The Spirituality of Advent, Day 6, Week 2

Today's entry is about preparation in a way that I had not been prepared for.  This goes to show that despite the best and most explicit plans (like writing at the start of the week what I had intended to write about for the whole week) sometimes there are spiritual connections made that come from places we never expect.

In some ways, today's entry will sound like it could be used as a motivation for the entire series or spirituality of Advent writings.  In other ways, what I will be writing about tonight will read like it could be a summary of the entire spiritual experience.  However, I have arrived at this point in the middle of this spiritual exploration of Advent.

Today was the annual Festival of Lights at the Waldorf School of Baltimore.  This is a festival each year that celebrates the many festival of lights that occur at this time of year.  This includes Advent, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa.  Each year a family gets to light the Advent wreath and the Hanukah candles.  This year, the small eighth grade class lit the candles for Kwanzaa.  This year, my family was chosen to light the Advent Wreath.

In the middle of the afternoon, my wife wrote me an email to remind me that I should have my "speech" ready as the spokesperson for the family.  I had thought about what I would say, but this was a clear reminder to me to be prepared for the evening.  Nice to fit into the theme of the week of the candle of preparation.

As the time for the start of the Festival of Lights, I wrote the following on the program for the event:

Pre-Christian
Christian
My Evolution
Prophecy-Hope
Bethlehem-Preparation
Shepherd-Joy
Angel-Love

For this list, I was borrowing directly from http://livinghopeomaha.wordpress.com/about-living-hope/bible-stud/the-meaning-of-the-advent-wreath/http://livinghopeomaha.wordpress.com/about-living-hope/bible-stud/the-meaning-of-the-advent-wreath/.

And here is a paraphrase of what I said:

Tonight, my family has been asked to light the Advent wreath.  If we look at the history of the Advent wreath, there is at least some evidence suggesting that it originated in pre-Christian times.  People lighting fires to bring back the light at the darkest time of year.  Then, Christianity adapted it with symbols of Christ rather than simply avoiding darkness.  

The evolution of the Advent wreath through history reminds me of the evolution of my own understanding.  The wreath here has candles that are all one color.  But sometimes they are two colors.  When I was Daniel and Joshua's ages [they were at the table with the wreath with me and Sherry] all I knew about the third candle which is a different color was that it meant that Advent was almost done.

When I was a little older than my oldest son Christopher, who is not here this evening, and I began to take my faith a little more seriously, I had the experience of the third week of Advent with the entire Catholic community where I attended college being brought together in a single mass to celebrate the joy of the week. 

As I got even more mature and took my faith even more seriously, I realized that there is a rhythm to the meaning of the candles.  There are many different interpretations to what the candles mean.  One that I find useful is the following:

The first candle is for Prophecy and Hope.  The hope for something new and something better as Christians wait for the celebration of the birth of their Savior.

The second is for Bethlehem and Preparation.  Preparation for the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem.

The third is the Shepherds and Joy.  A reminder that the joy was first shared with the shepherds--among the least of those who worshipped God [I felt like I was channeling Father Sam Lupico who loves to point out that most of Jesus's positive interactions with individuals other than his apostles was with those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder at the time.]

The final candle is for the Angle and Love.  The angel who announced the birth of Jesus.

And whether Christian or non-Christian, the unifying and universal truths of Hope, Preparation, Joy, and Love are things that are worth all of us pondering.

Numerous people told me they liked what I shared.  The mother in the family that lit the Hanukah handles told me that my description of my own experience inspired her to talk about her family's experience.  The one thing that really made an impression on me was that she comments on a blessing that thanked God for the miracles of old and miracles of today.  And she invited all of us to think of a miracle in our lives right now.  I had not realized that I would inspire a second story about the universal nature of the positive values that come through the celebration of the various celebrations of light at this time of year.

Are beliefs interchangeable?  No.

Can everyone possibly be right?  No.

But everyone probably has some kernel of the truth.  And everyone can benefit from the interconnectedness.

The key for me is that spirituality is separate from religion.  Spirituality is driven by the sense of interconnectedness.  Spirituality is driven by the sense that I am a part of something much bigger.  Some call the higher power God.  Some just refer to it as a higher power.  I'm not one to worry about what each person around me calls it.  But I am a person who believes that the interconnectedness that I feel is something special.  A blessing.  A challenge.  And something that helps me to move forward in the most productive manner.      

