Saturday, 21 November 2009

  • Nearly Five Months in Cambodia

    In four days I'll have been in Cambodia for five months... wow!!! Do I have ways to describe this "honeymoon" phase of the adventure? I'll try... My life has been simplified, as has my schedule. I review some aspects of work, home, church, travel and my other interests.

    Work - Much easier than expected. I have two Kindergarten kids I help, five Grade Ones, five Grade Twos, I visit the Grade Three class occasionally, I visit the Grade Four class regularly and pull in three students from that class along with two from the Grade Five class. I help two high-school students with homework strategies and one middle-school student with some speech therapy exercises he's been given to work on. Seventeen ESL students in total.

    I had an encouraging evaluation from the Elementary Principal last week. Through it we decided to come up with IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) for each. I'm also able to help with some reading evaluations for the Elementary grade levels. I've had the opportunity to substitute teach in Kindergarten several times. I've also helped once in the after-school program baking oatmeal cookies!

    I've helped with the "Sunshine Committee" around getting fresh coffee made regularly for teachers with "First Friday of the Month" cinnamon buns! I've facilitated staff devotions twice.
    I'm on the Elementary Christmas Pageant committee too!

    Next week I'll meet with a group around "Summer School" I'll be helping coordinate some of the program which will run from June 14th in two three week sessions. Some friends from my home town may be able to join me here to help with this... Do you wanna come too???

    As I mentioned earlier I also volunteered for several day earlier in the month at a "girls group home" also under the same umbrella organization as the school. We did patchwork and I made Japanese Summer Soup... yum! (very thin Rice noodles cooked and plunged in ice water, drained then topped with shredded veggies, sushi egg strips, mushrooms and a sauce of 1/2 c. soy sauce, 1/2 c. sugar 1/2 c. vinegar with 1 t. sesame oil and 1t. grated ginger... Delish!)

    Work has had a couple of stretching days yet, somehow, all was diffused before it could be terribly discouraging.

    Home - I live with a Khmer host family, a house hold of nine people. My host and his wife have a nearly 10 month old boy and he has a nearly six year old girl from his first marriage. My host's father and niece (who cooks) live in this three-bedroom townhouse. I enjoy one of the three rooms (a bedroom with Air Con) and share a bathroom with my host and his wife. Two house helpers also live here one to help with the baby and one to help with the cleaning.

    In the 19 year old niece I have found a kindred spirit. She is an excellent cook and so she regularly blesses my inner "foodie" with such amazing morsels of deliciousness!

    While I'm away most of the day, leaving at about 6:50 a.m. each day and returning at about 5:30, meal times and family prayers are special. I've told a friend this prayer-time is "getting lotus" meditation with my family as we sit on the tiled floor in a circle on very thin cushions. I don't understand much but each evening from about 8 to 9 most of the household gathers to sing hymns and traditional songs, open in prayer and read a chapter of the Bible, each person reads a verse in a circle and graciously I'm allowed to read in English, whew! After the scripture we share prayer requests, pray for each other, then there is a closing prayer and a closing song... which I have written out and can sing if I read along :) Each person takes on responsibility for some piece of it rotating daily though I haven't figured out the rotation as it seems very random to me. 

    I feel privileged to have this glimpse into the everyday life of a family living the challenges of Cambodia's recent history... I often feel as if I am walking on ground made holy by the blood of so many innocents... even now so many suffer the horrors of the past. I pray to be able to be one who "bears witness" and lives to tell others of the way of forgiveness and love through Christ.

    Church - I've been attending a very conservative Khmer church... but one day I got locked in. I needed to leave the building before the service was finished because of the heat and stale still air... I nearly fainted waiting by the door as each of three different keys that was tried didn't fit and someone had to run up several flights of stairs each time. When I finally got out I was loath to return. So I haven't. Last week a colleague from another school and I attended a lovely service at the Anglican Church. The worship and the English service was good. I think I'll continue going there as it is walking distance from my favourite coffee/croissant shop, which I will also continue to go to before hand! I hope to visit the Khmer church for the Christmas pageant which will be the retelling of the Nativity in a Khmer context in Khmer traditional dress! I'll take photos!

    Travel - I've been to the beach three times: twice to Sihanoukville and once to Koh Kong. I've also been to Battambang. I had an invite to go to Kampot province this weekend yet I felt a quiet weekend at home was a better choice... though I was keen to go to see if I could see black pepper growing. The pepper in Kampot is considered, by some, to be the best in the world.

    Other - I've been doing some "patchwork" quilting and some friendship making and much Journaling... I read recently prayer is when one talks to the Divine and meditation us when one listens... so really, I guess, I've been doing a lot of meditative listening. This was from last week's  meditation:

    Dear One,

    Peace be with you, in you, on you, around you and through you... Grace and Peace.
    Lift up your heart. In doing this you are releasing yourself from your responsibility for it. Take comfort in my care. My compassion toward you is boundless. I love you with an everlasting love, with abundant joy and with unimaginable mercy. You are mine and I am yours. You are mine in ways which will transform you not diminish you. Wait patiently as this transformation occurs.

