Spiritual Journal Entry #5

This is an odd entry... having been so sick for so many days this semester... like, missing most of two weeks of school... I cannot reflect on the spiritual practice from class on 10/10 because I wasn't there. What I can do, though, is write a reflection on an intersection between some things in my Rule Of Life and my experience on Friday 10/14.

Points of context from my Rule Of Life:

1) I committed to attend Labyrinth Walks at Grace Cathedral in SF

2) I expressed a stretch-objective regarding movement-based praxis

It is ironic that I would express my tendency to avoid movement-based πρᾶξις when I am so deeply interested in labyrinth-walking. There's an obvious irony, yes, but on Friday 10/14/2011 something happened while walking the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral that really synthesized several threads of my spiritual life. While walking the labyrinth I hit upon the concept of space-holding: I know from my worship experiences at COR-SF that I am a space-holder and I gladly embrace that role which God has given me. What was not so clear to me until this week's labyrinth walk was that my role as space-holder in Pentecostal worship also appears while moving through a labyrinth; this became clear when I sensed a woman behind me on the walk and -- acting totally on instinct -- I held space at a turn so that she could pass me.

I believe that the power of labyrinth-walking lies in the metaphor of the intentional walk. When a group of people walk a labyrinth, we are pilgrims on a shared divine path. Out of many spirits, one intent. Από πολλά, ένα. Some of us are natural lead-feet, some of us are stop-and-smell-the-roses, and yes... some of us are space-holders. I now understand that my identity as a space-holder appears even in movement-based praxis.

Will the circle, be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by?

There's a greater home, awaiting, in the sky Lord, in the sky.

Sicky Sickerson Speaks!

Being sick, in a word, sucks. A really awful cough-gack-sinus thing has been going around... thank God for my friend Anne's access to ciprofloxacin. I am not normally a believer in the rush to use antibiotics, but in this case it was necessary. I had been running myself ragged... getting waaaaaay too crazybusy with school, worship, and in general just going too fast. It's ironic that the mantra for my Tuesday night Biblical Character Study class is SLOW DOWN... sheesh, mayhaps I need to listen to that mantra!

Anyway... that's it. Sicky Sickerson has spoken.

A Day We All Knew Would Come

It is done. The master visionary, Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs, has left the building.

I really have no words to explain my feelings at this time. I didn't know the man; hell, he didn't even do me the courtesy of following up with me when I stepped forward to express my passionate desire to work for his company. But the simple truth is that this man had a profound impact on my relationship to technology, to the printed word, and to music. From the first day I used the Macintosh back in the Spring of 1989, my relationship to the world changed forever. There really are no words to adequately express my gratitude. Thank you sir. Thank you. A million times, thank you.

Αναπαύσου εν ειρήνη, ω καπετάνιος καπετάνιος μου!

Rest In Peace, oh captain my captain!

Spiritual Journal Entry #4

The theme of the week? Language. This was the week that I led my small group in a spiritual practice. I sang three Hebrew lines from a standard Passover Seder liturgy and then had them sing a dual-note Κύριε Ελέησον chant in call-and-response fashion while I sang the Beatitudes from the Sermon On The Mount in the same two notes. The irony is that another classmate had just led us in prayer using a Psalm which he read in English and then in Tongan. It truly is a blessing to be surrounded by so many different languages and modes of expression in our various connections to God. Now if I can just manage to get through this latest round of cough-gack-shit! Yes, that's right. I am apparently sick. Again. Let me be at peace and know that God has my back... I missed church this past Sunday, and my Monday morning NT class, and my Tuesday evening class as well. It's not a good time to be sick. LORD, I ask you to carry me through this period in the semester when things get so crazy.

May my cry come before you, LORD; give me understanding according to your word. May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, LORD, and your law gives me delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands. (Psalm 119:169-176)