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

Homily for Lent 5, 29 March 2020

Lent 5, Year A, 29 March 2020

Ez 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; John 11

What a time we are living in. 

The Coronavirus is plaguing all of humanity, and there is no vaccine. 

There is fear and concern about our safety as societies. 

We are isolated from our family members and wider community.

The economy is plummeting and people’s businesses, jobs and incomes are being lost. 

And yet in the midst of this pandemic, the Church is calling us to reflect upon the new and risen life that Christ offers us in this life AS IT IS; even in this pandemic we are offered new life.

Life is filled with death. Not just mortal death from the Coronavirus and every other means of dying. But so many people live life like the walking dead: like Lazarus’ life in the tomb, like the dry bones of Ezekiel. 

Consumed with: fear, worry, anxiety, restlessness, bitterness, negativity, hatred, jealousy, etc. These are the things that separate us from God, that get in the way of Love and connection.

How many of you can relate to the dry bones of Ezekiel?

How many people feel like they are living in the tomb like Lazarus even in this life? Without meaning, without purpose, without colour, without joy, without love.

In the midst of our dead lives, our disconnected lives, Jesus comes to give us new and abundant life.

Jesus the Son of God has come not only to give us life without end. He has also come to give us abundant life IN THIS LIFE. In this crisis we can still know abundant life. 

[Make reference to the Guatemala team and the joy they experienced in people who have no material things, but faith in the living God.]

Christ can bring us out of the valley of dry bones.

Christ can bring us out of the tomb of death.

Christ can give us life and love IN ABUNDANCE.

To know Christ is to know the Life that is always New, always Becoming. 

And yet even now, in our Lenten pilgrimage…

- knowing the pain and suffering that Jesus will endure for our salvation, 

- knowing the pain and suffering that is so much a part of each of our lives,

- that we can still know Christ’s  abundant life,

-     that we don’t have to live in the spiritless and lifeless valley of dry bones or the darkness of the tomb of death.

In the connectedness and flow that is Christ, we are made free to live Christ’s life of Love in abundance and joy, even in this pandemic.

Jesus says “I am Resurrection and I am life”

“I came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

So Many Faces

God,

You come

to me

in 

so 

many

faces.

When

my heart

is soft

and

my eyes 

are open,

I

see

you

in

every

face.

And

I see

in every

face

a longing

to be 

seen

by 

you

in

me.

11 March 2020

What is Mission?

What is mission?

What is the church’s mission?

The mission is

to know God 

and

to make God known.

The more

one comes to know God

within oneself,

the more 

one comes to know God

within the other.

To know God

within the other,

is

to love and serve God

within the other.

To love and serve God

within the other,

is

the mission of the church.

17 February 2020

The Future Church

My mother, who will be 88 years old in February, recently spent a few days at home with Valerie and myself (mom lives in a Seniors community in Witless Bay). She had a fall the week before her visit, and ended up with some stitches above her eye, a broken nose and a lot of bruising. She has become more frail in her elder years, and with her short term memory loss, a tenderness and compassion is invited in her presence, at the same time eliciting a clear reminder of the unstoppable nature of change and decay. As mom’s physical life inches closer to its end, its essence, continuity, and newness continues in me, in my children, and in their children. There is a universal truth in this one particular family story. This truth is true for all families. This truth is true for all of creation. This truth is true for the Church of Christ. We all share in the one continuous Life that is God, that is ever emerging in new ways disguised as our own evolving lives. God is in our lives as they change. God is in the church as it changes. We need “heart” eyes to see, we need “heart” ears to hear, and to join in the movement of the Spirit.

Like my mom, the institutional church is old, frail and in decay. Change is not only being invited, it is being demanded. And there may be some “short term” institutional memory loss (relatively speaking in the context of the last 2000 years). The institution is not the raison d’etre of the church. The reason the church exists is to support followers of the Way of Jesus. Christianity is not an institution. Christianity is a movement. The church’s remembering of its essence, its continuity and its newness in the Way of Jesus, has everything to do with the new and emerging church. 

Brian McLaren, in his book “The Future of Christianity,” says “This emerging or emergence Christianity will be decentralized and diverse rather than centralized and uniform. In other words, it will have the shape of a movement rather than an institution. It will be drawn together by internal unity of way of life, mission, practices, and vision for the common good.”  That sounds like the church of the New Testament. McLaren goes on to say that Jesus was a non-violent leader who started his movement by saying “follow me.” He recruited diverse disciples, and after learning to open up to the depths of their spiritual hearts, he sent them out to teach and multiply this Loving Way of Life among “all the nations.” It is time to let go of what is no longer relevant nor helpful in living out the Gospel. The Jesus movement is more needed now than ever before. It is time to go deep into the well springs of our spiritual hearts, to let go of all that is passing on the surface, and to re-emerge drenched in the ever new Way of Love.