( Rev. Curtis Whitman- First Congregational Church Greene NY)

I was stunned by tenderness and depth of this prayer during worship yesterday, For me, words aren’t just words. They can be icons, means of grace, life-transforming vehicles of Divine loving power. Thank you, Pastor Curtis for being a vessel of grace.

Let me give a practical example of how this is done. It is important to have a space somewhere in your home that is your personal sanctuary in which you pray and meditate. It is helpful to have some sort of altar in this space with things on it that symbolize your experience of God. (For me this is an old family Bible, three candles to represent the Trinity, a carving of the Holy Family from Jerusalem, a cross and a number of pictures.) Such a space helps to create new neurological patterns that bring to your mind and body an accumulation of Spirit-based experiences. Spend at least 15 minutes a day in this space. If this is not possible, begin with five minutes. Begin this time by deeply breathing in God’s presence and exhaling your worries. Do this three times. Then recite the Lord’s Prayer Follow this by just sitting in silence knowing that you are surrounded inside and out with God’s loving presence. As concerns or fears or distractions come to your mind, silently pray “Lord Jesus Christ, Have Mercy.” (aka The Jesus Prayer or the Prayer of the Heart) Again breath in God’s grace and breath out your distractions. As you practice this, over time you will sense a deep peace. Through out your day, when faced with your own limitations, just repeat this process. Instead of struggling on your own to change yourself, use this technique to remind yourself that it is God who changes and redeems us from the inside out.

Christ is born; glorify Him.
Christ comes from heaven: go out to meet Him.
Christ descends to earth: let us be raised on high.
Let all the world sing to the Lord; let the heavens rejoice and let
the earth be glad, for His sake who was first in heaven and then on
earth.
Christ is here in the flesh: let us exult with fear and joy -
With fear, because of our sins;
With joy, because of the hope that He brings us.

Once more darkness is dispersed; once more the light is created.
Let the people that sat in the darkness of ignorance now look upon
the light of knowledge.
The things of old have passed away; behold, all things are made new.
He who has no mother in heaven is now born without father on earth.
The laws of nature are overthrown, for the upper world must be filled
with citizens.
He who is without flesh becomes incarnate;
the Word puts on a body;
the Invisible is seen;
He whom no hand can touch is handled;
the timeless has a beginning;
the Son of God becomes Son of Man – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today and for ever.

Light from light, the Word of the Father comes to His own image, man.
For the sake of my flesh He takes flesh; for the sake of my soul
He is united to a rational soul, purifying like by like.
In every way He becomes man, except for sin.
0 strange conjunction!
The Self-existent comes into being;
the Uncreated is created.
He shares in the poverty of my flesh,
that I may share in the riches of His Godhead.

From the Orthodox Christmas Liturgy

Christ is born; glorify Him.
Christ comes from heaven: go out to meet Him.
Christ descends to earth: let us be raised on high.
Let all the world sing to the Lord; let the heavens rejoice and let
the earth be glad, for His sake who was first in heaven and then on
earth.
Christ is here in the flesh: let us exult with fear and joy -
With fear, because of our sins;
With joy, because of the hope that He brings us.

Once more darkness is dispersed; once more the light is created.
Let the people that sat in the darkness of ignorance now look upon
the light of knowledge.
The things of old have passed away; behold, all things are made new.
He who has no mother in heaven is now born without father on earth.
The laws of nature are overthrown, for the upper world must be filled
with citizens.
He who is without flesh becomes incarnate;
the Word puts on a body;
the Invisible is seen;
He whom no hand can touch is handled;
the timeless has a beginning;
the Son of God becomes Son of Man – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today and for ever.

Light from light, the Word of the Father comes to His own image, man.
For the sake of my flesh He takes flesh; for the sake of my soul
He is united to a rational soul, purifying like by like.
In every way He becomes man, except for sin.
0 strange conjunction!
The Self-existent comes into being;
the Uncreated is created.
He shares in the poverty of my flesh,
that I may share in the riches of His Godhead.

> From the Orthodox Christmas Liturgy

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from on another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.

“0 God, come to my assistance; 0 Lord, make haste to help me”

From the Eastern tradition, comes the Jesus Prayer taken from the Gospels:

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner“

or in this form which I find most calming:

“Om Jesu Christi Misereri Nobis“

To learn more of this tradition, check out this description by Cecil Pennington

In the words of Abba Isaac

“The {one} who continually Invokes God as {their} protector is aware that God is ever at hand. I repeat: each one of us, whatever {our} condition in the spiritual life, needs to use this verse.

Perhaps wandering thoughts surge about my soul like boiling water, and I cannot control them, nor can I offer prayer without its being interrupted by silly images. I feel so dry that I am Incapable of spiritual feelings, and many sighs and groans cannot save me from dreariness. I must needs say: “0 God, come to my assistance; 0 Lord, make haste to help me.”

