towards embodied trust...

To say that I've wrestled with a fundamental paradox in Western Christianity in many of its forms for most of my life would be an understatement: why is the way of Jesus, God's word made flesh, so abstract and cerebral? Why has our spiritual formation been essentially the training of the mind? Orthodoxy - right thought - rather than orthopraxis - right action? Not that I am advocating the know-nothing, anti-intellectualism that has polluted so much of our common life in these quasi-United States. I celebrate creative, in-depth theological queries and value the great religious minds that have helped articulate what a deep life of faith looks like in real time: Dorothee Soelle, Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, Harvey Cox, Joan Chittister, Gertrud Mueller-Nelson, Kathleen Norris, Douglas John Hall, Walter Brueggemann, Henri Nouwen, Elie Wiesel, Parker Palmer, Amy Jill Levine, Lawrence Kushner, James Nelson, James Cone, Abraham Heschel, Paul Tillich, Carl Jung, St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Paul, Ed Hays, and Howard Thurman to name the most important for me as well as the author of the anonymous mystical classic: Cloud of Unknowing.

Somewhere along the way a charismatic friend stated that faith was NOT only an intellectual endeavor: faith was the difference between thinking that a chair would support my weight - orthodoxy - and actually sitting in it - orthopraxis! My charismaniac phase put me in touch with some beautiful aspects of embodied faith - certainly the ecstasy of some of our worship back in the day was sensually exhilarating - and yet most of my formation (even in this subset of Western Christianity) was hyper-abstract and profoundly cerebral. I don't think that I ever came across a set of practices and/or teachings concerning embodied trust: knowing in my flesh and limbs that God's love is the ultimate truth of creation. Celtic spirituality has helped: it is grounded in God's first word in nature. The newly crafted liturgical season of Creation has deepened my awareness that trust/faith is incarnational, too. And, some feminist/womanist writing along with some First Nations spirituality moves in this direction as well.

+ I suspect that embodied trust is at the core of the spiritual practices Dorothy C. Bass et al at Valparaiso University and later at Calvin College have worked so hard to articulate and advocate, too. (see both: https://centerforcongregations.org/ resource/practicing-our-faith as well as https://goodfaithmedia .org/valparaiso-project-launches-faith-practices-web-site-cms-1077/)

+ Certainly this has been at the heart of the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico as well as the insights the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault has shared in her Wisdom workshops. (see https://cac.org/introductory-wisdom-school/)

For the past 15 years I have been closing-in on this contradiction through my focus on a spirituality of tenderness. This put me back in touch with Jean Vanier and L'Arche. (NOTE: I was moved and enriched by Jean's writing. I was sickened and frustrated by his abuse - and the abuse done to him by his mentor. Sorting this out is still a work in progress, but as Krista Tippett has said: Jean's legacy is a mess that we're still unraveling.) At L'Arche, I have experienced radical acceptance, a way of being faithful that is simple, trusting, and incarnational. And a sense that grace born of listening and being present that is far more salvific than most of the words written about the meaning of faith. That is, living into a trust that is animated from the inside of our flesh outward is essential. 

As I gather my gear for our trek to Montreal and Ottawa - and as we walk about those grand places quietly - I am going to be practicing some yoga prayers as well as some silent, centering meditation. Maybe you want to join me...?