Flunking Sainthood

“Flunking Sainthood”

A Book Blog by Rev. Cathy Sweeney

I first read Jana Reiss on social media. She has a wicked sense of humor, as I learned when she undertook the task to tweet the Bible. Yes, tweet the Bible. Over a three-year period, Riess summarized the Bible into 140 characters a day. For example, her #Twible for Luke 2?  

#Twible Lk 2: “Ma’am, we have no rooms available, but there’s a rustic barn out back that is, um, quite charming. The hay is free today.”

So it was that I began Flunking Sainthood, expecting a humorous attempt at …. something. Turns out, Riess had committed to a book on spiritual practices, and determined that her best research would come from self-imposed spiritual practices.

She begins with a thesis: We can’t really hear what God is saying unless we do what God is saying. That points to spiritual practices, and Riess vows to select twelve practices, continuing each for a month, to grow closer to God (the old-fashioned way, like the martyrs, but she adamantly cross martyrdom off the list of options). 

First is fasting. Next, cooking as a spiritual practice. In both, she cannot complete the month. One gets the feeling – given the title of the book – that this failure will be a recurring theme.

Another attempt at lectio divina has her curious how one stays awake during the process, but she perseveres and learns to enjoy the silence. Abstaining from shopping, or practicing simplicity, is another monthly practice that doesn’t last.

Riess begins the summer months committed to contemplative prayer, returning often to her quieting phrase, “Peace. Be Still.” In this practice, she learns a critical component to any spiritual formation activity: make it your own. If contemplative prayer isn’t working, tweak the practice. Riess does this by reciting a prayer during the day, often: “Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We Methodists might change the words a bit (“Jesus Christ, son of God, pour out your grace on me.”) But in making the prayer her own, a short prayer can be prayed often during the day, and becomes a practice of its own: humility, confession, forgiveness, all at the same time.

There are lessons in observing a Sabbath, embracing gratitude, and practicing hospitality as St. Benedict encouraged. Eating as a vegetarian for a month becomes a tribute to St. Francis, who valued all of creation. Praying the hours could be a worthy spiritual practice, once we get past the absolute order of the clock’s mandate. Flex-time prayer becomes a more soothing practice. And finally, at year end, the practice of generosity is an appropriate end to the year, as she focuses on the spiritual practice of giving.

Of all the chapters, the epilogue is my favorite, so you must read to the end. Turns out, one of the best ways to be in relationship with God? Be in relationship with others. Don’t overlook the opportunities to love your neighbor, or your family. And perhaps, after a year of flunking sainthood, we might all realize that being a saint is not at all what God asks of us, anyway.

Tell us what you thought of the book - leave us a comment below…

Three Simple Practices for Everyday Mindfulness

Three Simple Practices For Everyday Mindfulness

By Aaron Manes

Why is it that mundane is funny on tv or in a movie? I recently rewatched the classic film “Office Space” where every day seems to be a Monday. It seems like the absurdity won’t end until the main character, Peter, goes to a hypnotist and becomes mindful of the insanity that goes on around him. From there, he does everything that most of us only dream of doing and he begins to truly live. 

We all can’t skip work, unscrew the wall of our cubical or take baseball bats to that piece of outdated technology that will never work correctly. So what can we do?

In his book, “The Power Of Now,” Eckhart Tolle says the greatest threat to your presence is your future and your past. If we are going to be present in our everyday life, we have to practice it.

So here are three simple ways to practice presence while doing mundane, everyday activities.  

1: Take A Shower Break

Right before you are ready to get out of the shower, take a presence break. Step into the water, take 3 deep breaths and breathe in the humid air. Then spend one minute with your eyes closed feeling your feet on the floor and the water hitting your skin. Work on clearing your head by just feeling your breath. If it helps you, say a prayer to close. I like the St. Patrick’s prayer (or really an excerpt from it) for this practice. 

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen

2: Waiting as a Practice

Is there anything worse than waiting in line or in a “waiting room?” If you don’t have something with you it is often the most boring thing you can do. But it also presents an opportunity for mindfulness. Instead of going into the eternal clickbait of social media on your phone, see it as a time to make a real connection with a quick gratitude practice. 

Take three deep breaths and feel your feet on the floor. Breathe normally and think of three things you are thankful for and three people you are grateful for. Then take the next step and text those three people and tell them why you are grateful for them. It will most likely spark a good conversation and bring a little light to your day. 

3: Only Putting Your Kids To Bed

For many parents, bedtime is the hardest part of the day. It becomes the back-and-forth game with your child who just won’t go to sleep. If you are like me, I just want them to go to sleep so I can get some of my own time. We all need that time so don’t hear me blaming you, but what if you could just be present during bed time and use that as a practice. 

This idea is a little less guided but basically you can practice losing the concept of time during bedtime. Put out of your mind your future “me-time” and just be present in bedtime with your kids. Just do one thing at a time - lose the urgency to get them to sleep and stay a little longer in their room. 

Here are a few things to try: 

• Sit on their floor in the dark and listen to them breathe

• Listen to a meditation with them

• Tell them a long story that you make up (this one takes some practice)

• Sing them your favorite songs

• Tell them something from your family’s history (maybe it’s just a childhood story)

By just practicing bedtime with your kids, your evenings will be better. 

Ok, that’s it. Three simple mindfulness practices that you can use to make better use of everyday tasks. Leave us a comment below and tell use how these worked for you. Remember that even in the mundane we can practice mindfulness - oh and please put a cover sheet on your TPS report… did you get that memo?