An Inner and an Outer Journey

Over the Christmas holidays, I enjoyed the opportunity of spending five days with my grandsons. The week filled fast with hikes, playing around the yard, and the viewing of Encanto. This is the latest animation from Disney and features the musical genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who brought us the musical Hamilton. “Encanto" tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals. They live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charming place called Encanto. The magic of Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might be her family's last hope.

If you’d like to watch the trailer, it’s here.

There is a subtle shift in the narrative in Encanto from the Disney movies of the past. The past pattern for many a Classic Disney film has been to portray the evil villain as a one-dimensional nothing but bad character. Think of those movies from the mid-20th century, Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and 101 Dalmatians. However, in Encanto, a more nuanced presentation of evil is presented. The film does this in several ways, but one focuses on the main accomplice to the protagonist, named Bruno. Combined with Mirabel, the movie's principal character, we find ourselves in a story of flawed, misunderstood, or cast aside characters forming the bedrock of a tale of redemption. This more complex and subtle storytelling might reveal something a yearning in our collective psyche.  

Encanto continues a shift in recent Disney films where the complexity of life and the nature of the "bad guy" motif are presented more nuanced. In Disney's "Frozen” (2013), the identity of the “bad guy” ends in a twist. “Frozen II” is interesting in this journey, too - it's about truth and reconciliation and giving up power to right old wrongs; the villain is the consequence of oppressing people. In Raya and the Last Dragon, the theme of evil is more overt, and one character makes a significant shift toward the end of the film that aids in the redemption motif. Still, the movie's principal theme centers around the protagonist's discovery of the community around her as the source of healing. I'm a big fan of "Soul," the 2020 animation about identity and its Platonic view of the soul as a dominant archetype within each of us. Plus, it's got a quirky appearance of a Carl Jung cartoon early on.

In this recent film, Encanto, the mysterious evil villain, though labeling him in that way is unfair, eventually becomes Bruno, a member of the family. Due to a series of circumstances, assumptions, and misunderstandings, he turns out to be an integral part of the resolution to the conflict. He is a Wounded Healer character. A concept that suggests the places within each of us that bear the wounds, injustices, and violations can often be the source of healing, redemption, and a return to wholeness. This is a way of acknowledging that the full range of human capacity is within each of us; good and evil.

The Dutch artist MC Escher (1898-1972) captured this well in his ink etching Angels and Devils, though its technical name is "Circle Limit IV ." A copy, not an original, now hangs on the wall of my office here in Rhode Island and serves as a reminder of the integrated aspects of our human nature. It's likely difficult to see in the small image above, but this print portrays a both/and optical integration of devils and angels. It isn't easy to see where one begins, and the other begins. In fact, the artwork shows they are reliant on one another. This suggests a simultaneity of angels and devils. (As a brief comment here, I want to acknowledge the unfortunate use of black for devils and white for angels. Like many of us of European origin or descent, Escher has this stereotypical imprint. We default to it today and it can contribute to a form of racial profiling.)

Though lacking an artistic image, Martin Luther developed an understanding of human anthropology using the phrase simul iustus et peccator, Latin for simultaneously saint and sinner. Luther is holding the tension of the opposites in his understanding of a person's relation before God and other human beings. This paradoxical way of thinking has been most helpful to me personally through the years. It allows me to recognize in both myself and others that we each have a quality that lifts and a quality that descends. There are multiple metaphors for this idea, and I continue to look for the most all-embracing ones. St. Paul captures an aspect of this in his letter to the Romans Chapter Seven "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” I once had a child following worship one Sunday, tell me that sounded like a Dr. Seuss rhyme. Since then, I’ve not been able to get that image out of my head.

In a variation on this idea, I once had a Jungian Analyst remind me in one of our sessions, where I invariably got sidetracked talking negatively about a person. "You know, Jim, most people are doing the best they can with what they have and who they are." Ouch! Convicted. That hit home. Now every time I become critical or judgmental of another, I try to return to that comment.

Carl Jung’s understanding of the human psyche includes the concept of the unconscious shadow. An aspect of the unconscious contains elements that lie outside our conscious awareness. Jung called this part of the psyche our shadow, including everything from neglected parts of ourselves. “Hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, both good and bad, which the ego has either repressed or never recognized." Daryl Sharp's Lexicon "The shadow is composed for the most part of repressed desires and uncivilized impulses, morally inferior motives, childish fantasies, and resentments, etc.--all those things about oneself one is not proud of. These unacknowledged personal characteristics are often experienced in others through the mechanism of projection."   

The most helpful illustration of the human shadow I encountered over the years comes from the poet Robert Bly and analyst Marion Woodman. Their work together resulted in the idea of the backpack we all carry. It contains a collection of personal life encounters as described above and aspects of the collective cultural biases, anger, and wildness. We walk around life with this backpack of stuff. The thing about a backpack is that you can't see it. It's on your back. But it is there all the time. It impedes your movement, slows you down, and periodically causes you to fall down, and then some of the stuff spills out. A significant task of the second half of life is opening that backpack up, examining its contents, discovering both the junk and the hidden treasures.

Our characters in the film “Encanto”, both Bruno and Mirabel, discover their gifts, and the redemption of the whole community is found in these outcasts, flawed and ordinary people. Life is like that more often than we wish to admit. Creativity, generosity, and compassion flow from the hidden, the flawed, and the inferior. We do well to view the shadow, not as our adversary, but as a teacher.

This weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, it seems fitting to turn to some of his wisdom. King wrote and spoke about injustices of racism, economic inequality, and peace during wartime. He understood the forces of hatred from firsthand experience. Ask any person of color today, and they will tell you of many such encounters. Yet, MLK also knew the power of love as a countervailing force. He would not minimize the need to hold people accountable, but he also believed in the redemptive power of love.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

Source

The challenge for all of us is seeing that at our core, we are all vulnerable sinner/saints carrying around a backpack of stuff from our own and the collective underground. The extension of loving compassion to ourselves inwardly begins the healing we all need. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the power of that kind of love when exerted in the world around us. It's my experience that this is a both/and process – an inward one and an outward one. It’s also my experience that the healing of the world and the healing of our souls go hand in hand.

Until next time

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A New Year, A Weird Year

A New Year, A Weird Year

A Focus, a Book and a Retreat

James Hazelwood

I’m taking a week off from the writing, but knew you’d be missing the latest issue of “Notebooks.” Since it’s a new year, the time has come for resolutions, commitments to exercise, diets, and self-improvement. Most of mine went out the window by 9 a.m. this morning. However, I do have hopes of releasing a new book in 2022.

Most of the first draft is completed, except that stinkin’ chapter on relationships. I’m in need of help. Stories of relationships, friendships, community are appreciated. Why are they important to you? What relationships have been the hardest? The most rewarding? How have they changed as you’ve aged? Send me your ideas, thoughts, and stories. Click here

The book explores the stages of life through the work of psychologists Erik & Joan Erikson and Carl Jung, then uses a sacred story to illustrate the wisdom we can gain through the years. The wisdom is WEIRD because it’s not the typical stuff you find such as saving money, exercising and eating well, moving to a single floor housing unit, and trimming your nose hairs. (Though those are important) Instead, I look at the inner realm of the second half through these five themes.

Wisdom

Enchantment

Integrity

Relationships

Destiny

In March of 2022, I’m leading a retreat for people interested in this topic. You are welcome to join me at the Calumet Retreat and Conference Center in New Hampshire. All the details can be found here. Click away.

