A New Years Resolve

It’s almost here, 2015 is literally right around the corner. Meaning most of us (if we haven't already) are thinking about how to leave behind the mistakes of 2014 and grasp the possibilities of 2015. So, what is it about this particular day that makes many of us feel as though we should have high aspirations and lofty goals for the new year. Many people make new years resolutions year after year, such as: eat better, exercise more, budget smarter, drink less, be present. But, (according to Forbes Magazine) less than 40% of resolutions are actually carried out. With so many books, Apps, and electronic tools on the market to help us keep our resolutions, why aren't success rates higher? 

I believe this is due to the fact that most of us aren't ready or prepared to carry out our desired resolutions. We become so tied to a date (January 1) that too often we allow the cart to go before the horse. Furthermore, we may not have taken the time to truly examine ourselves, our needs, and our abilities to carry out our resolutions. And, too often we look to others and to society to tell us how we need to improve (often without even realizing it). We don’t look inward (or “upward”) to see where we are really being called to grow and change. 

I can remember many times where I have made resolutions that never made it past January 2. In fact, the only resolution I have ever actually succeeded to follow through on was one I made much after January 1. In the spring of 2011, feeling discontent and disconnected, I resolved to begin exercising. It began slowly, I would run a few times a week. Then I began practicing yoga. Each activity I added on slowly, until I was training for a 10k and working out with regular consistency. By the fall I was running, practicing yoga, lifting weights, and cycling. I can relate much of my success with this resolution to my own determination and desire, the support of my loving husband and family, and the gentle spirit I tried to maintain with myself as I continued on my journey towards feeling better and more whole.

Making resolutions is a good way to leave behind bad habits and look towards wholeness and true fulfillment in our lives. But, these resolutions must be for us, not for anyone else. And, they must be driven by the knowledge that we can make positive changes in our lives, that we are capable of reaching our goals. A positive attitude, clear plan, good support, and greater desire can lead us towards making changes that allow us to live into the full and whole beings God created us to be. God desires for us to be wholly fulfilled persons, who experience joy, peace, and love every day. As we look towards the new year let our desires and plans be led by the knowledge of God’s love and hope for us as we are created in the Imago Dei (Image of God). Let us resolve to keep the knowledge of God’s love for us close to our hearts, and have God’s desire for us to return to wholeness as our guide.

The Light is Coming...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

-John 1: 1-5

There is no manger. No cattle. No star. No shepherds. There's not even Mary and Joseph. For the writer of the Gospel of John there is only the Word. For the good news of John's whole Gospel, and the good news of this Christmas Day is summed up in this passage we just heard:  The Word through which all things came into being loved us so much, that it became human, taking on our fragility, our sadness, our joys. In this Christmas story there is only the Word, Jesus.

This, I'm not ashamed to admit, is my favorite Christmas story.  Because while the manger and the cattle and Mary and Joseph add something special, something we all can relate to, this story is not concerned with anything except this: the Word of God became human. Nothing else matters. And with this action God has changed the course of history; humanity and God are reconciled. Our story has become God's story, and vice versa.

John's Christmas story echoes the creation story in Genesis.  Just as God breaks through the darkness of chaos and says, "Let there be light," here the Logos, the Word, is the Light, the Light of all people, the Light of life, and it shines in the darkness. Jesus shines in the darkness. That is the Christmas message: the light of the world has stepped out into the world.

It is a world that we know can be a very dark place.  Notice that John does not say that the light comes to destroy the darkness, to dispel it.  The light merely shines in the darkness. But the good news John gives us this Christmas story is that Jesus, the light, is right there in the middle of the darkness, shining, standing beside us, holding our hand through whatever life may throw at us. And the darkness, John says, does not and will not overtake the light. There will always be darkness in the world.  The darkness of Isis in Syria and Iraq.  The darkness of racial tension and violent acts against young black men in Missouri, Staten Island, and Cleveland.  The darkness of young gay and lesbian men and women who end their lives because they are bullied and tormented because of who they are.  The darkness of hatred and violence in our Lord’s homeland.  Yes, there will always be darkness.  But the good news in the Christmas story given to us by the Fourth Gospel is that the darkness cannot and will not ever win.  Not ever!  It may not feel that way most of the time, but no amount of darkness in this world can destroy the Light of God, the Light of Christ.  Because the Christ Light, the everlasting light, the light that burned during those first moments of Genesis, has come into the world, and through his life, his death, and his resurrection, the powers of hell have vanished, death has lost its sting, and all things, including the darkness, are reconciled to God.

