The Light

In Christian tradition, Christmas celebrates a unique coming of Light into the world in the person of Jesus, the Christ (messiah, annointed one).  This seems to suggest that Earth, and perhaps by extension, the cosmos, existed in a state of darkness before this event.  In my thinking of God as eternal presence, with Light being a fundamental component of that presence, God/Light has been present through eternity, never varying in brightness and intensity except as we (humans) choose to suppress it. 

I believe that Jesus (and others) came to help us acknowledge and experience the Light, telling us that as we respond to the Light already resident within us (“you are the light of the world”), we draw nearer to the source of light, becoming part of a collective light that drives darkness away.  Our human inclination is to live in a darkness of fear which manifests in thoughts and actions that deny the unity and connectivity of creation.  Through precept and example, Jesus teaches us how we must live in order to move from darkness to light, a salvation process through which we experience liberation from fear to a joy of anticipation of enlightened living– Life in the Light.  As we become fearless, we become both beacons and reflectors of Light to our world and thereby agents in the establishment of God’s Kingdom of Shalom on Earth.

Is it possible that God’s Light, shining forth through us, is capable of establishing such a Kingdom?  As Christians, we say we believe that it does, and our prayers profess such a belief (“God make me an instrument of Thy peace ….”)  Does God need to intervene at some point in our history to make it so?  From our sacred texts and traditions, we can come to such a conclusion, but we cannot know collectively how, when, or where.  “In God’s own time,” we say, while worshipping a God we characterize as timeless, infinite, eternal.

If we deny the Light resident within us, what is our destiny?  Perhaps to continue our existence as people divided, living in dissonance and discord, hoping for Divine intercession, but with no certainty that it will happen except as derived from our individual life experiences, learnings, and needs.

As Jesus spoke of God’s Kingdom on Earth, I think he pointed us to our proper focus – our world, here and now.  In what appear to be at best incidental and incremental ways, we, as beacons and guardians of the Light, do make a positive difference as we work individually and together toward a world where compassion, equity, and justice are the lot of all and the suffering of oppression is no more.  It is reward enough in itself.  All else is failure, not God’s, but ours.

One person's thinking at a point in time, seeking that of others – yours.  I invite you to join the conversation.

Hope for Tomorrow

The religious landscape is changing once again.  We are experiencing what many are seeing as a paradigm shift in human spiritual consciousness.  Despite national boundaries, disparate cultures and religious expression, we no longer live in a partitioned world where one can pursue a totally independent existence, unconcerned about the circumstances of those in distant lands, totally reliant on our own resourcefulness and resources.  Our living is dependent on interdependence on a global scale. 

Dogmatic religion is dying.  It’s a slow death because of the holding power of belief systems engendered and cultivated from childhood.  At least two factors are dominant in this death watch.  One is the breaking down of cultural and religious barriers as people are exposed to new ideas that call into question deeply ingrained beliefs and foster a spirit of inquiry not tolerated in earlier days.  Another is the continuing loss of credibility and influence of religious institutions due to their rampant hypocrisy and perceived irrelevance within the cultures that spawned them.  And there are others.

Many churches have lost touch with their essential reason for being, i.e., for United Methodists “to make disciples for the transformation of the world,” originally perceived as a mission to evangelize the world for Christ.  We have become content to gather for fellowship, worship, and a semblance of spiritual growth in the faith.  We are spiritual children resisting and avoiding maturation.  We still believe that God’s greatest desire, if not His plan, is that all of humanity ascribe to traditional Christian beliefs – that all are in bondage to sin, that our only salvation is acceptance of the proposition that Jesus, God in human form, died to cleanse us from sin and make possible our eternal habitation in the presence of God.  All of this, while accepting that life’s anomalies (bad things happening to good people) are somehow part of the plan of a gracious, forgiving, and loving supernatural being we call God.

One asks, how did we come to be this way, and why?  One reason might be that we humans, particularly those who experience ongoing suffering and oppression, are pre-disposed to invent religious systems that have a strong “hope” component, one that can only be realized in an afterlife of serenity and freedom from suffering, with an alternative destination for those who caused their suffering.  Another, that we are easily led by those whose strength of personality and rhetoric are convincing and supportive of our own thinking (or lack of).  Another, that we find tradition more persuasive than independent thought.  Another, that the comfort and security of community acceptance is preferable to its alternative.  Another, that we find religion a useful prop for our enmity toward others and our justification of their destruction.  Another, that disparities in human social, economic, and political circumstances can legitimately be attributed to a willful God created in our image (yes, I meant that).

I’d propose that until we are able to conceptualize God in something other than anthropomorphic terms, rewarding with one hand while punishing with the other, sitting in righteous judgment on a fateful day for all humanity, we are destined for a spiritual oblivion. I choose to envision a creative intelligence (I call “God” since I was taught to), the source and essence of all that is.  Pure humanism, some will insist; Buddhist theology.  I believe Jesus was a humanist in the best sense of the word.  His teachings and model make sense to me.  If they didn’t, I wouldn’t be his follower.  Thankfully, I was taught to know him.  And I have chosen to seek to know others of like mind and character.  Theirs is a common message of justice, equity, and compassion for all of the human family.  For me, the “hope” is that theirs will eventually be the dominant voice.

