A MacCafe in Chiangmai

I am sitting in a MacCafe in Chiangmai, Thailand - but not a MacCafe as we know it! This one is part of a Mac computer shop! It is just across the road from the retreat centre Seven Fountains where I am for three weeks currently helping to run a ten day retreat for a group of 30 people from around Asia. I wish I could add photos but I am doing this from my iPad and the photos are on my camera. (photo below added later!)

So this isn't a very interesting Blog! But it feels fun to be blogging with free WiFi in a MacCafe!

"I would be glad..."

This Kabir poem tickled my fancy this morning - though more seriously it has an excellent point I want to remember!

You are sitting in a wagon being

drawn by a horse

whose reins 

you hold.

There are two inside of you 

who can steer.

Though most never hand the reins to Me

so they go from place to place the 

best they can, though

rarely happy.

And rarely does their whole body laugh

feeling God's poke

in the 

ribs.

If you feel tired, dear,

my shoulder is soft,

I'd be glad to steer 

awhile.

from Love Poems from God - Daniel Ladinsky

Contemplation as revolutionary

Some of you may know about the Spiritual Growth Ministries programme for the formation of spiritual directors. (If not check it out here.) In an email I received today in relation to this programme was the following quote from Archbishop Rowan Williams:

“… contemplation is very far from being just one kind of thing that Christians do:  it is the key to prayer, liturgy, art and ethics, the key to the essence of a renewed humanity that is capable of seeing the world and other subjects in the world with freedom – freedom from self-oriented, acquisitive habits and the distorted understanding that comes from them. To put it boldly, contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit.  To learn contemplative practice is to learn what we need so as to live truthfully and honestly and lovingly. It is a deeply revolutionary matter.”

 from The Archbishop's address to the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

I have great respect for Rowan Williams and his writing and preaching. Synchronistically he has been brought to my attention twice today! Someone read me a section of NT Wright's book Virtue Reborn where some years ago Rowan Williams was able to quietly defuse a strident protest group who broke into a crowded Cathedral service. Wright's observation was that Rowan Williams had so honed his character through regular spiritual practices that when a moment of crisis occurred he instinctively knew what to do. I expect that one of Williams's well honed practices was, and is, that of contemplation.

Kingdom people

I currently receive a daily quote from Richard Rohr. This one struck me particularly: I hope you’ve met at least one “Kingdom person” in your life. They are surrendered and trustful people. You sense that their life is okay at the core. They have given control to Another and are at peace, which paradoxically allows them to calmly be in control. A Kingdom person lives for what matters, for life in its deepest and lasting sense. There’s a kind of gentle absolutism about their lifestyle, an inner freedom to do what they have to do—joyfully. Kingdom people feel like grounded yet spacious people at the same time, the best of the conservative and the best of the progressive types at the same time. Kingdom people are anchored by their awareness of God’s love deep within them and deep within everyone else, too. They happily live on a level playing field, where even God has come to “pitch his tent” (the literal translation of John 1:14). Adapted from Jesus' Plan for a New World: The Sermon on the Mount, pp. 110-111

You Cannot Be What God Is Not

If you thought Thomas Aquinas was some dusty old theologian think again! In Love Poems from God Daniel Ladinsky has a wonderful way of selecting passages from many "Sacred voices from East and West" and translating or presenting them in bite sized pieces. Here's one from the aforementioned Thomas Aquinas:

You Cannot Be What God Is Not

All are having a relationship with God.

A pear taken from a limb and

set in a bowl,

surely it is talking to its Lord,

and happy that it is being honored for its life,

and somehow knowing

that soon it will be

returning to

Him.

We use words like "returning".

Think about that. Inherent in that word is

separation,

and separation from God is never

really possible.

What can you be that He is not? "You

cannot be what I am not,"

my Lord once said to me.

Prayer is Resonance

I am re-reading Richard Rohr's book The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See. It is well worth many "re-reads"! Today I was struck by his thought that the essence of prayer is resonance - being "on the same wavelength", "tuned in"... Here's part of what he says:

"The traditional and most universal word to describe a different access to truth was simply to "pray about something." But that lovely word "prayer" has been so deadened by pious use and misuse that we now have to describe this different mental attitude with new words. I am going to introduce a different word here, so you can perceive prayer in a fresh way, and perhaps appreciate what we mean by contemplation. The word is "resonance". Prayer is actually setting out a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is get tuned to receive the always present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance and the capacity for mutuality (Matthew 7:7-11). The Sender is absolutely and always present and broadcasting; the only change is with the receiver station.

Prayer is indeed the way to make contact with God/Ultimate Reality, but it is not an attempt to change God's mind about us or about events. Such attempts are what secularists make fun of - and rightly so. It is primarily about changing our mind so that things like infinity, mystery and forgiveness can resound within us. The small mind cannot see Great Things because the two are on different frequencies or channels, as it were. The Big Mind can know big things, but we must change channels. Like will know like.

...

