Anita Lustrea

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 82 – I Corinthians 15:50-54 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

I’m Anita Lustrea and I’m privileged to be a spiritual director. Each time I begin a session, I use a quote or poem or prayer.  As I share one of these with you, see what might catch your attention. Maybe there’s something here for you today. Today’s reading is a quote from K.J. Ramsey that I transcribed from her Instagram account over a year ago.

The post Poem/Prayer 27 K.J. Ramsey Quote appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 12.8.2

1. “If our Christianity is somehow offended by the idea of everyone having food, shelter, drink, and a livable wage, not only does this  paint a deeply uncaring picture of  our faith, but it also reveals that capitalism informs our beliefs more  than the gospel of Jesus. ~ Rev. Benjamin Cremer

“The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.”  ~ Karl Rahnr, SJ

When the talk isn’t walked, an already skeptical world shrugs  its shoulders and says “No surprise.” 

In some ways, I’m glad we’re (Christians)  being held at arm’s length by the world. It’s good to hear the critiques and to be asked to look in the mirror. We do have some explaining to do. Our witness is tarnished and our allegiances are suspect. Our tribe needs to be humbled and the consequences of our sins needs to be reckoned with.  In many respects we are not the ‘hope for the world’ that we bragged about for so long. 

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t bright spots. There are congregations, ministries and individuals who live life faithfully, compassionately and winsomely. Not every pastor is an ego driven monster, and not every church is consumed by more success and status but is rather consumed with the desire to love people and to love God. 

2. Since Trump left office and  Biden took over, the whole country has had to get used to  a different set of policy outcomes and behaviors. The good news is that democracy is once again being cherished and authoritarians are seen for what they are. Hate filled  morning tweets (or whatever it’s called now) from the former Chief Executive are but a painful memory and monetizing the White House for personal gain appears not to be a thing. And there’s music again at The White House. 

How can we live like this? Quite nicely, I think, quite nicely. It’s amazing what can happen when character and competence work together for the common good. 

Is Biden perfect? No, he’s not. And he’s facing issues he has no real answers for. There are tons of things needing his attention. But when push comes to shove, he at least tries to do what’s right. He looks for solutions and surrounds himself with smart, capable, men and women who are all in on a government that’s of the people, by the people and for the people – all the people. 

Biden is a man who has been deeply wounded in his life and he has allowed the suffering he experienced to become his teacher. He is a reflective man.That’s so different from his predecessor who quite obviously carries deep wounds of childhood and beyond. In his own way, he’s suffered but he hasn’t allowed that suffering to teach him. Thus we see someone who is reactive, impulse driven, a man lashing out, afraid of looking inward. He tries to heal himself  by passing his suffering on to others. It doesn’t work that way. 

3. During Advent we are asked to wait, patiently and expectantly, for the birth of Jesus. There’s a tendency to jump immediately, at warp speed from Thanksgiving into Christmas, perhaps forgetting that God just might have plans for us ‘in the between time’.  I happen to think God wants to slow us down a bit and to discover what those plans are. 

4. I heard a story a few years ago about a couple whose young son had an incurable disease. Someone remarked to the father that he and his wife seemed to be dealing with this calmly and without complaint. The father’s response blew me away. 

“Well, it seems to me that we have three choices.  We can curse life and what it does to us at times and look for some way to express our rage.  We can grit our teeth, worry like crazy and merely endure.  Or we can accept our life as still a gift, somehow, from God.  The first alternative is useless.  The second is exhausting.  The third enables us to go on, truly living.”  

I don’t  know about you but worrying like crazy, just gritting my teeth, and cursing life has never really served me all that well. At times, it’s part of the process of working it all out, but at the end of the day it doesn’t resolve anything. I’m sure that couple went through many a day when they were overtaken by grief, hurt, and anger. But they needed peace. By and through the grace of God they found it, even as they continued to carry their heavy burden. May it be so in my life and yours. 

5.  “We can control our boundaries, our thoughts and actions, our goals, what we will give our energy to, how we speak of ourselves and how we handle challenges. What we can’t control is the past, the future, the actions and opinions of others, what happens around us, what other people think of us and the outcome of our efforts.” @mindfulenough

How much time have I wasted trying to control the uncontrollable?  

