by Christine Sine
I suffer from insomnia, something which I have just learned may be due to an imbalance of the meds that I am on. So I have my fingers crossed with the hope that my sleep will improve over the next few weeks.
I am not alone in my struggles with sleep. Roughly, 1 in 3 adults worldwide have insomnia symptoms, and about 10% of adults meet the criteria for insomnia disorder.
My struggles with sleep in the past often inspired me to write prayers in the middle of the night, breath prayers, prayers that welcome God into our day and into our night are my favorites. When I posted some of these prayers a few years ago, I was amazed at the number of people who responded with their own stories of sleeplessness and the frustration it caused them. Sleep deprivation is no fun for any of us. It often leaves us with a fuzzy head, an inability to think straight or do our job properly, irritability and a feeling of general malaise.
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. First, do a google search on insomnia and the first thing that pops up is all the supplements that supposedly help with sleep. Then come the meditation exercises to help us relax, the breath prayers to say before we go to bed or when we wake prematurely. Insomnia is big business, and many of us are spending far too much to try and overcome it.
There are many different forms of insomnia. Some people can’t get to sleep, others, like me often fall asleep but then wake up a few hours later and can’t get back to sleep for a couple of hours, others sleep well initially but wake too early and can’t get back to sleep at all.
One of the forms of insomnia and the one that we most easily misunderstand is the biphasic pattern of sleep, wakefulness and then more sleep. Interestingly it might be a normal sleep pattern that many of us are trying to change.
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 other 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. The introduction of phones and other bright screens has further disrupted our sleep patterns and made it difficult for many of us to sleep when we feel we should.
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. As I said, it can be a great time for me to write prayers. 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.
I wonder however, what we miss out on because we try to control our sleep patterns. Taking pills may increase the length of time we sleep but not necessarily improve the quality of our sleep. trying to force ourselves to sleep just increases our frustration and anxiety and makes it even harder to relax and return to sleep.
So the next time you have a sleepless night don’t just lie there kicking and turning restlessly. Get up, walk around, maybe even write down those ideas or creative thoughts that are revolving in your mind. Give yourself permission to be creative, write poetry, do some artwork, pray. After an hour of this kind of activity it is often much easier to go back to sleep. And rethink your schedule. Maybe an earlier bedtime with allow for that needed awake time in your life.
What do you think?
Did you know that alongside Christine Sine’s book The Gift of Wonder, we have many resources available to you? The free downloadable bonus packet or beautiful prayer cards featuring prayers from the book, for example – something to hold and behold! Or perhaps you’d like to journey through the book alongside a retreat – we have that too! You can check it all out in our shop!
by Christine Sine
July 4th is one of the most hectic days in the summer for many Americans. BBQs, fireworks, travel all create stress and for some great anxiety. To be honest it does not need a celebration like Independence Day to create these emotions for many of us, no matter where in the world we are. I hope that wherever you are, today you will take a few minutes to breathe deeply, relax and allow the wonderful presence of God to fill you with peace, and love and joy.
by Christine Sine
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. Galatians 5:1, 13-15 The Message
The prayer above is one that I like to repost each year on American Independence Day, as I struggle with what it means to be free. The last few years have made us aware of the lack of freedom that so many in our society experience.
What Does It Mean to Be Free?
What does it mean to be free? Tomorrow is Independence Day in the U.S. when Americans celebrate their “freedom”. To be honest it is a celebration I struggle with because I don’t believe God calls us to be independent but rather interdependent. I also realize that our cultural perspectives shape our views of freedom but what I do believe is that Independence Day is a great time to reflect on our freedoms, what we appreciate and how we can extend those freedoms to others.
To Americans the concept of freedom focuses on the freedom of individual choice, which can be as trivial as the right to choose whether I want my eggs sunny side up or over easy, or as serious as the right to bear arms. What I struggle with is that there seems to be little recognition of the often dire consequences our individual choices can have for the society, the environment or for the global world in which we live.
