Lament, Anger, Grief and the Longing for Justice and Peace

To the New England Synod,

Like you, I have been overwhelmed with what we have witnessed in our nations’ capitol. As one of my colleagues recently put it, “we are all in a state of collective Trauma.” I have spent time in the Psalms where the range of human responses to world events are well articulated. Lament, anger, grief, despair, longing for justice, longing for peace; it’s all there, in those Psalms and in my heart. Please know that I have great admiration of the sermons our Pastors and Deacons have delivered this past weekend. You have spoken words that both articulate the gospel and speak to our times. Thank you. On Friday, the member denominations of the National Council of Churches (including the ELCA) released this statement, which I believe captures well my thoughts in these days.

Bishop James Hazelwood,  New England Synod ELCA

January 8, 2021

Our faith instructs us to take seriously positions of leadership, not to lead others astray and to be careful about what we say and do. In Philippians 2:3-4 we are taught to, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

President Donald J. Trump’s actions and words have endangered the security of the country and its institutions of government by inciting a violent, deadly, seditious mob attack at the U.S. Capitol. His words and actions have placed the lives of the people he is supposed to serve in grave danger to advance his own interests. Further, he not only failed to stop or condemn the attack after the Capitol had been stormed but instead encouraged the mob by calling them patriots. This domestic terrorist attack resulted in at least five deaths, including a Capitol Police Officer, and more than a dozen police officers injured. The desecration of the Capitol building was also disgraceful and reprehensible. 

For the good of the nation, so that we might end the current horror and prepare the way for binding up the nation’s wounds, we, as leaders of the member communions of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC), believe the time has come for the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, to resign his position immediately. If he is unwilling to resign, we urge you to exercise the options provided by our democratic system.

In addition, we recognize the need to hold responsible not only those who invaded the Capitol, but also those who supported and/or promoted the President’s false claims about the election, or made their own false accusations. 

We grieve for our country at this difficult time and continue to pray for the safety and security, and ultimately the healing of our nation. Holding those who have abused their power and participated in these immoral and tragic actions accountable, in particular the President of the United States, is one step toward healing.

 

 

A Labyrinth in the midst of Chaos

I never thought of myself as a Labyrinth kind of guy.

For those of you not familiar with a labyrinth, let me take a brief moment to explain. You’ve likely seen photos of them, perhaps you’ve even passed by one. They are more common than you think. They are also quite ancient, and in recent years have experienced a bit of a resurgence. Early versions of Labyrinths appeared in ancient Egypt and Greece thousands of years BCE. They’ve also been found in India as well as Europe. This online article (link here) gives you a nice historical summary. Note: If you do a Google search you are likely to find images and links to the 1986 movie starring David Bowie. I’m not sure of the connection to what I’m describing here.

An Example of a Labyrinth in the Classical Design

An Example of a Labyrinth in the Classical Design

A labyrinth looks like a maze, and there is some connection between the two. The difference is that a maze is intended to lock you in, confuse you and make it difficult to escape. A labyrinth has one entrance and one exit, usually it’s the same way you entered. In other words, retrace your steps and you return to where you began.

As a part of my training program in Spiritual Direction with the Hadden Institute I spent an evening with Rev Lauren Artress, an Episcopal Priest, author and principal founder of the movement establishing labyrinths throughout North America and beyond. I confess to entering the evening in a spirit of significant distraction as the events in Washington DC occupied my mind. Nevertheless, I listened and engaged as best I could.

In the middle of her presentation something jumped out at me. Lauren honestly reflected on her own challenges with traditional forms of prayer. Sitting and reading prayers just didn’t work for her, she needed to be in motion.  My ears perked up. I could relate as I’ve written about in my recent book Everyday Spirituality. She went on to describe walking in a labyrinth as a way of practicing walking prayer. 

Hmmm, I thought.  I should try this out. Using the online tool Labyrinth Locator (link here) I discovered there was a small one located within ten minutes of my house. Despite the cold day, I made it to the church where a Labyrinth occupies a part of its grounds. Lauren had advised that we simply experiment, walk in, see what happens, do it several times. I followed those directions and added the form of prayer I describe in my chapter “breathe” which I learned from Richard Rohr.  For roughly 20 minutes, I walked in to the labyrinth followed the path to the center, paused, closed my eyes. I continued the breathing prayer and repeating the word “Yahweh”. Obviously, I often became distracted, my mind rushing off to tasks, people and errands. But I just coming back around and around. 

A small Labyrinth at St Peter’s by the Sea in Narragansett, RI provided an opportunity to experiment

A small Labyrinth at St Peter’s by the Sea in Narragansett, RI provided an opportunity to experiment

After several entrances and exits, at a moment I was about to just give up and say “ok, enough, I’ve got to go” I reached the center again.  I closed my eyes but this time I decided or something in me decided to slowly spin around.  There in the center of the labyrinth with my eyes closed I rotated fairly slowly.

Because of the time of day and the winter light, the sun was low in the sky and to the east. As I rotated I could sense the warmer light to one side and the darker cooler shadows to the other as I rotated. All the time my eyes were closed. Something spurred me on to continue. I gradually had the sensation of being a part of the rotation of the earth with the sun setting, this moved to the seasons of the year and next the earth within the solar system. Was fully conscious and could even hear a dog bark on a street nearby, yet I was simultaneously aware of a vast interconnectedness of time and space. What Richard Rohr has described as the Universal Christ, and St. Paul captured in parts of his letter to the Colossians. 

