Mathematics, Cosmology, and Speaking of Faith

I haven't gone back through this blog to count the number of times I've recommended the NPR program Speaking of Faith. I listen on Sunday mornings, and I'm always amazed at how enriched I feel, both intellectually and spiritually; in fact, I know people who claim that they get more out of this program than they do out of church. I've certainly been to churches where I could say the same; happily, that's not true of my current church.

Last week's show was one of those shows that I've gone back to listen to several times, because it was just that fascinating. It featured theoretical physicist Janna Levin, who talked about her work and larger issues of what the universe looks like and our perceptions of it and how that might impact our faith. I've spent the week thinking about what she said about the perspective of the quantum particle, which would be quite comfortable with the idea that something can be both a wave and a particle, that something can just vanish without explanation. To a quantum particle, our world would seem rigid and strange.

I'm probably not explaining this well--I can just barely get my head around quantum physics, much less explain it to others. Happily Janna Levin doesn't share my problem. Go here to hear the show, to hear the unedited tapes, to discover other resources.

This show moved me so much that I ordered both of Levin's books. I'm envious, so envious, of one of the titles: A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. Is that not one of the most fabulous titles?

Meditation on this Week's Gospel

The readings for Sunday, March 1, 2009:

First Reading: Genesis 9:8-17

Psalm: Psalm 25:1-9 (Psalm 25:1-10 NRSV)

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22

Gospel: Mark 1:9-15

We begin Lent back in the country of baptism. Once again, we hear the story of the baptism of Christ. Didn't we just cover this material a few weeks ago?Indeed we did, and it should remind us of the importance of this sacrament. It gives us a chance to notice what we might not have noticed before.

On the RevGalBlogPals blog, Kathryn observes, "when Jesus appears on stage here, he has done nothing to earn God's love. The teaching, the healing, the utter obedience unto death all lie in the future-- but still God looks down and speaks the unconditional love that is always being poured on each of [God's] children." (go here for the whole essay).

I still struggle with the idea of grace. I still struggle with a fair amount of self-loathing. Where does my self-loathing come from? I have parents who have always loved me very much. I grew up watching Mister Rogers, who always ended with such a message of positive love that I'm tempted to watch him again today. I went to a Lutheran church, where I did not get a message that I was unworthy of God.

Perhaps my self-loathing comes from my society which would encourage me to spend all my free time trying to lose weight (because otherwise, I might transform society with my non-worldly ideals of peace and justice). Perhaps it comes from being a first-born child, with my extensive to-do list and my ever-increasing standards of what success looks like (always looking to the next milestone, never resting on my laurels, never enjoying current successes). Perhaps I need medication.

Or perhaps I should return to this Bible passage periodically. It's important to remind myself that God loves me. It's also important to remind myself of how much the world cares about whether or not God loves me.

Look at the end of the Gospel lesson: John the Baptist has been arrested. We can't say we haven't been warned about what might happen to us when we do God's work in the world.

But we're not excused from doing it. The Gospel ends with Jesus continuing his mission, preaching the gospel of God.

Lent is at hand. Many people think of Lent as Spring Training Camp (or Boot Camp) for Christians-these images aren't mine, but I've seen so many people use them, I'm not sure who should get credit. Lent is a great time for us to get serious (again) about our faith journey. Lent is a great time to spend some contemplative time to consider the ways that we're living out our Christian faith and the ways that we could improve. Many people will give up something for Lent. Many people will add something, like more Bible reading, more prayer, more devotional reading, more charitable work.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day in the Liturgical year that reminds us that we are dust, and all too soon, we'll return to dust. You can call yourself a creature made out of the ruins of stars (true!), but you're dust all the same. This service used to depress me, but these days, I find it one of the more important ones of the church year.

We're not here for very long, and most of us have already used up at least half the time we have in this life. We just do not have time for most of the self-defeating and self-destructive behaviors in which we engage. Now is the time to turn off our televisions and to focus on something more important. Now is the time to give up our self-loathing and to focus on our God, who is well-pleased with us.

