by Christine Sine
I am embarrassed. September is the month that is increasingly being called the Season of Creation. This celebration that began in Australia and New Zealand is creating. movement that is spreading around the world. I love these beautiful liturgies and other resources that have been created to help focus our worship and bring us to a recognition of our responsibility.
It was our service at COTA last Sunday however that really brought this season into focus for me. This beautiful font dominated the front of the sanctuary while images of coral reefs with fish nosing around the gently swaying coral held our attention above. It was the font however that mesmerized me. The giant clam shell from which it is made could have come from the Great Barrier reef and I was reminded as I gazed at it of both the beauty of the reef and of its destruction. Many believe that the reef is dying. And climate change is the culprit. I grieve for so many reefs and other habitats around the world that face similar challenges at the moment.
Ten my eyes shift to one of my favorite passages:
For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son…
Like many of us John 3:16 was the first verse that I memorized. In my early days as a Christian it spoke to me of God’s love for me as an individual and gave me an assurance of personal salvation. As my faith grew and expanded however I realized that this interpretation was limited. I started pairing it with 1 John 3:16 Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Salvation isn’t just about me it is about God’s concern for all the people of our world, I reasoned.
As I read the passage today however, it was the first words For God so loved the world that really caught my attention. Not God so loved me or you or even humankind, but God so loved the world – this beautifully crafted masterpiece created lovingly by God’s own hands for which we were created as caretakers and stewards. And I started to think – maybe we have salvation all wrong. I don’t think that salvation is about individual soul rescue at all. It is more about God’s desire to redeem all creation and bring it back to the wholeness, abundance and harmony of the original creation – the restoration of shalom. Maybe part of our sinfulness is that we no longer take our role as creation stewards seriously – instead of tending and nurturing we consume and destroy.
Maybe God’s plan for our salvation as human beings isn’t so that a few more souls can get out of hell (though that is obviously a great thing). Maybe God saves us so that we can once more become the responsible caretakers and stewards that God intended us to be.
As I watch the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian and the fires in the Amazon over the last few weeks and ponder the affects of climate change and our complicity in it I wonder how long it will be before we really take our need for salvation seriously. How long will it be before we recognize the groaning of creation around us as a symptom of our need for transformation into responsible citizens and stewards?
Good News About Creation
And there are things that we can do. Read these good news about creation stories, build your faith up….. and go out and plant a few trees!
Indians plant 220 million trees in one day to combat climate change
Read: Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees (my new favourite book)
Check out other good news stories on my To Garden with God facebook page.
Earth teach me to remember
What is Your Response?
For God so loved the world…. Sit and think about these words. How does the knowledge that God loves this created world impact your life and your faith? During this season of creation are there ways that God might ask you to respond?
It is time to pause, listen to creation and reflect, as this Native American prayer and the reflection that went with it remind us to do. Sit, read through these prayer and allow God to speak to your heart.
The gospel passage from the Lectionary a couple of weeks ago was LUKE 13:10-17. We journaled from it at thinplaceNASHVILLE, and I have been “chewing on it” since then.
Luke 13:10-17 New International Version (NIV)
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Check out THE MESSSAGE version of Luke 13:10-17
Things feel more BENT OVER than healed on our planet and in our world right now. Hurricane Dorian, the fires in the Amazon, protests in Hong Kong, mass shootings. Maybe you’ve been feeling more BENT OVER than healed too…I know I have.
What are some of the things that have been keeping you BENT OVER?
Often for me, it’s the things that I cannot fix or change that get me down. Political situations and leaders who just keep doing stupid things and bringing hate to the world. These things BEND ME OVER. Also, things like Fear, Fatigue, and Anger cause me to BEND and stop me from receiving healing. Stuff like the construction project next door, the city council election in my neighborhood, old feelings of shame that I still carry around, comparison to others, procrastinating on projects…all of these cause me to live BENT OVER rather than in the freedom of Jesus’s love and healing.