Eventually, the reality of cold temperatures, and a sense that I had been given what I needed prompted me to eventually pause myself as this twirling compass, this modern slow motion swirling dervish, walk out of the labyrinth and off to the grocery store.

I believe there is a Zen saying that goes something like, ‘first the prayer then the dishes.” Maybe another version could be “first the prayer then the the work..clearly in our time, it’s the work of peace, equality, justice and just plane sanity.

We all need to find spiritual practices that will give us resilience in these most challenging times. It can also be the calm we need to help us return to the action that’s needed for the healing of our broken world. Looks like the Labyrinth might be a practice for me.

Washington DC Epiphany 2021

In Washington D.C. today there is violence and turmoil as people breached the security of the United States Capitol interrupting the process to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. 

The images coming from the Capitol are a tragic example of what happens when one allows rhetoric to fan the flames of hysteria. Words matter and we must choose them carefully whenever we speak or write. The attempted insurrection of the Capitol of the United States is inconsistent with our nation’s tradition of law and order and with our understanding of who we are as Lutheran Christians. 

I am asking all of the people of the New England Synod to exercise the gift of the Holy Spirit and Pray for Peace.

Let us pray for peace and calm in our nation’s capital.

Let us pray for safety for those in harm’s way, and especially for the protection of law-enforcement professionals called to guard the people and places of our government. 

Let us pray for peace and calm in our congregations as members express their own opinions in civil discourse and dialogue. 

Let us pray that our nation’s leaders will exercise appropriate authority to de-escalate the violence in Washington D.C. 

 Let us pray that peace will prevail so the joint session of Congress may reconvene in order to ensure a peaceful transition of power in our nation.

 

Bishop James Hazelwood

Some Good Things from 2020

A look back over 2020? Perhaps that’s something you’d rather not do. We all hope we won’t have a repeat of that year. But, there are some things about 2020 worth lifting up. Some are personal, others are broader. Rather than a “Best of” I’ll lean into “My Favorites.”

First, I must confess to reduced travel as my number one positive for 2020. Since 2012, I’ve put an average of 35,000 miles a year on my car, slept an average of one month per year away from home and sati in uncomfortable cramped seats on airplanes an average of 12 flights per year. I recognize there are others who could easily double or triple those figures. But for me, the novelty of the travel for work wore off a while ago. When the Pandemic hit last spring and I was forced to work from home, I realized how much I needed a break from the road.

Second, I began a training program Spiritual Direction with the Haden Institute in 2020. The program shifted from in person retreat to Zoom. Candidly, it worked fine for me. This program has reconnected me with several of the major influences that brought me into a life of faith. Namely, the Spirituality of the Christian Mystics and the Depth Psycholoogy of Carl Jung, Marie Louise Von Franz and Anne Belford Ulanov. I connected with a new Spiritual Director which has been very helpful.

Third, I rediscovered nature. That sounds odd, but it’s true. I spent more time outside in 2020 than I have in decades. This included building a raised bed vegetable garden, walks in a nearby Wildlife Refuge as well as bicycle rides throughout Rhode Island. Along with these activities, or maybe because oof them, I reconnected with Larry Rassmussen’s excellent book Earth Honoring Faith. Larry was my wife’s PhD professor, and his work in the connection between ecology, ethics and theology is some of the best writing.

Fourth, I’m learning more about Race relations and I notice more of our congregations are engaged in this important topic. I read several books and had more honest conversations with people who have a different life experience than I do. Fanny Brewster’s The Racial Complex has helped me understand some of the deeper roots of racism. I know a lot of people who are older and white and raised in middle class or up households have a hard time with this subject. One of my challenges is how to help us engage this topic in a way that allows for honesty and growth.

Fifth, we got our financial house in order. This has been a four year project for my wife and I. We made a commitment to this project following our sabbatical in 2017, and the plan worked. I’ve learned a ton about personal finance, retirement planning and the psychology and spirituality of money. One of the surprising, though it shouldn’t be, lessons of this project is that when you get your S&!+ together financially, you realize a whole lot of emotional and intellectual freedom.

There are other lessons learned, movies watched (have you seen Soul on Disney +) books read, etc. But these are the top five. A reminder for me that even in the midst of all that was awful about 2020 (and it was just plane horrible) I was able to find some good things. I hope you can find some as well.

Why is Christmas on December 25th?

Why is Christmas, the birth of Jesus the Christ, on the morning of December 25th?

Does this mean December 25 is actually Jesus Birthday?  The short answer is No. The medium answer is there is no trustworthy evidence for pointing to the precise date.  The longer answer is that it doesn't matter, and you're missing the point if you are focused on the literal and the actual.

