Dream – artwork by Jennifer Hamlett Herrick
Over the last week I have posted prayers to welcome God into our day and into our night. I mentioned that one of these prayers was written as a response to my struggle the night before with insomnia. I was amazed at the number of people who responded with their own stories of sleeplessness and the frustration it caused them.
I have written about sleeplessness before but thought it was time to do a little more research on the subject. What I discovered is fascinating.
According to this article by Natalie Wolchover
More than one-third of American adults wake up in the middle of the night on a regular basis. Of those who experience “nocturnal awakenings,” nearly half are unable to fall back asleep right away. Doctors frequently diagnose this condition as a sleep disorder called “middle-of-the-night insomnia,” and prescribe medication to treat it.
Mounting evidence suggests, however, that nocturnal awakenings aren’t abnormal at all; they are the natural rhythm that your body gravitates toward. According to historians and psychiatrists alike, it is the compressed, continuous eight-hour sleep routine to which everyone aspires today that is unprecedented in human history. We’ve been sleeping all wrong lately — so if you have “insomnia,” you may actually be doing things right.
Normal isn’t really normal at all. According to Natalie and a growing number of researchers, until the invention of the electric light most people slept in four hour blocks, waking in the middle of the night for an hour or two in which they prayed, conversed together, made love or went for walks. Electric light meant we could stay up later. Instead of going to bed for 12-14 hours we suddenly only spent 8 hours or less in bed and expect to get all our sleep done in one go.
Evidently sleeping in the biphasic pattern helps us process our dreams which are part of the problem solving mechanism of our brains. It is no wonder that many people find that their night time wakefulness often ignites creative juices and helps them solve life’s challenges. It also explains why the monastic rhythms began with prayer at 2 or 3 am. This was not some rigourous, aesthetic discipline but rather flowed out of the natural rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. And think about how often in the Bible God awakens prophets and leaders with visions and dreams.
What I wonder are we missing out on because we try to control our sleep patterns? (More to come on this)
What do you think?
There are many images used in the gospels to describe the kingdom of God – a treasure in a field, a lost coin, yeast. My favourite is the mustard seed – a small seed that grows into a huge plant. Yet in many parts of the world, mustard is a noxious weed, something that no self respecting farmer would plant.
So the kingdom of God is like a weed? How could that possibly be?
When we think about it, the analogy does not seem so far fetched. Weeds are resilient, tenacious, ubiquitous. They emerge everywhere – not just in the garden but unexpected places like the crevice of rocks and through cracks in the concrete. No weed block keeps them out for long. We try to yank them out or poison them but in a couple of months they are back.
Just so the kingdom of God. It is constantly emerging in unexpected places. It cannot be suppressed. In the devastation of an earthquake in Nepal, strangers come from all over the world to help. In the violence and hatred in the Middle East, an Israeli woman protects a Palestinian child. In the presence of injustice, the Rosa Parks‘ emerge to show us the path to truth. Activists work for the rights of women, gays, illegal immigrants.
What is your response.
Go for a walk outside and look at the weeds in your garden (or your neighbour’s garden if you don’t have one). What are the unexpected places in which they are emerging? Now go inside and sit quietly thinking about the unexpected places in which you have caught glimpses of God’s kingdom emerging. Write these down. Each evening this week before you go to bed ask yourself – where have I caught glimpses of God’s kingdom today? Grow your list. Ask God if there is any further response you should make to grow the kingdom that is emerging.
Weeds are important in a garden. They are good indicators of soil conditions and often help improve the soil as they send down roots that grow deep loosening hard compacted soil and bringing up useful minerals from deep down. The Canadian thistle that some try so hard to eradicate, reaches down up to 20 feet for nutrients. It breaks up the soil, enriches it and makes it healthy so that other plants thrive.
Weeds make good cover crops, provide habitats for beneficial insects and prevent erosion. They provide essential food for wildlife, pollen and nectar for beneficial insects, and nutrition for livestock and humans alike. Here in the Pacific NW, blackberries grow everywhere. We want to rid of them, yet they provide a wealth of edible fruit packed full of vitamins.
The kingdom of God is like a weed, it improves the soil of the whole garden of God. It provides nutrients and food, and a protected place for all God’s creatures to dwell.
What is your response.
Sit quietly in the presence of God and think about the people in your life who irritate you, the situations that you wish would go away, the injustices you would rather ignore. Who or what are the weeds in your life or community that represent the kingdom of God? Where have you tried to yank out the kingdom of God from your life or your community because it made you uncomfortable? Make a list.