Having these words on my mind is the most helpful “therapy” I have ever come across. By taking time, even just 3 minutes, each day to say any of these prayers over and over again, either within one’s thoughts or outloud, they will quickly become a part of your subconcious thouoght pattern. Then as situations arise, the Spirit will bring this to your concious thought. In this way, these words become a cleansing body, mind and soul, blessing both yourself and the situations that cause distress.

For much of my life, depression and anxiety have been a shadow companions. Each has had something to teach me. The lessons of each have been hard to learn. The practice of Centering Prayer has been the most clarifying therapy of all.

“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:34

Are you ever disturbed by intruding thoughts? Of course you are! In the North American culture, people pay billions of dollars to intrude our thoughts in the form of advertisements, sound bites, and creating trends. A concept from Eastern Orthodoxy has been very helpful to me in dealing with these things.

The theory of elementals, or “thought forms” is based on the assumption that thoughts and feelings are forms of subtle energy that we constantly produce, affecting others as well as ourselves. Likewise, we are influenced by thought forms or elementals that others, individually or collectively, incessantly produce and which float in the environment…These elementals, positive or negative, affect us constantly as real energies…. page 118 The Mountian of Silence by Kyriacos C. Markides

These are called logismoi in the Eastern Christian tradition. I highly recommend the chapter on “Invisible Intruders” in the above book for a lengthy explanation. For the time being, let me describe how this has helped me.

The moment a negative or destructive thought/suggestion enters my mind, I recognize it as something that has come from outside of my essential self and therefore do not let it have power over me. To quote again from Markides:

“…when human beings are attacked by such logismoi they ought to feel no guilt whatsoever. They are totally innocent and not responsible for these logismoi. The great saints faced legions of negative logismoi …Only the dead are free of logismoi….they have nothing to do with the quality of our soul.”

I have found that the less I allow myself to be bothered by such “thought forms” the less power they have. The practice of prayer without ceasing that becomes second nature as a result of the daily discipline of the Jesus Prayer is the strongest force against these “thought forms.” Obsessing about being a sinner and feeling guilty about such thoughts only makes them grow. Again quoting:

“People are often terrified by the number and nature of the logismoi that attack them, and they become obsessed with questions such as, ‘Why me?’..These obsessive questions are nothing more than an expression of egotism.”

On the other hand, there are destructive attitudes that have taken root within one’s heart over time. The practice of silent meditation will bring these things to the forefront in the form of bursts of anger, anxiety, or disgust. Only the grace of God can root these suckers out – they are like weeds and need to be attacked as such. But not by our own ego – only through the humbling experience of facing the person in the mirror and letting God’s grace uproot these things.

To know the difference between a “thought-form” and a deeply rooted destructive attitude, just notice what sorts of people really and truly annoy you. That which annoys you is most likely a deeply rooted failing of your own. I have found, much to my own embarrassment, that the more upset I am by someone else, the more likely I am facing myself in the mirror of the “other.”

When I go away, I arrange for a cat- sitter to visit Buster. He gets the attention he craves, gets his fur brushed, and his basic cat needs met. But it.s not the same as .Mom. and Buster let.s me know he is not pleased with this arrangement.

As soon as I arrived home, he was in my arms, purring, stroking my cheek with his front paws and hugging me. Of course, I ate this up! I.m a sucker for an affectionate male, especially of the feline variety. I unpacked, went through the mail, caught up on my email and generally made the transition from getting home to being home, with Buster in my arms or on my lap through it all.

The problem came at bedtime. Buster was so happy to have us home that he couldn.t stop purring, Loudly. Very loudly. All through the night. He purred so loudly that I couldn.t sleep! Three nights later, finally calmed down.

Got me to thinking about what happens when any of us do without something we need for too long. Like when a baby is so hungry that their crying keeps them from being able suck the milk they need. Or when a person is so lonely for friendship that their neediness pushes others away.

I thought about when I was working 60 plus hours a week and had no way to leave the job behind. I needed rest so badly that my muscles began twitching and kept me from getting the very rest I needed. Until my body gave out and rest was all it could do.

It.s important to attend to our needs before those needs become a void that overwhelms us and every one around us. As the old wives tale goes .a body knows.. Buster can.t help but purring when he.s pleased with his surroundings. Our bodies can.t help but notice when we are kind to them and pay close attention to what they have to say.

“In this elegant and passionate treatise, the dean of world religions defends the essentials of Christianity, the worlds largest religion. Bestselling author Huston Smith stakes out a path between that of culturally rigid, intolerant evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity and the nontranscendent, liberal Christianity. He presents a convincing argument for a vital alternative that is a deeper more authentic faith, a faith that guided the Church for its first thousand years.”

I’m only through the first chapter so I’ll probably be posting about my readings as the week goes on. My reaction thus far is “Oh thank you Jesus! The world isn’t quite so lonely when I have a freind who asks the same questions, who sees the essence of Christ and finds that we have abandoned that faith for so long.”

