The Tender Compassion of our God: February 2016

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Loving Mercy

(Lent is a great opportunity to grow our contemplative non-violent lives - even when we don't think we have one! I intend to use my blog to reflect on the invitation from God to live more deeply into a contemplative non-violent life which I want to respond to more and more. The plan is to write a reflection on Ash Wednesday, each Sunday of Lent and during Holy Week. I invite you to follow if you wish. With each entry I will suggest one prayer practice and one action that I will engage in and offer to you as a possibility. Blessings for a holy Lent.)

This Sunday, Lent III, we simply cannot ignore the Gospel lesson that is proclaimed at today's Eucharist. It is one of those lessons that is difficult to hear and sometimes leads others to give Christianity a bad rap. But I think it is one of the most important lessons to hear, especially during Lent, and reminds me of the admonition to repentance in the Invitation to a Holy Lent. So, let's start by reading the text (Luke 13:1-9) again:

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

So, Jesus is in a mood, right? Well, yes - but it is not the mood that people associate with the first half of the reading. That part where he seems to be sending loads of folks to hell. No, Jesus is the gardener. God is the gardener. What Jesus wants to give is the ultimate in loving mercy - another chance. Please, he seems to be saying, just one more chance to care for the fig tree, to place perhaps some better manure around it to give it that second, third, fourth chance. Just a little more love and I know it will be fruitful. This is, the essence of non-violence. Knowing that deep down we all have fruit to bear and that some simply need more time than others to produce.

And that is what repentance is all about and is at the heart of a contemplative life. The idea of repentance is that we realize that something - or many things - is not right with our lives. We realize that we do not stand in right relationship with God, with others, perhaps even with ourselves. Repentance comes from that self-examination I wrote about two weeks ago, and is simply "to turn around" in order to face God again.

You see, when we are somehow out of right relationship with God, with others, with ourselves, we have turned our faces away from God and all God requires is that we turn back again and face God. God is always waiting to give us another chance - to wait just a little bit longer for our fruit to bloom. And that opportunity begins when we look God in the face. That is the beginning or new beginning of relationship. We look God in the face because what God desires more than anything is a true relationship. We do not have relationships with people to whom we never look in the face.

Now, if we wish to create for ourselves a living hell here in this life, or perhaps in the next, we can choose to simply never turn around. We can continue to face away from God and suffer the consequences - not of God's wrath ..- but rather of our own exiling of ourselves from God's love. Hell is the absence of God's love. But it is never God who chooses to absent Godself from us, it is only we who sometimes do it.

But no matter how long we absent ourselves from God's love and no matter how extreme that absenting may have been, Jesus is still waiting by the fig tree with wide open, loving arms, ready to take us back - even help us to finish that turning around toward the face of God. Mercy is God's call to us. God continually cries out to us - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - let me show you my Mercy.

May it be so.

Suggestions for this week:

Prayer: A few weeks back we spoke of self-examination. Hopefully armed with whatever information you may have gleaned from prayer practice, let us ask God to help us continue to turn toward God, to ask for God's mercy and to help us to see where we might be in need of God's mercy.

Action: Practice the same kind of mercy that God offers you to just one person this week. A second, third or even fourth chance is a blessing of mercy that we all need from time to time.

Blessings for a Holy Lent.

Peace be upon you.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Prayer as a Basis for a Contemplative Non-Violent Lent

I'm a day late posting this week because I am traveling, this week in Nebraska. I led the clergy retreat for most of the week for the Diocese of Nebraska at the St. Benedict Center, a beautiful Roman Catholic retreat center in Schuyler, NE. Then I was privileged to preach at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, and lead their adult forum. It's been busy! All of which reminded me that the Invitation to a Holy Lent which we began with on Ash Wednesday is ever more useful when it comes to living more deeply into a contemplative non-violent Lent, especially when we are so busy. In particular when it comes to the suggestion for prayer.

We all know that our lives are busy. For most of us, they are too busy - or at least we perceive them that way. Sometimes it seems that there is not enough time to even breathe. But breathe we must - and not just to stay alive physically, but to stay alive spiritually as well. Breathing is the starting point and ending point of contemplative prayer and therefore, it is the starting point and ending point of living a non-violent life.

In his Rule for Monks, St. Benedict taught us that we are to begin every good work with prayer. And that has proved to be great advice for this monk. Prayer is a wide topic that includes liturgical prayer, intercessory prayer, thanksgivings, prayer in common, prayer in solitude, Lectio Divina, rosaries, the Jesus Prayer - it goes on and on. But I'd like to focus on silent contemplative prayer as being a practice that might enrich our Lenten experience.

If we are to seek a path of non-violence, we first must begin with ourselves. The first step in non-violence is not to join a some movement rather, the first step is to develop a contemplative approach to our lives. That is why St. Benedict's advice applies here. The work of non-violence is a very good work, and it should begin with prayer!

This first half of Lent I have been focusing these blog entries on personal practices (fasting, self-examination, and now, prayer). They all have wider implications as we will see later in Lent when we "turn our faces toward Jerusalem" and, therefore, to the world. But for now, I believe focusing on our own selves is the preparation we will need for Gethsemane, Calvary, the Empty Tomb, and beyond.