I don’t want to live in bondage! I don’t want to live a life BENT OVER! I want to live in the freedom of Jesus, not bound by my fears, and not shackled by comparison, worry or the feelings of not being good enough. I love the fact that Jesus SAW HER! Jesus saw this bent over woman when no one else did. When no one else was paying attention, when people were avoiding her and refusing to even look at her, JESUS REALLY SAW HER! And as he does, JESUS had compassion on her! Jesus sets her free even before he touches her.
I need and want to remember that JESUS really sees me! JESUS sees me just as I am and he isn’t afraid or repulsed by my “bentoverness!” He isn’t shaming of my tendency to live bent over, rather than living standing up in healing and freedom. Jesus just calls me again and heals me again, reminding me that I am free and I don’t have to live a BENT OVER LIFE ANYMORE!
Jesus invites me and you again to freedom!
During our journaling time at thiniplaceNASHVILLE, Knox who is 8, drew me a picture of a “fancy whale.” This reminded me of Jonah, and how Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah because he knew that God would heal them. Jonah knew that God is forgiving and is about healing and Jonah didn’t want his enemies healed. Sadly, like the synagogue leader in the Luke passage and like Jonah, I too often don’t want to see my enemies healed either. I too often keep them in bondage in my mind or in my heart, or through gossip, criticism and fear. I need healing for this! I want to live in the abundance of love and healing of Jesus and allow others to receive and know this love and healing too! Even the president.
What is bending you over in your life right now? What things are keeping you bent over and causing you to feel broken, burdened or causing you to live “tied up” rather than in freedom? It might be physical, mental, emotional or things happening in our world. Talk to Jesus about this.
Where do you limit God’s healing or freedom? In your own life, or in the lives of others. When do you catch yourself stopping Jesus from healing you or others?
“The woman has been bent over, half herself, for one of her entire lifetimes. (every 18 years is a lifetime) She has adapted to her condition, accommodated her diminishment, for so long that she sometimes forgets to hope for more. But Jesus never forgets. He calls her to return, just as he calls to you and me. Can you hear him? Listen: “You are free.” Kayla McClurg Where are you needing freedom today?
Where have you felt or seen God’s blessings this week? Where would you like to see them or experience them in the days ahead?
ACTION:
Get a bunch of bandaids…keep them in a basket near your desk or keep the box where you can see it to remind you that you are healed and that JESUS SEES YOU! Just as you are, right where you are!
Think about the people in your life who need healing. Consider the people in your life who are LIVING BENT OVER rather than living in freedom. PUT ON A BAND AID and wear it to remind you to pray for these friends and loved ones, and even your enemies who may live “bent lives” because they don’t know the love of Jesus.
Take time to pray for people in your life who need healing. Take time to pray for places and people in our world who need to know the freedom and love of Jesus.
Use the Band aids to remind you that you don’t have to live BENT OVER anymore!
Remember, You and I don’t have to stay BENT OVER.
Remember, Jesus see us! He really SEES ME AND YOU! Jesus sees us when no one else does and wants us to stand up in his love and be free.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
It is back to school time here in the U.S. and everyone has advice to give on how to dress, how to go green, how to find the best bargains, how to relieve anxiety and even how to arrange a play date with new friends. What I have not seen is much advice on how to prepare kids spiritually in order to help reduce their anxieties and improve their ability to fit in to their new situation. Many students I suspect slip away from their faith in college and university just because they do not know how to maintain their equilibrium.
Going back to school can be a traumatic time for little kids and even for mature university and seminar students. Unfortunately most of us are too busy getting kids out of the house or rushing off to our own classes to give much thought to their spiritual needs. Kids and adults alike need a sense of stability and familiarity to reduce their stress levels and help them adjust.
Last year I posted a resource list of Back to School Prayers, and a few years ago I wrote the prayer above with students and teachers alike in mind, but here are some other simple suggestions culled from friends that you may find useful.
