What Joy is in my Soul (a poem)

What joy is in my soul!

The silence opens up pathways
to life.

The stillness reflects the glory of God
rising from within.

I see You!

In the sky
In the tree
In the bird
In the flower

Yet most precious to my eyes
Is when I see You in the other person.

My heart rejoices.
My face smiles.

I love you.

You are mine

And I am Yours.

(written at the Bon Secours Retreat Center, Baltimore)

The Call to Go Deeper

Bishop Geoff Peddle has invited the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador into this challenge: What needs to change in our parishes in order for us “to be Good News,” “to pour our love into the world to all who come our way,” “to be a church drenched in God’s Grace… and to act like we know that to be true and trust the Gospel to reshape us.”

And “Do you want the church to become more than it is and all that it can be?”

My answer is yes, yes, yes, yes and yes! And I’m sure your’s is also. But what is the obstacle? What is preventing God’s Spirit from moving more freely in our churches? What is preventing God’s Spirit from working through our churches in reaching out in love and service to all?

The ever present and exclusive “I” is one of the things that needs to be changed in our spirit’s and in our parishes.

God’s Life is spacious and inclusive of all that is. The greatest lie that the enemy to Life has to tell us is that we are separate from God and from each other. Acts reminds us that it is in God “in whom we live and move and have our being.” Jesus teaches us that “I am in the Father and the Father is in me, I am in you and you are in me.”

Yet we are so easily threatened by those who are different from us, we are so threatened by that which we do not know or understand. We are so threatened by the thought of change. The simple and obvious truth is that this is the result of shallow spiritual living. 

If we are only living life on the surface of our consciousness, then we will not be open to renewal, we will not be open to change, we will not be able to let go of that which is already dead, we will not be inclusive and caring to all.

That surface level of consciousness, of spirituality, is the “I.” This is our obstacle and challenge. In psychological terms, it is our ego. In spiritual terms, it is our false self. In Biblical terms, Jesus teaches us that we must die to self.

If this “false self” is all that we know, then we cannot “be the Good News,”  we cannot “pour our love into the world to all who come our way,” we cannot “be a church drenched in God’s Grace… and trust the Gospel to reshape us.”

God’s call upon us now, and in every individual life in every generation, is to go deeper. Authentic spiritual practice is about learning to get beneath the grip of the ego surface (our false self), and to open up to God’s spacious Life that is within every single one of us. This is the place of the Communion of the Saints and the Unity of the Holy Spirit. It is the place of the Unitive Love of God. It is in all of creation. It is in every culture, every language, every people. It is inclusive of the person you don’t like, the person you don’t agree with, the person who has hurt you. We are indeed one with God, and at One with every other person.

God’s love and life is unimaginably spacious, inclusive, abundant, and overflowing to all.

Let us hear the Bishop’s challenge for “the church to become more than it is and all that it can be.” And let us become more intentional about our spiritual lives. Let us learn to get beneath the turmoil and insecurity of the surface, to go deeper into our Truest Self that is at one with God’s life. And from that place of Life, to welcome, love and serve all out of God’s immeasurable abundance. 

Lent: A Life Giving Journey

What an amazing spiritual and life giving journey the church offers to lead us through every year in Lent. 

On the first Sunday of Lent we follow Jesus into our own inner wilderness and begin to recognise that there is more to who we are than our ego consciousness. Our ego consciousness is actually our false self. Our truest self, made in the image of God, is so much larger and spacious than our small egos, and is just beneath the surface of our egos, deeper within. To discover our true self (St.Paul reminds us "that is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me") is a spiritual struggle in our inner wilderness, and we have to trust Jesus and know that His Spirit is with us along the way.

On the second Sunday of Lent we are called to follow Jesus up Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration. This spiritual mountain is also within us. As we mature and make progress in this inner journey, we come to realise more and more that all scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus. Then we begin to see Jesus as he truly is: Christ who is Risen and Alive. This realisation changes us. We share in Christ's suffering, but we also share in Christ's Divine and Risen life. We cannot stay on this holy mountain of Transfiguration, we need to come down to serve the world that is hurting and suffering.

