Going thru the motions?

Today I was reading other blogs - feeling a little stuck while cruising through some silly collegian postings where students were longing to go home for Thanksgiving when I settled back on Steph's "Just Etchings" blog. Wow!

God using another's words to touch my heart again. Here are the highlights for me to ponder this day:

going through the motions
a ritual
make a big
show
act like..but don't mean it
just use me
take this to heart

...In a quiet morning waiting time for a passage in Mark 7 to speak to me, these were the words that grabbed my attention. So I waited for the Spirit to show me more, to give some kind of thread or body to these words and bring them together into something I had never seen or heard before. The Message has titled this passage as The Source of Your Pollution and Jesus is talking to the scholars and the people who "knew everything".

So the following are the thoughts that left a trail along my path that morning: "Going through the motions" was how they saw this ritual of preparing to eat but in this particular exchange it was all about pointing out the mistakes of others. Coming to the table is to be with grace, extravagant, abundant, scented grace so that we find the "holy ritual" of dining one of beauty. What does a critical spirit do to the heart? What does it do to the digestive system? It does affect both.

In some ways ritual at a meal time brings a certain kind of honour to the occasion. The celebration of breaking bread with another, whoever it is that has come to
your table, is a gift. The practice of the meal table being a place of honour, and the food holding the taste and textures and flavours of the celebration allows this moment, these participants to have come together mind, body and soul and be nurtured. Embodied prayer could be a piece of the ritual of mealtime.Perhaps my most significant question in this passage was "how does fast food affect the heart?" If we are only "going through the motions" of living how does that affect the heart?

Steph goes on to say that there is a difference between the "fast food" eating of today - that takes away from the ability to "nourish" ourselves and digest not only food but the experience of being with others. I too have been very busy lately and there is the danger of "going through the motions" just to accomplish everything.

Yesterday was like that. We had an amazing weekend at church with soccer playoffs and closing ceremonies - lots of families appreciating our efforts to help their kids build Godly character and soccer skills. It ran into a pre-marital session online that lasted 2 hours (again a wonderful time with a great couple) that ran into some sleep Sunday night before rising to work a busy day of cleaning up soccer and readying for Basketball evaluations last night. I came home @ 9pm tired and feeling like I had rushed through the whole weekend into the week - wondering if that is living when Steph wrote:

"Living is where you sit by the window on a stormy night and savour hot soup and cradle a warm cup of tea in your hands. Ritual, grace filled holy ritual, is sitting at the table and hearing the stories of those who by God-cidence are placed there with me. A healthy heart comes when my mind, body and soul are connected and communicating and in motion together, dancing together."

Wow. I need to sit here for a while. Are you "Going thru the motions too"?