Cairns: Guides on the Path

Cairns represent a trail marker that guides one through uncertain areas in life.  They provide guidance, hope, balance, continuity, and confidence on the journey down the path of life.  ~John P. Kraemer

Cairns at the edge of a Labyrinth in Hood Canal, Washington

Recently, I've become fascinated with cairns, those really interesting stacks of rocks that people leave in interesting places.  Interesting.  When I found the little set of cairns in the photo above at the edge of a labyrinth, that fit my nice little sense of interesting.   That is what cairns have always seemed to me.  I've seen them as markers that people leave behind to say, "I've experienced something holy, amazing, lovely on my journey."   Like the time when "Jacob woke up and thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, but I did not realize it!"     I viewed them much like an altar.

I love Jacob.  I relate to Jacob when I look back at my own journey of failure, redemption, blessing, growth, and mystical experiences.

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation—even a company of nations—will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants I will also give this land.” Then God went up from the place where he spoke with him. So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.    Genesis 35:9-15, NET

Doesn't that sound just like a cairn ... a sacred stone pillar?  And then, I read an article that led me to Cairns:  Messengers in Stone.   I've only just begun reading this little book by David B. Williams, former National Park Service Ranger.   From the back cover:

"Writing our messages with rocks is an ancient gesture that continues to speak to our imaginations.  From meadow trails to airy mountaintops to barren deserts, cairns -- those seemingly random stacks of rock -- are surprisingly rich with stories and meaning.  They can indicate a trail, mark a grave, serve as an altar or shrine, and reveal property boundaries or hunting grounds.  Built the world over as essential guides to travelers, cairns help people connect to landscape, find their path, and communicate with others."

Williams begins his book by talking about destroying cairns!  Why?  It seems that cairns have a critical purpose in the wilderness.  They are markers indicating the way to travel safely.   People who do not understand the way a cairn marks the path tend to create cairns in places that lead to nowhere and people get lost.   Suddenly something which has one purpose, to lead the way, has a new purpose, to mark a personal, individual experience.  As I contemplated this, I began to see the communal aspect of the cairn as marker on the path.   

When I consider the cairns that lay on the edge of the labyrinth that is my life, I think about those spiritual practices that call me deeper into my journey and through which I know the felt presence of God.  I am aware that they have changed over the years, sometimes rolling away and sometimes stabilizing.   I also consider that sometimes I must destroy my dependence on practices and habits that lead me in the wrong direction.   I need a community to breathe with me, to support me in my journey as I deconstruct, let go, move on and rebuild, a contemplative community which listens deeply to God and senses God's movements.   Always I seek a community that needs very few words with which to challenge and guide as I listen to God.  

For me as I pause at the edge of the winding path in my soul, I gaze inwardly at the most beautiful cairn built from silence and solitude by God whose Spirit breathes with me and in me.

So ... how is the beautiful cairn at the edge of the winding path leading you deeper?

Labyrinth at Hood Canal, Washington

And ... what kind of community do you need to be fully yourself as you move down the winding path to wholeness?

The Great Silence: Invitation to Community

Don't be ashamed of tears.

The earth's tears keep her flowers blooming.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Those who shed tears as they plant will sing for joy

when they reap the harvest.  Psalm 126:5

Well, I don't cry much.  I seem to hold all of my tears stored within me for a time when I am able and able is not always and never at the drop of a hat!  It just doesn't work that way for me or perhaps I just don't allow it.  What holds me back?  What always holds me back is that I might be taken to a place where I will get lost in them, a place that I cannot return from but it is really that I won't return without having been transformed and that is ... just a tiny bit scary maybe.  It could be 1 million, 1 thousand things really.  Maybe I don't like to feel lost, even though I think I am lost a lot but I don't let it show.  Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever be found ... my mind is a maze (not a labyrinth) and my heart is easily overwhelmed.  Ahhh ...

Almost time to go home, at the end of our retreat, we sent forth our retreatants with a love feast and a time of gentle sharing.  Lo and behold, as I began sharing my journey through the silence, grief and guilt with this community, the gift of tears were mine.  And it wasn't scary at all.  It was good, it still IS good.  

I've been touched in my inner being through this community of caring contemplative "BEings" and it is good, very good. 

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.
~Anthony J. D'Angelo 

And our little community of contemplatives care about the world, too.  As we made our journey of silence, we prayed for peace in the world through our Intercessory Prayer World Map ... for a contemplative is never complete without action!  If you look closely you will notice the small "jewels" with which we adorned our world map to symbolize our prayers. 

and my joy is complete for our 2015 Great Silence!  Amen and Amen!

Perhaps you might like to attend The Great Silence next year.  Email me and ask to be put on my Monthly Newsletter List and you'll get all the up to date news for The Great Silence, other retreats and offerings of MOSAIC Spiritual Formation Ministry:  Email Cindy 

To begin this journey from the beginning, take this link:  The Great Silence

A Journey to Worship Part 2

Last night I went to Mercy Street at Chapelwood UMC. Their mission statement is: to create a safe harbor for the hurt, the lost, the seeking so they might experience the radical grace of God. Mercy Street is an authentic community of grace that worships in a "come as you are" environment.

Shalom

Have you ever “passed the peace” at a worship service? Recently I have been engaged in a theological conversation about the meaning of this time of greeting. Since I am the one who makes the invitation to this time of communal blessing, I am struggling. It seems that in order to be welcoming we can no longer use certain words … like peace?? Although I am one of the first persons to encourage losing archaic words which no longer have meaning in today’s language, I can’t believe the word peace has lost its meaning to the point that we can no longer use it. I confess I am very uncomfortable inviting people to just stand up and greet one another. What is the purpose of that within the context of the worship of God? Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps I just need to let it go. But first I need to process it and express my thoughts …

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

This blessing is found in Numbers 6:24-26. The Hebrew word Shalom is translated peace. I think we tend to think of peace as simply the absence of chaos. However, when we bless others with peace in the sense of shalom we are invoking the deeper meaning of the Hebrew word … completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, and the absence of agitation or discord. As a Jewish rabbi, this sense of communal harmony of Shalom would have permeated the life of Jesus and informed the way he lived within the Jewish community. When Jesus appeared to the disciples in a post-resurrection episode, he greeted them “Peace be with you!” (See Luke 24:36b) Even though Greek translations use the word Eirene, translated peace and meaning national tranquility, peace between individuals, harmony, security, safety, prosperity, felicity … I am quite sure Jesus actually said Shalom!

As I have been brooding on this issue, I experienced a moment of synchronicity. While I was reading the book we’ll be studying at our next book discussion: You don’t have to be Wrong for me to be Right: Finding Faith without Fanaticism, Brad Hirschfield (who is a Jew) describes an experience he had during the “passing of the peace” at a Catholic Church in Poland. A bishop, knowing that he was present made “a beeline” toward him. Hirschfield says, “He took my hands in his hands and looked deep into my eyes and said, not in Polish, not in English, but in Hebrew, Shalom.” Overwhelmed by this gesture (and others) Hirschfield was moved to tears. And I am personally edified by this incarnational act of grace across lines of faith.

As we engage in the “passing of the peace” in the Christian church, we are not simply greeting one another with an ordinary “hello” that equals the hellos and goodbyes we say all the time without a second thought. We are engaging in a communal act of reconciliation, and we are promoting the general well-being of our community.

Thanks for listening … Peace, Cindy