Sunday, November 8 – Oil in The Lamp

[link to full email]: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-nov8

[excerpt from email]: Examen:  Advent draws near, the season of light, the season of special watchfulness. What are we attending to?

 

ah, what a great image for our life calling….waiting

in the morning , as i go to my chair to do centering prayer, it’s  as if there are monkeys having a dance party in my head. the bodily felt sense there is something to behold.

then there is a steady image of myself as a busker on a knife’s edge.

being called to hold vigil each moment of each day is a constant theme underneath the noise.

The editorial says: our long national nightmare is over. truly, there is no closure on this side. i commit to waiting through the good dreams and the nightmares. doing the next , most loving thing. all the celebration and teeth-gnashing recedes to the background.

just being here waiting. waiting for God to fill the emptiiness  i am holding open for Him.

During Word of the Week this morning, I learned something important. When a familiar parable is shared communally, first in silence and then with words, something new emerges and the parable becomes richer. Today, I heard: “It is never too late. There is always another chance.  Let no one be locked out”. And “We all run out of oil at one time or another, so let us share what we have with those who have not, without judgment.”  Gratitude to all who shared their wisdom this morning.

What am I attending to? Being present to movement of the Spirt leading me into the profound part of my inner abyss where  oozing wounds are tended  to by the Spirit – only now I perceive those of two people, mine and one other, recognize the the words of that other: “I am glad we did this together”. It all began when I received last Sunday’s Word of the Week and read the passage from the Book of Wisdom.

What am I attending to as another Advent is on the horizon? This multifacted pandemic unleashed by covid 19……….., listening once again with new eyes Advent 2020 with a heart that is willing……

susan, i see what you mean. i have  been paricipating in compassionate listening workshops during this time. one concern has been about white privelige, how we can  grow in our thinking and attitudes. in the end we want to make our culture more loving . i find myself called to those who are set in their ways against the “other”. they are all around me. they are spiritually poor. they are afraid and that manifests itself in anger. in greivance. they are unable to be open  because they are so afraid. they cant articulate their  feelings so they post things on the internet that seem extreme (to  me), out of character for  the people who i know seek to be good  , to be kind.

so i sympathize with the virgins who were  so preoccupied with their own concerns that they “forgot” to get more oil.

Sunday, November 8: Oil in the Lamp

Our region of the country is attending to the coming winter, watching leaves change, feeling temperatures cool, attending the animals readying for the months ahead. Our country is in special watchfulness still from the national election. I attend to my heart, keeping my lamp as trim and full as I can, so when I discern through my watchfulness someone needing light, I can provide without cost. <3 linda

i agree with keeping my lamp trimmed  and filled with oil. it is not for me to know what god is doing . my job is to watch and wait. the oil is purchased throough hours spent in solitude and silence. i need endless amounts of  that,  it seems, to be really ready.

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