Monday December 01 2008 10:37:35 CST
An occasional letter from the office of the chaplain
of the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans
Click here for previous editions of The Three Knots
June 21, 2006
Dear brothers and sisters,
Peace and joy of the Lord!
I am still basking in the warm glow of our Convocation! Indeed our meetings are like a family reunion…(except without the creepy uncle). What a joy to see each of your dear faces! I come away feeling blessed beyond measure…
Thank you ALL dear siblings, for your love and support! It made coming home to the turmoil a little easier to face. Thank you also to those who have sent cards, made phone calls, and have just “been there” while I try to find my footing. I am now in the rather precarious position of ministering to the wife of the pastor who resigned in such an ugly fashion. Thank you for keeping us both in your prayers!
While praying about what to write, I felt impressed to strongly affirm those of you to whom I write…the “Precious Professed” in our little order…you who have become “family” to me in many ways over the past few years. I apologize in advance for the length of this letter…I just know when YOU are the subject of my conversation…I can go on and on!
I am reminded of the scriptures in Thessalonians:
“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.”
And finally, “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all throughout Macedonia.”
I do not know if any of you are active in small groups or home groups within your local church? One exercise done when the groups first began was an “Affirmation Circle.” (I know it sounds “hokey” but hear me out on this) A member of the small group sat in the center of the circle, and each of us would tell the person one thing we appreciated, admired or loved about them. If you didn’t know the person very well, then you were asked to go ahead and give a less personal comment, such as “You have a nice smile” or “You seem very friendly.” As long as the message was positive, it was okay. No one is allowed to “pass.”
I cannot tell you how this simple exercise radically changed the persona of our small group! After the first event, we were bonded more closely than ever, and the person who had been affirmed seemed to open up in our discussion times…I marveled at how a little encouragement went such a long, LONG way. Later we learned to ask a “scribe” to write down each comment, so that the person would have a written remembrance of their finer attributes. One woman suffering with depression said, “I have never had such a week of positive self-esteem! Every time I started to think something bad about myself, I would pull out this little list (which I keep in my purse) and effectively “debunk” the negative thought or comment. It has made an amazing difference!” I have never forgotten that comment, nor have I ever forgotten the comments made to ME when it was MY TURN in the circle. The Beatles may have been right…”All you need is love…”
I have learned that encouragement (the spoken form of unconditional love) empowers, enriches and enlivens our lives! (Don’t you just love alliteration?)
Empowers: The Gospel and indeed Christ Himself speak of the importance of our “heart” condition…our motivations…if we are motivated by love, we are then empowered to love completely…to love without offense, to love without fear. I have personally found that when I am truly trying to exhibit the love of Christ in my life, jabs, sarcasms and blatant attacks seem to bounce right off. I seem unoffendable! We seem impervious to situations and circumstances that should have us trembling in our boots! I listened to the testimony of two women abducted and then held as prisoners in Afghanistan. Daily these two women were persecuted for their faith, tortured and terrorized. And yet, at the end of the day, these same two women prayed for their captors. What empowers such behavior? Unconditional love.
Enriches: I only have to think as far as the lives of you, my dear brothers and sisters in the OEF to recognize where and how my life has become richer since joining this little order. I think of the work each of you do…the amazingly important work done in your communities, countries, homes and churches…whether through writing or prayer, protest or silence. Vocations and callings faithfully adhered to day after day, year after year…Oh my! The richness our order holds just within our professed membership! And to think that our boundaries are expanding to include international family as well…it is really too marvelous for words!
Enlivens: What could cause people who live on other continents to cross oceans and mountains and countries and time zones just to be with other folks with whom they’ve never had a face to face encounter? Unconditional love and acceptance! What we offer in the OEF is unique to US for a few reasons…because we are ecumenical, because we are inclusive, because we are affirming. In our virtual living room, that is our email list, via our website, our posts onlist, or our blog writings, we lead others to believe that there really IS a place where they can be who they really are, and be loved and accepted. A place where they can be honest with themselves and others, admit their foibles, and still be held in “unconditional positive regard” as Carl Rogers would say.
Dear siblings, let us not grow weary of well doing! Let us all the more allow this unconditional love to make its way out of our hearts and heads and into our communities and places of vocation and calling! Let us continue on in the effort to show the world (that is, whoever happens to be out there paying attention) that love really DOES conquer all! Let us continue to be a rag-tag group of folks who seek to give voice to the voiceless and home to the weary, wayward and marginalized! Our Franciscan charism calls us to respect ALL of life. May our days and hours and weeks be spent doing just that…in whatever way God has called us to do it. May we pray as Francis prayed:
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Most High
Glorious God,
Enlighten the darkness of my heart
And give me
True faith
Certain hope,
And perfect charity,
Sense and knowledge,
Lord,
That I may carry out
Your holy and true command.
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I am blessed beyond words to have been chosen as your Chaplain…I am humbled by the calling, and awed by you, the amazing people with whom I serve.
Yours and His,
Sr Paula Clare Clouse
OEF Chaplain
Previous editions of The Three Knots
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