LIVING IN THE DAILY GRIND

Go Light Your World...

 

PRAYER FLAGS FOR INTERCESSION

One of the names of God in the Scripture is Yahweh Nissi meaning “The Lord is my banner.” This name is a symbol of God’s over-arching presence in everything.

As people of the Jesus way, we proclaim God’s sovereignty and providence, not only in our lives, but in all creation. God’s love, grace and mercy extends through the universe as God’s Spirit moves, saves, touches, shapes, nurtures, beckons, blesses one and all reminding us the wise words of Christoph Blumhardt… “Everyone must concede that the kingdom of God comes not through logical concepts but through surprises.”

The Scripture calls us in Ephesians 6:18 to “pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.”

Recently as I was getting ready for this weekend's Practicing the Presence of God retreat I have discovered how prayer flags are a wonderful way to engage in prayer for our neighborhood, community and ultimately the whole world.

They may help us visually focus our intercessions and God’s intentions for the world. The Psalmist declares, “May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. (Psalm 20:5)” Raising flags with our intercessions covers the whole earth with God’s banner of love, grace and mercy...

Traditionally a prayer flag is a colorful panel of rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. The prayers displayed on the flags are believed to be carried by the wind across the countryside with the intention of blessings, peace, compassion, strength and wisdom to all on the breath of nature.

Prayer flags come in sets of five colors representing the basic elements: Blue symbolizes sky/space, white symbolizes air/wind, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth.

People continually mount new flags as the present ones are deteriorated in an effort  to recognize that life moves on and there is always new life.  In the act of renewing the flags, people acknowledge that they are also a part of the ongoing cycle of life.

There are many ways one could delve into making prayer flags.   I spent some time today in creating my first prayer flag (pictured above) using a faux batik method.  Here are some suggestions for the process:

• Spend some time with the Scripture. In prayerful silence, ask the Holy Spirit what prayers and blessings God wants you to offer on behalf of others.
  
• Select words and symbols which resonate with your prayers. I find one of the great ways to have an image overdose is to google the word or phrase about which I am thinking.  Try it and it will really inspire you.
• Cut a piece of cloth about 12"x12" from white muslin.  I have discovered white muslin allows me to be free with my own colors as the Spirit guides my prayer.
• Write or paint your prayer on the flag. You may choose a simple word, maybe the name of your neighborhood, verses from the Scripture...
• After you complete the prayer flag, hang it by folding and gluing or sewing in place the side of the cloth through which a rope will run. Pull the rope through your flags. 

As you fly your flags remember to raise God’s banner in prayer.

Faux Batik method is easy: As the resist, instead of wax, you use  a liquid mixture of flour, alum, and water to draw a design onto muslin. 

Mix in a bowl or blender 1/2 cup water, 2 teaspoons alum powder, and 1/2 cup flour.  Mix thoroughly to remove any lumps. You can double this recipe.  Pour contents into a plastic squeeze bottle.  Lay out wax paper on your workspace with your cloth on top.

Draw your prayers by squeezing the alum mixture onto the cloth in thick lines. Make sure your lines are not too heavy with the mixture.  I used my hair dryer to help speed up the drying process of the flour mixture after the drawing is complete.

Once dry I painted with acrylic.  You could use fabric or tempera paint as well. And don't worry going over where the mixture has dried it will resist the paint. After the paint has dried, thoroughly rinse the cloth removing the mixture and the excess paint. Either hang the flags to dry or put them in a dryer to heat-set the paint.

Blessed prayers to all....

Transforming Mystery of the Eucharist

Be what you see...

        Receive what you are...

It is your own mystery

        placed on the Lord's Table....

St. Augustine

Metanoia – Be you after minding!

One of my favorite quotes that I frequently repeat to myself comes from Annie Dillard. Annie Dillard is a Pulitzer-prize winning American author best known for her narrative nonfiction. My favorite two books of her are Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and The Writing Life.

"How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives."

Her quote put into perspective the words I was contemplating on Ann Voskamp's Naming the Year post at her blog A Holy Experience.  She names every year: "We name the year.  Not like a Chinese New Year with its zodiac and twelve original animals, but as we name our newborn, so we name our new year, christen it so it knows who it is to us. Named, we now have a destination, a way across the next twelve months…".  Her name for 2009 is communion. 

I first thought of making communion my name for this year as well.  Then new images have begun to take shape in my mind for naming 2009 for me, making it holy as I continue to 'spend my days living my life in Christ'. 

I name my year metanoia.

The first words Jesus spoke when he began his ministry are “Repent, the Kingdom of God has come near.” Repent… metanoia. The word in Greek here is present active tense… You be repenting… Metanoite … It is a continuous tense… Wherever  in the Scripture Jesus mentions repentance it is the same tense… present active… This word, repent, which we think mostly in negative terms - sit and confess - literally means be you after minding.

Metanoia is about how we spend our days… 24 hours a day…. Not just a minute of that day! Be you after minding… Minding what? Minding who? In the Scripture, "minding” is not so much about the “mind” as we understand it but it is about the heart… It is our inner being that is after minding.

2008 brought many changes to our lives.  As I reflect on the changes, I realize how so much of my time was spent on minding after me...me...me.  Somewhere along I lost focus, got decentered and became a clogged drain.  I have experienced that no matter how much build-up remover one pours down the pipes, it will not get rid of the clog.  It will help for a little while and the problem will return.  The drain needs to be plunged out! Not once but quite frequently!

