May Day… A Look at Its Origins And Its Meaning For Us Today

The Rev. Peter E. Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Throughout the progression of humanity’s religious quest, there has been either a desired dialogue or a dubious denial of the importance of nature to our religious practices and spiritual imaginations.

On one side, there have been the mystics, poets, philosophers, and artists whose source of inspiration was drawn directly from the natural world. In response to the mystery and majesty of nature, its balance and its beauty, we are given invaluable lessons that we need to take seriously. In the natural world, they observed, there is a visceral wisdom that requires our awareness and our respect. The cycles of weather definitely have an effect on our sense of health and well being and will lead us to acknowledge that nature cannot be divorced from our humanity and therefore deserves an important or central place in our religious understanding and expressions of worship. The variegated petals that unfold to us form around the truth that Nature is a pathway to God- and this pathway is as wide as Pagan festivals to medieval mysticism, from the Native Americans to the Transcendentalists. What they all share, from the flowery verse of Hindu Vedas to Whitman’s earthy leaves of grass, they speak of nature with respectful and reverent tones.

The contrasting viewpoint is that nature is our adversary, that it is something that we, as humans, need to conquer and control for our personal benefit. It declares that nature exists for our social and personal use. If it cannot be overcome, then it had to be dominated or domesticated, tamed or controlled. Often, this outlook falls into two primary camps- the ascetic and the opportunistic. In the first way of dealing with nature, we are to deny any connection to it… That somehow the physical being is bad, that nature is cruel, and life in the body is a harsh ordeal.

This point of view was most vividly championed by the Victorian celibate priesthood and earlier, in this country, it was well represented in Puritan times by Yankee Protestantism with all of its puritanical codes and its capitalistic ambitions. Under this approach to nature, we are to use, to plunder, exploit and harness nature to fit or fuel our desires for progress and for profit. Only then or in that way, does nature have any value for us!

As I have outlined it, it is obvious where I stand… And even though it is not an objective comparison, it is one that operates clearly in our culture today. It is historically factual and its influence on theology has contributed greatly to how religion can be used to support environmental deregulation and it has contributed to the ecological and spiritual crisis we now face.

As this relates to May day, we gain our first appreciation of its origins from the Roman revels of Flora, the goddess of the flowers, and most likely an earlier Pagan celebration that they adopted. Historically, the people of Southern Europe or more temperate climates observed that Spring could easily begin in March. However, if you lived in Northern Europe, or in the Northeastern and upper Midwestern parts of our country, a good claim could be that Spring really doesn’t arrive until May 1st!

But May… Ah, May… Well, we can always hold good thoughts about the weather in the month of May… It is after the cold winds of winter and before the harsh heat of summer…

It is the month of Camelot… the merry month of May when we can celebrate our delight in the flowers and in all greening and growing things…

And so it is, that we derive our best source for the origins of May Day from Merry Old England… Of course!

Many of you already know something about the Celts and Druids. They were famous for many things that later became infused into our modern culture. Among the more curious and phenomenal were the ideas associated with nature spirits, leprechauns spirits, fairies and the like… But we also have the marvels of Stonehenge, and we have the vivid scenes from Shakespeare’s plays that are filled with nature, alchemy and symbolism such as MacBeth’s witches with all their toil and trouble!

More importantly to our spiritual quest, there has been a revival of deep and earnest interest in the divine feminine and in the ideas and practices associated with the worship of the goddess. The classic text, that is almost required reading for those interested in this feminine spiritual outlook would be Margot Adler’s Drawing Down The Moon. What is on major importance for us is that these practices, images and symbols were pre-Christian ( and from what I have observed in the Low Country, they are post Christian) and the central teaching is that we cannot live our lives apart from nature or without a central correspondence to nature as a source of wisdom and understanding. We cannot or should I say, we dare not live hermetically sealed off from nature in our condos and skyscrapers, or training out nature by being constantly plugged in our MP3 players and our smart phones!

In fact, there is now a new malady making its appearance among our youth- a deficit of Nature that keeps them alienated and out of touch with how nature teaches us to live. They are removed from healthy food, exercise, exploration of the natural world, and are living in a largely artificial way! While technology can certainly be useful, it needs to serve our aesthetic and compassionate values, not create them!

The major obstacle to a more full and joyous celebration of  earth based holidays such as May Day, Midsummer’s, Equinox, even Halloween,

Comes from the suspicion associated with them being carnal, being visceral, being joyous… or in short, not being Christian, and therefore evil!

