Congratulations on Your Lenten Failure!

Once again, I’ve been a bit too ambitious this Lent. Ash Wednesday, I resolved I would
1) go cold turkey on caffeine,
2) Piously study the Bible with my husband every night, and
3) put our family on a strict financial fast that prohibited any shopping (other than for groceries) and any eating out.

If you know me at all, you’re probably not surprised that one week into Lent, I’ve already slipped up at least once on all three of these disciplines! In the past, at the first sign of failure at my Lenten disciplines, I would throw up the white flag of defeat and then hang my head in shame. But not this year. This year I’m congratulating myself on my failure!

Let me explain. A spiritual discipline that I have been able to keep up with lately is mindfulness meditation, a form of prayer that I understand best when explained by Buddhist teachers. And in this discipline of mindfulness, you aim to clear your mind from all thoughts and simply experience the gift of the here and now. But mindfulness teachers say when you notice your mind wandering or daydreaming, you are supposed to congratulate yourself. Why? First, because recognizing that you have strayed is the first step to correcting the problem; it’s impossible to get back on the right path unless we first realize that we’ve strayed from it. And secondly, one must understand that deviating from the path of mindfulness is not a deviation from the practice of mindfulness; in fact, it is the very heart of the practice. Each time we deviate from the path, every time our mind begins to wander, we get one more golden opportunity to practice focusing, refocusing, and refocusing again our attention to where it belongs. That is practice.

So it is with our Lenten disciplines, or any Christian practice we aim to take up on our lifelong journey to the cross -- whether it be meditation, prayer, giving, fasting, acts of service, Bible study, worship, or the taking up of Christian virtues. We boldly set out determined to follow Jesus Christ, but we are clay-footed humans living East of Eden, and so we will always stray from the Way set before us. Recognizing we’ve failed to stick to the Way and getting ourselves back on track doesn’t mean we’ve failed God – quite the opposite! It is the heart of Christian discipline. It means we are alive in Christ and continuing to grow in our faithfulness.

So if you, like me, realize you have failed at your Lenten disciplines, congratulations!  Remember that what exactly your Lenten discipline is this year, or what Christian practices you’ve striven to take up throughout your life – what those activities actually are isn’t the point. Lenten disciplines aren't an end in themselves, and that what makes them different from New Year's resolutions. The point of Lent is not that I get off caffeine or that you stop facebooking three hours a day -- though those are all worthy endeavors!  The point is that we take up something that gives us the golden opportunity to practice focusing, and refocusing, and refocusing again our attention, our hearts, and our lives where they truly belong: with God.

Ash Wednesday -- Lent Begins

At our Ash Wednesday Service we read this blessing.

“Rend Your Heart,” a Blessing for Ash Wednesday by Jan Richardson

To receive this blessing,

all you have to do

is let your heart break.

Let it crack open.

Let it fall apart

so that you can see

its secret chambers,

the hidden spaces

where you have hesitated

to go.
Your entire life

is here, inscribed whole

upon your heart’s walls:

every path taken

or left behind,

every face you turned toward

or turned away,

every word spoken in love

or in rage,

every line of your life

you would prefer to leave

in shadow,

every story that shimmers

with treasures known

and those you have yet

to find.
It could take you days

to wander these rooms.

Forty, at least.
And so let this be

a season for wandering

for trusting the breaking

for tracing the tear

that will return you
to the One who waits

who watches

who works within

the rending

to make your heart

whole.

You can also follow this link for a YouTube video of a song by Jeff Johnson, "Christ Has Walked," that we will be singing all through Lent this year. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pSaI89weew

Blessings of Lent be with you.

Radical Amazement #5 -- Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Mark 9:2-9


Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Quotes from Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato:

The attempt to understand dark energy and dark matter is one of the most significant puzzles that current researchers are trying to solve. Saul Perlmutter, who heads up the Supernova Cosmology Project bluntly puts, "The universe is made mostly of dark matter and dark energy, and we don't know what either of them is." Most of the universe, in other words, is mystery. Most of it -- as much of ninety-five percent -- cannot be seen or touched , yet all life exists because dark matter and dark energy are there, bringing things together in wholeness or stretching them apart in ever-expanding creativity.

Many of us are uncomfortable with mystery.

Mystery has to do with befriending darkness.

Mystery has to do with not knowing, with unknowing, with living in unprejudiced awareness in the present moment with nothing to hold us save our trust in what is unseen.

Often we resist mystery of any sort, perceiving the unknown and uncertain as threats to be eliminated rather than invitations to deeper truth.

Mystery calls us not only to lay down our lives, but to lay down our agendas that interfere with our call.

We should be uncomfortable with Mystery. After all, it will not allow us to escape anything that is less than life-giving.

