Foot Rub

Now would be a good time for a foot rub! Ahhhhh….

An assignment: take a family member or friend aside while everyone else naps or watches football, and have them probe your feet strategically according to the above chart. Have them move slowly, in millimeter increments. You will discover certain points are tender.

“It’s all in your head.” For centuries, since the philosopher and scientist René Descartes (1596-1650) said I think, therefore I am, the western world has looked at the body at a mechanical instrument, with the mind operating as its control tower. Modern biology is beginning to upend that idea with the advent of neuroscience and a more sophisticated observation of the body.

How beautiful are the feet. The ancient Chinese viewed every organ in the body as a kind of “brain”: the heart, lungs, liver, hands, feet, and so on, each have their own “computer,” as we might call it today. Each organ is the body in microcosm. The feet are an exact map of the body; the discipline called “reflexology” studies and applies this map to healing.  

If my head is not the control tower I thought it was, are there are new possibilities for helping my body to heal, energize, and resist disease?

Embodied Lord, help me to understand how to heal. Amen. 

~~~~~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Back to the Body

Twenty years of back pain, and I am finally making progress. It is coming from an unexpected source: Chinese medicine.

To set the context: after this doctor and that specialist and this physical therapist and that umpteenth stretching regimen, my back still hurt. As in, stop everything and lay on the ground hurt. The ibuprofens and acetaminophens and other drugs worked little or not at all. 

The most troubling thing (besides the money spent on all of it) was the utter lack of answers. I saw the best of the best specialists, neurosurgeons, and therapists, and not one of them—over a twenty year period!—could offer me a real explanation for what was causing my problem. 

I finally got brave. I asked my doctor for a recommendation to an acupuncturist. (To his credit, he had one ready at hand!) After just a few visits, the effect was so palpable that I knew I must be on to something. That in turn has led me into further study and work in reflexology, acupressure, and herbal medicine. I am embarking on a whole new world of understanding about the human body.

Glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20) Chinese medicine, as it turns out, is not so mystical or otherworldly. Rather just the opposite: it is deeply grounded in the body. Ignoring this tradition, have I denied God’s body the health it naturally wants to achieve?

Embodied Christ, open me to what my body is really saying. Amen. 

~~~~~~~~~~

http://acupressureonline.org/

Headache? Take a look at Aaron Stein's Acupressure Guide at the above link or Amazon. 

Using acupuncture and Chinese medicine, I am working on my asthma, healing from the immense dose of antibiotics I had to take because of Lyme, and a number of other issues in addition to my back. It is a very comprehensive system and can address depression, anxiety, sleep disorder, and a host of other chronic symptoms and diseases.

The simplest explanation for how acupuncture (and acupressure) works is that it sends a signal through the body's nervous system to increase blood flow to a certain area (such as the lungs or back). Blood flow is the only way the body has to heal itself, so increasing its flow will bring down inflammation, pain, and other symptomatic signs.

I will discuss more about acupuncture, the body's meridians, the mind-body connection, and other related concepts such as how foot reflexology works, in coming Minutes.

Open Door

Exploring a church recently, I came across a welcome poster with children’s drawings illustrating four quotes: “Open Door, Open Road, Open Table, Open Spirit.” I cannot think of a better way to present a church’s mission. And from the mouths of babes!

The repetition of the word “open” reinforces something quite easily lost upon churches: in my experience they are usually anything but. This is nothing new: Jesus’ chief confrontation is always with closed religious minds that say, “We understand doctrine. We control values. We will set the agenda for our religious culture.”

Unless you receive like a child….The best thing we can do is become like children again, open to the various diverse and other ways in which God works, ways wholly foreign to us, outside our understanding and control. Only then can the transcendent cosmic Christ be seen.

And he opened their minds. Jesus spoke to the people to open them up to another reality: see this water, it is now wine! See these loaves, they are enough for everyone! The mind-opening and truly mind-bending part of it is that Jesus is at the center of this reality, but not in a closed way. The cosmic Christ contains all things, all roads, all spirits, and is therefore not exclusive to any one of them. Everyone is invited to the wedding.