Christmas is about the birth of Christ, as an archetypal incarnation of eternity, a motif of the redemption of all life by joining the divine with the temporal. "The Word made Flesh and dwelled among us." as in John’s Gospel. Or T.S Eliot’s lines from the Four Quartet’s 

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present

The primary symbol that contains this revelation of redemption is light and darkness. John’s gospel continues, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

When Christianity migrated north out of its Mediterranean and Jewish cultural background, it encountered the Celts, primarily in Ireland. The cycles of the moon were dominant in the Jewish calendars. Still, the seasons' processes were prevalent in the northern lands where winter, spring, summer, and fall and the accompanying planting cycles were more dominant. As the two world views interacted, they merged some of their rituals.

If the light coming into the world is the central message of Christmas, then it makes sense that this event would happen when northern European tribes celebrated the birth of light in the winter solstice. Now to the naked eye, it seemed that time stood still in the four days following the winter solstice. Those days of Dec 20-24 had no discernible change in the quality or quantity of light, but on December 25th, ah then one could see the light growing.

While some people view Christianity as a relatively rigid dogmatic religion, its history is much more pliable. Many of our religious and cultural practices are mergers and adaptations to existing cultures.

If you’d like to read more about the evolution of Christmas, I commend you to the work of Alexander John Shaia https://www.quadratos.com.

In the meantime, let the light shine in you and our world.

My Ridiculous 2021 Predictions

After last year, when no one predicted 2020 accurately, it just seems ridiculous to make any predictions about the future. Yet, that seems to be part of the annual ritual. Who am I to be left out of such frivolity? Here are some thoughts inspired by one aspect of the newly released LiinkedIn 2021 survey. (The portion was written by CFA Devin Banerjee) Banerjee writes about the generations and his view of how they will impact investing. I’ve taken his comments and added my own thoughts on each generation and their broader life perspective.

  • Millennials — born between 1981 and 1996 — are about to enter those transition years where they start buying homes in the suburbs and buy SUVs and even Mini-Vans. Like many whoo hit the 30’s they’ll discover the three truths of life. 1. Life is not Fair. 2. I’m more like my parents than I realized. 3. I guss I do have a Soul after all. These three eventually translate into the proverbial mid-life crisis, but the M’s still have time before that hits. What the three life lessons they’ll discover will translate into is a hunger for ways to explore questions of ultimate meaning. While a smattring of M’s will migrate to traditional church/temple/synagoguee, it’s more likely they will find their way via alternative communities. These will include yoga studios, social justice movements, online communities, storytelling centers, and yet to be invented ways of exploring soul, spirit, values and depth. Many readers of this blog will ask what about the church? My view is that unless we dive deep into alternate forms of community with M’s it’ll be dissmal. Personally, I’d love to launch something like WildChurch, a community that centers on a regular outdoor ritual, creative interfaith storytelling and make a difference justice work. Anyone interested?

  • Boomers (born 1946-1964) are not only retiring at a rate of 10,000 a day; they’re dying as well. While Banerjee focuses on the flow of inheritance money to younger generations, II think he neglcts the fact that Boomers are not done yet. They are currently age 56 to 74, and considering increases in longevity, likely to be around AND active. Some are working out of neeccisity and others out of a desire to make a difference. This is the generation that engaged in Civil Rights, Free-Speech and Anti-War movements in their youth, and they still want to make a difference. As they age, the questions of ultimate meaning are moving to the forefront of their minds. Covid19 has also reminded them that life is short. II expect some with resources will return to a life of travel, restaurants and leisure. But others will be looking for something of substance, depth and impact. Again churches would do well to engage Boomers, not just in their church buildings but also in the places where Boomrs are showing up in the neighborhood.

  • Gen-X (1965-1980) AKA thee neglected generation. Banerjee doesn’t include them in his short piece, and this reflects how the Gen-Xers are often forgotten, but these folk are now in positions of influence. We now have a Gen-X Vice-President elect and many Xers are in their peak earning years. Yet, we often neglect them because of demographics. Yes, they are fewer in number, but they offer perspectives that older generations need. The challenge is that many are absorbed in their work-life right now, along with helping their teenage kids navigate the transition to post-home life. The big hunger of these folk is the proverbial life-work balance.

  • Technology is ever more front and center in all our lives. Zoom and its variations are here to stay. Rather than comment on all the obvious implications of this for life, I’m going to be a bit contrarian and suggest what we might need is a form of digital minimalism. Our phones nd various apps re coming to dominate our lives to a degree that dramatically impact soul-work. With 24/7 digital activity, our minds have less time to reflect, meditate, walk in natural environments. Carl Jung noted this concern some 70 years ago. "All time-saving devices, amongst which we must count easier means of communication and other conveniences, do not, paradoxically enough, save time..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Return to the Simple Life' in Collected Works, vol. 18. Obviously, we are not going to return to a simpler life, but we can create opportunities for people to glimpse the value of time - what the Greeks called Kairos Time, and II’ll translate as Grace time. One of the greatest gifts I ever gave youth at the churches I served as a pastor, was a week each summer at a camp that includes boat loads of unstructured time. It took them a few days to figure out what to do, but eventually, they lived into play, and chances to BE not just DO. That’s something we could all benefit from.

I’ve likely failed in my predictions, actually come to think of it, I don’t believe I really made any predictions above. OK here’s one. 2021 will be a lot more like 2020, but with new surprises that we didn’t anticipate.