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 5, Week 2

Today, I will write about preparation for teaching and how that relates to spirituality.  To prepare to teach I have to do a number of things: master the subject I am teaching, know something about the students I am teaching, and determine the best way to reach the students.

To master the subject I am teaching is really subjective.  Some things that I teach, I have truly mastered.  Others, I know just a bit more than my students.  Regardless, I have to know something.  And in a spirituality sense, this is like making sure that I understand even what it is that I am searching for when it comes to spirituality.  What is spirituality?  Why do I care?  I have to be in touch with myself enough to know when I know enough to feel comfortable.  For spirituality, I have to know when I can look deep enough for it to matter.

Second, I must understand something about those whom I teach.  This means understanding their interest.  Understanding their motivation.  Understanding what they know.  Even understanding how they learn.  Understanding what I can learn from them.  Do they ask questions?  Do they just sit and listen?  Do they benefit from movement?  Do they benefit from competition?  In the sense of spirituality this means being in touch with the other side.  What am I reaching for?  What might I gain from others?  What do I want to share with others?  What do others want to share with me?  What does being part of a spiritual community mean?

Third, I must plan.  Different activities.  Different communication.  Different questions.  Different discussions.  Different prompts.  Different expressions.  Here the connection to spirituality is actually quite simple.  All of these matter.  I need to do different things to experience spirituality.  It only involves going to church sometimes.  I am as likely to experience spirituality on the NCR trail or running around the lake at Druid Hill Park at sunrise.  I like to write.  I play music, sometimes.  Sometimes I write prose.  Sometimes I write poetry.  Sometimes I just ponder.  Sometimes I pray.  I ask myself and the members of my spiritual community different questions.   I have needs for different discussions at different times.

And all of this can be in preparation for spiritual experiences in general.

And all of this helps to prepare me for the spiritual celebration of the coming of Jesus.

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 4, Week 2

Today, I want to address preparation for running.  There are many activities that are part of preparation for running and some of them have changed over time.  

One activity that used to be part of preparation when I was a teenager but is not part of preparation now is stretching.  We used to do a lot of stretching on mostly cold muscles.  The evidence these days suggests that stretching cold muscles is just as likely to lead to a pull as to help to prevent a pull.  So, I stretch some these days, if I stretch at all I usually stretch at the end of the workout or at least after a warmup.

Before a fast and hard run one thing that I still do is a warm-up.  This gets the muscles ready for the stress that the harder workout will put on them.  A bit of slow and easy running.  Or when at the gym, even some other type of exercise.  This does help to prevent pulls and strains when doing a harder workout.

Then there is dressing properly.  In Baltimore this sometimes means wearing as little as possible while not being indecent.  At other times of year, it means figuring out how many layers I can wear while still being able to run.  And sometimes, it means choosing just the right number of layers and right clothing for each part of the body.  

Then there is making sure that I have whatever liquid or nutrition I need for during the workout.  Sometimes just water.  Other times Gatorade.  Then I might take a variety of nutritional supplements.  All to make sure that during the run, my muscles are ready.  

Finally, there is the need to make sure that my digestive system is as empty as possible of everything I ate before the workout.  Even if it was the day before.  I find it very uncomfortable to run with anything in my stomach.  This is interesting when it is paired with making sure that I have the right liquid and nutrition to take with me to ingest during the run.

All of these are pretty basic and very functional aspects of preparing to run.  So how does any of this come back to the spirituality of Advent without repeating that there are many aspects of preparation for anything and this is just another example of an activity that requires me to undertake a large number of activities to prepare.  

Perhaps it is useful to think about analogies.  Stretching and warming up muscles is like preparing the heart and soul to focus on being ready to accept God when I go to church.  I contend to this day that God does not care how I dress for church and that any expectations for clothing are a human convention.  However, I think that considering how to dress is like preparing myself for whatever challenges the particular trip to church will present.  Some readings are tougher to deal with.  Some priests are more difficult to appreciate.  There are other situations that lead to variation in my experience of the community experience of mass and in the same way that I can be best prepared for them, I need to prepare myself to face whatever weather I face along with many other runners.  Making sure that I bring liquid and nourishment along the way makes me think of being ready to receive the spiritual nourishment that the community experience of church offers.  And finally, clearing my digestive system is like trying to leave everything that may be troubling my heart and soul behind so that I can appreciate the community experience of church in the most meaningful way possible.  

So, I really think that there are some cool ways to think about how preparing for running is like preparing for a spiritual and communal experience at church each week.  