Breathing is the basis of contemplative prayer. While this may sound like it is of the "new-age" it is, in fact, as old as prayer itself. Unfortunately, since the High Middle Ages, our forebears in the West turned prayer into a solely mental activity. but we are reclaiming the natural place of prayer which requires every bit of us - yes the mind, but also our bodies our emotions, our spirits, our souls.

The activity of consciously marking our breath, of becoming awake and aware to it, is what connects all those parts of ourselves (mind, body, spirit) and calls us to unity within ourselves. The busyness that permeates our lives tends to dislocate all those aspects of our lives into many separate ones. This causes us much anxiety - usually on a subconscious level - and that builds stress within us. That stress often gets acted out as violence in one form or another, but most likely as violence committed against ourselves.

This violence committed against ourselves takes many different forms - from self-hatred to engaging in activities which are dangerous to us (over drinking/drugging, over-eating/under eating, never exercising/too much exercising, etc., etc.). These acts and many others like them, are a form of violence which seems to be epidemic in our society and around the world. Violence practiced against ourselves only leads to violence practiced against others - even if only verbally.

And so, we breathe. We take the time to consciously sit and mark out breath which will lead to other forms of deeper contemplative prayer. But without the act of consciously breathing - little else can happen in regard to contemplative prayer.This is the work of a contemplative non-violent life. The amazing thing about it is that we are already breathing 24/7 and so I am not asking you to add an activity to your already too busy lives. I am asking you to become awake to your breathing, conscious of the great gift that God has given us which is to share in the breath of God and open ourselves to that unity. It begins with a single breath.

Prayer: If you do not already practice a form of conscious breathing, try one minute of that practice each day this week. If you do practice it - add one minute to however much time you engage the practice.

Action: Notice your breathing throughout the day. Stop for just a moment when you are at your busiest at work or at home or when you are in the middle of an upsetting conversation or thought, and notice what you are doing. Is this a time in your day when you might want to more consciously breathe? Is this a moment when you might see a way to breathing more fully into non-violence?

Blessings to you for a Holy Lent.

Peace be upon you.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Self Examination in the Desert of our Lives

The first full week of Lent kicks off with Jesus taking a trip into the desert and the liturgy for the first Sunday of Lent asks us to go along for the ride. Actually, the Good News that Luke (cf. 4:1-2) tells us is that Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by that same Spirit in to the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil for forty days.

Would that we were all so open to this form of self examination! You see, in order to live a contemplative non-violent life as daughters and sons of God we must be willing to face our demons and the place to do that is in the desert of our lives, the wilderness of our souls.

St. Anthony of the Desert was one of the great proponents of non-violence. The idea of non-violence was not fully articulated during his lifetime (c.mid- 200's - c.mid-300's) or for many centuries later, but the spiritual work that he did in the Egyptian desert is work that everyone interested in a contemplative life of non-violent discipleship must engage in. Anthony, the father of Christian monasticism, is perhaps most famous for his twenty year long wrestling matches with his demons.

Now in different eras of Christian thought, these demons have sometimes been imagined literally - hideous little monsters with horns and grotesque features. At other times, these demons have been imagined as psycho/spiritual issues to be worked through. Whatever the case, demons are real and we each have to confront our own demons if we wish to live a life of faithful discipleship.

Our demons come in many shapes and sizes. For some of us it is the same one over and over again. For others these demons come in various guises. The goal of demons - again, whether these are psycho/spiritual or actual manifestations, is to keep us separated from God. And so, in order to have a fuller relationship with God, we must examine ourselves to understand just what our own particular demons are.

I believe this is why the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness. Before he began his public ministry, Jesus had to confront the demons within him. That may be a difficult sentence for some to read, but Jesus - being fully human - had to endure all that we humans endure. In studying Luke's Gospel account of the temptation of Jesus we can come to understand what at least three of Jesus' demons were.

The first demon Jesus had to face was the temptation to control his own fate. Having fasted for forty days, Luke tells us that Jesus was famished. The demon tempts Jesus to turn stone to bread. God has given Jesus enough to survive this fast and yet just as when the Hebrews, while wandering in the desert, did not trust that God would give them enough manna to survive, Jesus is tempted to "take control of his own life." But he resists. Jesus overcomes this demon by reminding himself that he does not live by bread alone but rather by loving faithfulness of God. It is God's blessing of his life that gives Jesus sustenance.

Next, the demon tempts Jesus to power. The demon offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, if only he would worship the devil. But again, Jesus reminds himself that only God is to be worshiped and that no idol, no matter what it seems to offer is worth sacrificing our relationship with God.

Finally, the demon tempts Jesus to the inflate his own ego. Throw yourself down, the demon says to Jesus, for Scripture says you will not be harmed. But Jesus reminds himself that we are not to tempt the Lord our God. In other words, let God be God and remember the nature of the relationship.

The Valley of Desolation in South Africa

We all have our own demons. They make take the form of a lack of self-worth or perhaps an inflated sense of worth. Perhaps they are an addiction, a fear, greed, lust, hopelessness, anger, a desire to commit violence against ourselves or others. The list is endless. But the work of confronting our demons is among the most important spiritual work we can do. The process deepens our contemplative life and allows for us to live more deeply into "being the change" we need to be to live a non-violent life of discipleship.

Sometimes going to a desert or a mountaintop or a retreat house can be a way of clearing our mind and our schedule to open us up to confronting these demons. But this is not necessary. In fact, we can begin to confront those demons over our morning coffee, on our commute to work, in the silence of the morning, or as we prepare to go to bed at night.

So, here is one suggestion for prayer and a one suggestion for action for this first full week of Lent that I am going to commit to. I invite you to join me:

Prayer: This week, let's use our time of silence to reflect on one demon that we have not confronted or need to confront in a deeper way. Let's ask God to help us face that which may be preventing us from enjoying a fuller relationship with God.

Action: Let's then take what we have discovered about ourselves and talk to someone about this issue who might be able to help us to deepen our relationship with God. This person or group might be a spiritual director, a therapist, a twelve-step group, a trusted friend.

This is very difficult work and cannot possibly be completed in one week. But it only takes a minute to begin the process Confronting our demons is work that will extend beyond this first week of Lent, but there is no time like this moment to begin this work for it can lead to a flowering of our life and our relationships with God, with others, and with ourselves.

Blessings for a holy Lent!

Peace be upon you.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

An Invitation to a Contemplative/Non-Violent Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Throughout the western Church many people in different denominations will find themselves in church and increasingly on street corners or at train stations and elsewhere, having a cross in the form of ashes drawn on their foreheads while these words (or something similar) are said: "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."

Those of us who are in church a great deal notice that Ash Wednesday is one of the most well attended days of the year and I always find that quite moving. This is not a day of great joy, but neither is it a day of great doom and gloom. In fact, in many ways, I believe it is perhaps the most realistic day of the entire church year. We are told a certain fact when we present ourselves for ashes: we are dust and to dust we will return. In other words, at some point - we are all going to die. And that seems an important fact that people wish to remind themselves of once a year.

But the real purpose of reminding ourselves of this fact is not to spend a great deal of time pondering our deaths, but rather to simply remind ourselves of this fact and get back to pondering how best to live. And once we've pondered that, then it's time to actually go on living, loving, praying, serving, laughing, crying, working, resting and finding new ways to embrace all that God has given us to embrace.

I particularly love the "Invitation to a Holy Lent" found in the Book of Common Prayer that we use in the Anglican world. In it, the Presider at the Ash Wednesday service invites us to a holy Lent and gives us ways to engage in just that. This invitation includes: self-examination and repentance; prayer; fasting; self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. With each blog entry in the earlier parts of Lent I will reflect on one of these invitations in no particular order.

On Ash Wednesday, I cannot help to think about fasting. Some people like to engage in abstinence from meat. This is popular among many Christians on Ash Wednesday and throughout Fridays (and sometimes other days as well) during Lent. For others, who wish to go a step further, fasting from most or all food for the day is a practice that they find spiritually nourishing.

I am going to engage in fasting, but the focus of my fasting will be on noise. The noise that comes from my own mouth, the noise that comes from others, the noise that comes from the internet and other electronic devices. Noise be gone!

The great Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, in Thoughts in Solitude had this to say on the subject:

When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate.

A lack of interior solitude violently destroys who we are, what we are called to be, who are neighbors are, and who they are called to be. Merton, in the early 1960's was so alarmed at the noise of our in modern society (he died in 1968) that he raised a serious alarm. Can you imagine if he knew what our lives would become in the twenty-first century?

When we have no silence either externally or internally, we begin to destroy peace. We are taught in the Letter of James (1:26) that:

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

Worthless is a very strong word. So what was James getting at? Further along in his letter, James (3:5-6, 8) writes:

The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature and is itself set on fire by hell...but no one can tame the tongue - a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

All wars, all violence, begin with words. Our tongues are so often out of control in our personal relationships, our work relationships, our church, national and international relationships. Too often when we spout off about the "other" we use words that are fear based, ignorance based, selfishly based. This is the fast I wish to engage - a fast from words that harm, frighten, belittle. Let peace begin with my silence. Let it begin with me.

Now this should not be confused with not speaking out against injustice. Of course that is a major aspect of living a contemplative non-violent life. But that is also for another blog entry. For today and for the rest of this beginning of Lent, I will concentrate on increasing my own inner solitude by refraining from speaking ill of another and by growing the amount of time I spend in silence.

By growing this contemplative practice - even if all we do is to add one minute per day of silence when we are not speaking, others are not speaking with us, and we are not engaged with electronic media - in other words, when we throw a little water on that fire that has set the forest ablaze - we will find ourselves held together just a little more by love.

This was Merton's hope. It is mine as well. Non-violence begins with us and it begins with very small gestures and practices but with a very large hope.

So, this week's practice:

Prayer: add some amount of time to expand our silence each day (one minute, one hour...whatever seems realistic) while focusing on our breathing.

Action: fast by bridling our tongues - when we want to make the sassy comment or the rude comment or the really angry comment take a deep breath instead and remember - you're fasting!

Peace be upon you.