Name Day

Name Day

“On the eight day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed.” Luke 1:59-63.

If you name is John or some derivative, yesterday, June 24, was your name day. It is also celebrated as the birth day of John the Baptist. In some countries such as Greece, this is even more important than your regular birth day. When our daughter, Joanna, and her dad were in Greece on this her name day, their guide Maria did not charge them for taking them around that day. When others heard that it was her name day, they gave her gifts.

Just as important as this name day is to our family is the remembrance that June 24th is the birthday of Bob, my husband’s father, the person who showed us and our children so much unconditional care and love.  More and more in my life I find it important to remember people who taught us about unconditional love. As we remember the person, we can sometimes feel that love they brought into our lives.

Consider finding out about your name, how you got your name, and even your name day.

On June 24th I also remembered my grandparents Joe and Anna as I was named after them. Again, these were two people who taught me about love without conditions. I was the “apple of their eye.” They loved me no matter what I did. They did not always condone what I did, but they still loved the sinner.  Through their love, I learned about the unconditional love of God.

Honor and remember those who have brought the presence of love into your life. My experience is that in bringing them back into our memory, we can still feel and experience that love even when they are not with us and even when they are now living in eternal life. The God of my understanding does not give us this love and then stop it at death. Love lives on.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

God Coming

God Coming

 “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified.  But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they do not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:47-52

         This has been my experience. God often comes to me in the early morning if I take time to get up and listen and read or just look or sit outside.  God comes when he sees me “straining at the oars against an adverse wind.”   God comes to me in some miracle, almost as if he were walking on water. It may be a word, a letter, an email, a call from someone I would least expect to hear God’s word.  I “by chance” meet someone who was not on my agenda for the day. God may speak in the actual scripture reading. God may be the wind at my side, or the sun bringing light to the cold dawn, or the first bloom on a barren tree.  I usually perceive God as a ghost and do not recognize the occurrence as a message from the one who cares so much for me.   I may ignore it because it was not in my busy plan for the day.   I may even cry out.  I may be terrified by what I hear or see.

Talking to spiritual friends helps us see God in these places we were blind to God’s presence. I remember that somehow if I stay present to the moment and say my prayers, fear will leave me. Fear is afraid of prayer.

God literally gets into the boat where my life is sailing on, and the storm in my mind and in my body ceases.  I am astonished. I do not realize why I am comforted, for my heart is still hardened.  This happens daily.  God does not give up on us and our hard hearts.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com   

Kelsey: Outreach

Kelsey: Outreach

“A Christian meditative practice that does not result in horizontal outreach to suffering and lost human beings has gone astray.” Morton Kelsey, p. 27, Companions of the Inner Way, The Art of Spiritual Guidance, Crossroad 1983.

Langley in Nicaragua

Morton Kelsey was a teacher, counselor, Episcopal priest, former teacher at Notre Dame and author of over 30 books on spiritual development.

He writes about the tension that develops between the peace we find in relationship to God and the lack of peace in our outer world. This is similar to what we heard Gordon Cosby from Church of the Saviour write about recently. Cosby called it the the real and unreal world. In fact, the Church of the Saviour’s website is Inward Outward.

 Just as the inner peace is found with love, the same is true for birthing the outer peace. The love we find in staying connected to the God of our understanding calls us out of ourselves to those who are suffering in the world. The paradox is that in reaching out to those in need, we again find God, for that is where God promises to be most present.

Spiritual friends or guides who have encountered the creative love of  Christ within themselves and in others can be guides to practices that help put us in position to experience this kind of love. Often spiritual guides are helpful in pointing out to us where God was working in our life, where we experienced God’s love, God’s protection and were not aware of it.  Spiritual friends help us find the Christ already within us which always is calling us to find the Christ in our neighbor, especially our neighbor in need.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com