Time to Transform

Happy Easter, my friends!

Are you ready for transformation? Can you release whatever is holding you back, let it die? Can you let your divine potential shine?

 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  ~Isaiah 43:19

Are you ready?

Gracious God,
Set us free from a past that we cannot change;
Open to us a future in which we can be changed; and
Grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image
~Good Friday Service, United Church of Chapel Hill

Blessings on your day!

An Empty Bowl

There is a story Sue Bender relates in her book “Everyday Sacred” of a monk who, each morning, takes his empty begging bowl in his hands and stands in the flow of crowds in the city. Whatever is put in the bowl that day—money, rice, a bit of fruit—he uses for his nourishment. Each morning he begins again with an empty bowl, and each day he finds that he receives enough to live.

Each morning we are blessed with a new day. A new beginning. Whatever we did the day before, whatever decisions we made, are done. Finished. Can not be taken back.

But each new day provides the opportunity to do something new. To change the direction that we might have chosen yesterday. To act differently, to look at a problem with a new perspective, to seek advice. To begin again.

What a gift!

Do you berate yourself continually for past decisions? Do you miss the present because you’re focused on the past? Can you not look at today with fresh eyes because of the past? Do you sit in judgment on yourself? If so, remind yourself of the empty bowl and the possibilities.

Move on. Move forward. Look back only to seek clues for how to move ahead today.

Nothing is set in stone.

For each morning, you have an empty bowl.

Your Own Empty Bowl
Find a bowl in your house—any bowl. Something that reflects how you feel about yourself. If you love to bake, perhaps a mixing bowl; if you cherish fine china, a piece from your favorite pattern. A plastic cereal bowl. Place the bowl where you can see it when you wake up each morning and remind yourself that yesterday is past. You have an empty bowl into which to gather new gifts, new decisions, new challenges, new woes, new joys.

May it be so. Amen.

Wait Patiently

We've been talking about stillness, and the Psalms offer this advice in several contexts. In Psalm 46, we are told to remember that God wields some awesome power; human effort is pretty small in comparison. If we just stop for a moment, "Be still", we can regain perspective about our role in the world. In Psalm 131, we learn that we need not worry about matters that are out of our control or not suited to our skills and preferences. We can still our souls, for God has things well in hand.

Another verse of stillness appears in Psalm 37, Part 1, v 1-18. Right in the middle of this dramatic description of what will happen to evildoers, the writer states:

Be still before the Lord
and wait paitently for him.

In the NRSV translation, the psalmist repeats several times "Do not fret...", God will make sure that evil will be punished.

What are we to do? The Psalm says:

• Do not fret.
• Put your trust in the Lord.
• Do good.
• Dwell in the land and feed on its riches.
• Refrain from anger.
• Take delight in the Lord.

And, of course, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Verse 7, another great meditation verse to lean on.

I'm learning to read the Psalms as poetry, not as a debate script. These 18 verses have a structure which centers on Verse 7, wait for the Lord. The rest of the psalm describes why we should wait and what to do in the meantime. Life's little instruction book in 18 verses.

Have a blessed day!

The Psalmette

I'm exploring the psalms for the encouragement to "Be Still" and in the last post I quoted Psalm 46. Verse 11 is quoted often. "Be still" in the context of this psalm asks us to see the wonders of God. Stop making "much ado", the writer says. "Be still, then, and know that I am God."

There are a couple of other places where stillness is mentioned. One is in an itty bitty psalm, Psalm 131. The psalm is only 4 verses. It is not the shortest (Psalm 134 has only 2 verses!), but it's packed and a wonderful prayer to memorize. This is another psalm where every translation is slightly different and the feeling conveyed shifts with the words. This is a great psalm to read comparatively over several translations to glean the levels of meaning. I'm going to share the translation from Gary Chamberlain:

1 Lord, I do not intend to be haughty;
I do not want to aim too high.
2 I am not concerned with impressive things,
Or with problems unsuited to me.
3 Have I not calmed and stilled my inner self?
I rest on God, as an infant rests on its mother.
4 Israel, wait for the Lord,
From now and forever.
The Psalms, pages 166-7

Two things jump out at me. First, the second line of verse 2. Some writers say "things that are difficult" or "things that are too hard". But I like Chamberlain's interpretation. "I am not concerned...with problems unsuited to me." There is a great reassurance in that line. If something is "too difficult", as in some translations, I get the feeling that I'm incompetant, not good enough (my own insecurities tapped). However, in Chamberlain's revelation, I am suited to some activites, to solving some problems; for others I am not suited and there is no shame in that. "I rest on God..." Oh, how that phrase shimmers inside and calms me. Try that line for the meditation I shared last time. Yes, indeed, that will work.

And that my friends, is one awesome Psalmette. Blessings!

Rant Against Evil

I'm jumping around the Psalms, and opened to Psalm 52. The translations for this Psalm are all over the map. Different words, different rhythms, different phrasing. But what struck me immediately was that the writer was taking the first seven verses to rant, not just at the world in general or evil in general, but against someone. In this Psalm, it seems that the writer knows someone personally who is a tyrant, boastful, deceitful, wealthy, and this wicked person pushes all his buttons. The writer is incensed, furious. And he lets this fury fly out in words.

What is very intriguing is that even with so much ire spewing forth, the writer does not say "Hey God, give me the strength to take this guy down. I want my chance to pummel him, bring him to his knees. Let me do it, God, let me at him." No, the psalmist says:

Oh, that God would demolish you utterly, topple you, and snatch you from your dwelling, and root you out of the land of the living! Verse 5

God gets to take revenge and even in anger the writer is willing to let God to do that because...