Furthermore, these revels associated with May poles, and bonfires might be demonic and could corrupt your orthodox and pious soul!

And yes, if these festivals are lived out as they are portrayed in Hollywood, they are certainly lascivious and “over the top” and could easily be seen as a corrupting influence on youth and society as a whole. However, most of these rituals and rites are respectful and celebrate the connection of our bodies with our souls, and that our lives are drawn from nature and to give thanks and to be exceedingly grateful that our existence depends on keeping a respectful balance and correspondence to the natural cycles and rhythms of the year…

Another objection to celebrating May day and the earth festivals is simply because… Well, Pagans do it! What is a Pagan? Is it someone like Aristotle, Plato, or Marcus Aurelius- someone who does not believe in a Christian understanding of God? In short, the word pagan has been drastically abused and when it has been employed it is often derogatory and dismissive. Its Latin origins simply meant to be a country dweller in contrast to someone living in walled cities…

The truth is that religion has always taken the ways and rituals for worship from its environment or natural surroundings. If you live among the animals, amidst the trees then these living things can take on a symbolic expression and have a spiritually significant meaning for you. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed … Almost all the great religious leaders of humankind did not draw their most enduring teaching stories from life in the “concrete jungle”

The parables are filled with natural symbolism… Similarly, the Native Americans looked to animals, birds, and tress, as did the Celts.

However, when the Christian missionaries arrived in Northern Germany, France, and the moved into the British Isles, they were… Appalled to see such displays of joy and celebration! It was so licentious and it was accompanied with heathen drumming, flute playing, and dancing- Horror!

They saw it as their moral duty to root out this decay, and to train people to abandon their bodies in favor on their rational sensibilities…

In doing so, their aim was to break their spirit, and abolish their Myths and symbols. In other situations and circumstances, where the Myth and the cultural observances were deeply engrained, and the resistance was too great, they decided to “sanitize” their festivals and practices and gave them new, tame meanings… From those efforts we have the origins of the Christmas tree, the Easter egg, etc.

So all this review, brings me to May Day, a joyous Pagan Holiday!

Among the Celts and Druids, it was called Beltane, and it was celebrated as part of the wheel of life, one eighth that signals Summer’s impending arrival!

Of course, May day is the more tepid and tame version of Beltane…

Originally, Beltane was a holiday celebrating and encouraging fertility!

And the May Pole… well, its an upright symbol that it to be encircled by flowers. All who wished to be fructified, or to encourage their own fertility  were encouraged to use this time to seed the soil or the awaiting wombs so that there would be a joyful harvest in the coming seasons! Young women would dance around the large trunk trunk/pole and offer signs and songs for fruitfulness- in any way you wished to desire it! Other customs associated with May day were hobby horse riding, Morris dancing, and washing one’s body in the morning dew!

When I was preparing this topic, I purposely spent time in my home garden… While I am usually filled with the ideas of the tasks to be done, this time I stood, and walked mindfully through the rows… As it was, by the time and phase of the Moon, time to plant, I took some seeds and stooped over, make some rows with a hoe, and started to lay out what I hope would be an abundant summer harvest…

As I began the process, I became lost in thought… My mind flashed on how universal and timeless this act of seeding was! Most every year of my life has had a garden in it… Across the generations of my family life, up and

down the rows of humanity, people have planted… Humans have planted their seeds, their hopes and their desires for a million years, and I am but one of the recent ones and it is just my time in the unfolding centuries to take my place, make my effort to grow food for my life …

Suddenly, my reverie ended… And I stood up and was still … It was almost totally quiet …empty… Expectant…

Well, almost quiet until a defiant mockingbird decided to wake me up and bring me back to his particular form of celebration, his enthusiasm seemed to have no bounds! Yet, for a short precious while… I was one with the Chinese rice farmer, the Cherokee planting the early corn, my grandfather putting tomatoes deep into the soil…

Now I could begin to understand how the reverent Celt would have felt when he or she was confronted by the many mysteries of nature and how it enveloped life, and how deserving nature is of our care and dedication. It was a feeling that made me quietly content, serene, happy…

If this is a more enlightened form of what it means to be a Pagan… Then count me in! I am a Pagan, too!