Christ comes into our world so that that same light might shine in us, that we may share that light with friend and stronger alike. Can you imagine a world where each of us knew with certainty that the Christ light shines in us?  Can you imagine a world where we actually treated others as though the Christ light shines in them too, especially those who have never been told that such a light is in them? There's a story about an old monk whose monastery was run down.  The community was splintered, and he didn’t know what to do.  So he visited an old rabbi, said to be the wisest man in the village. The monk asked the rabbi for guidance, some kind of help to save the monastery.  The rabbi's response:  the Messiah is in your midst.  The old monk was shocked.  He took the news back to his brothers.  Not knowing which of them could be the Messiah, the brothers treated each other, and everyone that visited that old monastery, as though each was Christ himself.  And the community thrived.  I suspect that that is the Christmas hope, that the same light that broke through the darkness may be the light we let shine in our own lives, the light that we actively seek out in the face of the Other, whoever that may be.  And each year on this day that hope returns.  It is the hope that that light may be born anew in us, so that we may transform this darkened world.

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the light of the world, has come to earth so that we may all know the love of God, so that we may share that love with the world.  Emmanuel. God with us. Still with us. So come, let us adore him. Let us adore the light of the world. Let us adore the light that shines in the darkness, the light that shines in you, me, and them. Come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. 

Coming out of darkness

         Throughout my home is a sundry collection of items passed down to me by my Jewish family. My father's prayer shawl and yarmulke are stored for safe keeping. A Hebrew bible and a crystal dreidel (a top that spins) stand in a glass-fronted bookcase. There are also menorahs, candlelabras with places for nine candles. One place stands off to the side or higher than the other eight. The candle that burns in that particular place is called the Shamas, the leader. The menorah is used in the celebration of the joyous Jewish holiday of Chanukah.

          Last night was the first of the eight nights of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. This eight-day holiday celebrates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century BCE. The history of Chanukah begins when Alexander the Great had conquered Syria, Egypt and Judea. Alexander allowed the conquered to continue to practice their faiths and so the Jews were content to practice their faith while they integrated into the Hellinistic culture of the ruling Greeks. However, more than a century later, Antiocus Epiphanes followed in the line of successors to Alexander the Great and rose to power. Antiocus had no patience for the Jews. He took over the Temple and desecrated it, demanding that pigs, considered by the Jews to be unclean animals, be slaughtered on the altar of the Temple. Eventually , groups of Jews banded together and led by Judas Macabee, formed an army that reclaimed the Temple. Now, above the Ark of the Covenant is a light called the Ner Tamid, the everlasting light. According to the Talmud, that light is to burn continuously. However, the Ner Tamid had burned out days after Antiocus took control of the Temple. The Jews, while cleaning the Temple in preparation for its rededication, found a small amount of oil to put in the Ner Tamid, though it was enough to burn only for a few days. A runner was sent to secure pure oil for the light. Miraculously, the small amount of oil in the lamp burned for eight days, the number of days it took the runner to go and return with the new oil. 

          On each night of Chanukah, the lead candle, the Shamas,  and one more candle are lit to commemorate  each night of the holiday. On the first night, the shamas and one other candle is lit. On the second night, the shamas and two candles are lit and so it goes for each of the eight nights.

          Chanukah reminds the Jews of a time when God prevailed over evil, when out of the darkness came light- a miracle from God. In the dirt and desecration of the Temple, enough oil was found to keep the everlasting light lit until new oil could be found. Chanukah reminds the Jew of God's perpetual watch-care over His children.

          As I sit here listening to the joyous strains of Messiah, I think about Advent and our time of preparation and expectation as we await the celebration of the miracle that happened that night- the birth of the infant Jesus, the time when out of the darkness came the one true light, Jesus. Just as God allowed the Jews to prevail over evil during the time of the Macabees, so God  allows us to prevail over the evil that besets us through the love of Christ Jesus , born that Christmas night when the light of God came into the world.

          As we enter into these last days of Advent,  may we use this season to prepare our hearts and our souls for the birth of the Son of God and may we rededicate ourselves to the honor and glory of his holy name. 
   
