A Reading Life Differently post by Barbie Perks —
I’ve been so excited to be writing these entries (See Reading Life Differently Part One, Two & Three), I’m hoping that you who read them are also feeling that sense of excitement for me! Although many miles/kilometres separate us, we can share in the same heartbeat of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. If God chooses to use my words and experiences to touch and encourage someone, what a blessing that is!
Coming to a new country meant that I had to take farewell of other things I had been involved in and grown attached to. One of those was a Precept Bible Study I had run for a good number of years. I was unable to find a trained Leader to take it over, and none of the group were willing to step up and share the leadership role. Some have moved on to other groups, some are dealing with their own difficult circumstances at this point in life. Whatever it is, the season for this particular group of ladies has come to an end.
The second group I ran, however, has risen to the challenge of leadership and decided to share and rotate leadership of the group. They have stepped out of their comfort zones, and into a period of real growth as they study and wrestle with the Word to prepare the lessons each week. They will enter a new period of dependence on God for insight and wisdom, and will discover wonderful truths about leadership for themselves.
Seasons come and go, don’t they? We are so used to the natural seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter that we don’t really take much notice of them, beyond complaining about the heat or the cold. This Godspacelight website is pretty much the exception to the rule – your writers delight in season changes and I love it.
People keep asking me what I am going to do with my time, even those I have just met. I’m happy to say I am enjoying this time of quiet and reflection, waiting on God to lead me.
Ecclesiastes 3 1-8 is such a beautiful reminder that there is a time and a season for every activity under the heavens. A season for every activity. A list of activities follows, and as I read each one, I see that of course, each is a season that comes and goes as the years go by. Sometimes, seasons overlap and we have to walk or wade through those with the help of good friends and loving family.
I have been through the season of uprooting and moving (v2b), the season of deciding what to keep and what to throw away (v6b) – and oh, was that not a difficult couple of weeks! 25 years of living in the same home and raising children leaves one with a lot souvenirs to sort through. My oldest son repeatedly said that he was so thankful I was doing the work now and not leaving it to him to do one day.
Presently we are also in the season of anticipating the birth of a second grandchild and the upheaval that will bring as the family settles and expands. Those early months are never easy, but we do know that it is a season and it will pass. At the same time, we have friends who have lost either a spouse, or a son, or have had bad news about cancer recurring. The times for mourning and weeping overlap with the times for celebration and laughing. And God gives us the grace to be fully present with each person in these seasons. I wonder, is that a part of the image of God that we are all created in? God is fully present within us in the person of the Holy Spirit, through each of the seasons we enter and exit. I find that a very comforting truth to hold on to.
Which season do you find yourself in today? If it’s a difficult or challenging season, can you look forward to when it will end? Can you find the beauty in this season (V11) and celebrate it?
I remembered this song which basically helps us to memorise these verses. It’s not a Christian song, but the repeated phrase Turn Turn Turn could be a reminder to repent and change the way we think about our seasons….. this might be worth thinking further on. What do you think?
by Christine Sine
An old story tells of a Godly monk who asked his students: “How do you know when the darkness is dispelled and the dawn has come?” Is it when yo can tell the difference between a dog and a goat?” they asked. “No” said the wise old man, “we know the dawn has come when we can see in the countenance of another the face of Christ.
In case you haven’t noticed I love gardens and I love nature. I particularly love to watch the sun rise over the mountains and the play of light across the landscape and on the dew drops on flowers and leaves. Not surprisingly, it is easy for me to interpret the need to see life differently as a call to retreat into the natural world. Even my prayers can focus on nature and my desire to praise the God of all creation. Yet like most of us, I live in a city. My life is ruled by technology and the light of screens.
I am a technophile. I cannot imagine a world without technology, or cars, or electric light. Nature is a great place to retreat into for an hour, a day or even a week, but it is not the place want to live most of my days. And though I dream of those far away tree covered slopes and tranquil rivers, I would soon hanker after the city and the conveniences of technology again.
