Week V - The Cup of Compassion

As I begin Week V: The Cup of Compassion.

Compassion?

My prayer would be that I would see the world as God sees this world.  Who better than beginning this morning and this chapter than Michael W. Smith?  Michael has a gift for leading praise and worship.  God uses this man mightily in stirring the hearts of Christ's Church.

The cup at the beginning of this chapter is a cup being emptied out.  Looking for an image, different than the one I have used during Week II, The Open Cup, I was struck by this work of a woman emptying, what appears to be an earthen jar of some kind, into a large body of water.

I, all of us, are part of this earth.  We, like an earthen pot, are formed from clay. As I begin with Compassion, I want to begin with the thought I am simply returning what is not mine, but the Creator's within me. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

"I hold my heart as a gourd filled with love, ready to pour upon humanity." ~ Jessica Powers

Joyce tells of a time she befriended a woman sitting with her terminally ill husband, Agnes.  Agnes shared with Joyce how another woman, Marian, who had recently lost her own husband in the same facility, had reached out to help her.

"...I saw how one woman, in the midst of her own loss, reached out in compassion to another who was in pain. Marian couldn't 'do' much for Agnes by changing her situation but she helped greatly with her caring presence." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 109)

Mary Jo Meadows defines compassion as "the quivering of the heart in response to another's suffering" and notes that "compassionate beings...cannot bear to see suffering and remain unengaged."  Jack Kornfield writes about the truly loving person who breaths in the pain of the world and breaths out compassion.

"That is how deep compassion is, and how closely connected to others." (Rupp, p 110)

Joyce tells us that each life influences and affects the other in the same way.  She continues by writing,

"The more we see our world as a vast interconnectedness of all beings, the more drawn we will be to compassion because we will see how much one life is related to and affected by another. This  spiritual oneness is at the heart of Christianity." (Ibid)

I am the Vine, you are the branches.

As a Christian and as a person living in the 21st Century, this notion interconnectedness is not new thinking. Those of us raised in the church are familiar with the vine and the branches image from John 15:1. Living in today's world, we are daily reminded how each of us affects and is affected by another part of the world.

"We are the body of Christ. The life pulsing through us is the life of God giving us spiritual vitality." (Ibid)

Joyce thinks that no quality more identifies a Christian than that of compassion.  She also knows that compassion can be very demanding. She also identifies there are many ways of showing compassion.

The Good Samaritan

"Sometimes compassion asks us to simply 'be' with someone, to wait patiently, to experience their powerlessness with them. At other times, compassion asks us to 'do' something, to give of our time and resources, to speak out for justice, to 'go the extra mile' for and with them as did the Samaritan in the gospel parable ( Luke 10:25-37). And sometimes, compassion asks us to receive graciously from another who has need of our receptivity and our vulnerability." (Ibid)

Being the INFJ that I am, there is a part of me that is jumping up and exclaiming loudly, "AMEN, Joyce! Preach it!"

There is another part of me that begins to feel overwhelmed, because I have simply lost myself in others and/or situations.  Joyce must know about people like me, because she goes on to say,

"Caring persons need to constantly check their motivation for offering compassion to be sure they are not doing it out of their own egocentric needs. They must also be sure to take good care of themselves. As Mary Jo Meadows points out 'You must get near enough to the suffering to feel it, but not so close as to get lost in it or overwhelmed by it.' This can be a very delicate balance." (Ibid)

The underlined emphasis...is mine.  Oh, do I recognize my need within those lines.

Joyce closes her introduction using the wisdom of one of my favorite teachers, Marcus Borg who notes that compassion is the central quality of God in both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures. Borg emphasized that God is compassion ate - God feels our pain, our loss, and our suffering.

Praying with our cup...

