Rachel Held Evans: Searching for Sunday

Rachel Held Evans: Searching for Sunday

“This is what’s most annoying and beautiful about the windy Spirit and why we so often miss it. It has this habit of showing up in all the wrong places and among all the wrong people, defying our categories and refusing to take direction.”—Rachel Held Evans in Searching for Sunday (Nelson Books 2015), p. 196.

Our world still grieves the death of 37-year-old Rachel Held Evans on May 4th, 2019. She was a spiritual voice for many millennials, their parents, and grandparents. I treasure that we met her on her podcasts, at writing conferences, and at our cathedral in Little Rock, where she was a guest speaker.   

Larry Burton recently reviewed her book, Inspired, on this blog about interpreting some of our favorite Bible stories as Rachel wrestles with some of our most significant questions about suffering and doubt.  

Today’s writing relates to a quote from Searching for Sunday, where Rachel struggles through the liturgical year, trying to find her faith and a church community as she journeys through the sacraments.

At Pentecost, I will remember that Rachel reminds us that the wind, the Holy Spirit Jesus describes to Nicodemus, goes even to this Pharisee. Nicodemus eventually hears the wind, speaks up for Jesus at his trial, and cares for his body when most of the world abandons him.

Rachel reminds us that the Spirit is both inside and outside the traditional church if we only have eyes to see and feel it.  

There is no corner of the world where God has abandoned God’s people, even when it is hard to see God in that place or with that group of people. Rachel reminds us that we will know the Spirit when we know and see the fruit of the Spirit: peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Today, we may honor Rachel Held Evans as we pray that we may keep looking for God and the fruit of the Spirit in every possible place, as we talk about it in community and write about it as much as possible. 

Today, we are reminded of the Spirit so easily seen in all those who cared for the sick during the pandemic, those who care for the dying, those who care for friends with cancer, those caring for the starving in Africa and Gaza, and those caring for children all over the world. Continue to give them strength and courage.

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

Bless you for supporting the ministry of our church 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 Lent and Easter. If you like this book, could you briefly write a recommendation on its page on Amazon? More thank-yous than I can say!!!

Joanna. joannaseibert.com

Parker Palmer: Seeking Sanctuary

Parker Palmer: Seeking Sanctuary in Our Own Sacred Spaces

“Sanctuary is wherever I find a safe space to regain my bearings, reclaim my soul, heal my wounds, and return to the world as a wounded healer. It’s not merely about finding shelter from the storm: it’s about spiritual survival. Today, seeking sanctuary is no more optional for me than church attendance was as a child.” Parker Palmer, “Seeking Sanctuary in our own sacred spaces,” On Being with Krista Tippett, September 14, 2016.

Red Doors, an ancient sign of Sanctuary

We still read about churches, towns, and cities that are providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants who now face deportation, dreamers, many who have been working, living, and raising families in our country for years. Many were our healthcare workers saving the lives of those we love during the past pandemic. They sought a better life for themselves and their families, and now fear losing all that is sacred to them.

Many who come to spiritual directors also seek a sanctuary for their sacred spaces, a spiritual life that once had been vibrant, but now may seem lost. They have lived and followed a road less traveled, but they have come to a spiritual fork in the road or perhaps a dead end.

They fear they have lost the spiritual life they once had. They are now on a path that seems undocumented. Our ministry as spiritual friends is to be a sanctuary for the soul of those who seek our trust and guidance, especially when they feel isolated from their God connection. It can be a lonely time.

We must treat as sacred this precious part of all people, that presence of God within each of us, which we can sometimes see but is blind to them or to others. We must never lose sight of the privilege or the awesomeness of being asked to care for the soul of another, especially at a vulnerable time.

This is a sacred trust, a rare chance to make a difference, just as our churches in years past and years to come have been a place of sanctuary. I am told that the red doors of some of our churches are an ancient sign of sanctuary within. When we meet with a spiritual friend, may we imagine that we are sitting together just within the sanctuary of red doors?

This calls us also to relate to other seekers in the world who need a sanctuary at this time of their life, in prayer and in person, remembering that we are all seekers and often are on an undocumented, uncharted path. We hope we will have the courage to stand, sit, sleep, work, eat, and pray beside all who need sanctuary within the red doors of our churches, minds, and hearts.

Finding a sanctuary during these difficult times is essential for our mind, body, and soul.

Camp Mitchell, a place of Sanctuary

Joanna Seibert. joannaseibert.com

Living Paradox

Living Paradox

“The great paradox of life is that those who lose their lives will gain them. If we cling to our friends, we may lose them, but when we are non-possessive in our relationships, we will make many friends. When fame is what we seek and desire, it often vanishes as soon as we acquire it.”—Henri Nouwen, “April 30” in Bread for the Journey (HarperOne, 1997).

University of Arkansas graduation

Nouwen again opens us up to an authentic truth: that we live and work with paradox, holding tensions. One of the best books I read during my work as a physician was John R. O’Neil’s The Paradox of Success: When Winning at Work Means Losing at Life. It is subtitled: A Book of Renewal for Leaders. O’Neil tells us how our excessive pride as leaders, combined with the seductive perks of power, can become addictive. At some point, the wielding of power itself becomes even more important than its goal.

Power and the need to control our fate can take over and sometimes become the end rather than the means. The paradox of success is the promise of renewal, as we can stand back, especially in a retreat, and see where we have gotten into trouble. There are obstacles to stepping back, such as our drive for perfection, as our path becomes a prison. Often, we let our clocks tell us what we should be doing, especially as we drive toward the dead-end of a substantial paycheck.

O’Neil believes that any amount of time spent away from our usual productive round of activities is renewing as long as it is time spent pursuing wisdom. Renewing activities can be exercising, watching birds at my window, being or sitting in nature, listening to music, playing the harp, being quiet, writing, talking and connecting with friends, visiting the sick, and some form of daily retreat, usually involving writing.

O’Neil encourages us to become healed by pursuing a different situation, where we do not run the show and focus on relationships rather than goals or end results. Our difficulties stem from the very traits that make us winners. We will find unmined gold in dark places initially hidden from us.

The book includes a graph about success. We work hard to reach the top as we master our profession. However, we only stay at the top briefly since there is always someone else or many who will soon surpass us. O’Neil suggests we stop to observe our situation as we approach the peak of a pursuit and consider starting all over again in a new career.

That can keep us humble, as we are back on a learning curve where we do not have all the answers. Then, as we get close to the top of that career or undertaking, he suggests we observe and again consider starting all over again. As Benedictines might say, “Always we begin again.”

My summer reading again includes David Brooks’ The Second Mountain. I think Brooks is discovering some of these same principles about life. For so many, our time during the pandemic was a period of discernment—learning how to live with the paradoxes in our lives.

Richard Rohr recently reminded us in his blog that our call is to hold the tension, not necessarily find a resolution or closure to the paradox. We must agree to live without resolution, at least for a while. He believes being open to this holding pattern is the very name and description of faith.

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