Topics include:

The Stages of Life according to Erik & Joan Erikson and Carl Jung: Where are you and what's going on as you move from one stage to the next?

The Cultivation of Wisdom as the goal of life: We are meaning-seeking creatures, and as we get older the pursuit of wisdom can provide that meaning.

Enchantment, Integrity & Relationships form the opportunities for growth in the second half of life. Using biblical stories, ancient texts and dreams from modern people we'll find ways to add depth to our lives.

Destiny is something more than a quote from Star Wars. As we grow we become more aware of time. How do we make the best of what is left so that we leave a legacy that serves God, others and our souls?

As I write this, I recognize we are in the midst of yet another burst of Covid-19, and you might be cautious about registering for a retreat. Fair enough. But, Calumet has a very generous refund practice. If we can’t meet in person, we’ll figure out an alternative. But for now, I’m hopeful this current wave will pass us by rather quickly.

Looking forward to a WEIRD year, until next time

Jim

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Birth in the Dark of Night

Birth in the Dark of Night

"The supreme purpose of God is birth" Meister Eckhart 13 cent.

To Know the Dark

     by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

Among the darkest places in North America is the little-known Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in central Colorado. My wife and I spent two nights camping there last summer. Besides its steep canyons, it is also one of the darkest places, thus ideal for stargazing. We awoke on the second night around 2 a.m. and lay on our backs watching a dramatic display of the Perseid meteor shower amid the backdrop of the Milky Way Galaxy. Because it was so dark, we could see the light in surprising ways. This poem from Wendell Berry featured prominently on a park sign at the visitor center.

We are in the darkest time of year here in the northern hemisphere. The sun is now setting around 4:20 p.m at my home in Rhode Island. It’s not an accident that Christmas, the time the light came into the world, is situated on December 25, just three days after the winter solstice with its long night. The date also follows nine months after March 25, which is the date of the annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary. You’ll note how that March date also corresponds with astronomical movement as it follows the spring equinox. 

The early Christian church established these dates in the 4th century to merge the Christian calendar with the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian religions. For example, the ancient Persian sun-god Mithras was born or reborn each year around the Winter Solstice following a long Saturnalia festival. The Romans later merged this mythology with Sol Invictus, their Sun festival. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 330's CE, early church leaders merged the many traditions actively practiced with the story of Christ.  Thus, the birth of the Son of God replaced the sun god's birth. This all took place some 300 years after the events written down in Luke & Matthew’s gospels.  

Sometimes, people read the above description and view it as discrediting the Christmas story. That's not my intent here. Instead, I find all this history tremendously validating of the story. I say that because I read the scriptures as inspired and metaphorical truths instead of literal truths. I believe we can embrace the history of an event while mining it for deeper truths. Religious scholar Karen Armstrong summarizes these two ways of reading sacred texts as Mythos and Logos.

Logos (“reason”) was the pragmatic mode of thought that enabled people to function effectively in the world.  It had, therefore, to correspond accurately to external reality.  People have always needed logos to make an efficient weapon, organize their societies, or plan an expedition…..  In popular parlance, a “myth” is something that is not true.  But in the past, myth was not self-indulgent fantasy; rather, like logos, it helped people to live effectively in our confusing world, though in a different way.  Mythos(Imagination) may have told stories about the gods, but they were really focused on the more elusive, puzzling, and tragic aspects of the human predicament that lay outside the remit of logos.  Myth has been called a primitive form of psychology.  When a myth described heroes threading their way through labyrinths, descending into the underworld, or fighting monsters, these were not understood as primarily factual stories.  They were designed to help people negotiate the obscure regions of the psyche. (Karen Armstrong, The Case for God p xi)

I'm reading the Christmas story and this season of Advent as something true in the realm of mythos, as originally understood.  For me, there is profound meaning in the stories of the nativity and the season of Advent. Clearly, there is some historical basis for the birth of this divine child, but we just don’t know with precision – even the Gospels have conflicting accounts. I’m not relying on the historicity to see the power of the symbolism and meaning of the Christ born in a stable, with visits from shepherds and the stars aligning to point the way for Magi from the East. Just pause and take in all that is here: eternal and temporal, divine amongst manure, astronomy, and gastronomy, visitors from important places coming to backwater villages. The imagery, symbolism, and paradox are just too rich to be ignored.

Both Freud's and Jung's gift to modern people is a new way of embracing mythos. Understanding our human need for narrative and meaning, we can now read the sacred texts of long ago and understand their inner depth.

These days of increasing darkness are matched with hope for light. The season of Advent is a paradox of darkness and light symbolism. Advent darkness stirs up fears, a desire for freedom, and all that something new may bring. In this time, we are representing something that goes on in each of our souls. Darkness, as I experienced on that night last August, is frightening. When the evening came, and I walked around that campground known to have wild animals, including bears and other predators, I was keenly aware of what ancient people experienced in the night. Fear becomes very real. There is a yearning for the safety and security of others, of something to illuminate the darkness. If I can see, then I have a greater degree of confidence. I reached for a flashlight. Ancient people knew the darkness, perhaps better than we.

But late modern people like ourselves know darkness as well. Who among us has not experienced a dark night of the soul? A time when our path into the future became unclear following a loss of employment, the breakup of a relationship, or the death of a loved one. We seem to wander around aimlessly in our own darkness. We are seeking some light, some companionship, and some wisdom to move into the future. Indeed we hope for something new to come along. Deep down, we hope for a new birth.

This brings us to the birth of the divine child as an incarnation of hope. The narratives in scripture describe different stories of a child born of mysterious circumstances in ordinary locations. We have stars and wisdom figures in Matthew; angels, sheepherders, and a bed of hay in Luke. The divine and the sublime come together.

The Christ-child captures the wholeness we desire to be born, not just 2,000 years ago, but again and again in each of us and our world. The many titles ascribed to Jesus capture the different yearnings of humanity - Prince of Peace, Emmanuel (God with us), Light of the World. This powerful and instinctual drive toward hope focuses our attention on the divine Christ child. As CG Jung pointed out: “One of the essential features of the child motif is its futurity. The child is potential future.” (CW vol 9i, p. 164)

Regardless of your formal religious identification, be it Lutheran, Jewish, agnostic, or none, we all share a common longing for hope. It strikes me hope may be a unifying theme of humanity.

Hope for Peace              

Hope for Reconciliation

Hope for Companionship            

Hope for Justice

Hope for Meaning             

Hope and birth go together.

The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart writes: “The supreme purpose of God is birth. God will not be content until God’s Son is born in us. Neither will the soul be content until the Son is born in it.”  For Eckhart, this eternal birth is always beginning anew as God comes to us in our inner “stable.”

What do you hope will be born in you this year?

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Varieties of the Spiritual

The second issue of my sub stack newsletter is out now. Find it here. You can subscribe here

"We are lived by powers we pretend to understand." W.H. Auden

Have you ever had an experience where you sensed you were in the presence of God?

I'm guessing the answer might be yes, but perhaps you've never thought that your experience was spiritual. These are the unexplained encounters and involve phenomena that run counter to our everyday life experience. Some people have wildly bizarre encounters with the holy while others have more ordinary events, and still others may have had some sort of "thing" happen that they believe they cannot share with anyone. I'm convinced almost everyone has had some type of encounter, but some may be reluctant to describe the experience. 

The US American psychologist William James discusses this idea in his classic book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. He distinguishes between primary religious encounters, direct personal experiences, and secondary religion, which involves teachings about the faith or organizational aspects. Most of what happens in American church life today is secondary religion – information, analysis, and description. When I preach or teach on a scripture passage or describe a theological concept, I am practicing secondary religion. It's secondary because it's about the religious experience, both the experience itself. 

