Patience, a Gift of the Spirit

Once you have love, joy, and peace, can patience follow?

Here we are, working our way through one of the lists of the gifts of the Spirit. Does each gift build on the previous gift? Like the tiers of a pyramid, do the gifts of the Spirit come together so that the top of the pyramid, the cap, is “self-control?” Well, I am probably linking these gifts in a way that was not intended by Paul, but it is an interesting thought. Maybe self-control is so rare because the previous gifts are often not in place!

But now we have the gift of patience. As I look over this list, it seems that patience is the least people-oriented gift of the Spirit. When I think of patience, I think of it as something I need to “do” so that “I” can have what “I” have been waiting for. Blech. And it is usually about materials things, stuff that loses it’s shine and smell of newness as soon as I bring it into my home. Entire economies are built trusting that people are not very good at patience.

If we re-frame this gift however, if we cast a different light on it which is the light of the Holy Spirit, if we see it from another angle, perhaps it becomes more attractive and achievable. What if patience is more about what happens one person to another? What if we could put away our fascination with “stuff” for a while and think about the people who are part of our lives? All of a sudden it seems like we have better air to breathe. We know there are people who are patient with us, and so we recognize the ability to be patient with others.

Lyman Abbott wrote “Patience is passion tamed.” The patience that the Holy Spirit gives is a far cry from apathy or lethargy. The apathetic and lethargic are not patient - they have simply given up. When passion has a direction and the strength to get there one step at a time, like a laser, there is a tremendous amount of direction and purpose.

So in our faith, when is patience called for? You should add to this list:
When our children and grandchildren have not demonstrated a living, active faith.
When people of other faith traditions tell you “how it is.”
When you disappoint yourself spiritually.
When the Bible isn’t speaking to you.
When you would like to finish your journey in this life, and be with your Lord in heaven.
When each today is too much like yesterday.
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May the Lord of love, joy, peace and patience be with you.

Peace, a Gift of the Spirit

First love, then joy, and now peace. Last month I suggested an image of a pyramid, where one level supports the next, etc. As if these gifts of the Spirit have a certain progression to them. I am not certain this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he was writing to the Galatians, but it is a curious thought. If love is the base, then joy can easily follow. If love and joy are intact, if they have solid footing, then peace can be a natural progression in communities of faith. Does that make sense? As I think of my own life, I am sure that if I have plenty of love and joy, then peace will be a peace of cake (pun intended!). Someone commented to me that the pyramid is a very strong structure.

We need this spiritual gift at so many occasions. Peace is needed by a mother who is grieving the death of a son. Peace is needed for a person who is thinking about an upcoming surgery. Peace is needed when kids come home from school with problems. Peace is needed between siblings when an unjust decision was made in the family. Peace is needed when next-door neighbors have a clash of opinions. Peace is needed in parts of the world where fighting happens over complex issues. Like waves crashing against a wall, there is opposition to peace in our world, and in our hearts.

Peace has positive side-effects! Clearer thinking, easier breathing, better sleeping, more adaptive and flexible attitudes, patience, etc, these can be unlocked by peace. I am not talking about peace that we can accomplish without our relationship with God. I am talking about peace that ultimately comes from the One who has stilled the opposition, rendered it powerless and made it possible even in this life for us. Through Jesus, a certain peace was created that before did not exist. This peace is yours already. You might as well use it in your own life. Others around you will be captivated by your peace.

Last month I used a quote from Mother Teresa. This month, once again, I would like to quote her. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

May the Lord of love, joy and peace be with you.

Joy, a Gift of the Spirit

Joy, a Gift of the Spirit
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control”
From Galatians 5:22-23


Last month I wrote about love. What an easy topic! I could write that article in my sleep (not really). Love is the first gift of the Spirit that St. Paul mentions in his letter to the Galatian Christians. The next gift is joy. For those of us who need an attitude adjustment, there is joy!

Imagine a pyramid. The pyramid is made of layers of stone, becoming ever-narrower toward the top. That is an adequate (but not perfect) image for the gifts of the Spirit in Galatians. Imagine “Love” (love that God gives us as a gift through Jesus Christ) as the bottom level, the foundation of the pyramid. Next up, we have joy. Each gift supports and perhaps opens the possibility for the next. Each “layer” is foundational for life in Christ. Each is integral to the whole. Each is a facet of eternal life experienced now.

Now joy. Mother Teresa said, “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” Pause and think about that wise saying for just a moment! Mother Teresa was a notorious scrubber of tender skin. She put in her time flushing out bedpans and lifting weak bodies literally out of the gutter. And she was joyful.

How is your level of joy? I have to confess, I meter out my joy so I can have enough by the end of the day. But that’s a terrible way to be, because by withholding joy I push it away and it only returns by way of the joy of another, and by yet another gift from the Holy Spirit. Joy is meant to be expressed in full force, with all the stops pulled out, all day long. At the end of the day, the joyful person has not run out of joy! In fact (and you know this), joy has increased, even infecting the person next to you.

