Return of the Soul

I thank you, O God
Who lives now and forever,
that You have restored to me my soul with mercy;
great is your faithfulness

The above is the Jewish tradition's Modeh Ani prayed as soon as one wakes up. Before one gets out of bed, before the toes touch the floor. Ever since I came across this prayer from the excellent book about traditional Jewish prayer, movement, and meditation Minding the Temple of the Soul, I have been praying it as prescribed.

According to this book, the Code of Jewish Law explains "when a person is asleep, the holy soul departs from his body." I have always asked myself what the soul does when I am asleep. Does God take it to be cleansed, repaired, schooled, taken on field trips complete with roller coaster rides and cotton candies just like a granddad would?

And yesterday, after teaching a Practicing Yoga with Sacred Poetry (by Rumi, Hafiz, and Gibran), I learned another prayer from another book while climbing stairs (Yoga Barn, where I led the workshop, has a flight of stairs): O God, may every step I make take me closer to you. I am confident that it is possible to pray unceasingly. All the time. In all ways.

How about you? How else can you fill your day with prayer in relation to your activities?

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
-from Psalm 104

O God, Where art Thou?

Do not disdain your body

for the soul is just as safe

in its body as in the

kingdom of God.

-Mechtilde of Magdeburg

But what do you do if you were violated, abused, raped? Trampled on, reduced to trash, betrayed, emotionally and psychologically murdered?

Such is the challenge of this children's hospital chaplain who bought my book and wrote me for help with her 'kids'? Her clientele are adolescents, mostly girls, who were abused. She wanted body prayer poses for her kids but with some warning. She said her kids can not and will not do poses that exposes the chest, that pushes the pelvis forward, that sticks the tail out, that makes them squat, that asks them to lay down either on their backs or on their tummies.

Just imagine moving within that prison cell. If you can call that movement. It is an emotional and psychological straight jacket. It is like being held back by an invisible electric fence. Venture out, and it will be hell. Stay inside, and it is hell. Imagine living like that.

How about you? What are you afraid of? What past experience holds you back from freedom, from dancing out of sync, from singing out of tune? What makes you cry?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me,

from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;

And by night, but find no rest.

But I am a worm, and not human;

scorned by others, and despised by the people.

O my help, come quickly to my aid!

- from Psalm 22 (NRSV)

Dancing with God

You don't have a soul.

You are a soul.

You have a body.

-C S Lewis

Six hours ago, I led a prayer group at the Bothell United Methodist Church. For most of the 14 people who came, it was their first time to include the body in praying. To feel the body in prayer is a gift, an awareness of Christ, the Word Incarnate.

Jesus Christ is God's prayer. Jesus, God's Word, is God's answer to our prayers. The answer to our prayers is God's prayer. This flesh! This blood! These bones! In every cell of my body is God.

This body contains, houses the Beloved One. Within is the answer to all my prayers. Feel it. C'mon. Savor it. Drink it all in. Quench your thirst for Love.

And always remember, never forget who breathes you at this moment. And this moment. And this moment... Then let the Breath, the Spirit, move the body. This way. That way. Just like that. Loose yourself in the dance. And closing your eyes, surrendering, saying Amen... Amen... Amen...

How about you? When did you last dance with God in prayer?

Alleluia! Sing a new song to Yahweh:

his praise in the assembly of the faithful!

Israel shall rejoice in its Maker,

the children of Zion delight in their King;

They shall dance in praise of his name,

play to him on tambourines and harp!

-PSALM 149

You in me, me in You.

But from the beginning of creation,

God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.

-from Matthew 10

"I bow to the Divine in you." That's what the greeting namaste means. And it is said in India, the country of its origin, with both hands together and a slight bow of the head.

I invite you now to bring your hands to the praying position. Feel the left hand together with the right hand... becoming one. With eyes softly closed, bow your head to the Divine in you.

"What God has joined together (you and God), no human being must separate." Once I fool myself that I am separate from that love, which activates fear and judging and anxiety, I suffer.

Therefore, for me, this word and gesture is a symbol of reconciliation, of integration, of union of the opposites. This is what Jesus came here for, and what is being asked of us: reconciliation with God. He came to teach us about love, especially the radical teaching of loving my enemies. Love. The greatest tool of reconciliation. Without love, true union is impossible.

