Today’s post is the second written by Brad Culver who is presently homesteading in eastern Ontario and also involved in an inter-faith community. The article was first published on National ThoughtWorks Blog Brad also blogs at Living Water from an Ancient Well
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.
Elizabeth Barret Browning
Mundane = common place
God is found in the common places. He walked in the cool of the day. He was found in the still small voice. He rides on the wings of the wind. His glory is etched in the drifting clouds above. Present in the fragrance of a flower. Jesus lived in the ordinary world, ate ordinary food, walked among ordinary people, miracles were performed in common place in ordinary moments, at a wedding, on a hillsides, along dusty roads in the parching heat of the day.
The mundane moments of daily life are ripe with His presence, doing the dishes, driving to work, nursing the baby, waiting on tables, walking in the woods. The Celtic culture nurtured and facilitated a sacramental approach to life. Not only recognizing but expecting Gods presence in the ordinary routine and rhythm of the day.
The Celt’s recognized and celebrated the sacred in the common place. They anticipated and invited the presence into everyday activities such as setting the fireplace, milking the cow, churning the butter, ploughing the fields.
“I AM smooring the fire As the Son of Mary would smoor Blest be the house, blest be the fire, Blest be the people all.” (a blessing for preparing the night hearth)
“The guarding of God and the Lord be yours… Traveling mead’s long and grassy…Be the bright Michael king of the angels Protecting, and keeping, and saving you.” ( a portion herders prayer)
These Celtic missionary wanders became known as the Peregrini.
The Peregrini, (among their number Columba,Columbanus and Aidan) journeyed to the nearby northern islands, the Orkneys and Faroes. Then on to Scotland, England, the forests of Germany, the rugged hills of Gaul, the foothills of the Alps, the valleys of the Rhine and the Danube, and to the cities and remote valleys of Italy. Some went singly, as hermits, others, in small groups, often numbering up to 13, imitating Jesus and the Twelve. Their numbers multiplied so greatly that they became a characteristic feature of Western Europe through most of the period from 500 to 950
Today’s post is written by Brad Culver who for over 25 years, together with his wife Mary has given leadership to non-traditional faith communities. One being the Refuge (and the Refuge Café) an alternative (emergent) faith community, which was birthed in 1994 and continues on today under younger leadership. Presently we are homesteading in eastern Ontario and are involved in an inter-faith community. The article was first published on National ThoughtWorks Blog Brad also blogs at Living Water from an Ancient Well
11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 1Kings 19:11-13
Between keeping ourselves distracted and waiting we miss a lot in life. Waiting for when I grow up. Waiting to get that job. Waiting to find that special person. Waiting to retire . Waiting to that buy new whatever. We live in anticipation of some future fulfillment.
In my faith journey i had observed in my self and others particularly in ‘spirit filled’ circles much of life being projected into the future and taken up with passing time, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the fire to fall Waiting for that revival to break out. Waiting for that miracle. Waiting for the next move of God. We anxiously await the big thing to unfold in our lives, passing time till we die and “go to heaven.”
Most of the “big moments” in our lives tend to take place in the ordinariness of daily life. God is to be found in the ordinary and mundane. We are often so busy we can’t see the forest for the trees. We miss the miracles unfolding before our eyes. We miss God’s immediate presence in the wonder of the ordinary.
Song writer Nick Cave captures this thought so beautifully in these lyrics from his song “Get Ready for Love”
Nothing much really happens
And God rides high in his ordinary sky
Until we find ourselves at our most distracted
And the miracle that was promised
Creeps silently by.
I remember when it really hit me. God is present in the now, my life is unfolding now. The miracle is in this present mundane moment.
God never promised to answer every question or be an easy access rabbits foot. What he has promised however, is that He would never leave us or forsake us. That he would be present with us at every moment, in all our joy and sorrow, in our waking in our sleeping, in our work and in our play.
What if we were to attempt to be conscious of God’s presence in the ordinary now, in daily situations? How would this transform our thoughts, our actions, our encounters with others?
Buddhists refer to this being present in each moment, each breath as mindfulness. For followers of Christ this can be understood as practicing the presence of God.