Now listen to the song below and prayerfully ask God how you should respond.
Spring was exciting, summer is heating up! Although we’ve had a challenging time with the vandalism of windows at our center for imagination and creativity at Mustard Seed Village, we’re not discouraged and we’re not slowing down. So many good things are happening and we want to invite you to join with us in some great opportunities to connect and grow both online and in person.
Just Six Weeks Until Our Celtic Prayer Retreat
Are You Registered?
August 7-9 Main Event All Day Saturday
Reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel message. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s love has flooded our hearts, reshaping and transforming us. We are journeying not just toward renewed relationships and communities, but toward a new creation in which we are all reconciled to the image of God within us, within others, and even within creation.
Our annual retreat on August 7th-9th is your invitation to enter this journey. With the inspirational 6th century Irish monk Columba as our guide, we will walk together through scripture,
reflection, worship, and creative spiritual exercises, stirring our imaginations and opening our hearts and minds to the reconciling power of God. There will be plenty of time and space for inner renewal, plus lots of fun, fellowship and food as we journey together toward restoration and wholeness.
We will set aside the busy clutter in our lives and create a quiet space for prayer and renewal as we worship God in a beautiful outdoor cathedral surrounded by maple and cedar trees.
Following the Celtic Christian tradition, this retreat will incorporate the rhythms of work and rest, community and solitude, prayer and biblical study.
camping, great conversations, and morning/evening prayers, friday & sunday
New To The MSA E-School: Spirituality And GardeningWith Christine Sine
Sun. Soil. Water. Perhaps it’s close communion with the elements of our earthly lives that gives many gardeners a deeper sense of God. In this course, Christine Sine offers us dynamic insight into what the simple labor of a gardener has to do with the God who fashioned the first humans from the soil and made a home for them in a garden. Christine offers presentations on the following topics
- God as a Gardener
- Digging and Watering
- Planting and Pruning
- The Rhythm of the Seasons
This course is perfect for those who are seeking deeper understanding and meaning to their work in the garden.
SEE MORE CLASSES IN OUR SCHOOL
New Workshop Available: Gardening With God & Neighbor
With Andy Wade
In our journey of faith we often refer to Jesus’ command to love both God and neighbor. But what does that actually look like when we get home to our private sanctuary from the world?
As I tore up grass to grow food in our back yard I began to wonder how garden design influences how we encounter God in the garden. Later, after turning our front lawn into a giant garden, my question expanded to, how does loving my neighbor influence the way I create this private space that meets public sidewalk? In this workshop I’ll share more of my journey and the ideas it inspired, give some practical advice for making it simple and cost-effective, and have time for us to share stories and ideas from your own experiences.
Workshop Outline:
- Introduction
- Why garden with God and neighbor in mind? Part of the process of integrating faith into all of life.
- “What If” video
- Gardening with God in Mind
- Stewarding the gift of creation
- Getting out of the box!
- Letting God surprise you
- Discovering and creating sacred pockets
- Gardening with Neighbor in Mind
- Removing barriers and blurring the lines
- Inviting community/fostering hospitality
- Nomads don’t plant fruit trees – Putting down roots
- Fostering friendship through sharing
- A Light and Easy Burden
- Dig no more
- Recycle
- Save the water
Spirituality Of Gardening – A Rocha, Surrey BC
Explore together the beautiful ways that God and God’s story are revealed through the rhythms of planting, growing, and harvesting.
Spiritual insights, practical advice for organic backyard gardeners and time for reflection will enrich and deepen our faith.
You won’t want to miss this opportunity! Join us this fall at A Rocha’s Brooksdale Environmental Centre for our Spirituality of Gardening Seminar lead by Christine Sine of Mustard Seed Associates and author of the book, To Garden with God.
- Time: 9:30 – 1:30pm, lunch included.
- Date: Saturday September 19th, 2015
- Location: Brooksdale Environmental Centre 19535 16th Ave. Surrey, BC V3Z 9V2). Please enter at our new entrance on 192nd Street.
- Cost: $40 includes lunch and Christine Sine’s Book, ‘To Garden with God’.
Contact: Queenie, Garden.network@arocha.ca
I love collecting rocks, and much to my surprise discovered recently that I am not alone. When I ask a group of people “who likes to gather rocks?” probably half of the hands in the room are raised. We pick them up on the beach, beside a stream, along a trail. They remind us of friends, past experiences, places we love.
