Monday, February 15, 2016

Serve thee with a quiet mind


During the season of Lent, our liturgy concludes with a Lenten prayer over the people. I'm not sure how it came to pass that these short prayers took the place of the blessing during Lent, but one of them sticks out for me.  The prayer asks that we might serve God 'with a quiet mind.'  Boy, do I ever need that!


I don't know about you, but my mind is hardly ever quiet.  It is the brain, after all. Like all of the organs of the body, it works 24/7.  Some organs manufacture blood cells or bile or glucose or whatever (I'm not a doctor). At any rate, you get my point. The organs exist to produce something. What does the brain produce? Thoughts. Constantly. Always. Even when sleeping, our brain is busy doing what the brain does, creating thoughts. No wonder it's hard to get our brains to slow down or, as the prayer says, to be quiet.

Meditation can help. First of all, meditation acknowledges that our brains are an ongoing stream of activity. Meditation isn't about stopping this activity. It does, however, help us manage our thoughts. By observing them, we see them for what they are. Sometimes thoughts are helpful, sometimes, they're singularly unhelpful. Our thoughts can take us to helpful places, but at times, the cycling, irrational, unrealistic thoughts can drive us into places of anger and self-judgement.  Meditation, breathing, prayer, yoga, times of quiet help us cultivate a quiet mind. With a quiet mind, we can be more rational about who we are and what we're facing. When we observe our thoughts, not control them, we gain some distance and our reactions to them are more balanced. The beginning point of meditation is accepting that we'll never stop or control what the brain is doing. Through practice, we can, however, change how we react to what the brain is doing.

Ultimately, our lives, and the world would be a better place if more people would take the time to observe what their brains are doing. If we were better at managing pain, or fear, or anger - if we didn't pick up a gun when we felt threatened - if we just gave ourselves a little more space between how we feel and how we react - more people would be alive and we would be at each others tables instead of at each others throats.

Truth be told, a complex organ creates a complex product. Accepting all that the brain is thinking and doing takes patience and practice - years of practice. I admit, we need our brains to do what it does and, hopefully, we'll never stop our brain from doing it. Even still, we can be more in touch with how it drives us into places of anxiety or places of peace. Slowing down the mind is about acceptance - accepting that we are creative beings, that we have a lot of power, and that have a choice of how we use that creative power . . . for good, or for ill.

May we all serve God, each other, our planet, and ourselves with quiet, gentle minds.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

The Widow's Mite

SERMON The Widow's Mite

I preached this sermon the first Sunday after I returned from my sabbatical. After being away three months, I was honored that my companion in the pulpit would be the widow from St. Mark's Gospel (12:38-44). Having spent two weeks in Jerusalem, I could easily imagine what this woman looked like. I could imagine the busy-ness of the Old City, and how it would have been easy for her to have been overlooked and ignored - lost in the crowds. But someone noticed. And now, she continues to be a model and teacher for us all.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Sidewalks, Ashes, and Blessings

You may have seen me on Wednesday. I was the one dressed in black walking up and down the sidewalk in front of Trinity Episcopal Church on Kirkwood.  I was there to offer Ashes and a Blessing to the folks walking by. Even though I looked like some fictional, overcharged preacher shouting "Repent!" I was not. Instead, I was thinking and wondering about what it means to offer a blessing to the community. So, I wandered the sidewalks, a visible reminder that on this particular day, the day known as Ash Wednesday, the Church began a very important season - the season of Lent.

Even though I wasn't shouting "Repent," repentance is a part of the season of Lent. Unfortunately, the word is startling. It hits like a smack across the cheek. The subtext of the command to repent is that we are terrible, horrible people, that we have done something wrong, or that we need a complete overhaul on how we live our lives. The subtext of the message is one of judgment.

Not helpful.

The great Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, says that a most basic Buddhist teaching is learning how not to cause harm to ourselves or to others. Whether you are a religious person or a spiritual person, I hope that you agree with this teaching. And even though the 'R' word is loaded with negative Christian-y, religious-y baggage, it is an important ingredient in living lives that are productive and non-violent.

You might think of hearing the word more gently. From the Greek metanoia,  it simply means a change of mind or a change of the inner person. Seen from this angle, repentance simply means to examine how we, by our actions or lifestyle, are doing harm to ourselves or to others. Repentance calls us to slow down, to breath, to meditate, to pay attention. In being more attentive, we become aware of what we are doing to our bodies. We become aware of the pace at which we move through life, or the relationships that aren't healthy or generative. Lent gives us the space to sit with what causes hope and with what causes fear. In doing so, we live into God's call to each of us to live healthy, connected, honest lives.

In my tradition, Lent was a time of education. It was a time when people who had fallen away from community were allowed to reenter. We still use Lent as a time of education, exploration, and education. It is a time to free ourselves from the chains that keep us from moving fully forward into life. Are we doing harm to ourselves or to others? Do any of our patterns need to come to a graceful conclusion? What is serving us? What is not? These are the questions that we ask ourselves during Lent, and we trust that in the midst of these questions, God is shaping a humanity that is kinder and gentler.

Some priests think that offering ashes on the sidewalk waters down the experience; they don't like the idea of offering ashes 'on the go.' I used to be one of those priests. I still believe strongly in the value of regular worship, of slowing down and creating intentional space for our spiritual practices. A Church creates a space to retreat - to take out your earbuds, leave your coffee cup behind, take a few deep breaths, focus on how God is reaching out to you, and yes, even repent of the wrongs we have done. At the same time, I think it is the role of the Church to offer a blessing, and sometimes that happens in unexpected places, in the real world, outside of the warmth and comfort of our sanctuaries.

So, I guess I can't wander the streets every day and smear ashes on peoples' foreheads. I can, though, offer a blessing. As the Church, we are here to be a place of blessing and to give that blessing away. It is a blessing of Peace, a blessing of Hope, a blessing of Presence, and a blessing of a God who wants each of us to flourish.

In whatever faith community or dwelling you find yourself this Lenten season, I hope you are learning something new about who you are, about who your neighbor is, and about who God is.

Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, may you be blessed, and may you be a blessing to others.