by Elaine Breckenridge. Featured photo and below of a restaurant sign in Galway, Ireland, 2016
A few years ago, I had the fortune to go on a pilgrimage to Ireland. One day we spent the morning walking in The Burren, a wild landscape located in County Clare. It was beautiful and also very wet and windy. Afterwards, we piled into our small tour bus and headed to Galway for lunch. As I was getting off the bus, I caught a glimpse of myself in the driver’s rear-view mirror. My appearance was a disaster! It was if every strand of hair on my head was growing in a different direction. As we walked and grew near the restaurant, I said to my traveling companion, “I don’t like to be seen looking like this in public. I hope there is a restroom near the front door so I can fix my hair.” And then, turning the corner, here is what came into view:
“You look fine.” Immediately I relaxed. I was not alone! The sign was a warm gesture which said to me, “You are welcome just the way you are. Come on in.” I entered the restaurant without a care in the world. It was a moment of hospitality that I will always remember. Hospitality, for me, is being welcomed in such a way that I feel accepted and comfortable. That is certainly what happened when I saw that sign. And speaking of signs, that particular sign points to the reality of the hospitality of God.
The God whom I know is one who assures me, personally, that I am accepted and acceptable. I say “personally” because I do not simply believe this as a point of doctrine (I do, in fact) but because it is something that I experience in prayer. In prayer, I am often aware of how deeply I am loved by God. God is not only creator, host and guest, but God also serves us as a companion. God is longing to be in a life-giving relationship with all of us. This was made quite apparent in the Incarnation. God put on flesh in the person of Jesus to make the point that God is with us. God journeys with us as we journey through life. We are never alone because in life, in death, God is always with us.
A writer, Paula D’Arcy once said, “God comes to us disguised as our life.” (Rohr, Richard, Everything Belongs) We can expand that by saying that God’s hospitality, also comes to us disguised as our life. God is always reaching out to us and often welcomes us in surprising ways. I am remembering one time in particular.
Both of my adult sons have left the Christian Church. They have not left Christ and though they do not say creeds on Sunday mornings, they actively exercise their baptismal vows: following Christ, serving others, respecting the dignity of every human being, caring for creation.
Still, when my youngest son made his move to join an Eastern spiritual ashram that follows the path of yoga and a lineage of yogi masters, called Ananda, I was unsure. I decided to meet these people who would be shepherding my then eighteen-year-old son.
Ananda’s Blue Lotus Temple, Bothell, Washington
I met with two of their ministers. They invited me into their temple. We took our seats in chairs configured in a small circle. One of them asked, “As a way of getting to know one another, I wonder if we might meditate together?” I was surprised, but willing to accept the invitation. They offered no prayers, gave no instruction except to say that a ringing of a small singing bowl would begin and end our time of silence. We sat in silence for at least twenty minutes.
I was surprised by the experience of the gentle silence which enabled me to practice my form of Christian contemplative prayer –almost immediately. I felt held by their practice without being led into their practice. I dropped into my heart center by saying the Jesus Prayer. God was right there welcoming me, encouraging me, comforting me. The message was clear, I had no reason to fear for my son’s soul.
It was an extraordinary experience of hospitality. I felt welcomed by people who were not cross-carrying Christians but who follow the witness and celebrate the life of Jesus. They are on a spiritual path which produces the fruits of peace, love and joy. They shared those fruits with me and gave me the space to have my own experience of prayer that day. It was a beautiful moment to be welcomed into a circle of prayer led by people outside my faith tradition. God embraced and blessed us all in that circle. I was reminded by what Henry Nouwen wrote,
“Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend. It is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adore the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find their own.”
In his book, One River, Many Wells, Matthew Fox, writes that “All spiritual traditions can learn from each other and offer something fresh from their experiences and teachings.” (P. 436) I believe that is true and I have made a study of many of the religions of the world. However, this was the first time I had sat in a circle with non-Christians and experienced God-with-us. As the psalmist wrote, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7, NRSV)
Accepting God’s hospitality means surrendering to what we are being offered in any given moment. By surrendering to that present with an open mind, an open heart and an open body, we experience the hospitality of God. The German 13th century theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart said “All paths lead to God, for God is on them all equally for the person who knows.” (Fox, p. 11)
The breadth and depth of that statement and God’s hospitality can be experienced by going to and from the heart experience. For it is there that we cultivate God’s wild hospitality within us, meant to be shared with the world. And with that sharing, all of humanity will someday know shalom, God’s peace and wholeness.