Primary religion is the direct experience of the holy, such as encounters with phenomena, hauntings, numinous creatures, conversations with angels, or experiences of gentle calm. Those encounters can be mountain-top experiences or subtle reminders of the blessing of being alive. They can be out in nature, inside your living room, or around the corner from your place of work. 

The quote above from the poet W.H. Auden is from a longer poem titled "In Memory of Ernest Toller." The line "We are lived by powers we pretend to understand" has broader application to the two realms I wrote about in the last issue of Notebooks. Auden captures in just a few words the profound truth that we humans are influenced by forces that lie beyond our rational, conscious, and materialist perspective.

Auden's words suggest something other than our rational ego-centered mind is influencing our thoughts and actions. Namely, that there is a presence that is among us, within us, and around us. We could give many names to this presence, but I'll focus here on its spiritual significance. We encounter glimpses of this Spirit throughout our lives - a feeling, an intuition, perhaps a vision, or even a voice. For example, in my book, Everyday Spirituality, I describe an experience of my friend David who "saw" a nurse at the foot of his bed as he recovered in a hospital. Yet, the person he described was not an employee at the hospital.

Australian philosopher David Tacey recently defined spirituality as "The power of eternity yearning to be in time," echoing William Blake's "Eternity is in love with the productions of time."  I contend that people in our time seek the spiritual. We yearn for encounters with the infinite because it helps give our lives a sense of meaning and purpose.  

The expansive interest in astrology to yoga can be understood as a desire to encounter mystery, wonder, and the infinite.Experiential forms of religious experience are on the rise in Buddhism and Hinduism, emphasizing meditation. In the Christian tradition, we see this in the global increase of Pentecostal expressions, focusing on one's encounter with the divine. I recall a visit years ago to a Vineyard worship service that included a wide range of people speaking in tongues, rolling on the floor, and dancing in the aisles. A recent article in the NY Times by Ruth Graham described new alternatives to baptism, including ocean baptism, horse troughs, and even hot tubs. When asked to describe the motivation behind the trend, one Pastor indicated, "We live in an age where people like experiences," said Mark Clifton, Pastor of Linwood Baptist in Kansas, "It's not that it looks better, but it feels better. It feels more authentic. It feels more real." One could easily argue with this trend as gimmicky, but my point in highlighting it here is to illustrate the desire for an experiential religion.

The advertising industry has watched this growth as well. Products and experiences are marketed to us with a clear message: "Satisfying your personal desires is the ultimate fulfillment. Just buy this product, vacation or automobile." Perhaps this explains that surveys consistently reveal the number one recreational activity for US Americans is shopping. We seek our re-creation in the acquisition of goods and services.

But late-modern people find acquisition to be inadequate for living a whole and meaningful life.  We long for something more profound. 

How can we humans, living in a digital age, rediscover and reconnect with God?  I offer the following as possibilities. Of course, there are likely other ways, but I'll focus on five ways we connect with the Spiritual Realm.  

Arts – I consider music, paint, sculpture, dance, and drama among creative expressions that have a sacred quality. My wife often describes singing as her spiritual discipline. It feeds her and gives her great joy, but it also somehow connects her with something deeper. My brother is an artist in the San Francisco area. Through various print imaging, he reveals insight into both ancient and contemporary events. A friend just took up pottery, and another has returned to her love of dance. "I don't care if I look like a fool. I'm feeling a Spirit alive in me while I move," she said.

 "I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem and yourself participating in a poem is what the myth does for you."

-       Joseph Campbell

Relationships – I'm thinking of the long-lasting relationships we have with significant people in our lives. Through these, we learn more about ourselves than in any classroom, book, or therapeutic exchange. Is God present in that life of loving relations?  I think so. The Greeks had three words for love. In Sanskrit, there are over 100 words for love, yet in English, we really on modifiers to help us explain love. Romantic love is different than brotherly love. Erotic love is not the same as compassionate love. What we experience in those first few weeks and months of a romantic relationship evolves after ten years, thirty years, or longer. We grow and change as individuals and as a relationship. If God is Love, as the bible says, our lifelong experience of evolving love is a spiritual encounter. 

I Corinthians 13 is a well-known passage about love frequently read at weddings. It even made it into a scene in the 2005 Movie The Wedding Crashers. When read at a wedding, this passage reminds us of the romantic aspects of love. But when I heard it read at the funeral of an 83-year-old man by his granddaughter, I wept. Love took on an entirely different significance. It spoke of resilience and endurance, compassion, and gentleness in ways I had not considered. A piece of scripture that had become rather lifeless for me as one who has attended hundreds of weddings suddenly leaped off the page a pierced my heart.

Love is kind and patient,
never jealous, boastful,
    Proud, or rude.
Love isn't selfish
    Or quick-tempered.
It doesn't keep a record
    Of wrongs that others do.

Nature – A walk in the woods, a swim in the lake, a bike ride along a country road. What is it about the natural world that opens us up to the sacred? Perhaps more than any other vehicle, people report mystical encounters taking place in the natural world. We now have scientific evidence of the benefit of simply being outside for twenty minutes. But before all the neuroscience, humans lived in the environment of trees, rivers, and open plains. As late modern people in a technological age, we forget that we are animals, and our roots are in the natural world. People encountered God in a burning bush, underneath a Bodhi Tree, in the river Jordan or a desert cave for most of human civilization. Looking for a way to connect with God, take a walk outside.

Are you looking for a way to connect with God?  Take a walk outside.

Dreams – Dreams provide opportunities to experience a sacred realm and possibly an avenue to the soul. One author called them God's forgotten language, while another wrote of dreams as unopened letters from God. The realm of night visions that cross our awareness while we sleep allows us to experience the holy. I look forward each night as I hit the pillow and often ask myself, "what will the dream maker show me tonight?" Next to my bed sits a small journal where I can record my dreams. They come to us without charge…a symbol of the ongoing gift of grace from God. It is in dreaming that we enter a world of mystery and wonder. While some comment that they do not recall their dreams, and others write them off as insignificant, there is ample evidence of the healing and meaning of dreams.

"Most dreams are representations of what goes on inside the dreamer.

Dreams usually speak of the evolution of forces inside us,

The conflicts of values and viewpoints there,

The different unconscious energy systems that are trying to be heard,

Trying to find their way into our conscious lives."  

Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work

Prayer/Meditation – While words can shape our experiences, I fear they can also cover up the direct encounter with the holy. I've read beautiful prayers for decades, but not one can match the experience of the sacred. Our meetings with the numinous are ineffable. So often, when we hear the word "prayer," we think of written or spoken prayers. Sadly, many prayers seem to be telling God what we want, need, desire. Is it possible that a healthy relationship with the divine involves a two-way conversation?  Previously I wrote of the practice of contemplative prayer as a practice that might connect us with God.

But prayer should not be something we seek to perfect, as the poet Mary Oliver reminds us

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak."

I've illustrated a few practical ways we can seek out the numinous, but let's be clear that it is more often the case that God finds us rather than we find God. Therefore, the holy often surprises us in its appearance. But we can put ourselves in a place of awareness and openness.

"Are we linked to something infinite or not?" CG Jung

Citizens of Two Realms

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"We do not leave the shore of the known in search of adventure or suspense or because of the failure of reason to answer our questions. We sail because our mind is like a fantastic seashell, and when applying our ear to its lips, we hear a perpetual murmur from the waves beyond the shore. Citizens of two realms, we all must sustain a dual allegiance."

– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion

Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907 – December 23, 1972) was an American rabbi and one of the leading theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, authored numerous books and was deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement. He argued that spiritual encounters with the divine are fundamental to human life.

The quote above comes from his book Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion. This writing is essentially a treatise on how human beings can understand God.  While recognizing a difference between humanity and the divine, Heschel suggests that encounters with the Holy are a part of human experience.  The book explores the problems of doubts and faith and the human yearning for spirituality. While distinctively Jewish in its theological frame, the book has much to offer the contemporary seeker, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or another faith. Even the agnostics among us, who are many, would appreciate Heschel's writings, for he is far more universal than one might suppose.

I'm particularly attracted to that last sentence from the opening quote. "Citizens of two realms, we all must sustain a dual allegiance." Heschel seems to be suggesting that we humans live in two realities that are of equal value. This idea is very much in keeping with the writings of the great wisdom traditions as well as the field of depth psychology. While most of us today live very much consciously aware of a realm of paychecks, grocery stores, and automobiles, we also have an intuitive sense that there is something else.

That something else is difficult to describe, so we do not tell it or even talk about it most of the time. Yet, given an opportunity and a safe environment, I have found people willing and eager to tell of their encounters with the sacred realm. Years ago, I preached an unusual sermon while visiting Trinity Church in Chelmsford, MA. The homily consisted of four stories of encounters by people who experienced something out of the ordinary. In conversations with congregation members after the worship service, an older man described a time in his late 20s when he heard a voice caution his over-obsession with his career. That encounter, which he described as holy, changed his entire approach to his family. "I vowed to spend more time with my wife and children." He said. "In fifty years since that voice spoke to me, I've never regretted that decision." I also learned that he had never told anyone about that experience.

Increasingly, I hear stories like this from people. They had something unusual happen, but they never told anyone. It's as if that old joke rings true, "why is that when someone says they talk to God, we call it prayer, but if they say God talked to them, we call it crazy?" For a long time, that had been a prevailing attitude in our society, but it’s beginning to change. More people are coming forward with their stories of an experience of this other realm.

Last week, I spent three days with Andy Root, the US American theologian who has written extensively about the secular society as a context for ministry. He outlined the gradual shift from the sacred to the secular over the last 500 years. He made the case, obvious to many, that we no longer live in a culture that lives in a fully sacred framework. Today our experience of life is guided by the rational and the scientific. One example that illustrates this shift: If your child got sick in the 1400s, you thought it to be an attack of the devil or demons and sought out a healer, shaman, or priest to rid the child of the demons. One lived in a spirit-infused time. Today if your child is sick, you take them to a medical doctor. You think it might be an infection and need antibiotics or another treatment. While we welcome the prayers of friends, it's unlikely you will rely on prayers alone.

Dr. Root pointed out that we are grateful for many of the accomplishments of living in a secular worldview. For example, antibiotics, indoor plumbing, food safety, and transportation make our lives safer, longer, and more comfortable. I'll be honest. I like living in this secular scientific worldview. I’m writing this on a computer that allows me to edit with ease, in a room that’s heated following breakfast that was easily procured. Life is good in the secular world.

Yet, has the secular gone too far?  Have we so emphasized rationality that we have pushed away from the sacred? This brings us to the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, an early founder of modern psychology, along with Sigmund Freud. Jung parted ways with Freud primarily over the latter's insistence that all neurosis is about repressed sexuality. Jung then set about a lifelong project that focused on our need for a spiritual dimension. While there is much in his Collected Works about psychology, we can find a great deal about Jung's efforts to help the modern world rediscover a new way of accessing the sacred. Unfortunately, Jung was misunderstood in his lifetime, though today, his work is receiving a more favorable audience.

He often wrote of his efforts to provide modern people with a new sense of the sacred. One example comes from a book he published just a few years before his death.

"This is not to say that Christianity is finished. I am, on the contrary, convinced that it is not Christianity but our conception and interpretation of it that has become antiquated in the face of the present world situation. The Christian symbol is a living thing that carries in itself the seeds of further development. "C. G. Jung in The Undiscovered Self © 1957

Jung, like Heschel, advocated that we all must find a way to live in two realms and hold a dual allegiance. Our society has neglected the realm of wonder, mystery, spirit, the holy; call it what you wish. Instead, we have become one-sided in valuing only the world we can see, touch, taste. Another way to think of it is our emphasis is on the five senses, to the neglect of the sixth sense. This causes us to be heavily ‘materialist’ in our orientation. The word ‘materialist’ because it seems to describe our orientation toward things. It also results in a materialistic emphasis that pairs well with consumer capitalism.

I’m deeply concerned about this imbalance. If Heschel and Jung are correct, and we do indeed live in two realms, yet increasingly ignore or deny the realm of mystery, wonder, and God, where will that lead us?  An exclusively materialist worldview leaves people bereft of meaning. Or simply meaning found solely in the acquisition of more stuff. I’m not against the comforts of modern life, but almost anyone with enough life experience recognizes that more stuff, new stuff, and bigger stuff does not lead to fulfillment.

Much of what you'll be reading in these Notebooks will circumambulate these ideas. "Man cannot live a meaningless life," wrote Jung. Today, we are engaged in multiple activities that seem to be distractive and self-destructive. I can't help but wonder if this is rooted in our need to regain a balance of the two realms in which we live.

We have found meaning for most of human history when our individual lives are connected to a larger story. That larger story is a realm beyond the day-to-day of life. The good news is that we have at our disposal multiple ways of reengaging with that realm. The long history of wisdom traditions points us to many options. These “Notebook” writings will be practical as well as poetic and philosophical. I intend to amplify the opportunities to rekindle meaning and connection with God in the coming issues. Through story, cinema, dreams, the arts, meditation, folktales, and such, I'll describe ways people can connect with the larger story of life.

I'll leave you with a delightful reading from William Stafford

The Way it Is

There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread.

Until next time…

Jim

Changing up the Newsletter...here we come Substack

It’s Time for a Change

There’s an old Joke: 

“How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?”

CHANGE ?!?!?! (screamed with fear and trembling)

Originally my E-Newsletter started with the intent of bringing reflections on a changing church particularly from my perspective as Bishop of the New England Synod. Then it evolved to include thoughts on the ways spirituality is showing up in our world. This was most clearly articulated in my book Everyday Spirituality. Regular subscribers of this E-Newsletter may have noticed an inconsistency of late - Issues have been released with greater infrequency and a lack of clarity and direction. That’s because I’ve been at a loss for how to use this medium. You’ll also notice that the Podcast has gone into hibernation. 

It’s clearly time to shake things up!

Therefore, I’m switching to both a new format and a new focus. Going forward my writings will focus on the intersection of religion, culture and the soul. This grows out of my studies at the Haden Institute for Spiritual Direction. You got a glimpse of this in last month’s issue of this newsletter where I focused on “Contemplative Prayer”

The new format will be in the form of a Substack Newsletter. Huh? What’s that? Basically, Substack is a website and a newsletter combined. It’s used by writers who want to generate content and put it all in one place. It’s not a fancy schmancy website with pretty pictures, it’s mostly text on a white background.

Why make the change? Well, there are two reasons. 1) I’m board of this E-Newsletter format, it’s a bit clunky to assemble an issue and the cost of maintaining a subscriber base of 2500 is increasing. 2) My writing interests are shifting from writing about the church to writing about spirituality more broadly. While I could make the shift within this format, I think the new venue allows for a transition. A break, if you will, from something old to something new. 