While my inner experience of the Holy continues to be rich and powerful, I still find that I long to experience this with others. I’ve rarely found that- for brief moments yes. But when it comes right down to it, this journey is pretty lonely. Perhaps it is the way it must be for no two people truly experience the intimacy of the Holy Almighty quite the same. For the moment, this book helps me to feel less alone.

From his website, I discovered another one that has Christian classics on-line: Christian Classics Ethereal Library I know that the internet sometimes provides more information than we can handle but I, for one, am quite thankful for it. As with anything else, it can be used for good or ill.

The one thing that stands out to me in these troublesome times is that secrets are much harder to keep. With the information traveling between all countries and time zones, it seems to me that the truth eventually rises to the surface, if one is patient and diligent in seeking that truth.

Jesus told the woman at the well that one day all would worship God “in spirit and in truth.” That we would not have to go to this place or that to find God’s presence but that our very hearts would be changed. Perhaps I am stretching things here but I do find the sense of community that can be had through these mysterious creations called the world wide web bring me a sense of hope that we are closer to that day.

And grant us to pass through the night of the whole present life with watchful heart and sober thought, ever expecting the coming of the bright and appointed day of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, whereon the Judge of all shall come with glory to reward each according to his deeds. May we not be found fallen and idle, but watching, upright in activity, ready to accompany Him into the joy and divine palace of His glory, where there is the ceaseless sound of those that keep festival, and the unspeakable delight of those that behold the ineffable beauty of Thy countenance. For Thou are the true Light that enlightenest and sanctifiest all, and all creation doth hymn Thee unto the ages of ages, Amen.

“Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and with Thy governing Spirit establish me.”

For some time, in the silence, the phrase “with Thy governing Spirit establish me” kept ruminating in my mind. After a time, things about my life which sorely need to be put into order came to my mind and I prayed over them “with Thy governing Spirit establish me”. With each one, I let them lift from me like the smoke from the candlelight, and soon I was filled with utter peace.

After a time, thoughts of those I love and their own suffering came to my mind and again, I prayed “with Thy governing Spirit establish them”. A deep silent peace filled me. Again, after a time, others came to my mind and I did the same, letting these thoughts rise like the smoke from the flame. Soon, a deeper peace filled me and my heart was full, expanding, it seemed to me, beyond myself, beyond my “prayer closet” beyond….just beyond. And beyond this, the experience has no words. Even to call it an experience seems to cheapen it.

I hope this description is helpful to those who have asked me to describe my experience of Christian mysticism.

How to pray for another: This is called intercessory prayer and literally means we pray as if we were the other person. We stand in their place before God and pray on their behalf. The simplest form is to pray: “Lord Jesus, the other’s name” followed by silence. Then repeat for the time you have set aside to pray. As you do this, you may find images or words coming to you. Simply say (silently or out loud) “Lord bless.”

Keeping a prayer journal in which you record the names or situations about which you are praying can be very instructive. Often we are aware of what we believe to be unanswered prayer but forget the prayers we have made. As images or thoughts come to you in relation to these prayers, record these as well. You may want to leave this prayer journal in the place you pray, perhaps next to a Bible or prayer book as a way to remind yourself that your prayers continue long after they have been spoken.

Prayers such as these are acts of service. They produce positive energy within your own soul as well as around you. Scripture tells us our prayers are like sweet incense to our Creator.

His presence was a threat to those who made their money from promoting these gods and goddesses. But he didn’t blaspheme or slander the gods and goddesses of others. I find this both instructive and fascinating. Then, I am fascinated by the incredible variety of understandings of divinity both now and throughout history.

I find that the older I get, the less I need to “correct” everyone else and the more I respect the honest search for truth in others. At the same time, the gods and goddesses seem to me to be reflections of this search for spiritual reality and authentic experience of the One from which all has come.

Many years ago, my mother and father were in the habit of taking a walk around their neighborhood at dusk. One evening, my father didn’t want to go so Mom grabbed the flashlight out of it’s charger and set off on her own. She had a pleasant walk greeting neighbors and dogs, stopping to talk or look at the latest flowers growing in the gardens. It seemed the flashlight wasn’t necessary. When she got home, she went to put it back in it recharger and only then noticed that instead of the flashlight, she had been carrying the rechargable hand vacuum cleaner! We all still laugh at that thought of what would have happened were she to have tried to turn on the light as she greeted a neighbor only to find the sound of the vacuum and no light!

What does this have to do with gods and goddesses you might well ask? I just want to be sure that when I need the light, that I’m not carrying a vacuum.

“doing one thing at a time with your whole being” Lawence LeShan How to Meditate

I mentioned in my last post that this is very difficult for those of us in Western cultures to do because of our neurological “wiring” so to speak. There is, however, technology based on sound that I have found helpful. To learn more about this see Centerpointe Research.

Recently, I saw a video of pictures from the Hubble Telescope set to music. The beauty was so powerful that I was moved to tears. God creation is generously beautiful, wastefully so if it is just for us. And it is science that makes it possible to view this creation.

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 11:33 12:3 NRSV