6. “It’s weird watching people still direct their hate towards people telling the truth and not those who lied to them.” ~ The Clergy Network

It’s probably not wise to direct ‘hate’ towards anyone but when we try to destroy the truth tellers and instead lift up the liars, something is really wrong.

 “Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. They can harm no one, if no one listens to them. Compulsive believers on the other hand: they should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers.” ~ Nick Cohen 

Yah, it’s the true believers who scare me. A lot. They keep playing what I perceive to be a no win game of follow the leader, clinging to those who are devoid of ethical restraints. 

7. I chuckled for a moment when Mark 13:24-37 was read aloud at church last week. It ends with these words: “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

I journaled: “Jesus gets it. To keep awake means to stay woke , to be expectant, cherishing and inhabiting the moment. Our good God doesn’t want anyone to miss the sacredness of the right here, right now.”

8.  “No more apologies for a bleeding heart when the opposite is no heart at all. Danger of losing our humanity must be met with more humanity.” ~ Toni Morrison

9. “Let’s state it clearly: One great idea of the biblical revelation is that God is manifest in the ordinary, in the actual, in the daily, in the now, in the concrete incarnations of life, and not through purity codes and moral achievement contests, which are seldom achieved anyway.” Richard Rohr, Falling Upward

A desire to be pure and moral is a good thing. Rohr suggests, however, that we’ve taken what’s good and made it into a contest in which we keep score, measuring ourselves against each other. That kind of  striving distracts us from being in the very presence of God. 

10. “The U.S. is sleepwalking into dictatorship.” ~ Liz Cheney 

I’m afraid she’s right but I pray, as a nation, we wake up and prove her wrong. That wake up depends on ‘us’ sounding the alarm. Seriously, it depends on you and me beating the drum of freedom. I still choose to believe there’s more of us than there is of them. I think we can and should make a big noise for what is good, beautiful, honorable and true. And that ain’t a dictatorship. 

Einstein once said: 

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

The post Mike’s Rumblings 12-08-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 81 – Isaiah 9:2-7 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

I’m Anita Lustrea and I’m privileged to be a spiritual director. Each time I begin a session, I use a quote or poem or prayer.  As I share one of these with you, see what might catch your attention. Maybe there’s something here for you today.

Todays reading is the very first page of Jan Richardson’s book Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas.

The post Poem/Prayer 26 – Jan Richardson appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 12.1.23

1. “Imagine a faith so empty that you think bringing prayer into a school is following Jesus, but bringing free lunches is not.” ~ unknown

As long as there are tests in schools, there will be prayers in the classroom. Right? No one can stop that kind of quiet but urgent prayer. 

There are those, however, who want schools to offer  more prayer, preferably an ‘out loud’ prayer offered to an evangelical deity, and in the best of all worlds, accompanied by the pledge of allegiance.

Proponents of this seem to believe that a Christian ‘out loud’ prayer, in a properly patriotic, public school, will solve oh so many problems. 

Hmmm. 

Will it solve the problem of hunger?

Here’s the issue. That very same school prayer movement is often the tip of the spear fighting for book bannings and white washing history curriculums, and even ending food subsidies for hungry kids. It isn’t just about school prayer for them. It’s tied to a bigger agenda. 

What would happen if they dropped their agenda for a time and just spent time getting  to know the children and parents who live in food deserts?  What if they listened to their prayers? What would happen in their heart if they heard them quietly pray for food? What would happen if they actually pondered  the real world ramifications if all those food subsidies just went away? Then what? 

I think Jesus is all in on feeding people. 

I think Jesus is all in on prayer. 

I think Jesus is all in on any prayer that leads to actually helping people. 

2. “Inaccurate eschatology causes the church to wait for a king who already reigns, a kingdom they’re already in, to become what they already are, wait for an age that has already come, wait for a victory that’s already been won and wait to do what they already should be doing.” ~ Fr. Ken Saunders

I know full well how easy it is to walk around with an empty faith and a theology that ignores what God has already done and waits around for what’s already here. 

3. “A narcissist wants the authority of a king while having the accountability of a toddler.” ~ The Mind Journal

It’s been said (not sure who) that “a society is in deep trouble when greed is flaunted, anger poses as strength, and stupidity is seen as a virtue.” 

If you take that  greed, anger, stupidity and allow a narcissist to stir it up, guess what happens? Nothing  but trouble. 