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 2, Week 2

Today I will talk about preparation for cooking.  

Preparation for cooking means many things.  It means having the right ingredients on hand in the house.  This issues my family experiences here can be missing anything from a spice we don't use very often to poor control over the number of eggs, amount of sugar, amount of butter, amount of oil, or amount of flour in the house.  These are usually things that can be fixed but require leaving home.

It means having the right equipment.  Is there a whisk?  Do we have enough clean measuring cups?  How about clean bowls?  Frying pans?  These are the types of things that also can be fixed.  Usually it just means washing something when it was not expected.

It means allowing enough time.  We waited until after the end of Chanukah this year to make our annual latke meal mostly because of the time required.  Even on the weekend when we finally made the latkes, we waited until we had the right proportion of a day to work in.  Preparation and planning go hand in hand.

It means preparing the ingredients to be ready in the right order and at the right time.  Stir fry is a great example here.  But when preparing to fry latkes, it also means taking all the right steps with the potatoes.  This year, my eight year old, having made them at school again, suggested squeezing the potato shreds in a cheese cloth.  It worked wonderfully to prepare them for frying making this the best year yet.

It means having the right beverage to go along with what is cooked.  Many times the exact beverage does not matter so much.  But sometimes things need to be just right.  Eggnog at Christmas Eve.  Cider at a fall dinner.  Sometimes the right wine--or at least the right type of wine to complement a meal.  

So many aspects of preparation.  And when everything is prepared just so, things tend to work out very well.  Great experience with creating the food.  Great taste when the food is prepared.  Smiles on the faces of the people who are eating as they enjoy the food and the company.  When things don't go so right with the food, it can make for a poor dinner in many ways.  Less camaraderie.  More complaints.  And those seem to affect interpersonal relations as much as they affect the food.

So how does this relate to spirituality.  Well, cooking is a gift,  The food is a gift from God.  So those are easy and simple ways to talk about the relationship between cooking and spirituality, but not the only ways.

More importantly at this time of year, when we hear over and over again the message of the expectation around Jesus coming and the expectation of the second coming and how (for those who believe) being ready for the second coming means something, it is an excellen reflect of the exploration of multiple facets of one's like.  Cooking works when everything works.  Yes, there are some shortcuts or places in which there might be ways to get around certain things.  But generally, cooking works when everything works.  Getting to Heaven doesn't mean being perfect.  In fact, Catholics believe in forgiveness.  Jesus worked with sinners.  But there is still preparation that can be done to improve all parts of life in ways that are more consistent with the way that God asks us to live through the commandments.  With the lessons Jesus passed on through the Beatitudes and the great commandment.  

Spiritual preparation for the rest of life on Earth and the afterlife is not something done once.  Just like cooking, it is done every day and involves many facets.  

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 1, Week 2

Based on the website I wrote about at the start of Advent, the second candle represents preparation.  Spiritually, it is preparation for the experience of the coming of the Savior. Without the Savior coming, there would be no resurrection based on Christian tradition.  Thus, this is an important preparation.

Preparation for welcoming the Savior.  And when welcoming the Savior, welcoming all of creation.  Welcome the sick.  Welcoming the poor.  Welcoming the hungry.  Welcoming the thirsty.  Welcoming those who need people in their lives.  Welcoming all.  Because Jesus, in Matthew 25, talked about how each time when we do something for one of the least of humanity (whether naked, sick, poor, hungry, in prison, etc.) we do it for Him.

I see being prepared and being hopeful as going hand in hand.  One way to be prepared to welcome anyone is to be hopeful that it will be a positive interaction--under any circumstances.  To be hopeful that the good in the human spirit will dominate.  To be hopeful that no matter what has happened in the past the good in me and the good in the person I am meeting with will come out in a conversation and interaction.

I am prepared to think that everyone has a good side.

But that is not all that preparation is about, of course.  During this week, I think I will talk about preparation for an examination of my life to see how I would measure up if Jesus returned now (the coming back of the Savior), preparation for my own mortality (one last entry after last week's series and some thinking about what would happen if I did not have any more time to prepare for Jesus), preparation to address my own vulnerabilities, preparation for running, preparation for teaching, and preparation for cooking. 

The last three are preparations for things I love doing in life and good examples of the importance of preparation on a day to day basis.  They will serve as archetypal representations of preparing for things on my own or with others.  This should be a fascinating week to explore ideas that are critical to the idea of preparation both in spirit and non-spiritual issues that are at least tangentially related to spirituality.