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Prayer is a vast territory, with room for silence and shouting, for creativity and repetition, for original and received prayers, for imagination and reason….. Prayer forms us. And different ways of prayer aid us just as different types of paint, canvas, color and light aid a painter (Tish Harrison Warren: Prayer in the Night For Those who Work or Watch or Weep, 16)
Last week I talked about welcoming the morning darkness which seems so pervasive as the long nights of winter approach. However it is not just the long dark of the morning that needs to be welcomed. It is even more important to welcome the darkness of the night and all the fears and anxieties it so often brings with it. We need practices that help us embrace the challenges of life and all the feelings of vulnerability and inadequacy that frequently beset us.
As you know, I love creative prayer practices and I love writing my own prayers, but there are times when we feel overwhelmed and the creative juices just don’t flow. At these times, repetitive prayers, like the prayer offices that have sustained much of the church since the 3rd century, sustain me. So last week I started practicing compline, firmly believing that God speaks to us in the dark and through the prayers we inherit from those who have gone before us.
I grabbed my copy of the Celtic Daily Prayer, which has a fantastic selection of compline prayers, one for each day of the week, and started to read. This is a wonderfully enriching practice with which to end the day and I find it enables me to set aside my anxieties and embrace the vulnerabilities that so easily disturb my sleep. A few days later, I was gifted a copy of Prayer in the Night, by Trish Harrison Warren, a book framed around the practice of compline. In this insightful book, she explores her own season of doubt and loss as a result of two miscarriages and wends her way through themes of human vulnerability, suffering and God’s seeming absence. She comments that:
“Mysteriously, God does not take away our vulnerability. He enters into it. Jesus left a place where there is no night to enter into our darkness. He met with blisters, and indigestion, with fractured relationships and the death of friends, with an oppressive empire, the indignity of poverty and the terror of violence….. To look at Jesus is to know that our Creator has felt pain, has known trouble, and is well acquainted with sorrow. (Prayer in the Night 29)
Then she goes on to explain how the prayers and practices of the church, especially Compline, helped her hold onto her beliefs and kept her in the way of Jesus.
Like Tish, I find that ancient prayers compiled into the practices of morning and evening prayer and Compline can be some of the most stabilizing practices during hard times. I love knowing that the prayers I pray are the same ones that Christians have prayed throughout the history of Christianity. I love knowing that millions of people of faith before me found strength and courage through these prayers, and believe that many more after me will pray and be strengthened by the same prayers.
What I have never done however is use the prayers like a form of Lectio Divina, meditating on phrases, allowing them to speak to me of deeper meanings and aspects of God. Tish uses the compline from The Book of Common Prayer, and focuses the first section of her book on the prayer “Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch or seep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.” She points out that Jesus often responded to darkness by working, watching and weeping and that we can join with him in doing the same. Compline provides an opportunity to join our own weeping souls with the tears and agony of all who weep – past, present and future. For me there is great comfort in that thought. I do not weep alone. I do not suffer alone and always, through entering into prayers like this I never stand alone, no matter how dark the night may seem.
I particularly love Tish’s comments on the last phrase of the compline “And all for your love’s sake” She explains:
If this Compline prayer walks us slowly through a long, dark night, this last line – ‘and all for your sake. Amen- is the glint of sun rising in the East. The unshakeable reality of love breaks across the shadows of vulnerability and death, and we see that this prayer can only be prayed if there is a God who loves us. We weep because we can lament to one who cares about our sorrow. We watch because we believe that Love will not abandon us. We work because God is restoring the world in love. We can sleep because God governs the cosmos out of love. (Prayer in the Night 164)
All prayer is an expression of our faith in the enduring nature of God’s love, and the practice not only of Compline but of other traditional repetitive prayers is something that grounds us firmly in that trust. It is something that helps us through both the day and the night. It is the same in the traditional liturgical form of service which I did not grow up with but now cherish. Learning about the origins and meaning of prayers in a Eucharistic service was illuminating and inspiring for me. The voice of God is often loudest in the prayers we inherit from our forebears. I heartily recommend that as an additional exercise for the season of darkness that you read through these posts – Instructed Eucharist 1 and Instructed Eucharist 2 – and immerse yourself in the richness of the heritage we are privileged to enjoy. You may also enjoy this downloadable booklet from Kate Kennington Steer – a haiku and art reflection for the prayer offices of the day.