Writer takes a deep breath. Boy, did I need to get that off my chest. Takes another cleansing breath. I'm good now. Because...

I am "...a flourishing olive tree planted within the house of God." I trust God's mercy, I trust God's love, I give thanks. I am that tree, solidly rooted. I am God's own. I don't need to waste energy on revenge. I need to take my energy out to declare God's "goodness...in the presence of the godly". Priorities straight. Goal in sight.

It's a wonderful Psalm that I never read before. It reminds me that I may need to rant at the evil in the world. I may need that release. I need to recognize that it's not in my power to right every wrong. Where I can't, then I must be the olive tree, rooted in God, allowing God to resolve the issue. My job is to get back to the work of building the Beloved Community.

May it be so. Amen.

Do You Wish To Be Healed?

Heal verb 1. To make or become well or healthy again. 2. to cure (a disease) or mend, as a wound. Webster's New World Compact School and Office Dictonary, 1982.

On Friday evening of Revival, after a full day of services, workshops, singing, eating, gathering and talking, time came for a centering, for that inner work that helps us notice what's going on deep in our souls. We were given that gift of time at the prayer and healing service.

Scripture and songs and prayer led us to the core of the service. Instead of giving us a dictionary definition, Rev. Jonalu Johnstone prepared the way by explaining that "healing" means adjusting to a violent or wrenching change of circumstance. To heal means to adjust. And how do you know you're still healing? Because of a continued sense of dis-ease. The current of hurting, anger, tears, sadness, and distress, that rolls above and below the surface of our lives as we adjust to the new circumstance.

Do you wish to be healed?

Can you drag your ego, your self-righteousness, your pride out of the way so that God can pour in and heal?

Do you really wish to be healed?

Or does your "dis-ease" serve you in some way? Do you enjoy the distress because it makes you feel alive, worthy, right?

Do you really wish to be healed?

What are you willing to give up, throw out, die to, change to create the space you need to heal the dis-ease?

Once we were given a chance to examine our answers to these questions, we were invited to come to one of four ministers at the front of the chapel and quietly state our dis-ease, our trouble, our wrenching circumstance. And receive the gift of healing prayer.

There are few things as powerful as walking to someone to whom you know you can trust your soul and saying out loud the thing that's eating away at you, corroding your spirit. Kneeling or standing with that person as your spiritual partner. To have that partner, in empathy and compassion, lay hands on you, on your shoulders or head, with gentle, warm pressure. Then to hear the soft, fervent prayers wash over you. For your adjustment. For your healing. Believe me, the Holy Spirit is all over that.

Just a week after I returned from Revival, the minister's pastoral prayer at my own church asked that we not only pray for our own healing, but also look around and each day perform some small act of healing, of kindness, of compassion for someone else.

What adjustment are you struggling with today? Is there anything keeping you from giving up your dis-ease and opening up healing space?

May you take steps each day--either baby steps or long strides--toward spiritual health and wholeness. May it be so. Amen.

Lay Your Burdens Down

We're now in the Easter Season. I hope that all of you took time to linger on Easter weekend and notice God's work in the world. I saw no Easter lilies here in North Carolina, but the thick sprays of dogwood visible down every street, pristine white against the bark brown and pine green, symbolize for me Easter's message of renewal, hope and revival.

One way to renew the spirit at the UUCF Revival was to participate in the Taizé Worship Service on Friday morning, led by Rev. Felicia Urbanski. The service was fashioned on the structure of the Taizé Community in France--Singing, Silence, Prayer, Scripture. At the front of the chapel stood a foot-high Celtic cross and a tall Christ candle, surrounded by small jar candles, all white.

The songs provide the framework of the worship. One or two phrases of English, Latin, French, or Spanish (other languages can be used) are repeated over and over to a simple, but interesting tune. In our service each song would begin quietly, hesitantly as the piano started and people learned the tune and words. More people joined in. The song grew in confidence. Someone added a harmony. A flute floated in, then out again. More harmony. The piano's chords rose. The violin soared above with a counterpoint. Without planning, all the instruments and people sang their prayers with full hearts and voices. After a few more repetitions, the energy began to recede into the quiet until the tune and words were merely a whisper.

Between each song, there were Bible readings, long minutes of silence, intercessions spoken from the congregation, the Lord's Prayer. For the final song, someone recessed carrying the Christ candle. Others followed with the smaller candles, all singing the phrases of Ubi Caritas, Where There Is Charity.

To me, the most moving ritual within the service was what the Taizé Community calls the Prayer of Intention, the prayers around the Cross. I have heard this symbolic action described in many ways: "Let Go and Let God", "Lay Your Burdens Down.", "Cast Your Troubles Onto the Lord", "Let it be." In one ceremony I attended several years ago, we even wrote our troubles on slips of paper, took a nail and hammer and literally "nailed it to the Cross".

In the Taizé prayer, with song in the background, each person is invited to come forward, kneel by the Cross, touch it, pray by it, symbolically entrusting to God and to Jesus, our brother, all of the burdens and difficulties endured by our friends, family and the oppressed peoples of the world. The physical movement coupled with spiritual intention helps us to allow God shoulder what we cannot.

Take a moment to think about the difficulties you or others close to you are facing. What troubles do you need to give up to God? What do you need to "nail to the Cross"? Do it now and know that you are not alone.

And after you have given your burden up, experience the joy that God can bestow when we least expect it. If you have not seen it, please turn your speakers up and watch the YouTube video of Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent.

Our God is an awesome God!