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.

I struggled with lent - starting well; finishing not so well. This year lent has exposed to me how difficult it is to sustain the same activity for forty days (a habit I didn’t make). Life is so loud and my drive to be a part of doing what I want, when I want overtakes Lent’s call to slow down, simplify, and surrender. Lent is countercultural even in a recession - it is a call to participate with Jesus in dying to self, walking in God’s will and pursuing a path of penance. Our culture while it may recognize these as noble pursuits is more suited toward materialism, consumerism, consumption, individual determination and pragmatism… and this year I became aware of just how influenced I am by my culture.

It is no surprise that an individual would be lured and formed by the dominant culture in which they live; but at the same time we can talk ourselves into being “above” such influences or striving toward a counter-cultural alternative. I admit - I am neither. My hope is that it will change.

I was only in to the third or fourth day of Lent this year when I was struck with how communal the guide I was using was, and I knew this was a missing aspect in my observance. Lent (the Christian Faith for that matter) is not meant to be observed by individuals, it is a season for a community. The Celtic Saint Brigid warned: a Christ follower without a soul friend is like a body with no head. I went into Lent be-headed.

My desire to follow the Christian year and to practice a more traditional liturgy has made me make some hard decisions - my family and I are going to be joining a new Christian community which can help us in these areas of our faith. It will be difficult to leave our current church (to a degree); but at the same time this realization has been a long time coming. So this Sunday (or Saturday Night) we will worship with a new portion of God’s family as we remember and rehearse Jesus’ last time entering Jerusalem for Passover.

So to recap - Lent 2009:
-Eye opening.
-Lent is not a solo sport.
-I am addicted to more and better.
-I can talk well about surrender but living it… not so much.
-Finding a soul friend is not a mere suggestion.
-(Sorta) said, “Goodbye” to one community in order to walk toward another that can help us be formed by liturgy (in all its forms: liturgical year, liturgical prayer, liturgical practices and traditions).

Peace.

Today’s wisdom comes from Thomas Merton’s The Wisdom of the Desert. Two thoughts that seem to be rightly connected as they follow one another in Merton’s anthology.

Abbot Ammonas said that he had spent fourteen years in Scete praying to God day and night to be delivered from anger. (pg. 33)

Abbot Pastor said: The virtue of a monk is made manifest by temptations. (pg. 34)

Temptations by Michael D. O’Brien

It is that time of year, Fall. Yeah, lots of stuff falling. Which means someone better pick it up, eh? Yesterday my bride and I spent a good while raking and hauling leaves. It provided a bit of time to think about the process and some of my past failures in the maintaining of my yard. In early October I am often heard saying, “Man, I love this time of year! The colors are so vibrant and beautiful. It is a great time to be alive.”

In early November, “Man, these leaves are such a drag.”

I have learned a lesson though - if you fail to rake the leaves you are going to hate your yard come Spring and if you continue to neglect it - you are going to have no grass and be knee deep in mud when the rain comes! My first home we rented had a beautiful back yard - but I failed to clean up the needles and leafs and just a year later that “beautiful yard” was a patch of old leaves, thatch and dirt. The command to “have dominion on the Earth” is an invitation to join with the Creator in nurturing and maintaining the wonder and beauty of our world.

Raking leaves and picking up the stuff that falls is hard work that we feel the next day; but being able to continue to enjoy beauty and order comes at a cost (month by month and year by year consistent maintenance). Make it fun though - you got to jump in at least one of those piles of leaves!!

I often say my “leaf-raking” prayer at this time of year as I clear my yard of leaves inviting God to do the same in me. I pray, “More of You, less of me.”

I have been spending a bit more time reading in Benedict’s Rule of late - so rather than pull out a random saying from the Desert Father or Mothers; today we will hear some Benedictine Wisdom. Benedict wrote just a short treatise on his “way of life” that determined “who a person could become.” Benedict’s short, scripture saturated book, The Rule is where we turn today.

In Chapter 7 St. Benedict uses the image of a ladder as a symbol of unity and integration - or “harmony.”

Here it unites earth and heaven, standing firmly on the ground (community) and offering access to God. The two sides of this ladder are the body and the soul. [The ladder] is pulling body and soul together, recognizing the place of both, using the two together, that makes the ascent to God possible.

For a quite absurd image - picture a ladder that is lopsided with the rungs trying to pull together the two sides of a ladder that are out of harmony and not running parallel! This is the danger of neglecting our Body for the sake of the Soul or vice versa (preference to mind over emotions or head over heart).

