Today’s prayer is one that I wrote while meditating on the Celtic cross in the background. It reminds me that we all stand in the circle of God’s love and and are formed in the circle of God’s creation. Enjoy
Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi
This morning I am posting a beautiful poem by the 13th century Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi.
I was made aware of this prayer by Cherry Hairston Program Director at The Center at St. Andrew’s. She told me:
I use it, as do some of my colleagues, in teaching the Welcoming Prayer. One way to look at the Welcoming prayer is as a practice of radical spiritual hospitality that welcomes all guests, even the unwanted ones. I love the practice and find it very powerful.
It is a beautiful prayer to meditate on – enjoy
This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all
even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honorably.
S/he may be cleaning you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
~ Rumi
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This is a totally new venture for us at Mustard Seed Associates, one that we think will greatly expand our impact and enrich the lives of people across the world. I think it will enrich your life and strengthen your faith too.
This first course is based on my popular book Return to Our Senses which I know many of you enjoyed. If you used it as a study book in your church or book group or savoured the chapters on your own, we think this is the next step to go deeper and learn more about how to interact with God in every part of life. Please consider partnering with us to launch our upcoming e-course.
What will the funding cover you may ask? Primarily it will go towards video production, editing and web hosting. It will not go towards my salary (I don’t get one!) There will be six modules in this course each with a prayer, short teaching video and interactive exercise. So there is a lot of work to do. There will also be built in opportunities to interact with myself and other contributors.
If you are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it is a crowd-funding website that allows you to collect pledges towards a goal. The great thing about funding through Kickstarter is that you are able to offer rewards to those individuals who choose to pledge money towards your project.
Our project has rewards starting at the $25 level. However, at the $75 level your reward will be the e-course itself at no additional cost (a $125 value). Its like preordering a book or other product at a special discount price. However any contribution, $1, $10, $20, is welcome. If each person who reads this blog regularly gave just $10 towards this project we would have more than enough.
The challenging part of a kickstarter campaign is that if we do not reach our goal we do not get any of the money that has been pledged. We are excited about the opportunity to expand them impact of what we do and interact on a deeper level with our constituents around the globe.
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How do we respond in the face of violence? This is the question that revolves in my mind as I watch the news coming out of Gaza and Ferguson and hear about the looting of the Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone. I think of it too as I read the comments that are like violence towards the Williams family and our memories of Robin Williams. And of course it is foremost in my mind when I think of the vandalism we have suffered on Camano.
Responding in love when others despitefully use us and others we care for is not easy. Acting in love when we are afraid or insecure is even harder. Insecurity breeds anger and violence resulting in a vicious cycle of hate, turmoil and yet more violence. Sometimes we are indifferent to the images of violence because when we watch them on TV or the internet they seem more like a game then reality.
Tragically we all tend to respond not with love to any form of atrocity or violence. Our natural response is “fight or flight”. In other words we either want to run away from violence and pretend it is not happening or we want to join in. We fight violence with violence.
But what is the Christian response?
I think that the Christian response needs to begin with listening, not with action. Listening and giving full attention to those who have been victims or perpetrators of violence means that we do not run from it. We do not pretend that violence is not happening and we do not pretend that it does not involve us. We recognize its horror and we gird up or spirits to take a stand.
We need to listen to the pain and the grief that creates violence, listen to the stories that tell of the results of violence and listen to the stories of how God’s reconciling love can and has been shown in the midst of that. We also need to listen to the hopes and dreams of the victims of violence. So often these reflect the cry for a more just and equitable society in which peace, equality and justice is shown to all.
Then we need to listen to the responses of our own spirits. Deep, heartfelt listening makes it impossible for us not to respond. Our hearts and our spirits start to cry out for justice to happen. Sometimes we start to recognize how our own actions, or lack of actions have resulted in the violence we see. Sometimes we get in touch with the violence within our own souls and need to seek forgiveness and healing.
I love the work of groups like Christian Peacemaker Teams which is committed to work and relationships that:
- Honor and reflect the presence of faith and spirituality
- Strengthen grassroots initiatives
- Transform structures of domination and oppression
- Embody creative non-violence and liberating love
Creative non-violence and liberating love are responses far different from those we usually see to violence. A Christian response to the victims and perpetrators of violence is a form of hospitality. By responding out of love not hate or indifference to, we welcome a stranger who is often very difficult for us to embrace. And in so doing we can often do find that we are embracing and welcoming Christ into our midst.
So my question for today is:
How are you responding to the violence you have heard about in this last week? and Where do those responses come from?
You might like to meditate on this prayer as you think about this.
God is love,
May this love take root in our hearts
And overflow.
Love does no wrong to another.
May God’s love spread like healing balm,
Wherever there is violence.
