Category Archives: Theology

Education, gratitude, life basics, Meditation, observation, Prayer, Theology

This past day

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At the end of the day, am I grateful for the hours I was given? Am I aware, on the superficial as well as on the deepest level, of the miracle I’ve been immersed in? The miracle I easily mistake for an infinite if commonplace resource: daily life.

Sometimes, I catch a glimpse of its outline or a hint of its face. The way the trees move in the wind, the way my cats interrupt their backyard explorations to rest under my hand, the aeronautic wonder of a sparrow flying from maple to forsythia, the appearance of my still sleepy son packing his duffel before heading to work.

Food on the table, breathable air, loving and being loved. Today may not be perfect, and I may forget some of its gifts. Still…

I thank thee, O Lord, for all good things thou hast sent to me during the past day. 

[nighttime prayer, A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1991, p. 16. This is part of an ongoing series. For the full prayer, click Prayer At Night above.]

Education, gratitude, Meditation, observation, Prayer, Theology

Help Us, O Lord

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Help us, O Lord, to be good, obedient, and kind.

Good, obedient, and kind. Taken separately, they don’t have near the power as they do together.

Good    Help me spend my days wisely, offering my talents, knowledge, and energy only to those things that increase the love in this world. Everything I am can devastate or foster. Help me choose the latter.

Obedient      I am too limited to see very far down the path of love and peace. I am tempted to serve lesser powers: greed, vanity, and fear.  Help me choose to serve you, when your reasons seem clear and when they do not.

Kind      All the good intentions will lead me astray if I am willing to harm others in their name. Help me choose kindness over judgement, for you have been so kind to me.

On this day, help me to remember that without kindness I can mistake personal piety for goodness and unwillingness to accept the consequences of my actions for obedience. God help me.

[For the full prayer, click prayer at night above]

Meditation, Prayer, Theology

Keep and Preserve All of Us

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Angel Guardian, keep and preserve all of us from very evil, sickness, and grief. 

[A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, Crestwood, New Jersey: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1991, p. 16. For more on this series, click Prayer at Night above.]

Preserve us, not just me. Because I am never alone, and I am always connected to everyone else. I am unique and connected: every other person who lives and breathes is also unique and connected.

Since God isn’t limited by my understanding and experience, the us I pray for doesn’t have to be limited by my imagination or awareness. Every living thing, known or unknown, is included.

If that’s not a life-changing truth, I don’t know what is.

Education, Meditation, Prayer, Theology

Angel guardian…

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Angel Guardian, keep and preserve all of us from every evil, sickness, and grief.

I was in my early thirties before I read this prayer. I never prayed to an angel guardian when I was a child – it wasn’t common practice in Baptist and Congregational traditions back then. I never prayed to a saint, either; no prayers to Mary, Anthony, Jude, Francis, or any of the others. Back then, I prayed to God or Jesus. Or so I thought, until I recited one of my favorite prayers:

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

Angels guard me through the night, and wake me in the morning light. 

How could I have missed the angel in this prayer?

Except for the Lord’s Prayer, I always prayed as a single person – I and me, no We or us. Plurals were used in worship services and for table prayers when there were others present, but not at bedtime. I was in my late twenties when I found out why plurals are used outside gatherings: no one prays alone because every single person belongs to the unbroken chain of prayer that began when the world was born and will continue until all worlds come to an end. It’s a theological understanding common to Eastern Orthodox traditions that never quite made it into my childhood Sunday school classes.

Angels guarding those who sleep, every living thing standing in the unbroken chain of prayer as company – what profound comfort can come from these simple truths.

Good night. Sleep tight. See you in the morning light.

Angel Guardian, keep and preserve all of us from every evil, sickness, and grief.

Help us, O Lord, to be good, obedient, and kind.

I thank thee, O Lord, for all good things thou has sent to me during the past day. Let me spend this night in peace, and protect me from all harm. Amen.

[From A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, Crestwood, New York: Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1991, p. 16. For more on this series, click child’s nighttime prayer above.]

Meditation, Prayer, Theology

Prayer at Night

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The day is done. It’s time to let it go, close our eyes, and give ourselves over to sleep. For the next few weeks, I’m going to say this child’s prayer instead of my usual ones:

Angel, Guardian, keep and preserve all of us from every evil, sickness, and grief.

Help us, O Lord, to be good, obedient, and kind.

I thank thee, O Lord, for all good things thou hast sent me during the past day. Let me spend this night in peace, and protect me from all harm. Amen.

Won’t you join me in prayer?

[From A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, Crestwood, New York: Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1991, p. 16]

Education, life basics, Meditation, observation, Thanksgiving, Theology

Bath Time!

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It’s one of the great comforts in life – sinking down into a steamy bath on a cold night (or a cool one during a heat wave). We are formed in water in our mother’s womb, so perhaps taking a bath is a reminder of our beginnings. For whatever reason, it’s a wonderful to end our day the way we began our lives.

