How to Find Time for God

It's ironic. We frequently find that we have little time in our lives for the One who created and gave us our time. But there it is, sad and true. Many of us want to take some time out for God, but somehow we never quite get there. Is there any help for us, beyond guilt-ridden consciences? Absolutely.

A Story. When I was a seminarian, I sat before a group of lay persons and we discussed God's calling on my life. My bishop had told all the seminarians that we were now "under orders", meaning that several things were no longer optional, including daily Morning and Evening Prayer. I confessed to my group that I just couldn't do it. There was no time. The expectations were too high, too unreasonable given all the other things I was expected to do. I've never forgotten what the Sr. Warden said to me, in part because it ticked me off. He said, "If it's important to you, you'll do it."

Well! Imagine the nerve! He was implying that making time for God was just not as important to me as other things! And he was right. Oh, I thought prayer and worship and spirituality were important, but I hadn't made them as important as other things in my life. There is a reason why God linked sacrifice with forming a bond and connection with the Divine. We may not be offering sheep and bulls anymore, but finding time with God today still requires a sacrifice. We must lay our schedules, priorities, desires, needs, and wants on the altar.

"Why would we do that!?" For the same reason we do it with other relationships. We often sacrifice for our families, friends, careers, habits, and needs. We do it because it brings us pleasure or we receive or hope to receive something greater than what we sacrificed. For instance, I make time for my wife and family because they are more important than many other things and our relationships will outlast my career or whatever else threatens to get in the way. In the end, my priorities are determined by my perspective.

"So how about some concrete steps?" Sure. Here are some suggestions, but be aware that like all relationships, your relationship with God is dynamic. There's no simple and guaranteed method. Most of it boils down to just figuring out what works for you. And that is part of the challenge and  part of the adventure. Below are four concrete steps to help you and God figure it out together.

1) Develop your perspective. Write down why you think God wants to spend time with you and why you would want to spend time with God. What are the benefits? Why do you want this to be important? Can you connect a positive relationship with God to the benefit of other priorities? An example on my benefits list is, "I will be a better dad if I nurture my relationship with God." Rehearse the this list by posting it and reading it frequently throughout your week. Pray about it, tell God who you are and who you want to be.

2) Start small. Consistency is more important than length or content at first. Think of it as God wanting to check in with you every day, even if its just the length of a text message with less than 160 characters. A verse and a small prayer is sufficient to start. With consistent practice, you will begin to find that "short" is not long enough.

3) Remove barriers. As you encounter barriers, write them down. Then make it your goal to remove items from the list or otherwise diminish their effectiveness. For instance, next to "I keep forgetting" put "Make appointment times for God in my schedule." Don't forget to pray about them, too. "God, when I forget you, don't forget me. Call me back to you."

4) Talk about it. Our spiritual lives are personal, but not private. We are not called to hide our relationship with God, but to share with others God's activity in our lives (see Psalm 40:11). In doing so we find we aren't alone in our struggles or in experiencing God's miraculous activity. So ask what others do and what they've experienced. Ask for prayer and offer to pray for others.

Let's check in with God and let's check in with each other. It's all just part of being the Family of God.


   

Christmas: Christ for the Prepared and Unprepared

[The 2012 Parish Christmas letter dated...]

The Feast of John of the Cross

December 14, 2012

Merry Christmas, Dear Parish Family!

It is time. Christmas is arriving. Perhaps you are all prepared – your gifts made or purchased, your home decorated and ready for guests. Perhaps you are completely unprepared. Or perhaps you have no desire to prepare at all and wish this time would just pass by. The Christmas Holy Days can be wonderful or hard or both.

I think it helpful to know the birth of Christ so long ago was both - wonderful but hard and hard but wonderful. Also helpful is knowing that no matter how we have prepared for the Christ event, God consistently delivers and surprises. In spite of centuries of prophecy and prophets, Israel wasn’t ready. Mary and Joseph had nine months to prepare, and yet Joseph apparently forgot make hotel reservations ahead of time! You can imagine the words Mary must have had for her husband. And the shepherds, on the other hand, had no time to prepare and like true Jonny-come-lately’s, they left their herds at a dead run in order not to miss out. In all the chaos and preparations, still Christ came and still a surprise.

Oh, preparation is important. Yet God’s grace is greater still. In spite of all that was done and left undone on that Holy Night, Christ arrives. And there is no greater thing to be done than to receive - to open the eyes, open the heart, open the mind, open one’s life to this Little One. The Almighty enters our reality swaddled in frailty so that we, imprisoned in our own frailty of spiritual blindness, hard hardheartedness and preoccupation might receive him in unsuspecting meekness and tenderness.

