Summer is here, so many people are talking about their summer reading plans. Many people like to do their summer reading on a beach or a resort somewhere. Well, our family hasn't made any big summer plans, and here in Iowa, there really aren't any beaches (a few square feet of sand adjacent to a small lake doesn't count) and the resorts are few and far between. So, my summer reading will have to be out on our three-season porch (unless there is too much heat and humidity, which we do have plenty of in Iowa during the summer).
What will I be reading? Well, I haven't made my final list, but here are a few thoughts. Since I will be taking a youth group to the Lutheran/Presbyterian Mission Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I am reading a little bit of history ("A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West" by James Donovan, a book which is about more than just that one battle, but about the unfortunate history surrounding the takeover of the West). I'm also going to read a book about the current state of Native Americans ("Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder" by Kent Nerburn).
Theologically, I have come to realize that I have a gaping hole in my knowledge of two 20th century theological giants: Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar. So, time permitting, I plan on reading through a couple of introductory books about those two theologians, and finish by reading a new book from Fortress Press, "Saving Karl Barth: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Preoccupation" by D. Stephen Long. Somewhere along the line, I hope to read a bit of fiction as well, but I haven't decided what to read yet, other than perhaps re-reading "The Hobbit" before the final movie in that series comes out later this year.
So, today's quote is about reading books, from Thomas Merton:
"Reading gives God more glory when we get more out of it, when it is a more deeply vital act, not only of our intelligence but of our whole personality, absorbed and refreshed in thought, meditation, prayer, or even in the contemplation of God. Books can speak to us like God...They speak to us like God when they bring us light and peace and fill us with silence. They speak to us like God when we desire never to leave them."
(From "Thoughts in Solitude" pp. 55-56). And finally, he offers this little gem: "Christ, the Incarnate Word, is the Book of Life in Whom we read God" (p. 57).
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Letting Go (Monday Morning in the Desert)
It could be said that much of Christianity has been reduced to theology by "bumper sticker", consisting of sayings which can fit onto a sticker placed on the bumper of a car. Or, using a more recent mode of communication, I could call it "theology according to Twitter", where the sayings are limited to 140 characters. Many sayings are of dubious quality, such as the notorious "God helps those who help themselves", the alleged quotation from the Bible which is nowhere to be found in Scripture.
One saying that I hear periodically goes like this: "Let go, and let God". Again, like many of these sayings,it could be used at inappropriate times or for inappropriate reasons. However, unlike "God helps those who help themselves", a saying with little or no redeeming qualities, there may be a legitimate use of "Let go, and let God".
"Let go, and let God" can perhaps be used to describe the message in an anonymous letter dating from fourteenth-century Germany, which is sometimes called "The Silent Outcry". It is believed to be a letter from a spiritual director, and the message of the letter is that it is only by letting go of God that God can be found.
"Learn how to let go of God through God, the hidden God through the naked God. Be willing to lose a penny in order to find a guilder. Get rid of the water, so that you can make wine..... [I]f you want to eat of the honey, you should not be put off by the bee's sting. If you want to catch fish, learn to get wet; if you want to see Jesus on the shore (John 21:4), learn to sink down into the sea first." (Matthew 14:30)
Listen. Look. Suffer and be still. Release yourself into the light. See with intellect. Learn with discretion. Suffer with joy. Rejoice with longing. Have desire with forbearance. Complain to no one. My child, be patient and release yourself, because no one can dig God out from the ground of your heart.
O deep treasure, how will you be dug up? O high perfection, who may attain you? O flowing fountain, who can exhaust you? O burning Brilliance; outbursting Power; simple Return; naked hiddenness; hidden Security; secure Confidence; simple silent One in all things; manifold Good in a single silence; You silent Outcry, no one can find you who does not know how to let you go.
Release yourself, my child, and thank God that he has given you such a way of life."
(From p. 141 of "The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism", edited by Bernard McGinn).
One saying that I hear periodically goes like this: "Let go, and let God". Again, like many of these sayings,it could be used at inappropriate times or for inappropriate reasons. However, unlike "God helps those who help themselves", a saying with little or no redeeming qualities, there may be a legitimate use of "Let go, and let God".
"Let go, and let God" can perhaps be used to describe the message in an anonymous letter dating from fourteenth-century Germany, which is sometimes called "The Silent Outcry". It is believed to be a letter from a spiritual director, and the message of the letter is that it is only by letting go of God that God can be found.
"Learn how to let go of God through God, the hidden God through the naked God. Be willing to lose a penny in order to find a guilder. Get rid of the water, so that you can make wine..... [I]f you want to eat of the honey, you should not be put off by the bee's sting. If you want to catch fish, learn to get wet; if you want to see Jesus on the shore (John 21:4), learn to sink down into the sea first." (Matthew 14:30)
****
Listen. Look. Suffer and be still. Release yourself into the light. See with intellect. Learn with discretion. Suffer with joy. Rejoice with longing. Have desire with forbearance. Complain to no one. My child, be patient and release yourself, because no one can dig God out from the ground of your heart.
