Finding God in the ordinary

Was it coincidence? Or, was grace breaking through my daily tasks?

A good start to the day

"Vineyard" by Stuart Miles

The morning’s work on my blog had gone reasonably well. I was commenting on a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (21.28-32) where Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and elders of the Jewish people. He tells them a story about two sons. The father asks each son to go work in the vineyard. The first son says “No”, but then reconsiders and goes. The second son says “Yes”, but does not follow through. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the will of the father?” The answer is obvious, and the religious leaders get it right.

Even still, Jesus has some harsh words for this group. Essentially, he compares them to the second son. He tells them that the tax collectors and prostitutes, people who are public sinners, are closer to heaven than they are.

Link to the passage: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/matthew/passage.aspx?q=matthew+21:28-32

The tax collectors and sinners have contrite hearts. They know that their attempts at being holy are woefully inadequate, but still they search for God in their life. They are like the first son who at first refused to do the will of his father, but eventually sets out to please him.

They are layers of meaning to the story, but I was noodling on the idea that the religious leaders were imposters. They had turned God into a set of rules and regulations to be followed. They had become self-satisfied and complacent about their spiritual state. God had ceased to be a living presence for them. The religious leaders were posers.

Coincidences

In the afternoon, I confidently sat down to pen my column. Several frustrated hours later, I was feeling like an imposter myself, an ordinary woman masquerading as a religion columnist. 

“Give it a rest,” I thought, “Bake some cookies.”

"Chocolate Chip Cookies" by Grant Cochrane

I was sort of listening to the radio program, but mostly I was thinking about my column when I heard something that demanded my full attention.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” said the voice on the radio. The comment, at that particular point in time, expressed my sentiments precisely.  A discussion on feelings of inadequacy ensued. Many people, despite their competence, expect to be discovered as frauds. The host actually used the word “imposter”.

That word, “imposter”, had been crashing into my consciousness all day. Were the connections between my reflection in the morning, my feelings of frustration in the afternoon, and the topic of this radio show trying to teach me something? 

A new column began to take shape.

Mysticism of ordinary life

In the midst of the commonplace activity of baking cookies, my mind and heart opened to the presence of God.  The little coincidences, all based around the word “imposter”, were a small grace, an exclamation mark in the day reminding me that we can find God in routine tasks.

This is what the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner referred to as the mysticism of ordinary life.  This is not the traditional concept of Christian mysticism, where union with God is a privileged experience for a very few holy men and women. It is not the dramatic mysticism of ecstatic trances, visions, or spectacular phenomena.  

The mysticism of ordinary life finds God in daily life.  As Rahner expressed it in one of his prayers, “If there can ever be a way for me to you, then it leads through my daily drudge…I must also be able to find you in everything.”

Link to Rahner's spiritual writings. The Daily Drudge begins on page 45. http://www.maryknollsocietymall.org/chapters/1-57075-553-1.pdf

Responding faithfully to the presence of God in everything is not easy. Like the tax collectors and sinners, we sometimes find ourselves saying “no” to God.  Being always conscious of the presence of  God, who is ever present to us, is not easy. Like the chief priests and elders, we sometimes find ourselves forgetting God. We become wrapped up in ‘doing,’ instead of being in relationship with God.

Coincidence inspired insight

The connections around the word “imposter” that day may not have been divine intervention, but those connections certainly helped me to see that God was sharing life with me. The connections inspired insight.

Through the ordinary activity of baking cookies, I realized that God had been present throughout my day. Although I considered myself to be working in the vineyard, I was a little bit like the religious leaders. I had forgotten to be present to God.

Photo credits: Courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

"The Vineyard" http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2664

"Chocolate Chip Cookies"http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365

Building peace through tolerance

10th Anniversary 9-11 attacks

Sunday, September 11, 2011 marked the 10^th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.  Every year, in the days leading up to the anniversary, there is prolonged reflection of that terrible day on television, radio, and in the press.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, it’s time to stop the obsessive yearly commemoration of the 9-11 attacks.  The unveiling of the memorial monument at Ground Zero was a fitting commemoration of the 10^th anniversary.  Perhaps the beautiful and peaceful memorial will help the collective American consciousness achieve a measure of closure.

Reviewing footage of the attacks on a yearly basis feeds fear and nurtures animosity towards Muslims and Islamic countries. Looking back on that day has the effect of entrenching isolationism, which encourages an “us versus them” attitude that is not helpful for building peace in today’s world.

2nd Global Conference on World's Religions

Coinciding with the 10^th anniversary, McGill University and the University of Montreal organized the 2^nd Global Conference on World’s Religions. The conference is a grassroots effort to promote inter-faith dialogue between believers and non-believers.  The role of the world’s religions in building peace was the topic for discussion this year. 

