Marginalia

Seraph 1995 - 2011

Six months ago I put down my Bengal Girl Companion after she wasted away before my eyes.  I miss her every day. It is telling I think how much we love our animal companions. Seraph, who had wing patterns on her shoulders, was my constant companion always interested in what I was eating or my breath for meals past.

When I was ill she became “nurse puss” patiently (not generally her virtue) sitting on the bed with me. She taught me patience, forbearance and the exulted  nature of cuddling.  She was cremated and her ashes sit on the hearth where she loved to sit. 

Is There An APP for God?

Christians in American have largely uncritically accepted any advance in technology.  In this we are more American than Christian.  I find in my own work that the devices I use also use me. There is no remedy for this save that I use these devices to gather people to practice the anti-device wisdom of the faith. 

It is useful to use the communication technology to set meetings, organize the life of the community. But never ever should we think that some new technology is the community. In truth the best we can do is use the tech to gather the community in order to de-tox from the tech.

The spiritual practices of Christianity, prayer, meditation, chant, reading, and writing inhabit silence.  The means of opening to God are not improved by technology.  A new and improved Pentium chip adds nothing to the divine presence.  In fact these devices and their demands can keep renewal from happening.  Busyness in order to justify our existence is symptomatic of alienation from ourselves, others and God.  

The most controversial thing I have ever done as Rector of Saint John’s was to pause for silence after the sermon (as the Book of Common Prayer allows).  You would have thought I denied the divinity of Christ to hear the whispers of frustration.  We were pausing for perhaps 30 seconds! 

Soul Work Is Not Gossip

“…a form of healing seems to take place when we find a truly sympathetic ear for our more difficult struggles. Just the opposite occurs when we confide in someone who is simply not interested or is secretly scared to death of what we have just revealed. Goethe begins with a famous German poem with the admonition, ‘Tell a wise person or else keep silent.’”  The Heart Aroused – David Whyte [63]