Writing is tough! I think the greatest thing a person can do in helping them become a better verbal communicator is to work harder and more intentionally at writing. It doesn’t stop there, that is if you want to become a better writer - to become a better writer one must become a more diligent reader (reading good books, journals, and articles).

So, if you want to speak well, write well; if you desire to write well, read well.

In view of that…

A writer is someone for whom writing is harder than it is for other people… Len Sweet

As the old saying goes: Writing is easy. You just stare at a blank page until drops of blood form on your forehead. – Marshall Shelley

Peace.

Thanks to those who were praying for me. The retreat was a great experience - both to lead and join in and participate with everyone. A mix of stillness, laughter, eating, singing, praying, learning, and just being together. In the midst of it I was taken by the slowness. It took much longer than I anticipated to work through some of the issues and passages that I had planned. It really drove home for me - that being with others and genuinely being present with others and THE OTHER - takes time. To love another, takes time. Love often equals time spent with. It reminded me and challenged me - that frankly, I don’t allow enough time to enter into the love of God and others.

It was a good weekend and one that I believe is still “working its way in me.”

That is a good thing.

Two folks from the weekend have posted there thoughts and in one case, summary, as well.

From Ben

From Aaron

Enjoy!

Peace.

This weekend I have the pleasure of leading a group of youth workers from across the Mid-Atlantic on a spiritual retreat. Each time I have approached these times I have moments of great panic followed by deep breathing and a sense of calm - reminding myself - “this isn’t about me.” I don’t know if that makes sense - but it is clear as day for me.

I am leading the weekend focused on developing our attentiveness to the present moment and to becoming more aware of God’s activity around us. In leading this time we will spend considerable time focusing on the “Bethany Trio” found in the Gospel Narratives (Mary, Martha and Lazarus). I have spent the past two months or so living with these passages and have found them to be deep wells of fresh, clean and cool water to quench our soul thirst. Hopefully others will find them helpful, satisfying and, at the least, tangentially connected to the topic of developing our awareness/attentiveness.

So if my name, ugly mug or blog crosses your mind over the next few days - a prayer would be greatly appreciated!

I often beat myself up in approaching these times - but have enough history in leading retreats to recognize this for what it is (pre-retreat jitters). All in all (with the exception of time away from my family) I cherish these opportunities and experiences - and as many of you are aware, walk away gaining far more than I sense I gave.

Peace!

There is nothing like a great story. It doesn’t happen often enough, but when it does; well, it is magical. Gathering around a crackling fire on a cool, clear night and then the magic, “Tell us a story!” Ahh… the pressure is on! It’s a great pressure, though - to weave a tale that excites, holds the attention, keeps ‘em guessing and then comes together at the end with surprise or relief or, at the least, a “fairly” logical resolution. Some of the finer moments in my time with family, friends and youth ministry all took place around a fire sharing a “good story.”

Nothing can capture us like that - our imagination, our attention, our emotions and maybe even shaping our vocation and our character. Lately I have been experiencing that as I have been walking around and in my daily chores living with a couple particular stories from the New Testament - and I have been noticing: they don’t seem to have a bottom, you can go so deep; and they don’t seem to have an end, they just keep unraveling; and they don’t seem to stop revealing and teaching, they illumine more and more.

Then yesterday I stumbled across this quote from Parker Palmer,

“The marvelous thing about learning from a story is that the story never ends, so our learning from it need not end either.” (from The Active Life. Harper & Row. 1990. p.98)

Yes!!

Don’t ever stop listening to or sharing a great story, there is nothing like it.

So often when I think of eating - I am thinking how do I fill this necessary need that I have for nutrition; to ease my hunger; to care for my family. These are not, out of hand, bad things - but is this all there is to “eating well.” Of course not. There is eating nutritious, eating in moderation, eating organic and well produced foods, eating well cooked and safe foods, etc. - there is so much to eating well. Again - is there more to this aspect of our created order?

I think so.

Well beyond filling our bellies with “good” food; there is that often overlooked aspect to eating well with regard to who we are sharing our meal. Biblical scholars refer to this as “Table Fellowship.” It is a feature of the New Testament that is hard to overlook. We often observe that Jesus’ critics refer to Him as, “a friend of sinners;” but I don’t know if we look closely enough or model the cause of such a charge.

In the first century of our common era mealtimes were far more than occasions to consume nourishment. Being invited to share a meal and eat well reflected a bond of friendship, intimacy and unity. When Jesus chose to invite folks from all walks of life (women, tax collectors, zealots and “well-known” sinners) to share a meal together Jesus was pushing social practices that spoke loud and clear. Jesus’ radically inclusive table fellowship presented a living parable which was announcing and redefining the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom reign on earth.

What do our meal times say about us?

I have had the opportunity to share some wonderful meals this past week. Meals that transcended consuming for physical nourishment - they nourished the soul. It was all about “eating well.” It was about a “Jesus-kind” of table fellowship.

Who is sharing your table? Are you “eating well” these days?

It demands we slow down. We look around. We extend an offer. In order to open our lives and widen our table… to really eat well.

I am trying to learn a new word. Not in the sense of when I was a kid and you had a new vocabulary word and the goal was spelling it correctly or using the “new term” properly. You remember, don’t you? You had an every week assignment where you had to write out definitions and use the “new word” in a sentence, etc., etc. (to be prepared to correctly spell the word on the end of week spelling test). I was pretty good with learning new words in that fashion, but learning to embody a new word or practice a new word, that is a different matter.

