by Kari Henkelmann Keyl
Ok, here’s your time to make some connections, with your own inner self, with God, maybe even with the universe, who knows. See if these readings and prayers, chosen for this week’s Bread for your Journey, take you anywhere. Try slowing down enough to pause between phrases, to really listen to what God might be saying…
http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/readings-and-prayers-for-oct-15-2009.html
So here’s Joyce Rupp, calling us to notice the gift of life, take in all the beauty, receive the abundant energy, hear the groaning and the sighing as well as the call to oneness. She beckons us to drink from the cup offered to us. It’s amazing stuff, and its challenging, too. Drink it all up.
How is this cosmic cup similar to (or different from) the cup that Jesus is talking about to James and to John and to all of us who have so much and yet ask for more?
Keep that question in mind while you hear another voice calling you to notice amazingness, using the link below. (If you’ve already checked this out from my last post… well, go ahead and see it again! It’s worth a second look. But remember my disclaimer, about how if you’re easily insulted, just chill a bit and enjoy the ride…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
Yeah, it’s kind of fun to hear from both a deep mystic and a crass comedian about appreciating amazingness. I really think both voices would have been appreciated by the approached-by-James-and-John Jesus. There really is so much that we take for granted, and we end up with the wanting-more disease. Jesus invites us to drink from his cup as an antidote to this spiritual illness. As our third reading says, this cup is full of amazingness, alright: the amazingness of self-emptying love. Quite a contrast with what James and John thought they might get out of Jesus.
But this is God’s way. And something inside us has to die in order for us to truly receive all that God is offering. We have the whole amazing cosmos, ours to savor and marvel over. But when we try to grasp onto it, control it, keep it for ourselves, we become a mess inside… and we leave the world a mess, too. Jesus leads us on to die to the old, sickly dream, but in turn to find a mysterious new one.
Revel in the awesomeness. Feel the overwhelming gratitude. Drink in the cup of energy that powers you up to give yourself to the world. Serving out of pure, overwhelming gratitude! That’s LIFE. That’s life lived next to Jesus, right there on his right or on his left, in his glory.
Well, that’s all I’m going to say, but I hope you have something to share. Please leave your comments, so we can expand our awareness even further.
If you happen to be hungry for more, scroll down and read my blog post from yesterday, in case you missed that. And for another tasty morsel, check out this REALLY amazing sermon preached by Dr. King.
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_the_drum_major_instinct/
All the richness of the cosmic cup to you,
Kari
Showing posts with label everything's amazing nobody's happy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label everything's amazing nobody's happy. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Everything's amazing, nobody's happy
by Kari Henkelmann Keyl
So you want it all, and on some level — conscious or un — you feel you deserve it. Life is one amazing thing after another, and you’re missing out on the wonder because amazing is the norm, and you just want more. If you’re one who’s afflicted with this inner illness, you are not alone. And I’m arguing that it’s hardly new to the 21st century.
I just started reading this astoundingly rich book of art, prose, and poetry called The Cosmic Dance: An Invitation to Experience Our Oneness by mystical author Joyce Rupp and artist Mary Southard. It’s opening me up in really cool ways to the inviting mysteries of creation and its Creator, and I’m wishing everyone could be experiencing this with me… and then I pause to check Facebook and there at the top of my home page is this video clip called, “Everything’s Amazing Nobody’s Happy” (Thanks, PastorLindafromMontana!). And in a much less mystical but equally jarring way, I’m hearing this comedian Louis CK spouting off his wisdom that went viral some months ago. Want to see it?
Take note: If you’re someone who was practically born with a cellular device in your hand and you’re easily offended, then you can either choose not to watch this clip or choose to find the wisdom behind the insults, ok? Remember he’s really harping on ALL of us spoiled idiots, not just the youngish ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
It’s nothing new. Since the beginning of everything, it’s been amazing, and we humans have had glimpses of this amazingness we are part of… in between our moments of taking it all for granted as nothing more than we deserve. Getting those glimpses is a gift. Getting a wake-up call is refreshing, even if it’s from Louis CK. Or if it’s from another wiseguy named Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus hangs with these characters we now call The Disciples but gospel-writer Mark calls Not-yet-enlightened Idiots. One of the best/worst stories of all that Mark passes on to us is this episode of the Two Brothers who Want it All.
