The following prayer was inspired by this photo of a double rainbow that my friend Andy Wade sent me. The circle is very important in Celtic spirituality. A Celtic cross, which is made up of a circle superimposed on a cross, expresses the unique way in which Celtic Christianity incorporated the people’s sense of wholeness in creation and joined it with the image of Christ. This calls me to recognize the image of God in all persons, and the presence of God in all creation.
This is the second of a series of short videos taken from a discussion with Mark Pierson held in our backyard this last week. Again my apologies for the poor quality of the video but I know that Mark’s creativity is so inspirational that you will forgive me that. I love the way that he takes elements of the local culture and incorporates them into our experience of communion. Like Mark I am intrigued with ways to express our faith in culturally specific ways.
One very profound celebration I was a part of here in Seattle was when another very creative friend of ours, Steve Taylor had us out foraging for cedar branches and Starbuck’s cups. We started our conference with a beautiful blessing ceremony using these local symbols – one natural, one part of the culture, and sprinkled the audience with water.
185 empty chairs http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A185_Empty_Chairs_77.JPG
One of the delights of our lives is the opportunity to offer hospitality to people from around the world. This last week Mark Pierson from New Zealand, author of The Art of Curating Worship was with us. Over this next week I will share several snippets from the talk that he gave in our backyard about different aspects of worship. I wanted to start with this description of the installation his friend Peter Majendie constructed as a memorial following the Christchurch earthquake. A good friend of mine was killed in the earthquake and listening to the description ministered deeply to me and I thought it would to others as well. Unfortunately the quality of the video is not good and at one point our dog Bonnie interrupts the flow but you can still get an idea of what this powerful memorial installation involved. Adrienne Rewi gives an excellent description of the installation here: 185 empty chairs and a church.
Each day I post prayers on the Facebook page Light for the Journey and like to take the most popular of these, add photos and post them on the blog. This has become a very enriching spiritual exercise for me which combines my love of prayer with my love of photography. Here is this week’s most popular prayer. Enjoy!
Creativity is the mode these days and how to become creative is probably one of the most talked about topics in secular business. 18 Things Highly Creative People Do Every Day provides a great list of things to ponder as we seek to get our creative juices flowing. It has been shared hundreds of thousands of times across the internet. Others offer four, six, and even thirty nine keys to creativity. Yet when it comes to our faith we hesitate, not wanting to step out of our comfort zones in theology or practice.
It is my contention that creativity is as important in our faith as in in our business. If we use the same practices now that we did 20 years ago without any changes then our faith has probably stagnated. If we believe exactly as we did 20 years ago we are not creatively nurturing our faith and drawing closer to our loving God. Last year in my post Spiritual Rhythms That Create Resilience, I talked about our need for transformative practices that restore resilience and creativity to our faith. In Enhance Your Spiritual Resilience – Five Practices That Make A Difference, I talked about spiritual and life practices that can help.
1. Maintaining regular spiritual practices
2. Maintaining regular exercise
3. Gratitude
4. Spiritual retreats
5. Discerning as a group
However I realize that this list is nowhere near complete (maybe we do need 39 practices for creativity) and I need to keep creatively building on these principles and I want to keep doing that because I believe that building creativity into our faith is essential for spiritual growth. So here are an additional five practices to consider:
1. Have some fun. There is more and more evidence emerging that suggests laughter, playing and having fun enhance our creativity and our resilience to the stresses of life.
2. Learn from your “failures” The term that is increasingly being used is “fail up”. In other words let your seeming failures push you closer to God not away. Remember from the world’s perspective Jesus went from being the world’s most successful faith healer to a criminal in one quick week. From success to failure in an easy step.
3. Give yourself permission to think outside the box – theologically and practically. My faith started to grow in leaps and bounds when I worked in the refugee camps in Thailand in the mid 80s and started to realize that my understanding of Christianity was limited and narrow. Admitting my doubts, and searching for new insights was revolutionary. Expanding my theological boundaries nurtured and strengthened my soul and my spirit.
4. Open yourself to learning from “the other”. We have so much to learn from those who look, think and practice faith differently from us. If we only listen to those who look like us and think like us then our faith will never grow.
5. Never say never. Creative people believe everything is possible and in the realm of faith that means believing that one day the kingdom of God which we now catch glimpses of will come in its fullness. That belief keeps me looking for new ways to reach out and see God’s world changed.
How will you express your faith creativity today? Perhaps watching this interview can help.
Our good friends Geoff and Sherry Maddock have just been featured in this article in the local Lexington Chevy Chaser magazine.
The Maddocks’ decision to add “urban farmers” and “micro-enterprise developers” to their resumés stemmed, in part, from Wendell Berry’s teachings about forming deep roots and forging lasting bonds of affection in one’s community. Guided by their chosen principles of generosity and hospitality, the couple already regularly hosted neighbors at their table for dinner or cups of tea; they also spent their energy helping find health care for the ill and injured and helping refugees solve seemingly impossible problems. Showing their neighbors how to grow their own food and make income from food production seemed a useful next step. Read the entire article
We are so proud of the work they do. They were also interviewed by Paul Sparks last year for the Parish Collective. These interviews are well worth listening to.
An Ecological Vision with Sherry Maddock from Parish Collective on Vimeo.
Space Creation: Breaking New Ground in the Commons with Sherry and Geoff Maddock from Parish Collective on Vimeo.
I came across this photo yesterday. It caught my imagination and my attention. then this morning read these quotes from Frederick Buechner
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. (From his memoir Now and Then)
And from Telling Secrets
I have come to believe more and more that God also speaks through the fathomless quiet of the holy place within us all which is beyond the power of anything that happens to us to touch although many things that happen to us block our access to it, make us forget even that it exists. I believe that this quiet and holy place in us is God’s place and what it is what marks us as God’s. Even when we have no idea of seeking it, I think various things can make us fleetingly aware of its presence – a work of art, beauty, sometimes sorrow or joy, sometimes just the quality of a moment that apparently has nothing special about it at all like the sound of water over stones in a stream or sitting alone with your feet up at the end of a hard day.”
As I reflect on these thoughts this morning I know God is saying to me –
Slow down. Savour each moment. Stop and notice my presence within it. See me in the smile of a child, taste me in your first sip of morning tea, hear me in the bees buzzing in the garden, feel me in the soft fur of your dog, smell me fragrance of lilacs. Delight in who I am, not just in the big and seemingly important parts of your day but in the ordinary, easily discarded moments of encounter.
My contemplation led to the writing of this prayer
How does God want you to listen today? What are the moments, the encounters, the sights and sounds that usually pass you by without acknowledgement that God wants you to pay attention to?
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