FROM FUNDEMENTALS TO MEDITATIONS IN FAITHFULNESS.
The movement known as fundementalism arose in the 1950’s as a response to and expression of modernity. Seeking to define faith in contrast to liberalisim the movement laid down 5 points by which they felt ‘historical faith’ should be dfined and defended. They failed to take into account 1) that other traditions at other times in our history have held other persoectives – blood attonement does not show up until the 13th century and that early Christiantiy viewed incarnation, and not death on a cross, as our means of salvation. I wonder what happens if we make these into meditations on faithfulness instead of definitions of ‘true’ faith.
* Inerrancy of the Scriptures
To have an ineerant scripture is to have one that must be worshiped as the end all/be all of faith and knowledge. To engage in such an idoloatry is to refuse to see the project that the bible itself engages in – a collection – or community – of texts. Each text may make specific claims but these claims can be augmented or refuted by other claims in the text. Mark presents a ‘son of man’ or human, Davidic Jesus while John presents an ‘Son of God’ or Divine jesus. These texts are mutually exclusive and mutually revealing. Instead of answers they give us questions to ponder and journeys to go on.
* The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14)
In discussing the Virgin Birth it is important to note that the narrative itself only appears in two of the Gospel narratives. My point here is to not debate Virgin Birth but to instead insist that such a doctrine is not a prerequisite for faith and faithfulness. The power of the narrative is instead something much different – it is the assertion that the Holy One of God enters humanity in those people most often to be over looked, forgotten and trampled upon. The life of God in the world bursts into human expierence in a fragile form, subject to the ravages of weather.
Jesus as God incarnate is itself a post-biblical idea. Johns Gospel comes the closests to saying it but more closely implies that Jesus and God are of one agenda, one mind and one goal. Paul has a high Christology but also does not go as far as to name Jesus as god. Jesus is most God like in John and most human in Mark. For the Christian then Jesus becomes the parable of God. Jesus becomes the method and mode by which we contemplate God With Us, the life of God touching and intertwined with the human condition.
* The doctrine of substitutionary atonement by God's grace and through human faith (Hebrews 9)
It has been a disturbment to people for ages as to why God needs a bloody sacrafice to appease his wrath. The thinking goes that humanity is to ‘sinful’ that Gods relationship to us is not one of love but of wrath and anger. When ‘God so loved the world’ it was in order to provide a person – a perfect person at that – to receive his wrath and rage. Here we can hear the critiques that say that this sort of thinking justifies abuses of the worst kind.
Liberation theology says the suffering Christ is not the recipitant of Gods rage but is instead the sighn of Gods solidarty with the suffering of the world. Those who suffer under poverty, in justice and human cruelity can turn to Jesus to see a god who does not suffer in their place but suffers with them.
Another idea, which works with the Liberation theology model, is that it is not God who needs a bloody sacrifice, but us. The Holy One of God comes into the world and we respond with violence and injustice. Jesus on the cross becomes the scapegoat – the one whom we direct our rage and intolerance unjustly. In the shock of this we recognize what we did – we created a system of injustivce that killed with out mercy. Salvation here is not Jesus dying FOR our sin but BECAUSE of it. In resserection Jesus steps forward and reveals the broken body – the victim of our crime – and stresses to us the idea that violence does not save us. Jesus challenges the idea of sacred violence as salvic.
* The bodily resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28)
* The authenticity of Christ's miracles (or, alternatively, his pre-millennial second coming)[4]
I spent my undergrad days –at Jerry Falweels Liberty u – debating the validity of the miracles. I spent my liberal years debating how they didn’t happen. In my ‘emerging’ days I hope to hold onto that last position and then move to a new place that asks ‘what do these miracles mean – what do they say about Jesus and the God he points to? To get engaged indebates about miracles misses the point that the original storytellers where trying to tell: God has erupted into our midst and in this person we meet God-with-us.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Work of God
THE WORK OF GOD
The truth of God which sets free, and is a way or path we follow into the heart of the Work of God. Traditionally this work has been referred to as the Kingdom of God but some Emerging Church leaders like Brian McLaren suggest we call it something else in order recover the spirit of the phrase as they exist in the gospels. He recommends ‘the Enterprise of God’ or the ‘industry of God’ among others.
I instead prefer to use Work of God, as the Kingdom of God is something we are building in our midst as a present tense reality. It is not a top down kingdom but instead a bottom up revolution – a mustard seed revolution as the Progressive Christian Alliance would say – that seeks to create a world of fairness and equality. Here we return to the mission of Jesus and ask how we continue the work of inclusion of outsiders that Jesus began in his ministry. The work does not END with what Jesus said and did but BEGINS – we must continually discern who the world/church has excluded and then create a space for them.