O deep treasure, how will you be dug up? O high perfection, who may attain you? O flowing fountain, who can exhaust you? O burning Brilliance; outbursting Power; simple Return; naked hiddenness; hidden Security; secure Confidence; simple silent One in all things; manifold Good in a single silence; You silent Outcry, no one can find you who does not know how to let you go.
Release yourself, my child, and thank God that he has given you such a way of life."
(From p. 141 of "The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism", edited by Bernard McGinn).
Thursday, June 12, 2014
A Vision of Marriage
Recently, I read through the classic book, "For the Life of the World", by Alexander Schmemann. One passage, regarding marriage, is particularly poignant:
"In movies and magazines the 'icon' of marriage is always a youthful couple. But once, in the light and warmth of an autumn afternoon, this writer saw on the bench of a public square, in a poor Parisian suburb, an old and poor couple. They were sitting hand in hand, in silence, enjoying the pale light, the last warmth of the season. In silence: all words had been said, all passion exhausted, all storms at peace. The whole life was behind - yet all of it was now present, in this silence, in this light, in this warmth, in this silent unity of hands. Present - and ready for eternity, ripe for joy. This to me remains the vision of marriage, of its heavenly beauty." (p. 90).
Today is the 21st anniversary of the day when God joined my wife and I together in marriage, so we have many more years in front of us before the day when we take our place on that park bench. But, even now, in the present whirlwind of children, vocations, and activities that define our lives, I hope we can take a little bit of time to sit and hold hands in silence.
.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Mercy (Monday Morning in the Desert)
Yesterday, I prayed at the bedside of a family member who is dying. The liturgical prayers of the Church which commend a dying person to God are quite beautiful, but it is hard to appreciate their beauty under the circumstances.
There is one thing that those prayers have in common: mercy. In the Church, we can debate for days, months, years, or even millenia about beliefs and doctrines about God, but in the end, on our deathbeds, what we cling to is God's mercy. So, today's quote is from Elder Epiphanios of Mount Athos:
"I am not afraid of death. Not, of course, because of my works, but because I believe in God's mercy."
(From p. 73 of "Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives & Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece" by Herman Middleton).
There is one thing that those prayers have in common: mercy. In the Church, we can debate for days, months, years, or even millenia about beliefs and doctrines about God, but in the end, on our deathbeds, what we cling to is God's mercy. So, today's quote is from Elder Epiphanios of Mount Athos:
"I am not afraid of death. Not, of course, because of my works, but because I believe in God's mercy."
(From p. 73 of "Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives & Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece" by Herman Middleton).
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Alice from the Brady Bunch - a New Monastic!
Like virtually every other child growing up in the 1970s, I watched "The Brady Bunch" on TV. Most of the attention on the show was on the Brady family, but the loyal housekeeper, Alice, was always there, ready to help. As you may have read in the news, the woman who played the role of "Alice", Ann B. Davis, recently died at the age of 88.
Since her death, I have learned that in her post-"Brady Bunch" years, she lived something like a "new monastic" life in the Episcopal Church. "New monasticism" is a term which has been thrown around the past few decades to describe a quasi-monastic renewal in the Church. Many decades ago, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the need for a new kind of monasticism in the life of the Church: “The restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ."
"New monasticism" has taken various shapes, but it is primarily a movement among the Christian laity. The typical focus is on service to the poor, and while the rules of the traditional monastic orders do not apply, the "new monastic" movement also involves groups of people coming together to pray.
How does Ann B. Davis fit into this movement? A "People" magazine article from 1977 (shortly after the end of the "Brady Bunch") stated:
"Ann B. Davis, the wisecracking housekeeper of TV’s Brady Bunch, has joined a new bunch—a religious commune in Denver. At 51, Davis, who also played Schultzy on the ’50s Bob Cummings Show, gets her Rocky Mountain highs with 6:30 a.m. Bible study. “I was tired of show business—tired of running around with my head cut off,” she says. Born an Episcopalian, Davis practiced her faith but “with little understanding of it.” She often found herself alone with a drink after a hard day of rehearsing or during layoffs between series. In 1974 when she was playing summer stock in Denver she met Episcopal Bishop William C. Frey and his family, who were planning to bring together several families under one Christian roof. “I decided to sell my house in L.A. and yield control to the Lord,” the unmarried Davis says. She and 19 others, aged 3 months to 69 years, now occupy a remodeled Victorian home." http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tinseltalk/2014/06/ann-b-davis-aka-alice-from-the-brady-bunch-left-hollywood-for-faith-i-was-born-again/
In 1994, she described her new life in an interview given to the Orlando Sentinel:
"For the next several years, she spent most of her time, three or four days a week, giving (her) Christian testimony. It was very exciting, while also doing laundry at a homeless shelter. She didnt work except to perform in an occasional Brady Bunch special or television commercial. Three years ago, she moved with Frey and his wife to Ambridge, Pa., near a seminary. She began working in theater again. These days Davis spends free time 'stuffing my head with wonderful things', such as courses in church history, the Old Testament and gender roles in history at the Episcopal School for Ministry." http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-02-06/news/9402030951_1_brady-bunch-brady-family-christian-testimony
While I obviously have a certain fondness for traditional monasticism, as set forth in the Rule of St. Benedict, the "new monasticism" spoken of by Bonhoeffer, and exemplified by Ann B. Davis, may have a vital role in the renewal of the Church. So, thanks be to God for Ann, and for all who are setting an example for the rest of us who are struggling to follow the way of Christ in our new, post-Christendom, world.
