Frederick Buechner, Pat Murray, Carl Jung: Synchronicity

Frederick Buechner, Patrick Murray, Carl Jung: Synchronicity

“I remember sitting parked by the roadside once, terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter’s illness and what was going on in our family, when out of nowhere a car came along down the highway with a license plate that bore on it the one word out of all the words in the dictionary that I needed most to see exactly then. The word was TRUST. … The owner of the car turned out to be, as I’d suspected, a trust officer in a bank, and not long ago he found out where I lived and one afternoon brought me the license plate itself, which sits propped up on a bookshelf in my house to this day. It is rusty around the edges and a little battered, and it is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen.”—Frederick Buechner in Telling Secrets (HarperOne, 1991).

Frederick Buechner beautifully relates this incidence of synchronicity, coincidences, or serendipity. Many believe such an experience occurs when the unconscious speaks to our consciousness. How this happens is a mystery Jung and Patrick Murray describe as “a relationship between an inner psychic experience and outer physical event.” Synchronicity is “a meaningful coincidence that contributes to one’s sense of wholeness.”

In spiritual direction, we talk about looking for times of synchronicity, the occurrence of meaningful coincidences, being aware of them, and pondering them—not letting them just slip by. Patrick Murray calls these “moments of transformation, embracing us with a profound sense that life is ultimately purposeful.”

We sense a divine connection. A friend happens to call just when we needed it. We turn on the radio and hear a musical piece that brings back pleasant memories of hearing it with a loved one or dear friend. We feel peace. There are moments like that every day if we just step out of our routine to be aware of them.

Before the pandemic, I would stand in a particular place and talk to those coming by for food at our food pantry. Once when we came a little late, people were already sitting outside, waiting for the bags filled with their orders. For some reason, I decided to go out and greet people there. Suddenly I saw a friend I had worked with for thirty-three years who had just lost her job. We hugged, and she told me about her struggles to find another job. I saw courage and faith as I had never seen before. She had a plan and was not giving up, and she still felt cared for by a loving God. For me, this was synchronicity—that we ran into each other and could support each other for a few moments.

I will put this visit in the memory book of my imagination, and hope to remember to be on the lookout each day for times like this—when the Holy calls us and offers us an opportunity to share the Christ in each other.

[See Patrick Murray, “Jung’s Concept of Synchronicity,” The Haden Institute, December 2002.]

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Tickle: Daily Prayer Practices

Tickle: Daily Prayer Practices

Canticle: A Song of Pilgrimage 

“Before I ventured forth,
even while I was very young,*
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer.
In the forecourts of the temple I asked for her,*
and I will seek her to the end.
From first blossom to early fruit,*
she has been the delight of my heart.
My foot has kept firmly to the true path,*
diligently from my youth have I pursued her.
I inclined my ear a little and received her;*
I found for myself much wisdom and became adept in her.
To the one who gives me wisdom will I give glory,*
for I have resolved to live according to her way.
From the beginning I gained courage from her,*
therefore I will not be forsaken.
In my inmost being I have been stirred to seek her,*
therefore have I gained a good possession.
As my reward the Almighty has given me the gift of language,*
and with it will I offer praise to God.”—Ecclesiasticus 51:13-16, 20b-22.

This “Song of Pilgrimage from Ecclesiasticus” is one of the Canticles offered for Morning and Evening Prayer in Enriching Our Worship 1, one of the alternative Canticles for the Book of Common Prayer.

Christians inherited a pattern of daily prayer from the Jews, who set aside a time for prayer three times daily. More diligent Christians later took to heart the Psalm 119:164 verse, “Seven times a day do I praise you.” By the Middle Ages, monks had developed a tradition of seven daily prayer times: Matins before dawn and Lauds at daybreak—combined into one service. Then, at sunrise, midmorning, noon, and midafternoon came Prime, Terce, Sext, and None; Vespers was observed at sundown and Compline at bedtime. Monks and nuns in monasteries faithfully kept this schedule over the centuries. Lay people could come when possible.

In 1549, in the first English Book of Common Prayer, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer revised the structure so that ordinary people could also follow a prayer schedule and praise God at the beginning and end of each day in just two services: Morning and Evening Prayer. The present 1979 BCP restored Noonday Prayers and Compline. (See A User’s Guide to Morning Prayer and Baptism by Christopher Webber.)

Phyllis Tickle, the theologian, writer, and founding Religion Editor of Publisher’s Weekly, reintroduced a shorter version of daily observation of the Divine Hours in a series of books that many now follow. There is a pocket edition for easy carry. Her shorter versions of morning, noon, evening (vespers), and bedtime (Compline) prayers, readings, and Scripture offer a way to stop our work and reconnect to God frequently during the day and evening.

The readings are also online at http://www.explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/hours.php and http://annarborvineyard.org/tdh/tdh.cfm.

Consider observing at least one of the daily offices. Noonday prayers are offered on St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Little Rock’s Facebook page. Morning Prayer is offered on weekdays in the chapel.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Catherine Marshall: The Helper

Catherine Marshall: The Helper

“When we try it on our own, we are seeking to usurp the Helper’s place. The result of attempting in the flesh to convict another of sin is wreckage—defensiveness, anger, estrangement, loss of self-worth, defeatism, depression—whereas, when the Spirit does this corrective work, it is “good” hurt, the kind that leaves no damage, that never plunges us into despair or hopelessness but is always healing in the end.”—Catherine Marshall in The Helper (Chosen Books, 1978), pp. 214-215.

Over forty-five years ago, when our medical practice at Children’s Hospital was just starting, my husband and I were not as busy and could go downtown for lunch—and then perhaps browse Cokesbury Bookstore before returning to the hospital. One day I saw a book by Catherine Marshall, The Helper, on the front sales table for two dollars. I remembered that she had written A Man Called Peter about her husband, a Scottish immigrant who became the chaplain of the United States Senate, but died prematurely. I particularly loved the movie, so I could not resist the bargain. I paid the two dollars, and it changed my life.

I did not understand the Holy Spirit. Then, suddenly, I was presented with a part of God that I could relate to, who was always with me. But, on the other hand, I had great difficulty relating to God, the Father, and Jesus. One was a kind older man with a beard in the sky, and the other was some kind of television evangelist flipping through the Bible who wanted to save me. 

For years, I held on to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper, always beside me, guiding me if I chose. This sustained me for a long time until I could have a deeper relationship with the other two parts of the Trinity. I am constantly amazed by how God, the Holy Spirit, works: a Presbyterian minister’s daughter I would never meet who grew up in Keyser, West Virginia, with my father, the son of the Methodist minister in the area, a slow-time in our practice; a Methodist bookstore; a bargain table; a New York Times bestseller; a movie; and two dollars.

My favorite story by Catherine Marshall was about answered prayer. She prayed for patience, and God gave her the slowest possible housekeeper. I wept when I heard of Catherine Marshall’s death at age sixty-eight in 1983, just before Holy Week.

Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by buying this book in the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from the books go to Camp Mitchell. If you like this book, could you briefly write a recommendation on its page on Amazon? https://smile.amazon.com/Daily-Spiritual-Ordinary-Time-Pentecost/dp/B08JLTZYGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joanna+seibert+books&qid=1621104335&sr=8-1

 More thank-you’s than we can say!!!

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/