The Holy One is Mystery; Mystery is the Holy One

How often it is said that if we think we know, what we know is certainly not God, who is beyond al that we grasp with our minds.

Just as the vast majority of the universe is beyond our capacity to see or touch directly, so is the divine. But like Dark Energy and Dark Matter, we can see sign's of God's presence all over the cosmos.

Just as Dark Matter works as an unseen gravitational force to hold galaxies together, so Mystery's presence draws us to the heart of a Holy Darkness.  Holy Darkness draws us together, making us whole, and when we operate out of a place of wholeness we become luminous beings that radiate the Spirit's presence and light up the lives of others just as surely as any star.

Just as Dark Energy is an anti-gravitational force that expands the universe, so will the Holy One cause us to move out of our place of comfort and into space that is uncharted and unknown. In the process we are part of the evolution of the cosmos.

In the stillness of the night, in our convergence with Holy Darkness, we are united with the Mystery that lies in the cavern of our heart. Life is a Mystery shrouded in darkness. But the darkness is fecund, a place of possibility and power.

What is radically amazing is that we are invited into the darkness, into the heart of creation and creativity, invited to participate.

The new universe story invites us to expand our commitment to emergence, to participate in the divine unfolding around us and within us as fully as possible.

The radically amazing surrounds us.

"The Low Road" by Marge Piercy

What can they do 
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can 
bust you, they can break 
your fingers, they can 
burn your brain with electricity, 
blur you with drugs till you 
can t walk, can’t remember, they can 
take your child, wall up 
your lover. They can do anything 
you can’t blame them
from doing. How can you stop 
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can 
take what revenge you can 
but they roll over you.

But two people fighting 
back to back can cut through 
a mob, a snake-dancing file 
can break a cordon, an army 
can meet an army.

Two people can keep each other 
sane, can give support, conviction, 
love, massage, hope, sex. 
Three people are a delegation, 
a committee, a wedge. With four 
you can play bridge and start 
an organisation. With six 
you can rent a whole house, 
eat pie for dinner with no 
seconds, and hold a fund raising party. 
A dozen make a demonstration. 
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter; 
ten thousand, power and your own paper; 
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.

It goes on one at a time, 
it starts when you care 
to act, it starts when you do 
it again after they said no, 
it starts when you say We 
and know who you mean, and each 
day you mean one more.

--Marge Piercy
Copyright 2006, Middlemarsh, Inc.

Radical Amazement #4 -- Supernovas

Acts 2:22-24

"You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know -- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power."

Quotes from Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato:

Supernovas are the death eruptions of stars.

It is inevitable. Despite all our modern technology and efforts to reverse or stall its coming, each of us has an appointed encounter with death. Nothing in the universe escapes the finality of its clutches.

We live in a culture that fears death and suffers great discomfort in its presence.

We are not even very good with the little dyings -- self-denial, delayed gratification, commitment to stay the course -- that encroach upon our lives and offer the opportunity to build character and define values.

Perhaps this is the expected outcome of living out of "me" rather than "we." Having lost the big picture, it is easy to grip tightly the little things that, in the long run, are of no consequence.

The mystery of life and death . . . How intricately each is bound to the other. How dramatically each teaches us about the other.

While our liturgies separate the various strands of the Paschal Mystery, in truth we celebrate one event, one moment in time in which life/death has been encountered with unique consciousness and freedom.

While death was nothing new and continues to be an integral part of life, Jesus' response to death remains significant, challenging us to consider how we will bring consciousness and freedom to our own death -- and the living that will fill in the time between now and then.

Death has always been a part of the ongoing development of the universe, and it is the image of supernovas that can lead us into reflection on the experience that poses such difficulty for human kind.

It seems that the giving over of life on behalf of ever-expanding creativity is integral to life itself.

We have no choice about whether or not we die, just as we have no choice about whether or not we were born.

What is crucial -- what the Paschal Mystery teaches us -- is that we can choose not to flee from death, but to meet it with grace.

What we all discovered as a result of [Jesus' life and death] is that death -- while inevitable, while altering our dreams and causing us to let go of everything -- does not have the final word.

There is always -- always -- resurrection.

Life and death are a single mystery.

Death is inevitable -- but so is resurrection.

A super nova significant for our future existence occurred about five billion years ago in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. . . . Tremendously hot fragments began to come together under the influence of gravity, and a new star began to form. We call this star the Sun. . . . Life on Earth is nestled in the life of the Sun. . . . As a result, Earth and all her inhabitants flourish in her radiance.

We can be sure that dyings will intrude upon our lives, and we may have some choice about how we can respond to their coming.

We can be awake and watchful for the resurrections as well, for the creative ways that new life streams into our lives even in the midst of death.