          

          

Thin Places

     Thomas Merton says that life is this simple – “we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time.”   If we are open, we can see this frequently.  Marcus Borg describes these places where the two levels of reality meet as thin places.  It is also a place where our hearts are open.

     The season of Advent in which we anticipate and celebrate the incarnation is an opportunity to slow down and open our hearts to walk into these thin places where the veil separating the worlds is temporarily lifted.  These are stop in your tracks kind of moments.

     A few weeks ago I was given such an opportunity.  I traveled with a very small band of pilgrims to the Abby of Gethsemane.  I had been there before but never was allowed to go back into Merton’s hermitage.  A group went a number of years ago but I was not able to go.  You see only a small number are allowed at a time.

     Because of studying Merton for years and finding a true mentor, I have felt as though I have known him though I never knew him in the flesh.  I traveled the grassy hills of Kentucky that morning with expectation though I knew not what I was expecting.  On arriving we saw a film of Merton’s life and of the monastery.   After having lunch, Brother Paul led us on the walk back to the hermitage.

     As I crested the hill and caught a glimpse of this humble cinder block dwelling, I was stopped in my tracks. This was the place where a predecessor had come close to God and God had come close to him.   I literally did not want to make another step.  It was as if I could hear God’s voice saying, “take off your shoes, you are standing on holy ground.”  The emotion welled up within me and I longed to be alone with my tears.  The veil had temporarily been parted for me.

     The rest of our adventure was wonderful but that one moment was stopped in time for me.  I have thought a lot about that experience.  I imagine that those times are available daily, I just do not carry the same expectation and my heart is not always open.  I do believe that there are some physical places that may be thinner than others but I also believe that our ordinary places are on fire with the presence continuously.  We just may be too busy and distracted to see them. 

     That time taught me to walk expectantly every day with an open heart, in the humblest of tasks.  Let us do this together during Advent.   I believe we will all run into a thin place during this time of celebrating the incarnation – God with us.

P.S. I hope that there will be another opportunity for another group to venture to the hermitage.  I already know a few who would like to go!  

Haiku Meditation

Recently a group from Christ Church Cathedral went to the Abbey of Gethsemani, and I had the opportunity to tag along. It was a spectacular fall day. Dr. Glenn Hinson, who has a very close relationship with the monks of Gethsemani, and who was a personal friend of Thomas Merton, led the way. Glenn had arranged for a friend of his at the Abbey, Brother Paul Quenon, OCSO, to give us a tour of the Hermitage where Merton spent much time.

The Hermitage is a very, very humble abode. Like the Abbey, prayer hangs in the air of the Hermitage like incense rising from glowing charcoal. Brother Paul is man of good cheer who was happy to hike with us into the woods that cradle the Hermitage and to answer our many questions.

Brother Paul also told us of his spiritual practice of taking time to be intentionally fully present to God and to the moment, and of how he often writes haikus as part of this spiritual discipline. The form of haiku he writes is a line of 5 syllables, a line of 7 syllables, and then a line of 5 syllables. He shared several from his tattered notebook.

While I perused the amazing store at Gethsemani, I noticed a wonderful little book that Brother Paul authored with 2 others entitled, “The Art of Pausing.” It is a book of the 99 names of God, with one of Brother Paul’s haikus, a short meditation and sometimes a photograph to illuminate each name of God. I have enjoyed reading one of the names, haikus and meditations each day.

This afternoon I was given a gift in this hectic time of the year to simply be present in the moment. Our Deacon, The Reverend Paula Ott, helps to care for her granddaughter, Elizabeth (9 months old), while Elizabeth’s parents are at work. Due to a meeting at the Cathedral that Paula needed to attend, I offered to watch Elizabeth in my office. Little Elizabeth and I played with some of her toys, and then she was hungry for a bottle. After the formula was gone she promptly fell asleep on my lap. I knew that if I moved Elizabeth would wake up, so there we sat on the couch in my office, a gift of time to be fully present in that moment. And so to barrow a spiritual practice from Brother Paul, here is my first haiku to meditate on that moment with little Elizabeth.

Baby sleeps on lap

Lap owner snoozes on couch

Both are at peace now

Peace be with you.

The Reverend Brent Owens+