Reading Prayer in the Night, sent me looking for other Compline prayers to add to my supply. This last prayer comes from the compline in the New Zealand Prayer Book. As I read through it today I felt enfolded in the loving presence of God. I hope you do too.
Lord,
It is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not be done;
Let it be.
The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our lives rest in you.
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day.
new joys,
new possibilities.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
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by Tom Sine, originally posted on his site New Changemakers here
Most church leaders have been rudely awakened – during the ongoing Covid Crisis – to a rapid decline in church attendance, giving, and volunteering. One of the most concerning metrics is the declining attendance of Gen Y & Z which Pew Research has predicted for over a decade.
With all this very concerning bad news I want to trumpet some very encouraging good news about Gen Next. Gen Y & Z are the Good News Generations. Gen Y Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996. Gen Z Zoomers were born after 1996. According to Pew Research: ”Gen Z looks a lot like Millennials on Key social and political issues.”
Part of the reason for this is Gen Y & Z are the first digital generations and they are also more richly multicultural. As a consequence, these two generations are not only more aware of issues of environmental, racial, and economic justice. Most importantly a greater percentage of these two generations want to use their lives to make a difference in society than older generations.
The tragedy is that church leaders aren’t aware that Gen Y & Z are the Good News Generations. Nor are many church leaders considering a new approach to these two generations. Few are considering enabling them to use their lives to create neighborhood empowerment projects … before persuading them to become members of their churches first.
Tisha Shank, a Clapham Associate Member wrote, “We have been critical witnesses of institutional low points, including The Great Recession of 2008, multiple unjust police shootings, massive sex abuse scandals in Protestant and Catholic church leadership, rampant school shootings, overwhelmed medical facilities during the height of COVID in 2020, and the growth of increasingly divisive media and political cycles. These experiences have not only shaped our distrust of institutions, but it has shaped our formation overall, including our spiritual formation. This leads us to another key attribute of my generation: religious disaffiliation.” – Gen Z: A Generation Reconstructing – The Clapham Group
This perspective leads a number of Gen Y & Z to to disconnect from churches. However, it also motivates a number of Gen Y & Z to join those doing profound neighborhood change-making from creating community gardens to job training. For example, one black church in a community with high unemployment offered courses in the construction trades which made a real difference for those just getting started.
Is your church ready to Empower Gen Y & Z to create community empowerment projects in the turbulent 2020s without joining your church first?
Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash
Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin inspire ways to get geared up for the coming season of gratitude in this popular online course! Sign up for 180 days to enjoy this retreat at your own pace – including craft tutorials and print-outs plus much more. Check it out in our shop!
Editor’s Note: The following reflection has been excerpted from Meditation Monday – Learning Hospitality from Psalm 23. The accompanying recipes are from Happy St Nicholas Day and Breathe In The Fragrance Of God – Making Apple Cider As Spiritual Practice. We hope you enjoy this series of seasonal hospitality reflections and recipes! Be sure to email us your favorite holiday recipes for inclusion in our community cookbook. Find the details here: https://tinyurl.com/GodspaceCommunityCookbook
As American Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas approach, our world seems more divided than ever and many families are finding it hard to gather without becoming embroiled in heated political discussions. Some have even ditched family gatherings as a result. It seems like a good time to turn to the Bible for some advice on how to do hospitality and to give thanks at this season.
Hospitality in ancient Palestine was more than a courtesy extended to friends and travellers. It was the means that villages used to determine if strangers were friends or enemies, a threat or an asset to the community. Extending hospitality by providing food, water and shelter was a way to temporarily adopt strangers into the community and hopefully convert a potential threat into a friendly alliance. Sometimes oil was poured over the head of the stranger as a sign of welcome.
