Dear Friends,

This Sunday’s Gospel portrays a dishonest steward who misuses his master’s property and then sets himself up in the favor of his master’s debtors by writing off a huge proportion of their debts.  The master praised the devious steward for being enterprising. It reminded me of a meditation by Richard Rohr

on what he calls “spiritual capitalism.” Rohr summarizes spiritual capitalism as “I can do it and I must do it and I will do it.” All the emphasis is on “me” and my efforts and my spiritual accomplishments. There is little room for grace and mercy. This leads to fear: “Have I done enough?” “What more can I do?” “What should I be doing now?” The emphasis is on climbing, rather surrendering. There is no room for resting in God’s unconditional love, given before we even do anything, no room for gratitude.

Rohr contends that this philosophy is based on seeing God as angry and punitive, always demanding more of us. He says that several Church heresies (Jansenism, Pelagianism, and even the punitive aspect of many Church statements today) might be categorized under the headline ‘perfectionism.’ This perfectionism derives from the famous passage, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Rohr corrects, “Of course, perfection as such is a divine or a mathematical concept and has never been a human one. Jesus offers it as guidance for how we can love our enemies, which he has just spoken of (Mt 5: 43-47) and is surely saying that we cannot obey this humanly impossible commandment by willpower but only by surrendering to the Divine Perfection that can and will flow through us. In other words, we of ourselves cannot be perfect, but God is—yet we used this one passage to give people the exact opposite impression that they could indeed be perfect in themselves! This did untold damage in convents and monasteries all over the world, leading many to leave or, more commonly, split their personality when they could not in fact be ‘perfect.’ The New Jerusalem Bible wisely translates this verse “You must set no bounds to your love, just as your heavenly Father sets none to his.” “Not setting bounds” is another way of trusting in grace and guidance. It is not saying, ‘If you would just try harder, you could do it.’” Rohr summarizes, “The driving force of spiritual capitalism or perfectionism is fear and more effort instead of quiet confidence and gratitude—which moves spirituality into an entirely different ballpark.”

As an antidote to spiritual capitalism/perfectionism, we offer a reading we have chosen for today’s Eucharist coming from Joyce Rupp’s new book, Befriend the Darkness, Welcome the Light. Today we celebrate the Autumnal Equinox, meaning the day is equally divided between hours of darkness and hours of light. We have in our night sky the Harvest Moon. Joyce Rupp reminds us: “When darkness descends upon the human heart, we spend most of our energy doing battle with it rather than befriending it and seeing what gift it might be offering us. Out of the deep stirring questions of darkness, we can be led to a clearer awareness regarding our strengths and weaknesses. They can give us a new vision about the ‘way life is,’ helping us to discover greater inner freedom to be who we are meant to be. The questions of darkness can gift us with a willingness to live with insecurity and deeper joy in the things of life we assume will always be there for us.”

AUTUMN IS A TIME FOR PRAYER

                   -- Joyce Rupp

God of the seasons, there is a time for everything; there is a time for dying and a time for rising. We need courage to enter into the transformation process.

God of Autumn, the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves lying in colored patterns upon the ground, our lives have their own patterns. as we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest-moon nights, there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going South for another season, your wisdom enables us to know what needs to be left behind and what needs to be carried into the future. We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, may your love keep our hearts from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life, you believe in us, you enrich us, you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. For all of this, we are grateful.

As we experience the season of Autumn, may we allow it to speak to us of necessary change and growth and of preparation for seasons that lie beyond the Winter. Grant us an openness to the continuous process of letting go and moving on, which is part of our human condition. We know that you are our faithful companion on this journey. Your presence is blessing enough.  AMEN.

At The Spirit of Life, we as a community, strive to give each other hope, especially when any one of us runs thin on hope. We lighten each other’s load, by walking together and helping in any way we can. We invite you to come and experience life in our community as we contemplate in prayer and move with justice at The Spirit of Life. Through our time of prayer and sharing together, we work together to grow in our self-understanding and in our relationships with God and with God’s people. We celebrate the gift of our faith and the responsibility that is ours as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is our prayer that what we as a community experience in our praying together will overflow into the rest of our lives, making us more fully human and more ‘whole’….holy!  We invite you to join us in this endeavor and journey with us as we seek to grow in our love of God and to grow in our capacity to be living expressions of God’s loving peace and justice in our world. 

May you be blessed with a deepening awareness of Christ’s presence within you....of your own goodness, and the Divine Energy which fuels that goodness. May you be strengthened to be that Presence of Christ in our world.

Ron & Jean