Most simply put, as we've seen, prayer is something that happens to you. (Romans 8:26-27), much more than anything you privately do. It is an allowing of the Big Self more than an assertion of the small self. Eventually you will find yourself preferring to say, "Prayer happened and I was there" more than "I prayed to day". All you know is that you are being led, being guided, being loved, being used, being prayed through - and you are no longer in the driver's seat. God stops being an object of attention like any other object in the world, and becomes at some level your own "I am". You start knowing through, with and in Somebody Else. Your little "I am" becomes "We Are". Please trust me on this. It might be the most important thing I am saying in this book."

HeartMath

I've heard about HeartMath for a long time but only recently decided to delve into it a bit more. It is a well researched approach to health and wellbeing (physical, emotional, spiritual, lifestyle...) I know a GP who recommends it to her patients and someone highly qualified in education who has trained to present its application to schools - children and teachers.

If you are interested in exploring the many free resources here's a link to one page: http://www.heartmath.org/free-services/solutions-for-stress/index-of-all-solutions.html  From there you can see other free downloads in the side bar or go to the home page.

The "God Particle"?

I am fascinated by discoveries in science and cosmology. I am definitely an interested layperson with no expertise in the intricacies of any of it! But I am fortunate to be part of a Church community with some "real scientists". One of whom is Dr Jeff Tallon, a physicist who specializes in superconductivity.
He recently wrote an article for the Herald on the recent excitement about the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. If you missed it click here. He has an interesting line about the origin of the term "God particle"!

Whether or not we think this discovery brings us any closer to "understanding" God's creative activity, it certainly reminds me yet again of the amazing complexity of the universe. We (Ponsonby Baptist Church community) were encouraged - half jokingly I think - to see how the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle could lead to a call to worship. Several people responded and this prayer was used last Sunday as just that - a call to worship:

In the chaos of collision comes enlightenment.
From high speed disintegration we learn something more 

of the secrets of big bangs and new beginnings.

We collide: with life, with meaning, with others, 
with a vast and unknown darkness

Our chaotic thoughts shatter and decay

pinpricks of light making momentary marks on the vast screen of reality.

We collide with you God

In our chaos and brief flashes of registered presence

Grant us insight on what really counts

and peace to live with our short moments of lucidity and light

before the flash of existence and life becomes a faded memory.

                                                                                                (Thanks to Rob Kilpatrick)

Much food for thought here! 

I think this prayer lends itself to being used for a Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) meditation. If you are not familiar with that way to pray the simple steps are:

1. Read until a word or line draws your special attention. (Lectio)

2. Reflect on what that might be about for you. (Meditatio)

3. Respond in some way - a prayer, a cry, a commitment. (Oratio)

4. Rest in the awareness of God present in all of this. (Contemplatio)

(There is a much more detailed explanation of Lectio Divina here.)

Healing the Future

Following on my from my previous post about not giving up hope when the daily news seems full of atrocities... I recently bought the latest book by the Linns (Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Matthew Linn) They have written many books over the years - all with a healing theme. This one is called Healing the Future: Personal Recovery from Societal Wounding. On the back cover they say: "This book recounts a journey in which we were nearly overwhelmed by the toxic aspects of our society. As we noted what helped us we began giving retreats on "Healing the Future". Here we share how we and our retreatants recovered.
We are between two worlds. The world we've known, of competition, rewards and punishments, individualism and domination, is crumbling around us. A new world with different economic, political and spiritual assumptions is emerging. How can we live through this transition, in touch with our power to fulfill our dreams for ourselves and our children?
Based upon research in psychology, biology, spirituality, current affairs and other fields, this book also offers simple healing processes for facing the future with confidence and hope, drawing upon the inner wisdom that has guided us through 13.7 billion years of evolution." Denny, Sheila & Matt.

I have enjoyed all of the books written by the Linns over the years. This one is no exception. It particularly struck me that they have done a great job of blending vulnerable personal experience with rigorous research into so many current fields of expanding knowledge. Dennis and Sheila now have a son and they found themselves quite depressed about the future he might face. This I'm sure will be an experience shared by many parents. Matthew is a Jesuit priest (so was Dennis before his marriage.) All of their healing ministry is set in the context of deeply lived faith.

Nelson Mandela

The paragraph below is a quote from the Spiritual Directors' International newsletter to members. The writer had recently been in South Africa at an African spiritual directors' conference.

"On July 18, Nelson Mandela celebrates his ninety-fourth birthday. All over South Africa, I saw how people are preparing to pay him homage. On the chalkboard of the local restaurant, “Happy Birthday, Madiba!” is carefully scripted in bold rainbow colors. People gathered in the streets to be filmed singing happy birthday to be given as a gift on his special day. The Johannesburg Star newspaper asks, “What are you doing for Madiba’s birthday?”"


Nelson Mandela is another "living saint" in my view. He managed to maintain a courteous and compassionate manner even when imprisoned so unjustly for 27 years. That in itself is inspiring. I'm not sure I could remain courteous for 27 days when unjustly accused! Inspiring also is the fact that he never gave up his hope and belief that apartheid could be changed. He lived - and lives - to see this hope eventuate. To me this is a powerful reminder not to give in to despair when daily viewing the atrocities that still happen in many parts of the world (sadly this includes South Africa). 


I hope Mandela's birthday gets a mention in NZ on the 18th of this month. I am celebrating it in advance by renewing my commitment to "faith, hope and love" (1 Cor 13:13) in every situation however unlikely a positive outcome may seem.