Praying in Public

I must confess that I have not been praying in public recently.
Yesterday, I biked up town to the hospital, where abortions are carried out,in order to pray with a group that prays for the end of abortion.

Praying in such situations is near the sharp end of putting the Gospel into action. And after years of doing it, I still get that feeling of fear and hope that nobody recognises me. Still, I resisted the temptation to put on my sunglasses.

Jesus did a lot of his work in such a public setting and that experience yesterday helped that aspect of the written Gospels come alive for me again. It is as though the Spirit is very close. (See

Introducing to the Streets?

Forty years ago I was introduced to the streets of the city by a group of Young Christian Workers. It was in the days of the hippies and people were used to talking with strangers on the city streets on a Friday night. This group of young people would simply walk around the streets aware of the people around them and without proselytizing would chat with people and help out where they could.


Over the years attitudes on the street have changed and people are more suspicious of motives. So I have taken to wearing a fairly inconspicuous looking cross around my neck.

Anyway, I was carrying on the tradition in earthquake-affected Christchurch (NZ) last night when I got off the bus at the central hub. I turned to a youngish middle-aged woman with two young women in tow. They had obviously been talking quietly about me on the bus. I asked where they came from since their accents intrigued me. They told me the country and explained why I had not picked it.

Next, she asked me where I came from and I answered. Then she asked me if I had children. I told her that I hadn’t. Then she asked me about my wife. I was starting to get suspicious where this line of very friendly conversation was going. I thought that this is time to pull out.

Remembering the little wooden cross around my neck, I pulled it clear of my shirt and blurted out, “The People of God, they are all my children.” This was a rather odd thing to say. The woman suddenly said, ‘Lets go’ and the group disappeared in the opposite direction.

I wondered afterwards if this rather engaging woman was introducing two pretty young women to the streets, but for a different purpose than mine. Thank God for that little cross, whichever way.

The Same or Different?

"All religions are the same; people just say the same thing in different ways." This statement came from a martial arts practitioner as we were striking and avoiding each other's strikes. This guy talks about 'chi', 'chakras', 'yin and yang' and he uses the Lord's name in vain; so he is a fairly religious bloke.

While trying to maintain my balance (physically) I was thinking 'How do I maintain the bonding between two religious people going on here, while suggesting that they are not the same.' So during our strikes and evasions I said that the way we express our search for God may sound similar. The difference comes when God reveals himself to us.

He gave me that "I hadn't thought of that" look and we carried on belting the stuffing out of each other.

Systema

An amazing thing happened to me this morning. The 90-year-old member of our household offered to assist me in learning the Russian Martial Art called Systema.
The picture on the left shows you are never too old.

This all started because I was around at the home of some friends last weekend. Their 21-year-old son told me of a new form of martial arts that he was learning. He liked it because it was Christian-based. Before I left he had given three DVDs of the Russian Martial Art called Systema.

Having been in a few physical confrontations during my life, I was impressed by the instructor's desire not to harm his opponent because he recognized him as a human being like himself. Well, that is a based principle of Gospel-in-Action blog site.

Then he spoke of being relaxed when under attack. If we are not relaxed, it is because we are not humble. Well, that hooked into my Christian conscience.

After watching the DVDs, I delved a little deeper on the Internet and found that Systema’s breathing exercise was from the ‘Jesus Prayer’ of the Orthodox Faith. The Jesus Prayer has been used for centuries by Russian Orthodox Monks to experience the presence of the Blessed Trinity.

I have been to a couple training sessions during the week. Learning to relax while someone is punching you is a humbling experience. It may do good to my spiritual life.

Neo-Pagans

Recently I visited the North Island of New Zealand and caught up with a friend. He asked what 'increased my energy' and which of the four base elements did I find most helpful for doing this. It all seemed strange coming from a christian bloke. So I did some reading of writings by people who generally go under the title of 'neo-pagans'.

A lot of what they wrote about I actually had some experience of. I guess it is because I move among 'spiritual people.'

To help me organize my thoughts I worked out a questionnaire. You may find it helpful:

Is there talk about ‘energy’ in a group of people?
Do participants declare a ‘sacred space’ around a prayer group?
Is there an invocation of the four winds or four elements or surrounding spirits?
Is there an affirming of ‘energy’ rising within a group?
Is there the directing of ‘energy’ for some purpose?
Is there an acknowledgement of the divinity within oneself?
Do participants feel empowered when they leave the ‘sacred space’?
Is there an acknowledgement of the divinity within created things?
Do participants feel more connected with other living beings?
Is there guided meditation, in which a person is led through a journey of the mind?
Are symbols treated as the reality they represent?
Do people empty the mind of thoughts and images to connect with the spirit realm?
Do people induce an altered state of consciousness?

I am pretty sure that people I come across, who go in for this sort of thing, are good people seeking spiritual fulfillment. It is different from the nasty stuff in satanism. But I suspect that they are opening themselves up to influences that they know little about.

There is one sure way of reaching spiritual fulfillment:
By renouncing self-centredness and embracing the cross of Christ we enter the very life of the Blessed Trinity

St John the Evangelist concludes his letter on our life together in the Blessed Trinity with these words: "Children, be on your guard against false gods." (1 John 5:21)

Golden Fillings

I caught up with an old friend the other day. A couple of hours into our conversation she told me about two amalgam fillings in her teeth "turning gold."

Some years ago, she had gone to a prayer meeting with a friend seeking the conversion and mental healing of a wayward son. The speaker said that someone's dental fillings had turned to gold and would the audience look into their neighbour's mouth to find out who it was.

Well, it turned out to be my friend. She hadn't felt a thing and was not interested in gold fillings. She was more concerned about the spiritual well-being of her son.

What I found interesting was the reaction of her dentist and her pastor. Both registered anger!

When she went to her dentist, he examined her teeth and read her records. He grew very angry and said nothing further to her. I suspect that he thought that she had gone off, behind his back, to another dentist to have her fillings changed

Her pastor's reaction was even stranger. He just got visibly angry and refused to speak to her about it. I have known the guy for 50 years myself and can picture his reaction to people who believe in miracles.

One of my friend's teeth looks similar to the golden one in this photo. Whether there is a natural explanation or not, I don't know. If God is directly involved, it seems strange to me that he might have brought the grace of conversion to her son, rather than doing a cosmetic job on her teeth; but who knows the ways of God?

However, the angry response of two professionals indicates that some people just don't want God getting involved.

On the Margin

 
Yesterday, I spent the day in Courtroom 1 at the Christchurch NZ District Court. I felt that I had been getting too out-of-touch with the human race. There is nothing like going to the margin of one's own culture to get a broader perspective on life in general.

Seeing the people brought before the judge for fighting, stealing, drug-taking and so on, reminded me of the feelings of Jesus for the crowd:

'When Jesus saw the crowd, he felt compassion for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.' [Mt 9:36]

I asked myself, "Where is the Church here, bringing the saving love of Jesus?" Jesus made a point of taking the Good News to those on the margin of society. (See Lk 4:18) If I am to put the Gospel into action, I need to spend more time with the marginal people.