In order that we may no longer be estranged, God comes. Not begrudging or ill-tempered, God comes in gentle sweetness and vulnerability. God comes first to be held, nursed, loved, known; to be looked upon eye to eye, to be wondered at, and even to be cuddled. Injustice, denial, immorality, sin, death, and evil – all that will be dealt with, but it will wait.

First we must know God to be this precious child. So then we may know ourselves to be, first and foremost, the precious children of God. And how great our joy!     

Joy and Hope and Peace to you and all your dear ones. God loves you so very much.

Merry Christmas,

Fr. James+

Christmas Services at St. Peter's Episcopal, Seattle ( www.stpeterseattle.org )

Sunday, Dec. 23rd - Fourth Sunday of Advent, 10am Eucharist

Monday, Dec. 24th - The Candlelight Vigil of Christmas Eve, 4pm. 

Tuesday, Dec. 25th - The Christ Mass, 11am. 

Christmas continues for 12 whole days! So don't miss out on...

Sunday, Dec. 30th - A Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols, 10am 

Do Episcopalians not eat meat on Fridays?

Fish and Chips - A Friday Favorite!

Many Roman Catholics abstain from red meat on Fridays, often choosing fish instead. Why is that? And do Episcopalians do that too?

The simple answer is yes and no. The longer answer follows…

The Book of Common Prayer is not just our worship service book. It’s our manual and handbook on devotion, spirituality, theology, and Christian practice. It doesn’t contain everything we might be looking for, but most people find in contains a whole lot more than they suspected. It is, in essence, our guidebook for practicing the Christian faith. (The Bible, of course, is our guidebook on what the Christian faith actually is.)

For instance, did you know that the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) provides us a spiritual schedule? That's right. The BCP has a calendar that gives us a spiritual way of encountering the entirety of Christ’s life, the major themes of Scripture, and a diverse package of spiritual disciplines and practices.

In regards to spiritual disciplines, the Book of Common Prayer provides a  list of “Days of Special Devotion” (p. 17).  In this section it says, “The following days are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial: … Good Friday and all other Fridays of the years in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion, except for Fridays in the Christmas and Easter Seasons…”

Now here’s the trick. We are, according to our manual on keeping the faith, to observe Fridays with special acts of discipline and self-denial. This is not an optional observance. Optional observances are listed in the next section (p. 17-18). Our Friday observances, however, aren’t limited to abstaining from meat of Fridays. It's up to each of us in our personal conversations with God to determine how we will “commemorate” – that is, to commit to our memories together – Christ’s self-sacrificing love for us and his submission to God by his death on the cross, which are cornerstones of our salvation.

So, in this new year, what will your Friday acts of self-denial and spiritual discipline look like? 

Why is there evil in the World? The Parable of "The Wheat and the Weeds"

When looking at the Parable of The Wheat and the Weeds (or traditionally "Tares") we could address many different topics, but lets talk about what this parable teaches about why evil, corruption, and sin are in the world.

First, notice that the owner of the field did not create the problem. Interestingly, neither is the problem attributed to angels or to the wheat. An "enemy" purposefully placed the seed. Thus, from the perspective of this parable, the existence of evil in our lives was originally intended, but intended by the "enemy", not by God.

Second, there is an option to remove evil from the world, but the result is catastrophic, though not complete, destruction of the world. Take a look at the story of Noah, his family, and the Flood, if you want to see what this might look like. Do notice in the story of the Flood that Noah's family returns to the old status-quo (imperfection) almost immediately after disembarking from the ark.

Getting back to the parable, removing the weeds from the wheat would require identifying them early before their roots are entangled, so as not to uproot both, but the challenge here is that early sprouts may look much the same. Errors in judgement would presumable be frequent.

Alternatively, reapers could wait for the plants to bear fruit, and identify each by its fruit. This would be best done at the harvest when all is ripe, because now the roots are entwined and pulling up one would mean pulling up the other. Problem is, the wheat and the weeds exist in conflict and competition.

The parable says that God has chosen to allow the weeds for now to preserve the wheat. In a sense, God allows for evil and for pain, so as not to destroy what good there is. Difficult to accept? Yes. But then faith is trusting that God, who is omniscient (all-knowing), has a better perspective of this problem than we do. And this makes sense. After all, our perspective comes from maybe 80 years of personal experience and the perspective on one individual, namely "me". God's perspective, even if God weren't omniscient, comes with a great deal more knowledge and experience. So, personally, I think God might be the expert here.