It is probable that it was these customs that David referred to in Psalm 23:
You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings. (Psalm 23:5)
In this verse David is probably not talking about God preparing a banquet for us to eat while our enemies sit around with empty stomaches drooling over the lavish food we are enjoying. This is a verse that speaks of the ancient practice of hospitality, an invitation to sit down and enjoy a meal with strangers and those we perceive as a threat, an encouragement to seek for understanding and reconciliation rather than division and hatred.
…
We live in a world of great division where there is much necessity for all of us to sit down over a meal with those we disagree with and see as a threat. As you think about this what comes to mind? What situations are you currently facing that might be defused by sitting around the table during the thanksgiving or Advent season and sharing a meal? Where have you seen God prepare a feast that has brought enemies together and overcome fears and disagreements? How could you prepare a meal “in the presence of your enemies” and offer open hospitality to those you disagree with?
In Jesus’ day this kind of hospitality was considered more than a commandment. It was a sacred obligation, filled with the joy of serving both others and God. Those that did not extend hospitality to orphans, widows and the homeless could be rejected. Like early monastics and Celtic Christians, Jews believed that sometimes in welcoming strangers they welcomed angels into their midst.
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated his joy in offering hospitality as he fed the crowds, sat down with tax collectors and shared a passover meal with his disciples. Even after his death he came back to share meals as a way to communicate his message of salvation and hope.
As I thought about this today, the picture that came to me was of Jesus seating and eating that last meal with Judas. Then I saw him get down and wash Judas’s feet. He must have realized that Judas was about to betray him, but he still reached out in embrace not division. I wonder if he hoped that through this gracious act of hospitality towards him Judas would change his mind.
…
As we move towards Thanksgiving (at least here in the U.S.) Advent and Christmas think about the people you disagree with, want to exclude or think are about to betray you. How could you reach out with radical hospitality to them at this season? Sit with your eyes closed and listen to this version of Psalm 23. What names come to mind? Perhaps it is someone like Mary, an unwed mother who could have been thrown out by her family. Or someone like the shepherds, despised by the society around them yet welcomed to the manger. Or the wise men, foreigners like immigrants, refugees and those of other religions. What are the first steps you need to make to reach out in a spirit of hospitality and reconciliation? How could you embrace the radical journey of hospitality?
~ ~ ~
St Nicholas Soup
2 ounces butter or margarine
2 leeks or onions
4 medium-sized carrots
3 turnips
4 potatoes
half a medium-sized head white cabbage
1 teaspoon salt or more, according to taste
4 quarts water (editor’s note: you may want to use less water)
croutons (see recipe below)
1/3 cup minced chervil, chopped
Wash and peel the vegetables. Slice them into small pieces. Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add the vegetables and salt and stir a few times. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the water and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pot, and allow the soup to cook slowly for about 30 to 40 minutes. Stir from time to time. When the soup is done, blend all of it in a blender until it becomes creamy and even. Serve hot, adding some croutons to each bowl and sprinkling some chervil on top. 6–8 servings.
Croutons:
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 slices French bread (or Italian, or any other of your choice), sliced in cubes
dash each of dried thyme and dried parsley
Pour the oil into a pot, add the garlic, bread cubes, and herbs. and sauté them over low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir and turn constantly. Remove the croutons and keep them in a lightly warm oven until you are ready to use them. Croutons are especially useful as garnish in thick, creamy soups
~ ~ ~
Apple Cider Recipe
There are many recipes online for home made apple cider, but many of them are too sweet for my taste. They also tend to use a much lower apple to water ratio and I find that using more apples gives a much tastier flavour and you don’t need to add honey or sugar. I like the slow cooker method because you don’t have to stand over it and stir it, another big plus for busy people.
Fill your slow cooker about 1/2 inch below the top with apples – about 15 medium size apples for a 6 quart pot.
Add water until the apples are just covered.
Add 2 cinnamon sticks, 6 cloves and other optional spices 1 teaspoon nutmeg and allspice
Turn cooker on low for 8 hours (perfect for overnight so that you wake up to a wonderfully fragrant house).
Mash apples with a potato masher.
Cook for another 2 hours.
Allow to cool (easier to handle).
Filter through cheese cloth, squeezing all the juice out of the cloth.
Bottle (can) – makes about 3 1/2 quarts.
