Three Ways to View the Sunset



Photo by Treena Duncan

 From "The Naked Now" - Richard Rohr

Three men stood by the ocean, looking at the same sunset.
One mas saw the immense physical beauty and enjoyed the event in iteslf.  This man was the 'sensate' type who, like 80 percent of the world, deals with what he can see, feel, touch, move and fix.  This was enough reality for him, for he had little interest in larger ideas, intuitions, or the grand scheme of things.  He saw with his first eye, which was good. 
A second man saw the sunset.  he enjoyed all the beauty that the first man did.  Like all lovers of coherent thought, technology, and science, he also enjoyed his power to make sense of the universe and explain what he discovered.  he thought about the cyclical rotations of planets and stars.  Through imagination, intuition, and reason, he saw with his second eye, which was even better. 
The third man saw the sunset, knowing and enjoying all that the first and the second men did.  but in his ability to progress from seeing to explaining to "tasting", he also remained in awe before an underlying mystery, coherence, and spaciousness that connected him with everything else.  he used his third eye, which is the full goal of all seeing and all knowing.  This was the best.

Which eye do you view the world with? Are you ready to see and taste the full sunset now?

River of Love

I believe that faith might be precisely that ability to trust the river, to trust the flow and the Lover.  It is a process that we don’t have to change, coerce, or improve.  We need to allow it to flow.  That takes immense confidence in God, especially when we’re hurting.  Usually, I can feel myself get panicky, I want to make things right, quickly.  I lose my ability to be present and I go up into my head and start obsessing.  I’m into goal-orientation, trying to push or even create the river- the river that is already flowing through me.

People who know God well- the mystics, the hermits, those who risk everything to find God—always meet a lover, not a dictator.  God is never found to be an abusive father or a tyrannical mother, but a lover who is more that we dared hope for.

-Richard Rohr  from Richard’s Daily Meditations, March 28, 2011, caradicalgrace.org

This day, may you know and enjoy the river and the flow.

Lori

Blessings,

Lori Megley-Best

Squamish United Church: Crocus-Minded

Squamish United Church: Crocus-Minded: "Crocus-Minded by Jo SorleyIt takes courage to be crocus-minded. God, I’d rather wait until June, Like wise roses, When the..."

Sole Journey

So here we are in the third week of lent.

I am thoroughly enjoying the lenten series we are engaging in at SUC

"Soul Journey (off the beaten path)."

We have a path down the centre of our aisle that I and a lay member created with our painted feet. We have spent the last couple weeks talking about and living into spiritual practices that connect our soles are to our soul. We are discovering the ways and the places in which we walk are connected with our life desires. We are taking a sole journey together so that our souls might be refreshed and renewed.

I am loving this theme - I have been daily touched by how others have become more connected with The Holy through this.

And yet today I have sat in my office and taken notice that I am much better at leading others into practice than spending time in it myself. How is it that I fell back here already? Throughout the season of advent right up to January 1st I was in daily practice. I was creating balance. I was reminded of the peace it brought and then....

Well... one of my lenten practices has been to take at least one day off a week. I missed the first week but I have succeeded at two days off now and am aiming for a third on Monday (I nearly slipped up by agreeing to lead a community prayer vigil but a half hour later I called back with a 'that's just not going to work.' - Oh the guilt I carry over saying that. Who else is going to hold a prayer vigil for Japan now (Someone joked - 'well if they have a nuclear disaster now we know who to come to' - If only I was able to see the humour in that a little more clearly).

I am not proud of this. I am ashamed and yet I feel guilt when I say 'no.' I have found myself back in a place of feeling like I don't measure up the expectation of people and 'the church' (at every level). (Now there is my classic #3)

I hate saying I'm busy. I don't want to be busy. I don't want to be exhausted. It's not what God wants of me either (I do believe that).

So here it is. Starting this week. I am giving up trying to live up to false expectations. I am giving up feeling guilty when I say no.

I am not looking for sympathy.

I am calling us all back to living into who God has created us to be. "Whole" And I am pretty sure 'whole' does not look like a guilt-ridden, over-worked, dishonoured, exhausted clergy person. I look forward to being reminded of what at least glimpsing 'whole' does look like.

I hope you join me in giving up those things that are keeping you from 'wholeness.'

(And on that note it's lunch time and the sun is shining - I'm going for a good long walk before I have to be back in the office)

Blessings on you 'Soul Journey'

Restoring Wholeness

This spiritual practice is described in the book made for goodness and why this makes all the difference by Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Mpho Tutu.

...pick up a stone.  It should be one with some heft and texture.  But it should not be too large.  It should be something that fits easily into the palm of the hand.  For a whole day, keep that stone about your person.  Tell the stone the whole story of the outrage, in as much detail as you can recall.  Throughout the day, if you find your mind returning to the hurt, hold the stone and tell that stone your thoughts and feelings.  At the end of the day, find a sacred space to set the stone down...  perhaps in a churchyard, under a favorite tree, or near a river.  As you set the stone down, set down the burden of hurt that you have been carrying.  Know that the burden is in a safe place; you can reclaim it if you need it.  But know also that you don’t have to carry it.  Laying down the burden of pain is one way of returning to goodness. It is a gift that we can give to ourselves...

We do not need to carry the burdens of the world.  Thanks be to the One who is the Maker of All Life and the Source of All Love!

Posted by Sharon Copeman