Paying attention to the sacredness of those we encounter in the flow of our lives.

 

According to the Invisible Church tradition of the 16th century Contemplative Spirituals, "church" or "sangha" is like a river that flows from one meaningful encounter to the next.  This means that it is more time-based than space-based, spread out throughout the day as we move from one human interaction to the next.  In our fast-paced era when our attention is drawn in multiple directions, this is an especially meaningful way to see "church" or "sangha."  It can, of course, include our cell phone interactions, but the danger is that we are not fully present to the actual person sitting in front of us. Even though spiritual community may be conceived more in terms of flow than stasis, it is important to maintain a depth attention to the person we are with if we are to fully uncover the sacred quality of the interaction

Accordingly, it is important that we set aside times during the day when we "fast" from cell phone use - especially "texting" - in order to be fully present to the sacred quality of the person we are physically present with at the moment.  Here we might take a cue from the Amish - another prominent Radical Reformation group related to the Contemplative Spirituals - who make a practice of not using phones in their personal interactions.  They do this in part because they want to see the wide range of facial expressions of those they are with.  Here I think of my daughter's response to my question: "What, in your view, is the contemplative life?"  She was in high school at the time, and I'll never forget her response.  "Well, Dad," she explained, "being a contemplative means that you sit down to a meal together and REALLY LISTEN to what other people have to say."  It is this quality of attention that we seek to maintain even in the midst of our ever-flowing lives.  Only in this way can we uncover the sacred quality of church or sangha that underlies all of our daily interactions.

Photos: (Top) Bellvue Dome, a Fremont Cottonwood tree, and the Poudre River, Bellvue, CO, November 7, 2014; (Middle) Cottonwood leaf and the Poudre River, Bellvue, CO, November 7, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwood reflections in a pool in the Poudre River, near Rustic, CO, October 25, 2014.  Yes, in the top photo, I am standing right in the middle of the river!