Open my mind, open my heart, open my spirit, open my path. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommended: New Album by Yo Yo Ma and Chris Thile!

The Goat Rodeo Sessions

These musicians had to be remarkably open to a diversity of sound, style, and instrumentation: a good metaphor for humanity's need for more openness!  

Goat Rodeo video teaser

~~~~~~~~~~~

Not being open to the (dangerous) reality of spirit, and instead trying to control it through the camera, causes huge problems for the characters in the delightfully scary Paranormal Activity films: 

Read more about this strange and ironic combination of denial and control at my film review blog: 

Deeper Film

Moving Parts

+Lowell E. Thomas+

July 10, 1919 - October 14, 2011

“You must be someone special,” said my uncle. “He doesn’t let the rest of us touch this stuff.” So went the last time I saw my grandfather, “Papa.” I got to drive the electric train set he had so lovingly assembled on multiple tracks in the rear bedroom. 

The moving parts of anything motorized or electric were child’s play to him, both in the sense of being easy, and a source of joy. Ham radios were his specialty, and his knowledge of the inner guts of a car was encyclopedic. He could fix anything, thinking in a spatial-technical way that the rest of us could only marvel at.

Though they are many, they are one body. (I Corinthians 12:12) Our bodies have many moving parts; yet we don’t view them as so many items in an assembly line, but rather as a unity, as one whole. Late in his life, Papa connected more deeply to the Christian church. He became a moving part of the mystical body of Jesus. Whole in another sense.

Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. (Matthew 20:34) When Jesus moves, he moves us with him. He opens our eyes to see all the moving parts. Can I see myself as part of a larger, spiritual whole?

Move me, open my eyes to the living body that Papa joined. Amen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are packing our bags for a place none of us has been.

A place that has to be believed to be seen.

-U2, "Walk On"

Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process.

-Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Resurrection Fern - to Papa.

Thousand Faces

Love sometimes comes in disguise. A very successful and recently retired business-owner friend of mine, convinced of the “just business” way of doing things, explained why he chose to sell the company’s shares to his long-standing employees, rather than to an outsider: “Sell the company to a stranger? How could I do that to them?”

He calls that business, I would call it love. His action betrays his deep sense of humanity. That’s love in one of its many faces. Any decision that takes into account the general welfare of others, no matter how coldly logical or financially savvy it might be, comes from a moral imperative we all have built inside of us: the imperative to love.

Because she loved much, she will be forgiven much. (Luke 7:47) A prostitute showed Jesus her very erotic expression of love and was forgiven precisely for it! The disciples could not accept this form of love, because they feared it. It came with a face they did not recognize. 

We call love by other names, like “ethics” or “morals”; we marginalize it in favor of being “practical”; we limit its range by inventing rules and taboos; we stamp it out by ignoring its diversity. Why do we fear love?

Help me see that Your Love has a thousand faces. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Go to YouTube or Itunes and listen to a further thought by Randy Montana on Love's Thousand Faces. We recognize diversity of love but we also need to know that we are seen, individually. The song could be heard as talking to God, or even as God talking to you: "Love has a thousand faces, but I see you." 

I owe the expressions, "love has a thousand faces" and last week's idea, "many shores, one ocean" to  Tariq Ramadan. In Quest For Meaning he argues that religious diversity signals a unity, and that unity implies a shared diversity. He wrestles very eloquently with the problem of the multiplicity of religious ways and beliefs, and how they might be seen as illuminating a universal meaning. Much more to come from this rich resource, as I continue to learn much from it!  

Sailing Paths

Head up and into the wind, I enjoy the sunlight on my face as I see the skyline of Boston recede. The ferry makes its way out of the harbor. From it, the city seems to rise straight out of the Atlantic. It must have seemed so even to those who sailed here in pre-revolution days.

In Sailing to Philadelphia, songwriter Mark Knopfler captures the feeling of journeying: “Now hold your head up, Mason, see America lies there. The morning tides have raised the capes of Delaware. Come up and feel the sun, a new morning is begun. Another day will make it clear why your stars should guide us here.” 

The song is a poignant expression of the courage and steadfastness of two men, surveyor Jeremiah Dixon and astronomer Charles Mason, called upon to go to a new land and draw what would become the Mason-Dixon line. 

Why did the stars guide me here? And now why are they taking me elsewhere? Certainly because I choose this way and not that. And yet, we cannot escape the sense that we are also chosen, guided, called. 

We saw His star. (Matthew 2:2) When we sail to a foreign shore, we learn that all paths indicate a Path, that all shores touch one Ocean.

Out on the water, away from shore, I hold my head up and see Your star. Amen. 