Launch Into Lent: Infuse Your Days with Creativity

Our medieval counterparts would have understood the value of artistic practices to our spiritual lives, and some Christian traditions have continued to embrace the role of the arts in their churches. But many of us in churches that were birthed during the Reformation find ourselves in traditions that value logic and reason and thought rather than creativity and mysticism.

It's time to reclaim our creative heritage, and Lent is a perfect time to infuse our days with creativity.

You might try a different artistic practice each week or you might choose one and focus on that discipline throughout the season. For those of you who claim not to be creative, I'd encourage you to think back to your childhood. What types of creative work did you do before you became convinced that you had no talent and therefore should give up your pastimes?

Here are some ideas. You might also refer to my entry several days ago about spiritual journalling.

--Write a poem about God. But before you start, fill in the following blank 25 times without thinking about it: God is like _______________________.

--Go to the store and buy 3 bouquets of flowers. Rearrange them into two bouquets and put them where you'll see them and be reminded of God's flowering love for you.

--Buy a big box of crayons (or paints or pastels or any medium that makes you excited). Create a picture that addresses your spiritual life.

--Collect all your magazines and create a collage that depicts your hopes and dreams for the future.

--Learn to bake bread. Bread is an amazingly forgiving food, and will endure countless experiments. You'll enjoy the kneading process. But if you just have no time, here's a recipe for No Knead Bread that showed up in the New York Times. It got lots of good reviews, but I haven't tried it.

--Go to a bead show or shop and buy some beads. String them together to make a rosary. Use your rosary to keep track of your prayers. For those of you who don't come out of a tradition that prays this way, go here for some ideas of prayers one might use with a rosary.

--Many churches will begin working on special music for Easter--join them.

--Plant a garden or an herb box or a huge bowl of flowers. You might feel more rooted as you get your hands in the dirt.

--Write your Spiritual Artist timeline. You can do this in your journal, on the computer, or on scraps of paper that you'll shred so that no one can see them. Break your life into 5-10 year time spans and write about what was going on in your life during those years, both as a creative person and as a spiritual pilgrim. Look for the places where your paths twine together.

--Write a chancel drama. Or some other kind of drama.

--See what happens to your prayer life if you adopt movements as you pray. Doug Pagitt wrote about some possibilities in his 2005 book BodyPrayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God .

--Explore liturgical dance.

--The image of God as a potter recurs in the Bible. Buy some clay and play with it. Think about a potter and the clay as an image.

--You might also try inviting your friends over for a Creativity Day/Afternoon/Morning/Week-end. You might decide to all work on a similar project, maybe on the same project, or maybe you just want to work on your own projects, alone but together. If most of your friends are non-believers, invite them anyway. You can tone down the spiritual nature of your creative endeavors, if it makes others uncomfortable. Or maybe your project would be an entry point for you all to talk about your spiritual journeys. If you enjoy it, try making it a standing date that you do on a regular basis. Some of you might decide to go on retreat together.

Resources:

There are more resources for more various art forms than I can possibly begin to list. Go to your public library and check out some books, if that's the kind of research you do. Google the type of art form you want to try. If you're the type who wants or needs a class, many community colleges and universities offer continuing ed classes at very reasonable prices, and many community centers also offer classes.

Launch into Lent: Cultivating Generosity

I thought about using the word "tithing," but I decided to use the idea of generosity instead. People who tithe often forget how impossible it sounds to give away 10% of our income; most of us can't even give away 10% to our own savings account. If we can't convince people to give away 10% of their income to their own selves, how can we convince them to give away 10% to charity or justice operations?

The answer to that question is to encourage people to start small. Starting at 10% is overwhelming. Giving away 1% is more manageable. Then at some later date, increase it to 2%, and so on.

Or perhaps we should move away from the idea that tithing can only be measured in financial terms. We can clean out our closets and give away all those clothes we never wear. Most of us have too much stuff, and there are people who can use our castaways. Use the time of Lent to purify and strip down. We can ship books to schools and seminaries to second and third world countries that can use them (go here to read about the Theological Book Network, which redistributes the world's book wealth).

