Gratitude: For When Life Isn't Fair (which is most of the time)

...sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. (From Ecclesiastes 2:12)

Last summer, inspired by an idea I found on Pinterest, I started making yard ornaments out of old dishes and glassware pieces. My yard is right next to a busy pedestrian sidewalk, and before long someone stole my favorite one. So unfair! Stealing an idea is one thing, but trespassing on my yard and swiping my unique piece of folk art burned me up! At first I couldn't even bring myself to take refuge in my usual comforting thought--that the person who stole needed it more than I do. But upon further reflection I decided that maybe they needed that little bit of beauty in their lives more than I needed it.

The book of Ecclesiastes is the most cynical book in the Bible. Koheleth, the author, points out that you don't always get to enjoy the fruits of your own labor. This is an important lesson.  Life isn't fair, and if we teach our children that it is always fair, and we link that to our Christian faith, they will become cynical in the same way Koheleth is cynical.

While life is not fair, that doesn't always work to our disadvantage. If we learn to count our blessings instead of nursing our grudges, we experience life as a blessing.

Prayer Beads: Not Just for Celebrities Anymore

Prayer beads may come and go as a fashion accessory, but prayer beads can be a useful and meaningful part of Christian spirituality. This is true for Protestants as well as Catholics, and for those who prefer extemporaneous and spontaneous prayers as opposed to memorized prayers. 

The website Karen's Prayer Beads  offers instructions for re-purposing and modifying a traditional Rosary for a variety of prayer styles and for making a number of other types of prayer beads. 

The idea of prayer beads has intrigued me for a while. I never liked the idea of the traditional Rosary--probably because I was raised as a Protestant.  I can see how using the traditional practice of the Rosary might be meaningful for some, but as of right now I don't feel ready to try it. I do like the idea, however, of a Joys and Concerns Rosary, a type of Rosary designed by a Unitarian Universalist minister:

The bracelet has four sections of seven beads each, separated by four larger beads (like the Anglican Rosary). The first section is green, the second is yellow, the third is blue, and the fourth is red. You could also use rainbow colors, as in Jim Casebolt's sermon. The four large beads can be black or white or gray or some other contrasting color. 

On the first large bead (before the green section) ask God to be with you on your journey, or enter a time of reflection in some other way.

On the seven green beads, enter the sacred space by naming seven things that seem holy or magical to you. These can be places or relationships or works of art or music or anything else that has a numinous feeling for you. When you reach the next large bead, sit in silence for a while and listen for the voice of God within you.

On the seven yellow beads, name your joys, count your blessings, offer up thanksgiving for the good things in your life. Think of seven things you are thankful for, or joyous about. Again pause and listen on the next large bead.

On the seven blue beads, name your concerns, think of seven things that you are worried or remorseful about, things that you want to do better in your life. Pause and listen on the next large bead.

On the seven red beads, share your love. Send your love and good wishes and prayers out to seven people or categories of people, ask for a blessing on them. Pause and listen on the large bead, and come out of the prayer time.

Praying is to the spirit as exercise is to the body: It needs to be done regularly in order to keep in good shape and prepare for times of stress. Prayer beads are a useful aid in starting and maintaining a regular prayer practice--kind of like a treadmill for your spiritual walk. I have decided to create one of these Joys and Concerns bracelet, using beads and elastic cord I have lying around my home from jewelry making projects. Just as you don't have to join an expensive gym and hire a personal trainer to begin a physical fitness regimen, you don't need to go to a retreat center to begin a spiritual fitness regimen. All you need is willingness and openness.

Prayer? There's an App for that...

These days many of us live our lives online/on mobile devices. Its just plain smart to incorporate your prayer life into your high-tech gadgets, and in this post I'm going to offer some practical ways to do that, but first I want to address the issue of what prayer is, and why you should pray in the first place.

I'm not new to prayer--I learned how to pray when I was a small child in church and developed a daily prayer routine early on. This recent blog post makes a pretty good argument for why prayer works, and works for anyone--even intellectuals and Atheists.

Now, onto the how.

Online prayer aids and communities are plentiful. The trick is to find one that works for you. I like sites that are visual that make prayer fun.

Angel Cards
 My #1 online prayer go-to is the virtual Angel Cards. I sometimes visit this site several times a day, whenever I get into a funk for any reason or feel stuck about something.

Online Labyrinth
The Online Labyrinth is hands-down my favorite devotional website. It's not really a true labyrinth: it's a website that directs you through a series of guided, interactive devotions. It is possible to race through them but I find I get the most out of the exercises if I wait until the music stops before moving on to the next devotion. If you do it that way, it takes about 40 minutes to complete. It's not a quick devotion but it does enable you to go deeper when you really need it.

Prayer Shawls
Do you knit or crochet, or would you like to learn? Then prayer shawls might be the way for you to pray! Learn more at http://www.shawlministry.com/, or come to our Prayer Shawl retreat at Riverton Church on June 2, 9-noon.

