiles.  I saw true happiness. 

Does this mean the people of the church don't have problems? No.  We all have issues and problems, but for a few brief hours we are removed from it all and given a shot of happiness and joy that we can bring with us out the door and try to spread in the world.  This girl had hit on it, church, God, religion, for me is happiness, joy, comfort, replenishment.  Even on the darkest days I have felt His love, and on good days, I feel so blessed to reflect that love and peace to others.

I sent this girl's observations to our minister, because I thought that he should hear the compliment.  We had heard the sermon and were reflecting God's love into the world.  Apparently, we had internalize the sermon so well that it was immediately obvious even to someone who had only met us all once.

Praise to God! May His goodness, kindness, love, and peace flow through me.  May He use my hands and guide my feet.  Might my life be used to His purpose.  AMEN

Movies that make you cry

It seems impossible when your kids are little that you will ever sit home without a single child calling your name, but it indeed will happen one day.  For me, that day is today.  The house is quiet and I'm curled up with just the animals, my computer, and a stack of movies.

I just finished Love Comes Softly and an entire box of tissues.  What a beautiful, simple love story.  Filmed by Michael Landon, Jr., I could almost imagine his father, Michael Landon, sitting in the wagon instead of Dale Midkiff.





I so enjoy movies like this: no blood and guts, no bare butts or breasts, no foul language.  I'm not a prude, but I'm sick of movies these days that I have to cover my 15 year old daughter's eyes or movies that bring even more evil into a world that has enough horrors of its own.  I appreciate movies that show love, compassion, and positive morals.  Even more, as a Christian, I appreciate the characters quietly espousing Christain values and tenants.  I look forward to even more movies like this one.  I think there is actually a large number of people looking for entertainment just like this.

God comes in Dreams

This morning at breakfast, my husband revealed that he dreamt about God. My husband dreaming of God is interesting on so many levels:

1. He has questioned God existence for so long and only within the last few years has been taking steps toward uniting with God. His feeling of being close to God in the dream haunted him when he awoke. It was very touching. He was not sure what to do with the feeling.

2. God came in the form of Sean Connery in the dream, which of course made me think of The Shack. I told him that according to The Shack, God comes in the form that He feels you would accept. I personally thought Sean Connery was a much better choice for my husband than the big African woman named Poppa that is found in The Shack. Especially, when DH knows how much I looooovvvveeee Sean Connery.

3. When I asked what he felt the message was, he hesitated and was / is unsure but came away feeling that he was being told to do God’s work, but didn’t feel clear exactly what said work was.

He thought the dream was especially interesting since he didn’t just remember it when he woke up, but instead dreamt throughout the night waking up several times and then receding back into the same dream. While certainly, he does not believe this dream is Moses’ burning bush; we both believe that God talks to us if only we will listen (certainly we never expected in such a direct way, but God does what needs to be done). I will be interested to see how this dream impacts him long term and what DH will do with this message.

11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

1 Kings 19:11-13 (New International Version)

Knowing God - A Sunday School Lesson

The other day my birth-brother made a post on Facebook about knowing God / being religious because he is of God and therefore needs nothing else - no Bible, no community, no religious practice. I question if this is possible. This question has been brought up previously in my old Bible Study class - Can a man remove himself from society and find God in a Garden per se? I don't mean remove for an hour or a day, but to know of God just by being. In the case of my birth-brother, I questioned back more about his children then himself: asking how can the little ones know to even search for God if they are not introduced? How can they know of his ways without hearing or reading of all he has done? How can they live out his works, if they don't know that they are called to do so? This post and its back and forth with him led me to this idea for a Sunday School lesson:

Knowing God

This is an excellent lesson for the beginning of the school year

It can be heard, I can learn of God just through being one with him. but can you know someone without speaking to them, without spending time with them, without reading about them?

Start with a prayer - Dear God, Be with us today as we undertake the study of you. We wish to know you better so that we can better serve you. Please help us to know you better. Guide us in our study and open our minds to understanding your words. Amen

Have the students pair off. Ask them to spend 3 or 4 minutes talking to their partner to find out about them. They should be ready to introduce their partner to the group and share their findings.

Take a few minutes to have everyone introduced by their partner. Ask if class if the introductions were done well and accurately. Ask, "Is there more that we could learn about you?" Brainstorm ideas of how we could get to know each other better.

To help them think more deeply, ask them to name a famous person that is no longer alive. Ask them to tell us what they know about him or her. Ask how they learned these facts. Ask how they could learn more.

