From the Spiritual Companion Page
Dear Reader,
Happy September to all as we move closer to a change of season and schedules shift into school, work/sleep patterns, and anticipation for events that seem to be happening at a fast pace.
August ended for me with covering for our ministers at Common Ground Community Church. I presented a sermon or as I categorize, reflections on sacred texts, as I draw upon many religious and spiritual sources to reflect more deeply on scripture.
This past Sunday I chose a reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 4: 5-9 and a poem titled Laughter by Sufi poet and mystic, Hafiz. My reflections were well received and there was a request to post what I termed, Paul’s Quattro.
As I read the above mentioned text from Paul, I filtered out many words and was left with a four part blueprint that speaks of the practice of centering in prayer, meditation, or contemplation however we name that inner experience, and finding the peace that resides deep within each of us. Paul’s Quattro directs us to look within to: feel, pray, give thanks, be peace. A journey from troubling emotions to open heart. A blueprint that seems rather simplified yet the practice within our deeply challenging emotions and our complex relationships is truly a radical journey. The following is a brief overview. For the complete sermon go to: https://janisdehler.com/sermons/
Feel: We acknowledge the feeling, name it, identify it. Paul names anxiety, but there might be grief, anger, overwhelm, pain, resentment, fear, exclusion, shame…. What is it, in this moment, that I am feeling inside of me that needs healing, soothing, or opening to.
Pray: Breathing into the pain however that is named and connecting to our body and heart allows us to move through other feelings held around it, like uncertainty, overwhelm. We then get curious and go deeper and maybe find a memory from long ago that has colored our world view. Then deeper there is also love, forgiveness, compassion, kindness, hope, integrity, not only for self but for other.
Thanks: Gratitude is our connection, our recognition, of that which we call God, Creator, Jesus, Angels, Spirit. Our heart opens and it’s as if we can’t stop singing or chanting, exclaiming, or praising. Gratitude awakens an energy within us that grounds our experience and opens us to abundance.
Peace: We know where our journey has taken us for the naming of it. For the fullness of the experience. For the allowance of opening, feeling, naming, being present within this body vehicle we were given.
Love and peace my friends,
Janis