This message was shared with Winthrop Center Friends this week, as Friends were physically apart.
There is a lovely book of blessings by John O’Donohue called To Bless the Space Between Us. Last Sunday morning, before entering into worship, I read some of the blessings, but it was the title of the book that struck me most. Blessing the space between us seems so important at this time when we are asked to maintain physical space.
How can we bless that space?
We can bless the space between us by checking in with neighbors and friends, especially those who live alone or are most at risk, and by finding ways to offer practical help in creative ways where we can. We can bless that space by supporting measures to prevent and relieve economic and other suffering.
The human spirit is wonderfully creative and resilient. I’m sure many of you, like me, have been moved by the scenes of people in Italy singing and making music together from their open windows and balconies.
We are so fortunate, in this era, to have many means of connection available to us. There has been an explosion of creativity and generosity from educators, scientists, musicians, museums, zoos, entertainers—too many to name, offering ideas and free access to resources for enhancing our lives during this time. We human beings are reaching out globally to bless the space between us.
Perhaps the most important practical way we can bless the space between us is by honoring the reasons for it, by maintaining physical space from one another for the sake of everyone in our human community. It’s an inversion of the way we are used to caring for one another. That can be a tough thing to do—a version of tough love perhaps—being tough with ourselves.
As people who are awake to and familiar with the spiritual dimension of life, who know its reality and its power, we have other ways of blessing the space between us. We can bless that space by filling it with love, with gratitude, with peacefulness, with intentions for one another’s wellbeing. In other words with prayer. Prayer crosses any physical distance. It is a motion of the Spirit, from soul to soul, which connects us in ways more sure than mere physical proximity.
It is real.
It is powerful.
It has an effect.
It is an ability we all have.
However we pray, it starts with intention.
I want your wellbeing, your safety, for you to know peace, for you to know you are loved. Perhaps I want to surround you with protection.
John O’Donahue describes blessing as creating a place of shelter. When I bless someone through prayer I create a shelter that can hold them through times of weariness, anxiety and fear, illness, grief, or a sense of isolation—a place where they are lovingly held in safety.
I believe that my intention, my prayer, does in fact create such a shelter—it is a spiritual reality.
I’m also aware that it is a tiny replica of the shelter the Divine offers each of us, and by some mysterious spiritual reality my intention to bless you is enlarged many times over by the fact that a comforting, sheltering presence is one of the aspects of God’s nature.
While we consciously bless one another it’s also important to bless ourselves; to honor the needs of our bodies, hearts and minds; to do whatever we need from day to day to remain centered, whether that’s to withdraw into quiet, to take naps, to talk and process things with friends and family, to read, meditate and pray, to watch some of the many things available for our instruction or entertainment, including that which makes us laugh, to listen to music that feeds our souls, to exercise and spend time outside. The natural world is filled with this energy of blessing to which we can open ourselves in wonder and gratitude.
I was struck by a short message I saw yesterday which said something like “You’ve never dealt with a global pandemic before; you’re doing remarkably well with it.” We have been catapulted at dizzying speed into a new reality, into a place of uncertainty which challenges us at every level. A tiny, invisible thing, against which we have no natural defense, is sweeping through the whole world, and bringing most of our human systems to a standstill or revealing their inadequacy.
It’s okay to feel overwhelmed.
It’s okay to be fearful.
It’s okay to have a sense of unreality.
It’s okay not to be able to function normally.
Those feelings don’t have to be denied—in fact they need to be embraced. Whenever we have feelings which shake up our world, we have to be willing to enter into them. When we have the courage to do so, instead of trying to find ways around them, not only are we accompanied by Spirit every step of the way, but we are able to move through those feelings to a new sense of peace and safety, a new sense and trust in that which is unchanging.
At this time of global challenge I have a sense of invitation from Spirit to us as individuals to a deeper, more intentional, sustained spiritual orientation and practice. I also sense an invitation from Spirit to us as a human community to stop, reassess, and then rebuild differently. Repentance is a word we rarely use outside the church these days, but it means “to turn and go another way.” We are being invited to repentance. We are being invited into a massive re-thinking of ourselves, into a place of awareness of what really matters, of where we need to place our priorities as human societies.
Each week when we meet in person we conclude our time of worship by offering one another blessings, first in words:
A circle of hands
A circle of friends
A circle begins and never ends
Blessed be
As I imagine that circle right now I see us first facing toward one another as usual, sensing that which connects us eternally and blessing one another around and across the circle. Then I see us turn and face outward, still holding hands to direct the blessing outward.
We then sing a blessing to one another.
I find myself thinking of the people in Italy singing in harmony with one another from their windows and balconies—blessing the space between them.
With our song of blessing we weave a place of shelter for each one of us for the coming week—a shelter made of our loving intention and the reminder that we are always sheltered, surrounded by the love of God.
Go now in peace,
May the love of God surround you
Everywhere you may go.
Go now in peace,
Know the love of God surrounds you
Everywhere you may go.
As we remain present to one another
Share how you would like us to pray for you, and ways you are finding to bless yourself and others:
- What are your struggles and personal concerns right now?
- Do you have concerns for people you love for which you would like us to join you in prayer?
- How are you being blessed?
- Where are you finding joy and gratitude?