Gods Presence

God’s Presence

When like Elijah you’re surprised by sheer silence, listen to God speaking deep inside. When like Peter you’re scared by the wind on the sea, look to Jesus right there with you. When bedtime nears, stop and review how the Spirit caught you by the hand and caught you off guard with love. Hold these close to your heart and go to sleep.”

-Br. Luke Ditewig, Society of Saint John the Evangelist, www.ssje.org, August 8, 2018, “Companion- Brother Give Us a Word”

God’s promise is that God is always with us, beside us. Always. All the time. How do we feel that presence? My experience is when I am connected to the God within me, the Christ within me, when I can see the God, the Christ, in my neighbor, I am feeling God’s presence.  

When we feel the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, and kindness, (Galatians 5: 22-23), we are feeling God’s presence. When suddenly we realize we were able to do something we did not think we were able to do, we are feeling God’s presence.

During difficult times, God shows up in the presence of someone who just loves us as we are. It can be a phone call, an email, a snail mail, or even a text.

It is difficult to spend any time outdoors in nature or even look outdoors to see the birds feeding near our windows without feeling the presence of something greater than yourself.

Gratitude helps us to put on new glasses so that we can see God’s presence in our lives.

Forgiving ourselves and others keeps us from putting up the barriers that keep us from seeing God in our lives.

Beauty in art, music, the sacred word, poetry, fiction and nonfiction writings open up our eyes and ears and mind to see God sitting right beside on a bench at the National Gallery or  in the center orchestra section or curled up in our favorite chair.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Brueggemann and Abundance

Abundance

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”  -Walter Brueggemann, Inward, Ouward, Daily quote, August 23, 2018, InwardOutward.org, Church of the Saviour.

Brueggemann reminds us something we so often forget about the Eucharist. Christ called all to the Welcome Table, and this should be the center of our worship. Weekly or daily Eucharist is a reminder of abundance. There is always enough bread and wine and always some left over. The Eucharist is a reminder of a great gift, the love of God for each of us and for all.

 Remembering that we are giving thanks for God’s great gift of love, remembering that this is a table for all, remembering that this is a table of abundance, remembering that this is a reminder that we have been given a life of abundance through Christ can make all the difference in how we receive the Eucharist and how we live our lives.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Practicing and Preaching and Fear

  Practicing and Preaching and Fear

“If mainstream Christianity has steadily lost force and credibility in the contemporary world…I wonder how much of this decline might be attributed to the fact that for so long now the means have not matched the ends. We preach one gospel and live another… the clash is accentuated in the security-obsessed consciousness of our own times. We preach the Good Samaritan and lock our church doors. We preach the lilies of the field and allocate large amounts of our monthly paychecks to pension and insurance plans.” Cynthia Bourgeault,  Mystical Hope, Daily Quote, Inwardoutward.org, Church of the Saviour.

This is the old story of practicing what we preach. We talk one way, but act another. My experience is that much is unconscious. We see ourselves as good and caring people. We know a certain belief is part of our core value, but our society speaks against it or does not value it and gives us excuses or wiggle room so that we don’t have to follow through.

My own experience is that fear and scarcity zero-sum mentality is what most often keeps me from being this person God created me to be, acting on what I know at my core is true.  We fear we will not have enough money. We fear that someone will break in and steal what we already have.  We fear our health with fail. We fear we will be left alone and abandoned.

 Being grateful, thankful for what we have is one of the best ways to journey out of a fear-based life. We have been given a daily reminder of how much we are cared for and loved. When I am most fearful, I rise early in the morning and watch the sunrise. Out of deep darkness comes overwhelming light. We are given a new day, a new start, each day. Out of the darkness comes resurrection.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com