cloud of the Unknowing

Cloud of Unknowing

“The universes which are amenable to the intellect can never satisfy the instincts of the heart.”—The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous.

I recall the morning some time ago, before flying back to Arkansas from Montana. I looked forward to seeing blue skies above a cloudy day. Also, the older I get, the more anxious I seem on travel days. I wake up early in the morning and look out on Whitefish Lake to see a large cloud above the water. It seems to be getting larger and closer to the water. There is no sound except for an occasional crow calling nearby and a slight breeze rustling the aspen leaves in the trees beside the beach. The quiet, the cloud now turning into the fog, which is more like a whisper as it approaches the lake, gives this spot of northern Montana a mystical countenance.

The timeless 14th-century book The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous enlightens us about Christian mysticism. We call something mystical if it is not obvious to our senses or minds. When we see such beauty as the clouds and the lake on this cool early morning, we cannot explain the experience by what we know. It calms my soul on a day when I pray for calm, patience, and flexibility. Our experience tells us we have known this presence before, when we took the time to be present with it.

I hope this trip with my family has reinforced that. I long to stay present in the moment and not miss again the many clouds of unknowing that disappear as I write about them. I will stop writing so I can experience the clouds one last time. I long to keep them in the album of my imagination of times experiencing the majestic beauty of the precious present.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

Wearing God

Wearing God

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.”— Romans 13:14 NIV.

There are over one hundred biblical passages about clothing, and many, like this one, refer to putting God on as if we were wearing God. I recommend Lauren Winner’s book called Wearing God. She reminds us that God made clothing for them even as Adam and Eve left paradise. (Genesis 3:8-15). God clothes us, asks us to clothe others, and when we do, tells us we are clothing God. (Matthew 25).

  What we wear communicates a great deal about who and what we are. We feel and often act differently depending on the clothes we wear. My experience is when I put on my clothes, I often remember an occasion when I last wore them, and I feel differently than before I put them on. I have many clothes I should give away, but I cannot because I look at them and remember a lasting experience I had wearing them. They are like a scrapbook of times when I was with others or alone and knew I was loved and cared for by the God of love.

Many people in Mourner’s Path, our grief recovery group, talk of wearing a piece of clothing of their loved one who has died, often a shirt. The smell, the feel, brings them closer to that person.

 I particularly remember wearing a black shawl one New Year’s Eve when I walked a labyrinth at Christ Church. Suddenly, I felt the love of my deceased grandmothers wrapping around me, keeping me safe, loved, and warm like the shawl around my shoulders.

I also remember the first Sunday after my ordination. I stayed late at St. Margaret’s talking with friends and was late meeting my extended family, still celebrating at a Chinese restaurant for brunch. I was pushing my way through the crowded restaurant to meet my family, and suddenly remembered, “I am now wearing a clerical collar. Perhaps I should not push my way through restaurants anymore!” I slowed down.

Two more clothing verses.

“Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11 NIV) I often keep this Ephesian passage with me when I go into a difficult situation.

Another passage from Colossians explains even more the meaning of wearing the armor of God and what we can take to those demanding situations. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12). This is a quite different coat of armor Paul tells us to wear.

Here is a suggestion. For the next week, as we dress, buttoning our shirts, zipping up our dresses, pulling up our socks, hose, and pants, putting on our shoes, consciously imagine we are putting on God, wearing Christ, especially compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, as Paul suggests. Could that possibly make any difference in how we feel about ourselves/or how we treat others just for that day?

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

 

 

Groundhog Day and Reading Again

Reading Again and Groundhog Day

“In a course on contemplative prayer, I assigned just six books:  Origen’s On Prayer, Teresa of Ávila’s Life, the anonymous The Way of a Pilgrim, Simone Weil’s Waiting for God, Howard Thurman’s Disciplines of the Spirit, and Thomas

Merton’s Contemplative Prayer. We read these books once, and then we read them again.”—Stephanie Paulsell, “Faith Matters, Reread it Again, The inexhaustible spiritual practice of rereading,” Christian Century, January 17, 2018, p. 27.

I constantly see more old and new books I want to read. When friends tell me they are rereading a book, I roll my eyes away from them and wonder about the other books they will not have time to read. Stephanie Paulsell, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, tells us to roll our eyes back toward our friends and listen to what they have to teach us. 

Indeed, we all experience studying again the Bible, the most reread book, especially if we try to follow a systematic study of yearly lectionary readings. Nevertheless, we never fail to see things the second, third, or tenth time we never saw or heard previously, probably because our life experiences and concentration are different.

How could we have missed that word, that meaning, or what that person was doing?

For the last several years, I have been blogging about spiritual direction and reconnecting to authors and books I have read in the past that have been meaningful to me. I am rereading material I underlined a year ago, ten years ago, and sometimes fifty years ago. As Paulsell suggests, I have become more intimate with the texts and am called to practice more intently some teachings presented, “continuing to see things I have not seen before. For some reason, the authors and their books now more deeply intersect with my life. Rereading and reconnecting with writers led us to recall truths we had forgotten or overlooked.

We might compare rereading books to Bill Murray’s experience in Ground Hog Day. We eventually receive one more truth after each new attempt to digest a reading with new glasses.

It is also like spending time with a favorite painting. Something new we never saw before illuminates our souls.

The same is true for this blog. Year after year, I often repeat the message. Each year, I learn something new I missed or find another picture that better speaks the truth I am trying to say. My prayer is that this may also be your experience.