Next up…New Year Resolutions…ugh

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Story in a Nutshell

I’m working with a group of about 15 wonderful people on Monday evenings this December on storytelling. They are a great group of people with sweet, painful, grateful stories. Then today I discovered this delightful summary of Story Telling by Donald Miller.

“Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.”

What are great guide for anyone telling stories, which is…well, all of us.

Thoughts on Being a Bishop These Days

Several Random Connected Thoughts

First, let me open by saying, "I'm floundering a bit these days." My sense of direction and purpose in this office is less clear. Friends have reminded me that this is often a typical in-between phase for me. In that nebulous place before my next project emerges, I'm often Dazed and Confused, to quote a Led Zeppelin song. However, I'm also thinking this is about something deeper. I need some focus. To succinctly capture the work of this office, I drafted the "Work of a Bishop". (It’s below) I am mostly using it as a guide for myself. I'll be asking, "am I spending enough time in areas that are forward looking and soulful for both me and the church?"

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Second, a Mash-Up of several resources and conversations has caused me to begin exploring the questions around religious life and society. It began with a conversation I had with one of our younger pastors as he asks about the viability of his congregation and the church in general. "I think the changes for the church are going to be fascinating but also a really rough ride." He said. Our dialogue ended on a note of curiosity around the collapse of institutional religion accompanied by a reemergence of a religious/spiritual impulse in the collective of society.

Third, I dropped in on the "Ask Big Questions" podcast with Bill Gates and Rashida Jones. They let me listen to their conversation with anthropologist and author Yuval Harari. In the middle of the discussion of corporations Harari is asked to describe the corporation Microsoft. His response "Microsoft is a Story." OK it's more in-depth than that, but what he is suggesting is those corporate entities, and I'd add the ELCA or even a Synod are stories. They are agreed upon narratives that a group of people have said, "Yes this exists." For me, this introduces a new way of conceiving of our work. It goes to the heart of belonging. Human beings seek meaning and one of the ways we do that is in belonging. This idea that the New England Synod is a story will be working its way through my heart and soul for a while. It's helping me re-imagine our work.

Lastly, I've just started reading a book by David Tacey, in which he describes a positive understanding of the Post-Secular Society. It's the 'death of the death of God' philosophy and makes the case that while religious institutions are struggling, the reemergence of the religious impulse is very much alive. One thinks of Bonhoeffer's religion less Christianity, among others. But Tacey goes a step or two further. He is both a theologian and a depth psychologist so he is very interested in a healthy role for both fields as resources in the healing of society.

How does all this go together? I'm not sure but the thread of my own floundering and confusion about the work of this office is connected to these movements in our culture. While I'd prefer spending most of my time in that center column of the chart, I recognize that I'm spending time in all 9 areas. That's ok, it's what's required of the office. It also helps explain why I get scattered.

How do you stay focused on whatever you believe is most important?

Religion and the Search for Meaning

The Sacred Psyche: C.G. Jung's Psychology of Religion


Guest Post by David Odorisio (Originally published on his blog). I post it here as one of the most succinct articulations of our current societal crisis and loss of meaning. J.H.

Many consider ours the "age of anxiety" with near-constant threats of terror, fear, and ecological disaster at alarmingly global levels. Who has time to reflect upon or consider the deeper psychological and spiritual realities underlying these crises, much less the interest or courage or examine one's own role in these complicated and challenging world events? To Jung, religion, or a "religious attitude" was a means for examining the deeper mysteries of life, and offered a vision of wholeness and healing amidst challenging and difficult times.

Jung's own psychological and spiritual outlook was formed during World War I and only further strengthened through witnessing the atrocities of World War II. Jung knew the dark side of human nature through both the cultural and political events of his time, as well as through the personal lives of his many clients, who brought to his attention the growing sense of alienation, fragmentation, and inter-personal disconnect that continue to plague many of us today despite the myriad advances in technology and so-called "social" media. There is an emptiness in our culture that all of the social and economic security in the world could not cure. To Jung, it was the religious impulse - inherent in the sacred nature of the psyche (soul) - that has the potential to heal the restlessness and material craving so prevalent in our time, and provide us with living symbols, rituals, and rites of passage to meaning-make life's transitions and encounter a world ensouled.

The Numinous: Encountering the Sacred

Jung used religious scholar Rudolf Otto's term numinous (from the Latin, numen, or "divine presence") to describe the ineffable and mysterious presence of the Sacred. Otto defined this as a feeling of awe, of standing in the presence of a great mystery, a humbling power greater than one's own limited self. The felt presence of the numinous became a marker for Jung of authentic religious experience, which he favored over the rote repetition of ritual for obligation's sake. To Jung, it was the encounter with the Sacred that formed the center of a whole and fully human life, and was central to the process of healing and individuation as he understood it.

Scripture and the Sacred Psyche

Sacred Scriptures from across the world's religious traditions help us to appreciate and enter into a relationship with the numinous aspects of the psyche, or soul. The ancient practice and art of lectio divina, or sacred reading, serves as a tool to make oneself fully present to the living wisdom hidden within a text. For thousands of years people have ruminated (literally, "to chew") on passages of such sacred texts as the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, Upanisads, Tao te Ching, and of course the Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic Scriptures. When we live with texts, they become part of our sacred vocabularly, and provide a subtle yet profound entry point into a living relationship with the divine.