We can give of our time. For many of us, time is more valuable than money, or at least in shorter supply, and these days, to give up some time in the service of God might be closer to the spirit of tithing than giving up money. For Lent, choose a charity or service organization that needs your help, and show up to help. Work with an illiterate student, help a group with a clean up day, go bag food at a food bank: the possibilities are endless.

I understand that many people are racing faster than ever simply to stay in place: working two jobs for reduced wages, while trying to make sure that their children or aging parents get where they need to go. If that's your situation, you could still offer your prayers for those who are working for peace and justice.

Why do this? What was the original idea behind tithing?

Money--and the power and status that it brings--is a powerfully seductive thing. Once, when facing reduced circumstances as my husband left his job, my Charismatic Catholic AA friend acted as if I'd had a death in the family.

I shrugged and said, "I think having too much money is spiritually dangerous."

You wouldn't think I'd have to explain that to her, but I did.

If we have too much money, we tend to think of ourselves as capable and smart and able to go about our lives on our own. We think we don't need God. And soon, we begin to worry that we don't have enough money, and we lash ourselves to our jobs, jobs that require ever more of us, so that we can ensure we have enough money. But we'll never have enough money.

We will never have enough money. We will never be safe and protected by having enough money.

The only way to win that game (to paraphrase books and movies about other subjects, like female beauty and nuclear war) is not to play.

Giving money away loosens its grip on us. Giving away money reminds us that we can live on less. Giving away money reminds us that we are people of God, not people of the capitalist systems which would like to enslave us.

Resources:

In May 2008, the magazine Sojourners published a series of stories on how Christians should handle money. They've expanded their offerings online. Go here for insightful reading and links.

The Theological Book Network will take not only your religious books, but a wide variety of books--or you can donate money to help them do their important work. Go here for more details.

Launch into Lent: Fasting

Most people think of giving up food when they hear the word "fasting." Many people assume that when one is fasting, one only drinks water. Most of us assume we could never give up food, not for any length of time--which might be one reason we should attempt it. Fasting has been part of most religious traditions, even if it hasn't been widely used in all of them. It's a powerful tool.

Fasting gives us an opportunity to focus our attention. And if we're fasting for spiritual reasons, we've freed up some time and energy to focus on God.

If we give up food, we also give ourselves an opportunity to viscerally feel how much of the world lives: that nagging hunger in the stomach, that return of one's thoughts to food and how to find it.

Even if we think we can't give up food altogether, we could designate one day a week to be third world eating day. We could eat nothing but a bowl of rice once or twice a day. When we're hungry, we could remind ourselves that even with a diminished diet of rice, we're still getting more calories than much of the world.

And of course, we could undertake fasts of other sorts. Here are some things you could give up, for one day a week or the whole of Lent:

--meat

--sugar

--local television news

--driving above the speed limit

--gossip

--coffee (or just coffee from a coffee shop, which is SO overpriced)

--anger

--fast food

--soda (yes, even diet)

--restaurant food

--fluffy reading

--sending text messages

--excessive Internet use

If you want to be part of a truly ancient tradition, you might choose Friday as your fast day for Lent, as much of the church did for the first 1600-1900 years of church tradition. Or you might want to plan for some sort of three day fast that covers Good Friday to Easter morning.

Resources:

In March, Scot McKnight's book, Fasting, will be released, and people who have seen the book tell us it's wonderful. It's part of the Ancient Practices series (I've read two of the books in the series and can't say enough good things; I mentioned In Constant Prayer a few days ago).

Launch Into Lent--Keeping a Spiritual Journal

I think that Westerners are completely out of touch with their innermost thoughts. In fact, I think that we're terrified of our innermost thoughts, and that's why we try to drown them out with music, television, chattering on our cellphones. We're scared to know what we really think.

Journalling is a powerful tool for us, and many people have said that keeping a journal is meditation for Westerners. Maybe you already keep a journal. No matter your thoughts on keeping a journal, you might try some of these techniques to add some spiritual depth to your Lent.

Don't worry about the tools of the writing process. You can write on a computer or with your trusty pen. You can buy a beautiful book or write on scraps of paper. If you already journal, you can use it.