Tell them that the same applies to God. Loving God is an action. We must get to know him. We may never know all of Him, but as part of our spiritual path we must work to strengthen our understand of Him. Through this understand, we can be guided in our actions. Brainstorm ways that we know about God. Ask what other ways we might get to know him better.

Craft: Create a God's Eye - Using longer chopsticks, make a cross. Knot the yarn around the center X and then weave around each of the sticks making a full loop around each one. When the eye is completed and tied off. Write the words Prayer, Worship, Fellowship, Bible on longer pieces of ribbon. Tie a ribbon off each stick end. Explain that by using these four standards, we can better know God. God can see through his eye that we wish to be Christians and wish to know more about what he wants from us.

Try to explain that knowing God is one of the purposes of Sunday School. By knowing Him better, we can be better. While it is important to have a private relationship with God, it is also important to learn and share in community so that we can get a deeper understanding of God. Tie this into the beginning activity, "Did you know all those facts about each other before we started?" (hopefully the answer will be "no") "By working together, we were able to learn more and we should do the same in our religious studies."

Bible Verse: Proverb 12:15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto council is wise."

Rock of Ages - article to consider what a church is?

Read this article to consider what a church is and as Christians what are we called to do.

Rock of Ages article in the Telegram.com - A product of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Given the needs of many, what are we as Christians called to do? Is it more important to repair a steeple or feed your congregation? Is oil in the church more important than oil in the home of someone in need?

Interestingly, this was also the subject of this morning's sermon. What makes you a Christian: a ritual practice or compassionate action?

"For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also."
James 2:26

What are your thoughts?

Catholic School for Protestants? or shall we continue to protest?

The table was set and the meal prepared. We waited for the Father to arrive. We had decided that DD wanted to go to the Catholic School. We understood that this meant that she would go to mass daily and undertake religious education and were ok with that. She was confirmed this year in our Congregational denomination, so I was fairly confident that while she was still developing her belief system, she was founded in a strong basis that would not waiver beneath this Catholic system. It crossed my mind that this would not be the limit of what was expected of us, and I was correct. It was asked that the entire family begin attending mass on a weekly basis.

On a cursory view this may not seem like much of a request. We are both Christians. We already attend church on a weekly basis. But such a request is bigger than that . . .I tried to make an analogy for my husband. Imagine as a Yankee fan, you got a job at Fenway. Such a job meant that you were able to watch baseball almost daily, but you were never able to see your favorite team in action (yes, I know the analogy breaks down here because the Red Sox and the Yankees actually do play each other, but I think you get the idea). It would be unlikely that as a family we would attend two church services a week and so such a choice would stop us from practicing our own religion. And I think that there are enough differences, that we would not feel completely fulfilled in the Catholic religion. My husband thinks that we would adapt and maybe even eventually convert, but I don’t . There are too many issues that I feel too passionately about. Frankly, I wonder too, how it will feel to always be excluded, always be the outsider. Is participating in and of itself, supporting something I don’t believe is right. Is this too high a price to pay?

It is interesting to think that we often think of different religions as being Buddhist vs. Christian, or monotheistic vs. pantheistic, atheist vs. believer, but truthfully there are many times in my life that differences in religion lie on much closer paths like this Catholic vs. Congregationalist consideration.

Go and Make Disciples - Converting the locals

“Go and make disciples of all the nations.” I have been thinking of this command by Jesus found in Matthew 28:19 and mark 16:15. As we have moved and are “church shopping”, we have been coming to many different churches in the area to find one that fits us and reflects what we believe to be God’s truth. Perhaps we have sat jut next to you in a pew. When we left church this week and were discussing what we liked and what we didn’t , this scripture came to me again, “Go and make disciples of the world.”

These churches were not following this command, they were waiting for the faithful to walk to them. The command does not read, “Open your doors and let the faithful in.” It says “Go!” “Go and make disciples of the world.” I thought of this even within the context of our old church. We did go and make disciples through our participation in Heifer International, the Crop Walk, Operation Christmas child, our mission trip to Kentucky, but what about those just steps from our door. Did we expect them to find their way through our doors? If someone new came through our door, were we “making disciples” or just giving current believers a place to practice?

“Go and make disciples of the world.” Doesn’t this command imply that we should always be looking for those that need introduction to Jesus? Many of us avoid the Jehovah’s witnesses as they come to our door to spread their word. While we may not agree with their total message, we should admire them for their conviction in living out this command.

