Prayer on the approach of Hurricane Sandy

Holy God, who made the rain and sun alike to nourish the earth, the moon to pull the tides, and the shores to guide us home, bring us safely through the storm.

Dispel our fears and help us to rest our souls in the assurance of your loving care.

Guard all of your children and all places of shelter, especially our loved ones and their homes, and bring aid workers securely to their necessary tasks.

And, as the hours advance, guide our own hands to the work you would have us do in service of our brothers and sisters, and thereby in devotion to you.

In Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being,

Amen.

Happy Holidays

I am going tonight to a Christmas party, not a holiday party, with a choir I used to accompany. I am decorating a new Christmas tree, not a holiday [Arbor Day, Sweetest Day, Ides of March] tree. The feast we'll eat with Mom at her retirement home is on Christmas -- not Eid or Kwanzaa, not Valentine's Day or Independence Day of Qatar.

The unnamed "holiday" makes a vague image in my mind, a random access that never arrives at an answer. But lo and behold, at my mother's residence there are poinsettias and a giant Christmas tree in brushed golds and deep reds, not decorations remaining out-of-focus because the holiday was not specific. I love the phrase Happy Holidays ... it can mean any or all of the holidays one is celebrating, or (for me) the sequence of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Epiphany. But it doesn't mean nothing in place of something.

By naming and honoring what we each individually are celebrating, we represent ourselves. We are who we are, and it never has to be assumed to be at anyone else's expense simply because we didn't add a disclaimer.

Welcome Yule!

Walking Chalk

“Organized religion" is quite a curious term, isn't it? I have been active in church employment at many times in life. I know clergy and other religious professionals too well to expect of them supernatural behavior or constantly visionary thought. They are people first, as are we all. I am not devastated at every small slight perpetrated by them.

But sometimes, I can still be stunned at the things clergy and lay churchpeople alike come up with as expressions of what the church should be about. Some are sure that churches (and other nonprofit organizations) would do much better to be run lean and mean like businesses. They may feel that disguising that approach as "tough love" or "accountability" makes it somehow holy or noble.

One of my evolving social ideas is that people subject others to whatever code of behavior they feel subjected to by God. If they feel that God expects them to walk chalk and fly straight, they feel justified, even obligated, to steer people toward this rigid form. If people feel that God loves, and creates in love, and calls us to co-create in love, they likely enfold fellow human beings (and animals and others) into this embrace of life's flow.

How does your belief of God's expectations influence your view of others?

Lent: More thoughts on giving up

To my mind, self-denial and philanthropy are private matters, unless perhaps by humble example one sincerely hopes to inspire others to similar acts of discipline. However, in these early days of Lent, we’re hearing a lot about the things people have given up.

Sometimes people like to squawk about their great sacrifices, to take credit for how reverent they are. If your main impetus in sharing your pious acts is to appear holy, catch your tongue before it starts to wag. The only glory in suffering is Christ's glory, so as you're giving up white foods or chocolate or coffee, add one more thing: give up whining as well.

Quarter for Your Thoughts

In my recent article about taking on a discipline that might deepen one's Lenten experience, I introduced the idea of a daily page, on which each quarter of the page would reflect one of four areas of experience. Together the pages comprise a sort of "spiritual journal," tracing the flow of energy in which we are blessed and others are blessed through us. Today I'd like to comment more specifically on each of the four concept areas.

