Prayer as protest

Spiritual resource to share:  power of good
 

From the civil rights movement in the 60’s to the falling of the Berlin wall to recent events in Egypt and the Middle East, prayer is oftentimes the muscle behind the movements that have blessed mankind. However,  sometimes prayer is  portrayed as a tool for dominating others or even just simply  wishful thinking. 

But Mary Baker Eddy wrote that “Desire is prayer… ”  Our deepest desire  is prayer that goes beyond material comforts and personal recognition to the spiritual – our desire to realize  our innate freedom, joy, intelligence, love and productivity.  For that reason, prayer is a protest against anything that would undermine the expression of those spiritual ideals.

Christ Jesus’s healing works were based on  his "...humble prayers (that) were deep and conscientious protests of  Truth,--of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love. ”

This conversation (below) played out on my facebook wall talking about the situation in Madison where tens of thousands of protesters are fighting against a controversial bill regarding collective bargaining rights and unions.  It speaks of the fears and hopes of many:

W: As the subtitle of the Christian Science Monitor article explains, the union protesters are "defending their most cherished ideals. " As history shows us, that takes more than prayer. Jesus himself did far more than praying. Oh, but I wish mere praying would solve the problem. I am quite frankly, scared. Perhaps I'm scared because I know too much (Ph.D. in political science, J.D. in law). Very scared 

P: As far as protest and prayer, I think that true protest IS a prayer and is really nothing without it; anger has absolutely nothing to do with it. Clearly there is great need for reform in many areas and these are all opportunities to come together in the spirit of Love and unity to work these things out... that's the spirit I'll be going to the protests in tomorrow :)

K: W, I'm so glad to be connecting with you again! You got me thinking about prayer. To me, there is no such thing as mere prayer. Prayer (going beyond denomination) is aligning thought with the power of Love, of Truth and of Principle. Thought imbued with this prayer is the basis for all actions that have brought peaceful, productive and progressive results.

Fear, blame, power struggles, frustration and posturing will not accomplish anything of substance.  (Have they ever?)

Our deep and conscientious protests of Truth can affirm the power of good and affirm every person’s ability to reflect integrity, humility and love for our fellowman.  That is power.  And that is the foundation for a solution that will be a blessing.

a band of rowdy angels

Spiritual resource to share: victory

We are never alone when overcoming challenges.


I’ve written a number of times about my experiences with whitewater kayaking and stories with my kayaking buddies. One time, in particular, stands out. There was a big rapid under the bridge and we were all trying to surf the wave. The river was such that you could stand on the shores as well as be up by the bridge and watch all of the action. So when my friend's turn came to surf the wave, we were all cheering and encouraging her as loudly as we could. And once she caught the wave and surfed it, we all whooped and hollered!

When my turn came, it was the same thing. It was like we had our own crowd of rowdy angels cheering us on. Any trepidation I felt, any doubt as to my ability to actually have enough skill and balance to do this – and in front of all my friends - just vanished in the raucous joy of it all. The blatant denial of fear and anxiety, the blending with the awesome power of the river, the shared experience and triumphant satisfaction of accomplishment was just heady stuff.

It made me realize that anytime we are facing a challenge, we go through some sort of maze of doubt and fear that we learn to overcome by blending our thought with the power of God, Truth and Love. We are emboldened by the cheers, prayers (and testimonies of healing!) of others until finally, the limitation is broken and some supposed law of impossibility is shattered.  Then we stand as God’s own image and likeness – free, whole, and satisfied.

Whether it is a wave, or a rescue or a healing….. every challenge we undertake puts us on stage to demonstrate that all good is possible. Every challenge we overcome is met with joy and adds to the great momentum that good is possible, that imprisoning sorrow’s days are numbered and that a restoration to home and health is inevitable. We hasten on that day when we are no longer afraid that we can ever be separated from God, Love.

And this band of rowdy angels keeps cheering us on to greater demonstrations of God’s goodness and peace and provision.