Interestingly, in Luke 24:47, the command is phrased slightly differently; “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”. The “Go” has been defined. Go not only means to spread the gospel across the world, but to also make sure that it is spread in the backyard. Just because Jesus lived in and around Jerusalem did not mean that all people heard the gospel or accepted on the first hearing. “Preach to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

I would like to personally inspire you to think about how your church could live out this scripture right in your neighborhood or community. Do not wait for believers to enter your doors but go out among the people and share with them the gospel

Some thoughts on how to do this:
1. Send a welcome letter to new families in the area
2. Hold a Bible Study at a local coffee shop
3. Post notices about special church events on community bulletin boards
4. Hold an outdoor concert of a Christian singer or group.
5. Have your church bazaar women participate in local craft fairs
6. Host the local Farmer’s Market or other non-religious event at your church
7. Start a book club – advertise throughout the town.

Every Time You Feel The Spirit

There is a strange characteristic of New England Congregationalists – restraint. Where you may think of Southern Baptists hands raised praising “Alleluia”; New England Congregationalist are the picture of restraint. Rarely do we even clap or a good hymn or a blessing we have heard. Severe and quiet do we sit with our puritanical ancestors keeping us in line. Today, this tendency actually became comical when the minister tried to teach a lesson in the Children’s Sermon about enthusiasm – literally translated from Greek meaning to be filled with God’s spirit. He encouraged them to share how they cheered for their favorite sports team. The wide eyed children looked queerly at the Reverend. He egged them on. Meekly one girl said the words, “Go Brimfield. Go.” But the voice was so quiet and respectful in the Sanctuary.

“Is that really how you say it? Or do you say it louder?” The girl eyed him. You could see t in all of their eyes – Noise in church? They had been taught well.

There is an animal behavior experiment by Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad (as told in Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover) in which monkeys were put in a cage with a tall pole on top of which sat fresh ripe bananas. Of course, the monkeys were eager for the favorite food. They made easy work of the pole but just as they were about to reach for the prize the researchers blew the monkeys off the pole with a strong burst from a fire hose. After a few times of this the chimp gave up and stopped trying for the banana. More interestingly, when new monkeys were introduced to the cage and enticed by the same bananas, it was not the fire hose which halted them, but their fellow monkeys who pulled them down. Eventually, each of the original chimps was replaced so that no animal had experience the fire hose deterrent. Even so the monkeys continued not to eat the bananas. They had learned that the bananas were off limits.

Were these children the same? Had all these generations later had the descendents of the Puritans remained reserved to avoid the stockades? Even ministerial permission they no longer could be spiritually enthusiastic.

I must side with the minister on this one and believe it may be time for us to reach for the bananas. If the spirit moves you . . .

Can a Protestant Attend a Catholic School?

I think I failed to mention in yesterday’s post about DD’s visiting a Catholic school that we are NOT Catholic. We are actually Congregationalist (a form of Protestantism). As part of the consideration of this school, we have to consider the impact on DD’s religious development. Part of school means attending a Catholic mass daily and participating in Catholic religious classes.

We did have an opportunity to sit through mass during our visit yesterday. I’m not sure how the kids felt, but it was awkward. Not only were there parts of the service obviously different than ours i.e. genuflecting at you enter you pew, actually turning wine and bread into blood and body, reading from books that are not included in our Bible, but also in subtle ways: being refused communion since we are not Catholic, watching only men allowed to participate in the service, and hearing that God sanctified the first Pope, Saint Peter. Its greatest difference was that it wasn’t even introduced in our language, but in Latin. Now I must admit, this was kind of cool and I actually came home and wrote it on the kid’s Educational Accomplishments. This service not only let them peek into another world religion, but allowed my daughter to see that Latin was not dead. But it means that you are not 100% sure about what you are hearing or in essence agreeing to as you pray to God.

My brother went to a Catholic high school back in the late ‘80’s early 90’s, escaping with his protestant faith basically intact, so I know that it is possible. But intact and unaltered are two different things. While I do appreciate their basic morals and more modest approach to living, I greatly disagree with many of tenants. However, there is great benefit when a school’s largest class/teacher ratio is a 9 to 1. There is something to be said when moral rights and wrongs are clearly laid out. So the questions become – Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Should I be supporting a denomination that I disagree with? Should our commonalities be seen as greater than our differences? Should I consider these same questions when judging the public alternative?