MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, October 28, 2013

Be present.

In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I’m coaching myself this Monday morning. Feel free to eavesdrop, as I reflect on a few recent experiences. They may seem random and unrelated, but I think they have something to teach me. Maybe you too.

I had some free time last week between meetings in New York. I went to the Metropolitan Museum, and visited a couple favorite rooms. Some were packed with people. Others were empty. I gravitated toward the emptier spaces. Once again, I noticed with a sense of irony that the busiest space in the whole building was the museum shop. Why is that? Is it because we want to capture, to preserve, to own the experience? To have something to take away? Something to possess? It’s easy to get judgmental: Wouldn’t the time be better spent being present to the art, rather than browsing through reproductions to purchase?

Last August, my daughter and I traveled in Africa. We spent a day riding in a jeep in a game preserve. We were on safari, taking photographs of extraordinary animals. Digital photography means, of course, that you can take billions of pictures, which means that the camera is always poised in front of your face. It becomes the lens through which the world is viewed. Unless of course, the battery goes dead, which is what happened to us. Suddenly, we lost the ability to take pictures. I was disappointed. I wondered if the trip was ruined. My daughter, more spiritually evolved than I, quickly shifted gears. Nothing we could do about it. Nothing except (of course) to take in the marvels, enjoy the moment, let the moment be. By the end of the day, I realized the power in keeping eyes open, without worrying about preserving or possessing it for reference at some future date.

I went to a restaurant recently. In a nearby booth was a family, parents and two children. Each were on a cell phone, texting or playing games, doing business or checking calendars. Modern family quality time. I guess on one level, they were present to each other. But I wondered: What would their time together have been if they had asked for a basket from the waiter, had put their cell phones in that basket for the time they were together, and talked about their days, or even just talked about how hard it was to be without their cell phones?

My children, who often read these Monday messages, remind me that I need to practice what I preach. As someone addicted to email and smartphones and to-do lists, as someone who worries way too much about tomorrow, I see their point. The growth opportunity for me in the current chapter of my spiritual journey, when the future is not particularly clear, is to figure out what it means to be present, to approach each day with gratitude, asking God to be revealed in some way, ready for whatever encounter or task may surface, knowing that I don’t know what is coming in fifteen minutes, or on Tuesday, October 29, or next month, or next year.

An older parishioner used to tell me each Sunday that today is a gift, which is why it’s called the present. So, Jay, and any others paying attention, be present to this day. Be present to the people you meet. Be present to the lessons God has in store. And if that means putting down the camera or the smart-phone, give it a try.

If you need an example of what that looks like, read the story of how Jesus met people, especially as described in the Gospel of John. Eavesdrop on his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 (a.k.a., Nick at Nite). Listen in as Jesus speaks with the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus only had a little bit of time to save the world. Take about an urgent list of things to do! It didn’t keep him from stopping and listening, remaining present to those he encountered. It was the way he showed love. Follow his example today.

-Jay Sidebotham

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, October 21, 2013

Bless you.

My office was pretty busy in the last week of 1999. I was working in New York City where anxiety was high, as folks wondered whether computer systems would crash at midnight on New Year’s Eve, Y2K. Remember that? It now seems silly how anxious were, but that week, a number of people came to my office to talk about where they were spiritually, in that momentous millennial shift.

One person, who had just starting poking his nose into the church, made an appointment, showed up at my office, and opened the conversation by saying: “I know this sounds dumb, but I was on the street the other day and I sneezed and a stranger said “God bless you.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what that means.” So we talked about blessings, blessings that come from God, blessings we give each other. All because of a sneeze. Go figure.

There are a number of ways you can translate the word blessing, but I like the literal meaning of benedicite. Break it down and it means to speak (dicere) well of (bene), to speak goodness. Of course that is anchored in the truth that before there was original sin there was original blessing. It’s no accident that of the two creation stories in the book of Genesis, the first one has God speaking creation into existence, punctuating the first five days with a note of approval, a blessing: “It was good.” The sixth day, when humanity emerges, gets even better. The divine review of that piece of work gets extra emphasis. God said: “It was very good.” Not a bad thing to remember on a Monday morning.

There is power in God’s blessing, God’s good intention, God’s grace, God’s embrace of each one of us. As we receive the power of that good news, we have the opportunity to pass it on. That power is something meant to flow from us, in all relationships. As we are blessed by God, we can bless back, joining with the psalmist who said: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name”. And we can relate to each other in a spirit of blessing. Just speaking words of blessing can be transformative. We can offer blessing even to those who have injured us, even to those who have caused resentment.

A book arrived in my mailbox last week, written by Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Pasadena, one of the liveliest churches in our denomination led by one of our livelier rectors. The book is called The 8 Habits of Love. I commend it to you, as a guide to the practice of our faith. It’s been a blessing to me. The first of these habits, generosity, finds its expression in a willingness to share blessings. Here’s how Ed describes a woman who mastered this spiritual practice: “She makes a point of complimenting one person every day, whether it is a stranger in the street or a friend at the office. She will tell a woman in the corner store that her shoes are wonderful or comment favorably to a man on the train about the book he is reading. Seeing the surprise on their faces, watching the transformation as the recipient acknowledges and absorbs the blessing is infinitely rewarding.”

One of my heroes and mentors was a priest named Craig Eder, who seemed to know God pretty well. I remember he was sometimes asked to say grace when we were in a public setting, when brevity would be appreciated by self-conscious Episcopalians. His table grace: May the blessed one bless. Carry that grace with you today. Remember the ways that you are blessed. It’s the way that you can be a blessing.

