False and Unhealthy Religion

One of the signs of the times today is that many people, although not interested in organized religion, are in fact “spiritual” and interested in spiritual things. 

There are many reasons for the loss of interest in organized religion, but one of the causes is because of the history of institutional religion with its dualistic application of either/or, judgement and exclusion, who is right and who is wrong, who is in and who is out. This lifeless theology has caused so much damage over the centuries. In contrast, and we can know intuitively (and with quantum physics!), is that the Divine reality is unitive in nature, it is inclusive and non-judgemental, it is both/and. There is no outside of God!

Inherent in Lent is an invitation to clean up our spiritual houses, both personally and corporately, so that they can be lovingly inclusive with spiritual depth.

Jesus’ cleansing of the temple in John’s gospel is about a letting go of false and unhealthy religion, and entering into and living out of deeper and inclusive spirituality. 

The cleansing of the temple is about making room for God in our lives. It is about recognizing that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and that God abides in us - in ALL of us.

Intentionally spiritual people spend their life time cleansing their inner temple and opening up to God’s larger life of Love within. 

The spiritual life is not about being morally perfect and pure. But it is about changing and opening up more and more to a larger love and life. 

As our hearts and minds grow in intentional love, we come to know more and more the truth that we actually live IN Christ, we live inside of the Divine and eternal flow of Life, we live inside of Love.

Christ is our Temple. We are Christ’s Temple.

Jesus says “I am in you, you are in me.”

The Divine Image is enthroned within the temple of our souls. Through spiritual practice and works of love, as we cleanse away the debris that is in the way of us being more fully aware of God’s image in us and others, we become the very likeness of God to the world around us.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us  - with the help of the Holy Spirit - cleanse our spiritual houses, and allow the Love that is Christ to live more fully in us, and in our communities.

A Mountain Top Experience

The story of the Transfiguration is a story about the mountain top experience of becoming conscious of the shared life of the human and the Divine - a “resurrection” experience. 

The “mountain top” experience is to encounter a Divine Love that transforms us and wakes us up to the unitive nature of all of life, of how we can know and experience deep connection with God, each other and all of creation. 

We all have an interior mountain that we are invited to climb in order to draw nearer to the Transforming Love that is God.

Moses’ Mountain revealed God in the burning bush, and later the 10 commandments.

Elijah’s Mountain revealed God in the still, small voice.

The Apostle’s Mountain on Tabor reveals the risen nature of Christ in Jesus and in all of us.

These are mystical or inner experiences that since Pentecost, are not reserved just for the great saints, but for the whole people of God to enter into.

Notice that the living Word of God is “heard” in each of these Divine experiences:

• On Moses’ mountain he hears “I AM sent you.”
• On Elijah’s mountain he hears the still small voice.
• At the Transfiguration the Apostles hear and see Moses and Elijah (representing the Law and Prophets).

St.Augustine teaches that the Scriptures are the Mountain Tops of Israel. The Sacred Scriptures are at the heart of our Lenten journey to the Promised Land of Risen Life. 

The invitation is to learn to center on the Living Word of God in order to be consumed by the burning bush of God’s love, to hear God’s still, small voice in holy silence, to know and abide in the Risen Life and Love that is Christ.

As we are transformed in our relationship with God in Christ, we have a natural responsibility and desire to reach out to those around us trapped in darkness and despair, not knowing the transforming love of Christ.

Our Lenten pilgrimage is not just about renewing and deepening our own knowledge and experience of the Divine, it is about committing ourselves to the Church’s mission to reach out to, connect and draw others into the Promised Land of Risen Love, the eternal life of Christ revealed in Jesus our Lord. 

Struggling with our Shadow

In every liturgical year the Church brings us in the first Sunday of Lent to reflect on the Lord’s being led into the desert to struggle and be tempted. 

We are reminded of the very real humanity of Jesus. We are reminded that, like Jesus, we need to struggle in the process of knowing who we are in relation to God and one another.