~~~~~~~~~~

I am Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth...

He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line

Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forest of the Iroquois...

Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning is begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line

Sailing to Philadelphia on Itunes

See Live Performance by Mark Knopfler

Veritas

Occasionally we find ourselves in places that resonate deeply within us, almost as if they are saying, “You belong here.” For me this has happened in recent days, dwelling in and around Harvard University. (OK, smarty!)   

What comes to mind at the mention of Harvard? Good Will Hunting? Bostonians in scarves? Pontificating professors’ glasses sliding down their noses? I have heard it described as both “liberal” and “conservative.” So going to the Memorial Church for the first time, I was not sure what to expect.

What I found stunned me: neither a bunch of lefties parading causes, nor dry, lofty, academic speeches (I have witnessed both at other academic institutions’ worship.) Instead I found a heartening thing: genuine faith. A real congregation of all ages was engaged in traditional liturgy of artistic and beautiful quality. It was not showy. The sermon was a straightforward explication of a biblical passage in Mark, about intimacy with Jesus’ death and “the price of all love.”

What is truth? (John 18:38) “Veritas” means truth. It is the “sign” of Harvard, reminding me that Pilate’s question is our own. When Jesus remains silent, he draws us forth into this most difficult of questions, this most difficult struggle of life: asking after the truth.   

Draw me, Lord, into places where I can ask after the Truth. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommend for further reading:

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Chad Meister (Cambridge University, 2010)  

 

I came across this volume quite by accident (or not) as I randomly selected a spot in the Harvard Coop (rhymes with soup) bookstore on Harvard Square, one of my favorite places to hang out and study. Charles Taliaferro, as it happens, was my philosophy professor at St. Olaf (and a fan of the Good Minute!) Let me publicly say congratulations to Charles, for a fine volume that represents the best tradition of reason energetically participating with faith.

The compilation covers topics such as the existence of God, prayer, salvation, and host of other central issues for Christian thought and practice. These are subjects that often do not receive attention in philosophical circles. Sadly enough, neither do they find much traction in church and theology circles as philosophical topics. That is to say, these topics need serious rational reflection by Christians as to their foundation and their logical structure, and their possible refutation. Speaking as a pastor, I know first hand the way that we can too easily pan off easy formulas and quick slogans rather than really investigating our positions or encouraging people to ask energetically after the truth. Such serious inquiry is difficult, and this volume is indeed demanding on the reader. However, Taliaferro's essay on liturgy in particular is an example of something truly accessible by most readers and a concise, helpful contribution to something that matters practically to most Christians.

One of my utmost personal commitments is this: active intellectual reflection is vitally important to the experience of one's faith. As I was just reminded of at Harvard Memorial Church, the quest for truth is rigorous in more than one sense: it is intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual, and involves one in living out the questions rather than just "agreeing" with a doctrine. It does not have to be showy, but it is never boring because it resonates at the inner level of what it means to be human.

Achievement

"Achievement" is like a man
Old, bent, carrying a broomstick under his arm,
Shuffling through the kitchen late at night,
A shadow passing
In front of the one pinpoint of light in the house
Under the kitchen cabinet. Eclipsing the silver drawer,
As if on some great errand, his ambling purpose takes him beyond
The refrigerator, to the dark alcove of the next room.