What’s next? In the next week or so you’ll receive the first issue of the new “Notebooks of James Hazelwood” Substack Newsletter.  If you don’t want it, no worries, just unsubscribe. No harm, no foul. I’ll not be offended. If you do nothing it will keep coming to your inbox as long as you wish. If you are reading this blog post and don’t already receive the E-News and now want to subscribe to the new “Notebooks” substack letter. Click here to subscribe.

For those of you connected to me through the New England Synod, I’ll continue my communications through our E-Newsletter there. If you don’t already receive that you can subscribe at this link.

Still in One Peace,

James Hazelwood

The first issue will engage this quote, more to come soon.

“We do not leave the shore of the known in search of adventure or suspense or because of the failure of reason to answer our questions. We sail because our mind is like a fantastic sea shell, and when applying our ear to its lips we hear a perpetual murmur from the waves beyond the shore. Citizens of two realms, we all must sustain a dual allegiance.” 

– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,1976), 24.

What's going to happen to the institutional church?

No, this didn’t start last month. It’s a 50-year trend.

In many churches, synagogues, mosques across the US American landscape, people began returning to their houses of worship this summer and fall. Those that have returned look around and notice something. They see a third of the people that were present back in January of 2020. The Pandemic accelerated trends that were already in place. The high watermark of most institutional expressions of faith was 1967. Yes, that’s the peak in worship attendance in my own denomination. Other traditions will have similar dates. In other words, this decline that took up speed in the Covid19 era has been in place for some time.

What’s the future look like? Increasingly, I’m less interested in statistical trends. I wrote and spoke with others who have made predictions in an earlier podcast. What I’m more interested in now is how we shift to entering into the new expressions of faith, spirit, and service.

I think there are two.

The first is in the area of faith in action. The following paragraph from an online article in ministry matters captures this well.

That’s what we asked ourselves at this little, old church in Metamora, Ohio. We put our energy into throwing barn parties, creating third spaces for the community to gather, starting a food cooperative to support local farmers and producers, and offering opportunities to be and learn together that reflected the context of where we were and who we were with. We stopped trying to do the normal conception of church better, and we started imagining how we could do church differently; which wasn’t about being new or cool or exciting. Rather, we embraced the ancient art of being meaningfully adapted to our place as thornbushes.

Basically, we are talking about the church as a networker or collaborator with others in an effort to serve people particularly people in poverty, but also in areas that concern us all, such as climate change and racism.

The second is in recovering religion as a center for deepening and exploring the numinous, the sacred, the holy…what I’ll call God. My previous blog post on Contemplative Prayer is in this direction. Following its release, I heard from two congregations that have regular contemplative prayer groups. Another is the growing practice of small groups working with Dreams and Spiritual life. Spiritual Direction is a growing movement, and while quite varied in its form and structure (and likely needing some criteria for credentialling) nevertheless offers a way to think about how religion can reconnect to its roots.

One thing is clear, there are no easy answers and the road ahead is very challenging from an institutional perspective, but there are opportunities as well. I’d be curious to hear from you. What’s the new/old thing emerging in your world?

Contemplative Prayer

Sometimes I think I should have been a Quaker. It’s taken me a lifetime, now 62 years, to realize that worship for me takes place in silence or very minimalistic atmospheres. I knew this as a child, but for various reasons have been distracted from that initial calling. Now, in the second half of life, I'm reclaiming aspects of life that have nourished me but I abandoned. 

There are typically two distinct, though related approaches to spirituality in the Christian tradition. First, the kataphatic practice uses tangible things to help us understand and experience God. Second, a kataphatic spirituality employs words, images, sounds, symbols, and ideas to express what God is. For example, we might say that "God is love" or “God is passionate about the poor” or “God is always and everywhere present.” Many practices feed the kataphatic path, such as singing, preaching and teaching, petition/intercession/thanksgiving, liturgy, Bible study, and service. This path is the dominant expression of spirituality in western Christianity. It's also particularly favored in places like the United States, which is a highly extroverted culture.

Markedly less dominant but equally valuable is apophatic spirituality, which explores the ineffable reality of God, which lies beyond our ordinary comprehension. In the apophatic tradition, we attempt to express or describe what God is not. A simple understanding of this would be to use phrases that describe God is not, such as "God is not a male being" or “God is not finite.” But it extends to other attempts such as "God is unknowable" or "God is beyond names." Again, one thinks of Moses' conversation with God in the burning bush story from Exodus. When asked by Moses for God's name, the response is Yahweh, which is Hebrew for "I am" God is existence, life or as the late Paul Tillich put it, "God is not so much a Supreme Being, being itself."

The apophatic spirituality is attractive to persons who enjoy and appreciate silence, solitude, nuance in language, and simple expressions of prayer and meditation. For example, suppose you are attracted to time spent alone on retreat, walking by yourself in nature, or simply sitting with a single candle in a sparse room. In that case, you likely prefer an apophatic spirituality. You may also think there's something wrong with your spirituality if you attend worship in a US-American congregation. Rest assured, there is nothing wrong with you; it's just that you are in a community that values kataphatic spirituality.

The words “apophatic” and “kataphatic" are derived from Greek words—apophasis, to move away from speech or "unsaying," and kataphasis, to move toward speech or “saying.” It's important to note that not one way is better than the other, and no matter your personal preference, there is value for all of us to engage in both. As for me, I've come to the awareness of my strong preference for apophatic spirituality. But, I also benefit from public worship gatherings that include singing, preaching, and the rites and rituals of a community gathered.

Contemplative prayer is the practice of listening to God, listening to the sacred, listening to the mystery. As I practice it, this takes the shape of a distinctively apophatic spirituality. There are more word and image and structure-based forms of contemplative prayer. For example, one thinks of Ignatian Spirituality that has a different series of steps and practices. My approach doesn't resonate with those methods, but I can see how kataphatic spiritual practitioners value them. Here's a link if you think you might prefer that approach.

My practice of contemplative prayer sits comfortably in the apophatic school. I find profound comfort in the breathing prayer outlined by others, but I learned it from Richard Rohr, the Franciscan priest. Simply put, I sit comfortably and in silence. As I breathe in, I say to myself, "Yah," the first syllable of that phrase given to Moses so long ago. As I exhale, I say, "Weh." Most often, the saying of these syllables is silent, but you can also do it aloud. The simple repeating of this breathing in and breathing out with Yahweh is an expression of apophatic spirituality. I can practice this meditation anywhere, sometimes on a walk, sometimes sitting in a restaurant, or lying down on a couch.

In recent years, I’ve found other tools for apophatic contemplative prayer. Two apps for my phone have been resources.  The first app is called Centering Prayer. You can find the link here. This resource grows out of the work of Father Thomas Keating, whose numerous books have brought centering prayer to thousands of people. The second resource I use comes from Plum Village, the monastery founded in France by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. You can find that app here. These tools have distinct flavors, but they share a simple, soft, and gentle approach to prayer and meditation.

Another somewhat unorthodox form of meditation I use is while bicycling.  This form of meditation is similar to walking meditation, which is ideal for those who find sitting or lying down particularly challenging. There are many forms of walking meditation with roots in both the east and the West. My form of cycling meditation is adapted from these practices. Simply put, I pick a portion of a bike ride where I choose a theme or a word or phrase. Then, as I ride, I let that phrase tumble over my brain and sometimes say it out loud. For instance, “gratitude” or “beauty" are a couple of recent examples. I'll repeat those words and then see what I notice. I find the combination of exercise, maybe pushing hard on the peddles up a hill, combined with thoughts of gratitude, results in connection with aspects of life I've come to appreciate or need to appreciate.