Whether our concern is for ecological integrity or personal peace, try to take some time this May Day to offer someone a flower, a smile, some loving regard… Go for a walk, open up your senses to all the natural lessons, epiphanies and miracles there are to behold…

Take nature into your keeping, and place it near to your heart…

Amen; So Be It; Blessed Be….

 

A Prayer for May

From Julian of Norwich

There is a treasure in the earth.

Be a gardener. Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat.

Turn the earth upside down, and seek the deepness.

Continue in this labor, [then] take this food…

And carry it to God and to your neighbor as your true worship.

 

In God’s being is Nature; God is the true Father and Mother of Nature, and all are made to flow out of God to work the divine will.

Nature and God are in harmony with one another.

For Grace is God as Nature is God.

Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other.

Let us never forget our debts to both Nature and Grace.

Our Father/Mother/Spirit God;

You who are the Creator, Provider, Sustainer of Humanity and the Natural World, we offer our praise for the beauty of the earth, and all that is nature that surrounds us. We affirm that both Nature and Grace are our gifts from the Creation, and that we are to be the willing and grateful stewards.

As we respect our bodies, we respect the animals and all that lives alongside of us and that shares this planet with us.

May we never act in arrogance, but always seek to live in balance , in praise, and in peace. AMEN

Pastoral Reflection: How Nature Reveals Problem-Solving

When I was a child, back in cold damp, New England, there was an expression the Old Yankees would use concerning this day on the calendar, and it went something like this: “ March… comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb…”

March would be, under normal conditions, the last month of winter weather. If all went well, from the Groundhog’s prediction to The Farmer’s Almanac (I guess they didn’t know about El Nino… Or global warming in those days) they could count on Spring starting sometime in March… . As it was explained to me, the weather can progress from being fierce to being more gentle, and that this pattern of Nature was capable of happening in a short period of time… one month.

It was a common sight for me, to see snow still piled up at the beginning of March, and it was truly a wondrous and hopeful sight to see, once we past the Ides, that, in a few bare spots, those brave and courageous little crocuses were trying to push their way through the  thawed ground announcing the coming of the long awaited Spring.

This weather phenomenon points to lessons in our apprehension and anticipation- to how we can begin to dread the beginning of a project, a responsibility, or a change in one’s life, and then with greater openness to possibilities, a d a shift in our perceptions, be able to warm up to it and reach its completion with a sense of peace and joy. Like the first of March, our problems and challenges can appear fierce and lion-sized. We can imagine ourselves bracing for the worst, instead of expecting the best from ourselves, our society, our situations in life- we dread, we worry, we are fearful, instead of looking optimistically at our potentials…

Like the stormy chill of the late winter, we can effectively act like wet snow blankets or at least pour down freezing rain on our best efforts. Hope is what renews us. Only as we allow ourselves to emphasize our possibilities and potentials does Spring truly arrive; When Spring is in the air, our willingness to hold fast to our purposes, helps us to endure until the greening of the year, until the color and warmth returns to our lives, and optimism and courage takes its rightful place in our hearts.

From a certain metaphorical perspective, weather is the energetic result of our collective thoughts… and those thoughts, if not directly affecting our world, truly can control the emotional climate of our lives. Based on that outlook, I will confidently predict that it is our reactions and our ability to expect what is good, and rehearse those ideals, versus dreading what might never be, and rehearsing those desperate empty scenes, that could control the warmth we feel and share among us.

Similarly, it could be the “whether or not” patterns in our own thinking that will set the range of temperature in our caring, in our openness that we have toward love and life. If life is currently like March 1st, an old bellowing lion, not happy with his portion and dissastified with his lack of attention, take heart… become encouraged… for the peace, warmth, affirmation you seek is not far away. Spring is almost here!

As lion and lamb, may the days of our lives not be spent in worrying whether or not you will receive a fleecing by life, or that you might be devoured by any of life’s challenges and changes. Instead, we can follow nature’s rhythms and give ourselves the gift of time, of patience, acceptance, and a little endurance, and within a few Sundays, your problems can melt, and you, too can bravely bloom with greater optimism and hope for the year… Happy March 1st!

 

Getting Through The Day”

    A personal and spiritual approach to daily living

     The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

 

Ever since learning about how Thoreau cared about the quality of each day, it has been a reoccurring guiding theme for me- one that I often revisit as a part of my assessment of goals, values, and ideals to hold, and to try to carry into each day.