And don't worry too much about the logistics. It would be lovely if we all had an hour in the morning and in the evening to get in touch with our deepest selves, but most of us don't. So use what you have. If you can't achieve silence, don't fret. Write while the commercials are on and your family members are clicking through channels if you have to. God can use the time we have.

Choose one of the following and write. Feel free to return to it.

Writing Prompts:

--Where did you see God today? Where have you seen God in the last week?

--Keep a prayer list. Who needs your prayers today?

--Keep an answered prayer list. How has God answered your prayers?

--Write about the Scripture you've been reading. For example, you might ask yourself, "Who am I in this Gospel lesson?" You might see what still speaks to you, and what seems anchored to a distant time and place. If you keep this spiritual discipline through the years, you might return to an unapproachable text and see if it remains unapproachable.

--Write about the other spiritual material you've been reading. Look for spiritual lessons in your secular reading.

--Choose a word that has some spiritual charge and write about it. Here are some words to get you started: bread, sanctuary, grace, spirit, flesh, salvation, host, wine, revelation, soul, redeem, love, trinity, creator, fruit, joy, peace. If you enjoy this and would like to read a masterful writer engaged in the same process, read Katherine Norris' Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith.

--Imagine that you can say anything you like to God. What do you say?

--Write in the voice of God, speaking directly to you.

This last one might give you pause. Those of us who grew up in conservative traditions might fear being hit with a lightning bolt. However, I did this--with some fear and trepidation--with a journal writing workshop that I let, and my participants have let me know that this exercise was the most powerful thing we did. You might want to save this for a time when you have 15 minutes or more. It might take you some time to get into the spirit of the exercise.

Resources:

Luann Budd's Journal Keeping: Writing for Spiritual Growth.

Christina Baldwin has spent most of her life writing about journalling, but she comes from a non-Christian, New Agey perspective. Her book Life's Companion: Journal Writing as Spiritual Quest is useful.

Augsburg has a neat 40 Day Journey series, which gives readings from an author, readings from the Bible, prayers, and journalling prompts. In the series: Kathleen Norris (recommended!), Julian of Norwich, Parker J. Palmer, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Madeleine L'Engle, Joan Chittister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther.

Launch Into Lent--Increase Your Bible Reading

If you've started a program of fixed hour prayer, you're already increasing your Scripture reading. But some days, I find the fragmentary nature of this kind of Bible reading a bit irritating. It's good to read larger chunks of the Bible, and most of us don't do that very much.

If we're lucky, we get several chunks of the Bible during our church services, but some of us don't even get that. I once visited a Lutheran church and never went back--there was no first lesson, no Psalm, no second lesson. We just went straight to the Gospel. It was strange.

Maybe it's Monday, and you're wondering what to read. You could do worse than to just read the lessons for the past Sunday or the upcoming Sunday each day of the week. Let the words sink into you and see where they lead you. If you need the lessons for the week, plus special feast days, go here and then pick up your favorite Bible. If you need to read the lectionary online, go here; if you keep clicking through screens, you can get several translation options as well as study aids.

Or maybe you want to branch out. Choose a book you've never read before. Or maybe you want to simply read a Psalm a day. Or maybe you want to read your way through the Gospels. There's no wrong way to do it. And if you find yourself bored or irritated or wishing you'd chosen a different text--change!

How much should more daily reading should you do? My students are always asking for quantifying information, so I hear their voices: how many pages? How much time should I spend?

I'd take a page from the diet/exercise/lifestyle doctors. Start where you are, doing what you can do. Read 15 minutes a day. You don't have 15 minutes? Read for 5. Or simply read a Psalm or read one chapter. Read while you eat your cereal. Read just before bed. Make your children's bedtime stories come from the Bible. Get the Bible on tape/CD/mp3 download and listen on your way to work.

Go here if you don't want the burden of choosing--you can get a new verse each day (and check out the other tabs too--it looks interesting!). Or maybe you want to be ambitious and read through the Bible in a year--this site has help for that too.

Don't overthink this spiritual discipline. Just dive right in and read a bit more each day.

Resources:

--Go here for the ELCA website page that gives you the lectionary readings for the week and special days.

--Go here to read the lectionary readings online.

--Go here for a random verse of the day, as well as other ways to surf the Bible.