What to do with Suffering?

All of our lives, are filled with pain and suffering. Suffering is not negotiable. And the suffering will be transformative in our lives: it will either make us bitter and miserable, or it will make us compassionate and more alive. 

Like Jesus, we need to learn how to hold on to the pain in our lives, to be present to it, to surrender to it until we’ve learned its lessons. 

This is a great teaching moment where you have the possibility of breaking through to a deeper level of faith and consciousness. There is a greater Divine life beneath the surface of our pain.

If you can surrender and Hold on to the pain of being human…God will transform you through it. And then you will be an instrument of transformation for others.

As an example of holding the pain, picture Mary standing at the foot of the cross. Standing would not be the normal posture of a Jewish woman who is supposed to wail and lament and show pain externally. She’s holding the pain instead. She is present to it, surrendered to it.

Mary is in complete solidarity with the mystery of life and death. She’s trying to say, “There’s something deeper happening here. How can I absorb it just as Jesus is absorbing it?” 

Until you find a way to be a transformer, you will pass the pain onto others.

Jesus on the cross and Mary standing by the cross are images of transformative religion. They are never transmitting the pain to others. 

They hold the suffering… until it becomes resurrection! 

That’s the core mystery. It takes our whole life to comprehend this, and then to become God’s “new creation” (Galatians 6:15). 

Unfortunately, we have the natural instinct to fix pain, to control it, or even, foolishly, to try to understand it. The ego always insists on understanding. That’s why Jesus praises a certain quality even more than love, and he calls it faith. It is the ability to stand on the threshold, until you move to a deeper level where it all eventually makes sense in God’s grace.

Today is Passion Sunday, when we begin to see Jesus’ suffering as transformative for the world.

We are to join our sufferings to Christ’s, and be part of the process of transformation and freedom for ourselves, in our families, and in the world.

YOU can become Good News

Jesus, quoting from the book of Isaiah (Luke 1:14-21), says that he is “anointed to bring good news” 

Jesus is the fulfillment of this scripture.

Likewise it is the Church’s mission to not only bring good news to the poor and to those in need (which is everyone), it is the church’s mission to BE good news.

In the midst of a global pandemic, in the midst of global warming, climate change and ecological disasters, in the midst of very dangerous political polarizations, we, the church, the people of God, are called to BE GOOD NEWS. 

Our lives as spiritual beings are not as much about right belief. For far too long religion has been about who has the “right” belief system. Instead, our spiritual lives are more about RIGHT LIVING.

We do not “think” ourselves in to a new way of thinking, we “live” ourselves into a new way of thinking. 

Our deepening loving and unitive experiences are to change our dualistic and divisive thinking. 

Faith is more about how we live on a daily basis than making verbal assent to this or that idea.

So as a church, it is far more important to BE good news than it is to proclaim good news. 

So how do we “become” good news?

By being changed or transformed from the inside out.

How are we transformed?

By spending intentional and conscious time in the Presence of Christ.

By spending intentional and conscious time in the Presence of Love.

So that we not only think about or talk about love and being loving.

We actually BECOME Love, we become a conduit for Love’s Presence. 

We become Christ to those around us.

We become Love to those around us. 

As we are changed, the Spirit works in us enabling us to make a difference to those whom we meet and reach out to. 

Are you spending time in the prayerful presence of Christ, the presence of Love, and in the process of being transformed from the image to likeness of Christ? Are you becoming good news for those around you and for the world?

What are you doing to support this church’s mission as we, as a diverse and inclusive community of faith, seek to become good news to the communities and world around us?

Advent and Tomorrow's Church

With ongoing church decline, coupled with the behavioural changes consequent to almost two years of living with Covid-19 restrictions, the church is hopefully discerning those facets of its life that are no longer necessary and can be let go of, those aspects that are necessary and should be carried forward, and what is being newly invited. One of the areas of the church’s life that I continue to find life giving is the round of the liturgical year. 

The movement from Advent to Christmas, from Lent to Easter, and the green growth of Ordinary Time, these liturgical seasons give rhythm and balance to the changing seasons of our spiritual life. Each liturgical season has its own particular giftedness, and as it arrives each year, our spirits are ready to receive its gifts. 

As we enter into the liturgical season of Advent, the church invites us to watch and wait for the coming of Christ. This practice of “watching” and “waiting” is foundational to living healthy spiritual lives. Christ not only came to us in history, and is not only going to come at the end of time, but most importantly Christ comes to us in every moment of our lives. Are we watching and waiting? Are we noticing and joining the new and Divine life that is ever emerging in our personal and corporate lives? 

If we don’t have a deepening spiritual practice of watching and waiting for Christ or the emerging Spirit in our lives, then we will miss the new opportunities to become a church relevant for today’s world. 

The church has become smaller during this time of pandemic, and I don’t think there is any recovering of what we were. This is probably a good thing that will help open up new pathways. Consequently, what we “were” is not as important as what we are “becoming.” 

The church has no monopoly on God. God is in God’s world doing what God is doing with or without the church. That being said, God is also in the church, but do we have ears to hear and eyes to see what the Spirit is inviting? 

The liturgical season of Advent reminds us of what we should be doing every moment of our lives. We need to learn how to make space for Christ in our lives, and prepare for Christ’s coming in this moment. As a church we really need to recover the contemplative component of our approach to God. We need to learn to get out of our thinking head space, and lean into our open spiritual heart space. It is from this deep place of Unitive Love where Christ comes to us. When we can watch and wait from this place of spiritual depth, we can join the emerging Spirit and become the church that God needs in the world today. This is not easy. But if the church, and indeed the human species, is to survive, we have to learn to open up to our spiritual depths, and live out of the ever emerging Life that is Christ. 

