Jesus and Galilee

Acts 2:1-13

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Jesus said to his disciples,” When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

 

I have a strange mantra that I sometimes say to myself: “Jesus and Galilee.” This mantra has always represented the times in my life when I have realized that you just can’t go home. Sometimes when working in a new field, the people that have known you the longest continue to look at you through the lens they had of you as a younger, less experienced person. Sometimes these are the hardest people to convince of your newfound knowledge and usefulness. 

It is those that often love us that want us to always remain that same person they fell in love with so long ago.  Our parents, spouses, siblings, childhood friends, children, and early colleagues sometimes do not recognize growth.  This happened to Jesus when he first returned to Galilee.  People thought of him as a young child that ran off to the temple.  They are doing the same with the disciples today on Pentecost.  Sometimes you have to leave home to make a new start with new people that are not judgmental based on your past, as the disciples did moving forward with their preaching.  In the Episcopal church those entering clergy must leave their home parishes for this reason.

To me this is an overlooked part of Pentecost.  Sometimes others don’t see what is obvious growth.  Sometimes we don’t see the obvious growth either. Sometimes space is needed. This ‘Spirit of Truth’ is there waiting to be discovered but sometimes it takes time.

My story of call was mystical.  I was walking on a labyrinth at the Episcopal summer camp I attended as a child.  I was there six years ago as a presenter at a Daughter’s of the King (women’s) retreat. I presented yoga, mainly in chairs, for this mixed age group.  It was well received. At the conclusion of the retreat, I took a little time for myself to walk the newly installed labyrinth.  I was wearing a red scarf and it was very windy on that day. I walked and thought about my life. At one point I took a hairpin turn in the labyrinth and my scarf blew off one side and land on me in the configuration of a deacon’s stole. At the time I took this to mean I was being called to the clergy.  But after much personal discernment, or Svādhyāya, and further discernment with my parish it was decided that clergy was not my call.  Instead, I was called to be the best yoga therapist I could be.  I didn’t see my own obvious growth, what I had just done at the retreat, and my own Spirit of Truth.  My own personal Galilee blinded me to the truth of my life.  I have continued this journey as a yoga therapist but sometimes I still have moments of Galatian blindness to my own abilities, and the abilities of others.  As well as experiencing this unrecognized growth when others that have known me a long time look at me through a lens I’ve outgrown. All we can do at these times is recognize what is happening and find compassion. Then maybe we can move forward in a way that serves us best.

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

 

Christ’s Baptism – the Elements and Dosha

I cannot eloquently write.  I don’t consider myself to be a wordsmith.  Nor do I consider it my job here to produce a piece of art in the form of writing.  My job as I see it is to inform on the subject of how I find Christianity in my life as a yoga therapist; Or how do I rectify these two things that to many seem like opposites. My comments on the scripture readings will be below the reading as usual.

I have no words for the events of this past week.  So, I will let a friend and member of my church, Spencer Musick, speak through his sermon that begins at minute 29 here… https://youtu.be/EhXkI7C2bTc

Readings for the Baptism of Jesus

Collect of the Day

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, * ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; * worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; * the Lord is upon the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; * the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; * the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, * and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; * the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe * and strips the forests bare.

9 And in the temple of the Lord* all are crying, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; * the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.

11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; * the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

Acts 19:1-7

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied—altogether there were about twelve of them.

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 

Christ’s baptism has always felt very elemental to me. And by that I mean there is water present in the river, earth in the mud Christ stood in, and fire-air-ether as the Holy Spirit came down. If you look through the tags on the left of the blog for “Holy Spirit” or “Gross Element” you will find two earlier entries that also comment on this.  I find it interesting that they are from Ascension and Pentecost, whereas today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.  They serve as bookends of his ministry, beginning and ending in God the Holy Spirit.

Elements are present in yoga as well.  In a class we may focus on grounding into the earth or expanding through our air, ether, or breath.  There are practices that build heat or fire. We often sweat out water.

In yoga’s sister practice of Ayurveda, or Indian Medicine, these elements are a focus.  One can learn their body (physical and emotional) type via the three Doshas: Vata (space [ether] air), Pitta (fire water) or Kapha (water earth) and all the possible combinations of these.  I am Pitta – Kapha.  The ultimate is to be tri-dosha.  Here is a quiz to learn more about your own dosha: https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/dosha-quiz .

People are different. Certainly, our Doshas are all different, but all people are necessary.  People are to be respected. Decorum is important.  We don’t have to agree.  As we begin this new year let us renew our baptism in the hope of a brighter future.

 

Picture from: https://kayrice.com/3284/daily-cycles-and-the-doshas/

 

Pentecost and Samkhya

Happy Pentecost!  Today is the day that the Holy Spirit entered each of Jesus disciples.  As told in the book of Acts All of the disciples were gathered in a room when the Holy Spirit entered the room with a sound like the rush of a violent wind and filled the house. Then the Holy Spirit resting on each of them as tongues of flame or fire and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking different languages.

Pentecost in my opinion should be celebrated with as much proclaim as Easter and even more than Christmas. This is the virtual Birthday of the Christian Church.  It is the day that all the disciples were virtually ordained. It certainly could have been a day they did not understand at the time.  What was this wind, this sound, this fire?

I had an experience with something like this five years ago.  I was walking on a labyrinth just before an exceedingly difficult time in my life and I experienced the Holy Spirit as wind going through my body.  There are more details that are personal here but a few weeks later I experienced an event that has forever changed my life.  Although confused at the time, like the disciples, all eventually became clear, and I was thankful for the loving guidance of the Holy Spirit in my life. Whenever I feel wind now, I feel the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life.

How does this relate to Yoga Philosophy? As promised, I completed my reading of the Samkhya Karika this week.  I am still processing. But I will share one part that relates:

This is the top of the chart. As I read I came to find this an imperfect representation of the Trinity.  Spirit/ Purusa the Seer on the left being Holy Spirit, Primal (or Unmanifest) Nature / MulaPrakriti the Seen on the right being Father, and Manifest Nature/ Prakriti on the right being Son.

Father manifests Son as a physical presence on Earth to be Seen. Our physical lives are represented here.  We must work through Kleshas or limitations/ misperceptions of our mind (ignorance, egotism, attachment, aversion, and clinging) to attain liberation and wisdom. This is not unlike the life of Jesus, the Son. Although perfect he often prayed for strength and for the cup to pass away from him. Ultimately, he overcomes the Kanchukas and gives his life for our own limitations and sins.  

Spirit observes or witnesses or is the Seer of all that happened. The Holy Spirit is not visible in the story of Jesus.  But I like to think she is there observing as a witness or seer of all that has happened. To fully understand this form of spirit ask yourself what is it that is aware of your body, breath, feelings, emotions, and beliefs?  Above in red we have Conscious – Intelligent – Subjective.   The observer of our lives is our spirit or consciousness.

We have a Physical Body and a Subtle Body. We live in the Physical Body. The Holy Spirit comes to us in our Subtle Body to be a witness to our physical life. And when the physical life is over perhaps the subtle body lives on.

 

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

104:24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

104:25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.

104:26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

104:27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;

104:28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

104:29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

104:30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

104:31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works--

104:32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

104:33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

104:34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

104:35b Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!

 

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

 

John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

 

Top Photo: "Pentecost" by Tiziano Vecelli (Titian) was completed circa 1545