Can you gaze deeply at all of life’s circumstances with joy? Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy doesn’t have to paint life a rosy color. Joy can be an eternal “yes, and” that helps us through each day and each relationship. Someone might say “Things aren’t going so well with my health.” Your response can be, “Yes, and there is a promise that one day there will be healing for all nations, including you, because of Jesus”. Our joy is given to us by the Holy Spirit, which is the presence of the Resurrected Christ in us and in the world around us.

Joy!

Bloggin the Dust off My Books

Joseph Sittler, "Essays on Nature and Grace", 1971

"The fundamental meaning of grace is the goodness and lovingkindness of God and the activity of this goodness in and toward his creation."

Sittler describes creation not as grace in itself, but as the theatre of grace. I believe this resonates with the hiddenness of God.

"God is made known to man in the matrix of space, time, and matter, which are the substance of that mortal theatre in which God deals with his people in their historical actuality."

Judging from his dates, Sittler was on the forefront of an expanded understanding of grace that is able to interact with and be a proclamation toward the expanded knowledge of humankind today. Sittler would have been impressed and amazed at the advancement of technology and science since 1971! Even in this little book he marveled at the fact that we have discovered both the bigness and smallness of creation.

After experiencing the sounds of Günter Bergmann's "Harmonice Mundi Iovis" where a musical mathematical representation of the orbits of four of Jupiter's moons is given (thank you Martin H.C. Spindler), it is less awkward for me to think about grace and the redeeming work of God in Christ as being something that is to be understood cosmically. Joseph Sittler tips his hat to the thinkers of the Orthodox tradition, and by expanding the reader's understanding of grace's subject he illuminates scripture that is familiar to many of us: "For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (The Apostle Paul, Ephesians 1:9-10)

Turn, Turn to Come Round Right

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.
(Shaker. 1845, Elder Joseph Brackett)

Turning, turning to come ‘round right. What an interesting image. What happens when you turn, turn on the dance floor? Well first of all, you get dizzy! Then when you stop turning, you realize you haven’t covered much ground; you’ve covered the same ground over and over again. You’ve covered the same ground over and over again. But this is the image Elder Brackett uses to describe living life here, and then by extension, entering into God’s heavenly care.

One would assume that “coming round right”, especially when it comes to our relationship with a holy and loving God, would involve a straighter path! The Christian’s life is called a journey. We are supposed to start somewhere and end up somewhere else. It would be helpful if we could look over our shoulder and see the experiences, lessons learned, places and people we were in contact with back there.

But I think Brother Joseph had a point. His short musical confession here was born out of the experience of the holy in the daily things of life. Sounds like freedom, if you ask me! Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free. Round and round goes the rhythm of the day. We begin and we end with our need for a gracious God. We begin and we end with the presence of a gracious God. It’s a dance of little circles. It lasts for one’s whole life, and it is beautiful.

Easter Sunday happens this month. So does the darkness that leads up to it. Holy Week, for example, will have the Maundy Thursday service, and an ecumenical Good Friday service, which will recount the days in which Jesus turned toward the cross, toward also the sin of the world, and toward the only death that gives life to the world. Easter Sunday, it’s as if the circle opens for a brief time, now looking less like a circle and more like arms outstretched in praise. The circle forms again until the next resurrection.

Simplicity

Aah simplicity. The art of surrounding small, seemingly insignificant moments with thought, intention and passion. The art of delving into it, living in it, and being suspended above the time it takes to be there.

I'm sharing a video with you. It's been a while since I've played harmonica, but I really like the instrument, for the simplicity especially. I commend to you Sonny Boy Williamson.

When you watch this video, imagine yourself as the camera person! It is such good, simple stuff. Here we have a man playing harmonica, rhythm and singing. He does all this solo.

14-Year Journal

I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face. (From Third John)

There’s a hardbound book that I’ve taken up again, nearly every morning for the past several weeks. It’s my journal. I jot down my thoughts, my memories of the previous day, my predictions and musings about what the near future might hold. I even complain to it in writing. Some prayers are recorded there. Some poems too. I’ve noticed “to-do” lists. I wonder how well I did in doing those to-do’s!

There are also huge gaps in time. In a few cases I had not written in my journal for more than a year. Do you think that I would write about the birth of my daughters? When I turn back to that time, I realize that I wrote in the days leading up, but not in the days following. I suppose I was busy with something else, like changing diapers or catching up with sleep.

This same journal has been written-in at some point over the span of 14 years. I started writing just as Dawn and I were married. It is truly amazing to look back to those earlier years, within the very same journal. Someday I will run out of pages and have to pick up with a new book. It will be a sad transition.

Why is journaling important to me? Well, aside from the benefit of being able to jog my memory as time passes, the real benefit is that I have a chance to clear my head, in a way to “commune” with my journal. In a way it is also a narrative of my faith.

When John was writing to a man named Gaius, he closed the very short letter with the words you see above. Look at these words closely. “I would rather not write with pen and ink; instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face.” I believe that my journaling, which is a personal thing, has a way of drawing closer to myself those whom I love - family and friends, members of the congregation I serve. John wished to see Gaius, so that his letter could continue in face-to-face communication. What an interesting thought! Writing with speech rather than pen and ink.

My sister Mary has started a blog about journaling. I suppose this kind of thing runs in the family. If you’re interested in seeing it, and you have Internet access, check out

www.maryaalgaard.blogspot.com