As for those who irresponsibly welcome that kind of trouble, I really have no words for you. That’s a lie actually. I do have words. They’re just not fit to print. 

 4. “I used to tolerate a lot because I didn’t want to lose people. Now I establish boundaries because I don’t want to lose myself.” ~ Kathleen Diane, Real Life Reflections

“It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.” ~ Brene Brown

“You must find the courage to leave the table if respect is no longer being served.” ~ Tene Edwards

Self-care is absolutely essential. It helps build up our strength and resolve, preparing us to face both the joys and sorrows that will surely come knocking at our door.

5. Aldous Huxley wrote that “the purpose of propaganda  is to make one set of people forget that other sets of people are human.”

I’d say propaganda is fulfilling its purpose these days and sometimes we willingly become the conduit through which it is transferred. And that’s when a very ugly transformational process  begins to take root in us. We begin to believe that our particular tribe is superior. We end up refusing to embrace the shared common humanity that we have with all people in all tribes. We forget that we have a shared identity, that we are created in the image and likeness of God who loves us all.

6. “One of the early Jesuits, Jerome Nadal, said that “The Good Spirit is gentle, even in reproach”. ~ Pray as You Go

If I could only be as gentle with myself as the Spirit is. Is there anyone else who is their own deadliest critic?

7. Jesus had this habit of hanging out with sinful people. Self righteous folks didn’t like it. They too easily forgot about their most recent flirtation with sin. The same thing happens today, doesn’t it? 

8. “During my theology studies, one student asked our New Testament professor about Jesus’ self-knowledge. I remember the fellow stood up to ask a series of long and impassioned questions: When Jesus thought about himself, asked the student, did he know he was divine? When he prayed, how did he relate to God the Father? How did he know what he was supposed to do? Did he know that he was the Messiah? What did he think about the miracles he performed? Overall, what was his inner life like? 

My professor, a distinguished scholar and dedicated priest, listened carefully, paused for a moment and said, “We have no idea.”

Still, these are fascinating questions, and one that every serious Christian needs to grapple with.” ~ James Martin, SJ

I can’t say enough about learned people who are just fine with admitting they don’t have all the answers. I trust them. All of us should be that humble. 

9. Back to the basics. 

“Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” ~ Psalm 117

 10. “St. Bonaventure expanded on Alan of Lille’s philosophical idea of God as one “whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.  God is within all things but not enclosed; outside all things, but not excluded; above all things, but not aloof; below all things, but not debased.” 

Richard Rohr responds by saying:  “Therefore the origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, activity, and order of all created things are the very “footprints” and “fingerprints”  of God.” ~ Center for Action and Contemplation

Where’s God? Look and see. Listen and hear. Smell. Touch. Laugh. Cry. It is my understanding that Jesus inhabits all such things. 

The post Mike’s Rumblings 12-01-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 80 – Matthew 19:23-30 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

I’m Anita Lustrea and I’m privileged to be a spiritual director. Each time I begin a session, I use a quote or poem or prayer.  As I share one of these with you, see what might catch your attention. Maybe there’s something here for you today. The prayer this week is from Joyce Rupp and it’s titled A Thanksgiving Blessing.

The post Poem/Prayer 25 – Joyce Rupp appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below.

Rumblings. 11.24.23

1. “The secret of the Muppets is 

they’re not very good at what they do.

Kermit is not a great host,

Fozzie is not a good comedian,

Miss Piggy is not a great singer,

None of them are actually good at it, 

but they freaking love it!

and they’re like a family, 

and they like putting on the show,

and they have joy,

and because they have joy,

it doesn’t matter that they’re not good at it.

We should all be Muppets!”  ~ Brett Goldstein, who played Roy Kent on Ted Lasso

In a world gone crazy, finding joy and being joyful is both a gift to ourselves and to others. There’s already far too much sadness being passed around. Joy, we’ve got to find the joy.

2. “The Bible is not a Christian owner’s manual  but a story – a diverse story of God and how his people have connected with Him over the centuries, in changing circumstances and situations.” ~ Pete Enns, The Bible Tells Me So

The Bible is far more than  “basic instructions before leaving earth.” The Bible certainly does have its share of ‘do this and don’t do that’ passages but why settle for such a utilitarian approach to reading scripture? 

