Faith

Faith

“Faith means receiving God. It means being overwhelmed by God. Faith helps us find trust again and again when, from a human point of view, the foundations of truth have been destroyed. It gives us eyes to see what cannot be seen, and hands to grasp what cannot be touched, although it is present always and everywhere.”—Eberhard Arnold in Why We Live in Community (Plough, 2014).

Faith is believing in something we cannot see or understand. The mind takes us to a certain level of belief, but then faith must be present for us to take the leap from there. My favorite quote about faith, attributed to a multitude of people, is: “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” If we are so sure about something, we have crossed back over that line, away from the place where faith abides.

This gives all of us doubters great comfort. In fact, we know that our doubts lead us into deeper faith—across the line, down new pathways, and sometimes even onto major highways. We may take a wrong turn, run a red light, and hit someone, or become completely lost.

The Supper at Emmaus Caravaggio

Then, that stranger who met us on the road to Emmaus shows up. He may remind us of a quote from Scripture that was meaningful to us in the past. He may ask us if we remember how we have been continually cared for by the God of our understanding and by God’s stand-ins, our community, and our friends. He constantly feeds us precisely what we need to continue the journey, and before he disappears, he leaves on the dinner table a GPS.

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

A New Spiritual Practice

A New Spiritual Practice

"Here's a suggestion for you today. At some point, stop. Gaze at something God has created. Take in its shape and form, its color, its movement, its intricacies. It could be a single bud on an autumnal flower, an animal or bird, a shapely fruit, or flowing water.

Gaze at something long enough until you can see through it to its source: God - so majestic, infinitely creative, and miraculously generous to share these traces of God's glory with us."—Br. Curtis Almquist. Society of Saint John the Evangelist.

Mary Anne Seibert

Brother Almquist gives us a new spiritual practice. He asks us to gaze at something in creation: a tree, a flower, a bird, a river, the rain, the snow, until we see the Creator in it. We might name it Observo divina. This will be a new practice for today. It all started yesterday when we saw two fawns of similar ages with a single doe in our backyard. We were mesmerized by the fawns' awkward gait, curiosity, and seemingly delight in a new world at every turn.

Today, as I write, a lone male deer with huge antlers passes by my window. He takes my breath away. Multiple deer once passed my window, but now a visit is infrequent. The buck is probably headed across the street to meet many other deer living in the woods behind our son and his wife's house.

There, I know he will be just as welcome as he was here. In fact, all of the images were taken by our daughter-in-law, Mary Anne Seibert. As he majestically walks by, I think of a scene from the movie The Queen, when Elizabeth II encounters such a beautiful deer. They simply look at each other and admire one another. They seem to see the beauty of creation in the other.

This is also what we do for each person we meet today. We look into their hearts to see Christ, God, and Spirit within them. Our task is to see the Creator in all creation, to praise and give thanks for this creation.  

We start with lovable things until we can finally see creation in those with whom we have difficulty. Take heart. Sometimes, it may take more than a lifetime to achieve. But God never gives up on us... or on them!

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

Healing through Forgiveness

Nouwen: Healing Our Hearts Through Forgiveness 

“How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.”—Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).

Several years ago, I was part of an amazing group of women in Searcy, Arkansas, as we discussed the topic of forgiveness. One of the first questions from two women was, “How can I forgive someone who has harmed me or someone I love when they do not see they have done any wrong?”

These are the most complex hurts for me to forgive as well. We think we are doing fine, but then we hear how the people involved see no wrongdoing on their part, and an angry dragon rears its head again. This anger is nothing like our initial reaction, but it still endangers our body, mind, and soul. We are allowing the people and the situation to continue harming us—unless we can transform that energy into something useful for our bodies and the world.

I think of a small church-related school that many of my friends were part of, which closed overnight. After several years, most of us have worked through the disappointment and have moved on. We will all carry a scar, but for the most part, the wound is healing.

Most of us decided that if we cannot forgive those involved in the closing or those who did nothing to prevent it, they are still hurting us. They occupy space in our minds, lives, bodies, and relationships with others. We all have prayed to transform this hurt’s enormous energy into something positive. We are all now discovering gold deep down below this pain.

I often visit a place where I recall the children, teachers, and school board singing and carrying small, lit candles through tears as they walked out into the world in pairs at the conclusion of the school’s last graduation. What I cherish every day is the light that each of those involved at this school now brings to many other schools, homes, churches, and places of work.

We have been sent out to share what we learned from that experience: the relationships, the love, the kindness to others, the acceptance of differences, and the belief in a loving God. For example, Jennifer, in the upper picture, who was on the school board, is now changing more lives as the president and CEO of Achieve Community Alliance, advancing independence, productivity, and community involvement for Arkansans in need. In the lower picture is Beth Maze, the school chaplain, who now leads formation at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, the largest church in our diocese.

There was an abundance of light radiating from that school. That is why it was so hard to leave. But now, we are commissioned to carry the light we received there out into the larger world. We can make a difference in so many other lives, and so many continue to do simply that.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/