Tara: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans. I'm your muse, Tara Lamont Eastman, pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans. You might be curious what it means to be a practitioner of holy shenanigans. For me, practicing holy shenanigans is paying attention to the sacred happenings in everyday life. I'm so glad to have you along for this adventure that I call Holy Shenanigans podcast. Before you're sent out on a mission, you first need to come home. Before you pour into somebody else's life, [00:01:00] your cup needs to be filled. These are wisdoms that I continue to learn every single day of my life. First, come home. First, be filled. Then you can go out. Then you can pour into other people's lives.
Tara: Soutara. When are you going to go to seminary? The words hit my heart hard. This had been a longing in my life for over 20 years. I had just started the process of formal discernment to consider going to seminary, but I hadn't heard the words so clearly and so directly and not from a leader. When are you going to go to seminary?
Tara: Deep in my heart, I pondered this question. Sure. I wanted to go to seminary. But is there [00:02:00] something else I need before I take this big step? A little bit later that day, I had the opportunity to meet a bishop from a sister senate in Zimbabwe. He had over 30 years of experience in ordained ministry. And so I thought, Aha!
Tara: This is the perfect person and the perfect time to ask this question. What do I need before I take this next step? His answer was different than what I expected. But it's a wisdom that still calls to me. I asked, what's the most important advice you would give to someone thinking about becoming a pastor?
Tara: He looked at me thoughtfully and responded, a lay person who desires to follow God must take a small pocket of time each day to meditate, to pray, and to fill their spirit up. [00:03:00] He continued, a pastor who desires to follow God into ministry. must do something similar. Take a daily pocket of time to pray, to meditate, to read scripture, and to fill their cup.
Tara: He must have sensed my need for more direction and said, this doesn't need to be a long time. Your prayer time can shift to the needs of your life and your daily responsibilities. But a person that desires to draw close to God and to serve others must take time to pray. And to read scripture and to fill their cup every day.
Tara: He emphasized that this kind of gentle spiritual practice is not just reserved for big decisions. This is a practice of everyday sane spirituality. These little pockets of [00:04:00] prayer and reflection and meditation and reading of scripture make a difference. These little pockets of prayer are an essential spiritual practice.
Tara: It's for all human beings. If you've listened to Holy Shenanigans podcast before, you might understand that I'm a person that likes to stay active. I like the action. I like the movement of living and serving God and my neighbor. So this practice of pause does not always come naturally to me. But the words of the Bishop from Zimbabwe are still with me over 12 years later.
Tara: In this season of New Year's Starts, I've been offering sane spiritual practices, or gentler actions of spiritual practice, that are easier to live into. Because life can be hard, and life can be busy, [00:05:00] and don't we all just need some time to pause? In Psalm 62, the psalmist proclaims the intention of pause.
Tara: To wait for God, to hope in God, to take refuge in God, to pour out our hearts to God as a space of refuge. And then in the margin of this psalm is a notation about how to sing it. Or not, in this case. The word selah is there. Selah means to pause. To literally pause the singing or the music. So that the singer can truly experience a rest, a breath, a pause before they inhale to keep on singing.
Tara: Trying on a new spiritual [00:06:00] practice can be challenging. Taking a pause instead of jumping on to the next thing. So today I offer you a moment to join me in this practice of Sila or pause and practice what my mentor advised. To take a pocket of time to pray, to meditate, to come home to God or the divine, to dwell in this moment, to focus our attention on God and also how the divine longs to fill us up before we go out into the world to serve.
Tara: So let's practice Sila, shall we? Before we begin, I invite you to make yourself as comfortable as you can, find a comfy spot, maybe even bring a blanket to stay cozy, and take a deep breath. [00:07:00] Place your hands comfortably in your lap, perhaps facing up in a posture of receiving. Close your eyes, or just soften your gaze and find a focal point.
Tara: In the space you are, take another breath, listening to the prompts I'm about to share, but leading room to adjust them and make them your own. God, in this moment, help me to come home to you. Help me to pause, help me to be open, to have my cup filled up. God in this breath, help me to come home. [00:08:00] To you in this breath, help me to pause to rest and have my cup filled up by you.
Tara: God, in this heartbeat, help me to come home to you, to pause to rest, and to have my cup filled. God creator in this moment, in this breath, in this heartbeat, help me to come home to you so that my cup. May
Tara: this be so, Amen. Take another breath, and when you're ready, [00:09:00] open your eyes, move your body a little bit, and come to the space where you sit, holding on to the effects of that moment of rest and pause with you. In this new year, and in the days to come, I hope you can come back to this pause, this Sila. I hope that it is a space for you that can be a well of encouragement and energy, but mostly just a place to pause and to rest.
Tara: There is a sense of urgency to serve God, to serve our communities, to serve our families and our friends. But like my friend, the Bishop from Zimbabwe said, everyday pockets of prayer are essential because if your pockets are empty [00:10:00] You won't have anything to share. Sila, and pause, and these quiet spiritual practices that are everyday small little moments are a first things first.
Tara: Like me, you might struggle to sit still, to pause, and allow your cup to be filled. But how can we discern God's call? If we don't pause to listen, how can we have clarity in our vision or ministry or life if our vision is blurry and probably the most common way you've heard this said, how do we pour from an empty?
Tara: Well, prayer practices like Selah are not the very first things I gravitate towards. They are essential. And so I continue to learn that Selah [00:11:00] is first and service is second. In our own spiritual lives, there are times for action as well as pause. In the spirit of the advice given to me by the Bishop from Zimbabwe in Psalm 62, may we first and always take a pocket of prayer.
Tara: Have our spiritual cups filled up. First we must selah, wait for God, hope in God, take refuge in God, and pour out our hearts to God. In this sacred space of refuge. And then after Selah, we can serve. We can give ourselves in service to God to create, redeem, and transform all things and all people. My name is Tara [00:12:00] Lamont Eastman, and this is Holy Shenanigans podcast.
Tara: Thank you for joining me for this episode of an unpredictable spiritual adventure into a spiritual practice of pause. That is always sacred, but never stuffy. If you have any questions about holy shenanigans podcast, you can reach us at holy shenanigans podcast at gmail. com until next time, remember to take a pocket for pause a time to fill your cup and take time for a sacred Sela pause each day.