From Silence+Something To Say Fr. Rob Lord+

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Beginnings and Endings. It is your ending and my ending that mark the beginning of this new season and that we remember on Ash Wednesday.

The reality of our ending is always before us. This past January I turned 70, a milestone moment of my journey of life. I am seeking many more. Yet, I am much closer to my ending than I am my beginning. Everyone of us, if life is kind, reaches this awareness sooner or later.

That this life does not last forever does not diminish life’s value, it gives it value. The temporality of life means that this one moment, this now, is priceless. There will never be another moment like this one.



“These days are golden, they must not slip away.” – Dougie MacLean



The question that this day is asking, is about your life before death. What do you want to do with your life? How do you want to live? Do you have life before death? How is it with your soul?

At the heart of the Ash Wednesday Liturgy, I find the way to continued grace and engagement with the gifts of life through these words from the Gospel reading, words of transforming wisdom from Jesus.

These are words of Jesus’ vision of fully human life, from the Sermon on the Mount. Scholars have pointed to this passage over the centuries as Jesus’ primary directive to his followers to pray contemplatively, beyond words or thoughts or feelings, as the way to connect with, attune to, and be transformed by Divine Presence:



“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6



Prayer. We are always beginners. Prayer is simply the medium through which we communicate and commune with God. The practice of prayer is learning to set aside dedicated time to intentionally be with God, in order to become like him and partner with God in the world.



Lent invites us to practice living from a Contemplative Center. Life is like a breath. We must be able to live in an easy rhythm between give and take. If we cannot learn to live and breathe in this rhythm, we will place ourselves in grave danger. —David Steindl-Rast,



The ultimate aim is not to “pray more” or “pray better.” It’s what ancient Christians called union with God. As Julian of Norwich said long ago, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” It’s to live each day more and more aware of and deeply connected to our Father; to be transformed into the likeness of his Son, Jesus; and to be filled with the fullness of his Spirit, to do what he made you to do in the world.

May I invite you to consider the words of Jesus that call us not only to speaking prayer, but wordless prayer?

For me, Wordless Prayer, Centering Prayer, has been a very treasured friend in practicing my engagement with God. Start slowly. Five minutes daily. Then increase to ten minutes daily. From there you will find your sweet spot, maybe twenty minutes once or twice a day.

Find silence. Be still. De-noise. Deepen your awareness in daily life. Resist reacting from a defensive, over-attached, or fear-driven fight/flight posture. If we want to change at a fundamental level, if we want to rid ourselves of the unconscious psychological baggage that often triggers us and gets in our way of living, we have to actually engage in a practice of being in silence and solitude with God.

Practice contemplative prayer this Lent! 

If you would like to see a full written reflection and prayer guide for contemplative prayer, click this link to my Substack Post: Substack Post and Prayer Guide

Come, Holy Spirit, And show us our Father, Our life source, Our longing, Our home.

As I walk and live in this stage of my life, good friends and companions whom I have known and loved on this earthly pilgrimage are no longer here.  Jane Nies was one of them and she is now in the fullness of eternity with God. 

I was privileged to be the homilist at her funeral which took place at my former parish, All Saints, Winter Park, FL.  Jane and her husband Perry, became friends during the 12 years I served as Rector, and beyond. 

In my homily, I spoke of the radiance of her life, her lifelong seeking for spiritual, intellectual, and psychological growth in her Christian journey. 

 



I visited Jane’s family after her death, a visit filled with radiance and joy and laughter. Perry shared with me the love that he and Jane had for their summer remote Island home by the sea in Maine. They were surrounded for years and years by all that natural beauty, beholding and contemplating. They grew in their awareness that the natural beauty was not simply external, but was within them as well. In other words, they were aware of their oneness with the seen and the unseen beauty and mystery of God.

They lived at the intersection of two landscapes, where the vital  interplay between the material and spiritual, the visible and invisible  nourished their souls.



 

The Gospel lesson and text for my homily: 

Luke 12:27-31

 

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Jane was a seeker of God and God’s Kingdom, God’s active presence and sufficiency. She had a heart filled with radiance, the radiance of God’s love.  My life was enriched by her friendship.  May she continue to grow in the glory and radiance of Christ and eternity. 