Benedict calls us to harmony in our way of life. “That are minds are in harmony with our voices.” (or our hearts, or our hands, or our feet, or our ears, etc.). May our lives produce a beautiful harmonic music to the Glory of God.

O Father, may we find this kind of integration where the message of Your Son the Christ, that we understand with our mind, seep into our everyday way of life: in our speech, relationships, work, play, attitudes, and values.

Amen.

I often think about my own faith wondering, “Is my faith growing, increasing and becoming stronger?” I am not talking about in a general sense, meaning when I speak of my faith - my entire spiritual state - I mean my trust, my faith in God, my resting in Him.

One way I often consider if my faith has increased is by looking at my patience and my ability to wait. I think one of the true measures of our faith is our waiting. Having faith when the answer comes quickly is not a real measure of our faith and trust in God - those celebrated for their faith in the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 11; they were patient, trusting people who waited. Noah waited for rain; Abraham waited for a land and a son; Moses waited by a well in a foreign land (for 40 years); God’s people waited in a desert wandering for too many years (some patiently, others very reluctantly) for the promised land; and on it goes…

One of the measures (I think a pretty profound one) of our faith is how we wait? Do I wait expectantly for God to answer or to relieve my pain - or do I wait pouting; grumbling and/or bitterly? My hope is that as I look back at my life I see my faith increasing and that I see that evidenced by my ability to wait patiently and with hope in my God.

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3.8-9]

A prayer to commemorate this day observing Saint Francis of Assisi. A model of authentic spirituality. A reformer, activist and spiritual mentor to thousands… still impacting our world hundreds of years after he left this world.

Now, wherever we are,
and in every place,
and at every hour,
throughout each time of each day,
may all of us honestly and humbly believe,
holding in our hearts
to love, honor,
adore, serve,
praise, bless,
glorify, exalt,
magnify, and give thanks
to the Most High and Eternal God,
Trinity and Unity.
Amen.

- St. Francis of Assisi

I have often thought about the seven deadly sins. I think I have probably tasted them all in full or in part - and felt the full impact of their promise for more but instead leaving me drained, wanting and miserable. Too often I have been tripped up by trying to avoid lust and greed, etc. only to find my life going down a black hole of managing my sin rather than living a full life. I think it is a by-product of the attempt to live the Christian life - we can find ourselves focusing on all the wrong things; avoiding mistakes; sin management and keeping up appearances.

This provides the backdrop to a wonderful and encouraging charge from someone who knew how to live. He didn’t live perfectly (in fact he failed big time) but, he charged into life and it seems he learned from his mistakes and focused on falling in love with Jesus. He left us in the form of a letter, a better way. A way that doesn’t avoid the topic of sin - but doesn’t make it the focus of life. He writes to us about what I call a life-giving way. A way to find life to the full! I stumbled across this passage yesterday and it filled me with hope, brought a smile to my face and redirected my thoughts which again had come to rest on former things.

I hope you find encouragement and hope and life as you reflect on the writings of Peter.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. [2 Peter 1.1-7]

Ahhh - Stability. The virtue of persevering - in this instance persevering in relation to place. This is a much needed piece of wisdom that I need to hear and one for our overly mobile culture. Lord, help me, as Benedict admonishes, to listen (and there is that metaphor of trees - I am seeing a theme in my life!).

“An elder said: Just as a tree cannot bear fruit if it is often transplanted, so neither can a monk bear fruit if he frequently changes his abode.”

(quoted from Thomas Merton’s, The Wisdom of the Desert p. 34)

I don’t know where I heard it first - but it has definitely stuck with me. The thought that was posted to my mind was that a name for the mystery of the universe, the God and King of all should be, “Surprise.” Seems fitting. A God who shows up in unlikely places: a bush on fire in the desert, in the belly of a whale, speaking through donkeys, and hanging out with sinners and tax collectors, a God who raises the dead, provides gallons of REALLY good wine at a local wedding and a God who when all the world is stirred up - surprise - ascends into heaven.

That is a God who should be called, Surprise. You never know when or where or even how such a God will show up.

It causes me to keep my eyes pealed. Keeps me alert. Grows my awareness and certainly opens my thoughts to God’s uncanny ability to speak and show Himself through and in the most unlikely circumstances.

When was the last time you sensed, Surprise?