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Behold the Sun

at midnight.

Build with stones

On lifeless ground.

Find in decline,

In death’s night,

Creation’s new beginning,

Morning’s youthful night.

The heights reveal

The gods’ eternal word.

The depths guard

The peaceful treasure.

Living in darkness,

Create a Sun.

Weaving in matter,

Know Spirit’s delight.

– Rudolf Steiner

A tattered poem on Winter Solstice tumbles out of my wallet this morning.  I fumble for it each year around this time, and savor it every day.  I could live into it all year, frankly.  This is what I wrote last year:

This Word has spoken to me often from its secure little nest, on the days I pull it out for mantra and on the days it just travels alongside of me.  I have carried it for many years, this Word. On days and nights that seemed long, that seemed without light or path for others, it steadied me with an ancient, creation imperative. The Sun was present and I knew it. It brought delight and rebirth.

I wonder now if I am done with it.

The wondering passes. I am not.  I need this Word. People and places I love need this Word.

This brings the resolve of Rest. It is not a resolve of tirelessly plodding on, like a sturdy oak, mindless of fatigue or surroundings. It’s Presence Possible only in the bearings of that Sun. It’s a body-mind-spirit delight found when I sense the right place, the right time, the right work.

It’s faith.

I am grateful,

and not alone.

Emmanuel.  God with Us!

It was on fire, but not consumed...

I have the privilege of routinely teaching a local or teleclass version of  A Living Sacrifice: Biblical Principles for “Self” Care.  Lay leaders and clergy from across the country have continued to shape this and bless it greatly through their own stories and wisdom.

After four years of teaching this course, I am still deeply moved by the Word’s promise and by the hope it stirs in attendees.  While the class in rooted in reflections on Romans 12 (especially vs. 1-2), the image of a “living sacrifice” or of a life aflame with love BUT NOT EXTINGUISHED have often led us to meditate on Moses and his encounter with the burning bush in Exodus 3.  Encounter with the Holy, with a new call, with a fiery vision that claimed Moses for work he could not imagine himself to be up for.  And we linger with the feeling of awe passed down through the ages: the attention-getting “I am who I am” is alive with creative Exodusing.  Then and now.  Beyond what and who we can imagine.  Alive with possibility.  A sustained and sustaining message.

This is what my clients and students want for their lives.  And what I want for mine.  Lives ablaze, lived fully and generously with grace.  Given to others and yet replenished by the enlivening Spirit.  Biblical PRINCIPLES help us to make choices which cultivate space for Divine renewal.  If this sounds like something you’d like support for in 2013, we’d love to have you join us on the “living well” journey.  Sign-up for the January 2013 class (Fridays at 8am) here.

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  – 1 Samuel 16:7

This Good News is on my heart this Advent, as I ponder the grace born anew in our world because of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I’m savoring Gospel stories where we feel his ability to REALLY SEE the potential and need in those he healed.  Beyond the trappings of gender, class, health status, nationality, religion, etc.   I’m sobered by his preaching which warned us of the consequences of thinking too much about the outward appearances of status and respect.

In light of the forgiveness teaching and coaching I do, I would add that sometimes we look at the “outward appearance” of the mistakes we or others make, and can even get trapped there in the Ego’s world of ceaseless judgment.    When I walk with churches and non-profits seeking to grow, I sometimes find this related longing as  people look at the outward appearance of things, rather than – with the Lord’s eyes — looking at the heart of the people involved.  Our outward postures or plans often disguise the longings of the heart.  I think often we all struggle even with seeing OURSELVES with eyes of compassion.

I was blessed recently to hear James Alison’s fresh teaching on the “pantry” (prayer closet).  Our time away in prayer is rewarded with true life transformation precisely because that is where we can really be ourselves with God, while in the world we endlessly relate to Others for the sake of their pleasure or respect.  And we thus concern ourselves with the outward appearances…

Jesus was simply The Human One (“Son of Man”) and revealed to us what we can be in him: people who see the heart of the matter, who are able to increasingly live from the Heart which His Spirit makes new.  People who see others’ hearts and judge with increasing compassion and wisdom (not judgment) the matters and choices of this world.

