Practicing the Practice of the Presence

As this sent out to pasture Methodist preacher continues to remember those days spent in seminary classrooms back in a day when radical social activism filled the streets and the classroom, I find myself thinking of some classes that should have been and wish they had been taught even though they might have been out of step with the culture.  The first one was Being 101 mentioned in a previous blog.  The seminary I remember was about being busy with ministry, but not so much about just being.  There is a huge and important difference.   

And, the second class in my imagined core curiculum would be a class called "Practicing the Practice of the Presence."  While it might sound like a study on the activities of Brother Lawrence in the kitchen, the focus would not be on this saint but on personally becoming aware of the presence of the holy midst the ordinary.  Those taking the course would be required to have three things:  a copy of the Word, a spiral notebook, and a pen.  Classes would be held outside sometimes in the woods midst creation, sometimes on a busy streetcorner filled with people coming and going, and sometimes in places like a treatment room for cancer patients, or an emergency room where people are waiting, or maybe at a cemetery on the edge of a funeral that is taking place.  The question would always be about the way the Presence of God is experienced and known in those moments.     

And while some of our modern day folks might opt for a tablet, or laptop, or a jazzed up phone to do their introspective writing, it would be forbidden.  Turning pages and writing on paper is laborious, intentional, and requires a pesonal involvement that high tech stuff bypasses.  Sometimes it is good to see what is getting scratched out instead of deleted from view forever.  Of course this class does not require a seminary classroom.  Anyone can get started today.