A 17th century Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence considered “the practice of the presence of God’ to be at the center of authentic Christian spirituality. He learned the discipline of being constantly aware of Gods presence especially in the ordinary and mundane during his forty years of doing dishes and daily tasks for his monastic community.
He wrote, “There is not in the world, a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. [Psalm 139:7-12]
Embracing the ordinary and cultivating the practice of becoming aware of Gods presence in the mundane moments and responding, could also be framed as life in the Spirit.
I remember in my early years as a follower of Christ one of my big questions was “how does one walk in the spirit”. I used to ask that of every Christian i meet.. It often got me into trouble. One day while reading The Pursuit of God by A. W Tozer. I came across this simple passage; “The universal presence of God is a fact. God is here.The whole universe is alive with his life…we have with in us the ability to know him if we will but respond to his overtures” and thus unfolds the mystery of the mundane.
Brad Culver Ontario Region
There is an enduring ache in my heart for justice, a desire to see God’s peace reign and God’s wholeness come. I find that writing and reciting prayers like this is an encouraging reminder of what God is doing to accomplish this.
Away on retreat
The summer is definitely in full swing here in Seattle and Tom and I are getting ready to head out of town for a retreat. I am browsing through my stacks of books both read and unread to see what I want to take with me. It is a daunting task – so many good books come across my desk each week. How do I or any of us decide?
1. First I like to take a spiritual devotional. At present I am using the New Zealand Book of Prayer. It’s morning and evening prayer are great ways to start and end my retreat days. I might also use the pray-as-you-go.org devotional put out by Jesuit Media Initiatives.
2. I always take a book that scratches where I itch from a spiritual perspective. This time I have three – two by Jan Johnson whose work on spiritual direction and lectio divina is always both practical and insightful. Savoring God’s Word and When the Soul Listens are both books I have used in the past that I love to return to when I need some spiritual discernment. Margaret Guenther’s Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction is my third choice. Not hard to tell that I am wanting to revisit my contemplative practices and renew my ability to listen to God on this retreat.
3. I like to take something that addresses my ministry focus. This time Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of the Possible by Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon.
4. I also take my bible, my journal, and my spiritual retreat log which is a compilation of all the notes from past retreats. I love to look back over these and sense the thread of God’s direction in my life. I love to savour the scriptures that have spoken to me in the past and ask what God may want to say through them or through other scriptures on this retreat.
Now obviously this is more than anyone can read in two days. But I like to have a good selection because even though I head off on retreat with a sense of the direction God is taking me, the details are not obvious until I spend undistracted retreat time in God’s presence. In the first few hours of retreat I might skim though all the books I have with me anticipating that God will grab my attention through something I read. Then I know which of the books I need to bury myself in for the next couple of days. I love to see how God develops this sometimes taking me down unexpected pathways.
Look back with gratitude, look forward with anticipation has become a mantra for my times away that stirs me to expect new things from God at every step.
Peggy and Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis At Ron Sider Roast.
Tom and I have just returned from the Evangelicals for Social Action conference Following Jesus 2013. It was a very impacting conference for both of us. At one of the panels, Lisa Sharon Harper raised the question Do we have the capacity for compassion? Soong-Chan Rah followed it up with a discussion on the importance of lament in the the Psalms. Evidently 40% of the psalms are Psalms of lament yet less than 10% of Christian worship deals with this theme.
Are these facts related? I think they are. Without lament there will be no compassion. Our ability to respond with compassion depends on our view of God and in part our view of God is shaped by our ability to lament, grieve and suffer with God when injustices are done either to us or others. Only a God of love can be broken hearted over the injustices and horrors of our world. Only a loving God can ache with compassion and grieve the results of sin to such a depth that no action, including the death of a beloved son, becomes too great a price to pay to overcome it.
Last week, I reread How God Changes Your Brain, which helps, at least neurologically, to explain this, The authors contend that the personality we assign to God has distinct neural paters that correlate with our emotional style of behavior.
Envisioning an authoritarian or critical entity-be it another person or God-will activate the limbic areas of the brain that generate fear and anger. Thus the brain is primed to fight. (111)
People with this world view tend to favour the death penalty, build up of military poer, punitive action towards illegal immigrants and “insist that prayer should be allowed in public schools.”