    As you dash about, let me tether you with a firm conviction of my unerring love. Let this love have an irresistible pull toward the center of my purposes for you. May my mercy and grace be the magnetic force which keeps you secure in my Truth. Allow prayer, quiet, thoughtfulness and my reassuring presence to shape and guide your feelings, thoughts and actions.
    Amen

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Thursday, 12 November 2009

  • A Mystical Image for Service

    A Mystical Image for Service - Ron Rolheiser

    2009-11-08

    When the young French mystic, Therese of Lisieux, was trying to explain her vocation, she referred to a soul-searing insight that was once given her:

    One Sunday, looking at a picture of Our Lord on the Cross, I was struck by the blood flowing from one of his divine hands. I felt a pang of great sorrow when thinking this blood was falling on the ground without anyone's hastening to gather it up. I was resolved to remain in spirit at the foot of the Cross and to receive its dew. ... I don't want this precious blood to be lost. I shall spend my life gathering it up for the good of souls. ... To live from love is to dry Your Face.

    At one level, this can be seen as an image of simple excess piety, an over-pious young nun sitting in a chapel, admiring a crucifix and getting emotionally over-wrought in an imaginative scene of Jesus being abused and crucified. But this is a metaphor, a mystical image, and a very challenging one.

    When Therese of Lisieux speaks of Christ here she is referring not just, nor even primarily, to the body of the historical Jesus, but to the body of Christ in this world. Christ is still suffering and blood is still flowing from his face and his hands in many parts of our world. One of our tasks as Christians, and simply as human beings, is to, metaphorically, notice that blood, gather it up, and properly honour it. The Christian task, always, is to stand at the foot of the cross and gather up its dew so that this preciousness is not lost.

    How do we do that?

    • When Amnesty International, or any group or individual dedicated to justice, goes to war-torn and violent parts of our world, documents the violence there, and lists publicly the names of all those who have been made to disappear, they are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • When a nun leaves the safety and security of her own country and community and travels to Sudan to be with women who are being raped and documents their stories, she is standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • When a friend on a playground rushes in after an incident to console the vulnerable young person who has just been humiliated by the school bully, she is standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • When a man, like Greg Mortenson, steps out of a life of privilege and comfort to risk everything, including life itself, to build schools in the most rural parts of Pakistan so that young Muslims, especially young Muslim women, can receive an education, he is standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • When men and women dedicate their lives to working with the mentally disabled so as to help enable the lives and dignity of those whose talents are different, they are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • When an idealistic young person joins the peace-corps, or becomes a missionary, in the sincere desire to help someone who is less privileged, he or she is standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    And ...

    • Whenever any of us takes time at our place of work or in our home to listen to that wounded soul who has worn out everyone's patience with complaints and whining reminiscences, we are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • Whenever any of us makes the effort to listen with empathy to that frustrated friend, colleague, or sibling, who is wrapped-up in jealous frustration because his or her life has not turned out as he or she had dreamed, we are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • Whenever any of us notices another's achievement and sincerely congratulates and blesses him or her on that success, we are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    • Whenever any of us, empathically, pray for all those people in this world whose dreams are being crushed and who are suffering the martyrdom of obscurity and anonymity, we are standing at the foot of the cross, receiving its dew, and hastening to gather it up.

    Blood still flows from both the hands and the face of the one being crucified. Mostly it goes unnoticed, with no one hastening to gather it up.

    Our task, like that of Therese of Lisieux, is to notice, and the make sure that this preciousness does not go unnoticed, unmarked, without its proper honour.

  • "In Memory of Jesus and the Saints" - Henri Nouwen & "Our Daily Bread" - Jean Vanier

    Daily Thoughts from Jean Vanier
    Our Daily Bread - Jean Vanier

    If we are to remain faithful to the daily round, we need daily manna. It may be ordinary, a bit tasteless. But it is the manna of fidelity to the covenant, to responsibility, to the small things of everyday life. It is the manna of meetings, of friendship, of looks and smiles that say 'I love you' and that warm the heart.

    - Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 169



     Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen)

    In Memory of Jesus and the Saints - Henri Nouwen

     Belonging to the communion of saints means being connected with all people transformed by the Spirit of Jesus. This connection is deep and intimate. Those who have lived as brothers and sisters of Jesus continue to live within us, even though they have died, just as Jesus continues to live within us, even though he has died.

    We live our lives in memory of Jesus and the saints, and this memory is a real presence. Jesus and his saints are part of our most intimate and spiritual knowledge of God. They inspire us, guide us, encourage us, and give us hope. They are the source of our constant transformation. Yes, we carry them in our bodies and thus keep them alive for all with whom we live and work.