When we read and listen to Scripture - from all traditions - with the ear of the Soul, metaphor replaces literal interpretation, so the Exodus and desert experience of the ancient Israelites becomes our own arid separation and search for the presence of God, or "promised land." Pharoah becomes our own internalized voices of oppression, and Moses, our own personal and often reluctant hero and redeemer within. When we read Scripture with an ear towards Soul, the texts and traditions of our ancestors resonate and often reveal the living voice of our own deeply personal and unique journey to Self.

A Therapeutic Approach to Religion

Jung has a famous quote that of the many hundreds of patients he treated in the "second half of life" (which he defines as over the age of 35), "there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life" (Modern Man in Search of a Soul). What Jung meant by this, was that for many individuals, the loss of a living religious or spiritual belief system and practice has led to a wide-spread loss of soul. To Jung, religion is not defined through institutionalized practices, but as a personal need to invoke and invite the Sacred into our daily lives. Religion, and its counterpart, ritual, help us to meaning-make the moments and transitions of our lives, to find a deeper sense of purpose embedded in the mundane, and to connect with a power greater than our limited selves throughout our lives.

Holy Wisdom (Sophia) personified as the feminine face of God. Saint John's Bible (detail)

Holy Wisdom (Sophia) personified as the feminine face of God. Saint John's Bible (detail)

Jung understood the contemporary crisis of faith as stemming from an over-reliance on a reductionistic and scientifically materialistic worldview that has resulted in the wide-spread collapse of any meaningful religious mythology or culture. Even with all of the tremendous and valuable gains that a scientific outlook has offered, it simply cannot cure - nor does it even address - the deep and abiding ailments of the soul. Such soul wounds demand a deeper kind of healing that in my experience can only be fed through an encounter with the numinous, and maintained through a thorough re-envisioning of the world as Sacred.

Jung's approach to healing soul wounds was for individuals to look within - to seek guidance from an internal source of wisdom, intuitive knowledge, and understanding that he called the Self. It is from this encounter with the Self as voice of the Sacred that the living symbols and myths of religious cultures for millennia have arisen, and is no less available to us today as it was in previous generations - if only we seek to establish a relationship with its guidance from within.

God-images

From a Jungian perspective, the modern religious crisis and collapse of many mainstream religious organizations can be understood as a loss of relevant and meaningful "god-images." Jung used this term to define how we visualize and mythologize the Sacred. To Jung, many of our Western god-images are "incomplete," and not only need - but want - to undergo the profound transformative process that Jung believed was both a necessary and participatory process. He understood that the revitalization and re-birth of a sacred image needs to come from within, and is birthed from both the personal as well as collective unconscious. In order to continue to speak to the needs of modern individuals, these god-images demand a continual re-visioning and re-valuation in order to remain psychically and soulfully resonant.

This re-imaging of our sacred landscape functions as a profound and often mysterious dialogue between our personal egoic self and the numinous dimension of the transpersonal Self. Jung takes up this process at length in his late work Answer to Job, where he offers a therapeutic "treatment" of the Western god-image and outlines its transformations both as Yahweh and as Christ, each of which Jung describes as "incomplete," and in need of further evolution in order for the Sacred to more fully "incarnate" through each of us.

Jung understood our god-images as mirrors of our own unconscious desires for wholeness and integration, and yet the majority of our Sacred images today lack a depiction of the Self that includes a positive affirmation of the body, sexuality, and the feminine aspects of God. Additionally, the theological understanding of God as "all good" relegates qualities of evil to an other who then becomes "not god" - historically seen as Satan or a devil figure, but today is projected onto any culture or peoples that represent "the enemy."

Jung referred to these hidden or "unconscious" aspects of the deity as "God's shadow" with our role, as full participants in the Mystery, to continue the incarnation of the god-image through an active engagement with - and integration of - these shadow aspects of the deity; subsequently transforming our own. This creates a reciprocity between human and divine, and furthers the profound "heretical" notion offered by Meister Eckhart, the 13th-century preacher and mystic, that God not only desires us, but needs us, just as we need God, in order to continue the deep and on-going work of transformation. It is only then that the Sacred can most fully break into the dailyness of our lives, transform our restless hearts, and provide us with a deep and abiding sense of meaning and purpose that emerges through a palpable and lived relationship with the sacred psyche.


What's Your Story? A Three Part Advent series

What’s your story? I don’t mean the essay you wrote in 8th grade, that begins “I was born in Concord, Massachusetts.” I mean thee deeper story. The story of your hopes and dreams, the losses and disappointments, the successes and failures. I’m talking about the story that makes you and I human. That’s a fascinating story, and one that someone needs to hear.

Maybe that someone is a child or grandchild, maybe it’s a wider audience or maybe it’s just an audience of one. That one could be you, it could be God.

On three Monday evenings in December, I invite you to join me via Zoom for an opportunity to learn about story telling. This is a form of Everyday Spiritual Autobiography. There are no tests, no grades and no mandatory sharing your story with others. What there will be is an opportunity to help you focus on one particular slice of your life story, and explore how it connects to a deeper sacred story.

