Reflections on today's work

I had a client today .......... not the first time I've seen her but she's still fairly perplexed by the energy work that I do when I work with her. She asked me at one point if I was channeling energy into her side and I said something about how I consider it just "holding the sacred space" so she can heal at her own rate with her own understanding. She was processing the pain she felt in her side and then she then asked me a question that is still making me think. She said, "is the Sacred Space where it hurts?"

I didn't know how to answer that, frankly! I think I glossed over it with some kind of healer-psycho-babble but I'm not sure. What does the pain our bodies carry tell us about the aches in our souls? What does the pain in our body tell us about our spiritual connection (or lack thereof)? As anyone in physical medicine knows, pain is a sign that something isn't right: over stretched, over worked, just plain tired. But how does our spiritual pain manifest to give us those warning signs that our psyche's and spirits are overstretched, over-worked, and just plain tired? I wonder. I know from experience, my own and helping others in their journeys that if we ignore the spiritual pain long enough it becomes physical. But I have to wonder....

So, I pose the question to all our readers:

is the Sacred Space Where it Hurts?

John 12:35

Jesus said to [his disciples, "the crowd," and "some Greeks"], "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going."

There have been times in my life I have felt as if I were walking in the darkness, and certainly times I did not know where I was going. The disciples felt this way after the crucifixion, despite, here, Jesus trying to prepare them, and even a voice from heaven supporting him.

Jesus also prepares us, to become children of light. He said - to them and us - the evidence is in and we should act on it.

Most of the people listening to him did not believe. As we walk to Jerusalem, will we?

Matthew 9.5

For which is easier, to say "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and walk?"

Which indeed. This story, the healing of a paralytic, is important enough it's found in all three synoptic gospels. The importance is not the specific healing; Jesus did a lot of healing. The importance is the faith of the persons who brought the paralytic for healing.

Jesus was calling those who witnessed the healing to the same strong faith and, as we walk to Jerusalem, he asks the same of us.

John 11.9

Jesus answered [his disciples], "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.

This is part of the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday, the raising of Lazarus. The disciples are trying to talk Jesus out of going to Judea, due to threats on his life. Jesus is expressing his total trust in God, and is saying his life would end when God willed it. His enemies could not shorten it.

Though we may not face such life and death issues as we walk to Jerusalem, Jesus calls us to the same total trust in God.

A Walking Song for the Next Week

BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE

“Take…no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1901.

Music: Charles H. Gabriel

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Smiling so cheerful and bright,
Chasing the mist from the mountain,
Flooding the world with its light.
Hark! the sweet voice of the Master
Whispers in accents divine,
“Take thou no thought for the morrow,
Only the present is thine.”

Refrain

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Smiling so cheerful and bright,
Chasing the mist from the mountain,
Flooding the world with its light.

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Falling in waves from the skies,
Gilding the streams and the valleys,
Scatt’ring the shadows that rise.
Hear the sweet voice of the Spirit
Softly and tenderly say,
“Trust for what may be tomorrow,
Live in the joy of today.”

Refrain

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Jesus thy footsteps will guide;
While thou art safe in His keeping,
Evil can never betide.
Hear the sweet voice of His mercy
Kindly and lovingly say,
“God will take care of the morrow,
Be thou content with today.”

Refrain

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to [the Scribes and the Pharisees], saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

There is really little more to be said, so what follows can be seen as trivia, and skipped:

The setting is important here. Jesus is saying this in the Temple, in Jerusalem, during the Festival of Booths. During that Festival, huge golden lamps were lit in the Temple court, giving great light to the entrance to Israel's chief place of worship. Jesus is saying, in essence, "You think these give light; you've not seen anything yet."

The great and glorious lamps lit only the Temple court. Jesus is the light of the world, and those who follow Jesus will never walk in darkness.

Luke 24:17

And [Jesus] said to [the two disciples on the road to Emmaus], "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad.

Just being on the journey, just being close to Jesus, does not always mean we will recognize what we perceive. These two people, as far as we can tell very good people, let the events of the past blind them to what was happening in the present, to accurate testimony of "the women," and to statements of other disciples.

Fortunately, Jesus can get past our blindness and open our eyes. Our prayer, as we walk to Jerusalem, is that our eyes will be opened as we break bread together, and our hearts will burn within us. Then we can also return, and tell others about the Risen Christ.

Jesus, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.

Ferapontov Monastery

Luke 11:44

Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.

Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and the Scribes. It is hard, in the present day, to understand how horrifying this statement would be in Jesus' day. Contact with the dead made a person ritually unclean and unable to participate in Temple worship to God. What Jesus is telling these persons is their very actions make not only themselves unclean and unfit for worship, but also those with whom they come into contact, without these others even knowing it, and bars them all from the true worship of God. It is hardly surprising the Pharisees and the Scribes have the reaction of vvs. 53-54.

The point He is trying to make is, however, as important to us as it was to them. As we walk to Jerusalem, our inner life is just as important as our outer life, as it determines our outer actions, which can be either cleansing or corrupting to those around us.

So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. [vs. 41]

The Country of the White Lake

The Kirillov Monastery


As we walk southward toward Moscow, we are passing through an area of Northwestern Russia that is dotted with small lakes. The history of this area includes the development of many monasteries. Our path takes us directly through the town of Belozersk. The description that follows is from a tour company's website.