To Australians freedom revolves more around the freedom of society and the recognition that our decisions all have consequences not just for us as individuals but for all of our society and our world. Consequently most Australians are willing to give up the right to bear arms for the good of a safe society in which we don’t have to worry about mass gun violence and killings. In the Australian political system voting is compulsory because of the belief that with the freedom of citizenship comes the responsibility of participation in the process that provides our freedom.
Unfortunately neither country does very well when it comes to granting freedom to all. We like to be exclusive – no freedom to illegal immigrants and refugees, to those of other genders or sexual orientation, those of other ethnicities or religions. Whether we think of freedom as individual or societal we all like to limit who we give freedom to.
All of this leads me to my most important question about freedom “What does freedom look like in the kingdom of God?” Obviously there is a element of individual freedom – all of us need to take on the individual responsibility to repent of our self centered ways and become followers of Jesus and the way of otherness.. However becoming followers of Jesus, and entering into the family of God faces us with serious consequences for how we act in society.
Our freedom as Christians means that we no longer focus on our own needs but rather “consider the needs of others as more important than our own” (Philippians 2) It means that we live by the law of love – what James calls “the royal law” (James 2:8). In the quote above, Paul sums this up very well “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbour as yourself.”
What is Your Response?
What comes to mind when you think about freedom? Take out your journal and piece of paper and divide it into 2 columns. On one side write the words that come to mind when you think of freedom. In the other column write down the negative consequences of your personal freedoms for others, for the earth and even for your life. Listen to the video below and reflect on the true meaning of freedom.
Sit quietly for a few minutes reflecting on your lists and the video you have listened to. Allow God to speak to you. Are there changes you need to make to your original lists based on your reflections? Are there places in which God calls you to repent of your “independence”? Are there ways in which God may ask you to give up your personal freedoms for the common good?
“For God was pleased for all fullness to reside in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself…” — Colossians 19-20a (USC)
First Nations peoples of the world have an inherent commonality. Inevitably they have had their homelands pulled from under them, and our collective histories rarely do justice to the actual, and often abhorrent, facts that besmirch the memory of many of our forebears.
There are still so many peoples the world over, who silently decry – as loud as they are able – these rampant injustices as they continue to unfold in this generation. Yet, it is in this generation that we may start, or tenaciously continue, the work of God in reconciling all things under Jesus Christ.
When we have seen localities and regions and the entire landmasses engage in that spirit of interracial co-operation we have known God’s hand has been intrinsically part of it.
Where people of power within the culture’s stronghold can go to the ‘weaker’ party (usually the indigenous) and seek, through de-powering the interactive dynamic, a common way forward – which is a new approach; new to both parties – that is when we can rightly know that Christ is reconciling all things unto himself alone.
This is when we know God is reconciling things to himself: when power is shared, cooperation is apparent, common needs are magnified, and peace is manifest.
We wonder why we have not yet seen God at work in the reconciliation process; possibly the Spirit is disturbed, having been long ago quenched. The Spirit of God is significantly more patient than we can ever imagine. He will allow us to exact our injustices, for he alone will have the final say at the Judgment.
But the very cause of reconciliation depends on two parties; one or both to initiate, and one or both to respond. If there is commonality of being, reconciliation has hope, for commonality of being is precisely the pretext where all things are being reconciled under Jesus Christ.
And what are our motives?
The most basic one is judgment; we will be called to account regarding how we used our time, resources, and gifts. But a less obvious motive is the blessing of having experienced the movement of God’s Spirit in the midst of our own lives because we had the courage to honour the truth: our indigenous deserve their justice. And they alone are the ones who can help define it.
So there is our opportunity. What courage will we ply to our day – this day; for we have no other – in starting or continuing the process for reconciliation?
***
The heart of tolerant hospitality sees the need for a commonality of justice. Reconciliation is God’s will in all corners of life, for the Father has decreed Jesus reconciles all things under himself. The heart of tolerant hospitality gets on with the Kingdom mandate. And no apology need be made for it.