Joyce asks, "As we pray with our cups this week, we can draw both inspiration and comfort from God who is our example, par excellence, of how to hold the hurting ones of our world in our hearts and offer them the cup of compassion." (Rupp, p 111)

Again, Joyce's poem to begin this chapter, touches my heart, sparks my imagination, and offers me hope.

my cup of compassion holds tears of the world; it overflows with sorrow, struggles, and sadness,
my cup of compassion holds the cries of children, unfed, unloved, unsheltered, uneducated, unwanted,
my cup of compassion holds the screams of war, the tortured, slain, imprisoned, the raped, the disabled,
my cup of compassion holds the bruised and battered, victims of incest and abuse, gang wars, violent crimes,
my cup of compassion holds the voice of silent ones, the mentally ill, illegal immigrants, the unborn, the homeless, 
my cup of compassion holds the emptiness of the poor, the searing pain of racism, the impotency of injustice, 
my cup of compassion holds the heartache of loss, the sigh of the dying, the sting of the divorced,
my cup of compassion holds the agony of the earth, species terminated, air polluted, land destroyed, rivers with refuse,
my cup of compassion I hold it to my heart where the Divine dwells, where love is stronger than death and disaster.  ~ Joyce Rupp (Rupp, p 112)


God, Father and Creator of us all and all that we see...I am looking forward to learning more about this Cup of Compassion and how to offer compassion in a way that honors and glorifies you.  Today, help me to see this world and all I meet, through your eyes.  Help me to listen to the eyes of my heart...my heart where you reside.  AMEN.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week IV - Day 5 - Recognizing Resistances

Benedictine Sister, Macrina Wiederkehr

"I am entirely ready to have the chains that keep me bound be broken. I am entirely ready for the walls I've built around myself to be torn down. I am entirely ready to give up my need to control every situation. I am entirely ready to let go of my resentments. I am entirely ready to grow up." ~ Macrina Wiederkehr


This is the same woman who said Joy/Sorrow were sisters and lived in the same house.  I became curious about Macrina Wiederkehr . I learned  is an author and spiritual guide and a Benedictine monastic of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Frederic Brussat says of Macrina, "she is a master at everyday spirituality."


I have been wondering who/what I might read when I finish The Cup of Life...Macrina definitely has a way with simple words and images...


"...I am entirely ready to grow up." ...I am trying to live into this statement.


Last night I shared a story from Jack Kornfield with a friend that has to do with the slow and painful process of spiritual transformation.  I was surprised, yet at this point I shouldn't be, to see Jack's name in the first paragraph of today's reading.  Jack's stories contain figures/individuals that are simple enough they connect AND STAY in my memory banks.  Their plight, like the story of the father and son, are normally intense and full of symbolism and truth. 

"In this story, the father resists the truth that can bring him joy and freedom from his loss because he clings so much to what he thinks is the truth." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 102)

Another truth...When we are in pain, we can easily live with illusions. Joyce writes, We may think such things as "No one loves me. No one cares. I will never feel happy again. It was all my fault. I can't do that. I don't know enough yet," etc.

A familiar picture, why don't
I pull it up when I'm hurting?

The beginning of healing may be knocking on the door of our heart, like the son knocking on the door of his father's house, AND we refuse to let it in because of our resistance.

Joyce continues to nudge my heart with her words...

"Our resistance can take many other forms as well. They might be a silent withdrawal, apathy, running away, talking incessantly, defending and challenging, constantly being busy, ignoring or pretending not to understand, being critical, or making excuses. Resistance is like placing a hand over the opening of the cup. Nothing can come into or be poured out of the cup. So, too, with our spiritual life. (Ibid)

Ouch.

This past Sunday the lectionary reading was the raising of Lazarus.  Martha believed her brother would rise again in the final days...but not then.  "Lord, he has been in the tomb four days! There is a stench!"

I offered the thought that resurrection [transformation] is not always clean.  Sometimes things have to get messy for resurrection [transformation] to occur.  When I wrote that sentence, I was thinking of all the writing, thoughts, sometimes pain...of this Lenten journey.

Joyce asks me to consider the hard questions: "Is there anything in your life that you think cannot be restored to life? Are there any blocks to your spiritual growth?"

We "choose" whether to hang on
or to let go and receive healing.

Breathprayer:
Breathing in: Let go...
Breathing our: ...let go.

Reflection:
Hold your cup in your hands.
Place one hand over the open space of the cup.
Reflect on your resistances and refusals.
How do these block your openness to growth?
Picture yourself held in God's hands.
Lossen your grip on your worries and insecurities.
Listen to God speak to you about trust.
Take your hand off your cup.
Notice how ready it is now to receive.
Hold the cup to your heart.
Stand and make a deep bow as a sign of your surrender to God.