Love never celebrates injustice.
May it fall like gentle rain,
On thirsty ground,
And bring peace where trouble reigns.
Love binds us together.
May it reach out through us to neighbours,
And draw us into God’s eternal family.
Two years ago I was in the middle of writing my book on listening and I was stuck. I had written a good chapter on listening for the sake of mission. I had written three chapters on listening to God in communal discernment, in communal spiritual practices and through communal engagement with the Bible. I had written basic chapters on listening skills, why and how we listen, and obstacles to listening. I had one chapter left to write, focused on listening to each other within a congregation.
I had quite a few good stories to use in that one remaining chapter, but I didn’t have a central idea for the chapter. My stories and ideas felt scattered.
I set the book aside to go to an academic conference that I was not particularly excited about. The only thing I was anticipating was two keynote talks by Nancy Tatom Ammerman. She described her most recent research on spiritual patterns among people in various religions, and to my great delight she gave me the unifying idea for my troublesome chapter. In addition to helping with that chapter, her research helped me gain an entirely new perspective on the significance of listening in all forms of discipleship and spiritual formation.
Ammerman and her team of researchers interviewed dozens people in Boston and Atlanta about their spiritual convictions and practices. They sought out people with diverse religious commitments: Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, atheists, agnostics, New Age practitioners, etc. They found that the people who had the deepest spiritual commitment also had friends with whom they talked about the overlap between their spiritual commitment and their everyday lives, between the sacred and the secular, between the holy and the ordinary. Ammerman called these friends “spiritual compatriots.”
The research showed that people most often found these spiritual compatriots in three settings: congregations, the home and the workplace. The congregation has special significance, because congregations provide places for people to learn to talk about this overlap between God and daily life. People then brought that ability to talk about God’s role in everyday life into their homes, and they often found people at work with whom they could talk about it.
Ammerman said that the people who were the most comfortable talking about this overlap of the holy and the ordinary were the people who were the most involved in mission of various forms.
After listening to Ammerman, I spent a lot of time thinking about the places in congregations where people talk about the overlap between their faith and their daily life: small groups, men’s and women’s events, retreats, coffee hour, etc. Good sermons model ways to talk about this overlap. The key is to make space for people not just to chat and get to know each other, but to go deeper to the place where they are able to talk about where God is in their daily lives, how they feel called to follow Jesus in everyday life, where they feel the Holy Spirit’s guidance and empowering.
I began to think about pastoral care, which has often been viewed as a good and necessary thing, but somewhat separate from discipleship or mission. Often the major crises of life are the places where we see God at work most profoundly. Maybe God seems clearly present guiding the cancer patient to the right doctor or helping feuding siblings to get along at a funeral. Maybe God seems particularly absent in a crisis. Making room for people to talk about God’s presence and absence in big challenges, a major task of pastoral care, now seems to me to be integrally connected to Christian discipleship and mission.
Conversations where we can talk about the overlap between the Christian faith and daily life require good listening, drawing people out, and asking perceptive questions. We need to allow conversations to go on long enough for people to work their way around to the issue of where and how they experienced God in a particular situation. Because of Nancy Ammerman’s research (recounted in her book Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life , I saw the significance of listening in congregational life in a whole new light.
Today’s post is written by regular Godspace contributor Lynne Baab.
bio: Lynne Baab’s recent book, The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry, focuses on the many ways listening undergirds congregational life. Lynne is a Presbyterian minister and lecturer in pastoral theology. Visit her website at www.lynnebaab.com.
Robin Williams
I posted this prayer which I wrote yesterday while thinking about the impact Robin Williams on the Light For The Journey Facebook page. Its popularity made me think some of you would like to read it too. I know that his death has been devastating for many of us.
God we know the wounds our world can inflict,
And have felt the heartache of its brokenness.
Let us have eyes to see and ears to hear,
That pain can give birth to laughter,
That humour often hides our fears.
Let us look at sorrow and anguish and not blink.
Accepting responsibility let us become pilgrims in the ruins,
Choosing to respond with love and compassion,
To all who are hurting and in pain.
Celtic retreat gathering – photo Andy Wade
This is the third of the litanies that we used for our retreat last weekend. Some of it is adapted from the Book of Common Prayer, some from Iona Worship material. Some of it is original – sorry that I cannot distinguish which parts for you but hope that you enjoy it anyway.
Evening Gathering
Gathering song – Go In the Wilderness
God today we have gazed on the beauty of your world,
And been enthralled by its splendor.
We have eaten of its fruit,
And cherished the gift of its food.
We have drunk in its wonder,
And been filled with the water of life.
Now we pause to give thanks,
And remember your generous hospitality.
We have come into your dwelling place, O God,
And caught a glimpse of your holy mountain,
You have given us a foretaste of your eternal banquet,
A lavish feast, an invitation for all the people of the world.