The Bible, as I understand it, is a set of writings produced by a variety of writers, over a long period of time.  Some parts of it are simple to understand but there’s a whole lot that’s challenging and complicated. Sometimes the writing is gorgeous, other times it’s clunky. Its content is both delightful and terrifying. It lifts us up and it also brings tears to our eyes. It changes moods on a dime. Check out the psalms if you doubt that. It takes us into the depths and the heights of faith. It seeps into our hearts, souls and minds. It chronicles the history of both the faithful and the skeptical. It compels us to ask questions and it’s not all that surprising to discover that the answers are oftentimes shrouded in a bit of mystery.

And our personal response to the Bible, what should it be? Eugene Peterson wrote: “You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it.” 

3. I’m reminded of the words of A. Lincoln who famously said at Gettysburg “…now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure…” 

Today, we are still  at war with ourselves. It’s a civil war that’s testing us and tearing at us. We all have decisions to make regarding where we stand and why. We also need to choose how we will engage with others, especially those we disagree with.  

4. “God of My Life,

I’ve heard it said that

you won’t give me more 

than I can handle. 

That is patently false –

I can’t count how many

struggles have gotten

the better of me.

But this I know to be true:

You bear all of my  

afflictions with me.

You feel each cut, bruise,   

and scar – not because

you must but freely,  

as an act of love. 

Thanks to you, I am  

not defeated!”

     Donald K. Nelson, ad gloriam Dei

5. Providing security and protection for people who feel threatened is a big bucks industry these days. Why? There’s lots of reasons for it but I do know that, in the political arena, those who stand tall and push back hard on that guy with the orange hair and limited vocabulary are rightfully fearful that a segment of  MAGA faithful will come after them with a vengeance. So, they have to find ways of protecting themselves and their families. 

MAGA loyalists are threatening people. And what does the MAGA leader do? Pick three. 

6.  “Every storm runs out of rain.” – Maya Angelou

I’m impatient. I want our culture wars storm to run out of rain like right now. Right now ain’t going to happen is it? 

But I can still pray my hopes and speak them out loud. It doesn’t sound like much but it’s all I got. I choose to believe that God hears my prayers.

7. Late night hosts  always have a humorous take on what’s going on in the world. We need that.

“And then after her  show in Argentina, Taylor Swift comes offstage, and Travis Kelce is there. She runs towards him, jumped into his arms, and then he ran her back 57 yards for a touchdown. It was incredible.” ~ JIMMY KIMMEL

8. “The crisis within the US church has almost nothing to do w/ being liberal or conservative; it has to do w/giving up the faith & discipline of our baptism & settling for a common, generic US identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence & part affluence.” ~ Walter Brueggemann

“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”  ~ Stephen Colbert

I’ve been thinking that perhaps it’s time to recruit and train a new brand of ‘missionary’ who will commit  to living among, befriending, and having winsome conversations about life, faith, meaning and purpose with Christian Nationalists, secular MAGAites, nominal mainliners, anti-faith progressives, and smug liberals. The need is great, the work will be hard (earning the right to be heard is never easy) and in some ways could be dangerous. 

9. “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior…. We mysteriously find ourselves willing to pick up litter in the street, or let others go first in traffic….

You breathe in gratitude, and you breathe it out, too. Once you learn how to do that, then you can bear someone who is unbearable. My general-purpose go-to mystic Rumi said, “There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground,” and bearing the barely bearable is one of the best.

When we go from rashy and clenched to grateful, we sometimes get to note the experience of grace, in knowing that we could not have gotten ourselves from where we were stuck, in hate or self-righteousness or self-loathing (which are the same thing), to freedom. The movement of grace in our lives toward freedom is the mystery. So we simply say “Thanks.” Something had to open, something had to give, and I don’t have a clue how to get things to do that. But they did, or grace did.” ~ Anne Lamott

10.” You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.” ~ Fannie Lou Hamer

Civil rights activists like Hamer understood that faith and works are not mutually exclusive. They are part of the whole – both essential to the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God. 

“You can no more show me your works apart from your faith, than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand and glove.” ~ James 2, MSG

The post Mike’s Rumblings 11-24-23 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address [email protected].

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 79 – Matthew 17:14-20 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.