Since her death, I have learned that in her post-"Brady Bunch" years, she lived something like a "new monastic" life in the Episcopal Church. "New monasticism" is a term which has been thrown around the past few decades to describe a quasi-monastic renewal in the Church. Many decades ago, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the need for a new kind of monasticism in the life of the Church: “The restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ."
"New monasticism" has taken various shapes, but it is primarily a movement among the Christian laity. The typical focus is on service to the poor, and while the rules of the traditional monastic orders do not apply, the "new monastic" movement also involves groups of people coming together to pray.
How does Ann B. Davis fit into this movement? A "People" magazine article from 1977 (shortly after the end of the "Brady Bunch") stated:
"Ann B. Davis, the wisecracking housekeeper of TV’s Brady Bunch, has joined a new bunch—a religious commune in Denver. At 51, Davis, who also played Schultzy on the ’50s Bob Cummings Show, gets her Rocky Mountain highs with 6:30 a.m. Bible study. “I was tired of show business—tired of running around with my head cut off,” she says. Born an Episcopalian, Davis practiced her faith but “with little understanding of it.” She often found herself alone with a drink after a hard day of rehearsing or during layoffs between series. In 1974 when she was playing summer stock in Denver she met Episcopal Bishop William C. Frey and his family, who were planning to bring together several families under one Christian roof. “I decided to sell my house in L.A. and yield control to the Lord,” the unmarried Davis says. She and 19 others, aged 3 months to 69 years, now occupy a remodeled Victorian home." http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tinseltalk/2014/06/ann-b-davis-aka-alice-from-the-brady-bunch-left-hollywood-for-faith-i-was-born-again/
In 1994, she described her new life in an interview given to the Orlando Sentinel:
"For the next several years, she spent most of her time, three or four days a week, giving (her) Christian testimony. It was very exciting, while also doing laundry at a homeless shelter. She didnt work except to perform in an occasional Brady Bunch special or television commercial. Three years ago, she moved with Frey and his wife to Ambridge, Pa., near a seminary. She began working in theater again. These days Davis spends free time 'stuffing my head with wonderful things', such as courses in church history, the Old Testament and gender roles in history at the Episcopal School for Ministry." http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-02-06/news/9402030951_1_brady-bunch-brady-family-christian-testimony
While I obviously have a certain fondness for traditional monasticism, as set forth in the Rule of St. Benedict, the "new monasticism" spoken of by Bonhoeffer, and exemplified by Ann B. Davis, may have a vital role in the renewal of the Church. So, thanks be to God for Ann, and for all who are setting an example for the rest of us who are struggling to follow the way of Christ in our new, post-Christendom, world.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Interior Prayer (Monday Morning in the Desert)
Yesterday during worship, our Gospel reading was from John 17:1-11, and it contained what is known as the "high priestly prayer" of Jesus. It is a prayer which emphasizes the unity of Jesus with God the Father, as well as our unity with each other and with Christ.
As I have discussed before, the Carthusian order of monks is perhaps the closest thing we have in the Western tradition of the Church to the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The Carthusians teach that our ability to pray comes from the unity we have with Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our Advocate:
"Prayer is the respiration of our being, hidden with Christ in God. It is silence of the mystery that we are; or cry of the hope of things unseen, of a waiting which is not yet fully consummated. At such times, prayer rises from the depth of our heart, revealing to us who we are: a prayer that comes from beyond us, and yet which is within us, a prayer which is the manifestation of a love and a will which are mysteriously at one with God, and supremely efficacious. This is the work of the other Advocate promised by Jesus (John 14:17)."
(From the book, "Interior Prayer" by an anonymous Carthusian, translated by Sister Maureen Scrine, p. 80).
As I have discussed before, the Carthusian order of monks is perhaps the closest thing we have in the Western tradition of the Church to the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The Carthusians teach that our ability to pray comes from the unity we have with Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our Advocate:
"Prayer is the respiration of our being, hidden with Christ in God. It is silence of the mystery that we are; or cry of the hope of things unseen, of a waiting which is not yet fully consummated. At such times, prayer rises from the depth of our heart, revealing to us who we are: a prayer that comes from beyond us, and yet which is within us, a prayer which is the manifestation of a love and a will which are mysteriously at one with God, and supremely efficacious. This is the work of the other Advocate promised by Jesus (John 14:17)."
(From the book, "Interior Prayer" by an anonymous Carthusian, translated by Sister Maureen Scrine, p. 80).
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