Our newest news - the October newsletter

Hello everyone,
Follow this link for our monthly newsletter:

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Blessings,
Shane

Open Hands

Tonight we begin leading a retreat about and with Christ Sophia.  As I was praying this morning I wanted a picture of Christ Sophia.  I have electronic images, but the closest material image I have is this risen Christ card.  As I put it on my altar, I noticed the connection between Mary's open hands and Jesus' resurrected openness.  Where did he learn that openness, that posture of display and welcome?  How does his posture change how I see her openness?

These are not postures of submission.  These are postures of gentle strength, a strength that comes from being part of the great circuit of life.  These postures move beyond self to give and receive without resistance.  

We cannot give from a posture of weakness.  Women's forced diminishment (and that of so many others) harms not only individual women, but all those who might learn and grow and create with them.  But being strong does not mean arrogance or pride.  It means being open, knowing that we are up to the challenge, that God is with us, that we are surrounded by love and power.  

Mary, thank you.  Jesus, thank you.  Sophia, thank you.  Holy One, blessed are you.  Amen.

Mary, Mother of Wisdom

I'm spending a lot of time with this icon lately.  It is in our chapel, and we moved it to sit on the "altar" above the reserved sacrament.  We both felt a need to sit with Mary more.

During this period we've been working on the idea - the reality - of Christ Sophia, Jesus as the incarnate Wisdom of God.  This ancient, early idea was submerged in the Western Church for centuries, but it's returned.  It's crucially important for how we view God, and Christ, and ourselves.  And, in conjunction with this icon, it leads me to wild heretical thoughts.

In Proverbs, in Wisdom, in Sirach, and in Psalms we hear of Wisdom as "the first of God's creatures," present from the beginning, in whom God delighted.  I look at this icon, as Jesus' adoring gaze at his mother, and I see Wisdom delighting in her creator.  Mary is the mother of Jesus; if Jesus is Wisdom, Sophia, what does that make Mary?

Now, the Church "fathers" worked hard to mark off this territory, to say that Mary was just a vessel for the (masculine?) Holy Spirit.  Why, exactly, do we need to mark that boundary?  What happens if we stop defending the masculinity of God and let love show itself however it may?

The capacity to bring forth new life is miraculous.  It is a key element in our understanding of God.  If we let go into the love between Jesus and Mary, we see a sign into the love between our Source and humanity.

Mary, mother of God, mother of all, be with us.

Blocked Channel

I have had trouble sleeping for the past three years.  I don't mean the occasional bad night; I mean strings of nights when I would wake after three hours and be up for 2 or 3, then back down; or not sleep again at all.  I had no awareness of dreams, nothing.  Sleep was hard.

Recently that has changed.  I have been dreaming more, and sleeping better.  This has coincided with some healing work, and I've been thrilled with the speed of movement of old blocks.

Then, this weekend the old pattern resurfaced.  I slept badly, I didn't dream, and I couldn't find anything to write or doodle about.  But I'm learning that this bad sleep might be resistance to something I don't want to know or feel, so I asked Mary to help me open up.  And sure enough, it showed up.  I don't need to tell you all about it; it doesn't matter.  What matters is that the channel was blocked, blocked so thoroughly I didn't know there was a channel there!  Now, as I excavate my past pain, I'm learning to look through the rubble for the channel.  And somehow, Mary is in this. Both Marys, actually, for Mary Magdalene is also in my prayer space and my heart, knowing a lot about loss and resurrection.

I'm writing this not to confess to you, but to offer this experience of a blocked channel.  Perhaps you have a place in your mind or heart that just feels dry and dead, dead ended or empty.  Perhaps it shows up as something else - lack of sleep, lack of energy or interest, lack of devotion, whatever.  If any of this rings a bell for you, know that you are not alone.  You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, living and dead, who want to share your burden.  We can't take it from you, but we can walk with you.

Living the resurrection doesn't mean that crucifixion never happened, or never hurt.  It means that crucifixion is not the end of the story.  Something amazing happened in that tomb, that space that seemed blocked off and sealed up.  Just like the tombs, God can enter into our blocked channels and release us.  We emerge bearing the marks of our past, but no longer finished because of it.

May you know the power of Christ in your times of pain, and may you share the power of Christ as you find new life.  May all the saints surround and protect you, and may you know yourself to be one of them.  Bless you!

Channel of Peace

As I sit with Mary this morning, I see her open hands differently.  I often pray with my hands open, palms up, and I feel receptive - like I'm letting God place in my hands what she chooses, I'm open to receive.  That's how I saw this statue until today.  Today I see her quite large hands offered to God - not to receive, but to give and serve.  She is not holding them up to contain something.  She is showing them, offering them.

Sometimes I pray with my hands up and out - arms bent, palms facing forward.  At those times I'm connecting with the energy of the universe, letting it flow into me and back out.  I usually do this before doing laying on of hands, but sometimes during prayers for healing of others.  Sometimes it just feels right and I move into that posture.  I don't think of it as offering myself, but I see the resemblance to this Mary posture.  It's not enough to be open to receive; I need to be open to be used, to be a channel rather than a receptacle.  And when I do, there's a joy that's unlike any other.  It's real participation in the flow of creation, awareness of connection - no, more than connection, the reality of our oneness.  The energy is always there, whether or not I participate and notice.  But I have to offer myself to it to experience the reality and the joy of it.

How will you join in that energy flow today?  How and where do you offer yourself?  How and where do you notice the flow?

Lord, make us channels of your peace.