Shining Spirit

In case you can’t read the stone in front of this massive California Redwood, it says: Grandfather Tree Age 1800 years  Height 265 Ft.  Diameter 24 Ft. You have to see it in person to believe it. The forests of Redwoods are testimony to the creative genius of Creation. Yet, the little Mesquite is as valuable, the sparrow and the droplet of ocean water. Be thankful today for the giants of history and for your personal encounters with all the wonders around you.  

The crashing plume of water is created by the powerful ocean rushing into a narrow canyon in the rock, perhaps 10 feet deep. The canyon makes a slight curve at the end and stops abruptly. The water has no choice. It slams into the massive rock and explodes upward, creating a sound like a bomb detonating. Then the water retreats and the rock remains, waiting for the next futile assault. Powerful is an understatement when describing the collision of water and stone. At low tide, when the ocean barely creeps onto the soft sandy beach, the rock canyon is exposed, revealing nature’s art hanging from its walls. Starfish of all colors have attached themselves to the walls, dark reds, pinks, almost purple ones create a gallery of living art. Several times I have walked to the end of the canyon, put my hands on the immovable stone that takes the ocean’s attack, then stood back to admire the artistic designs of starfish.

I give thanks for moments when I come, unknowingly, closer to the deep essence of life. I talk all the time, maybe too much, about seeing beauty, strength, power in the daily flow of life. I think recognizing those things is part of our spiritual journey. But, when you move beyond seeing into experiencing, from observing something to being part of it, that is a magnificent moment. Rare? Perhaps, but possible. Those opportunities flourish all around us. Even today, where you are right now, there is something waiting for your deeper discovery. Never close your eyes in night’s sleep until you have looked back over your day and said to yourself, and to God, “that was the moment.” When this kind of recognition happens once, it’s easier for the next time, and easier for the next time. By the way, you don’t have to walk in a rock canyon and see starfish to have this kind of encounter. It’s right where you are. Waiting for you. At the end of this day, may you smile as you fall asleep, knowing that you have lived. Knowing the fullness of Presence.

Affirmation one more time. Today we leave Manzanita and start the drive home. Yesterday when I was making my final trip through the little downtown, I looked toward the ocean and saw this. I knew instantly what was and what it meant. The speed limit along the main street is 20. Knowing how fragile and fast-moving rainbows can be, I went slightly over the speed limit, jumped out of the car, stood in the middle of the street and took picture after picture. I looked down at my iphone/camera to make a slight adjustment and when I looked up, it was gone.

Confirmation
Affirmation
Revelation
A signal to my soul
All is well

Aside from my wife, who is the most important person in my life, there is one item that will travel tomorrow under my close supervision and care. It is a red, three-ring notebook that contains thoughts, reflections, and poems written during our three-month visit in Manzanita. What follows here is the last page in The Manzanita Collection.

     Rejoice and Sing
 When all was said and all was done,
the last star formed, the moon and the sun,
there remained a void, a place apart,
something missing in the sacred heart.

The blessing of God touched creation's core
but there was, without doubt, something more,
something essential to complete the whole,
one last piece of creation's soul.

It was then that God created Music.

The sounds! O, the sounds that filled the skies.
Never before had angels cried
with joyful tears that spilled over the earth
in honor and praise of Music's birth.

The first gifts that Music bestowed upon man
were the pure, perfect notes of The Maker's plan.
No matter what the future may bring,
lift up your heart, your voice, and sing.

Glory to God! Let creation say:
this is a most remarkable day.
For when, in time, if plagued by wrong,
we possess the gift of sacred song.

Let the universe sing, let the cosmos rejoice
for we now can hear the heavenly voice
in the notes of Music's gifts.

    Sing today at the top of your voice!

One more day in the Magical Kingdom of Manzanita. Day after tomorrow we drive away from our three month adventure, known as winter on the Oregon coast. A store clerk gave me a funny look the other day and said: ”Don’t you have this just backwards? Most people go to Arizona for the winter, and you come here?” And I’d do it again. I’ve filled a large, red three-ring-binder with poems, reflections and prayers, taken hundreds of photographs (one seagull looks like another), lived rather spontaneously, which is somewhat new for me. I usually plan my spontaneity. The space, time, and place have allowed me to collect a book of prayers titled “Songs of My Soul” and to publish “Singing To The Mountain,” a small collection of poems. Sue and I have encountered some very interesting people, eaten a lot of great seafood, walked with the Spirit in ways not possible in the desert, discovered some things about ourselves and confirmed that we are very fortunate and blessed to walk the beach together for all these years. 

