Wednesday, June 3, 2020

MINDFULNESS and CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY Devotions

MINDFULNESS and CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
Making Space for God
by Tim Stead 
(US publication 2017, John Knox Publisher)

     Following Pentecost, I have begun reading a book by an Anglican priest, Tim Stead, on the concepts of mindfulness and how the practice can apply to our Christian faith and traditions.  I will continue to summarize the key points of the chapters with a haiku plus the prayers will be embedded in a signature word for that day.  Information regarding the sections and chapters of the book will surround the image.  Hopefully I can continue to ponder the book while visiting the labyrinth I have created on the south end of our property! 

INTRODUCTION

Monday June 1 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
WHY NOT?

Christian mindfulness?
Or an old Buddhist practice
for non-believers?

There is considerable debate as to whether
Mindfulness is an accepted Christian practice or a more ‘pagan’ ritual that focuses exclusively on Self, not God. Stead argues
NOT!











Tuesday June 2 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
SPACE

Mindfulness Practice -
Op’ning up, Inviting In
Making Space for God

We cannot save ourselves. We cannot even heal ourselves. Christians believe that only God, in Christ, is our healer and Savior. But there is something we can do – and need to do – and that is to make space for God to come to us….It is my suggestion that mindful- ness offers us a way of opening up, inviting in – making space for God.” (p xvi)




PART ONE – WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Chapter 1: Mindfulness in Its Clinical and Mainstream Context

Wednesday June 3 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
DEFINITION

Present Awareness
Personal Experience
and Non-Judgmental

First, a definition: Mindfulness can be described as being more fully aware of your own experience in the present moment in a non-judgmental way” (p6)












Thursday June 4 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
RAISINS

Focus on raisin
Texture, smell, touch, and sweet taste
Linger and notice

Your experience with the raisin may be...boredom, irritation, dislike of raisins, self-conscious thoughts about what on earth you are doing….It doesn’t matter what we experience or notice, only that we notice it. (p10)









Friday June 5 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
KINDNESS

May I know kindness
May I BE kindness to others
Compassion for all

The third type of practice...is compassion or kindness. Now this is an interesting thing to include in an apparently ‘secular’ course. How can kindness be a ‘practice’? How can one learn compassion? … Well, as it happens, it is not really about feelings at all, but about developing an attitude of kindness both to ourselves and to others.” (p. 15)





PART ONE – WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Chapter 2: Mindfulness in the Christian Tradition

Saturday June 6 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
CONTEMPLATIVE


Many will quite rightly argue that something very similar to mindfulness has been around in the Christian tradition since the beginning too….We haven’t called it mindfulness. We’ve called it ‘silent prayer’ or ‘contemplative prayer’, ‘the desert tradition’ or ‘mystical theology’, but it has been there from Jesus through St. Paul, all the way up to the present.” (p18)







Sunday June 7 2020


WORD FOR THE DAY:
INTELLECTUAL

Western Religion:
We think often ABOUT God
But fail to FEEL God

We are rightly proud of our intellectual tradition in the West….but our heads won’t get us to God, partly because God will always be beyond our thoughts, ideas, and images, and partly because it is an EXPERIENCE of God that we need – and our minds represent only a part of that experience.” (p19)





Monday June 8 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
BODY-CONSCIOUS

Western Religion:
Negative body focus
Yet God made it good!