He slinks onward, muttering his plans
For How It Will Be! Meanwhile we sit
On a stool, watching the room empty him out
—And fill again with his hulking shape, mad, fitful.
Back to where he came, he crosses back in front
Of the light, the one way we can see him.

As he retreats, his wide round ghost melts
Into darkness. Yet his midnight shade lingers
As we stare down white tiles, black under the stool,
And we know, yes we know, that he, in his stooped
Agitation
Will ruffle forth again, musty slippers scraping
Our attention, saying, "Yes, it's me—
I have come for a bit of bread, cheese, meat!"
And we cannot, no we cannot, do anything
In the dark except help him to eat.

Disorder

The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection.   –Richard Rohr

“Wait, wait, wait!” I called weakly from the hospital bed, as the doctor whisked through the curtain and out of the room. He left mid-sentence, without even letting me ask a question.

That scene rather encapsulates the last few months of my life: disorder. I cannot possibly comprehend or control the things that have swirled around my boat like crashing waves. To top it off, a mystifying infection landed me in the ER, where the formula [5 hours = 5 min w/Dr] seems ever to hold, thus no time for silly questions. 

Were the internal microscopic invaders mirroring the external chaos of my life? Or were they just a random occurrence, part of a brute, unaware mechanism of nature? Either way, sitting alone in the bland inhumane and sterile room, I was the one who had to assign meaning to the event.

This sickness is not unto death. (John 11:4) Jesus teaches his followers to assign a different meaning to disorder. What can come from sickness, pain, evil? Merely this: creation, life, forgiveness, love, redemption, hope, and glory for “the Son of God.” 

As a Son of God, I will fill empty sick rooms with meaning, belief, and love. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything Fits

The nine goes here, the three goes there. Now what? I am stuck. I set the puzzle down and come back to it the next day. Eureka! There it is. The solution presents itself, and soon all the boxes are filled.

Sudoku? A waste of time, I used to say. Now I have become a devotee. I am told that we get a boost of positive feeling upon solving a puzzle (thus the popularity of crosswords). It is also good clean escapism from the storms and stresses of life.

Sudoku focuses the mind in a very interesting way. To solve it, you must simultaneously see narrow and wide, relate parts to wholes, and use both logic and spatial awareness. You cannot guess, as there is only one solution ( a good tonic for the unhelpful relativism that says anything is a solution). This process makes creative, lateral thinking work together with strict logical thinking. It marries the right and left brain.

If you can be trusted with little, you can be trusted with much. (Luke 16:10) Doing an activity that is low-stakes and “little,” we prepare ourselves for the higher-stakes “much.” By allowing ourselves a puzzle, can we see the possibility that every number has a place, that everything belongs, and that everything will fit? Could I train myself not to worry in this way? 

Help me to trust that everything in life will fit into Your one solution. Amen.

Resilience

“TIME TO STOP PLAYING GOD,” a very caring friend said to me recently. She was referring to my tendency to confuse resilience with invulnerability. “You need to let some balls drop, and quit being the strong one all the time.” 

Hard words for an oldest child. Hard words for a pastor. Sometimes friends who know us best say just the thing that we need to hear, just the thing that gets past our defenses, just the thing that smacks us in the gut. I was glad she said them to me.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. (Exodus 7:13) When we confuse a desire to be resilient with a desire to be invulnerable, we end up becoming hard-hearted, less human. Ironically, that makes us less resilient, because we are moving away from our essence, from who we are. That makes us icy, repressive, and ultimately oppressive to others.

Resilience grows up around pain. When we experience a trauma, or when we see our children suffering, we may think that pain must be avoided. We try to shelter ourselves and others from it. But denial of pain halts the process of developing true resilience.

You are an enclosed garden. (Song of Songs 4:12) Perhaps we are like a circle of grass, vulnerable yet hardy, as we grow up around our pain.

Help me to be resilient and vulnerable, growing around my deepest pain. Amen. 