At least I am finding it difficult to embody one particular new word I am learning. It is a demanding and relentless concept that for ages I am sure has stumped or tripped up many who have been caught by it’s allure.

Don’t get me wrong this is no mean or nasty word - it is helpful; just downright hard.

The word is a Greek word that was a common word. It had a regular old meaning and I am sure was thrown about regularly back in the day - but that meaning has been infused with fresh and even greater intensity by those Eastern Desert Monks. They also began to use this term regularly as the antidote to so many sins and pitfalls in living out the life of Christ.

Jesus, also, used the word (at least Luke records such in 12.37).

The word means, “be alert” or “be sober!” It means control your attention on the matter at hand. (That alone is a tall order.) As I mentioned though - the monks of the desert infused this with a spiritual bent - giving this word the meaning to focus ones attention solely on God.

This is what I am trying to learn.

This is what I am finding very difficult. To practice this word, this Greek word, Nepsis.

Most mornings I head to the barn to feed and turn out the horses (from mid-Fall through early Spring). It was a cold morning this past winter when I was heading through my routine - I walked the 250 feet from my back door to the barn past the front pasture; I fed the horses their grain; I broke the ice off the watering trough; I put out flakes of hay for the horses to graze on in the front pasture and I was turning my wife’s swedish warmblood out into the front pasture when I heard my wife’s voice (over my iPod) and saw her frantically waving (that by the way was not part of our morning ritual). My wife was trying to get my attention - because apparently as I went through my morning routine I failed to notice the 30 foot tree that had fallen through the fence in our front pasture (25 feet of it, at least, was IN the pasture on the ground).

What, was I blind?

How could I have missed it - once I saw it - I couldn’t see anything else?! I had walked past the fallen tree, I had been in the pasture filling the trough and putting out hay - yet I had never opened my eyes beyond my own footsteps to see what had transpired in the night. Going through the motions with little to no engagement. Unaware and distant from the moment - can you say, “not present.” I wasn’t blind; I was just lacking any awareness and attentiveness to my surroundings (or is that the very definition of being, “blind”).

After that incident, (after coming to terms with, “How didn’t I see that!”) I began to reflect on, how often am I “going through the motions” and how much do I miss?

I am working on living in a more alert fashion. I am trying to slow and to live with a greater appreciation for the present. It is a slow process. It is sort of ironic that next month I am leading a spiritual retreat for folks on this very topic. I think I am learning that God often leads me to such opportunities - not because of what I can offer - but because it is how he can teach me.

I hope to hear and obey the words of Benedict in the Prologue to his Rule:

“However late, then, it may seem, let us rouse ourselves from lethargy. That is what scripture urges on us when it says, the time has come for us to rouse ourselves from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the light that shows us the way to God. Let our ears be alert to the stirring call of his voice crying to us every day: today if you should hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” [St. Benedict’s Rule, A New Translation for Today, Ampleforth Abbey Press, 1997. p. 11]

The third day of The Paschal Triduum is also the first day of the 50 days of Easter. As the Paschal Triduum is three parts: Death, Burial and Resurrection so the season of Easter is a three part event: Resurrection, Ascension and Imparting of the Holy Spirit. But the season of Easter (while we may think of it coming with a bang) starts unassuming and “quietly” with people waking up to an empty tomb. It generates questions, concerns, fears and frustration… (the empty tomb convinces and converts no one). And the resurrected Jesus is mistaken for a gardner, a stranger and an impostor (by Mary, the emmaus pilgrims and Thomas respectively). But ultimately over a long period - the people closest to Jesus “wake up” to the fact that “He is not here (in the tomb) He has been raised.”

The Lord is risen.
He is risen, indeed. Alleluia.

Epistle: Colossians 3.1-7

Gospel: John 20. 1-18

Psalm: Psalm 120

Prayer: Almighty God, through your only Son Jesus Christ you have conquered death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: by your grace put good desires into our minds and, in your mercy, help us to bring them to their fulfillment, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

All is silent as Jesus lies in the tomb. It is a day of stillness, silence, and a day full of questions and confusion.

Epistle: I Peter 3.17-22

Gospel: Matthew 27.57-66

Psalm: 22 and 29

Prayer: Lord, into the death of whose dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christ we have been baptized, grant that we may continually put to death our sinful desires and be buried with him so that we may pass through the gave and gate of death to our joyful resurrection through the merits of him who die, was buried, and rose again for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

NOTE: Artwork - Jesus Laid in the Tomb by Michael O’Brien

The Paschal Triduum begins today; the altar has been stripped the candles all but extinguished the lights are low as we begin to observe the day of Jesus’ suffering and death. Today is a day when we reflect on the suffering, pain and absolute cost of redeeming and restoring all that was lost due to our disobedience and sin.

Old Testament: Isaiah 53

Epistle: Hebrews 10.1-25

Gospel: John 19.1-37

Psalm: Psalm 22 & 28

Prayer: Let the blood and water that flow from your heart give me a new heart to live a new life. I know that in this world water and blood will never be separated. There will be peace and anguish, joy and tears, love and agony. They will be there always—together—leading me daily closer to you who give your heart to my heart. Amen. (Good Friday Prayer of Henri Nouwen)

NOTE: Artwork - Jesus Carries His Cross by Michael O’Brien