One recent resource I’ve been treasuring is a book called Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind by Kristen Neff.    Find out more at Neff’s website.   In Christian terms, this path of practicing “self” compassion is, I think, simply the course of unlearning human judgments of self and growing in our capacity to FEEL and INTEGRATE the transforming truth of the grace Jesus brings.

A tough question for many churches: Are we places which nurture this encounter with grace? Or, do we get in the way?

I pray that during this Advent you will find grace breaking into and disrupting the stresses and judgments and pressures of this world in which we live.  It takes TIME to slow down and see with the Lord’s heart.  We just need to be alert and awake to see…

Reading stuff like this each Advent helps me connect with the heart of Jesus' people and time."

My heart is broken open – with lament and love – as I contemplate again the pain of Jesus’ day and ours, and of each day in between.  During Advent, I try to ground myself in historical tools which open up reminders of the time and place into which he was born.  Far from being a heady exercise, this practice invites me into a deeper heart connection with his fellow Jews and the sorts of longings that THEY BROUGHT into their discoveries and debates with him.  His birth has changed the world in many ways through his promised Spirit and the 2000+years of a living Body of believers who claim his name.  At the same time, deepening my sense of the human story – and the church story within the human story — requires the confession that we have not “arrived” yet!  It’s startling to discover so many of the same themes in his day as the ones with which we grapple: corruption of religious and civil authority, distrust, enmity, scapegoating, discrimination, inequity etc.  Far from diminishing my faith in Christ’s impact, this reality beckons me into a clearer picture of the kingdom he established and establishes in us today.  Maybe it’s just the institutions of human greed and coercion which long for a more ultimate victory, while the Gospel murmurs in breakthrough moments about peace, stillness, reconciliation…

I think this encapsulates beautifully the freedom intrinsic to the forgiveness journey. As a Christian, I place the forgiving life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at the center of the Good News given as gracious gift by a reconciling and ever-creating God.  The process of transformation that Williamson describes here is one that must be grounded in unconditional grace and love, not the ego-burdened efforts of cleaning up our acts so that we will be “good enough.”  Jesus opened up — for all who look to him —  the way of release from all that effort.  Christians call it New Creation.

This is what it sounds like from Paul’s pen:

2 Corinthians 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I’m meditating on these connections in the run-up to a few things on my/our plate:

- My next Forgive for Life workshop on 12/1… it is always such a privilege to meet people in that supportive space.

- Advent (around the corner!)… and the invitation to celebrate a Christ Child that is not meek and mild (if that means of no disruptive impact), but meek and therefore MIGHTY.

- The joy of attending an upcoming train-the-trainer event with theologian James Alison, along with 75 others whom I will join as we “beta test” a new adult ed curriculum:  The Forgiving Victim: an Induction into Christian Vulnerability.

(A number of peers have shared ambivalence or concern about the first part of that title. What I know, and am thrilled about, is that we will be focusing on the way that forgiveness allows us to participate in that New Creation AND REMAIN VICTIMS NO LONGER to our past hurts or regrets.)

WHAT WOULD A CHURCH LOOK LIKE THAT REALLY REALLY participated in and practiced this Gospel?!!!  To anchor all in the forgiving work of Christ and the gift of a life oriented and grounded in reconciliation?  Let’s think on that together this Advent…

“The human heart is the first home of democracy.  It is where we embrace our questions.  Can we be equitable?  Can we be generous?  Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions?  And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up — ever — trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in our determined pursuit of a living democracy?”