Sunset

In Sunset After a Storm on the Coast of Sicily, a lone figure (near the bottom middle) wearily pulls a group of people ashore in a boat. As indicated by the waves on the left, they must have been through a harrowing and exhausting journey, narrowly escaping with their lives. The shore looks equally inhospitable: have they survived one trial only to be put through another?

Yet the figures’ dire circumstance is not what you see first. Even though darkness surrounds the figures, it is offset by the more powerful and captivating light of the sun. The clouds seem to be clearing. Night approaches, but the yellow glow is there, indicating hope in the hearts of the people.

If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night, even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. To you darkness and light are one. (Psalm 139:11-12) A very hard thing for us western Christians to understand. Darkness and light are one. I find it comforting, because it means to me that the evil and good that I have done, and that have been done to me, are all of one whole. All part of a unity of the plan, purpose, and being of God.

Where do I look back and see the unity of dark and light, good and bad, in my life? How might this vision bring me wholeness? 

Be with me in the sunset, O Lord, as I move through the dark and the light. Amen.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I approach my last Sunday as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Morris Plains, I reflect on the many memories of people serving God together. So much of the journey has been about developing more awareness. Of ourselves as a congregation, of the needs and challenges of ministry in the 21st century, and ultimately, of God's presence and activity in our lives.

This devotional—Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello—is a new discovery for me. I will be keeping it close for awhile. I just got through reading a section on why, in pursuit of awareness, you cannot make demands. "Someday you will understand that simply by awareness you have already attained what you were pushing yourself toward."

I am aware to very great and deep extent that I contributed to a culture early in my tenure here, and which I never quite managed to escape, of demands and counter demands, of pushing zealously toward goals rather than meeting life with acceptance and grace.

I am grateful to God and to the congregation that despite this, we were given the gift of many fruitful ministries, many great conversations about God's work, and many times of active service together. We grew together, in our understanding of who we are before God and in recognizing our calling as his created people. As the church moves into its new chapter, I now believe it has a bright hope, as the painting suggests, of a good and fortuitous dawn. 

Qian

Surely one of the most sublime and powerful gifts of being human is the power to create. To initiate, to bring into existence that which was not there before, is a power vested in humankind to a much greater degree than any other in nature.

When we offer our own vitality in the service of initiating, we give away our own being. The ancient Chinese had a word for this heavenly energy: Qian. The ideogram (word-picture) for Qian depicts a sun on the left side, with a plant sprouting above it and another taking root below. On the right are the sun’s rays spreading out from the center. Qian means the creative, initiating power of heaven.

Qian is also depicted by three solid lines, often seen on flags and emblems. A Christian might see in the three lines another expression of the sublime: the Trinity. Creation of the truly new comes from convergence and community. Not two sides, not two persons, but three.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19) Jesus instructed his followers to initiate in the name of Three, especially when performing that rite of initiation called baptism. We see the power of Qian whenever there is a confluence of minds (at least three!) that results in new action. Where do I see this initiating power currently at work?

Help us to create and initiate, O Trinity, with the same mind as Heaven. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have found the I Ching a helpful devotional as well as a deeply profound guide for faith. The concepts in it are mirrored in the Bible, but find different expression here. The visual explanations of the Chinese ideograms in this particular edition by Alfred Huang are vivid and accessible. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding more about Taoism, eastern thought, comparative religion, or simply dealing with the confusions and changes of daily life.  

Lightning

I recently dreamt that I stood under a bolt of lightning. A searing stream of energy poured forth out of a white globe in the clouds. Amazingly, I was not hurt. Rather than feeling afraid, I felt safe. As I watched it move across the landscape and over me, somehow I knew that it would protect me even as it charged everything else in its path. It felt like God’s powerful presence surrounding me.

As the dream faded into the reality of the day, the vivid memory of it remained. Then several unique things happened that brought great alteration, significant change, and God’s hand upon my life. I kept going back to the imagery of the dream. 