On the third Sunday of Lent we meet Jesus at the well in Samaria. He offers living water to the Samaritan woman. Christ offers fulness of life to all people, regardless of gender, religion, culture, language, your past, your shortcomings, your whatever. As we are challenged and changed in Lent, continuing to die to our small ego self, and surrendering to the larger, deeper Life that is within all human beings (and indeed all of creation in all of the universe and whatever else might be out there), we will find ourselves becoming more compassionate and accepting of ourselves, and with others who struggle. This life giving water is a Divine Spring that is again within us to discover and to tap into. We need to have eyes to see.

On the fourth Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of the blind man who is given his sight. This blind man wants to see, he knows there is more. We need to come to that empty and shallow place in our journey where we ask ourselves “there has to be more to life than this!” We are on a journey from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight. And like the blind man, the more we encounter the living Christ, the more clearly we will see Life in all its fullness. 

In Lent, the Church is leading us on a journey from darkness to light, from hatred to love, from self to other, from death to life, from the Cross to the Resurrection.

The Church, though broken and wounded in its members, is leading us on a journey into Christ. Christ who is ALL. Christ who is IN us. Christ who, when we get our little ego out of the way, Rises from within us. Christ who is our life. 

Let us know our need of Christ. Let us desire His Spirit. Let us live in the Light of His Love.

25 Years of Marriage, 25 Years of Suffering!

On the 28th of January, 2014, Valerie and I have been married 25 years. Wow! As a younger man, when I heard of someone talking about their “silver” anniversary, I would have thought or said something like “man, you’re old!” The truth is that 25 years of marriage does bring one into the category of “old.”

So much has changed throughout our 25 years together. 

When we first met and started dating, Valerie was all I could think of. My priority of love was Valerie, our children, and then God. Now it is God, Max (our dog), lawn tractor, and a toss up between Valerie and our children! (hehe, only joking!). We have certainly changed over time, but we have changed together.

There are many, many joyful and happy memories to recall. Yet as I reflect back over our shared life together, and as I acknowledge where we are now at almost 50 years of age, suffering has been a very real and present component of our lives.

There is suffering and brokenness in all of our lives. Valerie, as a community health nurse, cares for individuals and families who are wounded and broken on a daily basis. At the heart of my own life as a parish priest, is the persistent call to enter into people’s suffering on every conceivable level. 

When I was a young man, a young husband, a young father, and a young priest, it was only “other people” who had trouble and who suffered. As an older man of almost 50 years, and a husband and father of 25 years, I too am aware of my woundedness.

Suffering is part of life. It is not optional, it cannot be avoided, you cannot run from it. So the question is: how can a person still know happiness, joy, and love even in the midst of pain and suffering?

The only answer to this question is a spiritual answer. The larger part of who we are as human beings is Divine, made in the Image of God, the one Spirit or Source that is common to all life. It is part of who I am, it is part of who you are, but we have to do some work to discover and live out of this treasure that is within us. We have to learn to be less consumed with self, our ego, and more open to that large and spacious life within us. Then we are open to our very truest self, which is Divine and Eternal.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads us to this place of Risen and New Life, and He teaches us how to live out of this Divine place. Even in the midst of suffering there is new life.

I am blessed with a wonderful wife and companion of 25 years. I am blessed with children whom I love and adore. And I am also blessed with a deepening faith that offers joy and happiness even in the midst of all the struggles and pain that are such a real part of all of our lives.

I’m ready for another 25!

To be Alone with God

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season and it is an invitation for us to journey deeper with Jesus into the Life of the Spirit. As we read the stories of John the Baptist’s ministry on the Jordan and in the wilderness, and of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, we come to recognise that there is a similar call on our lives to learn how to be alone with God.

Learning how to be alone with God changes us: it changes our sense of expectation, and it changes how we see and what we see.

