Looking After One's Self

I am sure all of us, at some stage in our life, have felt exhausted. We may have had a busy week, or it maybe the result of abnormal exercise, or we have been trying to balance a sudden rush of demands upon our life. Whatever the cause, it feels great, doesn't it, when you can finally sit down, close the door, turn off the phone or laptop – and simply be.

Such moments also highlights the importance of having clear boundaries on how we manage our time and availability. Such boundaries are important and necessary, if only to keep us, and our relationships, healthy. However, the demands of work, family, or the organisations we belong to, and commitments we make, often demand first place in our life. The result is that the lines between meeting our own needs, and meeting the desires of others, get blurred – and one day you wake up and realise you feel exhausted and taken for granted.

In my last Blog, I wrote of how Jesus and the disciples were caught in a sudden storm that often arose on the sea of Galilee. The seasoned disciples who were used to sailing on that lake seemed to forget they were seasoned fishermen, and rather than relying on their sailing skills, they were overwhelmed by a sense of impending danger and death. The author of Mark's Gospel uses the story to remind the reader that in Jesus we also may find healing, new life and hope in the face of the struggles and fears we may face. This is something the author of Mark's Gospel continually reminds us as he records one story of human need after another. And in each unique situation Jesus was able to meet and resolve that situation and need. However, Mark wanted us not just to read his Gospel – but to also include our life story into the text, so that we also might live with the promise of new hope and new life. For God will never abandon us either, regardless of who we are or what we have done. This is also the key point Mark is making – and it is all part of the Gospel's Good News!.

Joan Chittister once made a similar observation in her book, “Sacred by Struggle Transformed by Hope”. She wrote:

If struggle is the process of evolution from spiritual emptiness to spiritual wisdom, hope is the process as well. Hope, the response of the spiritual person to struggle, takes us from the risk of inner stagnation, of emotional despair, to a total transformation of life.

There is no failure except in no longer trying; no defeat except from within; no really insurmountable barriers save our own inherent weakness of purpose...

There is a capacity of the human heart to persist. We endure not because there is no struggle to obstruct it but the struggle sharpens its focus and makes clear its meaning. (https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/)

I believe life can be like that for all of us. The challenge when faced with Life's seeming impossibilities, is to learn endurance – for there is no easy escape. We may be stretched to the limits of our endurance; we may be challenge to the core of who we are – including our faith. This is what the Gospel writer is reminding his disciples and us also.

Yet God does not abandon us.

Something I have found helpful in making sense of this 'Gospel Hope' – especially in times of change, uncertainty and transition – is the framework offered by Creation Spirituality.. Creation Spirituality offers us Four Paths or Four Ways of Being. They are referred to as Via Positiva; Via Negativa; Via Creativa and Via Transformativa.

1. Via Posativa reminds us that God is in everything – a belief that also lies at the Heart of Franciscan Spirituality. When we are able to comprehend this truth, it widens the door of our perception, enabling us to begin to see and comprehend that everything is holy, because everything is a carrier of God. We discover that God is in fact the unifying field in which holds everything together.

2. Via Negativa reminds us that if God is in everything then we are never left alone. Jesus is still present and will always be 'our Way' even in the difficult, hard and painful moments that Life may throw at us – especially in these moments of darkness.

3. Via Creativa: Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), the German Theologian, philosopher and mystic, was once asked by an inquirer: “Then what is it that will remain (in these times of struggle and testing)?”  And he replied: “That which is inborn in us remains.”  Meaning, that which we give birth to from out of our depths (of suffering and struggle) will be that which lives on after us.  Because what is born from within us will include our most intimate moments— our intimacy with ourselves, with God, with the Creative Spirit, and with others.  Because when we recognise these moments of profound intimacy we are also drawn very close to the Divine presence within us, and we are also able to see and share the Divine presence with he community in which we live. For this reason, our Creativity becomes our prayer and our praise.

4. Via Transformativea:  This fourth path reminds us that if we have experienced God in the joys and blessings of life; and if we have known the presence of God in the darker moments that life throws at us; and if we are able to weave these darker parts of ourselves, (including the stories we may not like so much about ourselves); then we enable these creative actions to become a renewing and transforming presence in our world — especially in the areas that seek compassion and Justice.

Challenging words! What if the world was like this? Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”.