Here’s the plan - Three Mondays at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

December 7 - What is a Good Story? We’ll look at some great story telling by Anne Lamott as well as the biblical narratives for Advent & Christmas. We’ll have fun writing or telling a few stories with one another. You’ll leave this session inspired to write a short story about your life.

December 14 - The Hero’s Journey is the classic pattern in western literature. We will present that and see how it shows up in everything from Hallmark Christmas movies to Harry Potter. Then we’ll play around with telling short stories about our own journey.

December 21 - We spend some time telling our own stories after exploring this question: What makes an autobiography a spiritual story? How do we tell a story about our own lives, and show a connection to God, even when it’s not obvious that God is there? We conclude with encouragement for each of us to explore our life stories and tell them in front of an audience of one, or two, or more.

This is a fun, educational and inspirational series for people of any age (kids are welcome) who want to learn a bit about storytelling, and using their own life as the material for great stories. Whether you want to simply learn about story or prepare to present a story, you will learn something. And, we will wrap it all in an understanding of the Spiritual, as we discover how that’s much closer to our everyday living than we thought.

There is no fee for this series. It’s limited to 24 participants in order to maximize interaction and learning. You must register in advance to receive the Zoom link.

Click here to register with Martha, she’ll get you the information.

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Never Assume - An Update for all of us

One of the Behavioral Finance people I follow is Jonathan Clements on the Humble Dollar. He recently posted an article titled “Never Assume”. As I looked it over, I thought, wow, some of these apply to our life in the world of faith and spirit. Here is a link to his piece, and here are the ones I lift up for all of us.

Never Assume goes in front of each of these


That other points of view are without merit.

That our immediate reaction is the right one.

That silence means someone agrees with us.

That we’re being rational.

That friends and family are telling us the unvarnished truth.

That how we think we’re perceived is how we’re perceived.

That those who are most insistent or passionate are most likely to be correct.

That we instinctively know what will make us happy.

That our life in the years ahead will be similar to today.

That our recollection is correct.

A Never Assume on these will help all of us

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Prayer for Courage

Courage comes from the heart

and we are always welcomed by God,

the heart of all being.

We bear witness to our faith,

knowing that we are called

to live lives of courage,

love and reconciliation

in the ordinary and extraordinary

moments of each day.

We bear witness, too, to our failures

and our complicity in the fractures of our world.

May we be courageous today.

May we learn today

May we love today.

Amen

from Daily Prayer by Padraig O Tuama of the Irish Corrymeela Community

A Return of Experiential Spirituality

“We must move from a belief-based spirituality to a practice-based spirituality, or little will change in religion, politics, and the world.” Richard Rohr

The above quote comes from Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr in an article written in 2017 about the evolving movement toward experience based faith. What I am calling “Experiential Spirituality”. The concept does not originate with me. It’s the ancient practice that is at the core of the Christian encounter with God. In fact, it’s true of all the major religions of the world.

The religion of Jesus has as its cornerstone an experience of the divine becoming temporally experienced. We call it the incarnation.

Most of the significant writings of the last 2,000 years are by those who had an experience of faith. Teresa of Avila, Hildegaard of Bingen and St. Francis all encountered the sacred in a concrete specific manner. That experience shaped their lives and their faith. I doubt that these people would have been so significantly impacted if they had only read a few books and believed their way into the faith.

I’m not arguing for the elimination of an intellectual inquiry. The mind is a gift that keeps on giving, but it is not the only gift. Their is also the gift of a sacred experience. Carl Jung touched on this when John Freeman asked him in the 1959 BBC documentary, “Do you Believe in God"?” Jung’s response. “I know.” He could affirm to know God based on his own encounter.

One of the challenges of our time is that religion has shifted to a set of beliefs, by which we mean an intellectual ascent to a set of ideas. But how often are those ideas connected to ones spiritual encounter? Do we say we believe in Jesus or God or any other specific teaching based on an encounter or a teaching? Is the Apostle’s Creed anything for us that a set of ideas?

Religions and Spiritual teachings can often be divided into Orthodoxies and Orthopraxies. The first is a faith based on teachings, beliefs and doctrines, the latter is a faith based on practices. Islam is a religion of practice, though some strands of it slide into the orthodoxy camp.

What would a faith look like that rooted itself in people’s experience of the numinous? Perhaps this question is best answered by the increasing interest in rituals, communities and behaviors that emphasize such encounters. More on this subject as we go forward, but for now…ask yourself this question:

Where have I experienced God?

Real Change: The Meditation Social Justice Connection

For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself struggling with anxiety. I’m ok and getting some good help. It’s not the kind of anxiety that requires medication, but it is necessary for me to attend to some things like diet, exercise, lifestyle patterns, media use, etc. So far, it’s better. Where did this come from after 61 years? Who knows? The election, Covid19, moving through the years, maybe it’s that new subscription at Trade Coffee. (Switching to Decaf now)

One of my changes is a greater intentionality in what I will call my inner life. I enrolled in a Spiritual Direction training program. I wanted a structured vehicle to dive in to some areas that have interested me for decades, namely the Christian Mystics and Depth Psychology. I’ve also started meditation. I can now attest to my caliber, I’m a bonafide toddler in this new endeavor - tripping and falling like a drunken two year old.