That's how I interpret the passage today from Matthew. I am asked to bring union and harmony wherever I go. To be an instrument of love, of joy, of peace. To be with God.

How about you? Where can you bring reconciliation, harmony, wholeness, oneness, in your life now? What is one small, simple, doable step can you take right now toward that goal?

Here's a simple breath prayer:

Be still and quiet and be aware of the presence of God around and within you.

Inhaling, quietly say "You are in me,"

Exhaling, say "I am in you."

Repeat as much as you want.

"As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,

may they also be in us,

so that the world may believe

that you have sent me."

- John 17

Angels among us

Remember always to welcome strangers,

for by doing this,

some people have entertained angels

without knowing it.

-Hebrews 13:2

Easier said than done. Easier to accept the strange, the oddity, the abnormal, the out of the ordinary, when they are on TV, or online, or in the news, or at our neighbor's door. But as soon as they knock on our doors, maybe our hearts harden, suddenly paralyzed and tongue-tied, looking for an excuse to close the door.

What do you do if your husband told you he has prostate cancer, lost his job, or wants a divorce? What if your son tells you he is gay or a member of a hate group? What if you found out your daughter is a prostitute to support her meth addiction?

How welcoming will you be when you are face to face with these issues? Would you be able to do what you would advise a friend, a neighbor, when they are experiencing these strangeness? Can you keep your heart open in hell?

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

-Psalm 34

Wakan Tonka

Great Spirit, help me never to judge another

until I have walked in his moccasins.

-Sioux Indian Prayer

Wakan Tonka. That is "Heavenly Father" in Sioux language as told to me by Marlon Red Elk. He is a tall, 50-ish Sioux Indian I met at Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn , Washington when my wife and daughter and friends went to see a show. A kind and friendly guy who saw me and asked: How are you doing, young man? I answered, I am doing fine. I am not so young anymore, but thank you. He replied, me either, but I am young at heart.

I found out he dances in full Sioux Indian gear and showed me a photo of his brother in dance costume complete with face paint. I asked him what he wished were different in his Montana reservation. He wished that the community elders just accept the fact that the white men are here to stay. The elders still have a lot of anger in them. But he, Marlon, struck me as a happy, content person who seeks peace. Respectful of the land, he is grateful for what the earth provides.

Every morning, when he wakes up, he faces eastward, and give thanks to the rising sun. He asks rhetorically, How hard is that?

How about you? Can you remember to stay in bed for a few seconds after waking up and be aware of a few breaths then say thanks for a new beginning, a new day, a new life, before your toes touch the floor?

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise.

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures for ever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

-Psalm 100

Ephphatha, be opened.

He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.

-Mark 7

My old ears suffer from tinnitus, and they just don't hear very well. So my hearing is not reliable, to say the least. One time, while watching a car commercial, I heard "and the squirrel is standard option." What squirrel. I asked my wife. She corrected me: spoiler. Squirrel is funnier.

So when I read this gospel, I connected with the cured man's excitement. And yet, I wondered what the symbolism in Jesus opening his ears. Thanks to Father Larry Gillick, SJ. He enlightened me.

The following is excerpted from his Creighton U's Daily Reflection:

The Gospel calls this fellow, “a deaf person”. That is what others called him and so that was his name, his image, his defectiveness. In placing His fingers into the man’s ears, Jesus is asking the man to be open to whom Jesus names him. The challenge before the man then, would be to live that healed name.

Jesus redeems this man more than heals him. This is the work, the laboring, of Jesus to bring all of us out of our deafness, to lives of hearing deeply that to which Jesus asks us to listen. He did all things well, except He cannot force any of us to really listen and allow what we hear to bring us more into full creation. Listening to adjectives by which we define ourselves impedes our ability to hear. We have our own personal fingers in our ears and we can be so accustomed to not listening that we can assume nothing different is being spoken.

How about you? What might you hear if your ears are open to the Voice of the One who calls us to Love, instead of the voice of your willful mind or of your neurotic, fearful ego?

Happy those whose help is Jacob's God, whose hope is in the LORD, their God,The maker of heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, Who keeps faith forever,secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free;the LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.

-Ps. 146