However when you perceive God as a benevolent force, a different part of the brain is stimulated in the prefrontal cortex.
Loving, compassionate images, faces, or thoughts activate a circuit that … suppresses the impulse to get angry or frightened. It also helps generate feelings of empathy towards others who are suffering or hurt.
I am not trying to reduce God to some neurological changes in our brain, but it does not surprise me that God changes us through neurological pathways. And according to this book, moving from an authoritarian to a loving God is easy.
1. One of the keys is meditation. Focusing on God as love, God as compassion, God as grieving and broken hearted. These images can literally change our minds. Simply focusing on compassion of an image of peace as we breathe deeply and relax, holding this thought for at least twelve minutes a day, builds and strengthens our neural circuits of compassion in a matter of months.
2. A second key is optimism, or perhaps for Christians, gratitude. Gratitude, thankfulness, being able to see the goodness of God in the midst of awful situation, believing that God is at work, comforting, caring renewing and looking for those signs makes a huge difference in our own ability to respond with love and compassion to those around us.
3.Listening and dialoguing with others. When we do not interact with the poor, the unjustly treated, the abandoned and the marginalized, it is easy for us to ignore their plight. Speaking creates and changes neural pathways. Dialogue can literally change our brains. The more we talk about peace, harmony, justice and abundance for all, the more we imagine these possibilities as realities, the more our brains are changed to believe the seemingly impossible is possible.
4. Faith. In How God Changes Your Brain, the authors suggest that the number one way to change our brains and our behavior, is though faith. Trusting our beliefs, thinking positively about our God of love, decreases stress, improves health outcomes, an improves our ability to cope with difficult situations. “Faith is essential for maintaining a healthy brain. ” affirm the authors – not something that should surprise those of us who are Christians.
But it is what we believe that really impacts our responses. I will finish this post with a prayer that you too might like to pray – and maybe meditate on the strengthen some of those neurological pathways. On the way home in the plane last night I wrote the following prayer – to remind myself of what kind of a God I believe in and why compassionate, loving responses are always necessary.
I believe in a broken hearted God.
Pain sharer, sin bearer, justice carer.
I believe in a love centred God.
Redeemer, reconciler, renewer,
The restorer of all the broken pieces of our universe.
I believe in the God of life,
Justice bringer, peace maker, abundance provider,
For this is the image in which we are being remade.
Amen
This week’s prayers from the Light for the Journey Facebook page
Pastor Dave Hodson reshaped one of this week’s prayers, to be a “Trinity Prayer”, ala Celtic traditions…
I love it
Heavenly Father,
God of seed and growth and harvest,
Creator of all that grows and all that sustains,
give us we pray our daily bread,
enough for our own needs
and an abundance for all good works.
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
You broke the bread for the multitudes,
and broke bread with your disciples.
Give us also we pray, the bread of life,
that we shall have a care to feed the hungry,
and to seek for peace and justice in the world.
Guiding and Empowering Spirit,
You bring to mind all that Jesus taught,
and you give us strength to walk in his steps.
Help us to remember and to know in our hearts,
that you are our life today and every day;
Holy God; Holy One; Holy Three…
Our hearts are restless, until we rest in you.
You are the food we need, now and for ever.
Amen
And here is the prayer which inspired him which was in itself inspired by the New Zealand Prayer Book
God of seed and growth and harvest,
Creator of all that grows and all that sustains,
give us we pray our daily bread,
enough for our own needs
and an abundance for all good works.
Give us also we pray, the bread of life,
that we shall have a care to feed the hungry,
and to seek for peace and justice in the world.
Help us Lord to remember and to know in our hearts,
that you are our life today and every day;
you are the food we need, now and for ever.
Amen
Christine Sine https://godspacelight.com/
To know you, Lord
what more could we desire?
To know your love,
hear your call,
feel your touch,
understand your suffering,
follow where you have walked
into resurrection life.
To know you, Lord
what more could we desire?
To run the race,
eyes focused,
spirit filled,
stumbling but rising up,
heading toward the glorious sight
of resurrection life.
God shine your light today
In places blanketed with darkness.
