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December 30, 2009

Walk Humbly and Turn Tables, but first...sit still

New Year's Resolution:
Walk Humbly and Turn Tables, but first...sit still

from Trinity's Director of Contemplative Engagement

Lately I have been told that I am a blur. I am simply going too fast and in too many directions. Actually, "simply" is not the word to describe my life. Complicated. Fragmented. Now those words fit. One would think that I would slow down and center. Aren't I, after all, a professional "centerer?"

Here's the problem. I am incredibly excited about and grateful for my new job description. I truly believe that it is really Trinity's job description and that I am blessed to be the one to be midwife for the birthing of Trinity's ministry of contemplative engagement. I am also incredibly excited about and grateful for the imminent arrival of our two children for the holidays. So what's the problem? I can feel myself shifting into an even higher, faster gear. My mind races with all the ideas I have of everything we can do at Trinity—events, programs, actions, classes. My mind races with all the ideas I have of everything we can do at home too while our children are here!
I'm listening to my mind, I am not listening to the still, small voice of God. I am not coming from God into my life.
Where are you coming from into your life? Chaos? Busyness? Stress? Pressures? Responsibilities? Concern for the world?

What if we resolved this new year, to come from God? To sit still more often? To lean into God more fully?

Cynthia Bourgeault, Episcopal priest and national figure in the reclaiming of centering prayer, writes this:

“At first when you begin a practice of meditation, it feels like a place you go to. You may think of it as "my inner sanctuary" or "my place apart with God." But as the practice becomes more and more established in you so that this inner sanctuary begins to flow out into your life, it becomes more and more a place you come from. ..a sense of connectedness known from so deeply within you that nothing can shake it...once grounded in that certainty, you can begin to reach out to the world with the same wonderful, generous vulnerable ability that we see in Christ.”

In this new year at Trinity we will be engaged (notice the word!) in considering our mandate as Christ’s followers to participate in the restoration of God’s creation. In carrying out this calling, we seek to “live a life of love” (Eph 5:2) like Jesus. It is a life of love that holds the holy tension between acts of mercy and acts of justice; between walking humbly with outcasts like the Samaritan woman and practicing righteous action against injustice like turning over the tables in the temple.

To live a life of love like Jesus, we must “let the same mind be in us as was in Him.” (Phil 2:5) On this path, we are not just admiring Jesus, we are acquiring his mind or consciousness. And that, literally, takes practice. Contemplative practice.

My New Year's resolution? Take the time to be still and listen. Alone and together. Will you join me?
Blessings to you, Frannie