It takes about twenty minutes for our bodies to become soft enough to slough off the skin cells covered with the grime of the day. A little soap on a face cloth does the rest, and we emerge restored in body; if we use the time in the tub to let go of the day, we can emerge with soul and heart refreshed as well.

We baptize with water as an outward act of a inward transformation. I wonder why I’ve never thought to take bath time as a way to remember this sacrament until now…

 

Education, gratitude, life basics, Meditation, observation, Theology

Enough

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Did you get enough?

It was the question that was asked almost every time we gathered around the table to eat together. Was there enough to take away your hunger? Did you get to try a bit of everything? At meal’s end, are you satisfied? The question may be about food on my plate, but it was also about so much more.

If I could travel back in time and talk with my four year old self, visit my teenage self, spend time with my new mother self, and ask “who will you be, what will you be doing, where will you live, and who will share your life?, I doubt the answers would look much like my current life. At four, I wanted to be a waitress; as a teen, I planned on a career in science; as a new mother, I was living in New York City with my husband, finishing up a dissertation in Theology and looking toward teaching in seminary.

I don’t think there was anything wrong with my plans or assumptions, but they were limited to my particular age and stage. The same is true of my current ideas and assumptions. There are so many could-have-beens in life, paths not taken for one reason or another. Had I not met this particular mentor, had I moved to another town, had I developed other gifts than the ones I chose to foster. Such might have beens are an interesting topic of conversation, perhaps, but only if they aren’t mistaken for should have beens.

If I really could go back in time and talk with my younger self [even better, talk with my grandfather’s twenty year old self or my grandmother’s thirty year old self], I wouldn’t ask any of the questions I listed two paragraphs ago. Instead, I’d ask the question I’ve heard or said so many times around the table: did you get enough?

From my four year old self dreaming of waiting tables to my fifty-five year old self writing this blog from my back yard, the answer is the same:

Yes. More than enough.

My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Ps. 23: 5b-6, KJV

Education, gratitude, life basics, Meditation, observation, Theology

New and Exciting…

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Anything new and exciting happen today?

When I was a chaplain intern at Mercer Medical Center, my supervisor asked me to do something I’d never have done on my own. Take the least interesting visit you had with a patient or staff member today, write it up, and bring it in for discussion tomorrow. So I did. It was a quick exchange with a newly discharged patient while she waited for the elevator. I said good-bye, wished her continued health, and waved as the elevator doors closed. Her stay in the hospital had been short, her reason for being there temporary and non-life threatening. I doubt I’d spent more than ten minutes with her and we had no serious or life-changing discussions.

As I wrote up our elevator conversation word-for-word, I remembered how wonderful it was to see someone leave the hospital to take up the blessing of everyday life. No cancer, no debilitating injuries: she was given back to the holiness and grace of her ongoing life. Of all the people walking through the hospital halls, I was the one got to say good-bye and wish her well. I got to see the happy ending, the good outcome everyone who enters the hospital prays for. If that isn’t an amazing encounter, what is?

My new and exciting thing that day: there’s no such thing as a boring encounter or day. Perhaps it’s just my lack of expecting the amazing that blinds me to the wonder of it all.

 

Education, gratitude, observation, Thanksgiving, Theology

Time for Dinner

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If I’m the chef du jour, these words move my focus from food prep to table fellowship. If someone else is cooking, it’s my signal to leave whatever activity I’m doing in favor of breaking bread with loved ones.

What a marvelous way to meet the needs of the body while nourishing the soul in the company of others. For the meal and the time with others I am equally grateful.

 Thank you for my daily bread. Amen.

Education, gratitude, life basics, Meditation, observation, Prayer, Thanksgiving, Theology

Are You Hungry?

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This question is often the beginning of meal and snack prep, and a way to gauge how much food needs to be made – a pragmatic piece of courtesy.

Are you hungry? If you are, what will satisfy your hunger? When I ask such questions of others and of myself, I can better meet true physical needs and become aware of when I am eating (or offering food) when no need exists. Are you hungry is offering me the grace of intentionality in my eating and drinking, and a way for me to offer the same to others.

When asked in a spiritual sense, are you hungry? is an invitation to partake of God’s nourishing presence – as necessary and satisfying as food for the body. Perhaps Jesus spent so much time eating with others because he wanted them to make this connection. Perhaps we continue to break bread in his name because we realize that making the connection is the every day miracle we are starving for.

[This morning, I’m writing at the Dunkin’ Donuts just down the street from my home. Iced Signature Latte in hand, it struck me that this isn’t a question asked of anyone standing in the impressively long line of people working their way to the register. What can I get you, hot or iced, would you like an order of hash browns with that are the questions asked and answered. Perhaps the assumption is that anyone entering must be hungry or at least thirsty. For me on this particular day, it’s not an accurate assumption.]

Table Blessing:  Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you, God, for everything. Amen.