When I or when anyone engages in self- scutiny, trying to appraise and evaluate directions, motives, and goals there is an ongoing need to avoid harsh judgment, and the willingness to be compassionate and conciliatory towards the direction one seeks, or tries to master. Since accepting the ministry as my primary vocation, this issue has called to me and confronted me acutely- I have searched continually for a vital, involved approaches that allow for a more comprehensive outlook, and an ongoing opportunity to express my decisions, choices, and responses in a positive, affirmative, theological and ethical ways.

Yet, the larger sense of ministry that claims me now asks me to heed the ever-present call to reach for and to try to find my sense of God, grace, benevolence, and blessings that can be found in each person and all the circumstances that inhabit my world.

It is an unending challenge, and yet accepting that unending reality does not make it hopeless, it always provides me with a “growing edge,” and it is an ever-present ideal to reach for, and to accept that if even if it cannot be reached, I am still better off for trying to attain it. For me, there is a particular joy when I can assist others in finding more of whatever is worthwhile, whatever is holy, healing, inspiring, and beautiful in themselves or in their lives. 

One way of remembering my essential task is to ask myself some pointed questions that serve to check and direct my responses, my motives, and results. I have to ask myself: “Where is God or what good is there to be found in this attitude, action, thought or feeling? Am I putting the greater good first, or am I being selfish? Not that I always remember to ask these questions, but most often, these questions retain a relevance and a heartfelt resonance that can direct my words and steps. My lifelong task is to learn how to use various holy or spiritual ideas and ethical principles and try to apply them diligently to every facet of my life.

A helpful way of reminding me what daily life is all about is to remember 

P A G L — Peace, Assurance, Gratitude and Love.

These ideals were given to me over 25 years ago at the start of my ministry by an unlikely mentor. They were given to me by friends who had studies with a New York psychiatrist named Thomas Hora. Dr. Hora, a European, is a classically trained therapist who created a system of counseling based on walking through psychiatry… Instead, he offered his patients relevant philosophical and spiritually timeless attitudes and outlooks from the world religions in insightful ways that served healing and wholeness.

He called his system, ”Existential Meta-Psychiatry,” to show that it was based in ideas and ideals that went beyond the diagnostic medical model, and that its emphasis on present truth incorporates symbolic metaphors. He advised that the best thing we can do is avoid futile questions such as : Why? Or Why Me? In that way, one’s practice and one’s world view can become a more philosophical and mythological one- ones based on placing oneself in parables, stories, dreams, that regard the whole person and one’s interior life.

Dr. Hora is among a long list of alternative thinkers, healers, and physicians that have crossed my life’s path and left their deep impressions on me. The psychiatrists have been Vicktor Frankel, John Lilly, Richard Moss; Brugh Joy, Stanislov Grof, and Jerry May- all brave explorers who left traditional approaches  for a more inclusive, cross cultural view of mental health, emotional balance, creativity, and each proposed new strategies for wellness that drew from diverse sources. When I add Carl Jung, Rollo May, and Abraham Maslow to the list of just the mental health related teachers, and, for now, leaving out the list of theologians, mystics, shamans, gurus and social reformers… You can easily see that my outlook on life has taken some interesting twists and turns away from the cultural norm for most ministers and priests, and particularly away from the acceptance of religion and medicine as being somehow separate and aloof- They have taught me the value of myth and metaphor, how our personal stories and beliefs we have about ourselves affect our health; They also emphasized that learning about oneself, and then taking more personal responsibility for the myths and stories we live in or live by can be a cooperative and synergistic approach to healing… Ways that will compliment any psychotherapy and will supplement any drug use we find necessary.

From her research, I have learned that Dr. Joan Borysenko, discovered that approximately 16% of our American population is now classified as

being depressed, 1 in 8 people! ( and that was before the financial crisis!) And she went on to say, that drug therapy only works in approximately 65% of the people, and there is a full 35% who seek out help where drugs have little or no benefit… So looking into non-medical alternatives, to me, has much merit!  

Now it would be somewhat impossible to try to encapsulate Hora’s Existential Meta-Psychiatry, his links to Heiddegger, Kierkegaard, and the modern influences of theologians like Paul Tillich in any short sermon, but I think I will try…

Dr. Hora, when quoting the wisdom found in Proverbs, would say to his students: As thou seeest, so thou be-est” and as a “Man thinketh, so in his heart, is he.” What is the meaning of what appears to be?”

He taught that how we look at ourselves and our world, and how we allow or permit our experiences to define us, is what or who we often do become.