It will remain good for 24 hours on the counter, 1 week in the fridge or process in a canning pot. I stored my first batch in the fridge and reheated the mixture as I make 2 batches to fill my canner. Fill 7 quart jars, screw on lids and place in canner. Cover about 1 inch above lids with water. Boil for 20 minutes. Cool and check the seals before you store. I like to keep my jars out on the counter for 24 hours to make sure they really have sealed before I store them away.
Just a few months away and it will be time to celebrate Advent and Christmas. Let Godspace be a resource to you as you prepare! We have many devotionals, gifts, prayer cards, free downloads, retreats – and more – to offer. Check it out in our shop under the category of Advent!
I’m on a pilgrimage of sorts…a trip celebrating our 35-38th Anniversaries(thanks to covid ) with two of our oldest friends from our college and our newlywed days…
It’s not a designated pilgrimage journey, but I believe strongly in being a pilgrim rather than just a tourist whenever I travel so it’s been fun to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and see where the Spirit leads! An aspect of being a pilgrim is to be free to receive the gifts along the journey….to be open to whatever happens and to watch for, and pay attention to signs Jesus might give us. I have been led this pilgrimage by pink flowers which represent God’s love and presence with me, the color turquoise because it brings me joy and reminds me to pray for my friend Jerusalem, and seeking out churches, especially those where God has been worshiped since the early centuries of the faith.
St. Sebald or Sebaldus, was an 8th-century hermit, missionary and patron saint of Nuremberg. I wanted to see the Church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg… but the first tour on our journey didn’t allow time for it. Happily, the guide on our second trip into the city was a big fan of this church and even led tours here as a volunteer.
We walked into the church and were greeted by beautiful strings filling the large sanctuary with music! WOW! The Spirit was so alive with the music. I think everyone felt it.
strings from tel aviv
While we didn’t have nearly enough time to experience the church …I had a chance to find the CROSS OF NAILS from Coventry Cathedral. This is a CROSS of RECONCILIATION that the cathedral in England sent as a symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation after the horrific bombing in WWII.
Cross of Nails
This Cross is one of the Crosses of Reconciliation that sparked a movement of forgiveness and wholeness between churches and believers in Germany and England and Beyond! READ MUCH MORE ABOUT THIS HERE.
st sebald nuremberg
With all that is going on in our world, with so much brokenness and division due to war, politics and racist actions, we need to pray this prayer of reconciliation now more and than ever!
The Litany of Reconciliation
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from are, lass from class. FATHER FORGIVE
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own. FATHER FORGIVE
The Greed which exploited the work of human hands and lays waste the earth. FATHER FORGIVE
Our envy of welfare and happiness of others. FATHER FORGIVE
Our indifference to the plight of imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee. FATHER FORGIVE
The lust which dishonors the bodies of men, women, and children. FATHER FORGIVE
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God. FATHER FORGIVE
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each others, just as in Christ, God forgave you! AMEN
It just happened that the musicians playing in the Church were from Israel….another beautiful sign of healing and reconciliation, and another beautiful gift along my pilgrim journey!
more soon!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
We are collecting recipes across our Godspace community for our first-ever cookbook. Send your recipe written in your own words, where it came from, and why it’s special to you to godspacelight@gmail.com – if you send 3 or more recipes in, you will receive a FREE digital copy of the finished cookbook! For more information check out this post: https://godspacelight.com/2022/08/03/the-great-godspace-cookbook-gathering/
I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
All along my pilgrim journey
I want Jesus to walk with me
In my trials, Lord, walk with me
In my trials, Lord, walk with me
When the shades of life are falling
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me
In my sorrows, Lord walk with me
In my sorrows, Lord walk with me
When my heart is aching
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me
In my troubles, Lord walk with me
In my troubles, Lord walk with me
When my life becomes a burden,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me
This African American spiritual seems appropriate to many of us in life. We have not experienced the horrors of slavery, yet, I imagine that some of us in our own pilgrim journey have had some kind of heartache, trial, disappointment, or personal burden in life. It seems to go along with being human.
As I think about the life of the 7th century Queen Hereswith of East Anglia in England, this spiritual seems appropriate, as this saint also had trials in her life. Most folks did not become saints without some kind of trial or trials that made them into who they were.