This morning we placed objects on the altar as symbols of God’s hospitality. But the day has taught us new things about generosity and hospitality. It has given us new companions, stirred within us a new sense of the journey of sharing God calls us to. What are the new things you take with you today as preparation for the journey ahead?
Pause for a time of sharing.
Lord Jesus Christ as we share these gifts and partake of your generous hospitality,
We breathe in the wonder of your love,
And say thank you.
We breathe in the fragrance of your life,
And say thank you.
We breathe in the joy of your presence,
And say thank you.
Thank you for love and life and presence.
Thank you for abundance and generosity and hospitality.
Thank you for blessings that overflow.
We breathe in and are filled with the glory that is you.
Song: Be Thou My Vision
The Eucharist – The Great Thanksgiving
Now as we come to the communion table, let us welcome as Brigid did all the little ones God sends to feast with us. This is the table not of the Church but of Christ. It is for all those who love him and want to love him more. It is for those who have tried to follow and those who have failed. Let us come remembering those whose faces we cannot see, those desperate for God’s generous hospitality, those who live on the edge, the poor and the sick and the abandoned. At this table we all meet together to enjoy this foretaste of God’s eternal banquet feast.
An Affirmation of Faith
We believe in a loving and hospitable God, who made us and all things, who loves us and all the world with a father’s tenderness and a mother’s strength.
We believe in God our maker.
We believe in a saving and generous God who became human and lived among us, who died and rose to set us free.
We believe in Jesus Christ, our redeemer.
We believe in a living and faithful God, breath of life in all life. The gift of God to the people of God.
We believe in the Spirit, our life-giver.
Brigid’s Prayer
Brigid left us with this beautiful prayer which is a glimpse into her generous and hospitable heart. As we read it together may we too be inspired by her spirit of hospitality and generosity.
I should like a great lake of finest ale,
for the King of Kings.
I should like a table of the choicest food,
for the family of heaven.
Let the ale be made from the fruits of faith,
and the food be forgiving love.
I should welcome the poor to my feast,
for they are God’s children.
I should welcome the sick to my feast,
for they are God’s joy.
Let the poor sit with Jesus at the highest place,
and the sick dance with the angels.
God bless the poor,
God bless the sick,
and bless our human race.
God bless our food,
God bless our drink,
all homes, O God, embrace.
Let us gather around the table with God’s gifts of bread and wine and read together these words that Jesus taught his disciples:
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, spare us,
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.
Loving and generous God, through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer. It is given from the earth, a symbol of your hospitality. It was made by human hands to be shared as Brigid did, with love and generosity. In this we are reminded of and celebrate together the life that Jesus shared among his community throughout the centuries and shares with us today.
Living among us, Jesus loved us. He broke bread and shared hospitality with outcasts and sinners, healed the sick and proclaimed good news to the poor. He yearned to draw all the world to himself yet we were heedless of his call to walk in love and generosity.
On the night before he died Jesus shared a meal with his friends. He took bread, gave thanks to God, broke it and gave it to them saying: Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine. Again he gave thanks to God, gave it to them, and said: Drink this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
Now gathered at your table, O God of all creation, and remembering Christ crucified and risen, who was and is and is to come, we offer to you our gifts of bread and wine, and ourselves, a living sacrifice.
Pour our your Spirit upon these gifts, that they may be the body and blood of Christ. Breathe your Spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation, the body of Christ given for the world you have made.
In the fullness of time bring us, with Mary, the mother of Jesus, Brigid and Columba and all your saints, from every tribe and language and people and nation, to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world.
Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to you be honor, glory and praise, for ever and ever. Amen
Alleluia, We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
We who are many are one body, for we all share in the one bread. Alleluia.
The Invitation
Draw near and receive the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ in remembrance that he died for us. Let us feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
All are welcome at the Lord’s Table to receive holy communion. Children are welcome at parental discretion. Receive the consecrated bread in the open palm of your hand and assist the chalice bearer by guiding the cup to your lips, or if you prefer dip the bread into the cup and then eat it.
Communion Music by Matt & Sundee Frazier: Don’t Be Weary Traveller.
Post Communion Prayer
Gracious God in the bread and the wine
we have been given a foretaste of your eternal banquet.
We have been nourished by faith, hope and love,
And shared in the hospitality of your generosity.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
to live and work to your praise and glory.
We ask this in Jesus’ name
Amen
The Blessing
May the blessing of the one
who died for us
be on you.
May the blessing of the one
who is risen
be on you.
May the blessing of the one
who invites us to the banquet feast
be on you.
The blessing of God,
creator, redeemer, sustainer,
be yours this day and evermore.
Amen
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