Like supernova explosions that shatter every recognizable fragment of life, we are capable of transcendence, capable of never allowing death to have the final say.

Affirming of being Affirming

I and two other members of Central spent yesterday and today participating in a group consultation process that is part of a study being conducted by Brite Divinity School on mainline Protestant churches in North Texas and Oklahoma that have been "Open and Affirming" (ONA), or their denominational equivalent, for more than 5 years. It turns out there are only 10 such churches in North Texas. Nine of those churches, plus one church from Tulsa, OK, participated in this process.

It has been a very interesting two days. There was a rich sharing of stories and challenges and ideas with others who are walking a very similar path. And most expressed that one of the most significant things we carried away was the sense that we are not alone. Whether we adopted the label "Open and Affirming," or "More Light" or "Reconciling in Christ," across denominational lines we are more alike than different. And we share a common sense of mission to share God's love and the hospitality of Christ to all.

There was also a sense that our understanding of what it means to be ONA is evolving. For most churches just starting the process, or who have recently adopted that designation, it involves almost exclusively the affirmation of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered) people -- in practice if not in theory. But all the churches in this group expressed that as time has passed, and they have been challenged to live into that identity and commitment to be an "ONA church," their understanding of what that means has become much broader, and more inclusive.

Throughout history, those from our faith tradition have struggled with their relationship to a group, or groups, that were seen as "other" or "stranger" or "outcast." Story after story in the Bible -- in both the Hebrew and the New Testaments -- witness to that struggle. Most recently, think about the changes in the church in the past century or so regarding women and African Americans. For the most part, mainline Protestant churches have moved beyond that, and have welcomed and affirmed the worth of people of both genders and all races within the church. They are "strangers" no more. While we still face challenges to live fully into that commitment, at least the institutional understanding and framework is there. But many churches that have addressed and sought to move beyond gender and race still struggle to affirm LBGT people. That group are still seem as "strangers" and "outcasts."

Churches that have committed to being ONA need to see the LGBT struggle as being in the same continuum as the struggles that have gone before. You could say this is the latest "wedge group," dividing -- or threatening to divide -- Christians. Because if we see being ONA as just being about LBGT equality, then while we pat ourselves on the back for moving past this obstacle to unity in Christ, we too may fail to welcome, respect or affirm the next group of "strangers" who come to our door.

We may also not recognize the responsibility that comes with being ONA to advocate and work to protect the rights of all people, not just within the church, but outside our doors. If we are truly, "open and affirming," it is not enough to accept and respect LGBT people -- or those of any other group -- within our sanctuary. In order to really live into our commitment, we need to reflect our ONA stance in all the ways we interact with the world. We need to acknowledge and respect the unique challenges and gifts that all groups, and all individuals, indeed all of God's creation, contribute to the tapestry that is our world. That is what it will take so that, as it says in the UCC motto, we "may all be one."

Radical Amazement #3 -- Black Holes

Romans 7:15
"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."

From Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato:

"We can have black hole experiences in every area of our lives; situations or event in which we seem manipulated by unseen forces and which fall outside the accustomed gravitational pull that keeps us grounded."

"We can experience black holes within ourselves. There are also those areas of our personality or character that seem to set us on a collision course with disaster."

"We can become addicted to just about anything, from substances to points of view that exert increasing pressure and pull us away from what gives us life."

"Unaware, we can travel into regions that grow progressively darker, where the gravitational pull becomes so intense that our integrity threatens to collapse."

"Sometimes life itself propels us into unfamiliar space."

"Whatever the cause, we find ourselves ungrounded, on a journey from which there is no chance of escape and into a place where there is no detectable light. Some black hole experiences even threaten the annihilation of who we are."

"What is it that brings us to these black hole experiences? What is it that causes us to nearly self-destruct in spite of our desire to live as beings oriented toward the light?"

"But a crisis is also a time of opportunity, a place from which new choices can be made. Black hole experiences that expose our need for healing can propel us into a quest for wholeness."

"It was once thought that nothing could get out of a black hole, but now, as the result of the work of Steven Hawking, we know there is at least the theoretical possibility of escape. A phenomenon called "Hawking radiation" implies that under certain circumstances black holes can emit radiation. What Hawking radiation suggests is that not even a black hole lies outside the influence of light. A black hole's darkness is not so definitive after all. . . Even the smallest of particles can reverse a situation from which there seems to be no escape."

"Does this not give hope to each of us who has fallen into the pull of a personal black hole?

"Just like the darkness itself, the light that becomes a saving grace is nearly undetectable. It may not register on the visible spectrum, but it is present and potent."

"How can I grow in awareness so that i may avoid unnecessary black holes and navigate the required ones with grace?"