Everyday Spirituality: Cloudy Water

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:50 pm by Tony Jones

Everyday Spirituality: Cloudy Water 2015-03-13T16:50:07-05:00 Tony Jones

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

photo courtesy of Imaginationsis

Part of an ongoing series on Everyday Spirituality, this is a guest post by Hans Gustafson. Hans currently serves as the assistant director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, a joint academic center at Saint John’s University (Collegeville, MN) and the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), where he also teaches on an adjunct basis in the theology departments. He will be defending his dissertation in Philosophy of Religion and Theology from Claremont Graduate University (CA) in the next month or two.

If you’d like to write a post for this series, please contact me through my website.

I write here about a particular “everyday spirituality” that seeks to foster a “spirituality of the everyday.” While the former emphasizes the lived religious experience of God-attuned daily rhythms, the latter reflects on experiencing God in the seemingly mundane.

The rhythm of the robust North American continental seasons of Minnesota ties one to the land. For instance, it dictates when I plant hops in the spring, harvest them in the fall, brew in the winter, and drink thereafter. For many, I suspect, this seasonal ritual plays out on their stovetop (given the offerings of local agriculture) or their tending to their yard or their interaction with the community (e.g., coaching little league).

The seasons of life (meteorological, religious, communal, etc.) foster in me the opportunity to be present and pay attention to God’s presence in all things (what I refer to as pansacramentality). However, lately I’ve learned that these rhythms also provide more than the mere opportunity to recognize God’s presence in ways I’ve done in the past, but they also beckon me to connect to the past in new ways.

Thus beyond fostering the everyday spiritual practice of “being present” and “paying attention to God in the world,” I also now attempt to tap into the reality of the past that reverberates in the present. This includes, of course, celebrating and participating in past spiritual rituals (e.g. fishing, harvesting, religious holidays, traditional meals, etc.), but it also includes the painful events of the past that may or may not have been a part of my life experience. This practice is very much connected to place (not necessarily space).

For instance, revisiting places that I consider personally sacred, since they hosted memorable and formative events of my past (e.g. family cabin, a particular lake, childhood neighborhood, where I met my wife, etc.), serves as blessed spiritual experiences. But what is often more powerful (and terrifying) are the places that I revisit that are connected to pain, both personal and historical.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Dakota-U.S. war which resulted in the execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato (MN) on December 26,1862. It remains the largest mass hanging in U.S. history. My seasonal ritual of remembering events and practices of the places that I call home can be very different from that of its Natives peoples. After listening to the stories of others (which here includes those of the Native communities), their memories become grafted into my own.

Recently I visited a few of the naturally beautiful places along the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in the heart of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I drive over these rivers twice everyday without much thought about the place beyond its natural beauty which (re)presents God in a unique yet ordinary way. However, after hearing the stories that the local Native Americans tell about this place (which remains at the center of their creation stories), and how they hear the cries of their passed ancestors who were marched into the concentration camp, contributes to my experience of this place going forward. It remains no less sacred nor is it somehow spiritually depraved, but rather now includes the very real pain which is spiritually present from the historical past.

I do not perceive my pansacramental spirituality of striving to find the reality of God in all things as an overly romantic view, but rather as an attempt (albeit it often naïve and inadequate) to foster an everyday spiritual practice that takes seriously the presence of God in the mundane (profane) and the downright troubling. This includes (perhaps more so than any other aspect) recognizing the reality of pain and suffering in the world – and God’s presence therein. For me, this spiritual practice (which I readily admit I am not very good at) has as its goal the daily recognition of being present in the places I encounter, but being equally aware of their histories (both painful and promising).

This reflection hints at my “cloudy water,”[1] or “muddy water,” spirituality. This spirituality is not always pretty. In taking seriously the glorious and terrifying presence of God in all things, it can often be painful, but no less sacred nor spiritual. In recognizing the past in the present, and by grafting in the stories of others, I strive encounter God in a given place as well as the people that have tread there both now and before.

[1] The meaning of the Dakota word Minnesota is “cloudy water” or “milky water.” It is not “sky-blue waters” as perhaps Hamm’s Brewery has suggested.

spirituality

everyday spirituality

Previous Post

July 31, 2012

An Invitation and Challenge to Theoblogy Readers

Next Post

August 1, 2012 Why Liberal Christianity (Too Often) Sucks

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category bible blogging books christianity in america church church history dissertation divorce Dog Training education emergent church essay family funny glbt jopa productions ministry minnesota movies music parenting philosophy politics Prayer publishing Questions That Haunt random same sex marriage speaking spirituality Teaching technology television theology Travels Uncategorized writing youth ministry

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 June 2006 May 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 June 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 August 2004 February 2004 January 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the cupbearer to the king who fasted and prayed for Jerusalem?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ezra Nehemiah Zerubbabel Haggai