1. Something I gave to or did for another
   Spiritual Transaction: Investment in others
   These could be "reverse" images of items in #3 below. I held the door for someone; made a new pot of coffee after emptying one; picked up a friend from the auto repair shop; paid off someone's debt; sent a birthday card. The actions may involve large physical gifts and great expense, or the small favors and extensions of ourselves that some call random acts of kindness. They may be planned or unplanned, but they're not random at all. Rather, they're intentional investments of our energy and resources for the benefit of others with whom we share life's journey.
2. Something I learned or created
   Spiritual Transaction: Investment in myself
   On the surface, these might look as though they belong in category #1, but the distinction that lands them here is their purpose of developing something in ourselves, and an accompanying feeling of accomplishment or growth. For example, creating a handmade greeting card belongs in #2; giving it away belongs in #1. Writing a song belongs in #2; performing it belongs in #1 (or maybe even both #1 and #2!). Researching a topic belongs in #2; writing an article from the research belongs in #2; sending the article to our friends belongs in #1.
3. A gift or blessing I received
   Spiritual Transaction: Perceiving abundance
   I received a great e-mail. A long-lost high-school friend found me on Facebook. I read something that moved me. I came across a favorite pen I thought I'd lost. Someone thanked me. I spotted a rainbow. A child smiled and waved through a back car window. This section tends to be the most full on my pages; how about yours?
4. A concern I release to God
   Spiritual Transaction: Cleaning house
   What preoccupies you? What drains your energy? What negative corner is your idle mind's favorite vacation spot? Release blame. Release guilt. Release dread. Release worry about money and death and tomorrow. Give up needing approval from everyone, or from women or men or that one person who you already know never gives it. Release fearing that you and your life will never be right until this happens or that goes away. Make room for knowing that God cares perfectly for all of those things and for you, and always has, and always will.

Lent: Time again to take on as well as give up

As we enter another Lenten season, are you looking for ways to experience contemplation and renewal, rather than 40 days of trudging forward to the same old dismal dirge? One of my most popular columns bears repeating.
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During the Lenten season that starts this Wednesday, why not take on a meaningful discipline that will enrich your daily life and may continue to do so beyond the 40 days plus Sundays? Here are a few suggestions:

• Make a list of people and places, events and things that are important to you, and focus on one entry each day in prayer. (You'll need 46 items to cover Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday.) Possible sources: your address book; Christmas cards received last year; your church directory; photos on your shelves or computer; your e-mail contact list; favorite cities and vacation spots; colleagues and merchants with whom you do business; friends and mentors from the past; in-laws and neighbors; your friends' parents; your parents' friends.....
• Before each Sunday, read and meditate on the appointed lectionary readings. At church, notice how the elements of the service – music, sermon, and prayers – carry out the theme. Perhaps write a few notes in your worship bulletin to remind you of your impressions. After church, find some time to reflect, noting topics you'd like to research or discuss. A great resource is http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/
• Get a blank book or a stack of large index cards. (An inexpensive spiral-bound children's sketch book works perfectly.) At the close of each day, divide one page into four quadrants: draw one line down the center vertically, and one across the center horizontally. Using the four sections, list something you experienced or achieved that day from each of these four categories:
  
  1) something I gave to or did for another;
  2) something I learned or created;
  3) a gift or blessing I received;
  4) a concern I release to God.
  
  You may choose to write more or less, as time and inspiration dictate.
• Go on a diet from negative thoughts.* Fill your mind instead with positive affirmations, either through Bible verses or your own words. Write such useful phrases on eye-appealing cards, and keep them in a small basket on your desk or wherever you often could use some "redirection."
• Just as you address God with thanks and praise before you offer your humble petitions, begin with a word of praise or thanks before any time you offer someone a word of critique or revision. Continue this discipline beyond Lent, forever.
• Forgive, forgive, forgive. Forgive others for wrongdoing against you, both blatant and perceived. Forgive people for not fulfilling the ideals you've projected onto them. Forgive yourself for letting yourself down. Forgive, forgive, forgive. By all means, don't shy away from standing up for yourself wherever you can work for a just resolution. But after hurts and slights have long since turned into lingering, crippling baggage, let it go. If God can pour salvation onto our broken world, why must we persist in passing sentence? Take a break from the judgement seat and accept your role as an agent of God's healing grace.
__________ *For the idea of going "on a diet from negative thoughts," thanks to the great metaphysical writer Louise L. Hay.

Tell Your Truth

Many people feel marginalized, dismissed, or oppressed by yesterday’s election results. It may be hard to keep a forward look. Others may wish to keep you down, but remember: no one can diminish you. You always have everything you need. All of creation has a language. The truth of being the authentic you cannot be denied. So tell it.