Keeping company with my koan.

For the last few months, I have been wondering: How did Jesus pray?

It is a question with no rational answer, like asking about the sound of one hand clapping. Perhaps my question is a koan.

American Zen practitioner and teacher, Joan Sutherland, says “[A] koan is a small moment, a vignette, that contains the universe. . . It is a messenger from the territory of what we don’t yet know, [and it] needs to remain untamed, so that we can discover [its] particular wildness and let it undomesticate us.” Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans, (Shambala Publications, Boulder, CO 2022) kindle edition at 49-50.

She says we don’t just meditate with koans. We “keep company” with them. We live with them. We see and hear and live our daily lives with them.

Because scripture is part of my daily life, I have been hearing scripture while keeping company with my koan. It feels undomesticating.

For the near future, the scripture I post about may or may not be the Sunday readings. This week, it is. The post was planned before I decided to make the koan experience part of Sermon Starts. It may be hard for me to stay away from the Sunday readings. Listening to them is a discipline I love. But a little time away is usually a good thing. And being a little more “undomesticated” will probably be a very good thing.

As always, thank you for reading.

Peace.