LENTEN RETREAT

My good friend Janet Sczcuka and I went to a Day Retreat at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Newburyport. Speaker was Frederica Mathewes-Green, well known spiritual writer and Orthodox herself, who presented on The Jesus prayer, and Ancient Faith in Modern Life.

I have not much "felt" Lent this year. I didn't last year either--- last year I was preparing for my wedding & marriage to John, so that's understandable, but I'm not sure what the reason is this year. So this was good, kind of grounded me back to my roots in faith and helped with the frustration and depression I've been dealing with lately.

Apparently The Jesus Prayer is a spiritual discipline undertaken by many Orthodox (or as she said, Eastern) Christians. There is a classic book by the name of THE WAY OF THE PILGRIM that made the use of this simple prayer, "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner", said repeatedly, in response to St Paul's direction to "pray constantly" , well known to Western Christians.

Frederica, a warm, gentle, and humorous speaker, wife of a priest and educated in theology herself, elaborated on the use, and the results of using this prayer for the interior life.

Of special interest to me were the discussions on Mercy and what it really is--- in Hebrew referred to as Chesed, which is grace; how Grace is not something created but the Presence of God; how those who do not think they have experienced Divine Presence or are uncertain as to whether they have can take comfort in that hungering for the Presence is part of the experience.

I enjoyed the analogy Frederica made for this when she described being at the mall and minding one's own business, not hungry or even thinking of eating, just looking at the people and window-shopping, then getting a whiff of cinnamon--- just like that a craving for cinnamon buns is instilled and one is hunting the entire mall for one--the person could be said to have had an "experience of cinnamon"!

I also enjoyed certain states of experience being defined as perception or awareness "it's going to rain", thought "Need an umbrella" and Emotion "Disappointed, wanted to have a picnic". The experience of awareness of impending rain is quite separate from thoughts and feelings about the perception--- so it is with a direct experience of God.

Some things were slightly less positive--- Frederica's emphasis on Eastern and her simplification of Western Christianity--- but these were expected, did not appear conscious on her part, and moved past--- taking the gems that were offered and leaving the rest.

Socially, there were several who came to this from Christ Church in Hamilton, where Janet had been a parishioner, so she was having a reunion with old friends; some I had met before and others were new to me, but I enjoyed the conversations with and between them.

There was also a handful of young people who had graduated from Gordon College, which I found very interesting, as Gordon is rather an enclave of Evangelicsm. In fact each was somewhere in the process of conversion to Orthodoxy! One young woman was from Dover Baptist Church, and knew Mark's brother and his family, had gone to school with Dan.....

All in all it was a good day.