Technology has transformed our world, our cultures and our language. It has also transformed our faith but how much has it transformed how and what we pray for?
How do I read life differently in this environment? Perhaps as the wise monk suggested to his students even in the midst of technology I need to look for the light of Christ reflected in the faces of those around me. I need to look for it in the images I see on my screen of violence and abuse and injustice…. and I need to incorporate those sights in my prayers and my spiritual practices.
I am not talking about using the latest Bible app or online devotional here. I am talking about a prayer life that is fully integrated with the world of technology in which most of us find ourselves.
Where Do We See The Light?
What if we read life through the lens of technology? Does it distract us from prayer or have we learned how to incorporate it in our prayers? Is it part of what we expect God to anoint and prosper or is it a disconnected, unrelated part of life? Where do we see the light of Christ and what if we crafted prayers that reflect that?
Where do we see the light of Christ in our use of technology? Does it shine in the images we see on our phones and computer screens? Do they flicker past too quickly for us to notice? Does it shine in the stories we read of violence and abuse or are we sated with a voyeurism that brings darkness rather than light? Does it shine in our addiction to too much social media and email?
I think that these are the type of questions we need to be asking.
So let’s take a moment to reflect.
Where do you see Jesus in the face of those you encounter – on facebook and instagram, snapchat and twitter? Where do you see him in the stories of mass shootings, domestic violence and abuse? Or in the atrocities done to children in detention camps and the injustices done to their parents at the border? Are you addicted to technology because of the sense of significance it gives you and your values?
Technology both connects and disconnects us. It helps us to both love and hate, to proclaim our rightness and everybody else’s wrongness; to call down fire to consume those who don’t think like us while expecting a double portion of God’s light and life and love for those who agree with us.
To read life differently, we need to listen to all the technology in our lives and discern where the light of Christ shines through.
So let’s get started.
How much time do you spend in front of a screen at home and at work? How often do you access social media and email?
Is it easy for you to handle these or does it make you stressed out and drained?
How much violence do you watch? Do you find yourself ratcheting up your consumption and seeking more stimulation than you used to?
Does this make you relaxed or energized, peaceful or overstimulated?
How does your screen time impact your prayer life and scripture study? What about your service to others and concern for creation and your neighborhood?
When you go to bed at night do you feel enriched and at peace with yourself and with God? How do you express this?
Scripture tells us that the fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22) Do the millions of pixels of light dancing across your screens and illuminating your face enlighten your soul or dim your spirit?
O God I thank you for technology,
Making connections to family and friends around the world.
I thank you for FaceTime that allows me to see
Expressions on faces of those I care for.
I thank you for Instagram and Facebook
That keep me informed of those to pray for,.
For those to celebrate and those to weep with.
I thank you for Google that opens up the world to me,
Unveiling the latest challenges that grip our world –
Migrants at the border,
Persecution in China,
Environmental crises across the globe.
O God I thank you for technology,
May it enlighten and strengthen me,
And not overwhelm me with its onslaught.
Bless me with its joys.
Protect me from its disruptions.
Bless me with its goodness.
Protect me from its corruptions.
Bless me with its guidance.
Protect me from its addictions.
In its screen let me see your face.
In its light let me see your light.
In its life let me see your life.
I’ve been really busy the last few days getting ready for a big event Sacred Space that is happening in Kansas City the second week of July. I’ve been letting the stuff of life, everything from the TO DO LIST that is still WAY TOO LONG, to the mess in my house, to the news…steal my peace and my joy. I haven’t been taking my own advice to stop and rest, and take care of my soul. So I am posting some of the verses and quotes that I usually give out at my Sabbath Retreats and I am inviting all of us to take some time today, or this week to actually pause and consider them.
Read through the quotes and verses and pick one or two that resonate with you. Maybe even print them out or write them down and carry them with you throughout your day. Be aware of all the things that are blocking your ability to receive the gift of rest and peace today. Give those things to Jesus to carry for you. Breathe, Pause. Embrace the gift of small slice of silence. Call a friend and invite them to coffee and share the verse or quote that is speaking to you. You might need a friend to help you take the time to even stop and pause in your busyness. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Give yourself the gift of rest this weekend!