Dr. Hora advises we have to be very careful about how we look at ourselves, and how we view others, what we allow to program or influence us, for our perceptions, whether they are fearful and insecure or hopeful and optimistic, can influence our picture of reality… And consequently, those ways of seeing and perceiving can have either an adverse or a beneficial effects on our mental and emotional health! So taking his four qualities of soul, or his four values and virtues that he taught me that are essential for living a life of purpose and meaning, I will share with you a summary of my understanding. These four words or ideals are: P A G L… Peace, Assurance, Gratitude, and Love…

 

PEACE: I value a sustained sense of peace in my life. I prize serenity over sensation, preferring quiet over too much stimulus. My task in this area begins by acknowledging my tensions as my teachers; Like Jacob at Jabbock, or what blinds Paul at Damascus, what can bind me or blind me can also free me or bring me new vision. All it s takes is knowing the story, and allowing its wisdom to teach me. My own life story might contain valuable clues and keys that could eventually bless or free me. Whatever I want to see in my world begins in my own heart, and then I have to become aware how those motives needs to be carried forward into my responses and reactions that maintain harmony, and that will foster the inner peace and quiet I seek.

On the most personal level, peace has to flow from an inner security and a sense of acceptance. I cannot be peaceful if I am restlessly wanting, or striving, or when I am battling with my insecurities. Whenever there is a sharp word, a tense feeling, or some other form of discontent, I have to recall a sense of peace that not just a docile acceptance, avoidance, or quick surrender. It is an alert, yet serene. It comes from my ability to be mindful; observe my innermost thoughts and feelings, and then consciously decide on which thoughts and feelings I want to invest with meaning, with purpose and with reality.

 

Peace requires me to be aware of the justice and equanimity within all my motives, and to choose which actions can preserve it.

While it is true that “Blessed are the peacemakers,” I know that my tendency toward making prophetic statements, and truth-telling, does not assure me that I will easily maintain much peace or tranquillity, or that I will be free from agitation or restlessness. As Emerson states it, you can have truth or you can have repose… But you cannot have both! People wish to be settled; but only as far as they are unsettled, is there any hope for them!” Being restless in the pursuit of one’s own answers is a lifelong activity…

Because I fully realize that I cannot accomplish any sense of lasting peace exclusively on my own, I hold that part of my sense of peace is participatory, and interconnected to my work and my community. Peace comes to me fully as being a shared value, and I believe that peace multiplies its good when it is shared, and then made manifest to the outside world.

 

ASSURANCE: Assurance takes the feelings and motives of peace and moves me toward an inner stillness, toward an abiding sense of faith and trust. While I know that this is often a hard quality for religious liberals to accept, I define assurance as being attentive- paying attention  to my inner voice of conscience and faithful to my intimacy and ongoing relationship with God which I define as the Source of inspiration and intelligence, wisdom and compassion that is both beyond each of us, and importantly, it is a source to those qualities that is within each of us. For you who are former Methodists, there  is an old Weslyan hymn that begins with the phrase, “Blessed Assurance,” and whether you follow its words literally or not, I know that it is truly a blessing to feel secure in one’s heart, content in one’s life. With a sufficient sense of assurance, trust or faith, whatever events or circumstances come to us can be processed and experienced in a growing and positive way that makes “our extremities into God’s opportunities,” for insight and wisdom. Assurance also strengthens our persistence, and gives us the requisite amount of conscience and courage to choose the best course that meets our human needs, and that preserves our souls, or what we call the center of our awareness. Assurance, for me, gives a sense of security and comes from a feeling I am cared for and valued, that I can maintain a sense of trust for what my life direction seems to be.

 

GRATITUDE: Gratitude has always been a demand for the spiritual life. Gratitude is often best expressed through little acts of remembrance; remembering to say or do little things, such as a table grace before a meal, or to say thank you when someone offers to help. I try to wake up each morning with a thankful attitude; thankful for the day, thankful for what good the day has in store for me. Not that I always succeed at screening out my worries, doubts, or fears, but I do attempt to see that the day as containing opportunities and blessings for me. What breaks up my anticipatory anxieties is to recall all the gratitude I have for the gifts of love and care  I’ve received; whether that is a warm hug, a loaf of homemade bread, friendly pet, or an invitation to lunch, even on a day like today, some unexpected sunshine! As monk and mystic Miester Eckhart put it” If there no other prayer you can say except “thank you”, it is enough.”   

Gratitude, for me, is also expressed in my respect for nature. As a personal example, I experience gardening as a healing activity for myself and for the earth; I feed the birds, because they gave up their land for my home. I gratefully pay attention to what I eat and drink, how I exercise, and take care of my body, as ways that I can give thanks for the gift of life…

Gratitude means beholding the good, being thankful for all good that I can see. It helps the prophet in me to be a little less strident, a little more hopeful, and it gives my mystical side some support and solace. Gratitude for my daily life can have enormous and wondrous results!

 

LOVE: Of course, without a sense of love in one’s life, few of us would get up for work, or see that life itself would be worth the effort. One of the few things I agree with Freud on is this: The two great motives or sources of meaning in a man’s life are work and love. If he has one or the other, then he can survive, he can endure most any of life’s trials. It is when you are stressed by both, that is when his troubles can truly begin.

At its very core, in its very essence, love is a gift, and through its three expressions, qualities or kinds we can freely bestow it on others. However, the opposite is also true: I cannot give or offer to anyone else, what I am not willing to give or accept for myself. Love completes our sense of peace, assurance, and gratitude with an affectionate affirmation of what is truly of value in our lives.

Love affirms and uplifts; that even though there may be the experience of stress, and responsibility in our lives, Love is what fills me with hope to affirm and believe that whatever is broken can be mended, whatever has been wounded can be healed, whatever has been devalued, can be restored to its dignity and truth.

Love, acts as a vigilant daily guide, it is not just a warm and sentimental feeling; It is a deep and enduring, persistent and persevering investment. It includes respect, equality, and dignity for others as its starting point.

Church work and spiritually based work in general requires a certain loving attitude that is accepting and nonjudgmental… It is not naive, but it is idealistic. Love does not ignore egotism, but ask us to live out one’s faith in a way that tries to affirm by both eye and action, that this person or that this community deserves my attention, and my empathetic support.

Since by metaphor and by sacred affirmation, we are all God’s children, we can declare that all people are worthy of love and respect., Though I might personally feel pressed and pressured by life’s demands, I can still remind myself of that larger sense of divine companionship, and the Universalism that declares that I am never outside of God’s love and care…. That blessing or that grace is always with me, no matter my circumstances, no matter where the road of life happens to lead me…

Well, that is the beginning of my unfinished answer to how I survive and try to thrive, getting through each day…. I hope that what I have related to you can prove to be useful in your lives, and that it provided you with a deeper look into who I am, and how I approach interfaith ministry and my daily life.

AMEN, So Be It , Blessed Be…

A NEW ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE

PRELUDE: Gregorian Chants

Cover Quote:                                     Lent

Lent is not a negation. It is an affirmation of life’ positive values, its treasures.

Lent is not doing without, but it is doing with. It is taking a greater interest in things that have been crowded out in the hurry and worry of every day. It is a time when a church (or a spiritual community) may prove its value as a well, a mine, or a source and as a center dedicated to the enrichment and empowerment of the Spirit among us.

Robert Murray Pratt

(12 readings… We should pick 4-6…)

READINGS FROM THE EARLY CHURCH & AN INCLUSIVE LECTIONARY:

OLD TESTAMENT:   Psalms 103     Isa. 58

EPISTLES/LETTERS  Romans 5:1-5;     14:2-4; 6-8; 10     2 Cor 4: 7-12; 16-18

SYNOPTIC GOSPELS:           Matt 6: 1-6; 16-21; 25-34    and/or  Luke 6

GNOSTIC WRITINGS:  Thomas 70

GLORIOUS KORAN: 7: 199; 24:22

THE HADITH (selected writings of the prophet Mohammed)

SUFI SAINT JAHALUDIN RUMI: There is a Field; Forgive Me

MUSIC ( optional)  Bells or Bowls…. Or a Quiet Guitar or Flute Music…

PASTORAL  GUIDED MEDITATION:   The Jewel and The Ashes

Pastoral Prayer (optional)

SILENT MEDITATION( Chants…)

Homily ( optionalif needed or desired… On Becoming A Phoenix… website)

ANTIPHONY (a shared congregational reading that accompanies the Rite of Ash Wednesday; It is a Sacred Rite in four parts: Intention, Releasing, Anointing, Affirming….)

STATEMENT OF INTENTION:

Left Side or Congregation:

The past is behind us.