It is obvious in our history that the world/church (for much of its history these have been on par with each other) has excluded women, gay people and racial minorities. But we should also turn our attention to, let us say terrorists and find a place at the table for them. If we are honest many of these people are from areas abandoned by wealth and priveledge and whos homes have been over run by injustice. Be it the Buddist terrorists of Japan, Irish Catholic terroists or Muslim terroists in too many cases what has resulted has happened at our failure to include the voices of the lost, oppressed and deprived in our conversations.
When Jesus performs the Lords Prayer – that prayer for God’s Kindom Come, not as an other worldly power but as a present tense reality – he prays for two things of import: bread and the forgiveness of debt. The cycle of oppression is easily broken when we feed the poor – or ensure that all peole have the means to have, aquire and grow food and when we ensure that all people have the ability to escape their debt through work, through gainful contribution to society and through the removing of unjust debt desighned to keep the poor out of society as full contributors.
The truth of God which sets free, and is a way or path we follow into the heart of the Work of God. Traditionally this work has been referred to as the Kingdom of God but some Emerging Church leaders like Brian McLaren suggest we call it something else in order recover the spirit of the phrase as they exist in the gospels. He recommends ‘the Enterprise of God’ or the ‘industry of God’ among others.
I instead prefer to use Work of God, as the Kingdom of God is something we are building in our midst as a present tense reality. It is not a top down kingdom but instead a bottom up revolution – a mustard seed revolution as the Progressive Christian Alliance would say – that seeks to create a world of fairness and equality. Here we return to the mission of Jesus and ask how we continue the work of inclusion of outsiders that Jesus began in his ministry. The work does not END with what Jesus said and did but BEGINS – we must continually discern who the world/church has excluded and then create a space for them.
It is obvious in our history that the world/church (for much of its history these have been on par with each other) has excluded women, gay people and racial minorities. But we should also turn our attention to, let us say terrorists and find a place at the table for them. If we are honest many of these people are from areas abandoned by wealth and priveledge and whos homes have been over run by injustice. Be it the Buddist terrorists of Japan, Irish Catholic terroists or Muslim terroists in too many cases what has resulted has happened at our failure to include the voices of the lost, oppressed and deprived in our conversations.
When Jesus performs the Lords Prayer – that prayer for God’s Kindom Come, not as an other worldly power but as a present tense reality – he prays for two things of import: bread and the forgiveness of debt. The cycle of oppression is easily broken when we feed the poor – or ensure that all peole have the means to have, aquire and grow food and when we ensure that all people have the ability to escape their debt through work, through gainful contribution to society and through the removing of unjust debt desighned to keep the poor out of society as full contributors.
Truth
Truth is not a thing we own and define. Truth, as scripture says ‘set us free’ and Jesus says ‘I am the way, the life and the truth’. Truth is a path we follow, it is a journey we take. Truth is not something we own but something owns us. Truth happens to us, breaking through a barrier, upsetting our expectations, leading us to a new way of being. And everytime we think we own truth we find we need more truth, another truth to set us free from the expectations we built the last time we stopped or paused in our journey.
Maybe this is an idea worth exploring in ‘Truth’ or ‘Grace’. The truth we need to be set free from is that we can ever know truth, that Truth capital T is something definable and ownable. The same with Grace. We are saved by Grace but everytime we start to define Grace then we have entered a law. Grace is the spirit of God saving us despuite the laws we create in order to be saved.
Truth then is that which frees us, is the way we follow, the journey we go on to be in relationship with God, God’s people and God’s creation. When we belive we can define Truth then it is truth that can set us free from the heresy of absolutes. This is what Thomas Merton says about the devil: The devils world is a world of absolutes because there is no grace there. God is the God of grace, of pluralities and journeies (my paraphrase).
Maybe this is an idea worth exploring in ‘Truth’ or ‘Grace’. The truth we need to be set free from is that we can ever know truth, that Truth capital T is something definable and ownable. The same with Grace. We are saved by Grace but everytime we start to define Grace then we have entered a law. Grace is the spirit of God saving us despuite the laws we create in order to be saved.
