Breath of Love: Pentecost

Pentecost

Christ

You are all in all

You are everything,

All that is.

All that is life you are.

All that exists

Exists in you.

To love is to know you.

To be loved is to know you.

Breathe your love deep into my heart.

Open me more and more to your life deep within.

As I have received your breath of Love

Free me to breathe out your Love.

Upon all that is before me.

Upon all that is around me.

Upon all that I see.

Upon all that I do.

"I am in you." A Homily for Easter 6, 17 May 2020

Easter 6, Year A, 17 May 2020

John 14:15-21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”

What are the commandments?

Love God

Love yourself

Love your neighbour

The commandments are not about moral codes, judgements on ourselves and others, nor are they about separation and condemnation. 

The commandments are about a relational flow of love that connects us to God, to each other, and to all of creation. 

“he will give you another advocate to be with you always”

The Holy Spirit. Or in other words, Love’s companioning Presence.

“But you know him [the Holy Spirit], because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit is not something external to ourselves, but something that rises up from within. 

“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.”

How will we see Christ?

By learning how to notice Love’s presence in ourselves and and then noticing that same Loving presence in others. 

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you”

What Jesus has revealed to us is not an isolated Trinitarian relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus has revealed the pattern of all of our lives. And he invites us to follow him on this path of awakening to the enduring relational life of Love.

“I am in you and you are in me.” 

That is what Conscious Love does.

That is what God is doing.

In this time of pandemic and physical isolating, and all of the social and economic consequences that come with it, we are not to be full of fear and feeling alone.

As we learn the spiritual path of Jesus, we learn and practice going deeper than our fears and isolation. 

We can discover that there is in fact a Loving Presence within us, the Holy Spirit, and that we can not only be in relationship with this Loving Presence, but that we can become that Loving Presence. 

What a world in a pandemic needs right now is God’s Presence, Love’s Presence, your Loving Presence. 

Becoming Love: A Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, 10 May 2020

Easter 5, Year A, 10 May 2020  (Mother’s Day)

Today’s Gospel is an invitation to know more deeply who Jesus is; and as we know more and more who Jesus is, we come to know who God is; and as we come to know and experience who God is, we come to know our own deepest and truest Self. 

During this time of pandemic, physical distancing and economic uncertainty, many things are changing. We are missing our friends, our families, our church, and of being able to hold each other and simply enjoy each others presence. This is affecting us. We are uncertain about many of our institutions, organizations and businesses. This is affecting us. All of these things come and go as time marches on. But there is something that remains the same - our deepest identity in God, our “unbirthed” self, our “uncreated” soul, our divine self. And in our Christian context, it is Jesus who shows us where we have to go spiritually and how to get there. 

“where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.”

As we come to know the real relational Love that we are, and as we surrender to that Love, we consciously “become” that Love. As we discover that deep Unitive Love, we awaken to our deepest identity. So that even in the midst of such social and economic upheaval as in this pandemic, we can become more grounded and secure in who we are.  

As Christians become more grounded in their deeper Love identity in God, the Church, even in a pandemic, can grow in spiritual depth and numbers. The Acts of the Apostles tells us how the early church was open to the Holy Spirit and grew in faith, love and good works.

Why was the early church growing? Because disciples of the Way  said “yes” in both their minds and hearts to the Love of Christ and saw and loved Christ in every person.

The early church cared for those in need. In addition to being excited about their new found faith, active caring about people also made an impact on what others thought about the early church. 

During this time of pandemic and physical distancing, how are you as a Christian reaching out to and caring for Christ in the other? Especially the vulnerable and marginalized? 

Even during this time of pandemic and distancing, this parish as a whole continues to reach out and connect in meaningful and relevant ways. What are you doing to help support the work of this faith community?

Today is Mother’s Day, a Mother’s Day like no other. A Mother’s day in the midst of a global pandemic. We remember the mother’s of young children who are trying to cope with a hectic life at home with no school, and restrictions around socializing. We remember mothers of older children and adults at home, and the challenges that it brings. We remember mother’s of adult children who cannot hold their adult children because of the Covid distancing restrictions. We remember older mother’s living at home alone or living in Seniors residences, who are isolated from their families. Every family is challenged this Mother’s Day in this season of Covid Pandemic. Let’s simply do what we can to connect and to love with much compassion.

Christ is Everything: A Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter, 3 May 2020

Easter 4, Year A, 3 May 2020

John 10:1-10

Christ is everything! [say something of each]

“I am the bread of life”

“I am the light of the world”

“I am the Good Shepherd”

“I am Resurrection and the Life”

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”

“I am the true vine”

And in today’s Gospel “I am the Gate.”

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has to go through the gate first (whom the gatekeeper, God the Father, opens), before he can become the “gate.”

“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

What does Jesus the gate open up to? Where is he inviting and leading us? 

Beneath the prison of our false and passing selves, and into the deeper flow of the relational life of the Trinity. Into risen and new life.

“I am the Gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved.”