James and John and those ten other guys live in an almost constant climate of AMAZING. Jesus, by their side, is God-personified, Healer-extraordinaire, Awesome-truthteller, and he’s letting them in on the secrets of the universe every day. Or trying to, I should say.
But the J&J brothers aren’t HAPPY. They want to take-it-to-the-next-level. They don’t just want to experience this amazing life; they want to have some power over it, and they probably think they deserve it.
As you read through this episode in Jesus’ life, please resist the temptation to bash J&J further and examine your own self. How do you fit into this scenario, and how is Jesus wake-up-calling you to a change of heart?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010:35-45&version=MSG
I’m looking forward to digging deeper into this on Thursday night, and I hope you’ll be there (at the Crowne Plaza, exit 8 in Nashua, 7pm). Please add to the conversation if you’ve got some wisdom of your own, by clicking on “comments” below. And feel free to come back here on the weekend for more.
Amazed and even happy,
Kari
(For a peek into Joyce Rupp's cool stuff: http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/we-are-one.html)
So you want it all, and on some level — conscious or un — you feel you deserve it. Life is one amazing thing after another, and you’re missing out on the wonder because amazing is the norm, and you just want more. If you’re one who’s afflicted with this inner illness, you are not alone. And I’m arguing that it’s hardly new to the 21st century.
I just started reading this astoundingly rich book of art, prose, and poetry called The Cosmic Dance: An Invitation to Experience Our Oneness by mystical author Joyce Rupp and artist Mary Southard. It’s opening me up in really cool ways to the inviting mysteries of creation and its Creator, and I’m wishing everyone could be experiencing this with me… and then I pause to check Facebook and there at the top of my home page is this video clip called, “Everything’s Amazing Nobody’s Happy” (Thanks, PastorLindafromMontana!). And in a much less mystical but equally jarring way, I’m hearing this comedian Louis CK spouting off his wisdom that went viral some months ago. Want to see it?
Take note: If you’re someone who was practically born with a cellular device in your hand and you’re easily offended, then you can either choose not to watch this clip or choose to find the wisdom behind the insults, ok? Remember he’s really harping on ALL of us spoiled idiots, not just the youngish ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
It’s nothing new. Since the beginning of everything, it’s been amazing, and we humans have had glimpses of this amazingness we are part of… in between our moments of taking it all for granted as nothing more than we deserve. Getting those glimpses is a gift. Getting a wake-up call is refreshing, even if it’s from Louis CK. Or if it’s from another wiseguy named Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus hangs with these characters we now call The Disciples but gospel-writer Mark calls Not-yet-enlightened Idiots. One of the best/worst stories of all that Mark passes on to us is this episode of the Two Brothers who Want it All.
James and John and those ten other guys live in an almost constant climate of AMAZING. Jesus, by their side, is God-personified, Healer-extraordinaire, Awesome-truthteller, and he’s letting them in on the secrets of the universe every day. Or trying to, I should say.
But the J&J brothers aren’t HAPPY. They want to take-it-to-the-next-level. They don’t just want to experience this amazing life; they want to have some power over it, and they probably think they deserve it.
As you read through this episode in Jesus’ life, please resist the temptation to bash J&J further and examine your own self. How do you fit into this scenario, and how is Jesus wake-up-calling you to a change of heart?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010:35-45&version=MSG
I’m looking forward to digging deeper into this on Thursday night, and I hope you’ll be there (at the Crowne Plaza, exit 8 in Nashua, 7pm). Please add to the conversation if you’ve got some wisdom of your own, by clicking on “comments” below. And feel free to come back here on the weekend for more.
Amazed and even happy,
Kari
(For a peek into Joyce Rupp's cool stuff: http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/we-are-one.html)
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