Steve Wickham is a Baptist pastor, from Perth, Australia, who holds Degrees in Science, Divinity, and Counseling. He uses his heart for pastoral ministry within the local Body of Como Baptist Church, as Associate Pastor, and through his three blogs, Epitome, ex-ceed, and TRIBEWORK.
It is Canada Day on Saturday, and Fourth of July next Tuesday here in America. These are great opportunities to remind us to pray for our countries. Sadly I often I get frustrated with the state of affairs and forget or neglect to pray for our leaders and the state of our nation. So on this holiday weekend, let’s make time to pray for where we live!
- Pray for the leaders of your country to have wisdom and to make decisions that will bring healing and wholeness to all people.
- Pray for the leaders in your state, or province, or area to have eyes to see and ears to hear the cries of the poor and the needs of those who are on the margins.
- Pray for the health and welfare of of people suffering from natural disasters
- Pray for healthcare workers
- Pray for areas of injustice and issues that are broken in your town, city and country.
- Ask God to give you eyes to see and ears to hear the cries of injustice and to change your heart.
- Take time to grieve the losses of this past year and the areas of brokenness that you see in your country and town.
- Talk to God about all of these things and give these things to God to hold and heal.
- WEAR A BAND AID TO REMIND YOU TO PRAY FOR YOUR COUNTRY
- WHEN YOU SEE A FLAG this week, let it be a reminder to pray!
Pray for your Country
MORE WAYS TO PRAY:
- FIND A MAP of YOUR COUNTRY and use it to help you pray for your country this week and in the days ahead.
- USE POST-IT NOTES and write your prayers for your country and place them on the map.
- USE A NEWSPAPER or a NEWS APP to PRAY the headlines for your country and the world. When listening to news on the radio, TV, etc., PRAY FOR THE EVENTS rather than just getting frustrated about what is happening. Ask Jesus to help you pray and hear with his ears.
- PRAY AROUND YOUR CITY: Do a prayer pilgrimage around your city. Pray for places that need to experience the love, peace, and healing of Jesus. Places in need of justice. You can do this with a city map or you can do a driving pilgrimage taking time to notice places where injustices are happening. You are on a mission to learn about issues of injustice in your area so you are not to get out of your car, but rather do the job of noticing.
- LEARN THE HISTORY OF YOUR TOWN/CITY: Learn about the First Nations People who lived on the land where you live. Learn about the history of racism in your town/city. Learn more about the areas of economic and social injustice in the area where you live.
Lord, Let your justice roll down like mighty water. Please heal our land.
Give me your eyes to see the needs of those around me.
Give me your heart for those who suffer. Please heal our land.
Help me daily to do justice not just think and pray about it.
Please heal our land and help me to shine your light and share your love.
In your name. Amen
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:23-25 NRSV
****Some ideas found in the GIFT OF JUSTICE from the GIFT OF A SACRED SUMMER KIT
The early medieval people of the British Isles were known for hospitality, of being willing to open their home where food, laughter, love, and life’s stories were shared. As people of faith, these Celts and early Anglo-Saxons of the 6th-10th centuries were following the New Testament commands of Jesus the Christ to show hospitality and loving care to the stranger. The writer of the book of Hebrews continued this teaching of extravagant welcome by reminding the readers that they may indeed be entertaining angels.
Jesus seemed to adore banquets, dinners, and parties so much that he not only attended them, but he also boldly invited himself to people’s homes. Jesus even described these parties in parables, often comparing them to the joyful kingdom of God where everyone is invited and welcomed to the Table. Yet, he found that he needed to get away by himself every now and then to recuperate from being both the giver and the recipient of hospitality.
