Into Darkness

  Into Darkness

Guest Writer: Gary Kimmel

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,’ darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.” Psalm 139: 11-12. 

“In my mind, church talk about an association of darkness with evil and goodness with light made no sense.”  Barbara Holmes in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation: The Wisdom of Darkness, 29 December 2021.

jeanne fry. moonlight

If the psalmist is correct, why is darkness often associated with evil in scriptural settings? There can be no question that bad things happen in the dark and that emotional and spiritual darkness can invade our being. These aspects of darkness should not be discounted. And yet, darkness can also be a place of great and even unexpected beauty.

Darkness presents us with opportunities to experience God’s unimaginable love: the stillness when the world has settled for the day, the beauty of an unhindered view of our starry cosmos, the call of an owl or nightingale. In meditation, darkness can bring a sense of peace and calming influence, allowing us to come closer to God-within-us. Some services encompass darkness that quietly speaks to us (e.g., Christmas Eve, Easter Vigil, Taize).

For most of our world’s people, darkness comes in another form – the color of one’s skin. In a meditation[1], Dr. Rev. Barbara Holmes, an African American, touches on this in a very personal way:

“Because I saw my Aunties negotiate darkness as a reality with as much potential as light, I stopped being afraid of the dark. I realized that sight and insight were not dependent upon the glaring light produced by humans, for there was an inner light that glowed and revealed much more. In my mind, church talk about an association of darkness with evil and goodness with light made no sense. I knew that darkness held and healed me. So, there had to be many types of darkness that I could differentiate, dismiss, or embrace.”

Oh, that we all could experience this perspective of darkness.

Some nights, find a dark, quiet place (not easy in today’s busy world) and take a deep breath. Then listen. Listen to the night creatures, the distant busy world, or, maybe best of all, the silence. Experience the beautiful side of darkness. 

1 Barbara Holmes in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, 29 December 2021.

Gary Kimmel

Joanna joannaseibert.com

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 enemy or anyone who harms me, my family, or my friends.

 I am just scraping the surface of forgiveness.

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

I know subtle methods of rubbing 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 I try to 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 an opportunity to show love or not show love in a multitude of daily situations.

 Let us pray that each other may love.

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

Phyllis Tickle: Divine Hours

Phyllis Tickle: Divine Hours

“Prayer is a nonlocative, nongeographic 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 was yesterday. 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 of observance of the fixed hour 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 of the morning, midday, vespers, or compline. Phyllis’ 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 back to modern times 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 instead, 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/