Father Richard Rohr connects lessons from the Gospels and the Twelve Steps as life-changing and healing messages that we can all benefit from. 

I am convinced that, on a practical level, the gospel message of Jesus and the Twelve Step message of Bill Wilson are largely the same message. The Twelve Step Program parallels, mirrors, and makes practical the same messages that Jesus gave us, but without as much danger of spiritualizing the message and pushing its effects into a future world.  

Here are four assumptions that I am making about addiction: 

We are all addicts. Human beings are addictive by nature. Addiction is a modern name and honest description for what the biblical tradition called “sin” and medieval Christians called “passions” or “attachments.” They both recognized that serious measures or practices were needed to break us out of these illusions and entrapments.  

“Stinking thinking” is the universal addiction. Substance addictions like alcohol and drugs are merely the most visible forms of addiction, but actually we are all addicted to our own habitual ways of doing anything, our own defenses, and most especially, our patterned way of thinking and processing reality. These attachments are at first hidden to us; by definition, we can never see or handle what we are addicted to, but we cannot heal what we do not first acknowledge. 

All societies are addicted to themselves and create deep codependency. There are shared and agreed-upon addictions in every culture and every institution. These are often the hardest to heal because they do not look like addictions. We have all agreed to be compulsive about the same things and unaware of the same problems. The gospel exposes those lies in every culture.  

Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from the addicted self and from cultural lies. If the universal addiction is to our own pattern of thinking, which is invariably dualistic, the primary spiritual path must be some form of contemplative practice or prayer to break down this unhelpful binary system of either-or thinking and superiority thinking. Prayer is a form of non-dual resting in “what is.” Eventually, this contemplative practice changes our whole operating system!  

Let me sum up, then. These are the foundational ways that I believe Jesus and the Twelve Steps of AA are saying the same thing but with different vocabulary:  

We suffer to get well.  
We surrender to win.  
We die to live.  
We give it away to keep it.  

This counterintuitive wisdom will forever be resisted, denied, and avoided, until it’s forced upon us by some reality over which we are powerless—and, if we’re honest, we are all powerless in the presence of full Reality.  

We are all spiritually powerless, not just those who are physically addicted to a substance. Alcoholics simply have their powerlessness visible for all to see. The rest of us disguise it in different ways, and overcompensate for our more hidden and subtle addictions and attachments. 

The Grace of Powerlessness

I cannot understand my own behavior. I fail to carry out the very things I want to do and find myself doing the very things I hate … for although the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not. —Romans 7:15, 18 

Admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
—Step 1 of the Twelve Steps 

Father Richard affirms the essential and difficult task of admitting our own powerlessness: 

As many teachers of the Twelve Steps have said, the first Step is probably the hardest, most denied, and most avoided. Letting go isn’t in anybody’s program for happiness, and yet all mature spirituality is about letting go and unlearning.  

Jesus used the metaphors of a “grain of wheat” (John 12:24) or a “branch cut off from the vine” (John 15:2) to describe the arrogant ego. Paul used the unfortunate word “flesh,” which made most people think he was talking about the body. Yet both Jesus and Paul were pointing to the isolated and protected small self, and both said it has to go. Its concerns are too small and too selfish. An ego response is always an inadequate or even wrong response to the moment. It will not deepen or broaden life, love, or inner peace. Since it has no inner substance, our ego self is always attached to mere externals. The ego defines itself by its attachments and revulsions. The soul does not attach, nor does it hate; it desires and loves and lets go.  

What the ego hates more than anything else is to change—even when the present situation isn’t working or is horrible. Instead, we do more and more of what does not work. The reason we do anything one more time is because the last time did not really satisfy us deeply. As English poet W. H. Auden wrote, “We would rather be ruined than changed, / We would rather die in our dread / Than climb the cross of the moment / And let our illusions die.” [1]  

Rabbi Rami Shapiro names the paradox of powerlessness and surrender to God: 

The fundamental and paradoxical premise of Twelve Step recovery as I experience it is this: The more clearly you realize your lack of control, the more powerless you discover yourself to be… [and] the more natural it is for you to be surrendered to God. The more surrendered to God you become, the less you struggle against the natural flow of life. The less you struggle against the flow of life, the freer you become. Radical powerlessness is radical freedom, liberating you from the need to control the ocean of life and freeing you to learn how best to navigate it.…  

We are all addicted to control, and it is to this greater addiction that I wish to speak. The deepest truth of Step 1 requires us to admit that we are powerless over our lives, and that life itself is unmanageable.

