Stability in the Midst of Stormy Seas
by the Rev. Brenda Buckwell, D. Min.
I walked into the store. Meandering among the wears I looked with unseeing eyes. Nothing seemed to be charged with life. Momentarily an item caught my attention - the attraction fleeting, leaving me to mindlessly wander again through the items. As I entered the final aisle my heart leapt within me. In that moment my eyes fixed their gaze upon it, my breath caught within me, and in one beat of my heart God transformed my meandering mind to loving attention.
Held with rapt attention, my heart gazed at the icon, my eyes seeing nothing else. The pregnant Mary held the stability of hope, the blessings of resurrection and the peace of encouragement of God before me as I gazed upon the Christ child within her womb. In an instant my spirit knew the experience of St. Augustine's statement, "My soul is restless, until it finds rest in you, O God."
We live in a world of discontent, where restless hearts wander aimlessly. The congregation that I serve as pastor and spiritual leader for a few of the lost sheep of Israel has been proclaimed by neighbors to be "in the hood." This inner city church sits in a residential neighborhood where murder is a frequent, if not weekly event, acts of violence, neglect and abuses are so common the people rarely notice them as injustices and infringement upon the souls of others.
This past week the global economic crisis reared its personal head with the eminent cry of disillusion and lostness, as the work crew of tile fitters were working in the church basement: removing old tattered carpet and preparing the floor for new tile. After days of intense labor, breathing the caustic fumes and smoothing the rough cement floor, they were ready to begin restoration. It was then the phone rang, their boss called to call it quits. His business went "belly up" overnight in the cloak of darkness, through the wee hours of the night - hope seemed lost. Contracted jobs began, would not be completed. Jobs that had been completed recently, would not produce income for the laborers, the earnings would simply be surrendered to pay on bills. In an instant the laborers faced unemployment, with the desperate hunger of something more, seeking stability among the reeling circumstance of sudden unemployment.
It is in this unstable world, the icon of Mary and Jesus becomes the picture of stability, of hope, of steadfast covenant for the least and the lost, for you and me among God's people. As spiritual directors and those opening space for holy listening through retreating ministries, we are invited to assist the birthing of "more".
God provides creative hope beyond what is seen and experienced ...
As the prophet Jeremiah records in his bold action to purchase property during his time of historic instability.
"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."
(Jeremiah 32: 14-15)
What bold and creative act are you and I called to live in this moment in time?
I invite you to join with me and gaze upon your neighbors with the soft eyes of God over the course of the next month. As you gaze upon your neighbors, what is the scene which stretches out before you? What action, inaction, what events, and conversations catch your attention?
Pause a moment and pray with this situation allowing your soul to imagine God in the center of this scene.
The next day, pause again and notice your neighbors, gaze again upon God's people, events, buildings, and actions of your neighbors and listen to God whispering to you: "Where does this scene intersect with your life? With the life of your church?" After a time of reflection pause for prayer and allow your soul to imagine God in the center of all before you. Offer thanks to God for possibilities.
Take another day, and gaze again upon the people of your neighborhood, the events, the buildings, and actions of your neighbors and listen deeply. Through this scene of human life open before you, how does God invite you to faithful living?
As spiritual directors and retreat leaders, how can you live your invitation from God within your neighborhood? How could you train others to gaze with the eyes of God upon the homeless, the unemployed, the lonely, the addicted and abused? As we train others to notice God among us in the lives of our neighbors, the gift of God's stability enters our beings and knits community together in ways not yet experienced and Incarnation is birthed among us.
Please join me though these next months looking for Christ alive in the midst of our ever changing economic and global world as we seek to offer stability God in the chaos of fear and anxiety.
