A USELESS WASTE

A carpenter and his apprentice were walking together through a large forest. And when they came across a tall, huge, gnarled, old, beautiful tree, the carpenter asked his apprentice: "Do you know why this tree is so tall, so huge, so gnarled, so old and beautiful?" The apprentice looked at his master and said: "No ... why?"

"Well," the carpenter said, "because it is useless. If it had been useful it would have been cut long ago and made into tables and chairs, but because it is useless it could grow so tall and so beautiful that you can sit in its shade and relax."
—adapted from Chuang Tzu, The Inner Chapters. From Spiritual Formation by Henry Nouwen.

How our culture hates what is useless. I heard one of the radio blabber-mouths ranting on and on about the Army Corps of Engineers bringing a halt to paving a road because it would destroy three areas of wet lands. Can’t let that useless swamp stand in the way of progress. And National Parks? Why they are only useful as a source of timber and ore and oil. Rip it apart, tear it up, dig it out. The world is full of things to be used.

What is sadder is that so much of our culture sees people as things to be used as well. I have heard the tales of bosses who tell their underlings that they are nothing but costs, that monkeys could do their job, that the boss cares nothing about employee loyalty and in fact would rather get rid of the long-term employees.

I come to wonder sometimes if religion itself is only valued as a thing to be used. When I was studying personality theory for my doctoral dissertation I looked at the difference between who were intrinsically religious and those who were extrinsically religious, that is, those who were religious for its own sake and those who were religious because it was a means to some other end. The Agony Column Writers used to suggest that people join religious groups if they were seeking a spouse. Or insurance salesmen were encouraged to join churches because that was a good way to find clients.

And then comes the problem of prayer. I was taught in Sunday School about prayer–at least taught that I should pray. As I put it together prayer was about thanking and praising God, telling God you were sorry for doing bad things, and asking for a few things, mostly things for other people, but it would be all right to ask for yourself if it were something like doing well on a test. No praying for an ice cream cone or stuff like that.

This was typical Protestant prayer–talking to God. The notion that one listened to God in prayer was never hinted at. You listened to God in the Bible or in a sermon or perhaps in one’s conscience. Listening to God in prayer was not something we considered.

I have gotten beyond that limitation by learning other forms of prayer, particularly centering prayer. But that raises a whole new set of problems. I don’t mean the ones some fundamentalist Christians raise that if you do any form of contemplative or meditative prayer, you are opening yourself up to evil spirits. What nonsense. That attitude shows a real lack of trust in God as if the Holy Spirit could be overpowered by just any old evil spirit that comes floating around. The problem is that prayer still becomes a means to something else. There is a danger that I pray not just to pray but so that something else happens.

Here’s Henri Nouwen writing about this problem.

The world says, "If you are not making good use of your time, you are useless." Jesus says: "Come spend some useless time with me." If we think about prayer in terms of its usefulness to us—what prayer will do for us, what spiritual benefits we will gain, what insights we will gain, what divine presence we may feel from the idea of the usefulness of prayer and the results of prayer, we become free to "waste" a precious hour with God in prayer. Gradually, we may find, our "useless" time will transform us, and everything around us will be different.

There is the real purpose of prayer–wasting time with God. Being there with God. For a lot of people that is a silly thing. Religion ought to be accomplishing things–feeding the poor, saving the environment. Yes, these are good things we should work for, but they can’t be the sole purpose of religion, at least not of Christianity. There are a whole lot of organizations that do these sorts of things, but what other organization presses for a relationship with the living God? We need to waste time with God.

As you go on your journey may you pause from time to time to waste time with God and so blessed may you continue on until the Lord greets you on your arrival.

Wayne





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YEARNING TO PRAY

Yes, it does say "yearning" to pray and not learning to pray, though goodness knows I need the later as well. I want to write briefly about the feeling that comes over me from time to time that I need to pray. It's not that I feel like I need something and want to ask God to provide it. No, I just feel the need to pray, to pray without wanting anything but prayer.

That's a strange notion to some. Prayer is often thought of as a means to an end. One prays in order to get something else. What I have learned after all these years is that prayer is it's own end. Well, maybe not exactly. Prayer is a means of communication with God so it is not entirely an end in itself. God is the end we ought to long for. We long for God not in order to be rewarded or to escape punishment, but simply because we desire God for God's own sake. That's what brings me look at prayer as it's own end.

I've tried to explain this to some people with little success, but this is the solution to the problem of unanswered prayer. If what we seek is simply to pray, then praying is the answer to our prayer.

Anyone who has approached prayer in this way knows of the dry period when prayer won't come. One solution is simply to tell God, "I don't feel like praying," which, of course, is a prayer. The other solution is to develop a habit of prayer, so that one prays whether one feels like it or not. Now I know that a lot of people find that hypocritical. How can you pray and not really mean what you say? What good is saying prayers mechanically by rote? Ah, they are every good. We are to pray as we are able, not as we ought. I don't know if that's something I've read or if it's something from one of the Benedictine or Cistercian Monks I have listened to over the last 10 years, but it's good advice.

Maybe the underlying truth is that all prayer is a work of the Holy Spirit. What a strange concept–God within us prays to God outside us, or something like that. To make a habit of prayer gives the Spirit a chance to work with us, even though it may not feel like we are accomplishing much. I pray the Psalms in my Morning Prayers. It's part of the strange inversion of things that we can take Scripture–God's revelation to us, and use it as our way of speaking to God.

A lot of the time I push myself to say Morning Prayer. Sometimes I don't push hard enough, but if I keep at it day after day this strange thing happens–a yearning to pray rises in me. I just have to pray, because I have to, that's all. I have to say (or sing) the words of the Psalms or Biblical Canticles. I have to have time to meditate on Scripture. I have to add my feeble attempts to put in words what can only be expressed in "sighs too deep for words."

