Ascensiontide 06/01/25
The Still Point
A Time of Meditation and Reflection
The Seventh Sunday of Easter:
Sunday in Ascensiontide
... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance... T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
Peace on each one who comes in need;
Peace on each one who comes in joy.
Peace on each one who offers prayers;
Peace on each one who offers song.
Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,
Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen.
The Lord is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
Opening Prayer
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel John 17:20-26
Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
Poem: “The Name of that Silence is These Grasses in the Wind” by JJJJJerome Ellis
The name of that silence is these grasses in this wind, and the name of these
grasses in this wind is that other place on the other side of this instant. This
instant is divided by curtains of water and the sound of shuddering time. A
sunflower reeling with sun, six hands stretched in offering. This
unsearchable, uncancellable instant wraps the shoulders of the grasses like a
shawl stilled by the stoppage. White pines whistle skyward. “With our beings
shaped to songs of praise,” writes the fifth-century theologian Pseudo-
Dionysius. “What the scripture writers have to say regarding the divine
names refers, in revealing praises, to the beneficent processions of God.”
What processes from the instant? Find the ceremony in every instant. “Every
condition, movement, life, imagination, conjecture, name, discourse,
thought, inception, being, rest, dwelling, unity, limit, infinity, the totality of
existence.” What is the name of this instant? Where is the name of this
instant? Swimming in the Rappahannock, clinging to the swollen belly of
that ruby-throated hummingbird.
“Bring anonymity,” writes poet Tim Lilburn.
This morning come shyly or boldly into the fertile field, however you are,
come, come and stay in the rearrangement, the pressure of thumb on fescue
blade, a year wheeling within a day, two round moments of warm mouth,
finally at peace. The psalm is a key if only we can find the door. Do not
swallow your dysfluent voice. Let it erupt in its volcanic flowering. Stoppage
thence passage, aporia, poppy bursting with fragrant seed.
Meditation
John's Gospel this week sets forth the radical way Jesus' New Commandment of Love is made manifest in physical reality, "that they may all be one". We could describe it with many words, all of which feel inadequate to me as I reflect on the passage this week: unity, interconnectedness, interdependence, oneness... The word that resonates most with me, though, is: intimacy.
This reality of universal intimacy is so radical not only because it is Love Incarnate in the physical realm, but also Love Incarnate across time, past, present, and future. It is proclaiming the reality that all life, all that exists is so fully bound up with and connected to itself that there is nothing in existence, now, then, or ever, apart from this intimate oneness. It stretches our imagination to try to grasp the scope and shape of this intimacy, it feels impossible to know. Perhaps we glimpse it only by feeling it, in our three-dimensional experience of love we live when we love God, love one another, and love ourselves.
One heresy of our time might be the perverse concept of unaffectedness that manifests in the careless way we brush off suffering of another part of this intimate whole by shrugging, "oh well, that doesn't affect me, so it doesn't matter that much." Our natural world shows us how much suffering of a part of the whole matters to nature, as the smoke clouds from another season of wildfires in Canada descend over our city once again. There is not one burning or blooming tree that is not infinitely precious to God, not one "instant" that is not eternally God's, not one silence whose name God does not know. There is not one other person (yes, even that person) in existence who is not "in the Father" and the Father in them. If that radical intimacy is reality for you and me, it is reality for all.
Questions for Reflection
It is interesting to note that in this passage from John, Jesus "asks" "that they all may be one". He asks. He requests. It's not a recommendation or a suggestion or even a hope. When Jesus asks, he knows that "ask, and it shall be given to you. Knock, and the door will be opened. Seek, and you will find." Jesus knows the outcome of all asking: receiving. So when he asks that we all may be one, he is doing more than asking - he is stating what already is. What request would you make of our heavenly Father if you knew, like Jesus, that it already is a reality in the kingdom of God?
Bring to mind a person or situation that seems yet to inhabit the reality "that they all may be one". Name this person or situation before God. What gap do you perceive between what exists now and that oneness? How big is it? How big do you think that gap is to God?
Spend a few moments imagining the physical reality of oneness, wherever you are. Imagine yourself intimately and inextricably connected to what is around you - the people in the building, the trees and plants outside, the birds flying, the animals scurrying...what physical sensations do you notice as you become more aware of this intimacy? If you like, take a longer period of time, like an hour, to go outside and sit in a park or a place in nature, or another public place. For that hour, focus on how it feels to be intimately united to everything around you. When the hour is finished, check in - what has changed or shifted in you? What changes or shifts if you try this practice once a week for a month? What do you notice about how you interact with the world, the people, the living things around you?
Prayers
We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today
We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer
We bring to God a troubled situation in our world
We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection
We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives
We name before God those who have died.
Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.
May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way, and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.
Reflections this month offered by: Kathleen Schmidt
Cover Image: Ascension of Christ, Salvador Dalí, 1958