But, I'd be remiss if I did not mention the bodily component of this type of prayer. It may be another form of physical movement for you, but cycling is something I love, and my body loves. A steep hill is a challenging climb. Yes, the muscles in my legs scream out in pain, but they are also praising the engagement. My quadriceps sing out hallelujah as I peddle up a long 6% grade. My lungs expanded as they converted oxygen into the fuel needed to keep moving. All the components of what make me me are alive and on fire. There is something life-giving in that process, something profoundly spiritual. I'm reminded of a central tenant of the Christian understanding of God- Namely, that the eternal sacred became temporal in the incarnation. God takes a bodily form. Let's not miss the richness of this. The holy wants a body. Engaging in physical activity, whether it be cycling, walking, swimming, surfing, hiking, rock climbing, as we embrace a contemplative practice, can be a gift.

            Contemplative prayer roots us in mystical traditions. All the major religions of the world have expressions of mysticism. I think of the Jewish Kabbalah, Sufi's in the Islamic tradition, the Greek Orthodox monks of Christianity, and the eastern wisdom traditions of Buddhism and the Hindu faith. For years, mysticism and such contemplative prayer practices were dismissed in the West as eccentric or even heretical. But, that is all changing. Today, people crave an experience of the divine, not simply a doctrinal creed to intellectually comprehend. There is a hunger for experiential religion, and contemplative prayer in its kataphatic and apophatic forms are gifts for post-modern persons.

Our Real Work by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

from his 1983 book Standing by Words

911 The 2021 Emergency Call

Like some of you who read this blog, this weekend is serving as an opportunity to remember the events of September 11, 2001. We also remember the people who lost their lives on that day, and in the subsequent wars.

In 2021 I’m realizing that another 911 call needs to be made. This summer I personally experienced the impacts of climate change. This included watching the remnants of two hurricanes fly over my house. In addition, while on vacation this summer out west I experienced a ferocious heat wave along with the smoke from millions of acres of forest fires. Those fires are still burning as I write this post.

Climate change is in my opinion our number one crisis. It’s an environmental, economic and spiritual crisis. I believe that at its core is our disconnect from the natural rhythms of life. Seventy years ago, when another crisis began with the Second World War, the vast majority of US Americans, not to mention the global population, lived of the land much more directly than we do today. This disconnect from nature, from where we get our food and water, from the cycles of life, death and rebirth is a core factor in our behavior.

Witnessing the dramatic changes in our environment is causing me to make changes in my lifestyle in the hopes of impacting climate change. This is another way of saying, what can one person do?

• Drive less and/or drive a vehicle that gets better gas mileage

• Eat less beef. A diet less dependent of meat is good for your body as well as the planet

• Grow a garden, walk in the woods/park, get outdoors.

• Advocate for policy changes in both state and federal government

• Meditate, pray, reflect using the great wisdom traditions to connect with Creation

These are my five actions. I invite you to consider adopting one or more in your own life. Our planet and our souls will be grateful.

"How Long… O Lord……How Long?"

"How Long… O Lord……How Long?"

That's the phrase that comes to mind as I think about this pandemic.  I had hoped that this fall would bring a clear path forward for all of us. Yet, clarity seems to be in short supply.

 "What are other congregations doing?"

This question is likely the number one question we receive. It's in reference to the practices regarding worship and fellowship in the 170+ congregations of the New England Synod, plus campus ministries and other places where people gather. 

There is no singular answer.  It varies and ranges on one end from a very small number of congregations that have not held any kind of worship in-person, online or hybrid, to the other end where congregations that are worshiping indoors without masks. 

The most common practice is somewhere in the middle where congregations are holding some form of in-person worship indoors with masks or outdoors with masks optional combined with an online presence via the internet. 

Beyond worship, some congregations have moved council and committee meetings for the foreseeable future to an online platform while others are meeting indoors with precautions. Most are not hosting larger events in their buildings but have been finding creative ways to gather outdoors for fellowship and to welcome some community groups back to their buildings with masks and distancing. Here, too, I encourage you to think through each situation with your team in conversation with local and national guidance

 There are no easy answers, but here are the suggestions I encourage:

1.     Have a team of people that regularly monitors both CDC guidelines, State Health Department Guidelines, and also seeks out your wisdom as you care for the people in your congregation. I think strong people balance that three-legged stool.

2.     Realize that the “new normal” is not back to a “past practice”, but instead living in to a time of fluidity. In the past, we were fixed and frozen in our practices (worship always at 10 a.m. since the time of Jesus), but the “new church” is liquid (adapting to changing contexts and health concerns).

“Life” has changed radically, and while some want that to not be the case, reality points to change as the constant.  I suspect that we will be going forward for another year or two of this pandemic.  I know none of us want to hear that, but everything I read says that until we get close to 80% of the planet vaccinated, this Covid19 remains with us. 

I encourage our congregations to be compassionate and wise. I'm also asking that people be kind to one another. We do not make smart decisions or model our call as Jesus’ disciples when we treat one another cruelly.

Let's be patient and kind!

Is Religion Headed for Extinction?

I’ve been invited to respond to questions on Religion and Social Justice through the online magazine “The Good Men project.” Questions are submitted, and then the editorial team ships them out to various contributors. The first question is

Q: I was raised in the Christian religion and consider myself a person of faith, but I cannot accept the systemic sexism promoted by many of the patriarchal religions, and I am offended by the idea that God rejects LGBTQ people as his own creations. Now the religious right seems to hold center stage in the conversation about God, making church-going and even prayer seem entirely suspect. If religion won’t adapt to our evolving world, doesn’t it deserve to die out as a cultural expression of faith?

Today, they published my response/article. Check it out. Here’s the link

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/is-religion-headed-for-extinction/

Juneteenth is now a Holiday

This week the US Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the establishment of June 19th as a federal holiday.

In 1863, during the American Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. (sourced from Encyclopedia Britannica)

While I applaud the decision of the US Congress to establish June 19th as a federal holiday, it strikes me as only one of need reforms to address our countries historic and current racism. Holiday’s help us tell stories, which is good. The hope and the need in my view is to further the movement with economic and legal reforms that fully embrace all person in this country, most particularly those who have disenfranchised.

"What if they Don't come back?"

Fresh Expressions has a worthwhile article on the challenges and opportunities for the post-pandemic church. Check it out. Click here.

Also, I’ve copied it below for your convenience.

“What If They Don’t Come Back?” 4 Opportunities for Churches Post-Pandemic

By Chris Morton

As vaccination spreads and pandemic restrictions ease, this is the anxious question in the back of many church leader’s minds. Some churches haven’t met in a long time. Others have gathered in limited ways that never really compared to their pre-pandemic participation.

When a Church says “it’s time to regather!” some will respond with excitement, ready to reconnect with friends and worship corporately. Others will feel a sense of dread, unsure if these gatherings will feel safe, either physically or emotionally. Some might not be paying attention at all.

Regathering is difficult for several reasons. There are ever-changing logistics of moving back into unused spaces. Some feel wounded by or distrustful of churches, especially in the U.S., because of how some Christians participated in the hyper-politicization of pandemic, political and social issues over the last year. 

Then there’s the problem of inertia. 

Church members have had over a year to spend their Sundays sleeping in, traveling, crunching, or even visiting other churches. Many may just not feel the need to gather again.

