Worship and Learn

The Connection for July 8, 2024

There is a business owner in town that I had a long conversation with yesterday. The conversation came about because I revealed I was a local pastor. Sometimes people open up like a flower upon learning of my vocation, and before the conversation was over, I learned of an employee who had recently underwent surgery for cancer. She said a portion of his face was removed and that he was looking at a considerably long recovery. Then she shared with me a religious experience she had where Jesus embraced her and held her in his arms. She had made a drawing of the mystical encounter and showed it to me on her phone. It was quite good.

Somehow this business owner felt I was interested enough and had enough space available within me to share something of great spiritual value to her. That was a personal blessing for me, and I hope a blessing for her as well. There have been people in my life who I have felt had similar interest in me and space available within them to receive what I had to share. Marcus Borg, my religion professor in college was one such person. Dick Busic the pastor of my first Disciples of Christ church, and Bryan Van Dragt the psychologist and leader of my formative minister's support group in Tacoma.

All three of these people stand out as especially capable of being open not only to me but to countless other people in their lives. This ability to genuinely receive another is uncommon in the culture because it requires a commitment to spiritual discipline that many, if not most, simply do not practice. I suspect Jesus had the same gift as he listened with an open heart and mind to those he encountered in his ministry.

There are probably a lot of different ways to arrive at the gift of openness through spiritual discipline, and following is the one I'm most familiar with described so well by Father Rohr:

Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It's an encounter and a life stance. It's a way of living in the Presence, with awareness of the Presence, and even enjoying the Presence. Fully contemplative people are more than aware of Divine Presence; they trust, allow, and delight in it.

The contemplative secret is learning to live in the now, which is not as empty as it might appear to be or that we fear it to be. Try to realize that everything is right here, right now and God is in this moment in a non-blaming way. When we're able to experience that, taste and enjoy it, we don't need to hold on to it.

Because most of our moments are not tasted or in the Presence, we are never full. We create artificial fullness and want to hang on to that. But there's nothing to hold on to when we begin to taste the fullness of now. God is either in this now or God isn't at all. If the now has never been sufficient, we'll always be grasping. Here is a litmus test: if we're pushing ourselves and others around, we haven't yet found the secret of happiness. This moment is as full of the Divine Presence as it can be.

Another way of saying that is we already have everything we need it's really a matter of waking-up to the abundance available. After that happens the grasping is no longer necessary and we're free and accessible to others with an openness that is uncommon in the culture as a whole.

Another important type of prayer is intercessory prayer for others;

Margaret Katz and family in the passing of Harvey

Judy recovering from COVID

Bob Hill will be having back surgery

Sharon continues to struggle with TIA's

Lisa did not have surgery on her arm and is confined to her home

Roger's grandson is grieving due to the loss of his kitty

Pastor Ron Naff's wife Kay has cancer (Longview)

Pastor Jason suffering from dizzy spells (Spokane)

Judy's sister Patty with breast cancer

Romero with cancer

Jo Grooms healing from a broken arm

Stacy with breast cancer

Joyce with breast cancer and lymphoma in the hip

People of Ukraine, Gaza, and Israel

Marissa with hip problems and pain

God Sightings:

Carolyn is receiving a lot of help from her son Russell in her transition to Michigan

Linda enjoyed listening to the tik toc song of the Raven

Judy had a marvelous trip to Ecuador

Becker's will be going to Costa Rica for vacation soon