Let us learn from it, and let it go …

The Right Side or Clergy:

The future in Spirit and in self are one.

It lies within and ahead of us. Let us

prepare ourselves for it.

But we will not try to live in the future,

not strive at too fast a pace;

“Now is the time of our salvation.”

Life cannot be led or lived in hindsight;

nor can it be truly experienced in anticipation-

only in the NOW of it, which is Holy time.

We shall put the failures and embarrassments of yesterday

behind us. They will no longer rule us. We can forget them.

We will put tomorrow hopes in us, and in front of us.

Seeking the precious core of our true being, we intend to live

more graciously and compassionately each day.

For ours is the ability to reflect the Divine, and

it can only happen from the lessons learned and

Experiences we have reconciled or redeemed.

We learn from what we leave behind, from what

we HAD to experience, and from the present things…

what “we suffer to be so now.”

OFFERING/RELEASING:

(Clergy now invites people to participate in the ritual by asking each person

to write a brief description of a past, painful memory on a small paper card.)

As supplies are handed out, the clergy person reminds the participants that

this is a sacred ritual, to be kept in confidence and with non-judgment.

SILENCE

INVITATION TO THE FLAME:

Clergy: Let us seek to redeem the pain of the years, from the burning of the past, we cleanse and free ourselves to reclaim our higher selves. As dross is burned to reveal the gold, as coal becomes the diamond, we can recognize the jewels of wisdom, compassion, truth, and trust within ourselves…

( as guided by the clergy, each person, with their card, comes up and addresses the group, sharing what they had written. Then they light the card from the chalice, and drop the burning card into a large bowl.)

Clergy: Let the pangs of any negativity transform themselves through the fire and the flame separating the gold from the dross in our lives. We do this so that the ashes of our past can become transmuted to become our visible symbol of renewed grace, as a sign that we posses more of a life that is taught by wisdom, and renewed by hope.

Silence until all the cards have burned to ash . . .

ACT OF ANOINTING:  (Ashes mixed with ash of palms, and holy oil…)

Clergy: With these ashes, your past has been released and transformed. No longer are you a prisoner of memory and pain, bondage or regret, you can be free of your karmic debts. No longer dust, you are closer to becoming diamonds.

(Clergy now applies ashes to the forehead of each person)

Traditionally: Man, thou are dust and to dust you shall return….

 

NEW: You are the dust of the earth that through grace, wisdom, and love,

are always living in transforming grace… And by compassion, honesty,            wisdom and forgiveness, you are becoming  who you are more fully,            more clearly… You are becoming clear light, closer to diamonds…

ANTIPHONAL AFFIRMATION:

LEFT SIDE OR CONGREGATION

:

With this act, the days of our lives become released,

less heavy. Now I am renewed, freed to become more of my true self.

Right Side or the Clergy:

By this act, the future can be received

more openly, freely. The newness and

potential of life can be better known.

Be thankful, for this is Holy time,

because we are best known by God by how we live our lives,

how we savor and serve throughout our days.

Be humble, and thankful, for we will grow

with the promise of these ashes, so that

every day can become more clear, radiant,

and shining with love.

ALL

We have learned from our past; We can be grateful for it.

I recognize its purpose in me and for me: it has been my dust,

my grist and my ground for building within me,

a wise heart, and more spiritual life.

BENEDICTION

[ In this shall you rejoice, that more precious than gold are your tests by fire, and the outcome of your faith, hope, and love shall be the salvation of your souls]“                                                                                                                         I Peter 7; 9; adapted

Spirit, Time, and The Future

A theological and transpersonal inquiry into Spirit for our times…

Published by Outskirts Press, and available on Amazon and on Barnes and Noble websites starting in January…

 

As a way to outline what this book holds, I will give you a list of the Chapter headings:

Introduction that includes definitions of Spirit and spirituality as well as what are spiritual experiences…

I: Limits of our Traditional Knowledge

Looking at the origins of our ideas on Spirit and how it is currently understood in religion and society

II. Jewish Mystical Teachings

And their corelation to Christianity and to contemporary science

III. The Spirit in Theology and Time

 

How theology looks at and defines time; The curious and inspiring theory of Joachim De Flores and the Age of The Spirit

IV. The Question of Time

Pneumatology, Time, and Culture

V. An Unfinished Conclusion

Towards a personal approach to Spirit

Postscript

A Sacred Invitation

End Notes