“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate…” John 14:15-21

The Lectionary text for this past week was from Jesus’ last, long conversation with his disciples, as recorded in John. If you’re reading along in a red-letter version, John nearly runs out of red ink in Chapters 14-17, where we have the longest speech of Jesus recorded in the Gospels.

The emphasis on the Paraclete, translated as Advocate in the New Revised Standard Version that I prefer, brought me back to my confirmation class days. I was raised in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, but moved to a Baptist church when I married. It’s interesting to me how the two traditions differ in their approach to the Trinity.

In my formative years spent among the Lutherans, we made more of an emphasis on the concept of the Trinity. This is not to say that the Baptists ignore the idea, but the Lutherans felt compelled to articulate the distinctions between the Persons of the Trinity, and identify the work that each of the parts of the Godhead performed or performs.

Tilting at Windmills: My Quixotic Quest

Several years ago, never mind how many, I came across an academic who claimed that Don Quixote was one of the few works that really stood up to multiple readings throughout life. In fact, the scholar claimed that Don Quixote required multiple readings. Specifically, he recommended that everyone read Don Quixote at least three times, once as a young adult, once in middle age, and once in old age.

I’ve thought a lot about this recommendation in the intervening years. In fact, the idea of books that warrant and reward multiple readings has shaped the way I think about literature, and I’ve created my own short list of books that could reward multiple readings every twenty years or so. I’ve identified six works that I found especially meaningful and rewarding when I first read them in my twenties. Those six are the Bible, “Oedipus Rex”, “King Lear”, Don Quixote, Moby Dick, and The Brothers Karamazov. Now, as I approach the end of my forties, I find myself revisiting that list, and rereading works that I read in my twenties. I have a couple of years left in my 40’s, and a couple more works to finish: Don Quixote and The Brothers Karamazov.

So, for the next several weeks, I’ll be spending time with Don Quixote, as part of my Quixotic quest to revisit some rewarding literature, and to live like literature can have an impact on one’s life.

Meditation 101: 1 Book, 1 App, and Listening to Myself Breathe

I have a friend who has been talking to me about meditation for several years now. He’s a practicing Buddhist, and leads a meditation session every week at a local Buddhist center. I have attended several times, though not regularly enough to have seen any benefits from the practice of meditation. He leads a meditation service that is also a religious service, and I have sometimes felt awkward, not really knowing how fully to participate. I’ve felt that there could be some benefit to regular meditation, but I don’t know how, or whether, to participate during the prayers which are offered before and after each twenty minute meditation period. I also know myself well enough to realize that I don’t have the fortitude to press ahead with the practice of meditation alone, without some kind of direction.

That has been the state of things for several years. I might attend a meditation service three or four times a year, and come away with the same questions and hesitations about the practice, at the same time seeing that it could be a very fruitful, centering experience.

Chocolate and Meditation

You know those times in your life, when you encounter some new word or idea, and then you just can’t seem to escape it? Me too.

A couple of years ago, I added the book Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World, by Mark Williams and Danny Penman to my reading list. I don’t even remember how I encountered it initially. (It was probably NPR, but I don’t see any reference to the book on their website. Science Friday, perhaps? Anyway…)

So, the title has been sitting on my list for a couple of years, and I finally decided that it was time to check it out. There’s been a convergence of the subject of meditation popping up in my life, and this seemed like an appropriate book to use to help get myself more grounded.