Sparrows

Sparrows

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So, do not be afraid: you are of more value than many sparrows.” —Matthew 10:29-31.

The Christian Century: Thinking Critically, Living Faithfully is a biweekly magazine that explores current religious topics. I started subscribing many years ago when Scott Lee told me Barbara Brown Taylor often wrote for it. Today I especially look for a section called “The Word: Reflections on the Lectionary,” in which some amazing ministers from all denominations write a response to the Sunday lectionary readings.

In the June 7, 2017, issue Liddy Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, was the guest preacher writing about the sparrow text from Matthew for the Sunday of June 25th. She writes about the lawyer Kenneth Feinberg who chaired the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, giving money to the families of those who died in the terrorist attack using a formula based on the income and earning potential of each victim. The compensations ranged from $250,000 to $7.1 million. At the end of the experience, Feinberg struggles with this differentiation as he listens to the stories of the victims and their families and wonders if one person is really twenty-eight times more valuable than another.

Barlow also writes of the Civilla Martin poem, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” which became a Gospel hymn bringing comfort to the African-American Church in our past century. I will never forget hearing Kathleen Battle sing this hymn a cappella in a concert with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. We were on the first-row center and she was there in front of us, a foot away, in this striking dark red velvet dress. Her soul was singing from somewhere deep inside of her.

This indeed is a Scripture passage and a hymn about how valuable each of us is to God. So often people tend to come for spiritual direction when they do not feel valued by God. When we talk, I so wish I could sing this song like Kathleen Battle and let them know their worth.

Barlow concludes her message by telling us that Feinberg is again consulted, this time in 2007 by the president of Virginia Tech about how to distribute the compensation to the families of those killed there in a mass shooting. Feinberg has been changed by his 9/11 experience and has come to believe in an equality of all life. He recommends that all victims, students, and faculty receive the same compensation.

This is the story of how the God our understanding works in the world, a God who so desperately loves and values each and every one of us. I am reminded of this every morning as I watch the white-crowned sparrows come to the feeder outside my window above my desk.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Purchase a copy of A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter from me, joannaseibert@me.com, from Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, or from Amazon.

Wiederkehr:The Spaces

Wiederkehr: The Spaces

“Long ago when I was learning to type, I used to delight in typing letters to my friends without pressing the space bar. Now when you don’t press the space bar, you’ve got a real mess, and there is much decoding to be done. It is the spaces in between that enable us to understand the message.” —Macrina Wiederkehr in The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending the Soul (HarperOne, 1997).

I remember reading this message from Sister Wiederkehr more than twenty years ago, and it still jumps off the page for me. She reminds us that many of us keep forgetting to press the space bar in our lives. She calls it hurry sickness. We will rest after we finish this one email, or project or phone call or meeting. She is calling us to spaces of contemplation or meditation or silence at intervals in our lives.

One of my favorite definitions of such a “space” is to stop what we are doing and attend a Quaker meeting in our head. Macrina reminds us of a Native American admonition to listen or our tongue will keep us deaf! I experience this often when I wake up in the morning, and suddenly an answer or idea about my writing comes after that long time of rest during the night. I know when I stop during the day to say prayers at daily intervals, life is more beautiful. But I can so easily become the driver of a Mack truck coming down a steep hill without brakes and hurriedly drive during the day from task to task without stopping.

Our computers and our iPhones are speaking to us. Have you ever noticed how much bigger the space bars are than the letters?

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Purchase a copy of A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter from me, joannaseibert@me.com, from Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, or from Amazon.

Holy Week: Palm Sunday

Holy Week: Palm Sunday

“And many believed in him.” —John 10:31-42.

We are approaching one of the holiest times of the Christian year, appropriately named Holy Week. In preparing for this time, our tradition suggests the sacrament of the reconciliation of a penitent. Today I share with you the rough draft of my confession of the ups and downs of my relationship with God, looking through the lens of the Stations of the Cross.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we will read the Passion Gospel in Luke; and on Good Friday we will hear the Passion Gospel from John. Many congregations have also been reading Luke during Lent, and this week we will be reading part of that Gospel’s Passion narrative.

I imagine myself as so many of the players in this extraordinary drama. Come with me and see if you as well have a part to play. I have been Judas and betrayed Jesus for politics and money. At the same time, I have also had the privilege for eighteen years of preparing Christ’s supper. Jesus has washed my feet. I have sung hymns with him on the way to mountaintops. I have publicly declared Jesus as my God in front of large groups of people. I have prayed with Christ and fallen asleep, either literally or by staying unconscious to the present moment. I have figuratively cut off ears defending him in my zeal.

I have been Nicodemus coming to him secretly at night and speaking out for him in ways that would keep me safe. I have given false witness against him by making my plan his plan. I have been Peter and denied my God more than three times. I have spat on him and mocked him by my actions. I have been Pilate’s wife receiving dreams that tell me that God is among us. I have been Pilate and washed my hands of situations when I should have spoken out for what I knew in my heart was wrong.

I have been Barabbas, the criminal who was freed, and did not have to face the consequence of my sins. I have been privileged to wipe the face of God present in so many others in pain. I have perhaps been Simon of Cyrene and carried another’s cross for brief periods of time. I have been among the women who followed Jesus from Galilee and looked helplessly on his crucifixion from a distance. I have been the thief on the cross crying out for God’s mercy in my distress. I have been the other thief on the cross still trying to tell God what God should do to relieve my pain.

I have been the centurion at Jesus’ death, finally recognizing God in the lives of so many only after they have died. I have been Joseph of Arimathea and found a resting place for Jesus. I have been one of the spice-bearing women at the empty tomb still looking for God. I have been Mary Magdalene in the garden, searching for God and not recognizing him.

I close with an invitation to take again this Holy Week journey. I hear there is a surprise ending.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Purchase a copy of A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter from me, joannaseibert@me.com, from Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, or from Amazon.