Lily did some great Free Range Friday posts on prayer called “Adding and Subtracting” and “Back to School Subtraction” that you may be interested in checking out too! These are wonderful resources as you prepare spiritually for the new school year with your family as well.
Suggestions for school kids and their parents.
1. Begin the school day with a simple breath or circling prayer. I love this simple Celtic prayer which I wrote a couple of years ago and which several friends use with their children before they go to school
The sacred three encircle us,
Keep love within and fear without,
Keep peace within and violence out,
Circle us with your presence.
Keep truth within and injustice out,
Keep acceptance in and prejudice out,
Circle us with your grace.
Keep wholeness in and disease without,
Keep care within and selfishness out,
Circle us with your love.
2. Include a short prayer in your child’s lunch box Such as: Thank you God for this child (use name). May your light shine upon him/her. May your love fill him/her. May your spirit grant him/her peace. Or you may just like to say something like: Thinking of you and praying for you as you eat your lunch.
3. When you first see your child after school check how their day has gone. You may like to ask the questions: Where did you feel close to God today? What made you feel God was a long way away? One of my friends told me that this revolutionized her child’s approach to school and their sense of God’s presence in the day.
4. Spend a few minutes before your child goes to bed discussing what he or she is grateful for at school. Focusing on positive emotions like these help children feel more secure and encourage compassion and love towards other children.
5. Say a short prayer together for friends, teachers and situations your child has faced during the day.
Suggestions for Students
Those who are students themselves may like to develop a similar routine. Trying to spend half an hour each morning reading the bible and praying is usually impossible but finding a simple rhythm of prayer and ritual that draws us close to God not only reduces our stress levels but increases our ability to focus, helps us respond compassionately to our friends and teachers and enables us to keep close to God 24/7.
1. Begin the day with a breath prayer and/or short relaxation exercise that makes you feel relaxed and close to God as you enter the day.
2. Use a book of prayers arranged to be said at different times during the day (called offices). My favourite is David Adam’s The Rhythm of Life. These may only take a minute or two of our time but can reorient us to presence of God.
3. Pause at the end of each class to offer a short prayer of gratitude for what you have learnt in the session.
4. Before you go to bed ask yourself the questions: Where did you feel close to God today? What made you feel God was a long way away? This is a very abbreviated form of the Prayer of Examen which I highly recommend if you want to spend more time.
5. Before you go to sleep name 5 things from your lectures and study times that you are grateful for.
Whatever you decide to do – keep it simple, make meaningful and stick to it.
I would love to hear from students and parents as to what you have found helps the most.
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Today’s post is adapted from one I wrote a couple of years ago for teachers and students starting the school year. I realize that in the Southern Hemisphere kids are well and truly into the school year, in fact almost starting to wind down with end of year exams. However from my perspective it is never too late in the year to consider how to pray and how to maintain one’s equilibrium so you may still find these tips relevant.
By Rodney Marsh —
Here follows a poem I wrote about my experience of learning the practice of Christian Meditation in the John Main tradition. This ‘mantra’ style of prayer was called by the Mothers and Fathers of the church ‘the prayer of the heart’. I practise two thirty-minute morning and evening periods of meditation each day. The books and writings of John Main provide a wonderfully practical guide to this practice (or explore https://www.wccm.org)
How to pray the prayer of the heart
Simply begin simply
Simply continue
End simply
Simply begin again
Continue simply
Simply end
Repeat
Repeat again
Keep repeating
Until you arrive at where you are
You have always been where you are
and dwelt in this place
That has no past or future
Your home is here and now
where you are.
Now you have arrived at where you are
you realise you have never been anywhere else
And now you know who you are
You realise you have always been you
You are home now, and you are happy.
If you keep on with the practice
you can live at home all the time
You will easily find your way back to where you are.
You will also get better at being real
when you visit the future (that doesn’t yet exist)
or the past (that has ceased to be)
You can be real in the past and future
if you take your home with you.
