Dolphins and Going Deeper

 Dolphins and Going Deeper

“This challenging time we are living through now may actually be a spiritual gift for us. Maybe the invitation from the Spirit within us is to see this time as a precious opportunity to go deeper, to discover a rich and wondrous world within us to be explored, with the Spirit as our guide.”—Br. Geoffrey Tristram SSJE. Society of St. John the Evangelist.

We rise early to get a good view of the pageantry of the sea, waking up at the Gulf of Mexico. We are not disappointed. The ocean is almost motionless, like a sheet of blue-green glass stretching as far as we can see in every direction. Only a few dolphins have been visible since we arrived. They come out in droves this morning. Finally, a huge dolphin from the pod comes too near the water’s edge. We worry he will beach on the sand, but he knows what he is doing. My husband first thinks he is a shark, but alas, he is the majestic black creature from the deep with sonar vision that we now see up close.

Why do I love dolphins so? They live predominantly beneath the surface and then rhythmically glide above the water in a circular dance movement, returning back down. They are the water ballet of the sea. We see them best when the waves are stilled, not choppy, as they are this early morning. 

As I read this morning’s words from Brother Tristram, I realize that the dolphins may be a metaphor for the journey of our soul, our path to the unconscious, the ground of our being, as the Spirit leads us to the Christ deep within us. Our journey is easier to observe if the waters of our lives are calm and still. When the waves are too high and the weather is stormy, the parts of ourselves that show us the path may be less visible.

 We must find a sacred place each day away from the choppy waters of our lives, where the sea is stilled. We do not necessarily have to be alone. We can find this place in community with spiritual friends. There, we are renewed and then return to the sea for new adventures. We also need to return to this place intermittently, even for brief moments, for renewal throughout the day. We can delve deeper each time, but we must always return to the surface to breathe.

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

Lighting Candles and Saying Prayers in the Darkness Together

Lighting Candles and Saying Prayers in the Darkness Together

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,’ darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.”—Psalm 139:11-12.

At the five o’clock contemporary service every Sunday night at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, the darkened nave is illuminated only by tealight candles on the altar in front of a large icon. After the usual Prayers of the People with a Leader and a Congregational response, the celebrant invites members of the congregation to come forward and light a candle in front of the altar as they offer a silent prayer of intercession. Tonight’s pianist plays music from the Taizé community or Celtic tradition, as almost all the members of the congregation come forward. 

While I remain seated behind my harp, I experience the scene as a Spirit-filled synthesis of corporate and individual intercessory prayer. I watch men and women, and sometimes children, walk silently up to light their taper and put it in an enormous earthenware bowl filled with sand. I know a few prayers that may be on some hearts. There are many people I do not know, much less what they are praying for, but I see faces displaying heartfelt emotion and sometimes silent tears. Even when I do not perceive their prayers, I can feel their power and maybe even their connection. There is a stream of people connecting to God in prayers for others, and sometimes for themselves.

The light from the many candles now brings brighter light to the church’s nave. The scene has become its own icon for teaching us what happens when we pray. Prayers germinate from the darkened nave and are born to transform the darkness into light. I remember that C. S. Lewis once wrote he “prayed not to change God, but to change himself.” These silent prayers being transported by candlelight are changing the appearance of the church and the pray-ers, and indeed, they are changing me.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Letting Go and Turning Each Day Over to God

Letting Go and Turning each day over to God

“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”—Romans 8:26.

In a past post about this Daily Lectionary reading from Romans 1, Trent Palmer reminds us how this passage from Romans changed his prayer life. He is trying to wait for the Holy Spirit to lead him in prayer, knowing that God is doing far more for all of us than we can pray for or imagine for ourselves.2 I need to hear this from The Daily Lectionary, Romans, The Book of Common Prayer, and Trent each week.

My prayers, especially for others, are a way to step out of my own orbit and recognize that something is happening that is more significant than my mind, my feelings, and my world. The space I live in is only a minor piece of God’s world, perhaps like a grain of sand. But still, the God who loves us so much cares deeply about us, each grain of sand, each hair of our head, and loves us beyond what we can imagine.

It is comforting to know that, regardless of what we pray for, the Spirit is present to guide our prayers. Sometimes, I try to remember this by leaving a period of silence in prayer, followed by a few sighs of my own, hoping they will catch up with the sighs of the Holy Spirit!

Friends tell God, “I turn this day over to you for your care.” I admire them. I take more than nine words to turn over my day and those I care for and pray for. That is why intercessory prayer has become so important in my life. Of course, I aim for the shorter versions, but I am praying in long division today.

1Trent Palmer, “Morning Reflection” from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Monday, July 9, 2018.

2 “Prayer for Those We Love,” Book of Common Prayer, p. 831.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/