“God sometimes speaks to us most intimately when He catches us, as it were, off our guard.” – C.S.Lewis (1898 –1963) Oxford Professor, theologian and author of TheChronicles of Narnia and other works
“God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa (1910 –1997) founder of the Missionaries of Charity Calcutta, India
This is the reason we have no ease of heart or soul,
For we are seeking our rest in trivial things, which cannot
Satisfy, and not seeking to know God, almighty, all-wise, all good.
He is true rest. Julian of Norwich (England 1342 – c. 1416)
“Each of us needs an opportunity to be alone,
and silent.
To find space in the day or in the week,
just to reflect
and to listen to the voice of God that speaks deep with us.
Our search for God is only our response
to his search for us.
He knocks on the door,
but for many people their lives are too preoccupied for
them to be able to hear. “
Cardinal Basil Hume (Benedictine monk, England 1923-1999)
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD,
Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Psalm 46:10-11 (NIV)
“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:10-11 (The Message)
Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Psalm 46: 10-11 (New American Standard Version)
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
MATTHEW 11 (THE MESSAGE)
28-30″Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Uncrowd my heart, O God,
Until silence speaks
In your still, small voice;
Turn me from the hearing of words, and the making of words,
And the confusion of much speaking,
To listening
To waiting
To stillness and
To Silence. In the name of Jesus AMEN
( based on a Prayer by Thomas Merton)
MATTHEW 11 (NIV)
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
A cup must be empty before it can be filled. If it is already full, it can’t be filled again except by emptying it out. In order to fill anything, there must be a hollowed-out space. This is especially true of God’s word. In order to receive it, we must be hollowed out. We must be emptied of the false self and its endless demands. When Christ came, there was no room in the inn. It was full. The inn is a symbol of the heart. God’s word, Christ, can take root only in a hollow.
—from A Voice Over The Water: An Invitation To Pray by William Breault, SJ
With the emptying comes a promise—the heart will be filled.
– Excerpted from An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney
CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, help me to live today with an open heart, an open cup!
Open my heart to receive your love and help my cup to overflow.
Help me to be thankful for all the blessings that you have given me….
Even the things I take for granted like a warm bed, breakfast, a hot shower or a cold one on a hot day.
Protect each of us from ourselves…our fatigue, our frustration, our hunger for our own way, our bad attitudes and lack of faith…forgive us Jesus and fix our cups..
Fill our cups today Lord Jesus and let them overflow with your love and faithfulness!
Fill our cups today with the ability to stop and rest and remember that rest is a gift.
Help us to remember that when we serve the “least of these”…the poor, the sick, the old, the hungry, the children, those on the margins,
WE ARE SERVING YOU!
In Your Name, AMEN!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
by Alicia Dykstra
As you know we love to receive responses to the posts we publish and to the concepts we talk about. Here is a beautiful poem that Alicia wrote in response to our summer theme read Life Differently
Attention
To the details
Weeds that are poking up their heads
Other flowers that need to be guarded
Joy over plants that finally “took
Sorrow for those that didn’t
But maybe it was not their time
Or it was not their place to be
This continual play between
The good or the bad
If we sit in another spot
Our perspectives change
There are always two sides to the coin
And when you step in
With colours unmatched
With harmonies unheard of
The smell of fresh-mown grass
The love shared among friends
Then my heart just melts
Into the love you bestow us
And we become one
In wondrous mystery
ATD 18/6/19
A Reading Life Differently post by Barbie Perks —
We were in church on Sunday. As it only meets the first and third Sundays of the month, it was the 3rd time I had been. Each time, it seems there are different people but I am slowly getting to know faces. I sat behind a family with five children, four of whom went out to the Sunday school class and one stayed behind with his mom. I became aware that this child had some kind of disability which was not immediately apparent. I watched his mother taking care of him, quieting him and keeping him calm while the rest of the service continued.