Be me after minding Jesus... The Word, his words, his life, his transformation in me...  Be me after minding the path of grace, mercy, truth... Be me after minding the simple, abundant life... Be me after the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Be me after minding the life of Transformation.

I digitally altered the photo on the left which was taken by my husband James after our last snowstorm.  As I reflect on the delicate path laid by the snow I know that this path is hallowed and that I do not travel alone. I am a part of the Communion.

I name my year metanioa.

New Year's Resolutions and Commitment

It is a new year and there is much talk once again about resolutions. A resolution by its very nature requires the act of commitment. For most of us commitments do not come easy. Commitment calls for discipline, and with discipline comes a willing sacrifice... a letting go of what was in order to embrace what is or will be.

My husband James and I have been a Benedictine oblates since 2002. Every year the community of which we are a part asks us to renew our commitment by supporting the Benedictine charism -- to seek God in community and to respond in prayer and ministry. They also choose a corporate commitment which they as well as the oblates follow: We commit ourselves to be a healing presence and prophetic witness for peace by working for sustainability and justice especially for women and children.  This yearly pilgrimage is an opportunity to renew my relationship with the community and re-examine the values which are shaping my Gospel living.

If you are wondering who oblates are... Oblates of St. Benedict are Christian men and women from all traditions, all walks of life who choose to associate themselves with a Benedictine community in order to strengthen, nurture and enrich their relationship with Christ. "Oblation" means offering. Oblates seek to offer themselves fully to Christ and to the body of Christ by pondering the words of Scripture more deeply as well as the wisdom found in the Rule of St. Benedict.   By these means oblates discover ever anew that God calls us to holiness of life and that the Benedictine community can be instruments of God’s grace in their vocation to become holy in the world.  Oblates continue to live in their own respective communities while they strive eagerly to live out the values of the Gospel. 

In these past seven years commitment has become a spiritual discipline that guides me in my life not only as a disciple but as a pastor.  I have found that commitment seems to inspire fear and anxiety in the Church. We try all sorts of gimmicks in order to get people to commit to “just being present” for worship, a Bible study, a fellowship dinner, even for prayer ... Why is it so easy for us to commit ourselves to everything but being a part of what God is doing in our midst?

I have not had any possible answers to this question until James and I have become involved with the Mount and proceeded to becoming Oblates. Seeking God in community and responding in prayer and ministry is a gift of God’s grace offered to the world. Those who receive this gift of grace realize that it is only in community we get a glimpse of our true identity as human beings created by a God of love, justice and peace. Being a part of community that is formed by love, justice and peace requires serious commitment.

Seeking God in community involves worship, prayer, fellowship, solitude, tithing, fasting,  surrender, forgiveness, ... Seeking God in community challenges one to go deeper to  the darkness that lurks within and expose it to the light of Christ.  The light of Christ shines with the power of resurrection and brings transformation.  It is not magic... it is a day-to-day journey that takes a lifetime.  My daily meditation I repeat everyday comes from Thomas Kempis, "Everyday we should renew our resolve to live a holy life and everyday we should kindle ourselves to a burning love, just as if today were the first day of our new life in Jesus Christ."

We become members of church communities not because they are one more club to join, but because we have made a commitment to follow Jesus.  We want to be his disciples, to journey along his footsteps, not alone but with others.  We acknowledge that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is more than a great teacher, a prophet, or a guru. We believe that he is the Incarnate God.  We know that our profession of God, Jesus and the Spirit as one is a mystery which we share in real time.  It is not that we check out our minds at the door, so that we can believe in impossible things. We have experienced the Risen Christ in our lives.  We know the power of resurrection bringing new life from death and destruction ... We know that our faith in this mystery is the real thing!  It is the only thing! 

Through our commitment we understand that the kingdom of God which Jesus boldly declares to be at hand is right here, right now.  We can smell, taste and experience this kingdom.  Its life is so radically different, revolutionary yet rudimentary at the same time  that we  are eager to be defined by its standards.  We are eager to be its witnesses.

Annie Dillard reminds us that faith, "crucially, is not assenting intellectually to a series of doctrinal propositions; it is living in conscious and rededicated relationship to God."  What would happen if we have all made a commitment to seek God at a deeper level in  our church communities and respond in prayer and ministry?   My reply... an authentic community of Jesus -- where no one needs to hide who they are, where deep prayers are uttered and all are encouraged to speak in their own, true voice, where challenges are embraced, hard questions asked, where disagreements are not swept under the rug, where forgiveness is practiced.

I yearn for us to know ourselves as Christ's own, true, resurrected body... and act out that knowing in a way that is recognizable in the world. Not just doing good, but being Christ. I yearn for us to be in love with God and with each other.  Are these mere fantasies?  No.  I know  that I know that I know...

It is in a conscious and continually rededicated relationship to community that we will maintain, often week by week and minute by minute, a conscious and rededicated relationship to God.  Our common life teaches us what it means to be the body of Christ in the world.  It is through commitment of living our faith in the community we learn that our relationship with God is  nurtured and often carried by our relationships with other people. In our commitment to relationship with God and one another, we are not our own.  We belong to the One who calls us to lives of love and service: Jesus, who is the Christ.

May your New Year resolutions invite you to commitment no strings attached!