This really resonates deeply with me as a Baptist.   I have been blessed to spend my adult faith formation among a denominational family (American Baptist Churches-USA) which values the spiritual journey of relationship-building and genuine partnership across theological and cultural diversity.  I think we have something special to offer the national crisis of polarization.  Perhaps a reminder that democracy’s flowering requires the capacity of the heart to be WITH differences of need, perspective etc.  To offer our selves as the presence of Christ rather than just our opinions.  To be willing to humbly assert our convictions while not striving to coerce others.

This is really heavy on my heart in my “prayer closet” this season.

You reside within and among us all.

You reveal all Light, and revel in all Love.

You beckon us beyond Ego’s fear and violence.

You call us to our true home, where earth-loving citizens live from Heaven’s embrace.

Deliver us from pride and despair,

from tribalism and lofty rhetoric,

from anger and apathy.

May we be unrelenting in our work for true peace and true prosperity for all.

May we be bold in speaking truth about the barriers to these, wherever they are found.

May today’s results reveal our best selves, and illumine with clarity the spiritual and civic growth that is yet ours to do.

May we see in one another’s eyes the longings and hopes, the vulnerabilities and frailties that are our own.

May such knowing animate a New Creation wherever we live and serve.
For the Sake of Good News, I pray.

With vision of these already answered, I pray. 

In union with the Living Christ, I pray.

With the deeds of my life, I pray.

Blessed Be.

– Rev. Jacki Belile, CEC is an American Baptist minister and spiritual life coach at Living Well Ministries in Chicago.  She serves people of all religious backgrounds who desire to live from their best spirit (energy).   Her  special passion is building bridges of compassion and respect, which manifests in her forgiveness, self-care and LGBT-affirming programs.  She wrote this prayer in stages on November 6, 2012.

How do you hear this invitation in your season of life?

I hear it as a beacon of wisdom for conversations about “self” care.

My clients and I often reflect on natural connections between this great invitation and the wisdom of Don Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements. Indirectly, these great themes from TFA often show up on this Biblical “self” care series:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

In my own life, I have discovered that if my current load of commitments, or my mindframe or approach to them, are hindrances to the above agreements, then I am in danger of damaging my “self”, relationships or commitments.

None of us are –or are called to be — PERFECT.  Yet we are invited to a quality of peace and integrity and abundance in our living and serving that I so often find sadly lacking in the realm of those of us called to serve.   Perhaps you have seen this too… there is so much suffering of anxiety, frustration, resentments and fear that accumulate if we are compulsively accruing the responsibilities we carry.  One way to relieve this suffering is to explore whether we have discerned well, or chosen freely, that which is on our plate.

My clients and students at Living Well Ministries, where I offer spiritual life coaching, are signing on to make shifts out of current unsustainable lives for the sake of “living well.”If you would like support for your reflections and actions for “self” care, we invite you to join this November teleclass. You will take away fresh insights and tools for making choices of sustainability (“a living sacrifice.”)
Registration cost of $85 includes one 30-minute coaching session. Order tickets via Eventbrite:
http://alivingsacrifice1112-efbevent.eventbrite.com/. Deadline: November 2.

For children who are our second planting, and, though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:

For generous friends…with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us we had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn — and the others — as plain as potatoes, and so good for you.

For funny friends, who are as silly as brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who — like parsnips — can be counted on to see you through the long winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils, and hold us despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past, that have been harvested — but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.

Source: the late Rev. Max Coots, who was Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton, New York. His passion for gardening yielded this beloved and much used meditation.

I AM SO GRATEFUL for friend Margaret Shaklee’s reading of the poem at last night’s interfaith Harvest Fest event here in Chicago.   I found it today at this blog: http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/let-us-give-thanks-a-poem-for-thanksgiving/.  This poem reminded me of the delicious diversity of people in my life. As I serve my clients through spiritual life coaching, spiritual practices like gratitude exercises are extremely important, as is the carving out of TIME to spend with our friends and time to forge new friendships.  When we place our attention on possibility, we never lack for what we need.