Meditation: "Ears to Listen"

"Let anyone with ears to hear listen!" --Jesus

"There is a distinction between hearing and listening. We may have functioning hearing organs and still fail to listen to what others are saying."  --Rodney Clapp

"We are used to thinking that it was light that broke the primordial darkness from which all life comes, but it was really God's voice...'Let there be light.' Sound precedes light; we hear before we can see."  --Stephen Webb (quoted in the Rodney Clapp article quoted above!)

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Dear Friends,

[First, a disclaimer: I was prompted to write on this topic after reading an article in "The Christian Century" by Rodney Clapp.]

About six weeks ago, I destroyed my iPod. Not intentionally, mind you, but it got fried when I jumped into a swimming pool and swam for 10 minutes before realizing it was in my pocket. No amount of time buried in rice seems sufficient to resurrect it from its watery demise.

At first, I felt terribly bereft. I was so accustomed to listening to music or my regular podcasts during my bicycle commute, that I felt strangely lonely and out-of-sorts riding without those ear buds stuck in my ears. Slowly, I came out of it. But now, just a few days ago, I received a new iPod and can resume sticking those earbuds into my head and listening to music and talk whenever I want.

Except I feel somewhat ambivalent about it now. You see, as it turns out, I've discovered that it was refreshing and kind of freeing not to fill my ears with sound during my commute. Without the iPod, I could clearly hear things in the world around me. Without the iPod filling my head with sound, I could hear myself.

I've always had issues with being heard. Quite honestly, I quickly and easily get frustrated and cranky if I am talking to someone and it's obvious that they may be hearing me, but aren't really listening to me--aren't really taking in what I am saying. When I sense this is happening, I quickly feel like shutting up and walking away. What I never thought about was that maybe even I wasn't really listening to myself. (What a mind-blowing insight this was!) And somehow, my iPod had become a tool I used to distract myself from what was going on in my own head and heart.

I've always considered myself a good listener--but given this recent experience, I'm realizing that maybe I need to recommit myself to listening deeply--to the world around me, to other people, to myself, to God.

How about you? What kind of listener are you? I pray God will grant you the grace to listen deeply--with all your mind and heart--to listen to God, to others, and perhaps most importantly, to yourself.

Blessings on you,

Jeremy

Meditation: "Choose Hope"

"Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God's guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness." --Henri J.M. Nouwen

"God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken." --Psalm 62:2

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Dear Friends,

It is rough out there. Today I heard on the news that the number of people applying for jobless benefits is on the rise again and foreclosures are also higher than expected. The economic malaise that has gripped our country (and world) for the last couple of years continues to linger and cast its shadow. I also have been reading lately about how significant and inevitable the consequences of global climate change will be. Even if every nation stopped spewing CO2 into the environment tomorrow, it's not clear that we will avoid all of the negative consequences of global warming. And then I think about the number of people I know who have recently been diagnosed with serious illnesses, and if I were to dwell on it too long, I know I would easily get overwhelmed.

I'm not trying to drag you down! But I'm aware that these issues--that are so huge and out-of-control and difficult to address--feel quite weighty to me sometimes. I wonder what kind of world my children will inherit. I wonder if we human beings even have the wherewithal to make the changes necessary to avoid destroying ourselves.

For me, to avoid getting hopelessly entangled in all of this, I have to make a conscious choice, and that is to CHOOSE HOPE. Many people see hope as a naive wish that things would be different than they are. But the kind of hope that I seek is deeper than that. The hope I wish to embrace "is willing to," as Nouwen writes, "leave unanswered questions unanswered." The kind of hope that I find myself coming back to over and over again in times like these is the hope that God is indeed my rock and salvation, and that no matter what happens, God is all in all. These aren't platitudes to me, but rather sturdy anchor lines in a tumultuous world.

I hope and pray that, by God's grace, you will choose hope--and in so doing will find the courage to live each day in what is often a turbulent world.

Blessing on you,

Jeremy

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The Serenity Prayer (attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.

Meditation: "Yesterday, TODAY, and Tomorrow"

"O God our Creator,
your kindness has brought us
the gift of a new morning.
Help us to leave yesterday,
and not to covet tomorrow
but to accept the uniqueness of today."

--From an order for morning prayer from "A Wee Worship Book"

"What time is it? Now! Where am I? Here!"
--Jon Bailey, my uncle-in-law

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." --Matthew 6:34

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Dear Friends,

My apologies for the long gap since my last meditation. It's been about two months! I hope to resume posting them more regularly now.

Last week, a team from our church headed out on a mission trip. We spent a few days in Lewis County, WA doing repair work on the homes of people who experienced a devastating flood in December 2007 and then another (though not as big) flood in January 2009. Each day, before our team headed out to work, we paused for a brief time of prayer. We used an order for morning prayer from the Celtic Christian tradition composed by the Iona Community's Wild Goose Worship Group.

The words that we prayed each morning (excerpted above) have been clinging to my heart and mind since our return. How hard I find it to leave yesterday behind! How hard I find it not to lean into tomorrow before today has ended! This simple prayer, which did not particularly catch my attention the first day, after repeated exposure, eventually wiggled into my consciousness. Now I am noticing anew the ways that I overlook the opportunities of the present moment. Each day is, indeed, unique. Each day has hidden within it opportunities to learn, to grow, to love, to cry, to serve, to go deeper (and to make mistakes!) that are unique to that day. One of the most difficult spiritual disciplines for many of us is simply being where we are.

Though I did not include it above, the prayer continues, "...take from us what we need to carry no longer, so that we may be free again to choose to serve you and to be served by each other..." What a helpful way to start a new day--prayerfully acknowledging the baggage we drag along with us and asking God to relieve us of our burden so that we can be free to love and serve. It's like praying, at the start of the day, "OK, God, here's the grudge I've been clinging to. Please take it so that I can be free of it!" or "OK, God, here's the anxiety I am feeling about my job/relationship/finances. Please take what I don't need to carry anymore so I can be free and available to others."

I'm thinking that this would be a great way to start every day (not just during a mission trip), to pray simply "Free me for TODAY, O God!"

Blessings on you,

Jeremy