The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. (Psalm 29:7) In the forces of nature, we find God. Too often we only hear of how this indicates punishment—as in, “If you’ve been bad, you’ll get struck by lightning!” Even worse is to place blame: “The earthquake was God’s retribution on those wicked ones.”

The whole creation groans.(Rom 8:22) It bucks and heaves just as we do inside of our souls, yearning for peace. My dream reminded me that God’s lightning-strong power is for the world, and uniquely, for me.

Unleash your creative power in our world, God, and in my life. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read Bono, A.S. Byatt, and the Dalai Lama's personal repsonse to books of the Bible.

The why and the how of lightning.

How do I capture something like this on film?

Guidance

Around the narrow turn, my bicycle sails through a damp but warm October morning. Downhill over wet leaves, trees in a canopy above, I think, “What a perfect ride.” Just then I see a parked construction vehicle blocking the road. Too close to avoid, I brake, spin out over the leaves, and take a bad fall. My left shoulder takes the brunt of the impact.

Three months later, thinking things are back to normal, I go to the gym. After a couple workouts in a week, my shoulder is worse than before. Another three months, and here I sit, with a physical therapist, still in pain. “You thought it was healed,” he says, showing me a mechanical diagram of the muscles and tendons. “It will heal. But nobody told you, it needs to be guided to heal the right way.” 

The body is a delicate thing, but also strong and able to heal when guided to do so. How much more so is the soul delicate, strong, and able to heal, when guided to move toward healing. Such guidance comes from mentors who understand the why and the how of things better than I do.

The wise listen and find guidance. (Proverbs 1:5) Who are my mentors? What wounds—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—are not healing well for lack of proper guidance? 

In my wounds, God, help me not to ignore the guidance available to me. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albrecht Durer remains one of the world's most influential and creative artists. He wanted to understand not only the how of drawing but the why. He combined a scientific understanding of the body with artistic observation, depth of feeling, and spirituality. Some of his images have become icons the world over, such as "Praying Hands."

Creators by Paul Johnson is an energetic and very readable account of people like Dürer who have left a lasting mark on the world through their art. Bach, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Jane Austen, T.S. Eliott, Picasso, and Walt Disney are among the lives depicted. 

Johnson argues that the kind of creativity they pursued, often under great duress, was of a different degree than most other forms of creativity, but that the creative spirit lies within everyone. Johnson examines whether there is such a thing as a "typical artist," comparing and contrasting their lives, and finding great inspiration in their efforts.

Durer was also a writer and philosopher who wanted to pass along his knowledge to future artists.

Johnson says of Dürer's On Human Proportion, "The conclusion to the third book deals with aesthetics and the relationship between man, art, and God."

Heroes' Feet: One Day Without Shoes

Chapel Address, Concordia College—New York 

April 5, 2011

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Luke 7:38

Look at your feet. Look closely. What do you see there? What adjective would you use? Large? Small? Calloused? Lumpy? Sore? Painted? Cute?

How about this one—beautiful. I’m not sure we usually think of feet as beautiful. I remember trying to draw feet in drawing class, having to focus on the shapes and contours. I realized that the more you look at them, the more beautiful they are. Like a lot of things, actually, the more you look at them.

How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of an artist’s hands! (Song of Solomon 7:1)

Another adjective—heroic. Depictions of Greek heroes going into battle are always barefoot. I wonder why? It is a sign of strength, surely. By connecting to the earth we draw on its power. But we also draw on the connective power of shared humanity, as we walk the same ground today as those who have no shoes. Maybe they are heroes. Maybe you are heroes. When you see your feet, do you think, these are a hero’s feet?

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, says Isaiah.

You are a hero because of the good news you bring today, the solidarity you proclaim by going without shoes. 

But you will also go places with these feet. Places that you never thought possible. You will be a hero in those places, because you will bring shoes to children, you will bring good tidings and love to forgotten places. You won’t bring God, he’s already in those places. But you’ll discover Him there. As you sit at others’ feet.

Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to signify that he was their servant. And to remind them of baptism, that their sin was washed away. But it was also to send them, to say to them, you have beautiful and heroic feet. You will go places with these feet.

There’s one more adjective—loving. Are your feet loving? Can you love someone’s feet? There was a woman who was so overcome with love for Jesus that she washed his feet with her tears and caressed them with her hair. Guys and gals take note: if you love someone, say it to their feet. A little washing, caressing, and perfume will go a long way. Maybe at the end of today especially.

Jesus washes our feet so that we may go out to the farthest corners of the earth, to give of ourselves and become who we really are: beautiful, heroic, and loving. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Join the Day Without Shoes, Tuesday April 5, 2011:

More at One Day Without Shoes | www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

Snowdrop

“Why does Mother Nature have to do this?” said my son, waking to another cold March morning. 

The winter has been cold, and the cold seems to linger into spring, causing the snowdrops—and the people—to wilt. The word “motivation” seems a long way off in this sort of vague, prolonged, ill-defined weather. 

Another thing that causes people to wilt: an ideal God. An ideal God is a cold God, detached from flesh and blood, from the world and humanity. A God of abstract “truth” does not know the daily cross of fledgeling snowdrops trying to push through layers of old ice-encrusted ways, struggling in order to grow and become. 

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness. (Luke 1:80) Jesus, very far from abstract “good,” must be the earthbound snowdrop, growing while hidden away in the cold wilderness, until the right time comes.

Can I look at my time in hidden struggle and see the child of God growing in Spirit? Can I see my life infused with beauty, grace, love, and abundance—even in the cold?

When I wilt, Lord, may my Spirit grow and still push upward. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something Good This Way Comes! A good thing to remember in March.

A little medicine for the soul: some good Baroque.

Masterpiece

Michelangelo saw it: the human being as a sign of the divine. Here is David, no groveling religious penitent, no poor grubby shepherd, but a confident man surveying his horizons. He is absolutely and serenely part of nature, unclothed with only a sling at his shoulder, and yet an image of that which transcends nature: beauty itself, grace itself, harmony itself. 

I have found David a man after my own heart. (Acts 13:22) David’s humility is his confident acceptance of his place, as standing between the natural and the divine. His pose is a repose, a trust in knowing who he is. His nakedness is both an embrace of wild nature, even its sexuality, as well as a return to pureness, a primal unity of soul and body, spirit and flesh.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his Being. (Hebrews 1:3) As with David, so with Jesus. “The soul is the form of the body,” says Aristotle. Put differently, the ideal is right there in front of you, bodily, if you will just look at it, not through it or above it or away from it. 

Whom do I tend to look through rather than at? Do I see myself, as a human being, where I truly stand before God?  

Teach me to stand confidently, seeing who I really am in Your order. Amen.

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"There's a light making its way

On up the mountain, night and day

You'll get tired, you may weep

But you won't abandon your masterpiece."

Titan's Goblet

With aesthetic logic, everything is a sign, even the fantastical. Thomas Cole, 19th-century American landscape painter, seems to be evoking this logic with his unusual and imaginative painting, Titan’s Goblet. 

Get inside the image for a moment. Feel the romance and the reality of it. Enjoy its sunset repose over the lake, floating far above the world, surrounded by lush greenery, inside a giant chalice. Wonder with the image: Who made this? Is this a scene of memory, about lost age of giants? Or is it about something to come, an evocation of an abundant, heavenly place? Who lives at the base of the cliff, who sails on the water? Could this exist, and if so, how do I get there?

Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you of great things, things beyond the reach of your knowledge. (Jeremiah 33:3) The reason Cole’s painting is so powerful is that it is both simple and natural. It convinces us of a solid reality, yet one that is beyond the reach of our current experience. In this sense it is a “cosmological proof”: an example of how the mind can take something within the known, natural universe (in this case a cup), and rearrange it to conceive the divine. Can I allow myself to meditate on such possibilities?

Take me beyond the reach of my knowledge, to your titanic font. Amen.

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