Father Richard Rohr teaches that “Human consciousness does not emerge at any depth except through struggling with your shadow. I wish someone had told me that when I was young. It is in facing your conflicts, criticisms, and contradictions that you grow up. You actually need to have some problems, enemies, and faults! You will remain largely unconscious as a human being until issues come into your life that you cannot fix or control and something challenges you at your present level of development, forcing you to expand and deepen. It is in the struggle with our shadow self, with failure, or with wounding, that we break into higher levels of consciousness.” 

In order for us to make real progress in this inward journey of self realization, we need to take the spiritual desert seriously. Many people are afraid to be alone with themselves. That is to say, to face themselves, along with their pain and trauma. Lent is an invitation to open up to and face the inner barriers that keep us from being more fully human.

Jesus calls us individually and corporately to go into the desert with him to learn to trust God, to be present to God in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to struggle with the enemy within us.

The spiritual desert is a tough place where we learn to recognize and work with the pain and distractions that keep us from a deeper life in God, a deeper life in Love.

St.Augustine of Hippo says “we progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial…we can only grow when struggling against temptation and challenge.”

The interior life of struggling with self and more habitually centering on the Love that is Christ is something we must simply practice and do. The spiritual practices of prayer and meditation, of reading sacred scripture, of participating in intentional community, of service to the poor and those in need are foundational practices in Christian living, and can be renewed in Lent. 

Praying that during this Lent, in your silence and solitude, that more space will open up inside of you as you notice the Indwelling Presence filling you with a Love and Compassion that will change and heal the world. 

An Ash Wednesday Reflection

Ash Wednesday and the Lenten journey is an invitation to follow Jesus in the Way of the Cross. It is an invitation to die to our false and passing selves and to wake up and rise with our deeper and truer divine selves in God.

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The mantra of Ash Wednesday and Lent and of our lives.

St.Benedict reminds us that every day we should remind ourselves of our mortality. This is not a morbid remembering. It is a remembering that enables us to let go of that which is passing and to open up to that which is lasting and full of meaning and purpose in our lives. 

On the first Sunday of Lent, Jesus invites us to follow him into the wilderness to struggle with our false selves, our egos and controlling minds. This place of silence and solitude is where real healing and transformation begins. Why? Because we have to face ourselves. Like Jesus, if we want to know resurrection and new life, we have to face our shadow selves.

And the good news is that we are not alone in this journey into self discovery and self awareness (which ultimately leads to God awareness). The Risen Christ journey’s with us as our deepest and truest self. 

God loves us as we are. But God is never done with the work of  evolving us into the fullness of Love. This deep divine Love draws us into a life long process of dying to our false selves and rising to the healing and transformation of the new life of Love.

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

What to do with Suffering?

All of our lives, are filled with pain and suffering. Suffering is not negotiable. And the suffering will be transformative in our lives: it will either make us bitter and miserable, or it will make us compassionate and more alive. 

Like Jesus, we need to learn how to hold on to the pain in our lives, to be present to it, to surrender to it until we’ve learned its lessons. 

This is a great teaching moment where you have the possibility of breaking through to a deeper level of faith and consciousness. There is a greater Divine life beneath the surface of our pain.

If you can surrender and Hold on to the pain of being human…God will transform you through it. And then you will be an instrument of transformation for others.

As an example of holding the pain, picture Mary standing at the foot of the cross. Standing would not be the normal posture of a Jewish woman who is supposed to wail and lament and show pain externally. She’s holding the pain instead. She is present to it, surrendered to it.

Mary is in complete solidarity with the mystery of life and death. She’s trying to say, “There’s something deeper happening here. How can I absorb it just as Jesus is absorbing it?” 

Until you find a way to be a transformer, you will pass the pain onto others.

Jesus on the cross and Mary standing by the cross are images of transformative religion. They are never transmitting the pain to others. 

They hold the suffering… until it becomes resurrection! 

That’s the core mystery. It takes our whole life to comprehend this, and then to become God’s “new creation” (Galatians 6:15). 

Unfortunately, we have the natural instinct to fix pain, to control it, or even, foolishly, to try to understand it. The ego always insists on understanding. That’s why Jesus praises a certain quality even more than love, and he calls it faith. It is the ability to stand on the threshold, until you move to a deeper level where it all eventually makes sense in God’s grace.