(Link to conference home page: http://gcwr2011.org/)

The conference culminated in a debate on articles for inclusion in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions, a document that builds on the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The conference hopes to extend the declaration’s influence so that the declaration will be “the common standard of achievement for the followers of all religions or none.”  The additional articles are intended to promote religious tolerance, presumably with the aim of building peace.

(Link to Declaration:  http://gcwr2011.org/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights_by_the_World's_Religions_2011.htm)

Given the historical legacy of religious intolerance, achieving world peace through religion has a dream-like quality. Dialogue between moderate people of different faiths will never eliminate the fanatics. There will always be extremists who twist the teachings of their religion, and misuse its sacred scriptures to further their own sinful agendas.  Still, dialogue is essential to creating a climate of tolerance and understanding that will help nations overcome the “us versus them” mindset.

Dalai Lama: people misuse religion

In his remarks at the conference, the Dalia Lama spoke about the relationship between religion and people. Religions are not the problem; “it’s the person who uses (religion), who makes it wrong.” Religions, he said, share the common values of love, compassion, tolerance, self-discipline and forgiveness.  It’s human beings that cause trouble because of the destructive emotions of fear, anger, distrust, jealousy, and hatred.

Restless for peace

Our humanness interferes with peace. The human condition is such that we are always restless. Even within our own self, we are more accustomed to tension and struggle than to peace. On those occasions when we do experience inner peace, it is temporary and fleeting.

Within our closest relationships, we experience misunderstanding and conflict.  Even in small faith communities, which should be places of harmony, there is dissension. Human interactions - at home, at work, at play, at worship - are subject to harmony and disharmony.

Since we are incapable of sustaining peace at the personal level, we should not be surprised that world peace is as ephemeral as a dream.  Despite it’s elusiveness, peace is worth striving for in our hearts and in our world. If people were to stop dreaming about peace, the world would be even more of a muck.

Building peace 

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Love_g303-Love_World_p45917.html

Terrorist attacks and conflicts around the world remind us that it is insufficient to dream about peace. We need to cultivate the dream through acts of justice, through social policies that enable people to live with dignity, and through foreign policy that respects the rights of others and their environment, and that prefers diplomacy to military intervention in so far as possible.

The 9-11 attacks tell a horrific tale of intolerance and hatred, perpetrated in the name of religion. Intolerance flourishes when people refuse to see the manifestation of God in other faiths and in other people. There will be no peace in the world until people exchange intolerance and hatred for understanding and love.

The religions of the world can help build a more peaceful world by proclaiming the shared human values that the Dalai Lama enunciated. Properly understood and practiced, religion challenges individuals to become better versions of themselves, to become kinder, more compassionate, and more forgiving human beings.

Peace begins in the human heart, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me…Let me walk with my family in peace and harmony.”  We are all part of the human family, regardless of religious belief. There is no “us” and “them.”

(Link to information on, "Let there be peace":
http://www.janleemusic.com/Site/History.html) 

Jack Layton: A spirituality of service

Jack Layton touched a lot of Canadians. In the tough gig of politics, earning the respect of so many people, regardless of their political affiliation, is no easy task. That Layton did so, speaks volumes about him.

Layton’s personal charisma played a determining role in the NDP success of the last federal election. He was able to convince voters, particularly in Quebec, that he had a vision for Canada that was achievable. Even those who did not buy into his vision, or into the policies that he proposed, would admit that they liked the man.

I think what touched Canadians about Mr. Layton was his quality of authenticity.  His smile, his sense of humor, his endless optimism, and the genuineness of his concern for people were refreshing.

Layton on the role of faith

The last line of Layton’s letter to Canadians made me think of a frequently quoted scripture passage. In Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he writes, “And now, faith, hope and love, abide. These three: and the greatest of these is love.”

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians addresses a number of problems. One of the major problems was that social divisions based on wealth threatened the cohesiveness of the community. In this context, Paul wrote about love, and urged the community to infuse itself with the kind of love that looks to the needs of others.

Layton concluded his letter to Canadians with the lines, “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” 

Those who knew Layton described him as optimistic, hopeful and caring. Because these traits are so closely connected to the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, defined in the writings of Paul, I began to wonder about the influence of Christianity on Layton’s ethic of service.  I didn’t have to look far for an answer.

