email: whitpresby@charterinternet.com
Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
May
2006
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Toxic Faith |
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Visiting Buddhist Monk |
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Etty Hillesum: God to God |
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Lucy Shaw Mother’s Day Poem |
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Christianity in Finland |
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Anders Frostenson poem |
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Dreams, Quest & Destiny |
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Requiem Prayer |
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Owning Your Own Shadow |
I’ve had reason to use the phrase “toxic faith” this last week. It is a phrase I’ve used over the years and I took it first from the book by the same title by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton, Thomas Nelson publishers, 1991. I’d heard Arterburn speak at a clergy meeting and was impressed with his analysis of some of the problems of faith in our time. Here is a quote they include from Rosemary Radford Ruether, written by her in 1988.
“If I were asked for a yardstick to discern good from bad spirituality, I would suggest three criteria to be detached from: material gain, self-importance and the urge to dominate others. Unfortunately, much of what is labeled spirituality in America today moves in the opposite direction. It means using the names of God and Christ to promote one’s own importance, material gain and right to oppress others.”
Though this quote comes from 1988, I don’t believe things have changed all that much. True faith can sometimes be determined by whether the issue at hand serves God or serves one self. There are always exceptions and shades of meaning, but I believe that generalization will hold. May you find the refinement of faith you need today.
Grace & peace
Geoff
One of my favorite sources for these emails over the years has been the “Century Marks” section of Christian Century Magazine. They gather material from various sources for this part of the magazine. This one comes from the winter edition of the journal “American Scholar” and is found in the May 2, 2006 edition of Christian Century.
“A Buddhist monk visiting New York was told by his Western host that they could save ten minutes by making a complex transfer in the subway at Grand Central Station. When they emerged from the underground in Central Park, the monk sat down on a bench. His host wanted to know what he was doing. “I thought we should enjoy the ten minutes,” the monk replied.”
A contrast in perspectives, huh? What do you do with extra time you are blessed with?
Grace & peace
Geoff
Etty Hillesum was a young Dutch Jewish woman and something of a mystic, who perished in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. Here is another quote from her. (I quoted her in my Aug. 6, 2004 email too, if you care to look that one up.) This quote comes from “An Interrupted Life” a collection of her letters and diary entries, available from Wm B. Eerdmans’ Publishing, 2002.
“Truly, life is one long hearkening unto my self and unto others, unto God. And it is really God who hearkens inside me. The most essential and the deepest in me hearkening unto the most essential and deepest in the other. God to God.”
What is the deepest in you? Can you make the connection between that and God? Especially in difficult times, it may be helpful to remind yourself of what your deepest desire is. Then think of how God might be hearkening to you there.
I got this quote from a flier for a retreat in which one of my fellow spiritual direction students is helping lead. You can find out more information at the bottom of this email.
You can go to Wikipedia for more information about Etty Hillesum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etty_Hillesum
Grace & peace
Geoff
Here is a poem I found in the book “The Best Spiritual Writing – 1999” edited by Philip Zaleski, HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. I thought I an appropriate reading for Mother’s Day. It is by Luci Shaw, a poet and writer-in-residence at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, as of 1999.
Some mornings she simply cannot
bring herself to pray. Even so, a prayer
will at times break through her clenched lips,
announcing the slow drain at her heart.
She will raise her face from its cage of fingers
and gape at the fog that has lain itself down
over the field behind her house like
a dream of erasure. Even the green trees have
lost color. No air breathes. Not a wing of sound
flies back from the highway behind the hill.
And then some midnight, when faith
has quite emptied itself, a familiar loneliness
makes itself at home under her ribs.
A ghost of God? And inkling? She holds
her breath, listens as a small draught
weathers its way through the eaves,
inter her ears. The next moment she hears her child
stir in the room down the hall, calling
her name, as if he names her longing and in
that naming, names a kind of answer.
There is more to female identity and meaning than motherhood, but motherhood has its own blessings and caché in meaning. Happy mother’s day to you all.
Grace & peace
Geoff
This coming Sunday will be Choir appreciation Sunday. My two emails this week will be related to music. Here is an excerpt from the liner notes to a CD I’ve been enjoying lately, a collection of Finnish hymns. It’s the 3rd volume of such from BIS records, BIS CD 1369, performed by the Lahti Symphony, Osmo Vanska, conductor. I find it an interesting comment upon the issue of church attendance in Europe.
“What is the way of life with which Finnish hymns are associated, and is this way of life disappearing? Church attendance umbers have remained stable or even increased slightly in the past few years. In the long term, however, the number of churchgoers has declined, and the percentage of those who regularly attend church is minuscule, less than 20% of church members.
This, however, is not a true picture of Finnish Christianity. Centuries ago, people lived in trackless wilds far away from the nearest church. A Christian might attend only one communion a year and still be considered a churchgoer. Many follow such a pattern even today. Family occasions such as christenings, first communions, church weddings and funerals are also well attended, and church services at day care centers and schools are also gaining in popularity.
Christianity is thus not dead in Finland, even though new beliefs co-exist with Christianity all the time, offering alternative views of the world and security in “constant economic growth’ or a community that “in touch with everyone, everywhere, all the time.” When growth falters and connections break, a Christian’s hope finds expression in a hymn.”