Burning Bush

The forest

is alive

with colour,

on fire 

with nature’s

non-consuming 

flame.

Moses’

burning bush

is everywhere.

God’s Presence

is in

every tree,

every creature.

Every where

I look,

every place 

I step

is

Holy Ground.

The creation 

that

I Am

immersed in,

is Christ drenched,

alive,

and

on fire

with

Love.

18 October 2021

A Wonder-Full and Uncertain Future

My granddaughter has recently had her first birthday. What a gift she has been to us bringing such love, joy and delight to our lives. As a grandparent, I am having a different experience watching my grandchild grow and develop than I did watching and participating in my own children’s growth and development. As a grandparent, I am not caught up in all the daily responsibilities, and nor do I see my grandchild everyday and all day. So when I am with her, I am really present to her, noticing her every new development, every new moment of love and connection. There are some benefits and wisdom that can come with getting older!

In fact, my granddaughter has become my new spiritual director! She is teaching and reminding me of the power and life-infused present moment. She notices every little thing, and every little thing to her is “wonder-full,” as it should be for me and for all of us. I am full of wonder as I get caught up in her being full of wonder. What a beautiful and life-giving exchange! Being caught up in this wonder draws me into a sense of “awe” in what I am witnessing. A sense of awe at this beautiful life that is new, always emerging, always becoming. The more I allow myself to be full of wonder, and the more I get caught up in the awesomeness of what I am noticing, the more I find myself “trusting” in the evolving of this little life, trusting in the “nature” of the divine life that we are all part of and share in. This wonder, awe and trust opens me up to the Reality of the Love that I have for this little life in front of me, and that I am at one with her in this Love. The 15th century English mystic Julian of Norwich calls this Love process “oneing” - a conscious becoming at-one-with another, every other, and all of creation. “Oneing” is the purpose of our lives! 

What our little ones have to teach us in these uncertain times of Global Political Polarization, Global Warming, Global Pandemic, Global Crisis, is to remain grounded in our Now. This moment is full of God, full of life, full of love, and has everything we need to move into our next moment with trust and hope. The same is true of the church. The pandemic and its necessary societal restrictions has shaken the foundations of the church as we have known it. Our church is evolving and changing like everything else in the universe. We are not exempt. Yet the Christian community (and every community) is still full of wonder as the Divine continues to emerge in the life of people and creation. This wonder should lead us to a renewed sense of awe in the Divine Presence amongst us and as us, inviting us to a whole hearted trust that we are lovingly at-one-with Christ in our emerging and uncertain tomorrow. 

The Hope of Summer 2021

I have recently received the first dose of the Covid 19 vaccine, and am scheduled for the second dose in August. This day of vaccination has been a long time coming. In March of 2020 when the world was shut down because of the pandemic, and we were told that it would be a year or more before a vaccine would be available for distribution, I remember feeling the burden of uncertainty for our society. With the heavy Covid restrictions in place for the spring and summer of last year, I also remember the summer not being as restful and life giving as I needed it to be. I remember being Covid tired both psychologically and spiritually, even when the summer had come and gone. 

 

Although still being Covid fatigued, as many or most of us are, I am filled with a hope that I did not have this time last year. The reality of the vaccination roll out is lifting my spirit with the hope of a further lessening of community restrictions as we look forward to the fall. That hope, not there last year, is changing the energy within me heading into this summer season. There is a lighter energy, a hopeful energy, a life giving energy. This Spirit of hope is drawing me into the restful months of summer with a more open stance that should allow me to lean into the more gentle and restorative nature of summer. 

 

For us Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, with such a short summer season, the May 24th weekend is when the collective provincial psyche shifts, and we get into summer mode. This year, more than any other year, we need to use these summer months - holding a vaccinated hope for the fall and lessening of restrictions - to get outdoors, to connect with the creation that we are part of, and allow it to help heal us and restore us. 

 

Many parts of the world continue to struggle with the devastating spread of the virus, especially densely populated and poorer regions. We hope that our governments will do what needs to be done in the sharing and distribution of vaccine resources around the world. In the meantime, us vaccinated and travel bound Newfoundlanders and Labradorians live in a sparsely populated land that is spacious and full of beauty. I for one, am looking forward with hope, to a summer in my garden, on the trails, and in the kayak on the water, with spaciousness and intent on restoring my Covid burdened soul. I hope something of the same for you.  

Easter People: Known and Loved by God

Christians are on the Easter journey.

A journey of growing and maturing in our awareness that we are known and loved by God. And that we are called to live the Risen life of Love in Christ now and forever.

We need a Shepherd

Seeking to know Christ and to enter more into His Risen life is not something we can accomplish on our own. We need a shepherd to lead us and direct us into the truth of who we are.

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

Just as the Father knows the Son, and the Son knows the Father, we are to come to KNOW Christ, just as He KNOWS us.

It is the relationship between Lover and Beloved.

God is the Great Lover, and each and every one of us are God's Beloved. 

Being “Known” by God

Part of the Resurrection experience is the growing realization that we are “Known” by God.

1 Corinthians 13:12

“…then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

There is a love that is always present to us… despite ourselves. A love that we cannot merit or win, it is just there.

Whether we know it, want it or accept it……we are fully known and fully loved by God.

“Recognizing” this Loving Presence within us and amongst us is the heart of our Resurrection experience. 

This is what makes Easter people.

This is what makes Easter people different than those who have not yet turned to or woken up to this Risen love of God in Christ. 

And it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who leads us into this realization and loving relationship. 

The Church’s mission

We are known and loved by God, the Great Lover.

Let us enter more deeply into the realization of this Risen Love that is Christ.

And let us continue to be ever more creative in loving the world around us and drawing others into New and Risen Life.