Unfortunately most of us don’t know what to do with the rocks once we gather them. There are only so many that we can display, and a lot of them look pretty ordinary anyway. Recently however I have started using my rocks as part of my spiritual observances. I paint pictures on them – what I call poor man’s icons. Or I write on them and then use them to decorate my Advent, Lenten and summer prayer gardens. Slowly I am creating a collection of meaningful decorated rocks that I can return to for inspiration time and again.
I find that participants at retreats and workshops also love to write and paint on rocks as the collection above shows and thought some of you might like to give it a go too.
Materials:
- 1 packet paint pens – fine tipped
- 1 pencil and note paper
- 1 rock – smooth as possible
Wash the rock and allow to dry.
Hold the rock in your hand, close your eyes and sit quietly in the presence of the Lord. Is there a special word or phrase that comes to mind? Write it down. Say the word several times slowly. What images come to mind?
Make a rough drawing on your note paper.
Now mark out the pattern on your rock with the pencil. You might want to skip this step if you feel confident in your drawing ability but I have found that marking it both adds to the reflective experience and also produces a better painting
Now have fun with the paint pens. Use plenty of colour. Make this a dramatic statement that will catch your attention when you see it again.
Put it on your desk or in your sacred space and use as a focus for your prayers over this next week. Write in your journal the impressions you have each day as you reflect on the rock. You may like to add to the painting as God prompts you as I did with the image below.
Reflections around celtic cross
This is not the only time I have written about rocks. You might like to check out these previous posts:
Last week I posted a prayer to welcome the day. I have used it throughout the week to help center myself for my daily prayer and meditation and also to help focus our MSA team as we met for strategic planning sessions this week.
I have so enjoyed this practice that I decided to write another prayer inviting the presence of God into my night both into times of restful sleep and restless insomnia. Experts on meditation tell me that to be truly effective, to help relax our bodies and our minds we need to do at least 20 minutes of meditation a day, something that is a little overwhelming for many people. However, I find that with the reciting of prayers – slowly, repetitively and meditatively that it is not only possible but refreshing.
The night often magnifies our fears and intensifies our anxieties. Welcoming God into those experiences redirects our focus and often enables us to relax. Making that welcome a deliberate process is, for me at least, very important because it reminds me of the all encompassing presence of God. Small rituals like this can make an amazing difference to our life and to our faith.
Artwork by Jennifer Hamlett Herrick
Last night I didn’t sleep well and kept praying “Lord help me sleep”. As my insomnia continued I got more and more frustrated, and anxious. To be honest I found myself resenting the God who did not seem to answer even simple prayers like this.
This morning as I reflected on this, I found Jesus words before the raising of Lazarus revolving in my mind: Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here. (John 11:41, 42)
I was struck particularly by the confidence of that prayer. Jesus knew that God heard him. He didn’t feel the need to shout or try to get God’s attention. He didn’t feel the need to persuade God to do something for him, he just acted in the confidence that God heard him.
How often I come to God unsure of whether or not God is listening. How often I come feeling that I need to convince God to take notice of what I am saying – more like the psalmist who cries God hear my prayer. How often have I questioned the seeming lack of response without even thinking about the inappropriateness of my prayer?
What does it take for us to live in that confident place of knowing that God hears our prayers?
First we need to come in gratitude – Jesus thank you is a heartfelt cry of gratitude to One that he knows as a loving and caring God, the One he knows always answers prayer. Gratitude awakens us to the fact that God is already at work in the situation we are praying for. It opens our eyes to see what God is doing and molds our prayers to the divine will.
Second we need to come confident that we are praying the right prayer, and that means listening to hear God’s direction before we pray. I have often wondered why Jesus waited two days before coming to Bethany to see Lazarus. I suspect that he spent at least part of that time praying and asking God about what he should do.
Third we need to come with a sense of the presence of God deep within our being. We frequently pray out of a sense of our own needs or concerns without taking time to centre ourselves on the presence of God and remind ourselves that the One to whom we offer our prayers can only, ever respond in the loving way.
Fourth we need to come expecting and looking for God’s answers. I often pray a prayer and then dash onto the next thing, not taking time to notice and savour what God is doing in response to my request. We not only need to give thanks for the fact that God hears our prayers, we also need to give thanks for the answers.
