Wisdom and Children

Wisdom of Children

“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”—Isaiah 11:6.

There are many Bible stories that highlight the wisdom and leadership of children and youth. An adolescent boy leads Saul to Samuel (1 Samuel 9). Baby Moses’ sister, Miriam, keeps watch over him until Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and suggests a “nurse” for him (Exodus 2:1-10). A young Israelite girl, captured and held captive, tells Naaman’s wife about Elisha, who can cure his leprosy (2 Kings 5). In the Gospel of John, Andrew brings a young boy with five barley loaves and two small fish to Jesus to feed five thousand people (John 6:1-14). I know there are more stories. Help me remember them. 

As a children’s physician and now a grandmother, I find the significance of children evident every day. Children teach us about joy. They model awareness. They show us how to live in the moment. Their connection to the sacred often seems to be on a shorter string than ours.

As a parent, I was so worried about raising my children “right” that I often missed their wisdom as they grew up. However, I do remember one time when I listened to my young daughter and set aside my busy work to go outside and see the rainbows in our lawn sprinkler—after she came running in to tell me about all the rainbows outdoors.

My grandchildren are growing up too fast. Langley, our oldest, has moved to New York City to study law. Her brother, Mac, became engaged over Labor Day weekend. In this picture, a younger Zoe has now graduated from Tulane and is working at the Tulane Library. Turner and Gray will be college juniors. Elizabeth is a senior in high school. I don’t want to miss a single moment I might have with any of them. 

I also loved being part of the children at the Cathedral School when I was assigned to Trinity Cathedral.

I am now a deacon at St. Mark’s, which has a Day School. I cherish every opportunity to spend time with these preschoolers. I love how they fold their tiny hands and kneel to pray in Chapel. Sometimes their heads are bowed. Sometimes they look up with wonder, seeking to “get” what this new adventure is about. For twenty-five years, we have helped with Vacation Bible School. The children teach us more about God and God’s love than most books on my bookshelf, as they share their connection to God. 

When people come to me for spiritual direction, I always recommend spending time with children, especially one-on-one, to learn more about God’s love. Barbara Brown Taylor suggests getting down on the floor with them. Unfortunately, I can no longer do that, but I can still sit and listen to their stories, share meals, throw kisses, and give hugs. I also love watching movies with them and, whenever I see them, remind them that we love them and that they are beautiful inside and out. 

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

Ezekiel: Shower Chant, Breaking the Heart of Stone

Ezekiel: Shower Chant, Breaking Heart of Stone

“I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you.”—Ezekiel 36:25-27a.

I am up early, watching the light come in as gentle rain sounds outside my window and on our roof. I can imagine this rain cleansing our planet and my heart. Maybe later, I will have the courage to go outside, stand or sit, feel the rain on my face, hair, and clothes, and pray for a heart of flesh instead of stone, just for this day.

One of the first priests I worked with when I was a deacon in training told me he chanted a few verses from Ezekiel in the shower each morning. I think of and pray for him each time I recite these words, which I first encountered in the alternative Canticles in Morning Prayer in Enriching our Worship I (Church Publishing, 1998).

As I talk with spiritual friends who confide their concerns about the heart of stone they carry, I also let them know that I suffer from the same dis-ease. My experience is that our responsibility is to recover awareness of when we cannot feel the Spirit within us and our hearts turn to stone. Awareness is a significant gift that God calls us to develop and discern. Only God can change our hearts. We can only pray to be open to God changing our hearts every day. We also seek relationships with others who desire a heart of flesh, not stone, and we pray for one another.

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

Reading the Bible Again

Reading the Bible Again

“We don’t go brain dead when we read the Scriptures. We need not hesitate to use our intellects—informed by many disciplines—as we approach the Scriptures. How does what you are reading in the Scriptures resonate with your own life experience? If not, then what? The Anglican approach is to be on good speaking terms with Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.”—Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE, from “Brother, Give Us a Word,” a daily email sent to friends and followers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE.org). 

The Bible is a library of many books. It is our road map, not the final destination. It contains many writings from people seeking a connection to God. We have so much to learn from them. We relate to their struggles, joys, sorrows, and the peace they find through a deep connection to God. The Bible is the story of God’s relationship with God’s people. That’s all of us. 

We are continually amazed at how a passage can mean something different to us when we read it a week, a year, or later. This experience happens when we relate our lives, the lives of those around us, and the world around us to what we are reading in Scripture. 

Br. Almquist asks us to use our intellect to reflect on what we read in Scripture. What was going on in the lives of the people when these books were written? Were they being persecuted? How different are our lives today from theirs? How are they the same?

Find out what other sources say. Br. Almquist asks us to use our reason and experience. How does our history help us understand what we are reading? We also have a rich tradition of holy mothers and fathers who have struggled and inwardly digested Holy Scripture. We are to investigate what they have to say.

I have always believed the Holy Spirit did not stop working after the many books of the Bible were written. The Holy Spirit works in us and in those with whom we live in community, helping us read and hear Scripture and discern what it says today in the twenty-first century.

My tradition encourages us to read from the Hebrew Bible each day, along with one Psalm, one New Testament letter, and one Gospel passage. 

Here is my confession: I try to follow this rule. Sometimes I skip parts. Sometimes I read only the first and last verses of the Psalm and use them as a mantra for the day. Other times, I choose just one reading, especially when it is part of a continuing story in the Hebrew Bible. 

I love biblical narratives, such as the story of Queen Esther, even though God is never mentioned in that book. I also try to follow the adventures of Paul and the early Christians—again, more stories. Some have become old friends, as in a recent reading about Paul meeting Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth after they fled Rome. I do what I can. I have stopped beating myself up for not reading it all. I am learning that the Holy Spirit will speak to me in whatever measure I can receive. My job is to remain faithful to the connection. I confess that I am sometimes committed and sometimes less faithful, but something leads me to keep striving.

Joanna joannaseibert.com