Well, that's my rambling for the day. By the way, the picture above is of a cross my cousin sent me. It's from Maria Lach, a place in Germany known for it's very famous monastery. They do a LOT of praying there.

May the Lord bless you on your journey, and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne


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PRAYERS

I hadn't gotten anything finished this week because I have been so busy. I found some favorite prayers I had collected for a workshop I taught several years ago and decided to post them. The picture is "Beata Beatrix" Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It shows Beatrice at the moment of her death. It has always impressed me as a very spiritual picture.






DAY BY DAY

Thank you, lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits and blessings which you have given me,
For all the pains and insults which you have borne for me.
Merciful friend, brother and redeemer,
May I know you more clearly,
Love you more dearly,
And follow you more nearly,
Day by day.

Richard of Chichester

GOD BE IN MY HEAD

God be in my head
and in my understanding.
God be in my eyes
and in my looking.
God be in my mouth
and in my speaking.
God be in my heart
and in my thinking.
God be at my end
and my departing.

Sarum Primer, 1527

THE CALL

Come my way, my truth my life
Such a way as gives us breath,
Such a truth as ends all strife,
Such a life as conquers death.

Come my light, my feast my strength:
Such a light as shows a feast,
Such a feast as mends in length,
Such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my joy, my love, my heart:
Such a joy as none can move,
Such a love as none can part,
Such a heart as joys in love.

George Herbert


COME HOLY SPIRIT

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created: And You will renew the face of the earth.

Religion in Schools

Years ago, when she was a high school student, my cousin wrote a letter to the editor opposing prayer in public schools. You have to know that our family was not a hot-bed of radicals. We were pretty much middle of the road to moderately conservative. We were all church goers. Church and school were the two major institutions that our lives revolved about. The Chicago public schools didn't have any religious exercises in classes, so prayer in school wasn't an issue anyone thought about until the Supreme Court decision of Engel v. Vitale which prohibited prayer in public schools. Suddenly, all sorts of people who had never noticed whether there was or wasn't prayer in schools started making a fuss about things.

My father disagreed with his niece's letter. I've tried to figure out why since there hadn't been prayers said while he was in school in the 1930s either. I think my father was typical of many people of his generation. He believed there should be freedom of religion in the sense that no one could tell you what religion to practice, but he didn't see any intrinsic conflict between religion and government. They worked together to make things better. Then too, people didn't think of schools as being the government. Oh sure, they knew that taxes supported the schools and the school board was appointed by government officials, but the local school was just part of the community, not really the government. Somehow the Supreme Court telling a school they couldn't have prayers was the same as telling you what you could or couldn't do in your own home or church.

The other factor at work with my dad was that the principle separation of church was just too theoretical to be of importance to him. Dad was a practical man with little for things theoretical. For example, Dad didn't care anything for theories of education. The schools should just teach what they were supposed to teach and that was that. He didn't give much regard to theology either. He was in a study group at church where there was a lengthy discussion of justification by faith, a central belief of Lutherans. Dad had been a member of the Lutheran church since his confirmation, yet he had no awareness of this belief. As far as he was concerned, Christianity was about doing the right things and then going to heaven.

Now I was impressed by my cousin's letter. I accepted what she wrote since she was a lot smarter than I was. I know that for a fact because several teachers had told me I wasn't as smart as my cousin. Anyway, her views certainly influenced me. I now agree that imposed prayer has no place in public schools because I have thought through the matter logically, but it was my cousin who sent me in the right direction. Thanks, Darlene.

Schools are part of the government, and I don't want the government imposing any religious beliefs or practices on anyone. I don't want them to make anyone pray, or listen to scriptures being read, or even force people to look at the Ten Commandments. Many people don't agree with me. I wish they could see how dangerous this sort of thing is.

Now I know some people who are absolutely furious that one congressman took the oath of office on the Koran. How dare he! That reveals the real issue. Some people want to use the force of government to impose religious activities only if it is their form of religion. Maybe if the schools required a reading from the Tao Te Ching or made people chant the Vedas, they'd see the point. But maybe not.

Some time back there was some fuss at our local elementary school because one teacher would not allow the children in her class to have birthday parties at school. No bringing of treats allowed. It wasn't a matter that she was trying to keep the children focused on education, but rather it violated her own religious beliefs that prohibited the celebration of birthdays. It was wrong of her to impose her religious views on others. Interestingly, the most vocal critic or her actions was someone who advocates starting the school day with prayers said aloud in class. There's the problem. I want to be free to impose my religious views, but you must be prohibited from imposing yours. The only solution is to deny anyone the right to impose religious views

I also believe people, including students in public school, have a right to exercise their religion. If they want to say grace before they eat at school, they should do so without interference as long as they don't disturb anyone else. If several of them want to pray and it is an appropriate time, like before school or at lunch time or after classes, leave them alone. If they want to bring Bibles or other religious books to school, that should be allowed. If their religious practice requires that they cover their heads, that should be permitted. If they mention religion in an essay and it is otherwise appropriate, there should be no penalty. Certainly no teacher should do what one did to a young person from my church–demand that they prove that God exists. That's a subject for philosophy of religion, not biology.

There has to be a sensible middle ground where children are neither coerced into religious observances or forbidden to practice them. Just stop all the fussing and teach your children at home and at church the value of prayer, and they will pray. Besides, who's to know whether or not they are praying when they are sitting at their desks waiting for the final exams to be passed out? Why is it so important that prayer be done aloud in a public place when our Lord himself instructs us to pray to our Father in secret?

I don't suppose I'll convert anyone to my position, but if we used the time we waste arguing about prayer in schools to do some praying, we might be better off.

May the Lord bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne