 Dear Plymouth, Since my sermon for September 9, “What’s So Full About Being Empty?”, on the spiritual practice of emptying in order to be filled with the spirit of Christ, I have continued to ponder my personal practice. It is not necessarily easy. My mind can be the poster child for the term “monkey mind.” I am very conscious of the way it jumps through tasks and concerns and worries at top speed. Too fast at times to make a constructive list. How to let go of the attitude of anxiety in order to focus on real tasks and meet the needs of real people? to be truly present in the moment? At times I work too hard to make sure I am really letting go. This is a conundrum. Working too hard to let go is counter-productive. It produces more anxiety! Anyone else have monkey-mind exacerbated by anxiety that gets in the way of your true concern to be efficient, to be focused on following God, to be joyful and in the moment with yourself and others? As a continuation of my own practice and an offering for yours, I give you Denise Levertov’s poem, "The Avowal." When it is hard to empty your mind, your heart, your soul, your body of obsessive ego thoughts, of over-active anxiety and perfectionism, of too much worry, of unproductive anger and resentment, may we remember to breathe into “Creator Spirit’s deep embrace.” May we remember that we are already surrounded by God’s abundant and overflowing grace. As swimmers dare to lie face to the sky and water bears them, as hawks rest upon air and air sustains them, so would I learn to attain free fall, and float into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace, knowing no effort earns that all-surrounding grace. Blessings on your journey this week, Jane Anne We Apologize! We apologize for the confusion on Sunday regarding our parking! For those who were not present, notes were distributed to cars in our parking lot as warnings about the possibility of being towed. On Sundays our parking lot is open to ALL our members, friends, and visitors! Let us say that again! On Sundays our parking lot is open to ALL our members, friends and visitors. Here is some additional information about our current parking system at Plymouth:
AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate, Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Learn more about Jane Ann here. |
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