Peace of God

Peace of God

“Jesus doesn’t offer peace of mind. He offers the peace of reconciliation.” Diane Roth, “Living the Word,” Christian Century, March 14, 2018, p. 23.

Turtle tracks by Marci Hixson

This response by Diane Roth to Lectionary Readings for the Second Sunday in Easter from John 20:19-31is another wake-up call for us to reconcile with those with whom we are having difficulty, loving that neighbor who is so different, loving our relatives who look at our political scene wearing  a very different pair of glasses, seeing Christ in the most unlovable person with whom we work, loving those whose belief systems are the exact opposite of ours. I could go on for several more pages of examples.

A verse that haunts me that is often said at the offertory is Matthew 5:23-24, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”

Family systems models tells us that we must make every possible attempt to get back into relationship with any family members from whom we are estranged.

The heart of 12 step recovery is looking at the resentments we have for others, seeing our part causing the estrangement from others, making amends, seeing how we are alike instead of seeing our differences.

All of these teachings are reminding us that when we cannot love our neighbor, it is hard to love God, for the God of our understanding always also lives in our neighbor as does God live in us.  

This is an important message for us to share with spiritual friends. We may not be the trained person to help our friends reconcile with those with whom they are having difficulty, but we are called to share our experience that reconciliation with our neighbor is a straight pathway to the peace of God.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Wounded Healer

 Wounded Healer

“To be a conscious person in this world, to be aware of all the suffering and the beauty, means to have your heart broken over and over again.” Sharon Salzberg, InwardOutward.org, “Daily Quote,” May 31, 2018

Brain Thoughts

Sharon Salzberg is an author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices. Those in Christian and psychological traditions will recognize this Buddhist belief we share as the Christian and Jungian teaching of the wounded healer. The best healers are those who also have experienced and have known the most about suffering. We daily see this in our small group grief recovery group, Walking the Mourner’s Path. Three or four of us are the facilitators holding the group together. The real healers are those participating in the group who are trying to live through the death of a loved one and know something about what the others in the group are thinking and feeling.  The same is true for all of those in 12-step recovery groups.

When we talk with spiritual friends who are suffering, we listen and listen and listen. At some point they will mention someone else who is suffering who helped or reached out to them. This is our clue subtlety to tell them that perhaps at some future date they can be able do the same for someone else. It is the old native American message of having walked in someone else’s moccasins that gives us compassion for that person when we have a hint of what his or her life is like.

Sometimes the only resurrection that we ever see in tremendous suffering is developing an awareness of what it is like for others who are also in distress.

We have a choice, bitterness for the suffering or an understanding of compassion for others who also struggle.

Four disciplines are telling us this same message about the wounded healer. I know there must be other traditions as well who are sending this message.  When several disciplines intersect, for me this is a sign of a truth.  

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Solomon, Wells: Is Love Stronger?

Solomon and Wells: Is Love Stronger?

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” Song of Solomon 8: 6.

Samuel Wells is the vicar at St. Martins-in-the-Fields in London and a frequent writer for Christian Century. He recently titled his article, “Is Love Stronger.”1 Wells tells the story of visiting with the husband of a wife who committed suicide whom he did not know and hearing their story, then delivering the homily at her service suggesting that all is now well. When he went to visit the husband a week later, he was met with anger about his homily. All had not been well with the woman who had a painful wasting disease and all was not well with her husband. The husband said he told Wells that before the funeral.

 Wells said he learned from this experience that when being with people living with tragedy or living in the aftermath of tragedy, all he has to offer is his presence beside them. There are not words to make the situation better, and attempts to clean up the situation do not affirm the difficulty they are facing. Wells believes that his role is “not to make things better for someone. It’s to face the truth with them.” This is what the love stronger than death is. It is presence, not words.

This is also true when we meet with spiritual friends. Trying to see God in any difficult situation often is just listening to our friend’s story and letting them know that we are beside them. We are not there to make things better, but to be a loving presence beside them in a great storm. In times of great tragedy, I remember people who just came and sat beside me and cried with me. Often the person who can best do this is someone who has known a similar tragedy.  This is the love stronger than death.

1 Samuel Wells, “Is love stronger?” Faith Matters, Christian Century, April 25, 2018, p. 35.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com