The natural question for Church leaders to ask is “how do we get our people to come back?” 

But regathering also offers opportunities for churches to reimagine their mission and cast a new vision for their congregation after COVID.

How Can We Re-Present Ourselves to Our Community?

What are your neighbors doing on Sunday morning? What about those who live next to your church building?

One tangible sign of the pandemic for many people is the lack of traffic on Sunday mornings. Sadly, the direct neighbors around your church’s meeting space may know very little about you. 

This could be the perfect time to engage your neighborhood in a new way. Announcing your church’s regathering gives you an excuse to send mailers, door hangers, or even knock on doors. At other times you might feel like you need a reason to “bother” people. But now you have one!

Connecting with your neighbors is a chance to get to know them and their needs, not to talk about yourself. As you connect, you can ask questions like:

“What has life been like for you during the pandemic? What would help you today?”

“What are some needs and opportunities you see in the neighborhood? How might our church community help?”

“Is there any way I can pray for you?”

Because organizations of all sorts are going through a sort of re-start, now is the perfect time to begin building relationships with the people you’ve seen around but never met.

How Can We Build on What We’ve Learned?

The pandemic led even the most traditional local churches to be more innovative. Congregations learned Zoom and Facebook Live, conducted parking lot services, and provided food for hungry neighbors. Forced creativity has helped unengaged church members find new roles and has allowed new people to encounter churches online or in unexpected settings.

Churches now have the opportunity to use what they’ve learned and continue to explore new structures for discipleship and new expressions of Church. 

Are there individuals who have taken on leadership in ways they never did before the pandemic? Consider what their next steps in discipleship and leadership growth could be. 

Have you met new people in your community through your efforts to help with pandemic needs like food or loneliness? Consider how the ministries you’ve launched might mature towards a fuller expression of Church.

Have your online experiences engaged people who cannot attend your church otherwise? Consider how you can move beyond a simple broadcast of your weekend gathering to daily interactions that build a sense of community.

How Can We Bring Church to People?

When the pandemic shut down church gatherings, it also closed gyms and movie theatres. People found new ways to exercise, relax and connect. At one point, there was a shortage of bicycles, and sales of camping gear have exploded.

At the same time, the pandemic removed the “social pressure” people felt to go to parties, work in offices, and, yes, attend church on Sunday. While these in-person venues will reopen, there’s no going back. Movies will continue to be released online, outdoor excursions will remain popular, and some businesses may never return to their offices.

One surprise of the pandemic for churches was the new ways it allowed people to engage in new ways. For instance, a small church in rural Texas started using Zoom for their weekend gatherings. A long-time member of their community was blind and found that interacting on Zoom was more accessible to them than in-person gatherings. This person started inviting others from the blind community, and they quickly made up a sizable portion of their gatherings.

Other churches elected to meet in smaller groups as part of backyard gatherings. These churches are rediscovering the foundational nature of home and family life as a central organizing principle. 

When you read about how the Church spread in the book of Acts, it’s interesting that Peter and Paul reached both synagogue-attending Jews and Gentile seekers. When Paul teaches Lydia and her friends who gathered near a river, he doesn’t tell them to come to synagogue on Saturday. Instead, we hear about a church community taking shape in her house.

As restrictions lift, it may be hard to get people out of their pajamas and in a pew on Sunday. What would it be like to bring Church to them?

How Can We Cast a New Vision or Recapture an Old One?

After over a year apart, it’s easy to let the desire to reconnect and return to “normal” drive decision-making. But the pandemic should also force reflection. Much of what we were doing was ineffective, unsustainable, and even worked against our health and vitality.

What if the pandemic is giving you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reevaluate everything? Was a particular ministry dragging down the rest of your church? Was your worship style inaccessible to the people you hope to reach? Tired of the color of the carpet? There will never be an easier time to address these questions.

At the same time, churches have central ideals and important stories worth remembering. Time causes every organization to drift from its mission. As you regather, you have the opportunity to cast a new vision—or recast an old one—of who God has called your church to be.

Now is the Time

The COVID-19 pandemic is (Lord willing) a once-in-a-lifetime experience! We know we can’t return to the way life was before, and that’s probably okay.

The George Floyd Anniversary

It’s been a lovely spring day here in New England. Everywhere there is evidence of new life. I have enjoyed every single sunny day we’ve had, but I also couldn’t help but start to think about what happens when it gets hot later this summer…we had a glimpse of that over the weekend. We could use some rain. We are getting long overdue.

George Floyd Mural Minneapolis

There is a lot that is long overdue. One year ago today we witnessed on a recording by a witnesses cell phone video, the nearly 9 minutes of torture by a Minneapolis Police Officer, and the subsequent murder of George Floyd. The event was so obviously an act of intentional homicide, that a jury convicted that officer in one of the very few instances of accountability of its kind. That justice was long overdue. But I hesitate to wonder, what would have happened if we did not have that video recording of those nine minutes.

The event brought the disparity of what it’s like to live in this country as a black person versus a white person. The good news is that some progress is being made, the bad news is that in many places little has changed and people of color continue to be killed.

So much and so little has changed since George Floyd.

Martin Luther King Jr reminded us that the ark of justice curves slowly. Slowly indeed. Our calling is to keep bending it toward justice even when it seems futile…because it’s not futile.

The work of addressing racism is hard work for everyone, and for people who look like me, it’s a challenge because it requires a profound self-examination. We face an internal psycho/spiritual struggle as well as an external one involving laws and policy. Both are needed in this case. More than any other author, I have been helped by the work of Dr. Fanny Brewster author of the Racial Complex. Her thesis is that within the collective US American psyche/soul is a cluster of energy that challenges our ability to see clearly our personal and collective wound.

Brewster explores how racial complexes influence personality development, cultural behavior and social and political status, and how they impact contemporary American racial relations. She also investigates aspects of the racial complex including archetypal shadow as core, constellations and their expression, and cultural trauma in the African diaspora. The book concludes with a discussion of racial complexes as a continuous psychological state and how to move towards personal, cultural and collective healing.

While some may criticize this internal investigation as avoiding the external realities of injustice, I’m of the school of thought that says it’s both. We need both the internal and the external work, and in my view, sustained healing will not occur until both are resolved.

If you are interested in being part of a small group that reads Dr. Brewster’s book, let me know. Drop me an email here. Who knows if we have enough people maybe I can get her to drop in on our conversation, no promises though, as she is in high demand these days.

Dr. Fanny Brewster

What do the new CDC Guidelines Mean?

Dear New England Synod

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control released new guidance for mask-wearing and gatherings. Those can be found here at this link.

I’ve received the famous question of Martin Luther in his Small Catechism, “What does this mean?” I am not a scientist nor a public health official, and I’ve yet to play one on TV. But, since some of you asked, here are my thoughts:

·      It means that getting a vaccine is essential for a path back to a life of in-person human contact. There is now broad clear and scientifically undeniable evidence that a fully vaccinated person can participate in society.

·      It does not mean you can immediately hold in-person worship and events without masks. It does not mean you can start singing in worship. Let’s proceed with caution. In the words of one mother, “I’m not bringing my unvaccinated children to in-person worship where I know there are unvaccinated adults who refuse to wear masks.”

·      It also means that we are going to have to figure out how to navigate the question of vaccine use by worship attenders. This is a challenging question. One worth discussion by your leadership. How does our often stated “all are Welcome” engage with “all should be safe here.?”

·      It also means that we in the six states of New England, plus the counties in Upper New York need to watch and see how each state government interprets these guidelines. I expect we will know more in a week.