I have a friend who keeps a prayer journal – jotting down his prayers, writing out his hopes and expectations for that prayer and then writing down the response that comes. He sees this as a way to more closely align his will with God’s. I think this is a wonderful idea but to my embarrassment I must admit that I have never implemented it.
In response to my reflections I wrote this short prayer which I am hoping it will also revolve in my mind and draw me closer to that abiding presence of God
Lord thank you for hearing our prayers,
Thank you that your spirit stirs within,
Thank you that you are at work,
Transforming, renewing, making all things new.
“This post is part of the June synchroblog that invited bloggers to write about “Hospitality”. This is a topic that is very close to my heart. It was the focus for your Celtic retreat last year, and for a blog series over last summer. My husband and I love to practice hospitality in our home, and see it as central to our ministry.
Yet over the last twelve months my motivation towards hospitality has been sorely challenged and I wanted to share some of these struggles with you.
As many of you know the property we own on Camano Island where we are slowly developing a Center for Imagination and Innovation has been vandalized, not once but repeatedly and the level of violence has escalated.
At last year’s retreat, we grieved over the destruction of our windows, that had been shot at and destroyed. My thoughts towards the vandals were not very loving and hospitable.
Then I read the words of our opening liturgy:
God you show us that hospitality opens doorways into your eternal world.
the sun is at its height, or the moon and stars pierce the darkness,
May this place be always open.
May it never be closed to anyone, lest we should close it to Christ himself.
God transfixed me. And I was not the only one impacted by the words. How do we show hospitality to those who have vandalized our property became quite a discussion point. We talked about everything from putting up signs inviting them to lunch, to trying to have someone meet and befriend them or even putting up a shooting target with a sign saying “Please shoot this not our building”. We even talked about how to “redeem” the broken glass by creating a mural or other art form with the shards. Perhaps we could even incorporate some of the spent shotgun shells.
Found behind the altar – our new Celtic cross
Just before we left the site , Andy Wade and I stood in our chapel area, talking about the acts of vandalism which began with the destruction of our Celtic cross – just a tree branch nailed to another tree with vines woven for the circle, but symbolic of who we are and what we want this land to represent. As we talked I walked behind the altar, and there in the grass was a rusty old piece of junk that looked just like a Celtic cross. I felt God was saying:
Accept my hospitality. Garbage into gold, I can restore, redeem and make new all that is created.
It was a very heartening note on which to end the retreat though its implications continue to resound in my head, reminding me of the principles of restorative justice rather than punitive justice. In looking for resources on restorative justice I came across this fascinating pdf downloadable book The Little Book Of Restorative Justice which has just jumped to the top of my reading list.
This year, in spite of last year’s encouragement, is even more of a challenge. Our replacement windows have been totally destroyed and once again we are struggling to feel hospitable in the midst of violence. Now we are asking ourselves What does a Gospel reconciler do?, a question that has led to hospitality at many different levels already as I suggested in my previous post Assessing the MSV Damage Discernment Works.
First it has invited us to be hospitable to each other by inviting as many collaborators as possible into our discernment process.
Second it has invited us to be hospitable to the community around us, seeking ways to collaborate with a community that until now has seen us as outsiders.
Third it has challenged us to continue seeking to be hospitable to our vandals, whoever they might be. Having committed ourselves to be hospitable, means we must reach out in reconciliation, not retribution.
Hospitality is sometimes a painful commitment. It means loving not hating, as we have seen in Charleston this week. It means seeking for peace not war. And it means being willing to sit down at table with all those who have despitefully used us to seek for peace and healing.
Celtic Christians believed that hospitality opened doorways to the kingdom of God. We have already caught glimpses of that and look forward to the day that the doorways are fully open.
————————————————————————————————
Other posts in the series:
A Sacred Rebel – Hospitality
Carol Kuniholme – Violent Unwelcome. Holy Embrace.
Glen Hager – Aunt Berthie
Leah Sophia – welcoming one another
Mary – The Space of Hospitality
Jeremy Myers – Why I Let a “Murderer” Live in My House
Loveday Anyim – Is Christian Hospitality a Dead Way of Life?
Tony Ijeh – Is Hospitality Still a Vital Part of Christianity Today?
Clara Ogwuazor Mbamalu – Have we replaced Hospitality with Hostility?
Liz Dyer – Prayer For The Week – Let us be God’s hospitality in the world
K.W. Leslie – Christian Hospitality
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!