In 2008, Listen Up, a program that looks at current events from a Christian perspective, asked politicians about their faith. Layton described faith as playing an active role in his life.  In that interview, Layton spoke about the influence of the youth movement of the United Church on his life.  As a teen, he recalled telling his father that they needed to make Bible Study more relevant if they were to attract other young people. They changed the name from the “Bible Study Class” to “The Infusers.” “The idea,” Layton said, “was that you could infuse your ideas, and your work, and your enthusiasm into the community.”  The experience of community involvement nurtured through the Infusers was formative to Layton’s commitment to service. (Access the clip on YouTube,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WuiHUQ8pBI)

"Well done, good and faithful servant."

At Layton’s funeral, Reverent Brent Hawkes spoke about the conversation the two men had when it became obvious that death was imminent. Hawkes recalled saying to Layton that soon he would hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The quotation is from the parable of the talents related in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25.

Parable of the Talents
Courtesy of www.freebibleillustrations.com

Briefly, the parable goes like this. The master entrusts three servants with a sum of money to invest in his absence. He praises the servants who invest wisely. He chastises and sends away the servant who does nothing with the talent entrusted to him. The parable is usually interpreted to mean that individuals have a responsibility to use their gifts to serve God.

The parable leads into a discourse that suggests a proper use for an individual’s gifts. Principles of social justice are at the heart of this discourse.  Justice and love are expressed in the concrete ways we care for those who are less privileged and more vulnerable. Individuals are to use their gifts to create and sustain a more just society, to change the world. For many Christians, this section of Matthew, with its ethic of service to others, is the essence of the teaching of Jesus.

(Click the link below to read Matthew 25. The parable of the talents begins with verse 14. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PVY.HTM)

Spirituality informs a person's life

Hawkes described Layton as a man who was private about his spirituality. But, a person’s spirituality can never be totally private. Spirituality manifests itself in the person’s choices and actions. It informs the person’s life.

There are different ways to live spirituality. Layton demonstrated a spirituality of service, nurtured in the crucible of the Infusers. The question for us is, “How does my spirituality infuse the world?”

Married spirituality

Recovering from wedding fever

Months before my son’s wedding, people began asking me if I had my dress. I didn’t. I began to worry about my dress. I woke up at night, worrying about this dress that I didn’t have. I was succumbing to wedding fever, a condition of temporary craziness that grips women involved with wedding planning.

A good self-talking to (“Relax, it’s only a dress”) and a plan of action (“Go shopping”) put things back into perspective. When I finally went shopping for the dress two months before the event (which seemed like plenty of time to me), I discovered these sorts of special occasion dresses are typically ordered a minimum of three months in advance. ("Has everyone gone mad?" I wondered. "All these dresses, and I can't buy one off the rack?")

The wedding industry: form over substance

Weddings have become an industry, an economic driver of small proportions. Put the word “wedding” in front of something, and the price escalates. According to the website for Weddingbells magazine, there will be 156, 920 weddings this year in Canada at an average cost of $23,330. That’s an astounding 3,660,943,600!

Weddings are not only costly; the planning is time consuming, and for some, becomes a feverish obsession. Most of the planning focuses on the external elements that make the party special.

The wedding industry promotes form over substance. The goal for the wedding day is to transform everything. Decorations transform ordinary venues into magical places of beauty. Bridal gowns transform brides into princesses. Tuxedos, dresses and up-dos transform members of the bridal party into red carpet celebrities.

The ceremony, which should be the main event, plays second fiddle to the buzz of the party. This is obvious in the Weddingbells budget estimate. The estimate accounts for items such as the bridal gown, flowers, venue, cake, photography, videography, wedding bands, transportation, wedding favors, and DJ’s. Tellingly, there is no mention of a minister (religious or civil), church, or organist.

Towards a spirituality of marriage

All this leads me to wonder, are we, as a society losing sight of what weddings celebrate? 

To balance the obsessive craziness of wedding planning, couples and their families need to rediscover a spirituality of marriage. This is particularly important when 25% of first marriages end in divorce within 10 years.

A spirituality of marriage, whether in the religious or civil sphere, begins with pondering the meaning of the marriage vows, which are remarkably similar in both types of ceremonies. Through their vows, the couple freely gift themselves to each other. They promise to honor one another, care for one another in sickness and in health, and to forsake all others for the duration of their lives.

Married spirituality, and this may seem odd, looks like the Paschal mystery of Jesus, which is the experience of transformation through suffering, death and resurrection.

Dying to self to create a communion of persons

Marriage is the willingness to give your life for the one you love. Most of us will never have to physically die for our spouse. To create a life-giving marriage, both spouses have to die to the human tendency to focus on the self.

Marriage involves subduing the ego, liberating the self from the desire to be right, to control, to be dominant and to dominate. A spirituality of marriage places a premium on serving, rather than on being served.