Yes, how thankful we are for the gifts of these three months. But you know what? It’s true. There’s no place like home. You don’t know how much you value something special until you don’t have it anymore. That’s why blessing each other right now, and often, is so important. The “I love you” or “I forgive you” or “Thank you” or “I’m proud of you” can never be said too much. This sabbatical to the sea, given and received as blessing, is an affirmation of The Source of all blessing. Among the many important statements in the Christian scripture is this: We love because He first loved us. The capacity to love, while inherent in our human makeup, finds its expression when we realize how much and to what depth we are loved. We are loved to love. We are blessed to bless. Maybe the fullness of life is just that: recognizing love received in order to give it away. May this day be such a time of awareness for you. Thanks be to God for the remarkable gift of this moment.

I could see this in the distance. I turned the car around and slipped through the downtown area as quickly and as safely as possible. When I got to the beach, I double parked the car, left the door open and dashed across the street, up onto a grassy dune and started snapping. A picture doesn’t do justice to the real thing. But, I have nothing to say about this. No comment, no commentary. I simply ask you to sit quietly for three minutes with this picture. When the three-minute timer goes off, ask yourself one question: ”What do I see in the picture that feeds my spirit, expands my soul?” Listen to the deepest part of yourself. All the other stuff can wait.

I’ve never been onboard a modern, commercial fishing boat, but I’m sure they carry highly sophisticated electronics and are constructed with safety in mind. Still hard work, though. Whether your name is James or John and you run a little family fishing business, or you’re the pilot of a high-tech vessel in the 21st century, fishermen learn their trade quickly or they face disaster. No one controls the big waters. Storms pop up quickly, tides rise and fall and a good fisherman is ready. You can see in the picture how close some fishing boats come to the shore, and that’s another danger area. The last thing you want to do is run aground and be at the mercy of the churning ocean. So, the pilot must know where that imaginary sign is located: “Danger Beyond This Point!”

That’s the life works, isn’t it. Knowing where the boundaries are, limits. Sometimes it’s “how far can I go?” At other times it is “how far should I go…how far must I go?” All depends on the circumstances, I suppose. You and I have been there, in that moment when faced with an ethical or moral dilemma, we make the distinctions, the choices to move ahead, stop, or retreat. Boundaries. Limits. Red lights, yellow and green lights. Ignoring them has consequences. The spiritual path we have chosen to follow, The Way of Jesus, calls us to live thoughtfully, compassionately, and often selflessly. Here are some signs along that path: *Love has no limits. *Think! Use the brain God gave you. *Peace requires an open mind. *Justice requires sacrifice. *Caution: Turn around and go the other way. *Be truthful in all things. 

Those signs and many more are inherent in the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus. Fishermen in his time and today depend a lot on inner knowledge, experience. We call it wisdom. And so do pilgrims traveling The Way of Jesus. He is the Source of life’s fullness. He is the Sign Maker. So, if you find yourself faced with an opportunity, a dilemma, a moment of indecision, the first place to turn is into the heart and the mind of Christ. Knowing how and where and why you steer your ship gives you a pretty good chance of reaching your destination. Sail on. 

Yesterday’s posting ended with the suggestion that the Kingdom of God, according to Jesus, is not so much about “saving” as it is about spending, generously giving understanding, compassionate care, hope, love to all people in creation and doing so out of a realization of abundance. That is a function of the new alternative to the brutality and power of the secular kingdom. So, let’s pick up the conversation there.

Another reality about The Way of Jesus: it is not about measuring membership but is about mission. Perhaps you have experience in a church where adding members seemed to be the number one priority. The size of the church somehow signals the depth of faith of members, the skill of leaders. When Jesus talked about building, he meant building up the spirit, the soul of a neighbor or friend. Setting free from bondage will certainly increase one’s hope and change an outlook on society. And that new outlook might lead one to the mission field of your local neighborhood. People of The Way are not counting membership numbers. The are encountering suffering and responding to it as they do the work of God.

Also, in this alternative realm Jesus described, his teachings and demonstrations of love are the standards by which we interpret the scriptures. It’s not the other way around. We ask in a moment of urgency not “what does the bible say” but rather, in this situation what would Jesus do? Jesus is the standard by which we interpret the bible and circulate wonderful news around the world.

Final observation about the work and witness of The People of The Way. On behalf of Jesus they proclaim that Spirit always precedes functional systems. Prayer increases power as one dares to act in the name of Jesus. Spiritual discernment is essential when decisions have to be made. This, I believe, is one of the most important foundational stones of our faith. Systems that reflect integrity and justice are the results of spiritual preparation.

Kingdom thinking is not always easy, just as walking The Way with Jesus is not always simple. I hope these brief conversations have prompted you to some deep thought and new considerations of our calling to be His followers. Never be afraid to ask questions of traditions and practices. Be wary of communities that dismiss or deny spiritual inquiry because it has all the final answers. Kingdom thinking, when done with charity and honesty, opens windows and welcomes fresh breezes. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Press on.

