I had wanted to get a newsletter out since March, but as you can see I missed the due date! However the ministry of the Community of the Lamb has been growing, and now I have news about this that I am eager to share.
The 17th Prayer of the Lamb introductory seminar was held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Mercer Island, this last February, followed by a 12 Week course that will finish in June. Those participating have been actively engaged in establishing a meditation practice, and express obvious commitment to this spiritual practice through consistent regular attendance and active engagement in discussion during our sessions. Watch for what the next Community of the Lamb event at Emmanuel will be.
Summer Retreat Day – St. Dunstan will again host a retreat day on their beautiful campus in Shoreline. This will be Saturday, July 18, 9 AM – 3 PM, with the theme, “Don’t worry; be happy.” This event will include meditation, gospel study, free time to walk meditatively in the gardens and among the trees, a light lunch, and the Supper of the Lamb.
Prison Outreach Ministry – Since October of 2007 I have been going out to the Monroe Correctional Complex to offer meditation instruction twice a month. The big news is that the Community of the Lamb has just received a generous grant of $3,000 from the Social Outreach Committee of Emmanuel, Mercer Island, for this ministry for 2009. This enables me to now go once a week greatly strengthening the program by giving more consistent and regular support to the men participating in the meditation group, and it also goes a long way toward meeting its expenses this year. The benefits of meditation in the prison setting are becoming more well known, and the chaplains and inmates tell me that this ministry is deeply appreciated. So I also want to communicate to all those who participate in the Community of the Lamb by using the Prayer of the Lamb in your spiritual practice, that you too can contribute to this ministry, especially so that we can continue to offer it on a weekly basis in 2010 as well.
While it has been a few months since the last newsletter, I hope you all have visited the blog/website and read what has been posted there. If you would like to have an email notice sent to you whenever a new item is posted on the blog, you can go to the blog site, sign in (and create an account if you don’t already have one), and sign up for an email feed.
Meditation Reflections - Here are some words about the significance of observing the body while sitting in meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb.
It has been said that paying attention to the body as we sit in silence can be compared with looking at pond water under a microscope. What is not obvious to the naked eye now is revealed as full of myriad tiny creatures swimming about. There is endless activity. So it is that as we observe more closely our own body sitting so still, we discover so much activity – subtle, tiny vibrations, variations, and movement. We can see how each part is in constant change and flux. The body now seems more like a river than a still pond.
Thus we have the opportunity to see how the body communicates its condition to consciousness more clearly. At times it is settled and at ease. Other times it is jumpy, edgy, tense, and emotions and thoughts are turbulent, or it is sleepy. In order to pay attention to what the body is communicating we may cultivate a compassionate gaze that becomes more alert to this subtle body language. We bring to it our same intercessory intention of the Prayer of the Lamb as we have for all those others for whom we are asking God’s mercy. And then when we have been able to sit with the body and all that it tells us, we are then able to sit with our feelings and emotions that rise to our attention, where previously we had been in avoidance and denial regarding them.
We cannot change ourselves, but in spiritual practice we can become what we practice. We do this by repeatedly practicing observing ourselves in place of reacting, and instead let go of fear and trust the process of purification of the Spirit at work within us, seeing through the self-limitations of our ego identities, our identifications with our suffering, needs and limitations, our poverty or lack. As we express compassion for self, the self opens to healing. Then comes the cultivation of the virtues and qualities that can strengthen our lives.
Realization and awakening are not accomplished by force of will-power and the efforts of the self in perfecting spiritual practice, but rather through rest, the resting of the heart and the opening of the mind. In that we discover what has always been present to us.
The point of meditation is the present moment – not getting someplace. In this way it is like dancing, which is not done to get somewhere, but to be present interacting here and now. With Jesus in the dance, there is no need to go anywhere else. Keep meditating!
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