For Sleepy, Wandering Minds

I think if we are honest with ourselves, the main battleground in quiet, meditative prayer and Bible reading, is our wandering minds. It has been wonderful, several times a week to gather with a few others and prayerfully, meditatively read scripture. We gain wonderful insights and blessings from approaching this discipline communally. But it is in those moments of silence, when I should be pondering profound passages like, "But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves" (Luke 22:26), that my mind wanders to what I need to pick up at the store later, what's coming up class work-wise, or sometimes I'm on the brink of falling asleep. It is at those times that I feel a bit like one of those sleeply disciples Jesus scolded for not being able to stay awake while he prayed in Gethsemane.

Yes, I know God is gracious and merciful and knows my heart, but it is exasperating how difficult it can be to be fully present to hear what almighty God wants to say. When I first heard about the Anglican/Protestant rosaries, I wondered if this could be helpful, but never followed through. Last weekend at the retreat, I found out one of my friends now makes them. Once again I toyed with the idea and decided to take the plunge.

Concerning the beads, Kimberly Winston wrote, "The physical act of grasping a bead, of rotating gently between the fingers, of feeling it, will anchor you to the words of the prayer attached to the beads...If you feel your mind wanderting, squeeze or hold the bead tighter. Your attention will come back to the presence of God" ("The Anglican Rosary," adapted from Bead One, Pray Too: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads).

Now I have not given much time to this practice yet. Today is really the first time that I consciously made use of them with morning prayer and scripture reading. Seeing that it's still pretty early and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee, I have to say they have helped to bring my attention back to the Lord. So we will see how this goes. By the way, the picture is of my beads that I bought last weekend. May God guide each of us as we seek to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Shepherding God's Flock

In my Gospels class, each of us has been working with the same passage from one of the four gospels throughout the semester. For me, it was John 10:11-18, the Good Shepherd passage.

Along with a classmate we have looked at this passage from numerous perspectives: form criticism, text criticism, redaction criticism, Old Testament in the New Testament, etc. From our weeks of study, we each put together an integrative project. Mine is another blog, Shepherding God's Flock. Initially, it was just for the class and that was it, but at the prof's suggestion and my own enjoyment in putting it together, I've decided to keep it going. I invite you to join the discussion and let's see where it takes us.

Permission to Relax

As a seminarian from The New England Synod in Region 7, I had the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to this triennial WELCA retreat and won it. This was an excellent retreat on many levels. It came at a time when I desperately felt the need to get away and rest. I didn't even bring any homework with me!!

This is the only retreat I've ever been to, where we were told from the very beginning that it wasn't necessary to attend everything. Not only was there built in time to do as we wished, but we were encouraged to walk outside, take a nap, whatever we needed to do. That was different.

Worship and fellowship were wonderful at Mt. St. Alphonse in Esopus, NY. The retreat center overlooks the Hudson River. The picture at the right was the view from my room.

The keynote speaker, Sr. Anne Bryan Smollin, author, nun, counselor etc., was a hoot. She got her point across with wonderful humor. We were dying from laughter when she spoke. Other speakers and presenters were wonderful as well. We prayed, laughed, and cried together this weekend. It was so amazing.

And what did we take home from this? Not only were old friendships renewed and new ones made, but it was so vividly demonstrated to us what a teaching tool well done humor can be. If we all had God's joy bubbling up through our lives, people couldn't stay away from our churches.

He is Risen!

At Revgals is a marvelous ancient prayer for your journey today. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

"Friday Five: Adoramus Te"

Adoramus te, Christe,
et benedicimus tibi,
quia per sanctam crucem tuam
redemisti mundum.
Qui passus es pro nobis,
Domine, miserere nobis.

We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you,
because by your holy cross
you have redeemed the world.
O Lord, who suffered for us,
have mercy on us.

1. How will you pray and worship today?
I had planned on joining the seminary community in the stations of the cross this afternoon, but I took a tumble the other day and am very sore. Today, weather permitting, they will be done outside, going to various stations around the campus. But tonight I will be at Rural Lutheran assisting with the Good Friday liturgy.

2. Share a powerful memory or memories of Good Friday past.
One year when I lived in the Holy Land, an ecumenical group gathered and did a prayer walk to the various places Christ went prior to the crucifixion. We completed our walk at the Church of All Nations. What made this such a profound experience is that it hammered home to me the reality of our faith. These events of Holy Week happened in real places, in real historical time.

3. How have you grown and experienced God's love during this past Lent?
I have had a greater sense of God's presence and have found grace to keep things in perspective when it comes to mountains of reading and work and relationships with God and others. Somehow, I have not been flipping out with the work as much and have been able to be more present for my husband and friends. It's all grace.

4. In whom do you see the face of the suffering Christ most clearly?
In the people of Gettysburg. The community has been rocked with two very unexpected acts of violence, one just yesterday. It is a shock for this small town. Please keep everyone in prayer, especially those of our sister institution, the Gettysburg College community.

5. Where do you find hope for resurrection?
By looking back throughout my life and remembering God's continual faithfulness. At the risk of sounding trite--in God, I find hope for resurrection.

Bonus: Share a song, poem, or prayer that makes the paschal mystery come alive for you.
There are so many, but what has been running through my mind most of Lent has been "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."

Passion/Palm Sunday Sermon

As Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a changin.’ This Sunday is one of those changing, transitional times in our church year. The end of Lent is near as we move through Holy Week towards Easter.

Today, we’ve heard and participated in the celebratory parade with Palms, singing “All Glory Laud and Honor,” walking down the Mt. of Olives with Jesus during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Did you hear the hosannas? This crowd was excited. They wanted to crown Jesus as king!