But if you fail to practice
returning to where you are
You will lose your way again and
wander alone, searching for home,
looking for who you are and where you are.
You will start looking for your self again
in the past or future where you aren’t.
If this happens
simply begin simply (again)
and you will return home to where you are.
This is your home and
God is waiting to welcome you (always) where you are
And it is always a joy to come home and meet yourself for the first time (again).
So, like a rock or a tree or a human
Or anything that shares your being
Take your home with you, wherever you go
For here and now is the only place you can live –
Forever.
*Acknowledgement “to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T S Eliot
As we continue our new theme on Godspace, What does your soul long to do? here is a post by Hilary Horn —
As Hurricane Dorian pummels the Bahamas and people in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina get ready for its arrival, our prayers go out to all who are impacted. We feel so helpless and all we can do is pray.
God of the universe,
The foundation of life.
You are always with us,
In the quiet and the storm you surround us,
Your love stays closer than a friend.
In this time of storm be with all who are vulnerable.
Hold them close as the winds blow and the oceans rage.
Place your arms around them as the trees fall and the rivers rise.
Keep them safe from wind and rain and fly debris.
Calm their fears and their anxieties.
Bring them help when they need it.
Guide those that respond in the midst of danger.
Be with rescuers and firemen,
With electric workers and emergency crews,
With all who reach out to strangers and neighbours with your love and compassion.
Comfort and protect them in the midst of danger and of strife.
May we too be prompted to respond with love and compassion.
Until all find shelter in the embrace of your wings.
by Christine Sine
I hate it when the themes I choose for Godspace are God’s word for me personally. Talk about needing discernment!!!
When we chose Where does your soul long to do? I rather offhandedly wrote in my journal My soul longs for the centeredness of silence, the resilience of love and the strength of humility thinking as I wrote it: I long to be equipped with the strength and resilience of the Holy Spirit that enables me to be centre in the love of God and nourished my God’s presence within me. It sounded so spiritual! and my last week’s post reflected that.
Then on Wednesday Hilary told me that they will be moving in a couple of months. She and her family have lived in our upstairs apartment for three years and I feel I will be losing a good friend, a marvelous Godspace assistant and the community community she and her family have so vitally contributed to. I delight in the kids playing in the backyard and I am devastated by the thought of life without them. So not surprisingly my initial reaction was panic and the old feelings of loneliness and abandonment quickly raised their ugly heads.
So I sat down to regroup and refocus knowing that in times of transition, when the road is rocky and the path beneath my feet unstable, I need to check my foundations and strengthen them where necessary.
So I turned to my favorite centering prayer which is mounted on a canvas plaque on my desk, took a few deep breaths and began to pray, seeking to discern what God might be saying as I begin yet another transition in my life with lots of uncertainty and vulnerability – probably a much more realistic place to start discernment than the assurance and confidence I expressed last week.
Discerning As The Beloved of God
Once again it was Henri Nouwen who guided me in the right direction.
Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us God’s beloved. Being the beloved of God expresses the core truth of our existence (Nouwen 26)
As I reflected on this it occurred to me that my initial response to What does your soul long to do sounds more like a response to what does Christine Sine long to do? And I realized that this is more about What does my soul long for me to be.?
Now I need to really get down to the nitty gritty and ask what is the deep longing of my soul, a longing that cannot be disrupted by my insecurities and the place that question needs to being is with the assurance that I am indeed God’s beloved child, no matter what my failings are and no matter how uncertain I am of the path.
So this week I have started each day with the mantra You are beloved of God allowing the truth of this incredible statement to sink into my soul. The less confidence I have in this truth, the more vulnerable I am to being misled by my insecurities.
I have recited my mantra repeatedly throughout the day: while I walk our dog, while I process the incredible abundance from the garden and while I sit in the evenings savoring the beauty of God’s creation around me and the delight of companionship with my husband. I have opened myself to hear what God has to say about belovedness through the scriptures and have listened to other voices through which God is also speaking. I have pulled out one of my finger labyrinths and my sketching doodling journal (more about these tools in next week’s post) and spent time meditating.