God unfold your love today,
In places where hate destroys.
God show your life today,
In places where death holds sway.
God reveal yourself
Overcome evil with good,
Conquer death wit life,
Dispel hate with love.
Through Jesus Christ
Bring renewal, restoration and peace.
Christine Sine https://godspacelight.com/
Lord Jesus Christ grant us this day ,
Such delight in following you,
That we may know
the wonder of your love,
the beauty of your holiness,
the joy of your presence.
Christine Sine https://godspacelight.com/
Today’s post is by Kimberlee Conway Ireton, author of The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year.
I’m driving on Westlake toward the south end of Lake Union, where I’m supposed to drop off my son for his sailing lesson. The lesson starts in five minutes, and he’s going to be late. I’m in the left lane, trying to get past a semi, but there’s road construction and the street narrows to one lane just ahead.
I manage to get in front of the semi, but when I look over my shoulder to see if there’s space for me to merge, the semi driver steps on his accelerator. I’m forced to slip in behind him. “Jerk!” I say out loud.
“Who’s a jerk, Mama?” my daughter asks from the back of the van.
I take a deep breath. One of the practices I’ve embraced since beginning my year of prayer is to bless those who annoy me. This occurs most often and most viscerally when I’m driving. After more than two decades of habitual screeching at the morons with whom I share the road, I have a deep groove in my brain that sends words like idiot and jerk and something that starts with A and ends in hole streaming out of my mouth when I’m sitting behind a steering wheel.
But recently, I’ve begun to realize something. Jesus, about whom I’m all gaga right now, this God-man I say I follow and want to be like—well, it’s dawning on me that he wouldn’t yell names at semi drivers who cut him off. He wouldn’t mutter miscreant or cretin under his breath, however smart such words might make him feel. No, Jesus would see that other driver as a child of God, created in the divine image, beloved.
This is a very frustrating realization. There’s something morally satisfying about feeling myself slighted or mistreated when I’m driving. It feels like I have a right to yell about it. And maybe I do. But as I draw nearer to Jesus, I find the yelling isn’t as satisfying as it used to be. As soon as the nasty name is out of my mouth, I feel myself convicted: That’s My child you’re calling a jerk.
And I recall the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is very clear that name-calling is not okay:
Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fires of hell.”
Ouch.
And so I’m taking a small step toward no longer calling people fools (or other choice words). When someone annoys me while I’m driving, I pray a blessing over them—after I call them a name, of course. I’d like to get to a place where blessing is my knee-jerk response to irritation, but I’ve a long way to go in that department.
Truth is, half the time when I pray those blessings, I feel a bit self-righteous, like I’m so great that I’m praying for those who annoy me. This used to stop me from praying—I don’t want to be a hypocrite. But then I realized that not praying is exactly what the enemy would want—whatever it takes to shut me up, even if that’s a realization of my own hypocrisy.
So I pray the blessing anyway, even though I’m still annoyed. I pray the blessing even though there’s part of me that feels smug for doing so. I pray the blessing even though I don’t wholly mean it.
Because I want to wholly mean it. I want to get to a place where praying a blessing over those who annoy me is my first response. Right now, I still have to go through the name-calling to get to the blessing, but I’m trusting that with time and practice, the distance between annoyance and blessing will shrink, and that one day, I’ll be able to smile when the semi driver cuts me off and say an instantaneous and heartfelt blessing over him.
“Mama?” Jane asks again. “Who’s a jerk?”
“Oh, the guy driving that truck cut me off,” I tell her. “It’s really not a big deal.”
Then I launch into my blessing, “God, please bless the driver of this truck in front of us. Please give him peace as he drives. Please keep him safe so that he reaches his destination on time and without harm. And please let him be a blessing to other drivers on the road.”
“Amen,” Jane says.
Amen, indeed.
Jesus says “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” For those of you who, like me, aren’t yet able to do this, let me invite you to begin by simply praying for those who annoy you, whether that’s another driver on the road, a blogger with whom you disagree (anyone praying for me right now?), or a colleague who consistently rubs you the wrong way. Let’s use our annoyance and irritation as a call to prayer and so transform it into another path to the heart of God.
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