Truth then is that which frees us, is the way we follow, the journey we go on to be in relationship with God, God’s people and God’s creation. When we belive we can define Truth then it is truth that can set us free from the heresy of absolutes. This is what Thomas Merton says about the devil: The devils world is a world of absolutes because there is no grace there. God is the God of grace, of pluralities and journeies (my paraphrase).
plurality of truth
Having grown up in the Evangelical church of the 90’s awareness of the doctrine wars sits heavily in my heart. In my own life having made progress from conservative evangelical – complete with a stint at an evangelical college – to liberal protestant – complete with a degree from an progressive, liberal mainline seminary – to ‘progressive emerging’ (if that exists) – complete with stints at my kitchen table reading everything I can get my hands on – I have been imbedded in the conflict for many years.
People of faith – of many traditions and the multitude traditions within traditions – are beginning to realize more and more that narrow ways of viewing the mystery that we are imbedded in to no longer work. We recognize more and more that we are on a journey and that our faith traditions provide vocabulary that enriches and inspires the journey. But when it comes down to it and we are sitting next to our more conservative Christian friend or our Reform Muslim friend – or any combination of perspectives from any number of traditions – that it is our common humanity and a faith in that which calls us to be our best and most w/holy selves that unites us. In this regard conversation on prayer, worship, scripture and doctrine is less about ‘convert to my way’ as it is a conversation of awe at the multitude of ways we have of exploring the mystery that we find our selves in.
Such a view allows us to enter into a concept of truth as plural. As Christians we affirm a God who exists in plurality – a triune model of God –, which allows to contemplate faith in a plurality of viewpoints. Such a model allows us to recognize that all our theology – or ‘God-Speak’ – is nothing more than our conversation of making faith real in our minds, or ‘faith seeing understanding’.
As Christians we engage in community-based worship, and communities by their nature hold a diverse range of views. To be Christian is to be centered in a common narrative and to share a common cup and to explore what it means to be a Child of God together. If in today’s church Liberals and Conservatives cannot feed the poor together and ask our nation for better practices in resolved conflict with out violence then we have already lost the Work of God in our generation.
I want to stay on this point for a bit. I am saying this as a PROGRESSIVE Christian – conversations of biblical inerrancy, women leadership, the welcoming of other peoples paths to God as appropriate and the inclusion of LGBT people in all levels of the life of faith are non-issues for me. And yet I believe that any church that holds only MY VIEWS has entered into a dangerous heresy.
Too often when we begin to believe that we have the right path or way we too often assume that those outside of our perspective have nothing to gift us with. What happens here is that we begin to enter into a deep heresy which consists of the Idol Worship of ideology rather than the God and Spirit that stands in the midst of our conversations, calling us into deeper relationship with humanity, with the earth and with his/her self.
If faith is about journey and relationship then any use of doctrine that removes us from relationship then steps into heresy. Again we refer to the triune model where God him/herself is in a relationship with Gods own self. Here the concept of truth as plurality can draw off of the rabbinical tradition – faith in this tradition is exemplified as a community of rabbis sitting in community debating the meaning of Torah out of a mutual love of Torah.
Can we Christians not adopt a similar perspective? Can faith not be a ‘rabbinical’ action of those of us who love faith, scripture, Jesus and God engaged in dialogue and debate of what it means to love these things and do it out of love?
People of faith – of many traditions and the multitude traditions within traditions – are beginning to realize more and more that narrow ways of viewing the mystery that we are imbedded in to no longer work. We recognize more and more that we are on a journey and that our faith traditions provide vocabulary that enriches and inspires the journey. But when it comes down to it and we are sitting next to our more conservative Christian friend or our Reform Muslim friend – or any combination of perspectives from any number of traditions – that it is our common humanity and a faith in that which calls us to be our best and most w/holy selves that unites us. In this regard conversation on prayer, worship, scripture and doctrine is less about ‘convert to my way’ as it is a conversation of awe at the multitude of ways we have of exploring the mystery that we find our selves in.
Such a view allows us to enter into a concept of truth as plural. As Christians we affirm a God who exists in plurality – a triune model of God –, which allows to contemplate faith in a plurality of viewpoints. Such a model allows us to recognize that all our theology – or ‘God-Speak’ – is nothing more than our conversation of making faith real in our minds, or ‘faith seeing understanding’.
As Christians we engage in community-based worship, and communities by their nature hold a diverse range of views. To be Christian is to be centered in a common narrative and to share a common cup and to explore what it means to be a Child of God together. If in today’s church Liberals and Conservatives cannot feed the poor together and ask our nation for better practices in resolved conflict with out violence then we have already lost the Work of God in our generation.