That doesn't make evil any more tolerable. Nor does that make God's decision any easier to bear. Thus Christ says, "Take up your cross and follow me." Life is a mixed bag. And perhaps some fields will have more weeds that wheat or vice versa.

What does give us hope is the end of the parable. God collects all of the field, weeds and wheat, and separates the two. For those who are worried about that separation and its implications, keep in mind that the weeds want to dominate (choke out the wheat) and the wheat wants to grow in peace. No one, however, wishes to be thrown in the fire, but burning was a common method for containing that which is contagious or spreads unchecked.

The point here is that there is consequence and justice. Both what we do and who we are have meaning and purpose. And that is the Christian Hope, the aspiration of the Church - to be what God has intended and do what good and right and pure, as God intended. We want to see God's creation, including ourselves, made whole. We want to be wheat in God's fields, citizens of Heaven even while on earth.
 

Beginning the Great 50 Days

One of the spiritual joys of the liturgical calendar is an unhurried schedule. For many of us, life is crammed with things to do, deadlines, things we want to accomplish, and perhaps not a few “should do’s”. I find keeping the liturgical calendar (through prayer and devotional reading) provides a beautiful counterbalance.

For example, in the world Easter has come and gone. It is finished. It is now time to move on to the next holiday marketing opportunity. But in the Church, we celebrate the Great Fifty Days of Easter! We have seven weeks to reflect and meditate on the Resurrection and our new identity as baptized members in the Risen Christ. 

Perhaps this is another great difference between Christ and the world. The world wants our time, wants to take it away, telling us there is never enough time. Christ wants to give us time. Christ wants to give us eternity. 

Renewing Lent

Personally, I sometimes get stuck with the idea that Lent is a time for soul-bashing. There’s all this talk about sin, fault, guilt, failings, punishment, anger, wrath, and eventually a few words about forgiveness. Perhaps it’s that we’ve come out of a grey winter. Maybe it’s the Puritanism, Calvinism, and Middle-Ages pietism in my background or in the prayerbook. 

But When I read Scripture and when I look at the early Church, I get a completely different picture. Lent is about renewal. When Jesus talks about “repentance,” he’s saying we need to change course, make an alteration in our understanding. Jesus is saying “Stop and revisit who God has made you. Remember the purposes for which God has called you.” When I read the Old Testament I see this is exactly what God wants most of The People of God – to stop and remember who they are. Once we know who we are, behavior follows naturally.

I’m reminded this Lent, just as the prophets reminded the Ancient Israelites, that life with God is not about offering the correct sacrifice, saying the right prayers, or even about doing all the right things. Neither Lent nor Christianity is just about the do’s and don’ts. Life with God, real true life worth living, is remembering that an incredibly loving and good God made us, and we were made to be just like God (made in God’s image).

Now that’s something worth stopping to remember! You and I are created to a be “a chip of the old block,” an apple that hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Remembering who we are – God’s people, God’s children, seeing ourselves with God’s eyes – restores our vision of ourselves and life. It isn’t guilt, contriteness, and soul-bashing that God wants.

God wants us. Again. That’s Lent.

Simplicity Made Simple

Simplicity is one of those spiritual disciplines not often recalled when making a list of spiritual disciplines. You or I might think of prayer, fasting, or hospitality first. That's probably because most in our materialistic culture there is a way to market many of the self-disciplines, but not simplicity. Simplicity seems to fly in the face of an advertising culture that shouts out "Buy me!" or "This is important!" or "You need me!"

So is simplicity then not buying things? Is simplicity having less or doing without? Is it just a permanent fast? Well, yes and no. At the heart of simplicity is the idea of keeping first things first. You can have a simple life style and still own many things. If your top priortiy is to aquire things, then that is a simple way of life as long as you are consistent. The problem arises when we want to place two or more things at the top of our priority list. Richard Foster calls this "duplicity" in his book Celebration of Discipline. If I want to make my top priority to aquire things and then decide I want to enjoy them too, life begins to get a little more complicated! How much time do I spend making money? How much time spending money? How much time enjoying what I've bought? Now suppose I discover that happiness requires that I have someone to enjoy my aquasitions with. Well, now I have to split my time between making money, spending it, investing time in my relationship, and enjoying what I have. It's getting more complex now and opportunities for conflicts are everywhere. I will become torn between my many priorities.That's why simplicity appears incredibly foolish to a secular world.