Monday, 09 November 2009

  • "Happy Are Those Who Thirst for Justice" by Richard Rohr

    "Happy Are Those Who Thirst for Justice" by Richard Rohr

    Happy are those who hunger and thirst for justice.  They shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)  Most Bibles to this day will soften the word justice into what is right, or righteousness.  Those have a kind of religious feeling.  But the word in Greek is clearly justice.  This Beatitude is set right at the mid-point, and the word justice appears again at the end.  It could be seen as a couplet saying, This is the full point.  To live a just life in this world is to life a life identified with the little ones.  As much as Matthew tries in vain to soften it for his middle-class audience, its still radical, revolutionary and most extraordinary.  What Jesus is saying is, Make sure youre not satisfied.  Keep yourself in a state of dissatisfaction.  Contemplation and voluntary simplicity bring us to that state.  Real prayer stirs holy desire (as do deprivation and injustice, when we take them to prayer).  The unconscious bubbles up, and you find out what you really desire.  (It isnt a new set of clothes, although if you move too quickly you really think it is.)  Stay with it longer-a new set of clothes is not going to do it!  What you really desire is always God.  The sad thing about those who try to avoid that state of longing and thirsting is that they can never be satisfied.  Wealth never sees enough wealth; justice is satisfied with justice. 

    from Sermon on the Mount by Richard Rohr

    and

    Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen)

    The Saints Who Live Short Lives - Henri Nouwen

     As we see so many people die at a young age, through wars, starvation, AIDS, street violence, and physical and emotional neglect, we often wonder what the value of their short lives is. It seems that their journeys have been cut off before they could reach any of their goals, realise any of their dreams, or accomplish any of their tasks. But, short as their lives may have been, they belong to that immense communion of saints, from all times and all places, who stand around the throne of the Lamb dressed in white robes proclaiming the victory of the crucified Christ (see Revelation 7:9).

    The story of the innocent children murdered by King Herod in his attempt to destroy Jesus (see Matthew 2:13-18), reminds us that saintliness is not just for those who lived long and hardworking lives. These children, and many who died young, are as much witnesses to Jesus as those who accomplished heroic deeds.
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Saturday, 07 November 2009

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

  • The Significance of Each Life - Jean Vanier

    Daily Thoughts from Jean Vanier
    The Significance of Each Life - Jean Vanier

    It is always good for individuals, communities and indeed nations, to remember that their present situation is a result of the thousands of gestures of love or hate that came before. This obliges us to remember that the community of tomorrow is being born of our fidelity to the present. We discover that we are at the same time very insignificant and very important because each of our actions is preparing the humanity of tomorrow; it is a tiny contribution to the huge and glorious final humanity.

    - Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p.152
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Monday, 26 October 2009

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

  • Another "Secret Garden" Patchwork Bag...

    From Mohm's Secret Garden Bag
    To my surprise and delight, Mohm, the house hold helper, has been burning the candle at both ends to complete this bag before she heads out to Malaysia to be a domestic.  She said her eyes were sore from working so hard... She had the sarong and orange fabric last Tuesday and created 18 patches taking about an hour each... just shy of 3 per day... this on top of an already full work day of nearly 11 hours... all her free moments where devoted to this endeavor. I helped finish it up tonight... helping with the strap and the inserting the zipper using my little Juki. 

    She was so grateful... and I was so gratified.  I would have never imagined quilting would bring this kind of enthusiasm with the twenty-something set, in my circles in Cambodia.

    I had one woman mentioned she's been offered several sessions on classroom management skills to work with children yet she'd never been offered a class for a skill like this. I'm so pleased to bring this creative possibility into the lives of some. I'm especially touched when it is someone who is illiterate as I feel any creative expression can tell a piece of someone's story to the next generation in a beautiful way.
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Monday, 19 October 2009

  • "A Negative Sacrament?"- Richard Rohr

    "A Negative Sacrament?"- Richard Rohr

    During my sabbatical retreat at the Gethsemani Trappist monastery in Kentucky, I spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch of the hermitage where Thomas Merton lived.  I would ponder one thought for twenty minutes, and then for the next twenty minutes it was another thing.  By the time I was to the third one or the fourth one, I didn't even remember the first one anymore.  In the silence they were able to come and go because there was nothing I could do with them.  There was no one I could yell at, or work out a problem with.  I couldn't go write a nasty letter, I couldn't get on the phone and chew someone out or love someone, whatever it might be.  I had to let it be.  I couldn't attach myself to it.  Now if I were living in society, I would have probably acted upon my feeling, gossiping to someone else about a difficult situation.  Gossip is a kind of negative sacrament.  Remember our old definition of sacrament?  We said sacraments, once you do them, effect what they symbolize.  It's the same way with gossip.  When you talk negatively you invest in your negativism.  You justify it, and it becomes harder to avoid.  The most nasty and irrational judgments I have received from people have often followed upon a negative bull-session.  For me the way to break it is silence.  In silence I see my negative feelings passing before me like mist.  All of these paranoid and self-pitying feelings were not really justified by the situation out there as much as they were needed by myself.  They were attachments that I created to define and validate myself.  In the hermitage they meant nothing.

    from Letting Go:  A Spirituality of Subtraction

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