Sometimes, even if all we can pray is simply the word 'Thank you.' the theologian Semaj Y. Vanzant reminds us that this simple intimate connection and communication with our creator will always get us through: She writes:“In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was 'Help me.' Sometimes a prayer was 'Thank you.' What I've discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away.” (https://elevatesociety.com/in-my-deepest-darkest-moments/)

Phil 29 June, 2024

 

Handling Life's Storms

In Mark's Gospel (4:34-5-41) there is a story of Jesus and a few of his disciples being caught in one of the sudden storms that regularly arose on the local Sea of Galilee. In response to the Disciple's anxiety Jesus rebukes the wind and much to the disciples amazement, the wind stopped and the lake became calm again.

No doubt, all of us have had moments of anxiety. It might have been an unexpected bill – causing you to wonder how you will be able to pay it.

Or a Police car pulls in behind you with its lights going – and you wonder what you have done that was wrong? Or you are asked to give the vote of thanks to the speaker at the end of the meeting – and you spend the evening wondering what you are going to say. Or you have had some medical tests done – and you anxiously await the results.

If you have experience moments of anxiety – you will not be alone. We all have moments when we feel pushed beyond our ability to cope. Such moments of anxiety, (and its bigger brothers of fear and terror), can stretch us out of our comfort zone. However, if they last too long they can numb our ability to think and react in a positive and even life saving way.

Yet, in its milder form, anxiety and fear are not necessarily a bad thing; it is one of the inbuilt human survival instincts that can cause the body to release adrenaline which prepares us for action – to either attack or to flee...Which reminds me of an earlier time in my life when I learnt to snow-ski.

Early in my parish ministry as an Anglican Priest I was the vicar of a small Country parish near Mount Hut Ski Field in the Canterbury Planes of New Zealand's South Island.

I can still clearly recall the day, early in my skiing adventure, when I had ventured onto a slop that was well outside my skill range. In that moment I realized I had a choice. I could sit down and attempt to slide down the slope – with the possibility of ending up breaking something... or I could try and ski it, which is what I suddenly decided to do – and that choice led to one of the most exhilarating days in my life as I clambered back onto the ski lift to ski the slope again and again!

Such an experience is not uncommon. We see a similar struggle in in children when they are faced with the challenge of learning to walk. It may cause moments of fear and tears... but when they finally give it a go and discover they can take a few steps alone... the tears give way to laughter and they want you spend the rest of the day watching them practice walking.

Fear is not all wrong. It is part of our God given a survival mechanism. The difficulty is when our fears and anxieties get out of control and end up dominating our lives.

In the Gospel reading referred to above, we heard how the disciples experienced fear when faced with a storm while sailing on the sea of Galilee. To understand their fear we need to remember that while the disciples were professional Fishermen, the Hebrew people were never sea going people. They were affected by their ancient myths that saw the sea as the source of evil and chaos. It was the domain of a terrifying sea monster called Liviathin that is mentioned in several of their ancient Jewish writings.

What is interesting to note is that the words that Jesus used to addressed the wind and the waves, are exactly the same as he used to addressed the demon-possessed man earlier in Mark's Gospel (1:25). In their mind the destructive power of the storm was driven by the same power that can rob people from resting in their calm centre, distracting them from utilizing the wisdom and skills they normally possessed. And that can apply to us as much as it applied to those seasoned fishermen.

Storms happen to all of us in life – We all face moments when we feel out of our depth; when life becomes out of control; when we feel panic, fear and terror, or deep penetrating sorrow.

In those times Jesus reminded his disciples – and us - we are not left alone – God cannot and is unable to abandon us because we are created from and sustained by the breath of God.

When life's problems involve us in a tempest of doubt, tension and uncertainty, and we do not know what to do. Or when we discover we are faced with some hard choices and do not know which is the best choice to make... We may panic... or we may choose to pause. To take time to recenter. To remember, we are not alone. To recall that the chief enemy of peace is worry: worry for ourselves; worry about the unknown future; worry about those we love. To use that moment to trust your intuition knowing that we are never left entirely alone, because Jesus speaks of a God whose hand will never let go of us and of a love from which we, and those we love, can ever drift. Because to voyage with Jesus is to voyage in peace even in, and amid, the storms we may face.

This is not something which happened once for the disciples of Jesus; it is also something which still happens – and which can happen for us as well.

 I have Returned!

Some years have passed since my last Blog and a lot has happened in the meantime... including a Heart Attack which has pushed me to reconsider how I want to spend the years that the medical skill of surgeons have given to me.

I am most grateful, as you may imagine!

As I have been reassessing my commitments and how I want to spend the gift of "New Life" I have pulled back from being a "fill-in" Priest.  And while i appreciated the challenge and insight I received from Sermon preparation... I remembered how my Blog had fulfilled that  purpose in the past with the 80 Blogs I have posted.

So now the challenge is to open myself to the insights this medium may provide over the time ahead....