I have continued to advise wisdom and thoughtful engagement during this pandemic, as opposed to a rush to the quick fix.  We’ve done well here in New England so far, let’s continue that judicious approach.

Sincerely

Bishop James Hazelwood

Using Dreams in Spiritual Direction

Recently a friend of mine described a peculiar event in her life. While attempting to parent her teenage son during an emotionally charged situation, she blurted out a series of statements that she not only regretted but did not reflect her true personality. “I don’t know where they came from. It’s like I was possessed or something.”

Have you ever had an experience similar to this one? I know I have. In response to something that was said or done, it’s as if I had lost my mind. Another example might be when you find yourself listening to someone in a meeting and you notice that what they are saying makes no sense at all and even contradicts their own values. I saw this recently when someone was defending their position on a personal medical issue. As they explained to me their thinking, it simply defied all sound reasoning, yet it made ‘sense’ to them. One more example: You walk into a room (a meeting, a classroom, a church, a Zoom session) to listen to a guest speaker. After about a minute or two, you have a really strong reaction. It may be positive such as almost falling in love or considering this person to be the wisest human ever to live. It may be negative, and so strong you just despise the person and think all their points are worthless. What’s going on here? You’ve only been listening for 60 seconds.

It’s as if something else is influencing us. Could it be that there are forces inside us and around us that influence our waking lives? I’d like to use a metaphor to explain that influence. That metaphor is best illustrated by the image of an iceberg.

As you can see from this photo, the vast majority of the iceberg is not above the waterline, but below. Depth Psychologists refer to this submerged part of the iceberg as the unconscious. Above the waterline is our conscious selves, that’s the part we show to the world, take to work, and think is in charge. It’s gone by different names depending on the school of thought: ego, persona, conscious self. Notice what’s underneath the waterline. Notice the size of the unconscious. It’s outsized in proportion to the tiny part we present to the world each day. Do you think it might be influencing us? You bet it does. But here’s the thing, because it’s under the water because it’s the unconscious we don’t know about it. Plus the ego or persona has done a great job of convincing us that the part above the waterline is in charge. The ego thinks it’s the CEO of our lives.

Yet, we see the unconscious spring up from time to time as in the examples I mentioned at the beginning. One of the keys to growing as a person through life’s stages is becoming more aware of those influences that are under the surface of the waterline. It’s my contention that spiritual maturity includes exploring this submerged region of our being.

One of the avenues I’ve found most helpful is Dreamwork. Our dreams are messages, cinematic neurochromes (as in mindful Kodachrome film) that convey via story and images glimpses of our unconscious. All humans dream, and it’s very likely most mammals dream as well. In fact, some anthropologists suspect that dreaming may be the origin of religion in the evolutionary development of homo-sapiens. Those dreams may then have been communicated around campfires, and then joined with the rituals of dance and song that shaped early human life. All of this is to suggest, maybe dreams can be a helpful vehicle in our own spiritual development.

Dreams are certainly part of both the Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian New Testament. Kelly Bulkelly’s Dreaming in the World’s Religions demonstrates the wide variety of dreaming in Hindu, Buddhist, African, Islamic religions as well as Judaism and Christianity. Depth psychologists, particularly CG Jung, have demonstrated the significance of dreams as pathways to growth and maturity. In a podcast, last fall, I spoke with author and psychotherapist Jason Smith about the many intersections between dreams, symbols, and religious life.

In the last thirty years, that I’ve been working with my own dreams, I’ve learned better ways of engaging with difficult people, grown in my practices of prayer and discovered methods for healthier and holistic living. I’ve also learned about those aspects of my personality that are not so helpful to others. It’s been a rich time of growth and maturing…and I’ve still got a long way to go.

Through my study and practice with the Haden Institute as well as years of dreamwork on my own and with various guides, I’ve come to see exploring dreams as a profoundly significant tool for spiritual growth. Some of my most profound spiritual maturation has occurred in dreams and the subsequent lessons I’ve learned from them. A significant part of my training to become a Spiritual Director is now focused on dreamwork with both individuals as well as in group settings. Next fall, I’ll be starting a monthly dreamwork group to be held via Zoom. If this is something that interests you, let me know, and I’ll be glad to describe the process employed using the work developed by Robert Haden Robert Johnson , and Jeremy Taylor, ministers who have developed a method for working with dreams in groups.

If this interests you let me know. You can email me here.

Becoming a Hybrid Church

Author Dave Daubert and I discuss his new book, Becoming a Hybrid Church. I highly recommended it as a tool, not so much for easy answers (are there any?) but for engagement in congregation councils and planning groups. It’s one of those nice thin books that are readable in a short stint.

If you are interested, you can listen to my conversation with Dave. Just click here.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought almost instant changes to every aspect of the church's ministry. Now, as we adjust to this new reality, every congregation will need to find ways to continue on-the-ground ministry while also finding ways to use the online world in new and creative ways. Using an adaptive framework to start reflecting on these changes, the book’s concise chapters cover a variety of congregational ministries (worship, servanthood, congregational care, stewardship, spiritual formation, and more) that are enhanced when congregations include online ministry in addition to working in more traditional ways. Each chapter includes a closing section with scripture, questions for reflection and prayer that make it the perfect book for small groups, leadership teams, and anyone who wants to think about what the next chapter looks like in the congregation where they are.”

"take the path beyond the ordinary" The Poet David Whyte

Mameen

by David Whyte

Be infinitesimal under that sky, a creature

even the sailing hawk misses, a wraith

among the rocks where the mist parts slowly.

Recall the way mere mortals are overwhelmed

by circumstance, how great reputations

dissolve with infirmity and how you,

in particular, stand a hairsbreadth from losing

everyone you hold dear.

Then, look back down the path to the north,

the way you came, as if seeing

your entire past and then south

over the hazy blue coast as if present

to a broad future.

Recall the way you are all possibilities

you can see and how you live best

as an appreciator of horizons

whether you reach them or not.

Admit that once you have got up

from your chair and opened the door,

once you have walked out into the clean air

toward that edge and taken the path up high

beyond the ordinary you have become

the privileged and the pilgrim,

the one who will tell the story

and the one, coming back

from the mountain

who helped to make it

"beyond a reasonable doubt."

Yesterday, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the murder of George Floyd last May.

It was a murder recorded by a witness using her hand-held phone, demonstrating the power of this technology. What would have happened if we did not have that video? 

The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era— protests that unified people to say, “Enough.”  

The verdict is a step forward.  But we should also be clear that such a verdict is also much too rare.  For so many, particularly people of color, it feels like this is a long time coming for the judicial system to deliver a just decision in this one case.

The prosecution laid out a clear and compelling case that included police officers standing up and testifying, and the jury of diverse persons found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  In the legal case, the prosecutors sought to make this case about just this case. They were seeking to hold one person accountable.

And yet, this verdict cannot be underestimated in its broader significance. It is a step in the long painful struggle of racial disparity in this country. Yet, we should be mindful that it should not be viewed as a final act accompanied by an attitude of “this is fixed now.”

I know from my conversations with persons of color that they all too often have found themselves pulled over in their car, their bike or walking down the street for no clearly explained reason. Living with this fear weighs on them heavily. And candidly, it’s hard for white people to imagine. We have a difficult time putting ourselves in their situation in our minds eye. 

It is for that reason that I am so pleased to see the many congregations of this New England Synod engaged in efforts to understand and act on matters of racism. I know these are challenging conversations. But they are important steps for us as we seek to live into our calling as disciples of Christ. May the efforts continue.