God made us mind AND body; furthermore, having made us in this way, God declared us ‘good’. …..I have wondered whether mindfulness’ focus on the body rather than directly on the divine is what makes space for God in an experiential rather than intellectual way.” (p19-20)








Tuesday June 9 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
JUDGMENT


Western religion:
Too much sin-guilt, need more grace
Be non-judgmental

We need to consider the consequences of our overemphasis, in Western teachings, on personal sin and judgment…..Mindfulness helps us to become aware of ourselves, our thoughts, and our bodily impulses in a nonjudgmental way…..will be what leads us to choose better actions, not shame and repression.” (p20)




Mindfulness in the Gospels

Wednesday June 10 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
SCRIPTURE

Parable stories:
Mary, Martha, Prodigal
Affirm mindful thought

The Gospels seem to be full of this more holistic approach to spirituality….there is a danger, of course, … to read mindfulness into every Scripture text you come across, but there seems to be enough here to give us a certain confidence that, far from straying away from Jesus’ spirituality, we appear to be straying right into the heart of it. (p26)




CHAPTER 3: My (Stead) Journey to Mindfulness

Thursday June 11 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
BEGINNINGS



Beginnings are hard
But filled with promise and hope
Start from where you are


All beginnings may be hard, but at least we can all start, because the starting point is wherever and whoever we are….beginnings are hard, but also exciting and brimming with possibility.” (p28)









Friday June 12 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
RELATIONSHIP



Knowing God is brains
A relationship with God
Lies deep in the heart



God is beyond words….so the knowing of God was ‘union’ - an experiential relationship, rather than an understanding of theological ideas about God.” (p32)











Saturday June 13 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
GRACE


Grace releases us
From judgment, condemnation
Naked souls before God

The nonjudging approach of mindfulness was revelatory and appeared entirely consistent with talk of grace. Whatever I actually experienced in my life was no longer judged to be either good or bad but was to be fully experienced for whatever it was so that it could be laid bare before God.” (p36)




PART TWO: FROM BELIEVING TO KNOWING



Sunday June 14 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
BELIEVING

Believing in mind
Must lead to knowing in life
It is OK to doubt


My own view is that belief is not about reciting a set of words, but about knowing something to be true in our own experience….mindfulness might enrich our faith by moving us from simply believing something in our heads to knowing something in our lives.” (p40-41)






Chapter 4: God Is One, God Is Love, God Is Now!

Monday June 15 2020
God Is One

WORD FOR THE DAY:
DIVISION

God: No Division
From self, others, or nature
God is unity

So God is one and everything that there is is one in God. This is not just a neat doctrinal statement but a fundamental description of the whole of reality. Humans have divided up that which is one in God over and over again in order to serve our own greed. Mindfulness is entirely concerned with reconnecting what has been divided and so bringing the unity of God into human experience.” (46-7)


Tuesday June 16 2020 God Is Love

WORD FOR THE DAY:
DIVINE LOVE

God is divine love
Non-judging, full awareness
Embracing us in grace

Not dependent on human whim or fancy, divine love needs to infuse all the human love we experience….If I feel loved entirely without judgment, I will gradually dare to allow every aspect of myself to come into the light of God’s gaze and so into relationship with the rest of myself.” (49)






Wednesday June 17 2020 
 God is Now!

WORD FOR THE DAY:
OMNIPRESENT

God’s omnipresence
Exists in the heart of NOW
God is THIS moment!

What a wonderful way to live, then – so unconcerned with what may have happened in the past and unafraid of what may happen in the future that we are entirely caught up only in the now and able to experience the present moment for its own sake.” (52)





Chapter 5: Jesus – The Embodied One, the Liberated One, the Awakened One

Thursday June 18 2020 
Jesus the Embodied One

WORD FOR THE DAY:
INCARNATE

Jesus incarnate
Experienced God fully
In bodily form

Jesus is the embodied one – the one who knew and experienced God, fully and completely, in his huyman flesh and blood. … I am slowly coming to reconnect with my body, to delight in it and wonder at the glorious fact that it is in this body and in this body alone that I will come to know God.” (p56)





Friday June 19 2020
Jesus the Liberated One

WORD FOR THE DAY:
FREEDOM

Freedom is awareness
No hidden fears, compulsions
No conflict with death

Freedom is perhaps not just about doing what you like but about being free to be who we are called to be...In mindfulness, it is in awareness that we find freedom...an ongoing process bo bringing awareness to all that is going on within me I have become aware of the hidden fears, insecuirities, resentments, and compulsions that cause me to be less than free. Jesus is the liberated one, in whom there was no hidden controlling power to conflict with his freedom.” (p57-58)