If we would live sacred lives and make our time on earth holy, beautiful, and pleasing to God then it's really very simple. Place the Creator/Source of all that is at the top of your priority list. Don't make room for anything else. Even family comes under God (remember family is usually a bunch of people who all have differing opinions on what your priorities should be.) Instead, come to understand what Ancient Israel did in calling God, "The Most High." When God is Chief of your priorities, the rest begin to fall into place. After all, who else who know best how to live life, how to love, and all the while keep it simple, but Life's Great Engineer.

One last thing: R. Foster reminds us that to live simply is not to make simplicity our top priority. God is the Most High. Thus the question is not whether buying something or doing something violates our idea of simplicity. The question is, "What does God wants of us?"

Simple, huh?

- Fr. James+

Lenten Abundance and Joy

From the early days of of the Church, fasting has accompanied the season of Lent. Jesus was in the wilderness, Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Noah on the ark each for forty days. In each story there is imagery of physical scarcity. So it's easy to see Lent as a time of scarcity, an upleasent time when all we talk about is the negative. Give this or that up. Get rid of your sins through repentance. Get rid of your comfort in church by kneeling more. Fast.

But scarcity is only half of what Lent is about. Lent is about emptying ourselves, surely. But Lent is also about being filled back up, too. What we are to be filled up with holiness or with love or with God's presence or with the Holy Spirit or with anything that is good, pure, righteous, and Godly. Thus fasting is not simply about doing without - it's about replacing what we've become dependent on (our idols) with whatever God has in store for us. 

The simple way we do that is to turn to God in some form of discipline whenever we crave what we are fasting.

One of the things I'm fasting is refined sugars since sweets are a comfort food for me. The other day I was craving ice cream as we drove past an ice cream shop. I tried to cleverly entice my wife to pull over and get some. She said to me rather glibly, "Shouldn't you be praying? Didn't you just preach a sermon about how you're supposed to turn to God whenever you crave something?" I was miffed. She was right. I didn't like it. I grabbed the Book of Common Prayer and begun chanting the Great Litany, which goes on forever. "I'll show her!" I thought. I was hoping she would be annoyed. She wasn't. She wanted to join in.

So there we were, driving down the highway chanting the Great Litany as the highway droned under us and cars wizzed by carrying stressed and weary drivers. About halfway through the Litany it really became a prayer for me. I began praying with my wife, to God, for the world. The drone of the chant sank into my soul and the hubbub around me faded. God was here/now. My wife was here/now. I was here/now. I was spending time - really being present - with the two I love most in this world: God and my wife. How beautiful it was! And just think, I could have missed this richness for something as trivial, fleeting, and cheap as ice cream. 

Lent isn't about making ourselves miserable. It's about emptying ourselves, getting rid of the lesser, so that God can fill us up with what is GREATER. Don't miss out by letting Lent pass you by. Take time to fast. In the end, you'll find God has given you more than you started with.

- Fr. James+ 

Beginning Lent

The Christian spirituality of the English peoples (including Angles, Saxons, Celts, Brittons, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh) has long been tied to the seasonal changes of nature. Prior to the arrival of Christianity, religion on the British Isles included worship of the Sun, Moon, planets, and cosmic forces that marked day and night, summer, winter, spring, and fall. With the coming of Christianity and the conversion of so many of the English peoples, seasonal patterns became linked to Christian events. Christ’s birth (Christmas) was associated with the winter solstice, marking the end of the darkest time of year and the beginning of Light’s triumph over darkness. Christ’s resurrection (Easter) became associated with spring, a time of new life, of new birth rising from the dead of winter.

Between Christmas and Easter is the forty day season of Lent. The word “Lent” comes from the Old English “lengten.” It means “to lengthen” and refers to the lengthening of daylight hours as we approach springtime. Lent is a time preparation for the new birth of spring, for the spiritual Resurrection we participate in at Easter and ultimately for our resurrection to eternal life after our death.  

In his second letter, St. Peter, says to us, “What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” (2 Pet. 3:11b-12a) I encourage us to set aside these days of Lent as a special time of spiritual challenge, to strive to live holy and godly lives. Stretch yourself. Study, fast, examine your life, give selflessly to others in need, and pray often. As Jesus says, “Be perfect… as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)

Sometimes we will succeed. Sometimes we will fail. And yet neither success nor failure is the point. The goal of Lent is to become ever more aware of how God’s unconditional love, not righteousness or sinfulness, is the foundation of our daily living and the core of our faith.