It dawned on me that when we have children, we have dreams and aspirations for their future. Might they grow up to be the one who discovers a cure for some disease that plagues mankind? Might they be a president one day? Might they become great teachers, preachers or evangelists? Might they serve the Lord faithfully in their home and church? Might they…..you fill in your own dreams☺
I can’t begin to imagine how some parents cope with re-orienting their thinking when they discover their beloved child has some form of impairment or disability, mental or physical. I know a couple who have devoted their lives to looking after a severely disabled son who was given 12 years at most to live, but who passed away last year aged 57. His father said he considered it his privilege to minister to his son all those years. Many looking on from outside the situation would say, and some did say, “Why not take him to an institution that is more equipped to handle him?” and the father would reply, “God has given him to us, and we will do our best to look after him. No one knows him or loves him like we do!”
There are some stories recorded in the Gospels where desperate parents came to Jesus on behalf of their children, begging for healing and Jesus had compassion on them, healing the children. I know that not all our prayers for the healing of our children are answered in the way we desire, but maybe what is happening is that healing comes in our own inner selves, in our heart attitudes, in the way we accept the different path our lives go from this point on, in the way we begin to lean on Jesus for comfort and guidance during the difficult days.
In Matthew 19:13-15 we are told that little children were brought to Jesus – it doesn’t say who brought them, but we can assume that many of the mothers would have to bring their children with them if they wanted to hear what Jesus was saying, and that it was the mothers who came forward to ask Jesus to lay hands on their children and to pray for them. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus in turn rebukes the disciples and says “Let the little children come to me…” In our home church, we used these verses whenever we held an infant baptism service, saying that the children were welcome and that the congregation promised to maintain a safe place for the children to grown up in the love and knowledge of the Lord.
But frequently, the reality is that congregants don’t want to be disturbed by children and often, especially the older generation, send “looks” to wherever the disturbance is coming from. Mothers feel unaccepted and often choose to opt out of going to church so that their child doesn’t disturb others. I think Jesus’s words are healing balm to these mothers – let the children come to me! I think Jesus was saying in a roundabout way, “Let the mothers come to me with their children – do not hinder them!” I imagine that as Jesus laid hands on those children, he might have touched the mother’s arm, and included her in the prayers he prayed for her child. Can we not, when we see a mother or father struggling with their child, approach with a heart of compassion, to bless and pray with and over them?
Jesus, you loved little children
You said the kingdom of heaven belongs to them
Teach us to love all children in our communities with your love
Teach us to love the mothers and fathers, the grannies and grandpas
Who struggle with what others think are imperfect children
Give us hearts of compassion, willing to learn from them
For they serve you with an obedience we do not comprehend
By June Friesen —
When reading this phrase ‘live/see life differently’ it immediately causes me to think of being introduced to meditation as a spiritual experience. Sitting in silence…..being present first to the silence…….then being open to the silence….then embracing the silence.
Psalm 46:10 – ‘Be still and know God.’
God asks that I come to Him and just ‘be.’
Be:
Recognize: embrace His presence in the silence –
Breathe: Inhale deeply of His presence and exhale the ‘stuff’ –
Embrace cleansing – let go of the usual, expected, the known…..
Still: ah…..quiet, peace, stillness,
Relax…..let go……release….embrace peace –
And/then:
Empty: of the world, the rush, the worries, the duties, self –
Let go: for the/a moment (or two) and just ‘be’ –
‘Be present in and to the stillness.’
Know:
Awareness: hear, smell, taste, see, feel –
Engage: new, change, different, creativity, openness –
Know God and most of all know God’s presence and embrace it.
“Thank you, my friend for sitting with me,
Thank you for opening your inner self to be with me
And most of all to letting me be with you,
Let us go together now and begin a new journey in our new relationship,
Together you and I will bring a new sense of my presence into the world.”