Saturday June 20 2020
Jesus the Awakened One

WORD FOR THE DAY:
AWAKENED

Wake up and live life
Wise to all the potential
Of the risen self

The resurrected Christ reveals to us what fullness of human living might be for someone who has finally and fully woken up to all that there is. While we are not fully awake to all of reality, we are living a half-life….Jesus is...the fully awakened one who beckons us to follow him – to dare to wake up to all of life.” (p60)





Chapter 6 – The Holy Spirit: Free Will, Decentering

Sunday June 21 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
CHOICE

Does free will exist?
Perhaps conscious choices made
Define Spirit work

The work of mindfulness is to help us to move toward that place where choices are being made, even if they are unconscious, and to begin to make those choices conscious ones (or free ones, as far as our conscious minds are concerned) which is what I would define as ‘free will’. …. Finding the place where we still have a choice, I would suggest, is where we can let the Holy Spirit affect our lives.” (p63, 65)


Monday June 22 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
DECENTER

It’s not about me!
I’m not the center of all!
Spirit works THROUGH me

Wisdom , then (ofted noted as the Old Testament precursor to the Spirit) is what comes with this decentering of human consciousness. God cares for us and perhaps wants us to have a unique role, but we should not see ourselves as the center. Not everything revolves around us and it is not for our sole benefit that everything has been created… (p67)



Part 3: FROM DOING TO BEING

Tuesday June 23 2020

INTRODUCTION

WORD FOR THE DAY:
BEING

Doing or being?
Being makes a place for God
To impact doing

It is in this being mode that we make space for God because this is where the choices become apparent. God is, of course, involved in both being and doing, but if we want to know what the wise and Godly thing to be doing might be, it will often in the ‘being mode’ that we become aware of this. This is also the place of flexibility and openness where God might have half a chance of affecting our decisions. (p70)


Chapter 7: Knowing God’s Presence

Wednesday June 24 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
PRESENCE


Experience God now
Presence may not be pleasant
But always it is good

Whether one has felt a sense of God in the past or has profound thoughts about God now matters little if one is not experiencing God’s presence in the here and now….that present moment may not always be all that pleasant,...but it will always be good. (p72) God is not present to us tomorrow. God is not present to us yesterday. God is only ever present to us today. But when tomorrow comes, that will be the present and God will be there too. Let us make sure, though, that we, too, are present when tomorrow comes. (78)


Thursday June 25 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY:
SOLE SENSATION


Hear, See, Smell, Touch, Taste
Senses are the channel to
Experience God

The only way we will ever experience God is through our own senses...if God wants to communicate with us, reassure us, disturb us, bring conviction, or guide us, it will be through the senses in our bodies (and I include in this the thoughts in our minds), so getting better attuned to our bodies and the sensations we find there will, again, be a key part of being present to God. (77)






Chapter 8: Trusting God 


Friday June 26 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
TRUST

Trust in the Lord God.
Does trust mean to do nothing?
Trust is NOT passive!

We are supposed to trust God…..One question might simply be, ‘Does this mean I just do nothing?’ In other words, is trust about passivity? This is important to reflect on, since Christian spirituality can sound dangerously passive if we are not careful. Responding to some difficulty simply by accepting that this must be God’s will may sound like trust but, of course, can also be a way of avoiding what God would have us do. (p79)



Saturday June 27 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
LETTING GO

We cannot trust God
While clinging to fears and greed
Practice ‘letting go’!


The only way to this kind of life (what we call ‘resurrection life’) is by the kind of trust in God that is marked by a persistent letting go of another kind of life that is ruled and ordered by our own fears and greed. We may feel safer in such a life, but it is not resurrection life. It is not the authentic, liberating ‘life in all its fullness’ that Jesus promises us.” (p80)






CHAPTER 9: Knowing God’s Will

Sunday June 28 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
GOD’S WILL

How to know God’s will?
So many voices are heard!
Which is ‘still, small voice’?

The problem is there are so many voices around. … Pretty much all the voices can be divided up into expressions of desire (things I want more of) and aversion (things I want less of). ...Knowing God’s will, then, begins with our becoming more aware of our own wills in the form of our desires and aversions. If we could see what these are more clearly, then perhaps we would half a chance at discerning the authentic from the froth.” (87-88)


Monday June 29 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
THOUGHTS

Focus on sounds heard
Then without judgment on thoughts
Discern MY will first

Quite simply, this seems be how our desires begin to lose their intensity so that we can become more sensitized to the often quieter, more persistent voice of God saying ‘This way’ or “That way is for you‘. And when we begin to hear this voice, we sense its authenticity and we wonder why we have not heard it before – it is like coming home. So once we have become more fully aware of our own will, we have a greater chance of discerning God’s will – the ‘still, small voice’ of authenticity and truth. “ (92)


CHAPTER 10: Finding Peace


Tuesday June 30 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
PEACE

When turmoil surrounds
Seek peace despite the crisis
Or change the event!

If circumstances seem inexplicable to us and throw us into turmoil, then perhaps we need simply to admit to this….(In Mark 4, when Jesus calms the storm) we find two contrasting parts to the story. The first describes how Jesus appears to be so calm in the midst of the storm that it doesn’t distub his sleep.In the second part, he recognizes the disciples are overwhelmed...and he calms the storm….The first part is about being peaceful DESPITE the circumstances, the second is about bringing peace by CHANGING the circumstances.” (94)


Wednesday July 1 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
AVOIDANCE

Approach, don’t avoid
The conflicts and trials of life
Find peace in the storm

The emotional instinct of avoidance is very strong in us. But there are two problems with this. One is that it is not always possible to avoid or fix external circumstances….The other is that trying to fix or avoid inner discomfort – emotional or psychological issues, for example – in the way we try to fix other unwanted situations doesn’t seem to work at all…..So we need another strategy, and the one that mindfulness offers us ...is to develop the rather counterintuitive skill of opening up to, and actually approaching rather than avoiding, that which is difficult for us. It is through approaching rather than avoiding that we find peace in the storm.” (96)


CHAPTER 11: ‘Inner Healing’

Thursday July 2 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY:
HEALING

Conflicted mind-thoughts?
God, through the Holy Spirit,
Does inner-healing

I would define ‘inner healing’ as the process by which we become as whole and as free as is possible for each of us as human beings. A Christian account of this might be described as the process by which the soul draws close to divine wholeness such that what is not whole is exposed to pure love and so is healed – or made whole. What part does mindfulness play in this process? ….enables a change in relationship with those things that cause us pain or cause us to bring pain to others. The work of God, one might argue, is all about the restoring of right relationships.” (100)

Friday July 3 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY:
PERMISSION

Bring into the Light
The inner pains and draw close
To divine healing

God only ever works through relationships of openness and trust, and this therefore requires of us a very significant part in the [healing] process, and that is the ‘giving of permission’. This is much more profound...than simply ticking the box on a medical form. ...God does not want simply to perform an act on us as a surgeon might on an unconscious patient; God needs us to be co-healers – entirely involved and entirely in consent with every part of the process.” (102)


CHAPTER 12: Prayer and Worship

Saturday July 4 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY:
PRAYER
Left brain or right brain
Analyze or see the ‘whole’ --
What controls our prayer?