I want to stay on this point for a bit. I am saying this as a PROGRESSIVE Christian – conversations of biblical inerrancy, women leadership, the welcoming of other peoples paths to God as appropriate and the inclusion of LGBT people in all levels of the life of faith are non-issues for me. And yet I believe that any church that holds only MY VIEWS has entered into a dangerous heresy.
Too often when we begin to believe that we have the right path or way we too often assume that those outside of our perspective have nothing to gift us with. What happens here is that we begin to enter into a deep heresy which consists of the Idol Worship of ideology rather than the God and Spirit that stands in the midst of our conversations, calling us into deeper relationship with humanity, with the earth and with his/her self.
If faith is about journey and relationship then any use of doctrine that removes us from relationship then steps into heresy. Again we refer to the triune model where God him/herself is in a relationship with Gods own self. Here the concept of truth as plurality can draw off of the rabbinical tradition – faith in this tradition is exemplified as a community of rabbis sitting in community debating the meaning of Torah out of a mutual love of Torah.
Can we Christians not adopt a similar perspective? Can faith not be a ‘rabbinical’ action of those of us who love faith, scripture, Jesus and God engaged in dialogue and debate of what it means to love these things and do it out of love?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
ADHD Theology - Rough Draft and notes
Gift of Adult ADD
Lara Honos-Webb
‘many psychologists have drawn a direct connection between creativity and the unconcious’ (102)
the author goes on to say that these impulses are an extension of our ‘tribal belifes’ that often don’t jibe with contemporary culture. How many times have we heard an artist – rapper, heavy metal, film and theater etc – say that their art is their therapy. That they are able to express and explore those aspects of their personality that could not otherwise come to light.
Contemporary society and its moraes orders people into groups of ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ along the lines of social mores and status quo. To often than not the status quo is set up to maintain a system of power and priveldge. As it has been said science – and I would add the status quo – does not set out to prove something new but to prove what is.
But along with the prophets of the Hebrew Bible we are able to engage in that radical act of creativity rooted in truth telling. Here the creative and the unconscious overlap in such a way to enable justice. For the person of faith creativity of this sort allows us to reach beyond tradition and into the ‘spirit of the law’ and speak out for those who have been ignored and over looked.
THIS SORT OF CREATIVITY IS AN IMPULSE TO BREAK THE RULES AND THE STATUS QUO. In this it is not only prophetic but spirit filled. It is an Upper Room experience of impulse control rooted in truth telling. The world and its injustices are dependent on good people remaining quite. But when the Upper Room breaks into our world – through creative and impulsive truth speaking – we see places of resisitance enter the community in such a way as to enable new conversations.
Dark side of impulses, caused between by tension between expression and repression of impulses (pg 103)
Repression causes violence in the world as we know it. Sexual repression leads to self-hatred and self-destruction. Artistic repression can lead to a dead soul. Prophetic repression leads to a dead world. The night side of an ADHD impulse can lead to destructive and implusive behaviour. The bright side can give life to our prophetic voices.
Humanity suffers from a soul disease by which its members will not speak out in prophetic voice for justice and against inequality. When we do it is usually a stifled voice – born of the faddishness of the cause or is a stagnant voice not backed up by authentic change in societal behavior. It is not enough for us to sit around our thanksgiving dinners and say North Americans must consome less. We must actually consume less.
Lara Honos-Webb
‘many psychologists have drawn a direct connection between creativity and the unconcious’ (102)
the author goes on to say that these impulses are an extension of our ‘tribal belifes’ that often don’t jibe with contemporary culture. How many times have we heard an artist – rapper, heavy metal, film and theater etc – say that their art is their therapy. That they are able to express and explore those aspects of their personality that could not otherwise come to light.
Contemporary society and its moraes orders people into groups of ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ along the lines of social mores and status quo. To often than not the status quo is set up to maintain a system of power and priveldge. As it has been said science – and I would add the status quo – does not set out to prove something new but to prove what is.
But along with the prophets of the Hebrew Bible we are able to engage in that radical act of creativity rooted in truth telling. Here the creative and the unconscious overlap in such a way to enable justice. For the person of faith creativity of this sort allows us to reach beyond tradition and into the ‘spirit of the law’ and speak out for those who have been ignored and over looked.
THIS SORT OF CREATIVITY IS AN IMPULSE TO BREAK THE RULES AND THE STATUS QUO. In this it is not only prophetic but spirit filled. It is an Upper Room experience of impulse control rooted in truth telling. The world and its injustices are dependent on good people remaining quite. But when the Upper Room breaks into our world – through creative and impulsive truth speaking – we see places of resisitance enter the community in such a way as to enable new conversations.