When I became enamored with the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon saints almost two decades ago, I came upon St. Hilda of Whitby who has become a personal saint of mine. She in turn introduced me to her older sister, St. Hereswith who is not as well-known. I met both of these saints through Bede who wrote admiringly about St. Hilda of Whitby and her sister Hereswith in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Book Four, Chapter 23).
These two sisters were born into a royal family of Deira in Northumbria in Northeastern England. Their parents were Hereric (nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria) and his wife Breguswith. Hereswith’s name must have been a compound name formed from her two parent’s names. She was likely baptized with her family by the famous Paulinus when her uncle King Edwin had all the family baptized at a hastily built wooden church in York in 626/7.
To help seal diplomatic relations between Northumbria and East Anglia, Hereswith was married to King Æthelric of East Anglia. Hereswith’s husband was likely the nephew of King Rædwald who was buried with his magnificent treasure at Sutton Hoo in East Anglia. After Hereswith’s husband was killed in battle or he may have repudiated her, she was exiled from England to a convent in Merovingian France.
Often Queens were sent into exile after their husband, the King, died or when they were repudiated, likely to keep them from causing trouble and perhaps bearing another son or daughter who might think he or she should be the rightful next monarch. Bede tells us that Queen Hereswith was sent to a convent known as Chelles (also called Calle) in central France where she became a professed nun. It is possible that she may have gone to Faremoutiers Abbey, also in France.
We cannot even begin to imagine the sorrow Hereswith must have experienced to lose her husband through a horrific death or from being personally rejected as a spouse, had to leave her young son, the future King Aldwulf behind and perhaps another son also, to journey in exile to another country, France. Hereswith lived out the spirituals’ words and we grieve with her, “in my trials Lord, walk with me, in my sorrows Lord, walk with me, in my troubles Lord, walk with me.” God did walk with Hereswith and her deep faith influenced her family. Her son and grandson were long-time Kings of East Anglia and faithful followers of Christ as were her granddaughters and nieces who were Abbesses in England.
We join St. Hereswith as a trusted guide who has journeyed to unknown places and found new life and resurrection on earth and on the other side of the thin veil. She discovered as many of us have in our own personal pilgrim journey, that life can be filled with seasons of joy and also with unknown times of fear, heartbreak, and sadness when tears overflow. At times, we too, like Queen Hereswith desperately want and need Jesus to walk with us.
Oh, yes, I want Jesus to walk with me.
If you would like to read more about Celtic and Anglo-Saxon saints including Queen Hereswith, you are invited to visit www.saintsbridge.org.
Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening
Christine Sine’s latest book is packed full of contemplative wisdom and inspiration for creating your own meditative focus. Click for more details!
photos and writings by June Friesen
September 21, 2022. World Gratitude Day is celebrated on September 21 annually. This day aims to remind us of the importance of expressing gestures of thanks and appreciation.
“Appreciation is a worldwide practice today and a personal one that we can all use to improve our lives — but it goes back to 1965. World Gratitude Day was invented by Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual leader and meditation teacher. It was conceived at a Thanksgiving dinner in the United Nations’ meditation room.” (World Gratitude Day from National Day website)
It was first observed Worldwide in 1966. Maybe this is the first time you have heard about this day. Or maybe you had never realized how it came to be acknowledged as a worldwide celebration. If I am honest, I have come to believe as well as I try to practice every day as a day to be grateful. In so many ways, particularly in North America, we have lost our attitude of appreciation and gratitude. How often does one hear, ‘I deserve better,’ or ‘I should have a better life,’ etc. as opposed to being grateful for one’s breath moment by moment as well as so much else that we often take for granted and even at times think that we deserve. So what are some ways we may consider today to make gratitude a way of life? Some questions we might include are: What are the negatives that you dislike in your life? As well, one needs to consider: what are the positives in your life? What are the things that you dislike about yourself yet maybe they are signs of something positive? What are some things that I take for granted that are really blessings/gifts?
