The Still Point

A Time of Meditation and Reflection

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Proper Seventeen

... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance...

T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

Peace on each one who comes in need;

Peace on each one who comes in joy.

Peace on each one who offers prayers;

Peace on each one who offers song.

Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,

Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.

Opening Prayer

Loving creator of all, watch over us…and keep us in the light of your presence. May our praise continually blend with the song of all creation, until we come to those eternal joys which you promise in your love through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

The Gospel Matthew 16:21-28

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Poem: “Gitanjali Song 9” by Rabindranath Tagore

O Fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy

own shoulders! O beggar, to come to

beg at thy own door!

Leave all thy burdens on his hands

who can bear all, and never look

behind in regret.

Thy desire at once puts out the light

from the lamp it touches with its

breath. It is unholy - take not thy gifts

through its unclean hands. Accept

only what is offered by sacred love.

Meditation

"Want to save your life? You'll die," Jesus says. "Let your life go for me, and you'll live, truly live." Yes, actual death is invoked here. And yet, there's more to this story of dying and living. Peering around the corner of Matthew's passage, we're invited to see death not just as the expiration of living organisms but all the ways we die as human beings. Spiritual death. Egoic death. Dying is a multi-dimensional experience that we encounter not just once in life but many times...even daily if we dare.

Neuroscience tells us that our brains interpret physical and emotional pain in the same signal centers. This means that, whether we're being chased by a bear or worried about losing a job, our brains respond the same way - we "think" we're about to "die." It's in our nature to try and control our fate, to "carry ourselves on our own shoulders" (to paraphrase Tagore's poem). While useful on the hiking trail, the run-from-the-bear trauma response isn't always the basis from which we'd like to be in a loving relationship with one another, but so often, it's where we end up when fear of the growling unknown grips us. Yet, what happens when we surrender, stop struggling to save ourselves, and "leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all", as the poem says?

Jesus is always calling us to leave behind the limitations of our creatureliness and step into the perspective of our higher selves, asking us to "set our minds on divine things, not human things." Sometimes, "dying" for love's sake looks like a man hanging on a cross. Sometimes, "dying" for love's sake looks like sitting with the cortisol-coursing discomfort of a difficult conversation, an apology, or a reckoning with truth. When we "take up the cross" to do the scary thing and surrender our ego's burning desire for survival, we become able to "accept what is offered by sacred love" - the fruits of understanding, forgiveness, compassion, and generosity.

Questions for Reflection

- What in you has been afraid to "pass away" or let go? What are you carrying that is asking to be set down and surrendered?

- Can you think of a time when it felt like a part of yourself was "dying"? Have you had a chance to grieve that part of you?

- Name a blessing in your experience that came to life due to something ending.

- What is sacred love offering you today as a gift to accept?

Art: Cara Elaine: "Take Up Your Cross";

Art: Douglas Ramsey: "Unburdened" - note: "He ran till he came to a small hill, at the top of which stood a cross and at the bottom of which was a tomb. I saw in my dream that when Christian walked up the hill to the cross, his burden came loose from his shoulders and fell off his back, tumbling down the hill until it came to the mouth of the tomb, where it fell into be seen no more." - John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

Prayers

We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today

We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer

We bring to God a troubled situation in our world

We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust

We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection

We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives

We name before God those who have died.

Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.

Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.

May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way, and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.

Reflections this month offered by: Katie Schmidt

Proper Seventeen 09/03/23