Interestingly, the very birth of Jesus called others to extend hospitality and welcome. From Mary’s “yes” to allowing her womb to be the first home of the Messiah; to Elizabeth welcoming this unwed pregnant relative into her home; to the Egyptians who welcomed this little refugee family; and even to the kingly welcome to planet earth from Magi from the East. Poignantly, we also see the pain of unwelcome when Joseph and the heavily pregnant Mary try to find a place to rest for the night after their long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The innkeeper says there is no room in the inn, but rather sheepishly suggests that you may sleep in the barn with the animals. Yet, in the midst of that dirty and stinky stable something sacred is happening. A baby is being born to be King of the universe and the beasts who are sharing their home with this little family are being blessed to be the first to welcome the Messiah. These service animals are the first to see the newborn Jesus, to hear his first cries, and to sniff in in his newborn fresh from heaven scent.
In this Biblical context, the Celtic Christians took to heart Jesus’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves, to welcome the stranger, and to party with the outcasts. One of the three much-loved patron saints of Ireland, the Abbess St. Bridget had a prayer of hospitality that seems a wee bit bawdy to us in the 21st century:
I’d like to give a lake of beer to God.
I’d love the Heavenly
Host to be tippling there
For all eternity.
I’d love the men of Heaven to live with me,
To dance and sing.
If they wanted, I’d put at their disposal
Vats of suffering.
White cups of love I’d give them,
With a heart and a half;
Sweet pitchers of mercy I’d offer
To every man.
I’d make Heaven a cheerful spot,
Because the happy heart is true.
I’d make the men contented for their own sake
I’d like Jesus to love me too.
I’d like the people of heaven to gather
From all the parishes around,
I’d give a special welcome to the women,
The three Marys of great renown.
I’d sit with the men, the women of God
There by the lake of beer
We’d be drinking good health forever
And every drop would be a prayer.
We cannot help but wonder how another great Abbess of the Celtic tradition, St. Hilda of Whitby, welcomed King Oswiu and his entourage along with other religious leaders arriving to her double monastery off the Northeast coast of England. These Northumbrian leaders were gathered in that seaside location in 664AD for the famous Synod of Whitby that dramatically changed the Celtic Christian world of faith. In spite of the honor of having this historic convocation at Whitby, did these guests disturb and disrupt the regular machinations of a monastery? How did Hilda with grace and kindness show hospitality to one of the participants, Wilfrid that she was not particularly fond of? How did she show extravagant welcome to those with whom she disagreed? How did Hilda incorporate the decisions that likely would not have pleased her?
Another story of Celtic hospitality tells of the Northumbrian King Oswin’s visit to St. Aidan at his newly established monastery on Lindisfarne. Aidan warmly welcomed the king, and the generous king gave peripatetic Aidan a very useful gift, a fine horse to help him over difficult terrain in his evangelistic work. Aidan then in turn gave the stallion away to a man who was begging for alms. When King Oswin heard of this, he was furious that Aidan had given his gift away to a beggar. Aidan replied: “Is the son of a mare more precious to the king than a son of God?”
The Celtic saints were known for showing hospitality not only to friends, family, and strangers, but also to animals. One of the much-loved Irish tales is of St. Kevin of Glendolough during his Lenten spiritual disciplines. While Kevin bowed and prayed with his arm leaning out of a window and his hand open and facing towards heaven, a blackbird landed on the palm of his hand. She made a nest there and laid her eggs. Kevin showing kindness, respect, and hospitality to this mother bird, kept his arm outstretched until those eggs hatched and those baby birds were able to leave the nest. It is even said that while St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was praying on the water’s edge, that two otters offered hospitality to him as they breathed on his feet to keep them warm and tried to dry off his feet with their fur.
Esther de Waal in her book, Every Earthly Blessing: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition, states that Jonas, the biographer of St. Columbanus, described the saint’s walks through the hospitable forests. Columbanus would call out to the birds and animals to come visit with him. They would come running and scampering to him like, “like little puppies around their master.” It is even said that a squirrel would climb all over him and could occasionally be seen peeping through the folds of his monk’s robe. One of the most poignant stories of this saint deals with a hospitable bear that gave up his cave so that Columbanus could use it as his hermitage. The bear continued with his more than generous welcome by sharing his food with the saint.