Dark side of impulses, caused between by tension between expression and repression of impulses (pg 103)
Repression causes violence in the world as we know it. Sexual repression leads to self-hatred and self-destruction. Artistic repression can lead to a dead soul. Prophetic repression leads to a dead world. The night side of an ADHD impulse can lead to destructive and implusive behaviour. The bright side can give life to our prophetic voices.
Humanity suffers from a soul disease by which its members will not speak out in prophetic voice for justice and against inequality. When we do it is usually a stifled voice – born of the faddishness of the cause or is a stagnant voice not backed up by authentic change in societal behavior. It is not enough for us to sit around our thanksgiving dinners and say North Americans must consome less. We must actually consume less.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Borrowed From Brian McLaren
Everyone is Clergy
Everyone is Clergy: a liturgical reading.
Everyone is clergy. Everyone is called to serve,
To create, to communicate,
To participate with our good Creator
In the making and remaking of our good world.
Everyone is clergy. Everyone is called to stand,
To struggle, to suffer, to trust and to love,
And so to join in the unmaking of injustice and
In the liberation of earth from every form of sin.
Everyone is clergy. Everyone is called to holiness,
To faithfulness, to health, to growth,
To serenity and activity,
To the practices of life
In the kingdom of God.
All our daily work is holy. Every act of service,
Every deed of neighborly kindness,
Every smile or sigh, every touch or tear
Can be a sacramental act expressing the presence of the living God.
Every drop of sweat that falls in honest labor for the common good
Joins with every movement toward others
In the daily liturgy of human work.
Some are given special gifts to equip and inspire others for this daily work of faith
And labor of love.
All are channels of grace, given, received,
Shared in a symphony of many voices and instruments,
So the earth may be filled with the glory of God.
You are clergy. So am I. Together
We are called to learn God’s music of life
In the unique instruments of our bodies, our persons, our times, our settings.
Then we are sent out to play it with joy and sincerity wherever we go.
Together we are part of a truly apostolic succession:
The people of God sent into the world, generation after generation,
As Jesus was sent by the Father,
In the power of the Holy Spirit,
For the good of the world.
Let us play and sing together,
Let us by our faithful lives bring glory to the true and living God.
For we are all clergy
And we are all called.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Grace
Do you want to know God?
Then know yourself! Know the world! Know your family! Know justice!
Of course none of this is do-able. But in trying we learn so much and in trying we encounter the grace of God.
This is grace...that we try and try to earn ods favor, lifes favor and we find that we always had it! Everytime we try to define grace we are outside of grace. Is grace is 'taste and see' and 'be at rest int he spirit'.
Then know yourself! Know the world! Know your family! Know justice!
Of course none of this is do-able. But in trying we learn so much and in trying we encounter the grace of God.
This is grace...that we try and try to earn ods favor, lifes favor and we find that we always had it! Everytime we try to define grace we are outside of grace. Is grace is 'taste and see' and 'be at rest int he spirit'.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Ritual and Liturgy
Stop your silly rituals! Your robes and songs, your parades and fashions. Low church or high church there is no value in it if it is insular, if you think ceremony done right or wrong connects you to God. At its best these things are a deep poetry that moves us spiritually. Done wrong it is a game that distracts us from true worship: serving the poor.
If you are a person with no ceremony or ritual, learn to pray with liturgy! We are story formed people and need liturgy to retell our story.
If you are a highly liturgical person, abandon your rituals and learn to tell the story, the sacraments and the wonder in the world where your brothers and sisters are.
If you are a person with no ceremony or ritual, learn to pray with liturgy! We are story formed people and need liturgy to retell our story.
If you are a highly liturgical person, abandon your rituals and learn to tell the story, the sacraments and the wonder in the world where your brothers and sisters are.
PeaceWork
People of the Way must make peace. Peace with themselves, with creation and with others. This is what 'love thy neighbor' means. It means to Love - to do the work of life - so that life may flourish. This does not mean we retreat into ourselves. It means our communities heal divides on the local level as a way of protesting injustice on the national and international level.
If their is poverty, violence or injust gap between rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight then we are NOT on the Way of Life. We must make peace here at all costs!
Then should a person following the Way of Life retreat into their own community or, worst yet, themselves? NO!!!!! A person on the Way is called to GREATER levels of commitment. A person on the way is called to serve those who do not know peace. A person on the Way is called to organize for peace.