When I lived in the Holy Land in the 1980s, on Palm Sunday, Christians of all denominations and languages would gather on the Mt. of Olives. We would sing, pray, and joyfully walk down the Mt. into Jerusalem. We were Christians of all nationalities and languages singing and shouting, “Hosanna!” It was like being transported back in time to Jesus’ time. Can you imagine what it must have been like on that first Palm Sunday?

This morning our readings take us to other places as well however—places where we do not hear “Hosanna.” Did you hear our gospel reading? Was Jesus being praised? Did people still want to crown him as king?

Instead of hosannas, we heard, “Crucify him!” We not only walked with Jesus to Jerusalem, but we also journeyed with him as he was tried and crucified. We went from the parade to the Passion. We are now hearing the words of Jesus’ suffering and death, which will continue with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The words we hear each year are so familiar. We know them so very well, but do we really hear them?

What does our first reading from Isaiah have to say?

“The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.”

The people of Israel were weary. The people were in exile in Babylon. Their faith was on life support. God had a wonderful message of good news for them--that he would bring them back home. The prophet was sent to encourage the discouraged.

God teaches, and then the prophet teaches. He is both a speaker and a listener. He can only speak because he listens. His ears were as engaged as his tongue. The prophet will listen both to God and to the people. By listening to the people, the prophet will understand their experience, their weariness. By listening to God, he will know how God is acting in the midst of the grief and weariness.

Didn’t Jesus do the very same thing? In John’s gospel he said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own…” He only spoke the words God gave him to speak. And he could only do that because he listened to the Father.

Have you ever wondered how Jesus was able to endure the suffering and pain he knew was awaiting him in Jerusalem? The crowd shouting hosanna wanted to crown him king. Do you think it was tempting to go with that plan instead of the cross? What sustained him when he knew what lie ahead? Remember how he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” How could he know what his Father wanted? He listened. We read in the gospels that Jesus would go off by himself to pray, just as he did in the garden.

I heard a story recently. A man had a special place in his home where he would spend time in prayer and reading the scripture. He was spending around a half an hour a day before going to work. He was having a great time in prayer and devotion and really sensed God’s presence. He started getting busier and busier at work. He was under such pressure and was so tired, so the time was cut back to 10 minutes. Then some days he just didn’t get up early enough to pray and maybe once or twice a week he made the time. After a while he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d gone to his special prayer place…maybe a month or more. So, one Saturday, he walked into the room and saw someone there. Jesus was there waiting for him. Jesus had not gone anywhere and was just waiting to talk with the man if only the man would stop long enough to listen!

What would happen if we treated members of our family that way? What if your spouse or children only talked to you when they needed something and never told you how much they love and appreciate you? Martin Luther said the busier he got, the more time he had to spend in prayer, not less.

God wakens our ears to listen.

We all have those hard things in life we have to face: sickness, death of a loved one, divorce, or betrayal by a friend. What has sustained you through the rough times? What has been the touchstone for you? Have you allowed God to speak those words of encouragement and healing? In my life there have been those times when all I could do hold on to was God. What about you?

God has called each of us into his service by virtue of our baptism. We are called to speak and live for Christ even if we do not realize others are listening and watching.

A couple of Fridays ago, a few of my classmates and I went to a restaurant in Gettysburg. After a while, a gentleman from another table approached us. He asked if he had heard right that we were involved with faith and church. We told him that was correct. He then proceeded to tell us about a serious situation regarding a woman who had just given birth and was in critical condition. He asked us to remember her in prayer. We assured him we would add her to the prayer list.

Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann has written this prayer:

The idols have ears but do not hear…

So unlike you, for all your hearing…

So like us, ears but do not hear.

You have endlessly summoned us: shema,

Listen,

Listen up,

Pay attention,

Heed,

Obey,

Turn…

We mostly do not… in our narcissism,

In our recalcitrance,

In our departure from you.

So we pray for ears, open, unwaxed,

Attentive, circumcised.

Call us by name… so that we know,

Call us to you… so that we live,

Call us into the world… so that we care,

Call us to risk… so that we trust

Beyond ourselves.

You speak/ we listen/ and comes life,

Abundant,

Beyond all that we ask or think…

Our ears to hear your word of life.

Amen.

flickr picture

Friday Five-Time Out Edition

Holy Week is almost upon us, I suspect that ordained or not, other revgal/pals calendars look a bit like mine, FULL, FULL, FULL.....

Jesus was great at teaching us to take time out, even in that last week, right up to Maunday Thursday he withdrew, John's gospel tells us he hid! He hid not because he was afraid, but because he knew that he needed physical, mental and spiritual strength to get through...

So faced with a busy week:


1. What restores you physically?

An afternoon nap.Usually my dog will join me.

2. What strengthens you emotionally/ mentally?

Going out for supper Friday night with friends. This grew into a ritual after having Greek till 4:45 in the fall semester. We were so drained and this helped to rejuvenate us. It is now a tradition.

3. What encourages you spiritually?

Gathering with the community for prayer, whether it’s chapel, lectio divina, or compline.

4. Share a favourite poem or piece of music from the coming week.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded.

5.There may be many services for you to attend/ lead over the next week, which one are you most looking forward to and why? If there aren't do you have a favourite day in Holy week if so which one is it?

I am most looking forward to the one that will begin my leadership role this week, Tuesday chapel. One of my good friends and I are paired up for it. Then from Thursday on I’ll be at my teaching parish assisting with the services. This will be the first Holy Week that I’ve been in a leadership role in each service.