The seasons of Advent and Christmas are about watching and waiting and expecting God to enter into our lives. During this time, the Church calls us to gather together expecting something to happen to us and to others, expecting the Lord to minister to us, to change us, to heal us, and to love us.

But we need to have eyes to see and ears to hear.

There were lots of people on the banks of the Jordan when Jesus was baptised, but not everyone heard the Father say “this is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

“After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “you are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is an invitation for us to learn to see and hear the Divine Life more simply and clearly. John the Baptist could hear the Father  and see the Spirit descend upon the Son. But John was trained in the wilderness and his heart was expectant. He was full of desire for God and knew how to be alone with God.

In other words, he desired Love and knew how to be present to Love.

The Christian’s life is built on Baptism and prayer. The cleansing power of the death and resurrection of Christ and our growing desire for His Love alone are the gifts that enable us to begin and finish our journey into God.

The Anglican Church Versus the Pentecostal Church

My wife Valerie and I have just returned from a Hill Song music and leadership Conference in New York City . I didn’t know much about Hill Song, only that Valerie uses some of their music in our liturgy. When she said she was going to a conference in New York, it wasn’t Hill Song that I was interested in, it was the experience of visiting New York!

The conference was held at the historic Radio City Music Hall on the corner of 7th and 50th Avenue, one block from Time Square. The Music Hall was filled to capacity with over 6000 Christians (the majority  of which seemed to me to be in their 20’s and 30’s). The music and worship was amazing and uplifting. The various speakers were inspiring and encouraging. The place was electric and alive with the Presence of God. And the whole thing - the conference and Hill Song - are Pentecostal.

There are aspects of the Pentecostal expression of Christian faith that don’t particularly sit well with me: the tendency toward biblical fundamentalism; the gospel of prosperity; the “are you saved” approach, to name some. I don’t like the repetition of the “amen” “allelulia” and “in Jesus Name”. Nor am I particularly fond of the hands in the air and jumping up and down.

Having said that, Pentecostalism seems to attract young people, and those who commit themselves to Pentecostalism, really commit themselves. In other words, Pentecostalism is doing something right.

As an Anglican within the more catholic stream of our diverse tradition, I tend towards a quieter spirituality. I like the practice of silence, of meditation and contemplation. I value the the sacraments and the rhythm of our liturgy and liturgical year. These are all good and important, but they do not necessarily attract and retain the unchurched or the young.

Having now visited the 9/11 memorial at the site of the Twin Towers in New York City, a horrible reminder of the evil of intolerance and hatred, I am reminded of our need to be open to learning about and learning from those who are different from ourselves.

On a very much smaller scale, as an Anglican, what can I learn from churches and traditions that are different from mine? What can I learn from churches that are connecting with younger people? What can I learn from churches that are growing and are making a difference in people’s lives?

A story of goodness out of Auschwitz: Maximilian Kolbe

Today the Church is honouring Maximilian Kolbe. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he helped thousands of refugees, including Polish Jews. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941 and imprisoned at Auschwitz. Three months after Maximilian's arrival, a prisoner escaped and, in retaliation, 10 men were chosen at random to die. One of them was a young father and Maximilian offered to take his place. His offer was accepted.

In October of 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized St.Maximilian. At the Vatican for that ceremony was the family and descendants of the man that Maximilian exchanged his life for. Wow.

What a powerful story and witness.

As Christians we are called to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We are called to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Maximilian Kolbe knew and experienced at a deep level the one Life that we all share in Christ. He recognized that Divine Life in the Polish Christian and Jewish refugees whom he risked his life to help. He recognized that Life in the young father who was one of the 10 chosen for execution - when he offered his life in exchange.

Maximilian Kolbe knew and followed the Master of Life. He respected the dignity of every human being regardless of cultural and religious differences. He served the needs of those around him by offering his own life.

Let us be inspired by Maximilian to come to know Christ more, and to offer our lives in serving and responding to the needs of others. This is the hope of the world.