Armys blow up bridges. We who believe in life are called to build bridges, dig wells and spread love through justice.
If their is poverty, violence or injust gap between rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight then we are NOT on the Way of Life. We must make peace here at all costs!
Then should a person following the Way of Life retreat into their own community or, worst yet, themselves? NO!!!!! A person on the Way is called to GREATER levels of commitment. A person on the way is called to serve those who do not know peace. A person on the Way is called to organize for peace.
Armys blow up bridges. We who believe in life are called to build bridges, dig wells and spread love through justice.
Place of Worship
Don't worry about places of worship. Don't get tied up in buildings and land. Instead be like the 12 step groups - a healing circle that prays together, feasts together and seeks justice and health together.
You are the church. Your body is a temple. Wherever you do your holy work the Way of Life will flourish. Go into places of war, sickness and sadness and BE the church. Help other to follow the Way of Life so that all may realize that they belong to God and are loved.
You are the church. Your body is a temple. Wherever you do your holy work the Way of Life will flourish. Go into places of war, sickness and sadness and BE the church. Help other to follow the Way of Life so that all may realize that they belong to God and are loved.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Deep Humanity
Deep Humanity:
“I believe it is a question of being in touch with all aspects of what we are and what we can experience physically, emotionally, aesthetically, spiritually. It is a question of different paths to a deep experience of the remarkable fact that we live, we exist, that we are part of this miraculous cosmos. It is at the same time a question of consideration for this, of taking responsibility for it, for the deepest aspects of ourselves, for our relationships with other people in the world around us.”
Gordon Lynch
“I believe it is a question of being in touch with all aspects of what we are and what we can experience physically, emotionally, aesthetically, spiritually. It is a question of different paths to a deep experience of the remarkable fact that we live, we exist, that we are part of this miraculous cosmos. It is at the same time a question of consideration for this, of taking responsibility for it, for the deepest aspects of ourselves, for our relationships with other people in the world around us.”
Gordon Lynch
Way of Life
The Way of Life is a Way that we travel. It is a path and a journey. In prayer we repeat similar words over and over - a bed time prayer, a liturgy - because we discover new things each time. We walk the same path in our neighborhood or the woods over and over and each day and each season brings new discovery.
So it is to walk the Way of Life. We walk our days as Pilgrims first, studying life, asking questions, doubting and wrestling. But when we graduate from this to a place that can hold contradictions, unknowns and mystery we become Priests. We are still walking the same path of Life, still alive in the world as we were before. But the Priest must engage in the holy work of Love. The Priest must seek justice, help the poor and restore wounded spirits.
After this we become Prophets. We become wise and studied. We become contemplatives who train the younger generations. We become saints who lend our wisdom to those who seek justice.
All of this is the path of life. We may live in the same house during this time. Eat the same foods. Have the same friends. But as we walk the path over and over we learn, grow and become.
So it is to walk the Way of Life. We walk our days as Pilgrims first, studying life, asking questions, doubting and wrestling. But when we graduate from this to a place that can hold contradictions, unknowns and mystery we become Priests. We are still walking the same path of Life, still alive in the world as we were before. But the Priest must engage in the holy work of Love. The Priest must seek justice, help the poor and restore wounded spirits.
After this we become Prophets. We become wise and studied. We become contemplatives who train the younger generations. We become saints who lend our wisdom to those who seek justice.
All of this is the path of life. We may live in the same house during this time. Eat the same foods. Have the same friends. But as we walk the path over and over we learn, grow and become.
Holy Scripture
If you want to know about the Way of Life - the Path of God - then read Holy Scripture. Read not only texts of holy men and women, of the great traditions and their prophets. Read also the universe its self as Holy Text. Read it from the big bang to now, the unfolding of life from energy to matter, from matter into organic life, organic life to Consciousness. Read the discoverys of science and philosophy, of history and art. Read the texts of humanity as Holy Texts, because in these texts is the voice of God.
The bible is a library of early Christian expierence. Among its books are contradictions, reversals and etc. To focus on that it to miss the true mystery of that holy text. People in community, touched by God, responded with story, history, song and poetry. They left an ongoing conversation of faith. They left an open work that we participate in now - talking, contradicting, wrestling with the Way of Life.
The bible is a library of early Christian expierence. Among its books are contradictions, reversals and etc. To focus on that it to miss the true mystery of that holy text. People in community, touched by God, responded with story, history, song and poetry. They left an ongoing conversation of faith. They left an open work that we participate in now - talking, contradicting, wrestling with the Way of Life.
