Unconditional Love

Loving and Making God’s Unconditional Love Visible

“Whenever, contrary to the world’s vindictiveness, we love our enemy, we exhibit something of the perfect love of God. Whenever we forgive instead of getting angry at one another, bless instead of cursing one another, tend to one another’s wounds instead of rubbing salt into them, hearten instead of discouraging one another, give hope instead of driving one another to despair, hug instead of harassing one another, welcome instead of cold-shouldering one another, thank instead of criticizing one another, praise instead of maligning one another...in short, whenever we opt for and not against one another, we make God’s unconditional love visible; we are diminishing violence and giving birth to a new community.”—Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

I share pictures of those I know who give unconditional love, members of my family, and, of course, Christ, even on the cross.

My image is that I am a loving person.

Nouwen proves me wrong.

 I rarely love my enemies or anyone who harms me, my family, or my friends.

 I am just scraping the surface of forgiveness.

I bless less frequently, as my excuse is that deacons are not supposed to bless! Sounds like a Pharisee!

I know subtle ways to rub salt into wounds.

I also have mastered the cold shoulder.

 I often forget to thank others for what they do. 

I try to encourage others and offer hope, especially to those grieving. However, I could do better by encouraging and offering hope to those I disagree with.

So, Nouwen has given us a Lenten list of loving and unloving practices to pray that the Spirit will change in us.

I also have a part. I am to stop and pause when I have the opportunity to show love or not show love in a multitude of daily situations.

 Let us pray that we may love each other.

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

Phyllis Tickle: Divine Hours

Phyllis Tickle: Divine Hours

“Prayer is a nonlocative, non-geographic space that one enters at one’s own peril, for it houses God during those few moments of one’s presence there, and what is there will most surely change everything that comes into it.” —Jon Sweeney, ed., Phyllis Tickle in Phyllis Tickle: Essential Spiritual Writings (Church Publishing, 2018), p. 93.

Phyllis  Tickle’s birthday is March 12th. She died in September 2015. Every year, I try to remember this outstanding writer who took time out of her amazing schedule to help me with my writing for so many years.

Phyllis Tickle, founding religion editor of Publishers Weekly, was a prolific writer and incredible lecturer, rarely speaking from notes. She was also a great mentor and friend. My thank-yous to her are feeble attempts to continue the kindness and encouragement she showed me.

She is remembered for her analysis of the Emergent Christian Church, but I most treasure her Divine Hours, a series of books that observe the fixed hours of prayer for spring, summer, fall, and winter.   

I know she not only wrote about it, but she also practiced it. I remember seeing her slipping away at meetings for a few minutes to pray at one of the fixed hours: morning, midday, vespers, or compline. Phyllis’s books allow us to follow a set prayer time, no matter where we are in time or place. She brought an ancient rule of life into the modern world and reminded us how this would change our lives. She taught us that we would never be the same after experiencing the practice.

I am not as faithful as Phyllis, but I practice the fixed hours of prayer at certain seasons of the year, sometimes for only a week or a month, and sometimes for a whole season.

Lent is an excellent time to start.

Joanna    https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Praying Lectio Divina

Praying Lectio Divina

 “Lectio Divina means Divine Reading. It is a prayerful way to read scripture or any spiritual writing.
 Read -- Read Deeply
 Read a scripture passage slowly and profoundly and hear every word’s sound and meaning. Imagine that God is speaking to you through these words. Listen attentively to see which word or phrase catches your attention and speaks to you and your life.
 Meditate – Think, imagine deeply
Take what caught your attention from your reading and think deeply about it using your imagination. Imagine what it meant to those at that time who first heard it. Why is this important to you, your tradition, your experience, and your life today? What about it particularly moves you?
Pray -- Pray from the Heart
If your heart is moved or your emotions are touched, go with those feelings and offer them to God in prayer.
 Contemplate -- Rest
Fall into the love of God and the love from God that was generated. Rest in silence. Just be.
Finally, memorize or copy the thought that moved you, and try to remember it from time to time during the day.
Journal, if possible, about what happened during the prayer.”

Modified from the Community of Reconciliation at Washington National Cathedral and the Friends of St. Benedict.

 Lectio Divina is an ancient Benedictine practice of reading the scriptures, similar to centering prayer, which cultivates contemplative prayer. It was practiced in monasteries during St. Benedict’s time. This is a time-honored way to connect with God through reading scripture, prayer, meditation, and contemplation, or listening for God. If your tradition has fixed lectionary readings for Sunday, practice Lectio Divina with one or all of the readings daily as your discipline or in a group.

In her book, A Tree Full of Angels, Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary, Macrina Wiederkehr writes extensively about Lectio Divina, calling it “plowing up the field of the soul.” As her guide, she uses a quote from Benedictine Abbot Marmion: “Read under the eye of God until your heart is touched, then give yourself up to love.” She uses imagery in the process and waits for a mantra, a holy word, a phrase, or a sentence that may stay. She then carries that word or phrase with her during the day. Finally, she describes giving yourself to God as surrender, melting into God.

We will study how to practice Lectio divina using Praying in Color during our Diocese of Arkansas Daughters of the King Prayer Retreat at Camp Mitchell on February 28th.

Joanna    https://www.joannaseibert.com/