My personal faith has long been buoyed up, refreshed and finding expression in hymns and other music of the church. I love listening to sacred music, but even more, to sing it. I’m reminded of the expression attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, “Those who sing, pray twice.” May your soul be filled with song this day, and your prayer deepened by song.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Another musical reference in honor of our choir recognition event this Sunday. This is a poem by a Swedish poet named Anders Frostenson, set to music on the CD “Lamento” Complete organ works for Soprano & organ by Torsten Nilsson. BIS CD-924. It comes from Nilsson’s work “Three Chorales to texts by the poet Anders Frostenson.” This one is titled “I know it”, After St. John of the Cross (1542-1591).
1. I know it. My faith and the dark night
have led me on to the calm waters of the spring
And it is night.
2. That beauty does not exist that dazzles the eye
But earth and heaven come there to drink
When it is night.
3. I know that it is bottomless and precipitous
and there are no shallow beaches round the water
and it is night.
4. Its clarity cannot be muddied or obscured.
The pure light is born and sparkles from it.
But it is night.
5. The unchanging source is hidden
In the bread that lives and give us life
But it is night.
6. Its silence calls. Everything created comes
To drink from its flow, covered in shadow,
For it is night.
7. O Source, without you there would be no longing,
I see it break forth, where bread is broken.
But it is night
A part of our faith involves holding on to paradox, such as the great paradox that God’s strength is known in weakness (see I Corinthians 1). In this poem, the paradoxical imagery(if that’s the right word) of St. John reminds us that God’s Spirit moves in ways and places we are not accustomed to. May you find God’s presence in some dark or quiet or calm place.
Grace & peace
Geoff
For more on BIS recordings, see their web site: http://www.bis.se/index.php
Web site for John of the Cross: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_of_the_Cross
For Torsten Nilsson, go here and click around: http://www.mic.stim.se/avd/mic/prod/micnews.nsf/Web/EngFront?readForm
For Frostenson: http://www.kilpinen.org/FROSTENSON,%20ANDERS-S.htm or
http://hymnal.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_hymnal_archive.html
In my studies of dreams and the spiritual life (See here for more info), the best book I have run across yet is “Dreams and Spiritual Growth; A Judeo-Christian Way of Dreamwork” Paulist Press, 1984, by Savary, Berne, & Williams. Here is a part of their analysis of this topic.
“Our Destiny involves our purpose in life; it is that to which God ultimately calls us. Destiny evokes questions such as: “Why was I born at this particular time, with these particular talents and liabilities, within this family and set of relationships, in this country? “What is the purpose of my life within God’s larger plan?” “What am I personally called to be and do in the world?”
If our quest is that which we seek from God and from life, our destiny is what God and life itself seek from us. And while our journey is expressed in our own personal experience, our destiny may lie primarily in the mind and heart of God.
Dreams and dreamwork keep guiding us to fulfill our destiny, or life purpose, even through we may not always understand it. For example, we will never know many of the places where we have made an impact and touched others’ lives, where something we have said or done has rippled out and made a difference in the world. We may not have very much control over our destiny, yet we seem to be unerringly guided to fulfill it. In doing dreamwork, we can receive a sense of being called and guided toward our destiny, and in this way we have an opportunity consciously to say yes to our destiny and to surrender to it. This is an important point in spiritual growth.”
Do you pay attention to your dreams? Do you find help for your life of faith in your dreams? The potential there is great. May your next night’s dreams speak to you in some new way.
Grace & peace
Geoff
This coming Monday will be our national holiday of Memorial Day, when we remember those who have died for our country. The Christian Church has developed a special service to honor those faithful who have died, called the Requiem Mass. Parts of it are occasionally used in Protestant services. The prayer that gives the Requiem mass its title (requiem = rest) borrows from several scripture passages, among them Psalm 65:1. It goes something like this:
“Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn befits you, O God in Zion, and to you a vow shall be fulfilled in Jerusalem: Hear my prayer, for unto you all flesh shall come. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”
The Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner wrote a Requiem for his friend, the Polish film director Krzystof Kieslowski (who directed a filmed version of the 10 commandments about 10 years ago, called “The Decalogue”) which included this prayer:
“Lord, help us
To gather our strength in difficult times
So that we could go on living
Believing in the meaning of future days.
Be so good to give us that hope
Be so good.
May your Memorial Day celebration include a moment of prayer for those who have passed on before you.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Another good book I’ve stumbled upon is “Owning Your Own Shadow – Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche”, by Robert A Johnson, Harper San Francisco, 1991. The book is an exploration of the psychological idea of the “shadow” with great spiritual insights from a decidedly Christian perspective. Here is his explanation of this “shadow”, which term originally came from the Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung. Johnson set his explanation in the story of the Garden of Eden.
“We all are born whole and, let us hope, will die whole. But somewhere early on our way, we eat one of the wonderful fruits of the tree of knowledge, things separate into good and evil, and we begin the shadow-making process; we divide our lives. In the cultural process we sort out our God-given characteristics into those that are acceptable to our society and those that have to be put away. This is wonderful and necessary, and there would be no civilized behavior without this sorting out of good and evil. But the refused and unacceptable characteristics do not go away; they only collect in the dark corners of our personality. …We divide the self into an ego and a shadow because our culture insists that we behave in a particular manner. This is our legacy from having eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.”
This gives us another way to understand the story of Genesis chapters 1 through 3. I’ll take more material from this book in the days to come. I believe that anything that helps us live the Bible story in our lives is worth looking at. May you find new and helpful ways to find the Bible story to be true for you and in your life.
Grace & peace.
Geoff
