email:  whitpresby@mindspring.com

Spiritual readings        "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"

October 2003 Emails    

Oct. 3, 2003

Here’s an excerpt from Dallas Willard’s fine book, “The Spirit of the Disciplines,” Harper Collins, 1998, which was used in previous emails on 12-31-02, 1-14-03, and 2-11-03.  You can see them on the web site.  This excerpt is his definition of a “spiritual life.”

 A “spiritual life” consists in that range of activities in which people cooperatively interact with God—and with the spiritual order deriving from god’s personality and action.  And what is the result?  A new overall quality of human existence with corresponding new powers.

 Do you consider your life an “interaction with God”?  That perspective might make a difference in the way we behave mightn’t it?  How about we start our days with the question to ourselves, “What shall I do with God today?”  Then at the end of the day, we could check in as ask ourselves how we did.  There’s a little daily routine that we might try.  May you be blessed in the way you live your day this day.

Grace & peace

Geoff

 Oct. 7, 2003

One of the most often quoted books in these emails is “Lord, Teach Us; The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life” by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Abingdon, 1996.  Here is a great quote that deals with both worldly concerns and the spiritual analogy from them.  They are dealing with the phrase “…in heaven…” from the Lord’s Prayer.

 Yet because our God is “in heaven,” our God continues to stand at some distance from creation, for God is Creator, not created.  God stands over against us in order to stand with us.  This is not a fully appropriate analogy but try it on anyway:  Every parent knows that, in order to be a good parent, you must not only be very close to your children—listening to them, spending time with them, talking to them—you must also be at some distance from your children—disciplining them, advising them, reminding yourself that your children are not mere extensions of you.  God manages to do that with us.  In heaven, God is intimately part of God’s creation and its creatures at the same God is not identical with creation.

 Jesus often used earthly images to convey spiritual truths and that is what Willimon & Hauerwas are doing here.  What are the daily instances in your life that speak to you of things of God?  May you find references to God throughout your day.

Grace & peace

Geoff

 Oct. 10, 2003

I’m currently reading a book for a study and reflection program later this month.  Its “The Contemplative Pastor” by Eugene H. Peterson, Eerdmans, 1989.  Though written for pastors, it has bits of wisdom that certainly apply to Christians in general.  Here is a quote about listening to others.

“The question I put to myself is not “How many people have you spoken to about Christ this week?” but “How many people have you listened to in Christ this week?”  …Listening is in short supply in the world today; people aren’t used to being listened to.”

There is great insight into the practice of service here.  Truly listening to another is indeed an act of service to them.  Listening in Christ means, to me, the special way of listening to another with the intent of loving them or desiring the best for them through the time spent listening.  Truly listening is a gift that we can give to others, but it is something we need to practice, a skill we need to consciously develop.

May you find the time and space to truly listen to another this day, as part of your Christian living.

Grace & peace

Geoff

Oct. 14, 2003

Here is a version of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun, which I took of a compact disc that I have with a musical setting of it.  Notice the British spelling.

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord

All praise is yours, all glory and honour,

and all blessing.

to you, alone, most high, do they belong.

no mortal lips are worthy to say your name.

Be praised, my Lord, for all your creatures,

especially for brother sun,

who brings the day and light;

he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour;

of you, most high, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord for sister moon and the stars;

in the heavens you have made them bright,

Precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, for brothers wind and air,

and clods and storms, and all the weather,

through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, my Lord, for sister water;

she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, for brother fire,

through whom you brighten the night;

he is fair, cheerful, powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, for our sister mother Earth,

who feeds us and rules us, and produces

various fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love

of you and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who will endure the peace,

Most high, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, for our sister bodily death,

From whose embrace no living person can escape;

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.

Blessed are those she finds doing your most holy

for the second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,

and serve him with great humility.

Amen.

St. Francis lived from 1181 to 1226 and is one of the most popular of all the saints, in part for his love and praise of creation.  As the seasons change, we are made more aware of the blessings and the balance of creation, and, I think, reminded of creation’s fragility.  May you find a moment’s calm this day to praise and thank God for creation’s beauty.

Grace & peace

Geoff

 Oct. 17, 2003

Please note:  no emails until Oct. 31.  I’ll be on vacation & study leave.  See below.

Tuesday’s selection was the poem or canticle of St. Francis in praise of creation.  Here is a reflection on creation from a more contemporary prophet, the ecological writer, Thomas Berry.  It comes from his book, “The Great Work,” Bell Tower books, New York, 1999.

“The other-than-human world is not recognized as having any inherent rights or values.  All basic realities and values are identified with human values.  The other-than-human modes of being attain their reality and value only through their use by the human.  This attitude has brought about a devastating assault on the nonhuman world by the human.

Earlier human traditions experienced a profound intimacy with the natural world in all its living forms and even a deep spiritual exaltation in the religious-spiritual experience of natural phenomena.  We have moved from this intimacy of earlier peoples with the natural world to the alienation of modern civilization.  If some aesthetic appreciation remains, this seldom has the depth of meaning experienced earlier.”

How do we regain that sense of relationship, even intimacy with the world?  Can our Christian faith provide resources to do so?  I believe it can when we look close.  Reading the Psalms, for example, one finds praise of creation a part of one’s prayer.  Part of the difficulty is the different impact of humanity upon the earth in the years since the Christian scriptures were put together.  But our times call us to look ever more carefully at what our lifestyle costs the creation.  We need to hear prophets like Berry, but we also need to remember our poets like St. Francis.

May your praise of God this day continue to be mindful of the creation we are so much a part of.

Grace & peace

Geoff

Oct. 31, 2003

Here are some one-liners that came to me via email.  They are an example of those anonymous things that float around in cyberspace from time to time.

 Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.

Don't put a question mark where God put a period.

Forbidden fruits create many jams.

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

God grades on the cross, not the curve.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

He who angers you, controls you!

If God is your Copilot - swap seats!

When you pray, don't give God instructions.

 My favorite is the one about God qualifying those who are called.  I’ve been watching The Lord of the Rings again with my son.  To see the spiritual and emotional growth of the characters in that great story reminds me very much of the way God qualifies those God calls.  Have you ever found such in your life, that God calls you to something that you do not feel qualified for?  Then have you found that you grow into the new thing, with God’s help?  I’ve had that experience and I know of others who have as well.  The key is to trust God and continue in a prayerful relationship with God.  I believe God’s intention is for us to grow throughout our lives and we are always given new challenges to face and grow into.

May you find God’s presence stretching you into new growth today and into the future.

Grace & peace

Geoff