Let me share personally about something in my life – a real negative from the human perspective yet it was how God got my attention as a 17-year-old teenager and set me on His path for my life. You see I had a path in place but I was so far off track with God, and if I am honest – I was really angry at God. I was going to show Him and everyone else just how angry I was and how I was going to turn my back on everyone of them, God included. I had to quit my senior year in high school and graduated one year later. This also changed my course of further education – instead of Nursing college first and then maybe Bible College it was reversed. This whole revolution in my life allowed me to meet my husband from 2,000 miles away, in another country and we have been married over 50 years. The medical world was able to treat my disease and get it under control yet through my twenties and thirties I had to take medication as precautionary.
Fast forward to when my two sons were in their 30’s both were diagnosed with thyroid cancer – which may or may not be a result of the medication I was taking to keep my body in check medically. Now, why do I share this story? Because I have learned that gratitude has helped me see that, despite the negatives in my life story God has taken them and made beauty from them which leads me to the passage from the Scripture on gratitude first of all from when Jesus healed the ten lepers.
Taking a good look at them, Jesus said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough.
How often have I gone around with an ungrateful spirit and a grumbling attitude when in fact God has blessed me with infinite blessings – and quite honestly way beyond what I could ever pay Him back for or what I deserve, and no way can I say I have earned them. Here I believe Jesus wants the cleansed lepers to bring glory to Him and to help others see what God is doing in and through the life of Jesus as He walked upon this earth. Yet, instead so many became complainers, ungrateful and even set about trying to get rid of Jesus – to the point of trying to trap Him and kill Him. One more scripture from the writings of Paul:
Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!”
Challenging but beautiful words: caring for others is more than just meeting the bare essentials (often bare essentials is defined differently by many) so that in itself can be a struggle. God gifts all of us differently so that we can bless and care for the wider needs of those in need so they too can have hearts of gratitude. Most often we think of providing food for people yet shelter, health care, adequate clothing, job training emotional and mental support as well are needed. When God gifts us with opportunity to bless and help it is not about asking them five questions to see if they qualify or to ask for them to say a certain prayer or to ask them to come to our church. No, we should be grateful we can help them and also encourage them to live their lives in a grateful manner. Many, many years ago we got to know of a few homeless people because they often were in a park within walking distance of our church. They knew the last Sunday of every month we had a potluck – and soon learned that we would invite them in to share. As a church we learned how to love them in a more complete way – and the changes that happened to all of us from the church, as well as those from the homeless community, were incredible. Several were able to get off the streets, get the assistance they needed, find jobs etc. I remember when I first met up with one of the ladies and I offered her a bowl of warm soup on a cold day – she asked if she could pray for me. I responded, “okay,” not knowing what to expect. She took my hands in her hands (her hands were so cold and so rough) – she lifted them towards heaven and prayed a prayer of gratitude towards God as well as a blessing – my friends so many people are grateful for the little things yet how often do we ignore and thus deprive someone of something so simple. Let us consider today – how can you and I first of all show gratitude for all we have? And second, how can we reach out so others around us and in the world too can join us sincerely in a World Day of Gratitude?
LIVING IN AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
God, you have shown us from the beginning of creation how to have a grateful heart,
As you created the world and all that is within as well as upon the earth –
You took time to observe each day with gratitude for what You created.
Jesus, too, lived an example of gratitude when He was here on this earth –
He gave thanks before the feeding of the thousands,
He gave thanks before He served the Last Supper to His disciples,
He gave thanks for the times that You, His Father hid the truth about His identity from His enemies,
Yes, Jesus encouraged those he helped in any way to be thankful –
He also taught His disciples to be thankful.
Today we have much to be thankful for in spite of the struggles we face,
We complain about the illnesses we face, especially Covid and cancer,
We complain about the lack of freedom to always do what we please, the way we please, where we please and when we please;
We complain about the things we do not have,
We complain about the things we do have because it is not exactly what we want –
Yes we fall into a negative complaining way so easily.
Today – World Gratitude Day 2022 –
I challenge us to begin to ‘Live brand new!’
What do you and I need to change today?
What do we need to trade to Jesus for something brand new?
What/who do we need to let go of, even if reluctantly,
To allow God to trade us for something/someone of His choice?
How can you and I begin to live a grateful life showing others God’s blessings?
There is no time better than today to begin –
Begin today on a new one year journey one day at a time –
Being grateful for this moment, this day, this experience, this great life enhanced and empowered by the God whom we love and serve!
Amen and amen!
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