Life as Worship
All of Life is God. To be alive is to participate in God. To work for justice for creation and our Brothers and Sisters in Humanity is to worship God. Celebrate Life in order to Celebrate God. In your day remember and reflect who it is who's essence you move in and that is God!
Pray:
Welcome the day. Welcome the joys and struggles of life. Recognize that God did not curse you with tragedy or bless you with blessings denied to others. God has not done those things to you, but has done something even more remarkable - has gifted you with You and more than that the family and community you are in. The Gift of God is the Gift of Life, of time, of today and all the relationships you will engage in. Pray in action, reflection and contemplation.
Feast:
To participate in a meal is to participate in the gifts of God. It is to take energy form that which God has made. To eat with family is to create sacred space where we celebrate our diversity and our unity. To eat is to remember those who cannot eat, to reclaim the energy to advocate for those that find food scarce.
Love:
Love those you know and those you do not know. To do so is to spread the love of God. Love breaks down barriers and asks us to confront our own limitations and hesitations.
These are only a few of the spiritual practices all of humanity is called to participate in.
Pray:
Welcome the day. Welcome the joys and struggles of life. Recognize that God did not curse you with tragedy or bless you with blessings denied to others. God has not done those things to you, but has done something even more remarkable - has gifted you with You and more than that the family and community you are in. The Gift of God is the Gift of Life, of time, of today and all the relationships you will engage in. Pray in action, reflection and contemplation.
Feast:
To participate in a meal is to participate in the gifts of God. It is to take energy form that which God has made. To eat with family is to create sacred space where we celebrate our diversity and our unity. To eat is to remember those who cannot eat, to reclaim the energy to advocate for those that find food scarce.
Love:
Love those you know and those you do not know. To do so is to spread the love of God. Love breaks down barriers and asks us to confront our own limitations and hesitations.
These are only a few of the spiritual practices all of humanity is called to participate in.
The New Priesthood
With Martin Luther I affirm that all people who believe in Life are called to a Holy Priesthood. The task of celebrating Life does not fall to a elite class alone. Indeed, all of the Brothers and Sisters in Humanity are called to be a priesthood. All of us are called to proclaim Gods Love, to strive for justice and to celebrate God and Life (which are one and the same).
This is not a complaint against clergy, those wonderful people who have been set aside by their community to study and prepare for the work of Priesthood. It is, instead, a reminder that the work of Spirit in our day and age belongs to all of us, regardless.
Pilgrim, Priest and Prophet is the journey we go on. We begin by wondering, seeking, quest/ioning before we take on our role of priest. If we are lucky, in our old age we may share wisdom and become prophets - wise elders who remind us of our history and the call to justice that is Spirits life blood.
This is not a complaint against clergy, those wonderful people who have been set aside by their community to study and prepare for the work of Priesthood. It is, instead, a reminder that the work of Spirit in our day and age belongs to all of us, regardless.
Pilgrim, Priest and Prophet is the journey we go on. We begin by wondering, seeking, quest/ioning before we take on our role of priest. If we are lucky, in our old age we may share wisdom and become prophets - wise elders who remind us of our history and the call to justice that is Spirits life blood.
Path of Spirit
To be a spiritual person today, we need a Path of Spirit that speaks to who we are today. We need a path of equality.
1) Power belongs to all Brothers and Sisters in Humanity. True democracy happens at the grassroots and it is the power of the people to organize and make change happen in the world. Come together and stive for justice and equality.
2) All humanity is equal before God. This is true for women, men, children, Gay and Lesbian and all the creatures of the world. All humans are brothers and sisters and our family extends to creation with who we must have a true and pure relationship.
3) God is not God. Life itself is God. To serve God is to serve Life Itself. God is not being, but the ground of all being.
4) Prayer is remembering before God. Prayer is speaking from the depth of our humanity to invite true relationship with all our brothers and sisters in humanity, with creation, with our self and in all of this with God. Pray daily if you can, pray all day as you should. Prayer is faith in action, faith in reflection and faith in contemplation.
5) You are not a person alone. You are a person - a gifted individual - in relationship with all of humanity. You are a person in relationship with all of creation. Come together in community and strive for justice and celebrate Spirit in our day and age.
6) Observe spiritual and religious ritual. Worship with your community, hike in the woods or strive for justice. Engage in your daily routines as extensions of your spirituality. All of life is religious, and all of life is spiritual. Keep your sabbath!
7) Go on Pilgrimage. Go on holy journeys of contemplation or self-awareness. This can be a journey of self-discovery or a journey of seeking or remembering. Return home or visit a place of wonder. But go with openness.
