November 30 is the first Sunday of Advent. In the liturgical year, or the church year, Advent is a time of watching and waiting, a time of hope, of expectation and preparation. It is getting ready for the coming of the Christ, the miracle of God’s presence with us, among us, within us.
For me, one of the deeply satisfying aspects of observing the liturgical calendar is the rhythm that it creates and the cycle that it follows. It helps to keep me from moving too quickly through life. It marks off time, creates boundaries, and says to me, “In this time, think about these things.”
It would be easy to rush into Christmas. The mood is joyful, the songs are beautiful, and it is a wonderful celebration. But the ancients who developed this liturgical season understood that we must take time to prepare in order to fully appreciate and respond to God’s great gift to us. And in this day and age, with the partying, shopping and eating rush that besets us all between Thanksgiving and December 24, so much more than ever, we need this season of quiet watchfulness.
Advent is a gift of time – a great opportunity for us to slow down, to focus, and to make ready our hearts and our lives for the fullness of God’s presence. I offer this prayer for Advent:
Holy One, we experience your presence in many ways: the majesty of a star-filled sky, the coolness of the night breeze, the gentleness in a mother’s touch, the fragile tenderness of a newborn child. May we open our hearts, open our imaginations to all the ways that that your love and your grace touch our lives.
In this Advent time of watching and waiting, may we be newly aware of all of the possibilities that exist for us in this life: the ability to love and to be loved, the opportunities for forgiveness and for reconciliation, the potential that we each have to reach out to one another and to care for one another.
God, may we find the courage to cast off the shackles of the past, the worries, the fears, and the disappointments that hold us back and keep us from acting courageously and that stop us from taking chances. May our faith be strengthened: our faith in you, in one another and in ourselves that we might live more boldly, acting with compassion and working toward your realm of justice. May we both envision and strive for a future where all of your children will live in peace.
God, we want to be people who live in hope, not in fear, people who look forward with expectation, not backward or who live only in the past. May we be people whose open hearts and open minds make it possible for your spirit to be born in us every day. Amen.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
What We Need is Here
On Sunday mornings at our church, our adult education class is currently engaged in conversations that are growing out of our reading of the book Longing For Enough in a Culture of More. This end-of-year time, with the seasons of Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas upon us, seemed a perfect time to consider all that is good in our lives. The reading and our conversations are helping us - or at least helping me - to differentiate between wants and needs.
The downturn in the economy and the ways in which it is impacting us lurks just below the surface of our conversations. So much of our lives, so much of our activity, flurries around what we've acquired. The acquisition of stuff is just part of being American (weren't we told by our president to support our country by going shopping?). The idea of being content with what we've already got is not a message that we often hear.
And here we are, a week before Thanksgiving, an entirely American holiday, worried about jobs, balancing budgets and making ends meet. Getting centered in our souls will not pay the bills, but it may help us to take stock of what we do have and help us to find contentment, not in more, but in enough.
The book we are reading makes reference to a poem by Wendell Berry entitled "The Wild Geese." I hope you enjoy it. And Happy Thanksgiving.
Horseback on Sunday morning,
harvest over, we taste persimmon
and wild grape, sharp sweet
of summer's end. In time's maze
over fall fields, we name names
that rest on graves. We open
a persimmon seed to find the tree
that stands in promise,
pale, in the seed's marrow.
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.
The downturn in the economy and the ways in which it is impacting us lurks just below the surface of our conversations. So much of our lives, so much of our activity, flurries around what we've acquired. The acquisition of stuff is just part of being American (weren't we told by our president to support our country by going shopping?). The idea of being content with what we've already got is not a message that we often hear.
And here we are, a week before Thanksgiving, an entirely American holiday, worried about jobs, balancing budgets and making ends meet. Getting centered in our souls will not pay the bills, but it may help us to take stock of what we do have and help us to find contentment, not in more, but in enough.
The book we are reading makes reference to a poem by Wendell Berry entitled "The Wild Geese." I hope you enjoy it. And Happy Thanksgiving.
Horseback on Sunday morning,
harvest over, we taste persimmon
and wild grape, sharp sweet
of summer's end. In time's maze
over fall fields, we name names
that rest on graves. We open
a persimmon seed to find the tree
that stands in promise,
pale, in the seed's marrow.
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Loving Kindness Meditation
The Loving Kindness prayer is a meditation that is practiced in Buddhism. It invites peace and well being for ourselves, for those whom we love, for strangers and even for those with whom we are in conflict. It is a practice which can bring peace and harmony to ourselves and also enlarge our hearts toward one another.
I find that when I begin my day with centering for a few moments and saying the loving kindness prayer, I create space within my heart and spirit for a bit more generosity, a bit more gentleness, a bit more acceptance of the other. I find I have a little more patience, a little more humor, and the world and its worries seems to weigh less heavily on me.
The meditation is simply the repetition of a few words, directed first toward oneself, then toward others, and eventually, to all beings in creation. You’ll find, if you look it up, that there are many variations in the words, but the intent is always the same.
Ready to try it?
Because we need to be kind, gentle and forgiving of ourselves before we can be those things with others, the loving kindness prayer begins with ourselves. And so I invite you to say these words in your mind, directing the intent toward yourself:
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.
Call to mind somebody that you care about--a good friend, or someone who's helped you in your life, someone who inspires you. Visualize that person, and then direct the phrases of loving kindness to that person.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Think of someone you know who's having a difficult time right now. They've experienced a loss, painful feeling, a difficult situation. Visualize this person, and offer the phrases of loving kindness to them.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Think of someone with whom you have been in conflict, or someone with whom you have had severe disagreements, maybe someone that you don’t like very well, or is difficult to be around. Visualize that person, and direct the phrases of loving kindness to them.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Finally, direct the words of loving kindness to all of creation – to all people, all animals, all sentient beings everywhere.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be peaceful and at ease.
May all beings be happy.
Feel free to change and adapt the words, to be more or less specific with how and where you direct the words of loving kindness. But always begin with yourself, so that your heart and spirit are opened enough to send the words of loving kindness with grace and with clear intent. Blessings will follow.
I find that when I begin my day with centering for a few moments and saying the loving kindness prayer, I create space within my heart and spirit for a bit more generosity, a bit more gentleness, a bit more acceptance of the other. I find I have a little more patience, a little more humor, and the world and its worries seems to weigh less heavily on me.
The meditation is simply the repetition of a few words, directed first toward oneself, then toward others, and eventually, to all beings in creation. You’ll find, if you look it up, that there are many variations in the words, but the intent is always the same.
Ready to try it?
Because we need to be kind, gentle and forgiving of ourselves before we can be those things with others, the loving kindness prayer begins with ourselves. And so I invite you to say these words in your mind, directing the intent toward yourself:
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.
Call to mind somebody that you care about--a good friend, or someone who's helped you in your life, someone who inspires you. Visualize that person, and then direct the phrases of loving kindness to that person.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Think of someone you know who's having a difficult time right now. They've experienced a loss, painful feeling, a difficult situation. Visualize this person, and offer the phrases of loving kindness to them.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Think of someone with whom you have been in conflict, or someone with whom you have had severe disagreements, maybe someone that you don’t like very well, or is difficult to be around. Visualize that person, and direct the phrases of loving kindness to them.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
Finally, direct the words of loving kindness to all of creation – to all people, all animals, all sentient beings everywhere.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be peaceful and at ease.
May all beings be happy.
Feel free to change and adapt the words, to be more or less specific with how and where you direct the words of loving kindness. But always begin with yourself, so that your heart and spirit are opened enough to send the words of loving kindness with grace and with clear intent. Blessings will follow.
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