As I write this we are in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic due to a mysterious and intrusive virus. We’re greeting people at our back door and allowing them to come in one at a time to use the restroom, snag a cup of coffee and a drive-thru style prayer.
We’re sticking close to the Source and doing our best to offer a non-anxious presence.
Recently a new volunteer named Pam remarked, “There’s a special feeling about this place, like heaven and earth touch each other here.”
Chad, a guest who recently returned from his hometown in Kansas, chimed in, “This place feels more like home than the place I grew up.”
I believe the atmosphere that both Pam and Chad described can be called a non-anxious presence and it’s needed now more than ever.
So what does that mean, a non-anxious presence?
A non-anxious presence is practicing a state of being that is lovingly connected to God and others while maintaining a loving disconnection from chaotic and fear-filled emotion. As the response to Covid-19 is teaching us, it’s so difficult not to get caught up in the collective consciousness of fear and melodrama.
It seems every circumstance we face in life is practice for something else we’ll face later on. If that’s true, then we at Network, have been practicing for this unique situation for a long time. The potential for fear and anxiety within our community of marginalized folks is always present. We spend our days pushing back on the lonely, the anxiety, and panic.
In light of his passing, I’ve been thinking about our founder, John Hick’s greatest hits and one of the lessons John passed on to me was his interpretation of the Gospel of
John 14:1-2 “Don’t let your heart be anxious… I’m going to prepare a place for you.” John believed Jesus was modeling what our task at Network should look like. We’re to be preparing an actual place that feels like a safe and loving home for both the tangibly and spiritually homeless – a hospitable space of non-anxious presence.
It takes practice – daily practice.
Practicing the habit of non-anxious presence can look like but isn’t limited to…
Taking a slow walk at the end of the day as the sunlight fades.
Jotting down all your anxious thoughts on to paper followed by deep breaths.
Lighting a candle and sitting for 20 minutes of complete silence to de-clutter your thoughts.
Sketching a picture of your favorite tree, rock formation, or river.
Reading a story to a child or elderly friend.
Writing a poem about something that moves you.
Meditating on a piece of scripture.
Whatever allows you to see reality, receive God’s embrace, and then come into the presence of another without agenda and without your own special brand of chaos, do that. If our work is preparing a place of non-anxiety then perhaps we need to perceive these type of practices as an actual part of our job description. This is the work of non-anxious presence. May we all participate in this divine work throughout this season.
Be still and know,