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  • Writer: evansph2
    evansph2
  • 6 days ago
  • 2 min read



 

Those two words don’t usually go together.  Usually, we try to run away from suffering, or tame it, or bury it, or wring our hands over it.  We are not usually called to dance with it.  But, I recently attended a workshop on this topic.

 

Jesus is reported to have said to his followers;  “Learn to suffer so as not to suffer.”  Odd advice.  A paradox it seems.  How do we do that? 

 

It seems that the first step is to recognize our own limits.  Right now, lift your arms up in the air, now spread them wide, now out in front, now in back.  overhead and below.  That defines the limit of your space.  We each have only so much space that we occupy and control.  We also have limits on how much energy we have, how much time etc.  Recognizing our own boundaries is an important step in the dance with suffering.  Bowing to our own limits and boundaries is an important task.  Think right now of some suffering that you are carrying…. Could you lay down some of it?  Temporarily? Or not?  The question is not so much how do I get rid of this suffering I don’t want, as how do I make my way through this particular experience.  Suffering does not define who you are, it only determines what you must deal with in this moment.

 

Early in the workshop, we experimented with physically bowing to our suffering.  We stood and put our hands on our heart, or stomach or both – wherever you feel the suffering.  And we imagined taking it into our arms and lifting it out of our body.  We looked at it.  We breathed with it.  We were then invited to physically bow down to it in whatever way felt right.  Maybe you just lift it and sway, or maybe you close your eyes and bow your head or maybe you. physically get down on the ground and lay the suffering at your own feet – not to get rid of it, not for the earth to take it away from you, but only to acknowledge its presence in your life and outside your life.  Bow to it, honor it, lay it down.  Once you have laid down your suffering, you are invited to bow to it three times.  Without knowing exactly what you are bowing to.  Just pay attention and notice what arises in you.  How does your body respond?  Do you get an image?  or a feeling? or a hunch? when you do this?

 

This act of physically moving the suffering out of your body and bowing to it is a way to give it respect.  It is a way of dancing with vulnerability, with acceptance.  A way of recognizing that we are all (as the Buddhists say) on a path of powerlessness.  This does not mean that we give up, or stay quiet or don’t get mad or don’t complain or don’t cry.  It only means that we are humble in learning the truth of what we must accept.  After you do this, see if you can come up with a one sentence song or prayer about suffering…. Dance with it.

 
 
 
  • Writer: evansph2
    evansph2
  • Apr 14
  • 1 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

My friend and UU colleague, Rev. Lynn Harrison has written this lovely song appropriate to our times. Please enjoy.





See more of Lynn's songs on her substack. "Chapel of Song" by clicking HERE.https://harrisonlynn.substack.com


I hope you have a good week and a happy easter/Passover season.

 
 
 
  • Writer: evansph2
    evansph2
  • Apr 6
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 14



 

Doing a bit of shameless self-promotion this week.  My friend and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Kathy Hurt and I have collaborated on a book about longings.  The book was born from our conversations about our own longings and our desire to make a book from these conversations.  The book contains short reflections on 26 different longings as well as a blessing for each one.  The book contains short sections where each of us share our own writing.  It is the type of book which you might just use as a short daily reading – taking one page a day and using it then to possibly reflect on your own longings. 

 

It is only available from www.Lulu.com .  When you get to the website, click on “bookstore” and then on the title “Whispers of the Soul;  A Deeper Look at Longing”. 

 

Here is one of my poems from the book;

 

What is longing?

 

if not an acorn

who knows it must

wait fifty years or

more, to become,

with luck, oak tree.

 

Compressed within

the one-inch acorn

lives knowledge of

tree, of twig, soil,

root, bird, worm

bark, sap.

No amount

of desire

can hurry it into

being.

~Penny Hackett-Evans

 

 

And here is one of Kathy’s Collects;

 

For longings themselves

 

Yearning

Never quite content

Yearning

We reach beyond ourselves

Towards

We know not what.

Are you there?

Is anyone there?

What is this pull

That draws us on

And will not let us rest:

Is that you?Mystery,

Hear us,

For just this once answer us

That we might know our longing

Is not in vain.

Amen.

~Kathy Hurt

 
 
 

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