Advent - Meditations

PSALM 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

First Meditation:

“I Am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”

Advent is a penitential season. A “little Lent” was the description once used for this period. Unlike Lent, penitence is not the prevailing mood of Advent. In Lent we look forward to The Passion before we can look forward to the Resurrection. Easter does not happen without Good Friday. Advent, by contrast, is a season of joyful anticipation. We do not bury the Alleluia but we look expectantly to the feast of the incarnation, Christmas. The penitence of Advent is preparation. We are preparing a home in our hearts and in our lives to welcome the newborn King.

When I was conceiving a quiet day for Advent I was struck by how disembodied is the expression of our faith, particularly in the Episcopal Church. Not for nothing are we described as God’s “Frozen Chosen”. Our BCP liturgies have been letting go of the more embodied experiences of prayer in favor of some older forms borrowed from our Jewish heritage. So we stand throughout much of the Eucharistic liturgy as was customary in Jewish prayer.

The calisthenics of the rite one liturgies and the 1928 prayer book were imbued with a certain physical logic. Our bodies expressed our prayer. We stood to offer our praise and thanksgiving (as one might stand to dance for joy). We knelt with heads bowed in penitence or supplication. The bowed head is a posture of vulnerability. The penitent or supplicant exposes their neck to the sword of the one who stands above. In liturgies rich with the language and imagery of kingship we figuratively knelt before our God and king and exposed our necks for beheading should God see fit to deal with us in that way.

Teresa A. Blythe in her book 50 Ways to Pray: Practices from Many Traditions and Times observes that “It is easy in our busy lives to begin to think that we ‘have’ bodies rather than that we ‘are’ bodies”. As we look forward to the feast of the incarnation I invite us to spend this day fully inhabiting our bodies. I invite us to recognize that we both have and are bodies.

For this Quiet Day we offer some fully embodied prayer.

We live in a culture that conditions us to act as those who ‘have’ bodies. We learn early to override the wisdom that our bodies offer. We “whip our bodies into shape” with diet and exercise. We ignore aches and twinges to power through to the end of our ‘to do’ lists. We no longer know what it is to feel hungry or what it feels like to be satisfied. We work when we’re tired. We sleep when we’re depressed. We hold back our tears, swallow our laughter, cover our smiles and stuff our rage.

Advent is a countercultural season. In a culture that prizes instant gratification Advent prizes waiting. In a culture that treats your body as an object with needs, drives, and desires that have nothing to do with us this season invites us to heightened awareness of ourselves as bodies. We are bodies that hold their own logic and wisdom. We encounter other people as bodies with particular form and features. Before infants know themselves as discrete beings distinct from their mothers, they experience their bodies with all their drives, demands and comforts.

I invite you to use this simple practice of physical self-awareness. For this meditative prayer we will engage in a body scan. The prayer consists of noticing. You are not required to make any adjustments in posture or any judgments about how you are holding yourself. All that I will ask of you is that you notice yourself.

Close your eyes. Offer this time and all you experience in this time to God.

Begin with a few breaths. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Begin the scan at the tips of your toes and travel up your body.

Notice how you hold each limb.

Notice where there is pain or discomfort.

Notice where there is ease, relaxation or comfort

Continue this scan until you reach the top of your head or the tip of your hair

Just noticing, not judging yourself. When you have completed this scan offer thanks to God for you are indeed awesomely and wonderfully made.

PRAYING IN MY BODY

This practice builds on the body scan. It is adapted from Teresa Blythe’s book.

You may want to write during this practice. If not you can journal once you have completed your prayer

Invite God to be present to you through your bodily experience.

Begin with some centering breaths. Breath in through your nose, out through your mouth.

Allow your awareness to follow your breath

Notice the place where your breath rests. Allow your awareness to rest in that place. Notice any sensation or emotion that resides in that resting place.

What place in your body wants your attention now? What is the feeling that needs listening to?

Communicate with this felt sense. Tell it “I am here, I am listening.”

Sit with this felt sense. If you can, describe it. Is there a sound or an image associated with this felt sense? Does it have a name? Does it have an emotional quality?

Sit with this felt sense without judgment.

Ask this felt sense “What do you need?”

Ask your body to show you how healing would feel.

Ask God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to help you care for this part of yourself.

When you and this felt sense are ready you may offer a prayer of thanksgiving.

Journal:

How was it to pray in this way?

Did you learn anything that needs to be applied in your life?

Advent Quiet Day - Dec. 5th, 2009

The holidays are coming and with all the hustle and bustle, retreat to our Advent Quiet Day, Dec. 5th. One more week until the Nov. 20th registration deadline. Visit our website for details and registration form www.tutuinstitute.org

"Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs."

