Schmidt: Dys-Feng Shui 1

Schmidt: Dys-Feng Shui 1

Guest Writer Frederick Schmidt

people behind each other

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”—Mahatma Gandhi.

I don’t know much about feng shui (pronounced fung shwee), but as I understand it, it is a Chinese concept of aesthetics that applies “the laws of heaven and earth” to create harmony and order. It teaches how to maximize life’s energy to be in sync with the world around us.

Today, interior decorators use it in a somewhat more trivialized and commercial fashion. They may not know much about ancient Chinese philosophy, but they know an exotic way to sell their services when they see one!

In the middle of a rather lengthy business meeting some years ago, those around the table found a way to kill a few free moments by joking about the rather strange table arrangement we had been given for our meeting. The worst was that people were sitting at tables behind us. They were forced to face the backs of our heads, and we were positioned with our backs to them.

Thus, one of the funnier “you had to be there to understand” moments was when we critiqued the arrangement as a product of “dys-feng shui.”

Whether you find that funny or not, I think it is true that the more we live into the spiritual life, the more we take responsibility for the world around us. We notice feng shui and dys-feng shui—or to turn the vocabulary in a direction that is more familiar to me; we see where the Spirit of God is at work and where the Spirit of God is marginalized.

I am not talking about some kind of soft social consciousness, never mind a body of political beliefs. Instead, I am referring to the capacity to look at the world around us through the eyes of God.

Frederick Schmidt

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

Hope From the Good News of the Gospel

Hope from the Fresh Air of the Gospel

Deacon Gay Romack Arizona

“When the fresh air of the Gospel becomes our oxygen, the collective sin of the world will burn our sensitized lungs like toxic fumes. We will notice injustice everywhere we turn, and our powerlessness will crucify our hearts. Then, we will know the hope of the Resurrection from the inside. God’s power to raise, to heal, and to save will flow through us because God will be our only lasting hope.”—Br. Keith Nelson, SSJE

I try to remember and say this prayer as I stand to read the Gospel each Sunday. Gospel means Good News. Each year, I learn more and more that this is a weekly privilege, and one of our diaconal missions is to concentrate on reading the Gospel to the best of our abilities.

St. Taddeus Aiken SC

That means practicing it out loud until it becomes part of our being. Not overacting or underacting. Trying to surrender to the message. I have learned that we can only deliver the Word if we are connected to the Christ within. We strive to sense the Spirit within us and the presence of Christ in each member of the congregation, particularly those who may be struggling.

When this happens, healing electricity flows from the Word to the people and back to the Gospel. Truly hearing the Word can then move our hearts to action. The message of Christ in the Gospel leads us to share the presence of Christ in each other, as the Gospel message permeates the nave of the church. This healing presence gives us peace and promise for the day, healing for the past, and hope for the future.

Christ Church Winnetka. Deacon newly ordained

Those who study dreams believe every dream has a promise and a warning. This may also be true in many gospel passages we read and hear each Sunday. Looking for the warning and the promise, as we do in dreamwork, as we read and hear the Sunday Gospel message, might give us new hope in the Good News and God’s message.

Joanna joannseibert.com

The Gospel and God's Politics

In the Midst of the City, the Gospel and God’s Politics

By Barkley Thompson

“As Christians, we must not begin with our secular political beliefs..and then use the Gospel to prop them up. Rather, we must begin with the Gospel and allow the Gospel to shape our politics.”—Barkley Thompson in In the Midst of the City, the Gospel and God’s Politics.

I once was in three book groups reading Barkley Thompson’s second book, In the Midst of the City.

The book’s first section represents a collection of sermons he wrote as dean of Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in Houston.

Barkley reminds us of Marcus Borg’s story of the two processions in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday entering from opposite gates. Pilate enters as the representative of the Roman power of war, while Jesus enters, symbolizing God’s politics, the power of peace. “For Christians, leaving God’s politics out of the church is not an option. The Gospel, however, is not partisan, and God is neither conservative nor progressive.”

Barkley constantly reminds us of Karl Barth’s mandate to read both the Bible and the newspaper. Interpret the newspaper from the Bible, never the other way around. For example, in the face of the great tragedy of the killing and wounding at the Boston Marathon, the Gospel leads Barkley to remind us to look for the helpers, those who are reaching out to those who have been harmed.

The second section addresses what it means to be a Christian and an American in light of the Gospel. Patriotism differs from nationalism. The patriot gives his heart to the best that patriotism stands for, even in the face of fear and assault by those who have lost an understanding of liberty.

The third section represents essays published on his blog in the Houston Chronicle. They represent his personal discernment process, hoping to see God’s vision for the world. The chapter titles speak for themselves: “I Own Guns, and I Believe in Gun Control,” “Of Orlando and the Virtue of Embrace,” and “On Civil War Monuments.”

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