Why Do You Believe What You Say You Believe?

In my experience, when this question is asked of professing Christians, an awkward silence follows.  I have yet to encounter a person whose answer is not eventually expressed as “it’s what I was taught,” or words to that effect.  And so, a follow up question: “What makes it valid for you?”  Again, silence.  There’s a strong suggestion here that most of us come by our professed faith second hand – “If it’s good enough for ……………, it’s good enough for me.”  I wonder how well this applies in other aspects of our living.  Some might say that it doesn’t matter; spiritual things are in a league to themselves.  I choose to think that there is a vital connection between spirit and mind; no neutral zone for either in any area of life. 

Another popular response to the original question credits the Bible.  As in the familiar children’s song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”  The simple faith of a child is prescribed as appropriate for all ages.  Does God speak through no other medium?  Is the Bible really where we learn all we need to know about God?  Why do we choose to think so?  Why do we vest authority in someone else to make such a choice for us?

I learned recently about an organization known as The Church of Yahweh.  I invite you to check out the website: www.Yhwh.com.  This organization has published The Future Testament to help respond to this challenge of a genuine, aware, religious life: “…to distinguish eternal truth from cultural tradition within scriptures and denominations.  Then, with the eternal truths firmly identified, determine the best way to express those timeless realities today, here and now, within this time, place, language and culture, to create a new tradition.”

At first blush, I thought this to be a rather presumptuous undertaking. But I have to acknowledge that my response is influenced by my own conditioning to think that God’s only true revelation is through the Bible, and specifically in the person of Jesus Christ.  The final word.  I have come to believe that the exclusive nature of this understanding is at the heart of division and separation between persons of differing faith traditions and cultures and consequent mistrust, even hatred that expresses itself in acts of aggression and conflict.

Long story short, I am reading The Future Testament with an expectation of discovering new light for my spiritual path.  I encourage you to do the same.  You can order a copy on the website.  Or type The Future Testament into your browser.  A Kindle edition is available.

I believe my best spiritual path is the one I make.  But this is not accomplished in a vacuum.   The soul stories of others, including yours, are learning resources for me.  I hope you will share yours.

Charter for Compassion

A friend recently invited me to add my support to this Charter for Compassion.  Its words speak loudly and positively to me; perhaps they will to you also.  You may wish to visit the website and join me in adding your own support.  I hope you will.   http://charterforcompassion.org/site/

Charter for Compassion
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.
We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Authentic Faith

The belief system we pass on to our children should anticipate their youthful questioning and provide meaningful, reasonable answers.  A belief system grounded in mythology and the supernatural must be manifested (proclaimed) in the life of the believer.  Children should not be expected to accept and claim ownership of beliefs that are not lived out in the life of the believer.  How else are they to know that the beliefs can bear fruit in their own lives?

From my own experience as a professing Christian, I know how important it is to embrace a faith that has meaning not only for me, but for my children as well.  Sooner or later, they will have questions about faith matters – God, the church, doctrines of the faith such as atonement, resurrection, etc.  I did not always have helpful answers as my children were growing up, primarily I think because there were things I did not fully understand and could not articulate in ways that were helpful to them.  But also because I had been taught that certain understandings I had been taught about God, Jesus, etc., were not to be questioned.  And even though I did question them in my own mind, I was not comfortable with my answers because they went against the grain of my learning.  So, I did not know what to tell my children that would enable them to live happily in an environment where what they saw and experienced in the lives of their elders did not always match up with what they had been taught.

I have come to believe that faith is much more than accepting the incredible, that it is in fact acknowledging the power that exists within me to be in relationship with all of life, indeed all of creation.  I experience that power as the presence of an intelligent, creative entity I choose to call God, working in and through me to fulfill Jesus’ commandment (and other God figures, as well) to love my neighbor, something I can devote my life to even as I fulfill responsibilities to family and society.  This God is not separate from me, calling the shots from some distant place, orchestrating and directing the drama we call life.  This God is totally invested in the drama, but not as manipulator.  “Life” could even be another name for this God, just as could “love.”  Many names, all denoting this God’s total involvement in creation.

But then, there comes the matter of choice. This God has given us the capacity to make choices that give life or that take life.  Taking life can be as simple as an unkind word.  Giving life can be as simple as “have a nice day.”  If we could not make such choices, there would be no such thing as free will.  Nor would we be able to explain why bad things happen to good people other than by suggesting that it’s God’s will.  What a terrible burden to lay on this God of love and life who destines only that all creatures have access to the abundance laid before us, each according to need.

As our children grow up, I hope we will encourage them to be thinkers and questioners and to not be satisfied with simplistic answers that confuse their images of God.  Recently, a friend was reflecting on the tragic and untimely death of a friend.  “Where was God in this tragedy?” she asked.  “If God is love, then there can be no God, because a God of love would not allow this to happen.”  I thought to myself, what did she learn as a child that made her so conflicted about God?  From my own experience, I knew the probable answers.  What an ungodly disfavor to both spirit and intellect!