"… Deserted refuge and heaven for countless souls who left everything behind for higher calling. This is one of the many places that gave Russia the name of a Holy Country. This is the Russian desert that blossomed with a multitude of spiritual flowers, like the ancient deserts of Egypt, Libya, Palestine or Syria. Some of its past glory can be seen even today. The might of the Kirillov Monastery, once the largest monastic settlement in Russia, the splendid glory of Dionysius’ frescoes at Ferapontovo, or the quiet beauty of one of Russia's oldest towns – small and remote Belozersk. It is a glimpse of the past, but it is the kind of past that brightens today and gives inspiration and hope for tomorrow."
http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/03000_kirillov.htm

The Ferapontov Monastery

Matthew 11:4-5

Jesus answered [the disciples of John the Baptizer], "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them."

This is an incident important enough both Matthew and Luke [7.18-35] record it for their Communities, who were very different - Matthew's largely Jewish and Luke's largely Gentile.

What is so important?

If we focus on the individual incidents mentioned, we miss the point. These happenings are signs, pointing to something else - the authority claimed by Jesus. This is not just any authority, as there were lots of "miracle workers" in Israel at the time [as there are now], but the authority of the Messiah, as detailed in Isaiah 29, 35, and 61. Jesus is telling John the Baptizer who he is. Jesus is appealing to John to believe because of the evidence God's purposes were being realized.

As we walk to Jerusalem, Jesus is making the same appeal to us.

Zechariah 10:12

I will make them strong in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name, says the Lord.

In this chapter, the Prophet expresses his conviction it is God who controls both history and nature, and will gather the redeemed, even though, at present, they wander like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus looked at the people of his time and saw them in the same way. God is compassionate, and the ultimate sign of that compassion is Christ. God's people will "pass through the sea of distress."

That's good news.

This Week's Meditation

John 4: 10-14

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

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This week, as you walk or exercise, ask Jesus for a drink of the living water. Then, walk with Him and drink deeply.

Zephaniah 1.17

I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

Once more, the context is important here.

At the Prophet's time, as in ours, there were persons yearning for the "Great Day of the Lord" to come, and, indeed, hatching plots to hasten its coming. The Prophet is reminding those interested in "pie in the sky by and by," rather than what is going on at present, the Day of the Lord will not be sweetness and light. In opposition to those who propose, then as now, the "Gospel of Wealth," the Prophet says neither silver or gold will save. The Prophet tells us, then as now, there is no such thing in God's Realm as a "Most Favored Nation" status.

The important things, the Prophet tells us, then, and today as we walk more toward Jerusalem, is right worship and doing justice. It is the humble of the land who will be redeemed, those who follow God's commands and seek righteousness and humility.

A Walking Song for the Next Week

WALK IN THE LIGHT

“If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Words: Bernard Barton, Devotional Verses (London: 1826).

Music: Richmond (Haweis), Thomas Haweis, Carmina Christo, 1792

Walk in the light: so shalt thou know
That fellowship of love
His Spirit only can bestow
Who reigns in light above.

Walk in the light: and sin abhorred
Shall ne’er defile again;
The blood of Jesus Christ, thy Lord,
Shall cleanse from every stain.

Walk in the light: and thou shalt find
Thy heart made truly His
Who dwells in cloudless light enshrined
In Whom no darkness is.

Walk in the light: and thou shalt own
Thy darkness passed away,
Because that light hath on thee shone
In which is perfect day.

Walk in the light: and e’en the tomb
No fearful shade shall wear;
Glory shall chase away its gloom,
For Christ has conquered there.

Walk in the light: and thine shall be
A path, though thorny, bright;
For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee,
And God Himself is light.

Micah 4.5

For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

What more needs to be said?

Amos 3.3

Do two walk together unless they have made an appointment?

One of the stranger Bible passages, if lifted out of context. Amos is telling Israel it cannot rest on its own laurels as God's chosen people, because this status comes with great responsibility. If they cannot be a good example to the nations around them, they can always be a bad example. Vss. 3-8 tell Israel they ignore the word of God at their own peril, as God has sent it though the prophets, and, "... The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?"

It is probably a good idea, as we walk to Jerusalem, if we listen for the voice of God in those around us as well.

Hosea 14:9

Those who are wise understand these things [that it is God who cares for us and from whom our accomplishments come, and not idols]; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

What more needs to be said?

Daniel 4:37

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways are justice, and he is able to bring low those who walk in pride.

This is a fascinating story. The goal is to demonstrate how helpless is even the greatest of heathens against the God of Israel. The King, very successful, believes his victories come from himself, and not from God. To demonstrate this is not so, God both causes insanity in the King and then cures it.

This is a common theme in the Bible - the first becoming last and the last becoming first, within and without Israel. Similar realizations came to the Pharaoh in Egypt and to King Cyrus, for example, and Jesus spoke of this often.

It is a good thing to walk to Jerusalem, but we must not "walk in pride." As with the King, our accomplishments are due to the Grace of God.

Kinda Sounds and Looks Like the Kenai Peninsula

Kola River -- The Destination for Trophy Atlantic Salmon. The Kola is the largest river on the Northern Kola Peninsula emptying into the Barents Sea. No wonder the entire peninsula derives its name from it.