This led me to Sharon Salzberg, one of the principle figures in bringing Buddhism to the United States. Her new book is Real Change. I prefer the audio version, as it allows me to practice some of the mediations at the end of each chapter. It’s an easy book as it’s filled with stories and personal anecdotes. The book also makes the link between the movements for Social Justice and personal mediation. The parallel in my mind is the connection between our prayer life and the call of Jesus to be about compassionate love. Infact, through out most of the book, one could see how a contemplative Christian could make the connection between love thy neighbor as thyself and prayer. Actually, Salzberg does articulate this association at one point.

One of Salzberg’s mediations involves a repetitive phrase, which I modified. (You should know be now, I don’t simply take things without putting my own spin) My version is

May you be healthy

May you be whole

May you be safe

May you be blessed

One just repeats the phrase thinking about different people. Start by saying it to yourself as in “Jim, may you be….”, You can say these phrases either out loud or silently. Go slowly, no rush. Breath intentionally as you say each phrase. Then after a few times, bring someone else to mind: a neighbor, a grocery store clerk, a family member, a distant person, someone from the congregation. Practice. Keep at it. Will your mind drift? Of course, don’t worry, just keep going.

Over time you’ll discover that you are exercising two things.

1. You’re practicing an intentional breathing, slowing down.

2. You are also practicing or exercising a muscle we all have, it’s called compassion.

Salzberg makes the point, with many examples and stories from real life, that once people practice this kind of compassion, it grows ones ability to see other people as…people. Yup, fellow human beings. But lest you think this is just an individual exercise of navel gazing without actual change, she tells the stories of many people making real change in communities. Real change in areas such as violence and prison systems, racism, domestic violence. Other meditations help one see the interconnectedness of the natural world which leads to people in Africa planting trees to combat the impact of global warming. You’ll have to read the book to see all the examples…it’s quite inspiring

The book is profound for me both on a personal inner life focus as well as connecting to making a difference in our world longing for real change.

The combination is helping with the anxiety as well.

My Brother Art is an Artist

Simplicissimus #57, Voting to Drive Away the Evil Spirits

Overcoming the obstacles to voting put in our way by anti-democratic forces. 

Another satirical magazine, Simplicissimus was a satirical German magazine based in Munich started 1896 and running back and forth between the extremes of German 20th century history, into the 1960s. It’s satirical stance reflected in the name which comes from the early German novel by Grimmelshausen 1668 The Adventures of Simplicissimus. The character was a simpleton through which the insanity of the Thirty Years War was caricatured. 

Art Hazelwood

www.arthazelwood.com

What to do about Christmas in a Pandemic

It’s clear the pandemic is with us for the foreseeable future. If you listen to the scientific and medical community, it’s likely we have another 12 months or so, depending on multiple factors. My source on this is Dr. Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Besides being an active ELCA Lutheran, he’s also among the best. His podcast is on my weekly listen to list. I’m aware that 12 month window is not what you want to hear, but frankly, I’d rather plan for that, and then be pleasantly surprised with a shorter timeline.

What does this mean for people of faith, and particularly people for whom gathering for worship is an important part of their spiritual life? To be more focused, what about Christmas?

Here are several ideas I’ve thought of or read about in terms of Advent & Christmas planning.

1) Advent is often called the season of preparation. In an earlier era, it was longer than the four weeks we have now. Can we return to that this year? Let’s start Advent in the middle of November, and then by the time we hit early December start the Christmas preparations with, wait for it…..Christmas Carols. Yes, I’m an advocate for Christmas Carols in worship in December. Why? Primarily because it’s an evangelistic tool, as in telling the good news. In our US American culture, people no longer hear Christmas Carols, instead they hear Mariah Carey and Justiin Bieber singing All. I Want for Christmas is You? Let’s evangelize with O Little Town of Bethlehem, Go Tell it on the Mountain and (pick your favorite.)

2) Since worshipping indoors will be a challenge for most of our New England congregations, let’s move it all outdoors for Dec 24. Don’t attempt to recreate your standard Christmas Eve worship outdoors, instead do something all together different. How about a 3:00 p.m. Manger Scene with people semi-costumed (maybe covering their LL Bean parkas). Tell the story, don’t read it. Or maybe have a kind of Stations of the Nativity, similar to a Stations of the Cross. You can do this on your church property, or maybe a walk through your neighborhood if you are in an urban environment. Here’s a resource guide I found.

3) You could also consider an online devotional on the Stations of the Nativity. One church used this resource and adopted it for an online devotional. The book is available on Amazon, but here’s the link at Paulist Press. How could you adapt this to a digital format? Video reflections, maybe by members of your congregation?

4) if you Google ‘Stations of the Nativity’, you will find more resources than you know what to do. Here’s one resource that I found, that involved people in a community who have artistic gifts. They were invited to draw their interpretations of various events. Maybe if it’s raining on Christmas eve, you could have a gallery walk through of people’s artwork. Just think about proper ventilation, spacing, and masks - maybe even have people sign up for appointment times. You could play pre-record Christmas music as people walk through the church witnessing the Stations of the Nativity.

The point of all this is to get you thinking differently about Christmas this year. Don’t try to re-create “what we’ve always done".” Use this as a time to experiment. Have fun, enjoy, play and co-create with the Creator.