Very early in our common faith history, in the years following the death of Jesus of Nazareth, people who gave their allegiance to his ministry and memory were known as “People of The Way,” The Way meaning the path of belief and spiritual practices that leads to fullness of our humanity, wholeness, the Kingdom of God. But it was the word Kingdom and Jesus’s casual use of the title “King” that got him into trouble and eventually caused his death. This threat to the existing kingdom, that of Caesar, was simply too great. There could be only one kingdom and one king, and that would be the Emperor. Threats were treated harshly as a demonstration of political power. Caesar wanted to rule, control, exercise military power, and crush competitors. Jesus, the apparent leader of the new kingdom movement, the threat to the Roman Empire, wanted to release people from bondage into freedom and show people how to establish an alternative kingdom built on selflessness and compassionate concern for all people. 

Over all the centuries, The Way of Jesus has taken detours, been held hostage by people and movements who want to reshape it according to their own desires and designs. And those efforts have produced variations of The Way, variations that, in my opinion, Jesus would not recognize. For instance, and this is where I declare that you are about to read my own opinions, The Way of Jesus is not about the next life, it is about this life. It is not a plan to get from here to there. It is a way of living that starts exactly now. Freedom from bondage, no matter the bondage, is possible right now. And that was very good news to everyone but Caesar. Then, The Way (substitute Kingdom of God, if you wish) is not about creating competitive religions but about building compassionate relationships. And the first one is with God who is the definition of compassion. In truth, I don’t believe for a moment that Jesus ever thought about the establishment of a new religious order. He never gave any indication of moving away from his Jewish traditions, he just went above and beyond them with startling hospitality to anyone who wanted to know God. His hope was to unite not divide. Also, the movement called The Way was, at its heart, not about saving. It was about spending, freely giving, spiritual and practical generosity. What we know as salvation theology was not his primary message. Saving “for” was not his approach. He was saving “from,” from hunger, from thirst, from illness, from brokenness. Then he said “Go, and do likewise.” And those who chose to follow his instruction, who gave water and food and love to their neighbors, that is, who chose to follow The Way, were, in that moment, citizens of The Kingdom of God. They had been “saved” into the alternative kingdom. Works theology? No, compassion theology; love theology that set people on the pathway to God’s heart. Well, enough to consider for one day. Let’s do it again tomorrow. May the Spirit guide you in all your pondering and in all your praise. Press on.

When I was younger, stronger and physically flexible, I played football for the mighty Hornets of Alex Spence Junior High School. Won a few, lost a few. And one thing I remember about being on that team was the Head Coach, Mr. Whitten, who always reminded us that if we followed the “fundamentals” of the game we would win. Back to the basics, follow the fundamentals. His mantra and theme song. I tell you this because I have been thinking recently about the basics of the Christian faith, and how faith practices would be powerful and persuasive if we followed the fundamental concepts and ideas taught and demonstrated by Jesus. I know that many good books have been written about faith’s basic concepts, and that what I believe to be basic ideas might not be identical to your understanding. That said, I want to spend a few days thinking with you about principles, values, and practices that one might consider fundamentally crucial as a follower of The Way of Jesus.

The term “The Way” was taken on by early Christians who were called “People of The Way.” That term precedes the designation “Christian” and is descriptive of people who followed The Way, a combination of belief and practice. It wasn’t enough to believe without practical application of that belief, and vice versa. So, I start my list of basics with two ideas, both rather universal but filled with practical application and expression. The Way of Jesus is about two things: 1. transforming bondage into freedom and 2. changing the culture by changing the individual. About the first: bondage is not just about prisons and barred windows. Bondage to anything denies the ability one has to make choices. A citizen of a totalitarian regime is in bondage to the political structure, held “captive.” The kingdom of Caesar demands allegiance, and will get it by force, if necessary. The Kingdom of God gives freedom within the boundaries of respect and compassionate concern. Jesus said, to put words into his mouth: bondage is not the way of God. I can show you an alternative, a culture in which you will be human and not hostage.

And that’s number two: kingdoms usually thrive on political control, but my kingdom exists because of the individual expression of compassionate concern. To put it in “political” terms: the kingdom of God is about selfless compassion, not about self-interested control. One kingdom denies the intent of God for the sake of power while the other kingdom develops the fullness of God’s creation. Individuals are kingdom changers. You and you and you and you, by living my way, will remake the culture. These two “basics” are, in my way of thinking, foundational stones. How would you describe the “fundamentals” of your faith? That’s your homework assignment for next time. Come on, let’s be on The Way. We press on.