Hello friends,
Am asking for your assistance and enthusiasm here. Please pass this info to folks in your email address book, your facebook page, your twitter followers, your co-workers, your church, your friends and relatives... everyone. This matters a lot to me.

This Monday, Nov 2, I will be on Good Morning America to release "Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs." Early reviews of the book have been wonderful, and folks say there are left smiling, and re-remember why Mattie inspired us so profoundly with his words, his message, and his wit and wisdom. The book is available on online sites like amazon for pre-orders. And on Wednesday, Nov 4 at 7 pm, the book release event will take place at the White Flint Mall Borders Bookstore on Rockville Pike/North Bethesda, MD. Please visit Mattie's website (www.mattieonline.com) for info about the book and updated info about publicity.

Thank you so much my friends,
Jeni ("Mattie's mom").

Jennifer Smith Stepanek, Ph.D.
MDA National Vice President
Chair, Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation
402 King Farm Blvd. #125
Rockville, MD 20850

www.mattieonline.com
1-888-951-0008

Advent Quiet Day - Dec. 5, 2009

The Tutu Institute for Prayer & Pilgrimage
Advent Quiet Day - Incarnation: Body, Mind and Spirit – Register today!
Lead by The Reverend Mpho Tutu & Tai Chi Instructor, Raymond Franklin-Vaughn.
WHEN: December 5, 2009, 9am-4pm. Registration deadline: November 20, 2009.
WHERE: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (Foggy Bottom) Washington, DC 20037.
PRICE: $20 (in advance) $25 (at the door). Includes Continental Breakfast, Light Lunch & Materials (no credit cards please).
For registration form and more information, visit our website http://www.tutuinstitute.org/events.html or contact us at 703-677-5642 or email info@tutuinstitute.org.

9/11 Unity Walk - October 18th, 2009

The events of September 11, 2001 shocked the world. For a moment the world seemed poised on the edge of a question, should we fly apart in fear or can we come together as a witness for peace. The creators and participants of the first 9/11 Unity walk chose to answer the despair of those days with hope and humility. They came together as people of different faiths and no faith at all to show the world that with respect for each of our diverse beliefs we can build peace.

Each year since all the churches, temples, mosques and synagogues on Embassy Row in Washington, DC, and near Ground Zero in New York City, open their doors to continue this faithful witness. On October 18th, this year a multi-faith throng will make the march again. We walk in memory those who died on that day, and on the days after. We walk to express our belief that religion can be and is a force for good. We walk side by side with people who believe differently than we do. We walk trusting that the people we walk with have something to teach us, as we have something to teach them. We walk because we refuse to be chained by ignorance and imprisoned by fear.

Along the way, through mutual respect, we sow the seeds of true and lasting peace.

In addition to our traditional stops at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, the Islamic Center and the Gandhi Memorial, this year participants will have the opportunity to tour other houses of worship they may never have entered before. They will be able to experience some of the riches of religious expression that Washington has to offer. Participants will chant with the Soka Gakkai Buddhist Congregation; they can try turban tying at the Sikh Gudwara; they can explore the Russian Orthodox cultural festival; and they can join Baha'i musicians at the Khalil Gibran Memorial. Children are also welcome to make artistic expressions of unity at the Children's Unity Wall.

Beyond this day on which we celebrate our faiths we will continue to unite in interfaith service to our community.

In January, the Youth Service Initiative of the 9/11 Unity Walk partnered with the Earth Conservation Corps to draw an inter-religious group of 175 young people together for a clean up of the banks of the Anacostia River and inter-faith dialogue. In April, young people of many faiths from around the region gathered for a weekend of environmental service projects for poverty alleviation. In September, the Unity Walk hosted "Fast 2 Feed": over two hundred people participated in an interfaith food drive and Iftar - a dinner that marks the end of the Muslim fasting day in the Holy month of Ramadan - at the Historic Synagogue at 6th and I. That effort collected hundreds of canned goods for the Salvation Army.

It is only by celebrating our faiths and uniting to serve that we can turn our world from the bloody violence that marked 9/11 to a hope-filled place of peace for all people. We can begin by taking a first step this Sunday at the Unity Walk.

Rev. Mpho Tutu, an Episcopal priest at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, DC., and the founder and executive director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Learn more about Sunday's Unity Walk at www.911unitywalk.org.

Don't forget about our pilgrimage-Jan. 16-29, 2010!

Please join us on our upcoming pilgrimage to South Africa, January 16-29, 2010. The registration deadline is approaching fast, October 15th! Space is still available! Visit our website for details www.tutuinstitute.org

Please pray...

Please pray with me today for Nate, his mom, Chris and Nate's grandma at Boston Children's Hospital. Little Nate will be having his sixth brain surgery. He's not yet three years old.
M