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Why I left Facebook & Twitter

This week I made the decision to close my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I’m still on Instagram. While a brief bit of nastiness followed a post I wrote about having breakfast with a friend who was a Republican was the proverbial final straw. (Heaven forbid we should have friends with whom we disagree) The departure has been on my mind for sometime.

You’ll recall in my book Everyday Spirituality, I discussed the value of an annual fast or sabbatical from Social Media. I highlighted the benefits of time and energy saved for other activities. Since experiencing that Social Media Fast, I’ve often wondered about the value of Twitter and Facebook in my daily life. My frequent justification centered around such topics as its usefulness in communicating important announcements, connecting with friends and family as well as the value of an exchange of ideas. I still believe those have merit for many people.

And yet, one of the things Covid19 has taught me centers on a question of ultimate meaning. “Who am I and what kind of a person do I want to be?” One would have thought after 61 years, I would have already answered that question. In reality, I think these queries need to be revisited regularly.

As my self-examination of who I am and what kind of person do I want to be continued through these months of quarantine and semi-quarantine, I’ve realized the strength of my desire for a more mature spirituality, a deeper level of compassion and a growing desire to be the change I want to see in the world. Yes, I’m quoting Gandhi in that last phrase. If those three desires are to be cultivated, then what activities would strengthen them?

The activities I’ve come up with range from starting a vegetable garden to engaging myself challenging subjects. Those topics include social issues such as economic injustice, racism and climate change, They also include learning more about the Christian mystical tradition and depth psychology as it relates developing a more mature spirituality. All this while still experiencing the challenges of serving as a Bishop in these changing times.

I’ll grant that engaging in Social Media could be one tool in this work. Some of you may find that helpful for you. I can see a validity in your perspective. However, the more I evaluated my use of Facebook and Twitter, the more I realized they were not contributing to my goals. I’d been teetering on the edge of a decision, and am delighted to have been pushed.

I estimate that I’ll gain about 5-7 hours per week now, since I was on those platforms about one hour a day. What will I do with this extra time? Well, if past behavior is a predictor of future outcomes, it looks like another book could be in the pipeline. The last time I abandoned social media, the extra time yielded Everyday Spirituality. I’ve got two books in my head right now. Life is Not Fair: The Book of Job for our Time and Everyday Leadership: A Guide for Parents, Poets & Presidents.

I’ll let you know what happens.

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The Gift of a Spiritual Autobiography

In preparation for my first year of training as a Spiritual Director, I received an invitation to author a Spiritual Autobiography.  The task seemed burdensome and self-indulgent, so I cast the assignment aside for a while. "What's the point of this exercise, and for God's sake, what is a Spiritual Autobiography anyway?" These were among the many thoughts, rationalizes, and forms of denial I engaged in until the deadline approached.

Deadlines have a way of helping us face what we’d rather put off.

Later to be confirmed, the hidden agenda was an invitation to explore my life from the perspective of more profound questions.  This was not the usual, "I was born in Concord, Massachusetts at the close of the Eisenhower era” kind of biography. Instead, the questions centered on ultimate matters.

  • Who am I?

  • What’s my calling or purpose in life?

  • Am I alone, or is there another? 

Answering these questions in a direct approach is an impossible task, but getting at them indirectly, now that's a doorway into another world. The Institute leaders ask us to reflect and write about other questions. Describe a time when the world looked, smelled, or sounded unusual or peculiar? Upon reading that question, a flood of recollections roiled through my head and heart. 

An early morning walk in the woods behind my childhood home searching for an object for school. My kindergarten teacher assigned us the task of bringing something from our backyard. There was no doubt that there was more specificity to this homework (or maybe not), but my recollection centered on the search. Crawling along the forest floor, I discovered a small pinecone. Most likely from a hemlock tree as they are the tiniest of New England conifers. The act of laying on my belly, moving along on hands and knees looking, smelling, and discovering the wonder in something that was always there amazed me. I had not seen it before. 

In the words of William Blake, “Each day has a moment of eternity waiting for you.”

I began writing of this and other encounters, and slowly realized how searching and discovering the magical, the wonder, and the sacred in everyday life has been a theme since I could walk, maybe even before. 

I received other questions about mentors, favorite books, music that challenges and delights led me to realize the many influences. One recollection involved attending a baseball game at Dodger Stadium with my father as a young teenager.  I recall snickering as he blew pipe smoke in the direction of an obnoxious fan, somehow brought connections to life and death because it would be decades later that lung cancer ended his life. "Laughing and Crying, it's the same release," sang Joni Mitchel. The connection of a both/and understanding of life and faith has also woven its way into my heart.

The point being that while many of us read biographies and autobiographies of famous men and women, be they actors, authors, or presidents, there is altogether something different from a spiritual autobiography. My theology professor James McLendon once cautioned his students on the difference between and biography and an autobiography, as the latter may have blind spots. Nevertheless, it's safe to say that what is unique about the invitation to write a spiritual autobiography; we are challenged to discover themes and connections we may have overlooked.

Human beings are meaning-seeking creatures, and the spiritual autobiography is one tool that can help give each of us a glimpse into the meaning of our lives.

Are you interested in joining me for a series on writing your spiritual autobiography later this fall?

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