Today is Passion Sunday, when we begin to see Jesus’ suffering as transformative for the world.

We are to join our sufferings to Christ’s, and be part of the process of transformation and freedom for ourselves, in our families, and in the world.

YOU can become Good News

Jesus, quoting from the book of Isaiah (Luke 1:14-21), says that he is “anointed to bring good news” 

Jesus is the fulfillment of this scripture.

Likewise it is the Church’s mission to not only bring good news to the poor and to those in need (which is everyone), it is the church’s mission to BE good news.

In the midst of a global pandemic, in the midst of global warming, climate change and ecological disasters, in the midst of very dangerous political polarizations, we, the church, the people of God, are called to BE GOOD NEWS. 

Our lives as spiritual beings are not as much about right belief. For far too long religion has been about who has the “right” belief system. Instead, our spiritual lives are more about RIGHT LIVING.

We do not “think” ourselves in to a new way of thinking, we “live” ourselves into a new way of thinking. 

Our deepening loving and unitive experiences are to change our dualistic and divisive thinking. 

Faith is more about how we live on a daily basis than making verbal assent to this or that idea.

So as a church, it is far more important to BE good news than it is to proclaim good news. 

So how do we “become” good news?

By being changed or transformed from the inside out.

How are we transformed?

By spending intentional and conscious time in the Presence of Christ.

By spending intentional and conscious time in the Presence of Love.

So that we not only think about or talk about love and being loving.

We actually BECOME Love, we become a conduit for Love’s Presence. 

We become Christ to those around us.

We become Love to those around us. 

As we are changed, the Spirit works in us enabling us to make a difference to those whom we meet and reach out to. 

Are you spending time in the prayerful presence of Christ, the presence of Love, and in the process of being transformed from the image to likeness of Christ? Are you becoming good news for those around you and for the world?

What are you doing to support this church’s mission as we, as a diverse and inclusive community of faith, seek to become good news to the communities and world around us?

Advent and Tomorrow's Church

With ongoing church decline, coupled with the behavioural changes consequent to almost two years of living with Covid-19 restrictions, the church is hopefully discerning those facets of its life that are no longer necessary and can be let go of, those aspects that are necessary and should be carried forward, and what is being newly invited. One of the areas of the church’s life that I continue to find life giving is the round of the liturgical year. 

The movement from Advent to Christmas, from Lent to Easter, and the green growth of Ordinary Time, these liturgical seasons give rhythm and balance to the changing seasons of our spiritual life. Each liturgical season has its own particular giftedness, and as it arrives each year, our spirits are ready to receive its gifts. 

As we enter into the liturgical season of Advent, the church invites us to watch and wait for the coming of Christ. This practice of “watching” and “waiting” is foundational to living healthy spiritual lives. Christ not only came to us in history, and is not only going to come at the end of time, but most importantly Christ comes to us in every moment of our lives. Are we watching and waiting? Are we noticing and joining the new and Divine life that is ever emerging in our personal and corporate lives? 

If we don’t have a deepening spiritual practice of watching and waiting for Christ or the emerging Spirit in our lives, then we will miss the new opportunities to become a church relevant for today’s world. 

The church has become smaller during this time of pandemic, and I don’t think there is any recovering of what we were. This is probably a good thing that will help open up new pathways. Consequently, what we “were” is not as important as what we are “becoming.” 

The church has no monopoly on God. God is in God’s world doing what God is doing with or without the church. That being said, God is also in the church, but do we have ears to hear and eyes to see what the Spirit is inviting? 

The liturgical season of Advent reminds us of what we should be doing every moment of our lives. We need to learn how to make space for Christ in our lives, and prepare for Christ’s coming in this moment. As a church we really need to recover the contemplative component of our approach to God. We need to learn to get out of our thinking head space, and lean into our open spiritual heart space. It is from this deep place of Unitive Love where Christ comes to us. When we can watch and wait from this place of spiritual depth, we can join the emerging Spirit and become the church that God needs in the world today. This is not easy. But if the church, and indeed the human species, is to survive, we have to learn to open up to our spiritual depths, and live out of the ever emerging Life that is Christ.