Roll back the stone...

Scripture: John 11:1-44
Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."

Journaling:
One excuse I often give for not growing spiritually is...
I cling to and clutch onto... I push away...
Dear Life-Giver


What surprises me is how willing and open I am to discovering and reflecting on symbolism from other faith stories, yet when I read my own sacred scriptures....I just read the story or the account!

Martha was resistant to having the stone rolled away from Lazarus tomb, and Joyce asks me to think about what I am resistant to moving.  In a days the Church will be celebrating the resurrection of Christ.  Several years ago those coming to a Sunrise Service were given stones as they waited outside the locked church doors.  They were asked to think about what stone they needed to roll away in order to meet the resurrected Christ.  As they came through the door, nearly two hundred "butterflies" floated above their heads.  A basket was available to drop their stone into as they entered the worship space with the choir singing "Were You There?"


I've admitted I struggle remember what I preached three weeks ago, so obviously, even though I was involved in the planning and the making/hanging of A LOT of butterflies, that morning had a tremendous impact on my heart.

The Excuse Game....

The excused Joyce listed?  I am a master of several!  My favorites are:

• I don't know enough.
• I can't do that.
• constantly being busy
• being critical

I am still carrying my Trust Stone I made several days ago, so learning/leaning into "trust" has been a near-by companion.  Through Joyce's thoughts, my own reflections and writings, tangible things like my cup and stone...I am s-l-o-w-l-y working through the transformation of which I have yearned.

 I am part of a group from my presbytery that will be offering a One Day, Lead Like Jesus, Encounter.  The day long event will be based on Ken Blanchard's book Lead Like Jesus. I had been GUN HO for this leadership training, yet as we have prepared for the event, my heart is less involved.  I have tried to think what has happened to my enthusiasm and it occurred to me that everything that engaged my heart in the lessons to begin with, has been replaced with technical stuff, critically analyzing...

"I" feel as though we have gone from offering a chance of transformation to a feel good...one day event.  I'm not sure what we could be doing differently, but the technical stuff has pushed out my heart.  And I think that is a lesson for me to remember in terms of transformation.  It isn't a quick fix!  "Read this...and BE TRANSFORMED!"

It is work.  It requires a lot of soul/heart searching.  It is SLOW and if I let it become crowded out of my "cup"...the growing will stop because either my cup is full or I have placed my hand over the top of my cup.

Dear Life-Giver...I continue to yearn for a place, a group, a community that is looking for more than "head knowledge".  Lord, I yearn for relationship with you, and I know this occurs not only by my own study and reflection, but also within community. I know transformation does not occur by simply being with people who think like I do...believe like I believe...  Transformation occurs when I am willing to hold my own thoughts/beliefs and honor those of another, listening to their thoughts AND their questions with an open heart. You have asked that I trust you.  My Brother and Friend, it is difficult, yet I am making strides! I ask that you continue to hold me close and to help me be aware of your voice/your wisdom within the voice of others.  Whether it be face-to-face, within blog comments, with reading, nature, or music...I know you continue to reach out to me...teaching me in all the ways that connect to my heart. Thank You... AMEN.

I haven't been sure what I am searching for in terms of a worship song this morning.  I keep coming back to this, but the setting has felt a bit edgy...I finally sat watching the all those woshipping together and decided maybe I was a bit "jealous" that "they" had found such a place.  Again, I yearn for such a place...a community that wants to delve into scripture not to be "smarter" but to be transformed by relationship with the Divine.

Prayer: God of truth, help me to discover my resistance to growth. Shine your light on my illusions. Uncover my fears. Reveal my strongholds. Soften my grip on my security. Open my closedness. Lead me to greater freedom and inner healing. (Rupp, p 103)

Today, Joyce asks that I notice the excuses I make for avoiding the things that I dislike doing, and then I will do one of these things that I dislike.

Ummm, I know what my day holds, and I know that if I do what I have said I will do...I will accomplish this! Now, my challenge is to do more than simply do it so I can check it off a list.  What can I learn? How might I do this in a way that isn't as stressful?

Ordinary/Everyday life is full of lessons and opportunities to be more aware of the presence of the Divine and how I fit/work/live within that presence in those moments.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi