Listening for the Soul starts up for the fall!

Hello!

At our Listening for the Soul groups we try to explore old and new ways of listening for God and the deep knowing within each of us. This fall we thought we would attempt as a group a daily practice using the book “The Cup of our Life” by Joyce Rupp as a guide. Tomorrow evening (Wednesday September 17th 730-9pm) we will meet in an upstairs classroom at the church to discuss this book and the how to’s for engaging in this endeavour. The church is Community of Christ at 3333 Kaslo Street Vancouver BC.

This book offers a daily reading and and a number of different practises such as a breath prayer, journaling, scriptures, etc., and you can choose to do all of them or just some.

This book talks about how we often use symbolism to help us gain a deeper understanding of difficult issues. This fall we will be using the symbol of a cup to help us grapple with our thoughts and ideas about God, compassion, what is our calling and many other ideas.

If you are interested, please know that you are welcome to join us. We will see who would like a book and spend some time talking about developing a sacred space and choosing a cup.

For those who cannot attend the group but would like to join in with us, the books are available on Amazon and are reasonably priced.

Shannon and I will also post regularly on this blog and you can join us that way as well.

In the meantime, think about what cup you would like to use for this practice!

Lanette

this amazing day

We shared in meditating on this poem at tonight’s Listening for the Soul group:

“i thank You God for most this amazing”

by e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any–lifted from the no

of all nothing–human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

1894-1962

Walking Meditation

Walking North

No matter how I turn
the magnificent light follows.
Background to my sadness.
No matter how I lift my heart
my shadow creeps in wait behind.
Background to my joy.
No matter how fast I run
a stillness without thought is where I end.
No matter how long I sit
there is a river of motion I must rejoin.
And when I can’t hold my head up
it always falls in the lap of one
who has just opened.
When I finally free myself of burden
there is always someone’s heavy head
landing in my arms.
The reasons of the heart
are leaves in wind.
Stand up tall and everything
will nest in you.
We all lose and we all gain.
Dark crowds the light.
Light fills the pain.
It is a conversation with no end
a dance with no steps
a song with no words
a reason too big for any mind.
No matter how I turn
the magnificence follows.

Listening

LISTENING

What is the deep listening? Sama is
a greeeting from the secret ones inside

the heart, a letter. The branches of
your intelligence grow new leaves in

the wind of this listening. The body
reaches a peace. Rooster sound comes,

reminding you of your love for dawn.
The reed flute and the singer’s lips:

the knack of how spirit breathes into
us becomes as simple and ordinary as

eating and drinking. The dead rise with
the pleasure of listening. If someone

can’t hear a trumpet melody, sprinkle
dirt on his head and declare him dead.

Listen, and feel the beauty of your
separation, the unsayable absence.

There’s a moon inside every human being.
Learn to be companions with it. Give

more of your life to this listening. As
brightness is to time, so you are to

the one who talks to the deep ear in
your chest. I should sell my tongue

and buy a thousand ears when that
one steps near and begins to speak.

— Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273)

The Glance: Songs of Soul-Meeting
translated by Coleman Barks
Viking Penguin, NY (1999)

Poem by Billy Collins called Shoveling Snow with Buddha

Shoveling Snow With Buddha In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok you would never see him doing such a thing, tossing the dry snow over a mountain of his bare, round shoulder, his hair tied in …

Waiting for God

Last night at our listening for the soul group we talked about advent as the season of waiting for God. Why the distinction between advent and Christmas? What is important about waiting? We talk about the presence of God always being there so why wait? I do think there are times in life when we are not spiritually ready or prepared for the holy to break in (or out of) us. Waiting can be a spiritual discipline. It can be a time of development and maturing. It can be about learning to be at peace with wherever you are at on your journey and knowing that you won’t always be at this place. Instead of only looking ahead, being able to look around us right now and hold the injustices and pain and gifts of this moment in our hearts and love this moment too. Loving this moment, but filled with hope for now and the future.

May you see many holy moments on your way through advent this year.  – lanette

Tuesday November 26th group

Hello Soul Listeners.

Tomorrow is our last group before Christmas. We will talk about where we are struggling and where we are succeeding in our listening practices. We will also spend some time reflecting on the upcoming Christmas season and how to listen for God’s presence and how do we recognize more and more of the world around us as holy.

See you tomorrow at 730pm 3333 Kaslo Street Community of Christ.

All are welcome.-Lanette

Deliberation

This was our final reflection at this evening’s meeting:

Deliberation

Constant slow movement teaches us
to keep working like a small creek
that stays clear, that does not stagnate,
but finds a way through numerous
details, deliberately.

Deliberation is born of joy
like a bird from an egg.

Birds do not resemble eggs.
Think how different the hatching out is.

A white leathery snake egg, a sparrow’s egg,
a quince seed, an apple seed.
Very different things look similar at one stage.

These leaves, our bodily personalities,
seem identical, but the globe
of soul fruit we make,
each is elaborately
unique.

-Rumi
Translation by Coleman Barks

Finding grace in my day

I work in a mall and on my lunch breaks I tend to go for walks around the mall (no wallet!) to people-watch, window shop, and just stretch my legs a bit. In case there was any doubt at all, Christmas is definitely getting close, and it’s nearness is felt as I watch festive window displays go up and see holiday-themed goods for sale. Setting aside the questions raised lately in the media about whether this early arrival of festivity takes away from the solemnity Remembrance Day (I am not yet convinced it does), I’d like to talk about the glimpses of grace I’ve seen this past week.

Yes a mall is basically a temple to consumerism, and I realize that, but grace and God can show up anywhere. There was a flash of grace as my co-worker’s eyes lit up when I told him about the Eight Days of tea Chanukah tea set – “perfect for my mom!” He said.

And then there was the little bird (the one in the picture) I found waaaay in the back of a big store making me think of how beautiful our natural world gets as the weather changes and it gets cooler.

There’s also the relationships I’ve built with other workers in the mall where we can relate to one another’s woes in dealing with our little retail world getting busier and busier and our customers getting needier and needier. It can be a difficult time of year for many who work in retail, who don’t necessarily have a lot to spend, to nonetheless have to watch others spend heaps of money on gifts and celebrations. Having companionship with others in this time makes it easier to keep smiling.

So grace abounds now and I feel like I need to build up a grace buffer for mid-December when I know it will be hectic and crazy and hard to find grace.

Grace

Here’s a little Bible story about grace:

Luke 19:1–10

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”