My Neighbor’s Prayer

Written by: Julia Smolucha

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster

My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond
Taoism rests in an eternal search for a virtuous life. A life that follows the Way. And yet the act of searching, probing, foraging for such truth may not ultimately prose results. Doing-not-doing is more apt: intentional contradictions move one deeper in. The first words of the Tao Te Ching emphasize this, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The Unnamable is the eternal Reality.” There is something meditative about these kinds of short statements. It pushes us deeper, and in doing so, forces us to approach life more in tune with ourselves and the humility, compassion and wisdom necessary to the virtuous path. The passage from the Tao Te Ching below seems to accentuate this paradox of seeing with eyes closed.

Is this text prayer? Because western Christian ideas of prayer seem to have a divine One to address and a longing to proclaim, there is part of me that feels as if this is more of a wisdom text than a prayer. It also makes me wonder how words of wisdom might become prayer—or a tool to connect us to the divine—when the text of the Tao Te Ching, they can push the human embodied self—body, mind, and soul—toward introspection and contemplation. Maybe wisdom carries our deepest longing and connects us to the beyond-in-our-midst.

My Neighbor’s Prayer
Without opening your door,
you can open your heart to the world.
Without looking out your window,
you can see the essence of the Tao.
The more you know,
the less you understand.
The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing.
Amen.
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu “the Old Master” 6th Century China

Two Minority Reports from the Hebrew Bible, I: Grief

May 28, 2023

Do the same for someone in your life who’s stricken. You’ve been through stuff. You’ve been through terrible stuff: Put it to good use. But be warned, if you walk with the broken-hearted, you will be walking into a foreign land. You will not speak the language. Literally. You will not speak the language. Because sometimes there are no words. You will either use the wrong words, or you will speak them in a thick, almost incomprehensible, accent.

Packing for the Journey

May 21, 2023

I believe that the Sunday School teachers who came up with the Kenilworth Union Church Third Grade Bible lessons 90 years ago also thought of life as a journey. They wanted third graders to be prepared for the trip of a lifetime with God. So they made a scripture packing list so that children in this church would know that God was with them wherever they went and so they would be able to remember God is present in every situation. For generations third graders have learned "The Ten Commandments", "The 23rd Psalm", "The Beatitudes", "The Lord’s Prayer" and "Jesus’ Greatest Commandment". The 1950’s version of the packing list also included Psalms 19 and 100.

The Valley of Lost Things, IV: The Party I Refused to Attend

May 14, 2023

A lost coin, found. A lost sheep, found. A lost son, found. After each lost thing found, a party. Luke chapter fifteen is simple enough, but it might hold everything we need to know about God. When we are lost, God goes after us. When we are lost, God seeks us until we are found. But here’s today’s question: will the older brother go to the party? Can he bear to celebrate? Jesus spins these fabulous little tales and we’re still thinking of them two thousand years later. We see ourselves in the younger brother. We see ourselves in the older brother. We even see ourselves in the father, watching his sons hurt and be hurt by each other and the world. We know this story is telling us something about ourselves. We intuitively know that we fit within this story. And two thousand years later, this story is still about us, getting lost, and God running out to greet us.

My Neighbor’s Prayer