email: whitpresby@charterinternet.com
Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
Feb.
2004 Emails
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Soul in Scandinavian Design |
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Francis De Sales on Friendship |
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Philip Newell’s prayer for sleep |
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Lou Harrison’s Superfluous number of bells. |
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Buechner on Lent |
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My reaction to Gibson’s Passion of Px |
No Emails next week, I’ll be at Companions.
One can find spiritual insight in a variety of places, including books on design. Such was the case when I ran across these words in the book “Scandinavian Design” by Charlotte & Peter Fiell, Taschen Books, 2002. Here are the words that caught my attention.
“By balancing the demands of the machine with human needs, Scandinavian designers did not reject the past but learnt from it, and in their pursuit of beautiful form and practical simplicity instilled in modern design what can only be expressed as a soul.”
I’m reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:52, where old and new are put together to make something better for the present. Our culture puts great emphasis upon the now, the new, the young and the fresh. Those qualities are good, but when taken at the exclusion of the old, the tried and true, the traditions of our forebears, we miss much. For example, the Christian Church through the centuries has developed a great store of spiritual practices, all of which can be brought out and used in our day. We miss much if we ignore the past in pursuit of only the present and the new. Words of wisdom can indeed be found all over the place!
May you find God’s wisdom in whatever you are doing this day.
Grace & peace
Geoff
P.S. No Emails next week, I’ll be at Companions.
No Emails next week, I’ll be at Companions.
St. Francis de Sales has some words on friendship that I find very powerful. He is speaking about spiritual direction, as you will see, but the idea applies to true friendship wherever and however you find it. This quote comes from a ‘modern interpretation’ of Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life” by Bernard Bangley, Shaw Books, Waterbrook Press, Colorado Springs, 2002. Bangley titles his edition “Authentic Devotion.”
“If you are serious about this (the spiritual life), it is very important for you to find a good spiritual director, a faithful friend who can answer your questions and guide you along the proper path. Make your choice carefully. Not one in ten thousand is worthy. Ask God to lead you to such a person. When you find your own, thank God and be on your way together. “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one has found a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; and those who fear the Lord will find them.” (Sirach 6:14-16)”
May you find this God-given and God blessed friendship in your life.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
P.S. No Emails next week, I’ll be at Companions.
Last week, at the Companions on the Inner Way retreat, I led a brief seminar on dreams and spirituality. One of the participants gave me this prayer the next day. It comes from the book “Sounds of the Eternal – A Celtic Psalter” by J. Philip Newell, Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 2002.
In sleep may my body be rested.
In sleep may my soul be renewed.
In sleep may my dreams be carriers of truth borne by the night’s visiting angels.
In sleep may my I know you in love, O God,
In sleep may my I be known by you, the lover of every living soul this night, the lover of my ever living soul.
This struck me as a wonderful prayer which can be said each night, or whenever, as we go to sleep. May you sense God’s watchful presence in your sleeping as well as your waking.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
I’ve been listening to a recording of the “Mass to St. Anthony” of American composer Lou Harrison. It is from a Koch International Classics CD, performed by the Oregon Repertory Singers, directed by Gilbert Seeley. In the liner notes is this interesting note.
“Harrison’s original concept was a Mass for double chorus and percussion orchestra, with military snare and bass drums in the Kyrie and “all the church bells in the world” in the Gloria. (John Cage and I agreed,” Harrison says, “that a superfluous number of bells is just about right.”)”
When praising God, or giving thanks to God, there are times when our ability to express ourselves seems unable to match the height or depth of gratitude we feel . Harrison’s “superfluous number of bells” struck me as a way to think about or articulate our feelings of thanks giving and praise beyond our normal level of living.
May you find excessive reason to be thankful to God this day.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Lent begins tomorrow, with Ash Wednesday services in many churches. Ours is described below. Lent began as a period of preparation for baptism and has grown into a time of preparation for Easter. Here are Frederick Buechner’s opening words about Lent from his book “Whistling in the Dark; An ABC Theologized” Harper & Row, 1988.
“In many churches there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year’s income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year’s days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent 40 days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.”
What it means to be ourselves is as good a question as we can ask. I would add a little something about what God has in mind for us as ourselves. I appreciate the Lenten season as a special time to delve more deeply into myself and my faith. I hope you can do the same thing. Who knows, what treasures God has in store for you as you search during Lent.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
I went to see “The Passion of the Christ,” Mel Gibson’s much publicized movie about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. I appreciate all the publicity that it is getting for it holds up the Christian story in a more public way than has been done for a while. I don’t recall any of the other movies about Jesus getting such a firestorm of publicity. Allow me to weigh in with my humble(?) opinions.
I regret to say the film did not greatly impress me, beyond the extreme graphic violence. That Jesus was scourged and that crucifixion is a ghastly way to execute someone are both facts of the Biblical story. The cinematographic techniques with which these acts are portrayed seem to want to drive that violence home to us in what verges on a sadistic manner. This is not a movie for children. On the other hand it provides a good balance to the other Jesus movies which tend to “clean up” the torture and crucifixion.
One of the larger problems for me is the fact that this film focuses on only the last 12 hours of Jesus life. If you do not know the rest of the story, it may be confusing to wonder why all this is happening to this guy and why it is supposed to be so important.
The original controversy stirred up by this film is the way the Jewish leaders are portrayed and the concern that the film will inflame the fires of anti-Semitism. That possibility is there, just as it is in the New Testament account itself. But Christianity is a world religion, not a sect of Judaism, because the story of Jesus speaks to the universal human condition. The issue of power and its ability to corrupt all humans is addressed in the Gospel. Jewish leaders are not to blame any more than any other leaders. To paraphrase one of my clergy friends “If Jesus had come as a Presbyterian, we Presbyterians would have quite happy to crucify him, thank you!”
All in all, I would encourage you to see the film, to come to your own opinion, and, perhaps, to be able to talk with others about the central story of our faith. One of the purposes of the Lenten season we are now in is to reflect upon our lives and measure ourselves against Jesus. In a narrowly focused way, this film does that and we can benefit from it.
May you find ways to grow your faith this day, and to share that faith with others.
Grace & peace
Geoff