 

good never dies

Spiritual resource to share: peace, equality and justice

photo from 1963 March on Washington where MLKing gave his speech "I have a dream"


Thinking about Martin Luther King today brings up all kinds of inspiration and feelings. He, too, is in that league of men and women who put aside all personal comfort to bring out an ideal for all mankind. And in the popular words attributed to Benazir Bhutto and of another civil rights activist, Medgar Evers, "you can kill a man, but not an idea."

So Martin Luther King's idea lives and thrives. To celebrate his idea, one of our local area churches has been bold enough to deal with an undercurrent of racism that the community has been actively working to heal. They are sponsoring a talk tonight on "White Privilege and how it affects the relations between Indian and non-Indian Communities" being given by a woman from Wellesley and one of our own judges from the Ojibway Nation.

In MLKing's 1964 Nobel lecture, he says regard accepting the Nobel Prize:

I experience this high and joyous moment not for myself alone but for those devotees of nonviolence who have moved so courageously against the ramparts of racial injustice and who in the process have acquired a new estimate of their own human worth.

And that is the legacy I hope to preserve here in our Northwoods. A continuing effort to love beyond any boundaries and to acquire, for all of us, "a new estimate of (our) own human worth." Our dignity is their dignity; their freedom is our freedom; we are forever bound together.

I'll write more later about tonight's event.

To hear and see Martin Luther King Jr.'s talk "I have a Dream" click below:

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

Struggles are okay.....

Spiritual resource to share: honest struggle

.....but not much fun. However, they are a perfectly acceptable way to grow spiritually!

Although there have been times that I have soared with inspiration and overcome challenges, many times I have struggled with my own human will and God's will, until I could let the human element go and feel at peace with God's plan. And I have felt the benefits of this struggle. MBEddy writes: "The struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak, resting instead of wearying one."

But often, on the heels of wrestling with something, I have felt a sense of shame or guilt. I'd like to delve into this a little deeper, so I can blast it.

Shame would come in and try to say, Well, you must not be a very good person if you are sick. Or Why do you have to call a Christian Science practitioner AGAIN? You must really be bad off.

Guilt comes in and tries to lay on us that we haven't studied enough, prayed enough, been a good person enough, and as a result, (of course) we are sick.

I have gotten better and better at recognizing this double whammy of shame and guilt. When I take steps to deal with a conflict and find myself struggling with it, I am reminded that it takes courage to face up to conflict, that this is how healings begin. It is a point of strength to deal with a perceived weakness. I am not ashamed if I have to pull back from my regular duties to take care of myself. This is a part of loving my neighbor as myself! To try to go to great lengths to hide a struggle can sometimes encourage dishonesty with oneself and others, so dealing with it honestly and if needed, openly, gains spiritual power.

Guilt is about lack - and the thought that lack can actually cause something. It is a little silly to think that because I didn't clock in enough hours to pray and study, that that would hinder eternal Mind/omnipotent Love from doing its work. It takes a moment to commune with God. MBEddy says plainly: "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints. "

When we are struggling or we see others struggling, we can feel and give compassionate, warm and comforting support to one another -- a healing comfort that points upward and leads toward healing.

To close, I'd like to give a few examples of the blessings that come from honest struggles:

• Jesus (read on from this starting point)
• Jacob (read on from this starting point)
• Mary Baker Eddy
• a student of Christian Science

Picture by Paul (Eugène-Henri-) Gauguin,
Vision After the Sermon, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

Virginia Tech prayers - compiled articles and resources

Spiritual resource to share: courage to love one another


A basketball arena was turned into a place of prayer and healing for the Virginia Tech community Tuesday afternoon.


I am adding up the posts and comments and sites dedicated to bringing comfort and meaning to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

There are many. To me, this is the tangible presence of love - expressed in a myriad of ways. It is calling out the best in human nature, and the best is flooding out in waves.

Out of necessity, out of what seems normal, I just feel that call to be emboldened to love one another - having the courage to go out of the way to do something kind. I want to live up to that call.

Here is a small sampling of the posts and comments that are pouring out that healing prayer.

• Teach me how to listen by Laura Matthews
• A healing of grief and Impenetrable innocence by Chris Raymond
• What can I do? by Travis Thomas
• Adding my prayers for those at Virginia Tech by Elizabeth Richards
• (podcast) Digging deeper by Shirley Paulson
• Virginia Tech aftermath by Evan Mehlenbacher
• Virginia Tech and the man who understood love by Sandi Justad
• Responding to the Tragedy at Virginia Tech by Colin Treworgy
• "So when day grows dark and cold...." by Kate Robertson
• "A light in the darkness" by Emily

And from various sites:

• spirituality.com: God's mothering love, even in the midst of tragedy by Jeremy Carper and a whole incredibly thorough lineup of articles, e-cards and podcasts on comfort, safety, spiritual aid, and issues needing to be addressed soberly and earnestly
• The Christian Science Monitor: After the Rampage and Facing up to Violence in America
• Beliefnet. com The spiritual parent: The Awful Truth about Letting Go by Mimi Doe
• TMCYouth.com: Praying for Virginia Tech -- add your own insight and prayer
  

From Planet Blacksburg - community news at a college level - is a student-run new media organization striving to provide content to the New River Valley and beyond.

• Read articles from the community. (Excerpt) “We can’t let one person destroy what goes on here every day, the caring, the thoughtfulness. We can’t let one person destroy that. Now we’re in this together,” he said, throwing his arms wide in one of his trademark gestures
• Share your own comments and prayer on "The Wall - a community in grief"

Both photos taken from http://www.planetblacksburg.com/

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

the bully blog

Spiritual resource to share: courage and forgiveness




Both my kids had big bully issues in their 5th grade with kids in their class. Ooh, these were hard. But what pulled us through -- bottom line -- was learning to love. Learning to love ourselves, to love the bullies and to love (and forgive) all involved including the same teacher who oversaw both bully incidents when they happened.

I've come across two bully resources and are good!

• spirituality.com had a live chat on A SPIRITUAL RESPONSE TO BULLYING: AT SCHOOL, AT HOME, AT WORK with Evan Mehlenbacher, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher
  
• A new friend recently wrote in suggesting a good story about bullies in a book of short stories for kids. The book is The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan and in it is a story called "The Bully". It is about a boy who realizes his viewpoint created the bully (who turns out to be rather wimpy). Geared toward the ten year old set, she suggests its a good read for parents too.

The first bullying incident happened over a period of time and I wasn't told about it until months after it was over. I was furious with the teacher who withheld this information. In those months I worked and prayed closely with my son who was struggling over a nameless something that he never disclosed. Once the whole situation was brought to light, and then after talks with the principal about no tolerance for bullies, and then to this teacher, I still harbored resentment toward this teacher.

I didn't really realize this until recently ( this would be years later) when I was talking to my son. As we talked about this incident, I could feel the resentment start to creep in. Later, I thought about this. Here was my son, who had already moved so beyond the situation, I think he was surprised that I remembered it. He had forgiven those involved and actually liked the teacher! He learned so much from that experience. A month or two after the situation, I remember him telling me how he helped another kid who was new in school deal with a similar situation. He moved on.

I remember some wisdom from a Christian Science nurse I worked with. Once, she was bandaging up a cut on a young boy's arm. After she was done, she calmly told the parent, "He won't remember this accident. And you don't have to remember it for him."

I needed to apply this to my own situation. My son moved on. I could too. I didn't need to keep remembering this situation as a failed moment for me - feeling that I failed to find out exactly what had gone on and failed to "fix" things quicker than they were fixed. I needed to see that he was always in God's care and God strengthened him, protected him and guided him. I knew I needed to forgive the teacher....but I needed to forgive myself.

Acknowledging that God is my son's Father AND Mother - I needed to see the teacher and myself as children of the same God, all being cared for, all working out our own salvation and all being loved. Then I could move on.

Bullying needs to be stopped in schools and many schools are developing a no tolerance for bullies approach to the problem. But I know that praying and affirming that not one of us are ever separated from God's protection, and knowing that we are all children under one God, helped to deflate the situation and erase any painful memories.





To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.