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.

People, Places and Things: Looking for Relief from Pandemic Weariness

Living life, even on a good day, is hard. Suffering is a non-negotiable component of the human condition. Too many people spend too much of their lives trying to outrun or cover over this reality. This is why people awakening to Deeper Reality and the spiritual path not only have the courage to embrace their suffering, but they also know the need and have the desire to intentionally practice Loving Presence. The truth and hope of Easter is that, through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we can come to know a new and risen life (which Christians call Christ), a Loving and Healing Presence living among us, within us and as us. Alleliua! This is Good News indeed! 

Yet, living with the various levels of Covid-19 restrictions over the last year and into the foreseeable future has made living life even harder than normal on all of us. Of course there is the virus itself which, when contracted, has been making people very ill, and in too many cases, has been fatal. There is the economic suffering that has been widespread, and has negatively affected every form of business and employment. There is the community suffering. Even when in level 1 restrictions, to be kept to physical distancing without being able to touch another and draw close in conversation - this is not normal and we suffer because of it. There is the suffering of families living apart at greater distances and not being able to travel to visit and connect. And there is the collective societal suffering of not knowing what our future will be while not only still working through the pandemic, but in the long reaching aftereffects. This is just to name some of the areas of our Covid-19 struggling. 

In the midst of all this suffering and uncertainty, there is light and hope. And you don’t have to go very far to find it. It is within you. The Easter hope of life in Christ, of life in Love, is within you waiting to be discovered or rediscovered, and then lived out of. This larger Life of Love is your deepest truth and reality, it is your deepest identity. It alone will set you free from your suffering and bring you into the light of a new day filled with new love and hope. 

Realizing this hope is best done with the company of others. My friends in the Resurrection’s Addictions Recovery Groups regularly refer to the importance and wisdom of “people, places and things.” If the company we are keeping, or the places we are going, or the things we are doing are not deepening loving connection and hope, then we need to hang around with new people, in new places, doing new things - whether virtually or in person. A healthy church (and there are healthy churches out there!) that is open to and leaning into a deeper love and hope would be worth finding and participating in. It could help bring you more hope and deeper love in a Covid-19 restricted world. 

Something is Missing

There is loneliness in my spirit, a pandemic induced and bodily loneliness. On March 22, 2020, our church communities were shut down because of the Covid 19 pandemic. That is almost a full year ago. With the development and distribution of the Covid 19 vaccines there are rays of hope that our society and our churches will be more opened by the fall of this year, 2021. That is still a long way out, and I feel it in my body and spirit. As a community of faith, since last March, we have been adjusting to recorded liturgy and other forms of community gathering online. In September we began the process of in person liturgy and other gatherings with physical distancing and required restrictions. I am truly grateful for every form of gathering, both online and in person, even with Covid restrictions. But having said that, I am aware of a loneliness about me - a bodily loneliness. Our bodies are equally as important to being part of community as are our minds and souls. We are not long out of the Christmas season when we were celebrating the Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. This is the same Jesus who teaches that “I am in you, and you are in me.” Each and every one of us is an incarnation of God. This means everything. God is “in” all of creation. This means that our bodies are good and important, and that physical presence and physical touching is a non negotioninable component of being in healthy community. I am grateful for the love and physical embrace of my family and Covid Bubble. But that is not enough. I need the Church, the Body of Christ. I need to physically hold the Body of Christ. I need to be physically held by the Body of Christ. That is what I am lonely for. That is what I most miss during this season of Covid restrictions. Something as simple as a hand shake at the door as the church physically gathers. I miss that. Being able to stand close to another in conversation. I miss that. Being able to embrace anyone who wanted or needed an embrace. I miss that. Although a restricted number of people are allowed to gather as church, there is, for me at least, a loneliness about it. Something is missing in our presence and connection. I long for the day when we can embrace one another again. It is a hope that is full of the Spirit drawing us forward and together.