Signed, GOD
by Christine Sine
Henri Nouwen calls hospitality “the creation of a free and friendly space where we can reach out to strangers and invite them to become our friends…. He goes on to suggest that the most important guests, the most important strangers we get to entertain in our homes are our children. When they are born, we don’t really understand who they are or who they will become. “They are guests we need to respond to, not possessions we are responsible for.”… Maybe hospitality is about receiving every stranger in the same way we receive a child. (The Gift of Wonder 187)
I have just set up a new contemplative garden on my desk – a hospitality garden that’ll be the focus of my morning prayer time for the next few weeks. You could say that this garden was created by happenstance or more likely the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
All are welcome
Last week someone gave me a collection of cups to make into succulent gardens. Our dog Goldie immediately grabbed one and broke it, so I decided to make it the focus of my garden. Then I took an assortment of succulents that needed homes and planted them around and in the cup. Next I painted my rocks with the words “all are welcome” and decorated them with dotted patterns.
To prime the pump for my reflections I reread the chapter in The Gift of Wonder entitled Come to the Table, which the quote above comes from. My eyes were riveted. On Wednesday my nephew Matt and his wife Kass arrived from Australia with their 6-month-old baby Lucy to visit. We have done everything possible to welcome this baby, this stranger whom we hope will become a friend. We have cleared out our guest room to create space for her. We have rearranged our schedules to make time for her and now we want to spend time with her, accepting her as she is now, not trying to change her into who we want her to become but seeking to identify and encourage her to develop the gifts God has placed within her.
The Gift of Radical Hospitality
We forget sometimes that Jesus too came as a baby and as a stranger into the midst of his family and community. And he was an unwanted baby to many, born to an unwed mother, outside the bonds of convention and acceptability. Yet he was welcomed by his mother Mary with great excitement and delight. And he was welcomed by Joseph as a part of his family too. They seem to have extended generous hospitality to him, made room in both their hearts and their home for him.
Then while he was still an infant, he becomes the welcomer to those who are most despised in his community – to the shepherds and the gentile magi. Once again Mary and Joseph and probably his extended family, make room for the strangers that come to meet this baby. What an incredible model of hospitality we see even here in the birth of this child.
What if we read life with the belief that all are welcome at God’s table? What would it look like if I was willing to welcome every stranger as I welcome this child?
It did not occur to me until I was finished creating my garden that this is gay pride month and more than anything people in this movement long to hear the words of hospitality “all are welcome at my table.” They want to know that though they may be strangers we are willing to sit down and invite them to become friends, we are willing to embrace and listen to them rather than criticize and reject them.
It is the same for refugees and immigrants, for the homeless and those of different races and creeds, so many of whom have also travelled long distances in the hope of welcome. There are so many who are strangers in our midst that are waiting for us to sit down and invite them to become friends, just as we have invited little Lucy and her parents into our home and invited her to become a friend.
How did you respond to the last newborn infant you were introduced too? What feelings and emotions welled up within you? …. What changes in behavior were you willing to make in order to get to understand this child, accommodate its needs, help it feel welcome in your home?
Now think about the last time you met a stranger – perhaps a homeless person on the street or a new member at your church. How did you welcome them as you would welcome a child? In what ways did you endeavor to turn this stranger into a friend? The Gift of Wonder 189
One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ life was radical hospitality. He repeatedly invited outcasts, and the despised, Gentiles and Jews alike to eat together at his table. His guiding precept is “God is love and I will extend that love to everyone who comes.”
A New Testament theologian once told me that he believed Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus was one of the creedal statements of the early church.
What if that is true? What if we all are one in Christ in spite of our differences?
Yesterday I came across this beautiful poem by Native American poet laureate Joy Harjo. It is a great one to read as we reflect on our differences and the place that hospitality can play in helping us to see the world and those who inhabit it differently.
Perhaps the World Ends Here:
The world begins at the kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of the earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and will go on. (Read entire poem here)
I think that is what the banquet table of the kingdom is all about. It is a place of radical hospitality to which all are invited and at which all are welcome. It is a place where all can sit down and talk about their differences, not with judgement but with love. Not seeking to convert others to their viewpoint, but seeking for understanding and acceptance of those who think differently. What do you think?
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