The peace that has flooded my soul is incredible. The assurance of God’s love overwhelming. My delight in a new depth of closeness to God amazing.
Next Steps in Discerning
So I am framing some questions to continue guiding me through these next steps and I thought that some of you might appreciate my emerging process and what I am learning from it.
Who are you?
I am beloved of God, made in the Holy image, a child of the Sacred One, part of the eternal family.
How do you experience that belovedness?
This was one I pondered for quite a while before I came up with any kind of an answer and I know it is a question I need to ponder on a regular basis. What makes me aware that I am beloved by God?
The trouble is that there is no really tangible answer to this question.
I am aware that I am beloved by God when I make sure I set aside time each morning (at least 10 minutes) to sit quietly, breathe deeply of the fragrance of God’s presence and contemplate the wonder of who God is.
I am also aware that I am beloved by God when I take time throughout the day to pause and rest once more in the presence of God for a couple of minutes. The more frequently I do this, the more I am aware of my belovedness and the surrounding presence of God through every minute of the day. At the moment, not surprisingly this pause begins with reciting my mantra I am beloved of God. Sometimes it is changed to God knows all my failings but loves me still. This is an incredibly liberating process that opens me up to the abiding presence of God in every moment of the day.
I am aware that I am beloved by God when I read the scriptures that speak of belovedness – time to read through Song of Solomon again and refresh through my favorite psalms that speak of beloved.
I know that I am beloved by God when I read through the gospels and imagine that Jesus himself is present with me. These experiences are my experiences, his love for his disciples extends across time and space to me too. I was particularly reminded of John 13:2 “He (Jesus) had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.” Jesus loves us too to the very end I thought.
Who walks with you on this journey?
We never walk alone on our journey towards God. We travel with a vast cloud of companions and witnesses, seen and unseen, present and departed, friends, family, colleagues, teachers, followers of Christ and those who suffer from the same uncertainty
One of the things that this current transition has made me aware of is that the Mustard Seed Associates staff and board were my support group and accountability group too.
Where is my current accountability group I have been wondering? I have made the establishing of this group a major priority. None of us move forward healthily without a good responsibility group and not establishing this immediately after resigning from Mustard Seed Associates has I feel been one of major failings.
There are others that walk with me on this journey however.
Who walks with you as companions I ask? There are my spiritual mentors of today whose books I have read and who have guided me through the example of their lives and expressions of faith – Parker Palmer, Norman Wirzba, Brenda Salter McNeil, Christine Valters Paintner and Walter Brueggemann are at the top of my list. There are friends, family and colleagues who are part of my life now, too many of them to name. There are those who read and respond to my blogging and writing. Their questions and comments continue to shape my journey.
Who are the witnesses from the past that stand beside me? There are those from the past – my ancestors, known and unknown, spiritual mentors whose books I read with great delight and challenge Henri Nouwen, John O’Donahue, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rachel Held Evans. Looking further back the desert fathers and mothers, Celtic saints, and Julian of Norwich have all challenged and shaped me. And in the Bible so many stories tell of ordinary people whose extraordinary lives are inspiring guides for me.
As I discern and seek to better frame what my soul longs to do I realize that I need to allow these questions to frame who I am and where I sit now in God’s family and God’s creation first. Defining what my soul longs to do without a solid foundation just doesn’t work in the long run.
So let me end with the prayer that has bubbled up inside me this week… and be prepared for the next installment of this journey coming next week.
Do you see who you are?
Beloved of God
Made in the Holy image
A child of the sacred One,
Part of the eternal family.
Do you see what you are called to be?
Loved and loving,
Cared for and caring,
Forgiven and forgiving.
Do you hear the voice of God
Singing in the silence?
Love will overcome fear,
Joy is deeper than sorrow,
\Unity will break through division,
Life is stronger than death.
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