If you want Life, abundant, rich, deep, meaningful life…then you have to learn to live your life THROUGH Christ - “I am the Gate.”

What do we say at the end of the Eucharistic prayer? 

“THROUGH Christ, WITH Christ, and IN Christ”

When we are conscious of being IN Christ, it is WITH Christ that we enter THROUGH the Gate into the Life and Love that is the eternal flow of the Trinity.

Spirituality is about the life long transformation of our consciousness, of becoming aware that Life is THROUGH, WITH and IN Christ….and AS Christ. 

Taking the time to get to know Jesus as the Shepherd and the Gate is the Way to this loving realisation. 

It is the way to rich, deep and abundant Life.

It is the experience of Easter. Allelulia!

Praying Through a Pandemic

What a time we are living in! A global pandemic with a novel virus, of which there is no vaccine, that has put societies around the entire earth into various degrees of lockdown mode. Every human being on the face of the planet has been effected by Covet 19. We have been awakened to the real and ever present uncertainties of our shared tomorrow, and to the inherent interconnectedness and fragility of all of life. 

When I was a chaplain in the Canadian Forces, I heard an old crusty army colonel use a battle field phrase that said “there were no atheists in fox holes.” When our world as we’ve known it has fallen out from under our feet, and death, in its various forms, is lurking, the human spirit will turn to and seek out a Higher Power or God.

We are living in such a time. And the only way to see ourselves through such chaos and uncertainty in a healthy and life giving way, is to pray our way through it. We have to think also. Thinking is important, and we need to be reasonable as we sort out how to survive each day with some sense of moving forward. But thinking and reason are not enough for us to discern our way into tomorrow.

We need to “love” our way into the unknowns of tomorrow. Love is the energy of change in the universe. Love is our deepest and divine identity. Love is what attracts us to each other and connects us in life giving ways. Love is the energy that is drawing us into our new tomorrow. 

In order to “unlock” the energy and power of love, and to have that love inform and direct our thinking, we have to pray. Prayer is the key. We have to learn to pray our way through this season of pandemic and into a new tomorrow. 

There are as many ways to pray as there are people on the planet. In all its myriad of forms, prayer foundationally is about opening and connecting. That is to say, prayer is about opening up the limitations of our thinking minds, and connecting with our deeper and truer selves - our divine selves, our Love selves. 

So whatever it is that opens you up and gets you out of your head and connects you to your larger Self, then go and do it - and do regularly and intentionally. 

It might be sitting down with sacred scriptures and reading and reflecting. It might be in the reading of poetry or gazing on a piece of art. It might be in nature or remembering a loved one. Whatever it is that wakes you up to God, go and do it, and do it regularly and with the intention of connecting with Love. In this shared global pandemic, whatever your religious tradition is or isn’t, together we can pray our way into new and emerging tomorrow.

"Breathe" A Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, 19 April 2020

Easter 2, Year A, 2020

John 20:19-31; Acts 2:42-47

Easter is about the opening up and awakening of our spiritual hearts. It is about tapping into and living out of our deepest Self which is the Divine Heart of Love.

Yet, so many Christians and Western people “choose” to stay in the prisons of their minds.

In the mind is where fear is generated.

In the spiritual heart, love and freedom are generated. 

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear” 

• not just fear of the authorities
• but a spiritual fear of surrendering, of surrendering to Love
•  
• And we find ourselves locked up now with fear of the Coronavirus, with fear of getting ill, with fear for our economy. 

As the “Teacher”, Jesus continues to teach the disciples even after his physical death and into his resurrection. 

The “Way” of Jesus, the path that he invites us into, is the opening up of the prisons of our minds, and the unlocking of our hearts in love.

So how does Jesus teach them to get out of the prisons of their heads and open their hearts for the life of love?

He “breathes,” he breathes his breath into the disciples. 

• as Easter people, Jesus invites us into his prayerful practice. 
• to follow Jesus is to die to self and rise to newness of life.
• to “breathe” with spiritual intention is part of the “how.”

It is our breath that gets us out of the prisons of our minds and into the abundant flow of love in our hearts. 

Not just our own breath, but Christ’s breath. When we breathe we breathe in Christ’s love, when we breathe out we breathe out Christ’s love. In doing so, we become forgetful of self and die to self. We fall into Love and we rise in Love.

In breathing Christ’s Love, we rise to newness of life with Christ.

We “become” Christ’s love. 

We become Easter people.

We become people of the Resurrection. 

We become conscious of the Divine life that we share in.

It is with this love that we are “sent” into the world. 

“As the Father has sent me so I send you”

To freely love and connect.

Let us not be locked up in fear.

Let us go deep into our hearts and know the image of Love that we are made in. And let us rise from our heart space, and breathe love and freedom on our families, communities, and on all of creation. 

Suffering Christ

Christ,

you suffered

for us.

Christ,

you are

suffering

with us,

in us,

as us.

Through your

Cross

you show us

how 

to hold 

our suffering,

to accept

our suffering,

to be in

our suffering,

trusting

that it will

transform

us

into

New

Life.

4 April 2020