I hope my reflections will bring hope and encouragement to you to behold the radiance in your life and of those you love.  

With you on the Journey and The Way, 

 

Rob+ 







 

He was one of my best and lifelong friends. I met Fr. Eric Ravndal III, and his wife Sarah, and their four kids (Chris, Beth, Eric III, and Mary) in 1977. I was just 24 years old. We were both entering Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary on our journey to become Ordained Priests. We were instant friends which continued for 46 years. As I said in my sermon, he was given to us by God “to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage.” So true.

A couple of months ago, Eric asked me to preach at his funeral. Today, it was my honor to stand in the Pulpit of All Saints Episcopal Church of Winter Park where I was Rector from 2006-2018. In those years, I asked Eric to officially be the Retired Associate priest while I was there. We had renewed friendship with all of the Ravndals over the years we shared together.

It was a great honor to be with so many today at All Saints. So many wonderful memories to share. The Bach Festival Choir of Winter Park blessed us as the choir for the service. Eric’s four children gave exceptional and inspiring tributes.  Fr. Stu Shelby and Bishop Greg Brewer, led the Liturgy, and several classmates and their spouses from seminary days attended. It was a full house.

He lived a long and fruitful life and will be deeply missed. Loved him like a brother and a dear friend. As we lose those we love on our earthly pilgrimage, may God “give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by God’s call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Eric, I will see you again.

Here is the audio of my Sermon.

With you on The Journey and The Way,

Rob+

What is the basic direction and orientation of a truly human life? When St. Ignatius of Loyola had written his Spiritual Exercises, he added a short preface, a skeletal summary of the inner journey to be made through his Exercises. Later commentators called this preface ‘The First Principle and Foundation’. It has been compared to a small-scale map of a very long journey.

Dallas Willard (who encouraged me to open myself to The Spiritual Exercises) once wrote: “If you . . . make necessary adjustments to the content . . . you will see that the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius offer in substance . . . a curriculum, a course in training, for life on the rock. And that is why, century after century, they have exercised incredible power over all who open themselves to them as disciples of Jesus.”

While first encountered over thirty-five years ago, I currently am completing a nine month “retreat in daily life” praying and making the Spiritual Exercises at this stage of my journey. Ignatian spirituality is about finding God in our lived experience and allowing God to transform that experience, through his Spirit, for ourselves and for the whole human family.

I created a musical reflection of “The First Principle and Foundation” using a paraphrase by Fr. David Fleming S.J.  I find these words help orient and ground me as they reveal the meaning, aim, and purpose of life. I aspire to live this way, knowing it is only by God’s grace and God’s compassion.



“Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me.”With you on The Journey and the Way,

Rob+



P.S. If you are looking for a good book to learn more, I recommend:  Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard,  by Trevor Hudson.

It was a gift of grace to preach on the Feast of The Ascension. I am grateful to be serving Fr. Jonathan Turtle, Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, as a Retired Associate  in the parish. I preach occasionally  and hope to share my heart with all of you. 

Here is a short video clip. The full sermon is an audio recording below. 



May your life journey continue to be radiant with the gifts of God who like the rays of the sun brings his love and grace to us day by day. Jesus is everywhere present and filling all things. 



With you on The Journey and The Way, 

Rob+

 

 



 

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”  Romans 8:2We are in a sermon series on Romans during the summer at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Orlando. I have had the joy of filling in for the Rector, Jonathan Turtle while he is on vacation.

 

Paul begins Romans 8 with this word: Therefore. 

 

Something consequential for the human race, of immense importance has happened. We have been set free from the powers of sin and death. In Christ, God has acted in Jesus to bring us into   “Another Kind of Life.” 

Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. 

This is the Truth of your Being. It is your ontology, your nature, your identity. You are “In Christ.”  The Truth of your being can now become The Way of your being as you live in the life of the Holy Spirit. 

Paul reveals that we can now have a new mindset. We set our minds on the things of the Spirit, not the things of the Flesh, the broken distorted ways of mere human desire. One leads to life and peace, the other to death and futility. May we embrace the gifts and grace of God!

 

As Ignatius of Loyola says:

 

Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.

 

With you on The Journey and The Way, 

Rob+