Musings Along Life's Way: Entering the Cave of the Heart

John of the Cross, a spiritual writer from the 16th century, harkens back to the story of Elijah's encounter with God in a cave on the side of the mountain, as he recounts the "caverns of feeling" that represent the very deepest desires that we have for God in our lives, our desire to be united with God in the love that is our deepest identity. Put simply, this desire is "love's desire for Love." It is our journey to our home in God. So John writes:

And then we will go on
to the high caverns in the rock
which are so well concealed;
there we shall enter
and taste the fresh juice of the pomegranates.
-The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 37,1

This, of course, describes our life's journey, to the high caverns of love's presence where true encounter is made possible. To "taste the fresh juice of the pomegranates" is for us to enter into our deepest desire and to be satisfied as we are called ever more deeply into love. Our hope in this life is to "fall into love" that we may be awash in Life's sweetness, dwelling in the caverns of heart's desire. This desire to dwell in love is the engine for our spiritual lives - it is what gets us going.

However, easier said than done. We often live apart from heart's desire for home, for love. We pursue as Jesus said to Martha, "the many things" while only the “one thing is needful.” That is to say, confronted with these deep caverns of feeling and desire, we seek to fill them with the many things: stuff, relationships, busyness, ideologies, politics, etc…, only to find that as God's love is fathomless, so are these deep caverns. As John says, "They are as deep as are the boundless goods of which they are capable since anything less than the infinite fails to fill them" (The Living Flame of Love, Stanza 3, 18). Only love, only God, is capable of filling the deep caverns of feeling described by John.

Through March, Dale Webb and I will be teaching a class, Entering the Cave of the Heart. This will be a class on Christian Meditation and prayer. Through our time together we will engage in a bit of spiritual spelunking, exploring "love's desire for Love," our deepest desire for wholeness, holiness, for God. Dale and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evenings, March 7, 14, 21, and 28, 7:00 pm.

Blessings,

David

Musings Along Life's Way: Power of Invitation

The Power of Invitation


Last Sunday we invited our friends to church. What a joy it was for me to see all those faces! To encounter new life and spirit in our midst! It is a joy to know that we are a people who dare to share what is most precious to us. It is a marvel to invite our friends into our life as a church -- even if they only come for one Sunday. To be a people of invitation means that our hearts (and our doors) are open to the gifts that others might bring. It means that we are welcoming of new life in our common life, that we are not afraid of having new people sitting by our side, singing songs, listening to the music, contemplating words of hope. It means that we are open to the surprises that come when we say "yes!" to our friends. It also means that we have the well being of our friends in mind. So, invitation is a good thing. I would like to extend another invitation to you all.


On Shrove Tuesday, the 20th, Carmen, Andrew, Gwen and I will be serving breakfast at the church. We would like very much if you would come and have breakfast with us sometime between 7:30 and 9 am. We would love to see everyone there.

On Ash Wednesday, the 21st, there will be an Ash Wednesday Service at our church at 7:30 pm. This will be a quiet service of readings, some sharing around scripture and the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. Please come to this meaningful service as we begin Lent.

May God rest with each one of you. See you in church (8:30 or 10:30)!


David

Musings Along Life's Way: Friends

So Many Gifts

There are so many gifts
Still unopened from your birthday,
There are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to you by God.

The Beloved does not mind repeating,
"Everything I have is also yours."

Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend
If we break into a sweet laughter
When you heart complains of being thirsty
When ages ago
Every cell in your soul
Capsized forever
Into this infinite golden sea.

....
Indeed, a lover's pain is this sleeping,
This sleeping,
When God just rolled over and gave you
Such a big good-morning kiss!

There are so many gifts, my dear,
Still unopened from your birthday.

O, there are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to your life
From God.

I have always loved this poem by Sufi poet, Hafiz. He is telling us that life is a gift, every moment of our lives a beautiful, wonderful gift -- a birthday present from God. Reading it, I imagine myself as a small child, absolutely surrounded by a mountain of gifts -- so many still unopened. It is hard for us to imagine in our day to day lives that we are so blessed, that every moment of every day is just another "hand-crafted present that has been sent to us by God." Hafiz gives us this wonderful reminder. In the third stanza Hafiz refers to God as "the Friend." By doing so he speaks of the special intimacy that God seeks with humankind. Imagine God as a friend.

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
--Aristotle

I am a true and loyal friend when your concerns are mine, when your loves are mine, when our joy is made complete in our togetherness. We want the very best for our friends, hoping that they might find their way through life with an open and free heart. Hafiz is saying this is what God hopes for us ­ that as we move along life’s way we might find and open all the gifts of life that our Friend, God, has strewn about. He tells us that it is like awakening with the kiss of God on our lips. This is a startling, intimate image of friendship.

This Sunday we are inviting our friends to church. It is because we have received such rich gifts from God that we want to share them with those who are closest to us. It will be a joy to greet our friends this Sunday in Church. See you, and your friends, in church.

Love,

David