Love Thy Neighbor

Love Thy Neighbor

“We are all rooted together in the ground of consciousness that is God’s gift to all of us, and our joining is absolute. When the Islamic mullah prays with a true and quiet heart, I believe the souls of the Iowa farmer and the Welsh miner are touched. When the gong sounds in the Japanese monastery and the monks enter the timeless silence of Zazen, their quiet nourishes the Brazilian native and the Manhattan executive. When Jews and Christians pray with true willingness, the Hindu scientist and the Russian policeman are enriched.”—Gerald G. May in Will and Spirit (HarperOne, 1982), pp. 319–320.

 Many authors remind us of our connection to Nature and the world around us. Others remind us of our relationship with the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely. Gerald May reminds us of our connection to other religions—how the Spirit moves in so many different paths that we do not understand. Too deep for words. 

There is more here than just recognizing God at work in so many varied ways. May also tells us that this Spirit intimately connects us. What we do to further the Spirit, to connect to God in our own day, in our own way, makes a difference across the globe in some distant rainforest.

Again, this relationship is a profound mystery beyond our knowing. Sometimes, when I read this passage from May, I can sit and almost feel the Iowa farmer working his black dirt, a reminder of our four years spent in Iowa City training. Then, I try to cross the Atlantic to England. I can connect to the shepherd, his dogs, and sheep striding through green pastures, since we have made several trips to England and Scotland.

Due to our current political situation, I am finding it increasingly challenging to connect with the people in Russia. I have never been there, but I have always wanted to visit St. Petersburg to see Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son in the Hermitage Museum. So, the next time I watch a newscast from Russia, I will look at it and try to imagine the people there instead of the leaders. I think this could make a difference. Perhaps they are doing the same for us.

I am also reminded of Arkansas’ Interfaith Friendship Camp, where children of all different religions come to play and learn about each other’s traditions.

Saint Mark’s also hosted an interfaith service, “Love Thy Neighbor,” on Thursday, September 11th, that connected us to the music and dancing of so many faith traditions. Afterward, we shared a meal together.

An Ancient Prayer Wheel to Say Our Prayers

An Ancient Prayer Wheel to Say your Prayers

“Sometimes returning to ancient sources is exactly what we need to renew our spiritual lives.”—Payton Dodd, Jana Riess, and David Van Biema in “Foreword,” The Prayer Wheel: A Daily Guide to Renewing Your Faith with a Rediscovered Spiritual Practice (Convergent, 2018).

Three renowned religious writers collaborate to present a meditative method utilizing the ancient practice of the prayer wheel. The medieval Liesborn Wheel consists of four concentric bands, each containing the Lord’s Prayer, the Hebrew Bible’s Gifts of the Spirit from Isaiah, Events in the Life of Jesus, and the Beatitudes. Each of these four texts is divided into seven stepping stones. Together, these texts comprise a complete vocabulary of faith.

The seven phrases or petitions, or stepping stones, are spiritual tools or disciplines that put us in a position to connect with the God within us. The authors suggest journeying around the wheel as a daily prayer practice.

The wheel can also be used topically for special occasions, in times of grief, to offer gratitude, or to pray for others. Its use is appropriate in times of joy, discernment, or needing forgiveness. The wheel can aid prayers for healing, hope, praise, and calmness. It can also be a guide for Bible study. There are endless possibilities.

The invitation to return to this ancient source presents an opportunity for all who wish to explore alternative approaches to experiencing contemplative prayer.

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

 

 

Willingness and Surrender

Gerald May V: Willingness and Surrender

Return of the Prodigal Son. National Cathedral Washington

“The gentlest form of spiritual narcissism is the idea that one can accomplish one’s own spiritual growth. ‘I can do it.’”—Gerald G. May in Will and Spirit (HarperOne, 1982), p. 115.

In Will and Spirit, Gerald May writes about struggles in our world today and the many battles within ourselves. We will likely face issues with will, willingness, control, and surrender in our spiritual lives. Whenever we start our spiritual journey with willingness, as soon as we are aware of some spiritual growth, we become vulnerable to spiritual narcissism: the unconscious use of spiritual practices to increase our self-importance. We try to become holy, assuming we can accomplish our own spiritual growth. This becomes willfulness masquerading as willingness.

When we recognize our own self-interest in participating in charitable works, our actions and gifts will be more effectively given and received. But, on the other hand, sin occurs when self-image and personal willfulness become so vital that one forgets, represses, or denies one’s absolute connectedness and grounding in the God within us, the power who creates and sustains the cosmos and who placed in us that yearning.

May encourages us to let attachments come or go rather than constantly clinging to them. We must be aware of our need for self-importance; thus, he cautions us against immediately leaping to shore ourselves up. He places less emphasis on coping and mastery, and more on waking up to whatever is happening in the present moment.

As we surrender some of our self-importance, we make friends with mystery. Even though we may not always find God when we sacrifice our self-importance, May believes that as we lose our need for self-importance, we realize that God has already found us. We will experience more spontaneity and awareness when we are not driven to perform, and can let things flow when we no longer need to be defined through self-judgment or evaluation of our own actions.  

May reminds us that spirituality cannot be a means to end our discomfort.

Spiritual growth must be a way into life, not an escape from it. God calls us to be in the world, not of the world. But, unfortunately, this side of the world may be uncomfortable.

I share this familiar statue of the Return of the Prodigal Son in the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral. It is an icon of surrender and willingness for both the son and the father. They are our role models.

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