...the two sides of the brain should work in a complementary fashion with the right brain holding the whole picture in mind but delegating the task of analysis and problem-solving relating to small parts of the picture to the left brain… the tragedy, for Western society in particular, is that the left brain has risen above its station and thinks that its role has priority….What is desperately needed, then, is the reassertion of the right brain or for this ‘holistic’ attention to have priority again.” (112)


Sunday July 5 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY:
ATTENTION

Love God and love self
Then focus love on others
Include those opposed

Mindfulness practice steers us toward and gives us ways of practicing this kind of ‘holistic’ attention. The holistic gaze is one of love...divine love, the most previous love of all. And this, too, is the heart of prayer….true prayer is about sitting before God in loving attention….this kind of attention makes space for God, which is what prayer and worship should be about.” (113)





CHAPTER 13: Practicing Love

Monday July 6 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
PRACTICE

Love others as self
Practicing love can be hard
Begin with self love

This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12) Here is one of the great dilemnas of the Christian. We know (as every one else does) that we are called to love, but to be honest we find we are no better at it that anyone else, and, it appears, actually worse than many that do not claim to have a life of faith or spirituality. What is going on here? (118-119)



Tuesday July 7 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
COMPASSION

Cultivate a love attitude
Holding friends and foes in mind
Compassion for all

Summary: Work through a Kindness sequence, beginning with self, moving to friends and family, others, ending with those you have ill feelings towards. We aren’t asking God to change anything, but the chance takes place in our attitude and mindset toward the people and the situation. “It helps us move from the analytical, ‘doing’ mode of the mind to the ‘being’ mode, which is where compassion is found.” (123)


CHAPTER 14: Reconnecting with Nature

Saturday July 11 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
NATURE

Man is separate
From the rest of Creation
Which cheapens all life

A third...separation happened: humans and nature were two separate entities, and huymans were superior. So, whenever the needs of humans and the needs of nature clashed, it would be those of huymans that would take priority...the alternate view is that hymans are part of nature and that every time we diminish nature, we diminsh ourselves as well. Humans and the rest of nature are part of one creation and all part of an extraordinarily balanced ecosystem. We will survive together or not at all.” (127)


Sunday July 12 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
CONNECTED

Connect and Protect
We are all here together
All Creation – HOME!

Unless I have experienced this reconnection with nature at a deep level within me, I will hesitate to make the effort to show greater respect to the planet...’Why would we protect what we have yet learned to love?” … I am part of nature too. I am connected. I too am here. We are here together. There is a mutual respect – a sense of belonging to one another, a sense of being at home with one another.” (p.129-130)


CHAPTER 15: Daily Living

Monday July 13 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
DAILY LIFE

What diff’rence is made
By being mindful if it
Doesn’t change my life?

So, in the spirit of the best of the Christian tradition, which emphasizes the integral connection between the inner and the outer life – and that there is really one ONE life – mindfulness is not primarilhy about becoming good at mindfulness practices, but, rather, about becoming a more mindful person in daily life...It’s not how good I am at practicing that counts. It’s the effect it has on my life!” (132)




Tuesday July 14 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
HABIT RELEASERS

Awaken to God
Break routines with new attempts
To find awareness

There are many activities we do habitually in life. When something becomes routine, this may seem comforting and give a sense of security, but it also means we stop noticing….we are seeking to encourage a habit of awareness….Examples to try: 1/ Go to work via a new route or means of transport; 2/ Sit in a different spot at home, church, or work; 3/ Eat a meal in silence focusing on the food; Be creative in thinking of other habit breakers!




EPILOGUE: Life In All Its Fullness

Wednesday July 15 2020

WORD FOR THE DAY:
EPILOGUE

What is it all for?
Be open to abundant
Life found in Jesus!

It is the holistic, right-brain awarness that puts us in touch with the big picture. Write down something you truly value in life that might serve as a compelling reason for continuing to practice mindfulness – not out of duty but with passion and out of love….Chanes will come to our lives, but not necessarily the ones we are looking for, nor as quickly as we would like. Was it not ever so with God, though, who knows better than us both what we need and how fast we can move”” (p138-140)


I would love to live like a river flows,
carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
-John O’Donahue