Yahoo Groups
There are a number of groups devoted to prayer. One to try is the Prayer Shawl Group, which was started by the two women who originated the prayer shawl knitting ministry through a course at Hartford Seminary in 1997.

Phone Apps
Looking for quick inspiration? Praying for a bunch of different issues and people? There's an app for that! I There are many Apps out there that prompt and support prayers in a number of ways, ranging from helping you to keep track of things you're praying for to supplying the text of well-known prayers. Here is a beliefnet review of some creative prayer apps to get you started.

Online Prayer Chapel
Forward movement, a ministry of the Episcopal church, invites you to light a virtual candle, make a prayer request or browse a list of topical prayers in their prayer chapel.

Facebook Request a Prayer Page
This page is maintained by the United Church of Christ and provides people with an opportunity topost prayer requests.

Facebook Apps
The most popular of the Facebook prayer apps seems to be "God Wants You To Know." This app provides inspiration through daily messages posted on your Facebook page.

World Prayers
Prayers from a variety of sources and faith traditions. Sort by tradition/topic or allow it to choose a random prayer for you.

Got more ideas to share? Share a comment.

Abundance

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.


Last week I preached a well-received sermon on the concept of Abundance. Abundance is a powerful Biblical concept which, if applied regularly (one might say religiously)  has the power to transform everything in your life.

What is Abundance?

Abundance is not just gratitude, although gratitude and counting blessings is good.

Abundance is not just generosity—it is possible to be generous even with things that are scarce in our lives. Sometimes poor people are the most generous. It is possible to be down to your last crust of bread and to share that crust with someone. Sharing from scarcity can be a deeply moving gesture, but it is an adaptation to a crisis, and if you are not in a crisis you need to adjust your thinking. 

Living a life from a viewpoint of abundance is taking an honest look at what we possess in abundance and making our choices and decisions based on the fact--not the idea, but the fact--that God is providing us with abundant blessings.

It means leading with our strengths, and with confidence.

It means recognizing we all have blessings to give and concentrating on sharing those blessings rather than focusing on any perceived deficit or lack in our lives.

This time of year, most yards are covered with dandelions. Many people look at their dandelion-strewn lawns and see persistent weeds. I see abundant free food for my dandelion-loving pet bunny.

What do you possess in abundance?

It may be material abundance.

It may be land.

It may be time.

It may be a lot of pet-able, adorable animals.

It may be wildflowers.

It may be pennies.

It may be rocks.

It may be patience for handicapped people.

It may be friends.

It may be faith.

Whenever my thoughts turn to what I want or need, instead of practicing scarcity thinking and dwelling on the things I do not have, I am learning to inventory what I possess in abundance and figure out how to use that abundance to get what I need, or to re-examine whether I really need it in the first place. Abundance teaches us that even though other people have more of some things, God is providing each one of us with not just enough, but more than enough. We just need to look with eyes of abundance to see it.

Also, and this is really important, we need to figure out how to share from our abundance with others. Sharing from our scarcity, in many cases, can make us feel resentful and can lead to more scarcity thinking, but sharing from our abundance grows our soul and multiplies our abundance according to God's plan for humanity.

Star Gifts Sunday

On the first Sunday of the new year, church members choose, at random a paper star inscribed with a word such as "love" or "sharing" or "prayerfulness," in celebration of the gifts that the Magi (also called Wise Men or Kings) brought to the Christ child. There are a total of 128 gifts in all, so even in a large congregation there are only a few repeats. Each person is instructed to take their gift home, put it somewhere they will see it often (computer monitors and refrigerators are popular spots) and meditate upon it whenever they see it. Some people find this to be one of the most meaningful Sundays of the entire church year. I first encountered this worship practice at South Church/First Baptist in New Britain, when I worshiped there in the early 90s. I received the gift of "sharing" and instantly rolled my eyes. Didn't I do enough "sharing?" But even though I wasn't excited by my gift, I placed it on my refrigerator, where it caught my eye every time I went to get some milk for my coffee (which is to say, pretty often.) Over the course of several weeks and months I gradually became aware of how often people shared with me--shared of their wisdom or their bounty (fresh produce!) or thoughtfully included me in their lives. I approached other church members and asked them if their star gifts were meaningful as well, and everyone I talked to said yes. The following year I found a way to distribute the stars to the entire faculty and staff of Central Connecticut State University, where I served as the Ecumenical Protestant minister. I did remove some of the exclusively Christian words to make it more universal, and I explained the story of the Magi, and the gifts got a delighted reception. Over the years I have distributed literally thousands of these stars.

I have long since lost track of the original source of the idea. It came from a Presbyterian publication (if you know, please provide it to me so I can credit the author.)

Currently we create the stars on brightly colored card stock. It has become a family project to cut out the stars. I also make star-themed snacks (usually cut-out cookies.)