THIS WEEKEND! "The Art of Meditation: Sustaining the Compassionate Life" with Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB in Fresno :: Sign up today!

How can I pray when I feel so scattered? Is there a way to experience more of God in the midst of my busy life?

Can I find more meaning in the daily tasks I do?

How do I respond redemptively to the rise of violence and fear in our world?

Click here to go to the website for more information or to pre-register!

Prayer isn't an escape from the world, nor is it merely asking God for things, for security, for safety. Prayer is relationship with the Beloved, it is the experience of union with the One who made and loves you.

Prayer is, of course, words. But it's got to be more than words just as a relationship must be more than words if it's going to do what good relationships do. And prayer also must turn us outward in meaningful engagement with the daily tasks that are ours to do, and in compassion that helps transform the world into the world God is making it to be.

Prayer is the most basic expression of our faith; in fact, aside from breathing, is is the most basic act of being human.

Each year, UPC hosts the Central California Prayer of the Heart Conference. This year's conference combines our Prayer of the Heart Conference and the Interfaith Scholar Weekend. Fr. Laurence Freeman is one of the world's greatest living teachers of Christian prayer and meditation. If you want your life to count, to act in whatever small or great way you feel compelled to act in this world, then meditative prayer is a necessity. It grounds you in Jesus Christ, the center of life.

This conference will help bring meaning, perspective, power, and dignity to your life, and it will join you with others, who, like you are offering their lives for the sake of healing the world. It will help you walk courageously, yet gently as a redemptive force to bring hope and healing to the world around you.

Schedule:

Friday, February 8, Location: Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno (no charge)

7:00pm Lecture "Meditation into the Common Ground"

Saturday, February 9, Location: Temple Beth Israel, Fresno ($45 advance, $50 at the door, $10 students)

8:30 am Continental Breakfast and Registration

9:00 Shabbat Observance (Torah Commentary)

9:15 Lecture: "The Crisis of Religion is the Time for Contemplation"

10:45 Lecture: "The Cave of the Heart: The Stages of Meditation"

Lunch

1:15 Session: "Questions and Answers with Fr. Laurence Freeman"

2:15pm Closing

Sunday, February 10, Location: University Presbyterian Church (no charge)

9:30am Worship with a sermon and guided meditation by Fr. Freeman

For more information about Fr. Laurence Freeman click here.

To register for Saturday's conference click here.

Dullness

Some (maybe most) days you feel pretty dull to GOD. You rarely pray other than at meal time or when you really need something. Your Bible goes unread. In fact, GOD isn't often on your mind. There's a part of you that honestly wants GOD, an on-going encounter with the Divine that opens you to more than what you're living. But despite your best intentions to live a life more alert to the Sacred, frankly, you don't . . . for a myriad of reasons.

Here's a little practice: let's say right now you feel dull to spiritual things. That sense you have of feeling dull is itself an awakening. That you feel dull is evidence of an inner desire for more of GOD. Pause right now and express that inwardly. "I feel dull to GOD; I'd like to know more of GOD."

That's it. Do nothing more. Let it be.

And the next time you feel dull, do the same.

Intention: Noting the dullness is itself a doorway to change. And rather than dreaming up grand experiences or taking on rigorous spiritual practices, I'll simply be where and what I am.  If I do, I'll find myself increasingly awake to GOD.

Happiness

It's so terribly alluring to look at life negatively--that is, from the perspective of what's missing, what you lack, what you think you need in order to be happy. And there's an unfortunate religious viewpoint that reinforces this pessimism. Somehow we assume that since we're sinners we ought to be miserable people, awaiting the happiness that will come to us in the next life. But Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly" (John 10.10)--that means he intends us to embrace the abundance of goodness coming to us now.

It takes very little faith to view life negatively, to lament all that you don't have but think you need. But it takes great faith to embrace the good news that GOD desires, really desires, for each of us to be happy.

Intention: Today, I'll frequently re-adjust my viewpoint and recall that I'm the happy recipient of the goodness of GOD.

Tickled

Often I get the impression that people think the spiritual life is a struggle, something serious. Clergy bear a lot of the blame for this. I think we clergy make it serious so we can stay in control. That's not just silly, it's harmful. Here's a little poem to help you enjoy God today. It's from St Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Spanish nun, who knew more than her share of serious clerics.

How did those priests ever get so serious and preach all that gloom? I don't think God tickled them yet.

Beloved--hurry!*

Intention: Today I'll open myself to playfulness and sense in it the tickle of the Beloved.

*from Daniel Ladinsky's "Love Poems from God"

Announcing a new start for my blog

I'm preparing for a new launch of content on this site. Starting February 1, 2013 I'll begin posting short reflections intended to provide you will brief and regular guidance for living a robust and meaningful spiritual life.

You can subscribe by clicking on the Subscribe button a little below my picture on the left side of the page.  You can choose from a few different options.

And let me know what's on your mind and heart.  Collaboration will make for richer content that helps you and probably a lot of others.

Grace and peace,

Chris