As 21st century people of faith and also as spiritual descendants of the great Celtic saints, how may we show hospitality and welcome to each other and to nature? It can be risky to invite and welcome others to cross the well-guarded thresholds to our hearts, our minds, our homes, and our places of worship. It can seem especially disconcerting to warmly welcome those who are different than us; to those that we are not particularly fond of; or to those that seem scary or unappreciative. Yet, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said that when we have cared for and shown radical and extravagant hospitality to the least of the Lord’s brothers and sisters, we have done it to Him. May the earthy hospitality of the Celts so permeate our lives that we too become a welcoming glimpse of God’s love and grace wherever we are planted in life.
Rev. Brenda Warren is an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister. Her passion for the Celtic and early Anglo-Saxon saints has led her to research and write about them at www.saintsbridge.org. This Advent 2017, the “Celts to the Creche” online advent devotional will be expanded to a Celtic 40 days of Advent. Join us for this free online Advent devotional as we journey together to the Creche, where we experience Christ being born anew in our lives.
Lynne Baab’s book, The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry , focuses on the many ways listening undergirds congregational life. She discusses many obstacles to listening, one of which she explains here. Lynne is a Presbyterian minister and lecturer in pastoral theology. Visit her website at www.lynnebaab.com.
I view listening as a key skill for hospitality in all its forms. Imagine a traditional hospitality setting: you are offering a traveler a place to sleep. “What do you need right now?” you ask. “A shower? A nap? The wifi password? A cup of tea?” You listen to the response and try to meet the traveler’s need. In addition, you may need to listen to subtle cues that help you know what the traveler needs.
Meal times are another typical hospitality setting, and listening plays a key role in mealtime conversations. I have sat through many meals where one person is talking, talking, talking . . . taking up all the air time and dominating the conversation. And I have enjoyed many meals where the host or someone else draws people out and listens carefully. A world of difference!
The connections between listening and hospitality go far beyond lodging and meals, however. I have a very broad definition of hospitality as I described in an earlier post. I see hospitality as an open stance toward others, a receptivity to who they are and what they have to offer. I see hospitality as a welcome to others that can happen in a short conversation or a long-standing relationship. This kind of welcome and receptivity requires good listening skills and the willingness to stop talking long enough to hear deeply from the other.
One of the obstacles to this kind of listening comes from our fears that if we listen deeply and carefully to someone we disagree with, we will be communicating tacit agreement to their perspective. Imagine I have just met someone new in my workplace, and a few random comments she makes leads me to believe she practices a religion very different from mine. If I draw her out about her religious practices, will she think I agree with them? Or perhaps she expresses a political opinion diametrically opposed to mine. If I draw her out about her political convictions, will she think I give assent to them?
The authors of a communication textbook write, “There is a difference between understanding and agreeing with a speaker. We need to develop new psychological habits that encourage us to keep an open mind and a positive attitude to the motivation behind what is communicated to us orally.”[1]
These communication scholars might recommend language like this: “Tell me about X”(when X is the thing I profoundly disagree with). “Tell me what motivated you to get involved.” We indicate our openness to understanding what lies behind the other person’s commitment. We open ourselves to the other person’s story. At some point in the conversation we are free to say, “Wow, I don’t agree with the conclusion you came to, but it’s very interesting to see where your convictions came from. Tell me more about how you got there.”
As long as we believe that listening implies agreement, our ability to be truly hospitable to the people we meet will be truncated. We won’t listen well because we will be fearful that we will hear something we disagree with and that we won’t know how to respond. All of us can grow in believing that listening does not imply agreement, that understanding other people’s stories, motivations and thought processes will enrich us even if we disagree with them.
[1] Terry Mohan, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders, and Ray Archee, Communicating! Theory and Practice, 4th ed. (Sydney: Harcourt Brace, 1992), 417.
Reposted from 2014
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