2024-02-18 A Meditation on Centering

“13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:13-21 ESV)

To be centered, giving the lie to so much talk around self-mastery, of positivity, of good outlook, if that talk does fail to cope and give voice to the impossible. To the hazardous negation, impossibility, blundering and confusion, to the ways basic life mocks and yet also gives a wee bit of space to a certain Homestead. Our homestead near on the corner to a bar or a favorite cafe, our homestead near to some sense of believing and belovedness, where in a former life it was all we could do to crash-land, to make the circuits and do the walk, to find and be found, nothing that can take from us a rather sobering mad dash.

Our mad dash a cause simply, making excuses for our exuberance, to celebrate life. All life still coping and centering, of a mastery Heaven-sent, a mastery beheld and loved by our Jesus and His candid demeanor, always the Here and Now a time to go dry and deep and far and wide, to find the streams of gladness and the rivers of Today. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Today, be situated, be composed, be righteous, be noticed and notified; God is not stranger to your heart. God is something more potent, an elixir more strong, than all our formulas and searchings.

We search, and with kindred spirit we are found. We search, and something resolute or all-in is heard in our voice, strange words and heartening words, gregarious even, if not faulted for going too deep in the celebratory spirit; is it a crime to celebrate? Is it a crime to think not of the tomorrow? Is it a crime to believe and beckon to each and to all a losing gambit, a self-sacrificial last stand, an apologia and despair at our own decrepit and disturbed walk. Yet it is not a last stand; life blossoms anew, the morning air no longer making mockery of our strait-jacket and curmudgeonly frustrations; we did indeed let all go full-throttle and called it Sabbath. We did indeed put the lie to the self-mastery claims and the—if we’re honest—resentment at the jollity of certain others. We did indeed live a lifetime in a passing few hours of the night or Empty-Tomb early morn. And we did indeed marvel, to cease the daily grind and challenge ourselves to Rise Up healed, new creation, birthed into a rather awkward or ungainly frame called life. Such is the honest self-appraisal of all the heart’s longings and all the soul’s thirst for more of this thing called Life.

We are dissolved. We are destroyed. We are dying. And we are unashamed thus of the cry in the street or the attempts with whomsoever we do awaken from sleepwalking to find ourselves neighbor to, no dastardly conclusion or assumption but plain and outgoing fellowship, to rejoice and be together, to hear the voices in the balconies and porches, strange murmurings and people hearty, today if it is a day of celebration, then people warmed. Today, if it is a day of losing oneself, then people-friendly. Today, if it is a no-fault self-discovery of pride and purpose, then let it be.