God in the corners

Tuesday, 12:36 p.m.

 

I failed to mention that yesterday's teaching ("dharma talk", I would have called it a long time ago) was on ego.  He didn't say "ego", but that's what it was about.  How if we're going to be fully in union with God, our self we hang on to so tightly will have to go.  Standard stuff, but on the first day of serious meditation, it hit home.  My self is before me.

 

Yesterday afternoon was just what the Holy Physician ordered.  Scripture study, Dallas Willard, praying the hours, and a solid hike-y walk along trails that one Jim Hand, SJ, built. And the labyrinth, which is modeled on Chartres, and is, therefore, large.  Landscaping-wise I get pleasure from the way they made it; spiritually it's an outside version of what I'm doing 9 times a day inside.

 

Today we celebrated the Eucharist. I think I've mentioned here before that, though we've made a lot of changes in our community over the last 4-1/2 years, the one thing I've been scared to change is the once-monthly eucharist.  So it was truly grace to have it today. I'm reading Leviticus right now, which made the imagery of the Lord's table so meaningful -- so clearly tied to ancient Jewish theology and law.  It's the first time I've really been able to accept the atonement theory as having important base. I've known it, but today I felt it.

 

Anyway, during meditation itself I had mad monkey-mind. Brain would not settle down, and I kept getting caught up in it.  I redesigned the landscaping for our home backyard so we could save money in the re-do.  Couldn't really attribute that to God; more likely it's the loud shout of our bank account.  But later, though the monkey kept running, God got in a few words.  God gave me our next sermon series, both the title and the content: "Holy Scripts: Six Sacred Prayers".

 

Amazing what God can do in a very little cramped space.