Spiritual Practice

Spiritual practice involves, on the one hand, acting out of concern for others' well-being. On the other hand, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so. To speak of spiritual practice in any terms other than these is meaningless. ~The Dalai Lama [a la Jan Allen]

Working Together on the Cosmic Loom

[W]hen I think of the "I" at the center of my being, I do not think of a spider spinning everything out of its own self. Rather, I think of it as both spinning threads and working a loom on which its threads are blended with those coming from all the other beings that make up the cosmos. ~David Spangler

We people of the planet find ourselves blending threads in one of the largest restorative efforts yet in our corporate human history. And all this was let loose by the shifting of the plates beneath the ocean. What spinning threads of evolution we rocks and waves and humans are working out together on the cosmic loom. ~jpc

Holiness is not diminished. ~jpc. 

How Do We Put God First?

Some of the leaders in the company I work with are fond of saying, "God first, family second, work third." This would make us think God was in competition with our family and our work for our affection. . . . [T]he only way to put God first is to serve those whom God loves. . . . When Peter professed to Jesus that he loved him, Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." To be sure he got it, he said it three times. ~Randy Williams

The last few days I thought I had a big problem, which was stressing me out. Then I began to follow the alarming news from places like Indonesia and India where we'd lived. My individual problem was washed away as I considered our planet's problems. What does it mean to "feed God's sheep" right now with the more than 100,000 killed by crashing waves in the last few days and so many more directly affected, the carnage of warring, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the looming implications of global warming? To at least find a personal and local way to give to the growing efforts to relieve such suffering, to petition our associations and governments to take really appropriate action, to compassionately pray for our wounded planet daily as we give thanks for its bounty, and to continue to build and implement our three-point plans to feed creation's "sheep." ~jpc

Giving Birth Eternally

[God] has been giving his Son birth eternally, is giving him birth now and will go on giving him birth forever. . . . When this birth happens nowadays in the good loving soul, it gives God greater pleasure than his creation of the heavens and earth. ~Meister Eckhart

To me this morsel of the Third Testament says that creation never ends and that my role in creation is to be the recipient and participant in such creative eventfulness. This is what the Second Testament means when it talks about being a handmaiden of the spirit, and what the First Testament means when it talks about being a steward of creation -- both the fruit of eternal birth happening in sensitive and responsive souls. ~jpc

She Is Sheer Being

Grandbaby Kaitlyn has mesmerized us since November 14th. We see the miracle of her through Jeremiah's countenance and announcement ("It's a girl!") as he carried her out of the delivery room. She is brand spanking new, filling us with wonder and awe. She comes ready or not, forcing us to respond to her in all her utter vulnerability with our fumbling care. She tries to see us who are loving her, but accepts our love blindly. She does nothing useful; no one asks her what she does for a living. She knows almost nothing; no one judges her for her lack of education. She is sheer being, just there to be cared for and loved. The miracle is that her "job" of just being transforms those around her: relatives that were alienated are reconciled; strangers become friends; great-grandparents are rejuvenated; grumpies show compassion; judges show mercy. Where did she learn to do all this? She has mysterious power. She must be a bit of being itself -- like all God's children -- bringing with her a bit of the new creation or new reality. ~jpc, Christmas 1995

The Messiah Is A Mystery

The presence of the Messiah is a mystery. . . . There is something surprising, unexpected about the appearance of salvation, something which contradicts pious opinions and intellectual demands. The mystery of salvation is the mystery of a child. . . . A child is real and not yet real, it is in history and not yet historical. Its nature is visible and invisible, it is here and not yet here. And just this is the character of salvation. Salvation has the nature of a child. . . . Only he who can see power in weakness, the whole in the fragment, victory in defeat, glory in suffering, innocence in guilt, sanctity in the sinner, life in death can say (with Simeon): Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. ~Paul Tillich

The Messiah Has Come

 

. . . The mystery of the messiah comes

        into our world anew in the birth of a baby,

            whoever it belongs to,

            whatever gender, nationality, color, or religion.

 

It comes to us who think we do not want it or need it.

It comes to us hardened cynics who have given up

    on new life ever happening to us again.

It comes to us who think we have learned to live with separation

    and have given up on reunion.

It comes to us who have shunned religion;

    yet, it rattles us with deep religious rumblings.

It comes to us who are following every wise man and every star,

    looking for that which we will never find

        and which was never promised.

 

The mystery of the messiah comes as it wills,

    where it wills,

    when it wills.

Sometimes it wills to come in the form of a child.

 

The Messiah has come . . . again.

 

~jpc, Christmas 1995

The Christmas Word

The Word is at the heart of creation.

The Word is historical.

The Word is in the hearts of all those

who have said "Yes" to its power

throughout all ages -- even before Jesus --

and in all places -- even where Christianity has never been. ~jpc

All Are Born Again

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given;
so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. . . .
where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

~Phillips Brooks

Dear Christ enters in --
love is born again . . .
the gift of heaven.

We receive it still --
silently . . . our souls
and hearts are filled.

Dear Christ enters in --
and is born again . . .
we are born again.

All are born again --
silently God's gift
of love finds its end.

~jpc

All Are Virgin Born

In the beginning Jesus was born,
like us,
that we might be like him:
purely human.
All are virgin born,
says the gospeler in John: 1.

~jpc, from "Christmas Proof-text"

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

It is said of old
That the bad boys and girls got no gifts for Christmas --
Only a switch to lash them with.
But so far as anyone knows,
No switches have ever been left at Christmas.
Santa Claus takes good gifts to every house,
To every person in the whole world.

This is not an exaggeration.
This is the way the story reads.
Every person, every house.
If a child receives no gift from Santa Claus,
That is a devastating blow.
No matter how many gifts are received from mom, dad, brother, sister,
Those gifts cannot replace the gift not received
From the one who takes gifts to all.
You see, in this story, all girls are good girls, for all receive gifts.
And all boys are good boys, for all receive gifts.

Now, I ask you: Is this a true story?
Have you ever met that which gives good gifts to all?
Into every house?
By any criteria you and I have created, we all deserve switches.
Yet, in spite of how we see ourselves,
There is that experience in our lives of the one who brings good gifts to all.

St. Nick, Santa Claus, or whatever other name is used,
They all depend upon our common life experiences
Of the one who brings good gifts to all, to every house.
The story does not say how this is done or why.
It simply says that it is done.

"You better watch out. . . . I'm telling you why!
Santa Claus is coming to town!"

~Gene W. Marshall, 1960s

Christmas Is About . . .

Christmas is about finding life where we do not expect life to be.

~Joan Chittister, In Search of Belief (a la Doris Conway)

Light From Within

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

BSS (Bumper Sticker Sighting)

6.4 billion births beget big blessings beyond big burdens

Healing Wounds

We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds, and in the process heal our own, indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.

~Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, as she received her Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 2004, in Oslo, Norway

Faith as Feeling at Home in the Universe

Faith is a quality of human living. At its best it has taken the form of security and courage and service; a quiet confidence and joy that enable one to feel at home in the universe, and to find meaning in the world and in one's life, a meaning that is profound and ultimate, and is stable no matter what may happen to oneself at the level of immediate event. ~Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Ecology ["to feel radically at home" in the universe] is a sacred art, understood only by theology. It is the primary work of us all, no matter what we do. It is the primary thing, the only thing. You are either an ecologist or a lost soul. ~Thomas Moore

The Narrow Gate

Find the "narrow gate that leads to life." It is called the Now. Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems -- most life situations are -- but find out if you have any problem at this moment. Not tomorrow or in ten minutes, but now. Do you have a problem now? When you are full of problems, there is no room for anything new to enter, no room for a solution. So whenever you can, make some room, create some space, so that you find the life underneath your life situation. ~Eckhart Tolle

A Different Kind of Election

Election is not about who gets to go to heaven; election is about who God chooses to be part of his crisis-response team to bring healing to the world. ~Brian McLaren, a leader of the evangelical "emergent church"

The evangelicals surely are not going to listen to the likes of me. Reform of the evangelical church will come from within its ranks. Maybe it's beginning to happen. Read more at the links below. ~jpc

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/12.36.html

http://www.christiancentury.org/feat_11.html

Loyalties

My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language or culture. I pledge my allegiance to the . . . human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time. ~Edward Abbey

Shall We Dance?

Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order. ~Samuel Beckett

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Author Unknown

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. ~Japanese proverb

BSS (Bumper Sticker Sighting)

God is too big to fit into any or all of our religions

Ethical Questions

What must I know myself to be responsible for? And what does not lie within the scope of my responsibility? Is there any purpose in regarding myself as responsible for everything that takes place in the world? Or can I stand by and watch these great events as an unconcerned spectator so long as my own tiny domain is in order? Am I to wear myself out in impotent zeal against all the wrong and all the misery that is in the world? Or am I entitled, in self-satisfied security, to let the wicked world run its course, so long as I cannot myself do anything to change it and so long as I have done my own work? What is the place and what are the limits of my responsibility?

~Bonhoeffer, from last paragraph of "Freedom" section in Ethics [a la D. Rebstock]

Turn Loose

Turn loose! Slip past shape and shadow,
Sit side by side with nothing, save [spirit].

~adaptation of Shih-shu by jpc

Peace on Earth

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. ~Albert Schweitzer

Then "Peace on Earth" means total earth community peace? ~jpc

Why So Pessimistic?

What if, as Arnold Toynbee suggested, we were committed to a project that imagined "the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective"? Bruce Mau, whom I would call an earth community designer, improves upon Toynbee: What if we imagined the welfare of all of life -- which includes the human -- as a practical objective? He says as a designer, design can be changed, failures can be redesigned. We do it all the time. To me, he sounds like a "realistic optimist," two words that really do go together in the big context.

An Advent present: listen to "Massive Change," NPR Dick Gordon's forty-five-minutes interview with Bruce Mau -- raised in Sudbury -- and sometimes called "Chairman Mau." Listen to him dialogue with pessimistic callers: http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2004/11/20041123_b_main.asp

Gandolf Speaks

The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. ~Tolkien through the words of Gandolf

A Holy Sphere

It is neither acceptance of the world as it is, nor bypassing the world in the direction of a transcendent divine, but is consecration . . . of seeing the divine in everything. This attitude removes the dualism of a holy and a secular sphere. ~Paul Tillich

Another way to say this: there is only a holy sphere, even though we're practiced in profaning it. ~jpc

We Remember Nadine and Mary Lou

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

~"How Firm a Foundation (ye saints of the Lord)"

We remember Nadine's singing "When the trumpet sounds, I shall wear a crown." She and Mary Lou wear their golden crowns today. ~jpc

Universal Urge

[T]here's nothing personal about that pure, passionate aspiration to awaken, to create, to become, to evolve. When the awakening human being experiences that urge at the level of consciousness, that's the very same impulse that created this universe. ~Andrew Cohen

Swelling Spirit Movement

[B]elieve you are a part of a groundswell, . . . a seemingly small but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of something important and potent and unstoppable. ~Mark Morford

"What to Remember When Waking"

To remember the other world in this world is to live in your true inheritance. ~David Whyte, 1999

Wonder where Whyte got this line for his poem? ~jpc

[Let us remember the some 30,000,000 who have HIV/AIDS on this World AIDS Day]