Fifth Monday after the Epiphany
Lectionary texts for today:
O.T.--2 Kings 5:1-14
Gospel--Mark 1:40-45
Psalm 30 (UMH 762)
All three of these texts concern healing. If you don't know the story of Namaan the Syrian, make sure to read the 2 Kings text.
Over the last nine months I have been in something of a life change from an active life to a contemplative life. For Catholics or Orthodox a contemplative life would involve entering a monastery, not just any monastery but one that focused entirely on prayer. The monk is rarely granted permission to leave the monastery and allowed minimal communication with family and friends on the outside.
I'm not doing that.
What I am doing is changing my life focus from pastoral ministry, teaching, and scholarship to a life much more devoted to prayer. The specific focus of my prayer life is you, the readers of this blog. I want to pray for you. I say that realizing that I don't know for sure who all of you are. I receive the number of readers each day, but I don't receive names. I know those who send comments or emails to me. Others I know from the list I made for the New Year's resolution email I sent back in December.
For a long time I thought that the contemplative life was just for the person seeking a much deeper understanding and experience of God. That is certainly a part of it. Another part is praying for others--personally, by name, by mental picture or visualization, by sense.
My mentors on this journey are Thomas Merton (d. 1967), a Trappist monk who wrote many books. The most famous is his autobiography of his years up to his entering the monastery, The Seven Storey Mountain. Two other of his books have been particularly important for me, The Sign of Jonas, and Contemplation in a World of Action. My other mentor is the late Don Schoene of UUMC, a lay person with an amazingly adventurous life who developed deep spiritual practices from various facets of the Christian tradition.
I'll be writing much more about contemplative practices in future blogs. I am a novice at this. I will be learning as I go. Last week Frances asked me, "Where do you want to be?" The most accurate answer is that I don't know. My sense is that I want to be in a much deeper relationship with God. It is not matter of reaching any particular goal, other than eternal life, which I think is a few years down the road yet. Having an incurable and ultimately fatal disease has led me to see things somewhat differently. I have now survived four years with this progressive disease that has progressed remarkably little. Average lifespan after diagnosis is 3-5 years. I feel like I have several years left. This new calling in my life may be a good way to spend them. Don't worry, I'm still going to be a regular guy, watch sports on TV, enjoy life with Marianne, enjoy cooking and eating, and many other things. Incidentally, last night I watched the Super Bowl. I have watched all 55 Super Bowls.
I will be emailing many of you personally, in part to ask for your prayer requests. Don't worry, if you have requests, I will pray. It's okay if you don't have prayer requests.
You have heard my whole life Faith Journey Narrative, I hope you will in some way participate in the rest of my Faith Journey. You can pray for me too.
"My soul, bless the Lord,
Bless God's holy name.
My soul, bless the Lord,
Hold dear all God's gifts."
--from Psalm 103
Faithfully,
Christian
1 comment:
I love this. Glad you're not becoming a monk! My work as a COVID Case Investigator provides many occasions for prayer. I will pass them along. My cases are always grateful when I read the vibe such that I think it will be appreciated and say that they will be in my prayers. In these situations, all I can do is listen, share the information I have, answer questions, and then pray. Let them know that someone cares.
Prayer is so important. People have largely stopped believing in it because it's not like a bubble gum machine - you don't just pray for something and it gets spit out. Except for when it does. I wish we prayed more in church. I wish we prayed more as families. I'm glad you're going to have a long prayer list. It is much needed.
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