way out west

Dreaming about Priesthood

I dreamed about "priesthood" last night... probably a hangover from a conversation with the Pioneer Ministry students yesterday (and a FB chat with a friend who shall remain nameless - unless he chooses to name himself in the comments)... however it was a really interesting dream - very cinematic - about a Priest who became homeless and by default became a Priest (because that was who he was) amongst the homeless, despite being a drinker (as a result of trauma) and having all the pain of lost family and friends, and the hopelessness of being caught in the trap of street living... it raised a couple of thoughts for me as I lay in bed taking it all in... 1) do we really understand the seriousness of the incarnation, that it was/is no game (a la Pulp's song "common people"), a pastiche of the life of those served with an easy escape? I guess incarnation is dangerous, a giving up of other options... 2) is it possible to choose were one's nature/calling as a Priest is enacted? Or is it simply about being where life places us, amongst the everyday people as an everyday person... in the words of Sly and the Family Stone...

I am no better and neither are you

We're all the same whatever we do

You love me you hate me

You know me and then

You can't figure out the bag I'm in

I am everyday people

 ...to be a Priest is to be Priestly in the midst of life, of everyday people, surely it's not taking someone out of that life and training them to be/do something other but naming their living for others with others? Priesthood is incarnational, sacramental and sacrificial precisely because it doesn't remove people from context... because it recognises and names them in place... because it is real living, not an aspiration or career path... because it demands a giving up of wanting to escape or move up the mythical ladder!

 

Our meditation for tonight - on the beginning of Lent

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;

hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught

at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.

Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.

I said, Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest—

I would flee far away and stay in the desert;

I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.

Psalm 55:1-8

 

Teresa of Avila

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing dismay you

For all things are passing

Only God never changes

Patient endurance attains all things

God alone suffices

 

4 candles extinguished one by one after each section

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Away from the pushing and shoving of life,

Away from the noise that clamours around us,

Away from the demands that compete for our attention,

Away from other who would have their pound of our flesh,

Away from the unreal expectations and standards we place on ourselves,

Away from the boundless distractions that sap energy and dominate time.

Welcome lent as a time of rest.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Into the emptiness which exposes our innermost pain,

Into the silence in which our own voice becomes the only sound we hear,

Into the darkness night in which dwell both rest and fear,

Into the loneliness where we can find our imperfect reality,

Into the full face of the elements standing exposed and vulnerable,

Into the quiet where finally the whisper can be heard.

Welcome lent as a time of reflection.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

A moment when possibilities begin to emerge,

A moment when the detail is coming into focus,

A moment when the space between people is coming alive,

A moment when we begin to truly learn about ourselves,

A moment when perspective is shifting and horizons pulsing,

A moment when the divine is becoming ordinary.

Welcome lent as a time of re-ordering.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Wait, peace is coming to still your struggles,

Wait, hope is coming to spark your spirit,

Wait, life is coming to fill your dreams,

Wait, joy is coming to make you smile,

Wait, love is coming to complete you,

Wait, God is coming to lead you on.

Welcome lent as a time of revelation.

 

Music & quiet - I will wait. Maggi Dawn

 

But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.

Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.

He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.

God, who is enthroned for ever, will hear them and afflict them—

those who never change their ways and have no fear of God.

Psalm 55:16-19

 

Teresa of Avila

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours.

 

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;

he will never let the righteous fall.

But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days.

But as for me, I trust in you

Psalm 55:22-23

 

Blessing

May the peace of the Christ go with your every step, wherever you are led.

May he send you to places which you cannot even dream of.

May he guide you through the desert, protect you through the storm,

May he bring you home in joy at the wonders he has shown you,

may he bring you home in joy at the lessons you have learned,

may he bring you home in joy once again into our doors.