8) You are the image of God and the body of God in the world. All of creation participating together is Gods body. Be a healthy body. Take care of all members of the body.
9) Give of yourself. All religions recognize the giving of three things for spiritual work: time, talent and treasure. Give of yourself in wasteful love to make the world a place of spirit.
10) There is no God but God and all of humanity lives in HerHim's being. All of humanity and all of creation are the body of God. God's name is spoken on the hearts of humanity.
1) Power belongs to all Brothers and Sisters in Humanity. True democracy happens at the grassroots and it is the power of the people to organize and make change happen in the world. Come together and stive for justice and equality.
2) All humanity is equal before God. This is true for women, men, children, Gay and Lesbian and all the creatures of the world. All humans are brothers and sisters and our family extends to creation with who we must have a true and pure relationship.
3) God is not God. Life itself is God. To serve God is to serve Life Itself. God is not being, but the ground of all being.
4) Prayer is remembering before God. Prayer is speaking from the depth of our humanity to invite true relationship with all our brothers and sisters in humanity, with creation, with our self and in all of this with God. Pray daily if you can, pray all day as you should. Prayer is faith in action, faith in reflection and faith in contemplation.
5) You are not a person alone. You are a person - a gifted individual - in relationship with all of humanity. You are a person in relationship with all of creation. Come together in community and strive for justice and celebrate Spirit in our day and age.
6) Observe spiritual and religious ritual. Worship with your community, hike in the woods or strive for justice. Engage in your daily routines as extensions of your spirituality. All of life is religious, and all of life is spiritual. Keep your sabbath!
7) Go on Pilgrimage. Go on holy journeys of contemplation or self-awareness. This can be a journey of self-discovery or a journey of seeking or remembering. Return home or visit a place of wonder. But go with openness.
8) You are the image of God and the body of God in the world. All of creation participating together is Gods body. Be a healthy body. Take care of all members of the body.
9) Give of yourself. All religions recognize the giving of three things for spiritual work: time, talent and treasure. Give of yourself in wasteful love to make the world a place of spirit.
10) There is no God but God and all of humanity lives in HerHim's being. All of humanity and all of creation are the body of God. God's name is spoken on the hearts of humanity.
Religions as they emerge in space and time are contextually based. They speak from the language and issues from their context. All great Prophets are limited in scope, speaking the Truth of spirit in the limited vocabulary of their time.
Moses gave the law, called a people out to be a model. In the Law were the seeds of justice, the call to beat their swords into plowshares.
Jesus extended that. Jesus challenged free market thought. Jesus told us to ignore laws that great hiearchys of value. That all belonged in Gods Kingdom, which was a present tense reality.
Islam and Bahai did the same. The latter extending the call of spirit to democracy and the inclusion of children and women.
But we need a new spirit. One that looks at science and art as part of the unfolding holy text of Spirit in our time. We need a new spirit that expands on equality for all including gay and lesbians, we need to have a theory of Spirit that is for our time, our day and our place.
Moses gave the law, called a people out to be a model. In the Law were the seeds of justice, the call to beat their swords into plowshares.
Jesus extended that. Jesus challenged free market thought. Jesus told us to ignore laws that great hiearchys of value. That all belonged in Gods Kingdom, which was a present tense reality.
Islam and Bahai did the same. The latter extending the call of spirit to democracy and the inclusion of children and women.
But we need a new spirit. One that looks at science and art as part of the unfolding holy text of Spirit in our time. We need a new spirit that expands on equality for all including gay and lesbians, we need to have a theory of Spirit that is for our time, our day and our place.
The New Spirit
God as we know it is dead. God as a being removed from the world does not work. The all powerful God model is a God who is responsible for the world, yet chooses to not participate in it. We want a God who is a father sitting in the sky, yet God is no father.
God as father is a model. Its a poem to articulate that which cannot be articulated. God can also be mother. Can also be friend and lover. We must hold multiple models of God - because to do so allows us to avoide falling into absolutes.
God is not God. God is beyond God. That which we can define as God is idol. God is life, God is that eruption of life in the midst of space and time. Just as we are always becoming so is God.
God as father is a model. Its a poem to articulate that which cannot be articulated. God can also be mother. Can also be friend and lover. We must hold multiple models of God - because to do so allows us to avoide falling into absolutes.
God is not God. God is beyond God. That which we can define as God is idol. God is life, God is that eruption of life in the midst of space and time. Just as we are always becoming so is God.
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