Church is a funny business, yes? I have come to think at least these things are almost always true in churches in my tradition:
+ We are much more about being "seekers" of God's love than on-fire disciples. This springs from our wounds, but it also keeps us from maturing in the faith, too - and God knows we need some wise and tender elders.
+ I mostly mistrust those who have more certainties than questions - no zealots here, please - has become my unofficial working motto.
+ The contemporary progressive church is profoundly ill-at-ease with God's masculine energies and almost addicted to the feminine face of God - as a corrective, I know - but this is as unhealthy as the last incarnation that denigrated and devalued the feminine.
+ Rarely are we able to bridge the divide between "spirituality" vs. "social justice" people - all to our collective loss.
+ My list of spiritual disciplines no longer include most of those found on any traditional list but DOES include: gratitude, humor, wandering, listening, feasting, dancing, showing up when you don't want to be public and prayer as being open to the presence of God in addition to times of spoken and silent reflection.
Today Richard Rohr put it like this:
If we’re on the path of transformation, we should become more nuanced and subtle as we grow older. We learn how to recognize our own demons. We don’t let them fool us anymore about what’s going on. We also learn to trust our own angels, and allow them to lead, and heal, and guide. Inner experience and inner authority begin to balance out an exclusive reliance upon what the pope or Bible says. God does not want robots, but free and conscious lovers.
And still I rejoice in the blessings of this earthen vessel for it has given me life and connection with grace. Yesterday I was told that only 11% of people in Massachusetts are part of a religious organization: thanks be to God for now we can really get on with living as those seeking Christ without all the bullshit, yes?
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1 comment:
Yes, and hopefully in the process, we don't create new bullshit.
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