The Sacred Art of Awareness

Before we start, I invite you to grab a piece of paper and something to write with. Jot don whatever words, phrases, or ideas come to mind as we go along.

Psalm 19
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God;
   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
   their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
   and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
   and its circuit to the end of them;
   and nothing is hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is your servant warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect their errors?
   Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
   do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
   and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

When was the last time you experienced awe? Wonder? What was that like?

Perhaps write down a single word or a few…

Perhaps it was in magnificent sunsets, powerful rainstorms, a cocooned caterpillar writhing loose into a butterfly?

This week I found myself in awe of someone who would choose to enter with grace into a conversation that seems loaded with landmines - which could sound a lot like just general respect, but feels different in that it completely escapes my comprehending.

Looking around me now I notice the wonder of houseplants living and dying - turning light and air into life for them and for me, breaking down and turning back to earth which will nurture the next one.

My own hands, a marvel of delicate bones and powerful joints, covered in ever-smaller lines of intimate detail with distinct intricate patterns.

How are you being drawn into awe? Wonder? What is it like for you?

And thinking about it now, do you notice God in any way connected to that experience? In what way?

The Psalmist looks around at creation, at the ordinary things that surround us – ordinary only by their commonness and notices them as extraordinary in their essence, their being – evidence and proclamation of a wondrous God.

I wonder if awe is all that different from awareness, paying attention, noticing.

And through noticing…recognizing holiness, the connection to and reflection of the divine, even and especially in the common - creation itself in communion with Christ, a witness to redemption. 

From this base of mystical in-dwelling relationship between Creator and creation, the poet gives shape to God’s law. This in its various forms is described as perfect, sure, right, clear, pure, and true. In some ways this seems a comfort and some ways a source of confusion when little in our world seems to be perfect, sure, right, clear, pure, or true.

And to be honest, I have a lot of baggage around the words of law and command, decrees and ordinances, in the ways they have been wielded as weapons of control and self-righteousness. But these misuses are harmful particularly because they deny and diminish relationship - that divine connection and integration that is noticeable when we look closely.

Christian mystic, Hidegard Von Bingen, lived in tumultuous times too – feudal Germany of the Middles Ages when classist tensions and power struggles pervaded politics and the church, which shaped all of society and were declared not only blessed but ordained by God. At age 7, her family brought her to live with and learn from a monastery of Benedictine nuns where she followed the sacred rhythms of prayer, work, study, and reflection. At an early age she began to see clear but other-worldly visions of God, although self-doubt kept her from sharing this with others until encouraged by trusted friends and colleagues and convicted by the consistent voice of God. She writes that she often heard the repeated refrain “speak and write what you see and hear.” Speak and write what you see and hear. Her visions became respected and trusted, not unlike the dreams of Joseph, in ways that shaped the powerful.

These visions were not revelations born of ease. In fact, Saint Hildegard often spoke about being ill and the ongoing pain of her life.  Other mystics from whom many draw inspiration, from Saint Teresa of Avila to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, also write about experiencing constant affliction. Hildegard reflects that the sensitivity of her sickness is not something that she overcame but that opened her to an awareness of the Spirit and brought her to express its work in preaching, publishing, composing, and in the sciences. Beyond ecstatic visions, she saw creation itself as brilliant with divine life that reveals the God who cannot be seen.

She composed what is considered the earliest morality play known in the church and set it to music, from which we draw these words of vision:

“Praises ought to be given to the heavenly creator with the unceasing voice of heart and mouth. For the creator gives grace not only to those standing and erect by also to those sliding and falling out of their very high seats.

Thereupon, you see, O people, the sky got very bright. This stands for the joy of the heavenly city. And I heard all the previously mentioned virtues sing in a wondrous manner to the various types of music. They persisted strongly in the way of truth as they sand the various praises of the city of celestial joy. They persisted strongly as they called those with complaints back to praising with joy.  This signifies that you hear a pleasant and sweet musical performance sounding forth from the chosen ones with wondrous joy as they sing about all the wonderful things of God which have been prophesied to you. This is just like the air containing and sustaining all those things which are under heaven.

This musical performance exists in the heavenly city and perseveres in God with pleasant devotion. It also exists in the complaints of those whom the old serpent has tried to destroy, but whom divine virtue nevertheless has led through to the company of blessed joy.  The blessed joy contains those mysteries which the human mind cannot know while on earth. The virtues persisted in exhorting and encouraging themselves so that they might fight back the snares of the devil and help people gain salvation. But these virtues do overcome the snares of the devil so that the faithful may pass over at last from sin through to celestial reward through repentance.

This means that the virtues resist in the minds of the faithful the various faults by which they have been wearied by the devil. And with these having been overcome with the strongest strength, the people who had fallen into sin are then turned back to divine nourishment. This happens when they march through and bewail their earlier deeds and then contemplate ad provide for their later deeds.”

She envisions the sky, the air, and the sounds of music as holding the holy gifts of joy and nourishment, and mystery that draw us near to God and redemption.

Applying this lens back to psalm and the divine dance between holiness of creation and the law of God, the meaning is opened. The rule of God becomes less hierarchical, but more akin to the rule of life which shaped monastic communities, pointing them back to a grounding and an aspiration that is rooted first and foremost in relationship. The law of God is reflected in the order of creation which gives meaning and movement to our lives. Perhaps that which may be loaded language for us – decrees and commands, might be better understood as establishing healthy boundaries and practicing life-giving patterns.

…Patterns like noticing the holy in our midst and becoming aware of God’s reflection in the images and experiences of each day.

Thursday night I got this sudden invitation from some friends to join their online concert that evening. Every summer they serve as artists in residence for a week of Family Camp at a Lutheran Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota. And although, we would not likely have made the journey to this program Dakotas this summer even without the pandemic, we were finally able to share in this thing we’ve heard them rave about for years. Marley and I paused the episode of Babysitter’s Club to join in. We sang along and clapped our hands and stopped our feet.

I didn’t recognize the moment as holy at the time, at least not consciously or explicitly, but I knew, I felt… it was set apart. Reflecting on it now, I’m aware of it as holy not because songs about Jesus are innately closer to God (because we also sang…very loudly… Time After Time and Ring of Fire)…but it was reflective of God’s glory in its ability to disrupt my go go go habits for something silly and joyful for its own sake, sacred in its power to connect a community across all kinds of barriers. And I stand in awe.

The Psalm and the Mystic teach us to open ourselves to notice, to pay attention, to become aware of the holy around us, to look for God and God’s work in our lives and our world.

Every time we begin worship as +KINDRED, we say that this is a time when we look for the face of Christ in those gathered together. This isn’t just a platitude, but a practice and a proclamation.

God is with us and shapes our being. The Spirit stirs us to recognize and respond.  Redemption is not just for me in isolation, but we through community.

Unlike the removed nature of the Desert Mothers we looked at last week, Hildegard’s Mystic life is marked by several public preaching tours, growing community, writing to bishops and popes, kings, and emperors. Her awe-some visions of the divine bring her into an ever-widening circle of relationships.

This week I invite you to be on the lookout for God and to write and speak what you see and hear. Make notes, keep a journal, reflect each day on where and when you noticed a reflection of the holy. You have permission to name as sacred those perhaps ordinary things which reflect holiness for you. This may be most difficult but also most necessary in these times where we maybe feel cut off from the holy.

As we awaken to the awareness of God among us, may the words of our mouth and the mediations of our heart give glory to God. Amen.