Spiritual Compass

Spiritual Compass

“Within each one of us, there is a spiritual compass. It always points toward the good, toward what is holy. The compass is made of our values, what we believe and hold sacred. Over the years, our experience makes the compass within us even more accurate, refining our ability to seek the right direction in life, making us even more sensitive to the pull of compassion and common sense.

Therefore, we do not have to be afraid that we will get lost, wandering the wilderness of this age. We only have to follow where our heart leads, and our reason points the way.”—Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook post.

Cynthia Bourgeault would likely agree with Steven Charleston on the importance of a spiritual compass. She calls it an inward GPS (Global Positioning System), similar to the one we use in our car to get us to the correct location. We need to know where we are—and then the address of where we want to go—and the GPS will get us there.

Sometimes, we are unsure about where we are, but we have a clear idea of where we want to go. Our primary goal, above all, is to maintain our connection to God. I love it when our ideal location is not yet on the map, and the GPS takes us as close as possible. This may also be true regarding our spiritual life.

Bourgeault calls our heart a “God Positioning System.” When it is attuned and turned on, it allows us to achieve balance in a completely different way: by perceiving things as separate and differentiating them from one another, perceiving the whole, and discerning our place within it. For Bourgeault, attuning to this spiritual GPS occurs through the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer. My own GPS is writing. We are each called to find which spiritual practice best connects us to God. Also, please note that the details may change from time to time.

Cynthia Bourgeault, The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity (CAC, 2004), disc 4.

 Cynthia Bourgeault, “How Change Happens” in Transgression (CAC, 2014), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 86.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

Buechner: Memory, Eucharist, Jesus

Buechner: Memory, Eucharist, Jesus

“There are two ways of remembering. One way is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The other way is to summon the dead past back into the living present. The young widow remembers her husband, and he is there beside her. When Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ he was not prescribing a periodic slug of nostalgia.”
—Frederick Buechner in Wishful Thinking (Harper & Row, 1973).

Buechner gives us two ways to remember: going back and bringing memories forward. Returning to past memories can allow us to relive a scene from our lives. Anthony de Mello writes that perhaps that scene was too powerful to experience the first time. As we relive it, we can participate in it again and again, each time gaining a greater sense of its meaning.

Bringing memories forward is like doing active imagination with a living friend or someone you deeply loved who has died. You imagine the person’s presence with you. My experience is that sometimes we feel that presence even without trying to imagine it.

Buechner believes that when Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24b), He was calling us to bring Him back into our presence—to know and feel His love, so we might go out and bring others in to share in this love. 

Some believe Jesus is present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Others believe that bread and wine are messengers or symbols that remind us of Jesus’ presence and love in our lives. Either way, the God of love is present.

Receiving the Eucharist is one of the most significant liturgical sacraments that many people missed during the pandemic’s isolation period. Jesus is still beside us and within us, but we are learning that the symbol of this presence is more powerful and more needed than we recognized. Perhaps, in our remembering, we can return to previous times or bring Jesus forward, letting him know that we believe with all our hearts that he is very present within and beside us.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

 

Vamping

Vamping

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life, bringing peace, abolishing strife.”―Kahlil Gibran.

 Once a week, I played harp duets with a highly talented harpist who tolerated my missed or absent notes and tried to teach an old harpist new tricks and fingering.

One year, Pam also taught me an unfamiliar word: vamping. She said, “I will vamp you in.” She plays a brief series of chords before I start my part of the piece. I definitely like the word. Vamping. It means playing a simple chord or beat, usually before someone else begins, and then perhaps continuing to play the background chords quietly as the other player takes the melody.

I think this best describes a meeting with a spiritual friend. I may ask a simple question, such as, “Where did you see God in your life today?” I may then repeat the question when the subject seems to change. Often, I keep praying that the Holy Spirit will guide us. These prayers are my chords.

Vamping also describes the ministry as a deacon. Deacons identify needs in the world and then share them with others in their congregation. We then support and lead others into that ministry, as they become passionate about it as well.

Our job is to stay connected to the beat as we listen for the rhythm and melody of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us and those we support. We remain in the background, supporting and undergirding others in ministry. We keep the beat going, listening and praying to hear and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, who guides and directs both of us.