Marriage welcomes the process of transformation. The self-centered “I” becomes the unified “we.” Two separate individuals become a communion of persons. Because life is full of daily annoyances that have the potential to create friction in a relationship, the process of transformation is ongoing throughout the life of a marriage.

The transforming experience of marriage takes effort. It’s not unlike planning for the party. A venue for a wedding is transformed for a day, and decorating it requires creative vision. The effect can be magical.

Creating a communion of persons, a “we” from two separate “I’s”, is magical, but it is not magic. It is a challenge for both spouses to accept. Both must embrace a spirituality of transformation from moment to moment, every day, year after year after year. Then, regardless of life’s ups and downs, the spouses share the joy of loving and being loved.

The love nurtured in marriage reaches out to family, friends, and the community. It calls the spouses outward to transform their world into a more loving and just society.

Wedding parties are fun, but the ceremony is the moment of significance. With the exchange of vows, two people commit themselves to becoming one in body, mind and spirit. The spiritual aspect of this union will be critical to the success of the body-mind relationship.

Stillness

Finding rest in stillness

Play

I chuckled as I ran by the local elementary school on a hot sunny day in late June. I don’t typically laugh when I’m running; I’m usually too busy gasping for air to even think about laughing. But this particular day, my heart laughed as I jogged by. 

It was sports day. Various stations were set up in readiness for the day’s events. The stations looked fun and I felt a childlike desire for play.

A few years ago, educators in the United Kingdom undertook an experiential study on play. A number of concerns prompted the study: high stress levels and depression in young children, poor academic performance, poor behavior, and inadequate social skills.

The educators made some remarkable discoveries when they equipped the playground with simple, everyday objects suitable for imaginative play. Student creativity increased. Playground fights decreased. Academic performance improved. Self-esteem rose; students took more risks academically and socially. Children were happier and less stressed when they had time for unstructured play.

That morning as I ran, I considered that as adults we either do not play enough, or our play fails to provide any measurable benefits. 

There are obvious reasons why adults ignore the importance of play. Family commitments, work, chores, and deadlines take priority over recreational activities. The expectations we impose on our self, or those that others impose on us, dominate our time.

When we do engage in leisure activities, we may not feel rested or refreshed. That round of golf was frustrating, the motor on the boat malfunctioned, or the kids were fighting. Despite all the money and time we spend on recreation, we often remain dissatisfied. 

Something, it seems, is lacking in our attitude towards leisure.

Sabbatical living

We can liken leisure to the biblical concept of the Sabbath. The Biblical explanation for the Sabbath goes back to the creation myth of Genesis. God created the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh. If rest was good for God, it was also good for people.

Initially, the Sabbath was a day of rest for everyone, including beasts of burden. Over time, a concept of sabbatical living evolved. The concept encompassed rest and relaxation, celebration with others, and sharing in God’s divine life. Periods of worship gave the individual and the community opportunities to pause, reflect, and connect with God. Attitudes of joy and thankfulness permeate sabbatical living.

The concept of sabbatical living reaches its fullness in the example and teaching of Jesus. When the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking Sabbath laws, Jesus replied, “The Sabbath was made for humankind” (Mark 2.27). Work and rest both have a purpose and fulfill a need in human life.

The Gospels record instances of Jesus working hard, going off for a meal and a glass of wine with his buddies, and withdrawing to a remote place to pray. Jesus balanced work, recreation, and leisure as a spiritual discipline. As a spiritual discipline, leisure was a form of personal re-creation that energized Jesus to return to his ministry with vigor and passion.

Leisure nourishes spirituality

Leisure can be for us a practice that nourishes spirituality, but it demands a shift in our attitude towards time. In a culture that often judges a person’s worth by the activity of their smart phone, leisure teaches that constant availability and activity is detrimental. In a society that makes a competition of busyness, leisure says to slow down.

In today’s social environment, we may feel compelled to buy into the busyness, even with our leisure time. Our vacations sometimes become such a swirl of activity that we return   home needing a rest.

Leisure encourages us to seek rest for our souls, to listen to the sounds outside of our self, and to see the world beyond our self.

Leisure asks that we stop running so that we might breath in deeply of the stillness that makes us receptive to God. In stillness, we encounter the presence of God in our self, in others, in our activities, and in the world around us. In stillness, we temporarily transcend our concerns. We re-emerge with new vision and energy.

If we approached leisure as a spiritual discipline that nourished stillness, I suspect that we would experience benefits similar to those that the children in the study experienced from play. If we could learn to rest our weary self in God, we would become more creative, productive, self-possessed, selfless, joyful and holy.