NOTE: Today I return to my exploration of a spirituality of tenderness with yet another amplification of what I mean by "the practices of this spirituality" before offering some concrete examples.
My understanding of spiritual
practices – what some call spiritual disciplines or even our
+ Literally repentance in the Hebrew Bible is the unity of
returning (to the way of the Lord) (שוב - shuv) and experiencing a
sense of solidarity with others for the wounds we have caused (נחם – nacham.) It implies a change of direction in how we live,
move, think, feel and speak. One text, Judges 2:18, speaks of God having a
change of heart upon hearing the groans of Israel in suffering. Other texts
include: Psalm 71 and Isaiah 40:
Comfort, O comfort my people says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her
that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her
that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
+ In the Greek texts of the Christian tradition,
repentance comes from the word metanoia (μετάνοια) having to do with a changed mind. That is, we have
a new way of thinking. Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farms, likes to
clarify that metanoia is to the human
mind what metamorphosis is to an
insect or reptile: a complete
transformation of the being that is both more beautiful and more complete. Consider Matthew 3:8: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Or Luke
24:47:
Thus
it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And
see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city
until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Both traditions insist that living into
the tenderness of God’s love – and making this tenderness flesh in our
generation – requires a change of direction in our daily lives and a transformation
of the way we think and feel. That is, repentance demands both the grace born
of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, and, a personal commitment to living into a
new way of being. Fr. Richard Rohr likes
to say that too often Christians act like faith is only an abstract,
intellectual set of truths to be considered rather than a transformation of our
entire being. He writes: "What we see
in many of the Eastern religions is not an emphasis upon verbal orthodoxy, but
instead an emphasis upon practices and lifestyles that, if you do them (not
think about them, but do them), your consciousness will gradually change… We don't think ourselves into a new way of
living; we live ourselves into a new way of thinking." He goes on to observe that:
The genuinely new or different is always a threat to the small
self. Unless there is something strong enough to rearrange our worldview, call
our assumptions into question, and also engage our heart and body ("at the
cellular level," as I like to call it), we will seldom move to new
interior or exterior places. God has a hard time getting us to join Abraham and
Sarah in "leaving your country and your family for a new land that I will
show you" (Genesis 12:1-2). Yet that is our foundational paradigm for the
journey of faith.
The Dalai Lama said it
well: "Every change of mind is first of all a change of heart." I
would add: "Every change of heart is soon a change of mind." This is
the urgently needed work of mature spirituality. Perhaps this seems strange
coming from someone who writes and talks as much as I do, but my experience as
a teacher has led me to this conclusion. Many folks over the years, even very
good-willed people, have read and listened to my presentations of the Gospel
yet have actually done very little--in terms of lifestyle changes, economic or
political rearrangements, or naming their own ego or shadow selves. After all,
"Isn't church about believing ideas to be true or false? Isn't
religion about attending services?" Most people just listen to my ideas
and judge them to be true or false. They either "like" or "don't
like" them. But thinking about ideas or making judgments about what is
moral or immoral seldom leads to a radically new consciousness. Transformative
education is not asking you to believe or disbelieve in any doctrines or
dogmas. Rather it is challenging you to "Try this!" Then you will
know something to be true or false for yourself.
This is a call to repentance
– contemplation AND action, giving AND receiving, birthing AND dying – it is an
embodied change in the direction that simultaneously nourishes an altered,
counter-cultural presence in the world and makes us whole.
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