Both, And

• Strawberry Shortcake Social on June 28th from 2-4pm with a Kitchen-Household Raffle Basket.
• Meadow Walk with Dave Small on June 22nd 11-2 (hosted by Bob Busby)
• Village Fair and 5K on August 16th
• INC Picnic on July 27th at 1pm
• Neighbors Hot Dog and S’mores Roast on July 20th 11-2.

Watch the recording HERE. Recording posts after services are complete each Sunday (usually by noon).

It is said that in order to have peace in this world, and in order to ripple peace into this world, we first must (must) have peace in our hearts.  We must practice peace in our own lives and homes, in our own neighborhoods and communities. Only then can we possibly create peace beyond our doorsteps.  

This past week at Yale, I took a class on Minding the Spirit Within Us.  Among other things, we talked about the spiritual practices of Prayer, Mindfulness, and Meditation.  Take a moment to think about each of these and notice if you can define them. 

We like to divide things and separate things into easy boxes.  This in this box, this in another.  That one doesn’t belong at all.  I think this starts in school when we’re first taught to see what doesn’t fit or match, but I am not going to digress down that alleyway.  We’re very good at separating and dividing things.  

We do this to ourselves.  This is part of who we are. This is not part of who we are.  This is what we think and we don’t think that other way.  This is what we believe and we don’t believe that other thing.  One common phrase that comes to mind is: “I’m spiritual, but not religious” or “I’m religious, not spiritual-y”.   I’m going to guess that very much depends on how we define “religious” and “spiritual”. 

Then, we start to do this dividing of people.  Who belongs…and who doesn’t belong.  Who’s “with” us and who’s “against” us.

This, not that.  Not this, that.  

It’s easy to divide meditation from prayer and prayer from meditation.  It’s easy to set aside mindfulness as a “brain practice”, but not a spiritual (or religious) practice. A quick dip down another alleyway here, there are some very amazing new studies coming out now about our “spiritual brains” and how prayer and meditation are vital for the health and wellness of our beings beyond our bodies (and brains).  Again, I won’t digress too far down that alleyway, just giving us all a little nugget to chew on and perhaps explore.  

So…what is the difference between prayer, meditation, and mindfulness?  

Prayer is usually defined as a petition to God (or the divine).  Prayer is a time of asking.  

Meditation is usually defined as being in presence, stillness, or leading toward contemplation.  

Mindfulness might be defined as the act of paying attention.    

Perhaps we are already seeing the overlaps of the three.  Prayer becomes meditation, meditation becomes prayer, mindfulness becomes prayer or meditation.  There are presence prayers and contemplative prayers.  There are prayer-full meditations.  I, personally, like to think of mindfulness as the daily walk of life that is (ideally) walking with awareness in our moments to moments.  Another way I like to put it: walking with God/Grace/Universal.  

We’re very quick to divide and defend.  We might already be preparing our arguments to defend our prayer or meditation, even our mindfulness practices over “the others”. We might already preparing our “which is better” speeches.  It’s okay, just breathe.  There’s nothing to defend here. It’s all beautiful and very personal.  

What if instead of this or that, we start to put in commas or semi-colons where we usually put in periods or exclamation points?  What if, instead of separating and dividing, we practice both, and?  

What if we allow in a little, or a lot more, both, ands into our worlds?  Cultivating an invitation and opening, instead of dividing walls and endings.  

Prayer calls on God (the divine/Universe) and mediation is sitting with the divine.  There are as many meditations as there are prayers and there are as many prayers as there are people to pray them.  

There is such a treasure trove in the both, and.  It is a way of offering acceptance of not just the things we like or the things that “fit in” our boxes, but all parts of ourselves and all parts of one another.  We might be joyful, and also filled with sorrow.  Both, and.  We might be hopeful, but also despairing.  Both, and.  We might be filled with rage, but also peace-filled.  Both, and.  

We might both love our neighbors, our enemies, and ourselves, and dislike them at the same time.  Both, and.  

We are not simple beings, we are complex and filled with complexities of both, and.  Our faith is both simple and full of Mystery and complexity.  Both, and.  We may be more open to all that our faith and devotion have to offer when we are open to both, and instead of falling into the “trap” of not this or that.  

We are both religious, and spiritual.  

We are both believers of science, and faithful to a Mystery.  

We are both pray-ers, and meditators.  

We both ask, and sit with.  

We are both filled with human failings, and divine grace.  

One of my favorite quotes of the past week is that “there is more grace in God that there is sin in me.”  There is such divine grace, and a sense of opening, in this idea of more Grace than there is “bad” or “wrong” in ourselves, in each one of us, and even in the world itself.  

We can be both imperfect…and perfect.  Both, and. 

The world can be both imperfect…and perfect.  Both, and.  

We are called to walk alongside one another.  We can better do this when we remember that all of us are both imperfect…and perfect.  We are, all of us, beloved of God.  Both, and.  

There are 1001 things distracting us from what matters most.  PAUSE.  Distractions away from being still.  Distractions away from letting God in.  Distractions from praying (whatever you want to call it).  Distractions from meditating (whatever you want to call it).  Distractions from living mindful lives or lives that walk with Grace/God.  

In lives that are filled with distractions, discipline is hard and there’s no right or wrong way to find the Stillness that connects your to what matters most.  To the divine energy that pervades and surrounds us.  God. Grace. The Universal. Perhaps there are so many different ways because we are so many different people.  Both, and.  

However we arrive into holy stillness, out of that quiet we are gifted with a clearer sense of direction and understanding.  When we create space for questioning, asking, and listening…God fills the Quiet.  We find Grace answering our deepest need.  

May we steep ourselves in the Stillness that opens doorways to the presence of God.  May God fill the space we have emptied.  May God’s presence allow the answers unfold before us, filled with a sense of Deep Mystery, Divine Love, and Tender Grace.  Amen