-Jay Sidebotham

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, October 14, 2013

Exploration

On this federal holiday, Columbus Day, say a prayer for the leaders of our government, for all who face hardship because of the shutdown, and for our common life.

And let me share a story which supposedly takes place after Christopher Columbus returned from “discovery” of the new world (Seems to me there were a few people who had gotten there first, but that’s another topic.) He had dinner with a number of Spanish nobles who apparently thought his exploration was not that big a deal. Anyone could have done it. If he hadn’t done it, someone else would have. Columbus responded by noting that anyone may have been able to do it, but nobody did.

To make his point, he asked his critics if they could get an egg to stand on its own. His dinner guests were unable to do it. After they tried (and tried and tried), Columbus took an egg, tapped one end ever so slightly and rested that egg on the slight dent, standing it on its end. It’s a parable about what it takes to be an explorer, to discover. It was a small thing, a parable issuing a call to think in new ways, to think outside the box, to travel in new directions.

I suspect there is a corollary to the spiritual journey. The Bible is full of stories of spiritual explorers, those who dare adventurous discovery.

It’s the story of Abraham and Sarah, who hear a call from God and leave the comfort of their homeland, heading to a new home, not even knowing where they were going. Where would we be if Abraham and Sarah had heard God’s call and decided it was a wrong number?

It’s the story of Mary, that young girl who is greeted by the angel who tells her she will bear a child that will save the world. Mary, even if a bit afraid, says “Let it be.” (She really said that. Paul McCartney didn’t make it up.) Preachers have speculated on how many other young girls the angel approached before coming upon this young girl adventurous enough to say yes.

It’s the story of Peter, impetuous disciple who never has an unexpressed thought, who sees Jesus walking on the water and decides, for some reason, that he can do that too. He puts one foot over the gunwale, then the next, defying gravity, strolling on the watery surface as long as he kept his eyes on his Lord.

It’s the story of Paul who captures a vision that the community of faith could indeed include all kinds of people who had been excluded before. Stepping outside of the box of his own tradition, education and upbringing, he travels around the Mediterranean rim establishing communities marked by this radical notion: In Christ, there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile. Adventurous indeed. Where would we be if he hadn’t done that?

Take some time today to consider these stories of spiritual explorers, a great cloud of witnesses whose faith leads them to something new and takes them to places they have not gone before. Think of other examples. Ask God to show you some new way to put his love to work in the world. Ask God to guide you in that new pathway. It may be just a very small thing (like standing an egg on its end), but dare to say yes to the exploration of the new life God holds out for you.

-Jay Sidebotham

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, October 7, 2013

The yoke is on you.

Last Friday was the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, described as the most admired and least imitated of saints. The power of his witness reverberates across the centuries, so much so that the new pope not only takes his name but embraces his spirit in word and action, symbolic and substantive. Francis of Assisi is remembered for his call to a life of simplicity and poverty. He is remembered for his love of all of God’s creation. He is remembered for a line attributed to him in teaching his disciples: “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” The expression of his rigorous faith was marked by joy. Obviously, there is much to learn from him as we face this Monday morning and consider what it means to put faith to work in the world. How does his faith inform yours?

I draw your attention to the reading chosen for St. Francis’ day, from the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 11), printed at the top of the side column.  It is a call to all those who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Is that you this morning? To those folks, Jesus says: “Take my yoke upon you”. That hardly sounds like a message of comfort to the weary and burdened. Take on a yoke? How about something like: “Relax, put your feet up.” That sounds more comforting. Yet Jesus says that his yoke is easy, his burden is light. One more example of how the question “WWJD?” (what would Jesus do?) finds its answer in paradox.

What does it mean to take on that yoke? In my former parish, in the exploration of the dynamics of spiritual growth, there was a lot of conversation about beliefs and practices, about what is expected of us as people of faith. We recognized what many religious commentators have noticed: a shift away from dogma, so that belief becomes less a matter of the intellect and more a matter of the heart. (See Diana Butler Bass’ comments in side column and read her excellent book Christianity After Religion.) We spent time trying to articulate beliefs and practices which we held dear as a community. There was one in particular that got a lot of attention. It began like this: “Every person has the freedom and responsibility to discern the truth of God for his or her life.” Said another way: Everyone has both freedom and responsibility in discerning the course, the trajectory, the progress of the spiritual journey.

What seemed to catch people’s interest was the paradoxical mix of freedom and responsibility, the fact that our relationship with God has this synergy of grace and gratitude, God’s initiative and our response. Our community was well versed in the freedom of our faith, graceful hospitality to the seeker and skeptic, a refusal to check theological correctness, or to check one’s brain at the door. We knew well the amazing grace that each one of us is on a spiritual journey that matters to God. But we discovered another dimension: a sense of responsibility as we move forward in that spiritual journey, that literal sense of response to the grace that has come to us. Perhaps that sense of responsibility is the yoke Jesus commends. St. Francis knew about that yoke, as in the wisdom of St. Augustine, he lived a life of faith in God in whose service is perfect freedom.

How are you living into that responsibility as the week begins? How will you discern the truth of God in your life? We’re talking next steps, even baby steps. What are the resources you will draw on, as you discern the course of your spiritual journey this week? How will you take on the yoke which Jesus describes? How does it feel? Think about the ways St. Francis of Assisi might guide you in that process: with a call to simplicity, with a heart for those in need, with a sense of joy and wonder in God’s creation, in the preaching of good news, in word and action. Not a bad way to start the week. The ball is in your court. The yoke is on you.

-Jay Sidebotham

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org