The team did prep work Friday evening, then were joined by our fellow educators on Saturday. All went home early Sunday afternoon.
I'm really bad about taking time off, and this three day weekend was really good for me. One of the first things I took advantage of was the chair massage - which successfully worked out many of the kinks and crunches in my shoulders and lower back.
The chaplain for the weekend was Fr. Lee, of Bartlesville. His meditations were deeply personal and, not coincidentally, deeply spiritual. His first meditation had to do with the labyrinth.
There were two labyrinths on site: one was a canvas labyrinth patterned on the Chatres design. The other was a lawn labyrinth, patterned on the Cretan design (a modern version is sometimes called a chalice labyrinth).
Labyrinths date to prehistoric times, and there are records of the early Christian community using labyrinths by the 5th or 6th century. The Chatres labyrinth is intended as a means for people who could not travel all the way to Jerusalem to make a type of pilgrimage.
We were also offered an opportunity to make a finger labyrinth. On your left, the mystic feline is exploring the finger labyrinth I made during the weekend. A detail is just to her right.
Walking the labyrinth is a type of prayer, and Fr. Lee offered a method to consider using during the weekend. He suggested that we think of all the things we worried about as we entered the labyrinth - just go through the whole laundry list of things that troubled us, all the people we were concerned for, and so on. Then, at the center of the labyrinth, we were to let go of those worries, and let God have them. He suggested we spend a few moments at the center in silence. Then, we were to exit the labryinth in silence, actively listening for God's direction in relation to those worries or concerns.
Part of my spiritual discipline has been Breath Prayer, which is a Christianized form of meditation: one choses a phrase of scripture that is meaningful to use as a mantra, and repeats it over and over for several minutes. The Jesus Prayer - "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner" - is perhaps the best known. For 25 years, my breath prayer has been, "Lord Jesus, make me whole."
About this time last year, it was suggested to me that it might be time to choose a new mantra. So, I've kept my heart open to the possibility.
The weekend's theme was "Be still and know [that] I am God" (Ps 46:10). So, after I spent my quiet time at the center of the lawn labyrinth, I decided to focus on that phrase.
I divided it more or less in half: "Be Still" (right step) "and know that I am God" (left step). As you see, the phrase is somewhat out of balance.
After having walked several courses of the labyrinth, I arrived at a more concise and balanced mantra: "Be still / and know God". That felt right.
That felt like an appropriate corrective for a person who had been very concerned about whether other drivers were driving the speed limit. It felt right for a person who had to consciously "shift" into idle in the food line. It felt exactly right for a person whose thoughts seem to fly in fifty different directions at once.
Be Still.
And Know God.
No comments:
Post a Comment