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God Does Not Play Chicken

Click Here for Audio The game of chicken is one of nerve, courage, and idiocy. Two racers speed toward each other on a collision course. The first person to turn away, and thereby save both from calamity, loses and is labeled a “chicken.” Some of us played this game as children on our bicycles, and most of us outgrew it—at least the physical version of the game. Sadly, some adults still engage in games of emotional chicken. Two people set themselves on a relational collision course, each refusing to change direction or give in to the other. The first one to flinch in the standoff relinquishes his power in the relationship. It’s incredibly childish and self-defeating, but some still believe that refusing to surrender or compromise is a mark of resolve and strength. They think their happiness requires the other person’s misery. This is the game the older son was playing in Jesus’ parable. He refused to enter the house and join the party celebrating the return of his younger brother. Instead, he had a pity party for himself out in the field waiting for his father to notice his absence. By standing his ground, the older son tried to show the father the intensity of his anger. For the son it was a standoff; a battle of wills. But the father didn’t play his game. He did not test his resolve. Rather, Jesus says, “The father came out to speak with him.” Despite being the elder, and despite being right, the father humbled himself and made the first move toward his arrogant son. This behavior shouldn’t surprise us. After all, the father acted similarly toward his younger son when he ran out to meet and embrace him. For the father, preserving his reputation was not nearly as important as reaching his children.If the gospels tell us anything it’s that our Lord is not afraid to appear weak. He is not preoccupied with what others think, with being taken seriously, or with being perceived as weak. In fact, it is precisely Christ’s strength that allowed him to endure the shame heaped upon him by the world. Like him, we are not to be stubborn when wronged or expect the other person to change before we engage. Instead, we are called to copy God and make the first move; to find the other person and seek reconciliation. The world says the “chicken” is the person who bends and the strong person is the one who stands his ground. In God’s kingdom, it is precisely the opposite. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 15:11-32 MATTHEW 5:23-24 ROMANS 12:16-19 WEEKLY PRAYER By Thomas Dekker (1570 – 1623) O God, the true and only life, in whom and from whom and by whom are all good things that are good indeed; from whom to be turned is to fall, to whom to turn is to rise again; in whom to abide is to dwell forever, from whom to depart is to die; to whom to come again is to revive, and in whom to lodge is to live: take away from me whatever you will, so that you give me only yourself. Amen.

The point appears to be not just to stay the same your whole life but to grow, to really grow and open, grow in seeing, grow in awareness.
—Paula D’Arcy 

Retreat leader Paula D’Arcy recounts how she was transformed by the deep grief of losing her husband and daughter to a drunk driver:  

My call to this work came slowly because it didn’t come out of the light, it came out of an experience of darkness. During that period of time, I had an overwhelming sense that everything I had ever believed was too small—not necessarily wrong but needing to grow or expand. One of the things I confronted was my idea that the proof of a loving God was when things in your life were favorable. But in the face of my loss and all that had happened, something in me could not deny that God was nevertheless loving and with me. A considerable shift in my awareness was beginning to take place.  

I also had a growing sense that the darkness I felt was not a darkness without hope. The dark was luminous. It wasn’t something I could name at the time, I simply felt it to be from a realm greater than my human experience, and that it wanted to help me if I would turn toward it.   

I guess I would call it a force of love, and when I encountered it, my aliveness was heightened, right in the midst of the grief. All the things I used to worry about and focus on no longer mattered. As I focused on this love, my perspective grew. I understood for the first time that I wasn’t controlling anything. Life was happening on its own, and my eyes began to open to the whole world and all its suffering. I was hardly the first person to lose a husband or a child, but in my former comfortable life, before it happened to me, I hadn’t given this a lot of thought. But now that suffering was a lived experience, I realized there was so much I needed to change about how I understood life. I had to move beyond my old conclusions.  

The way I prayed changed during this time. Prior to my loss, my prayers had been petitions for things I hoped to have or intercessions for others. Now my one prayer was, “Show me. Show me,” or, “Teach me how to see.” A guidance from within began transforming me through that prayer. I felt a sincere desire to help others realize what I had begun to realize—that in the times for which there are no easy answers and when your suffering is great, something from within is able to help you, and wants to help you. It called me forward, and once I gave it my full attention, even though my circumstances were unchanged, I was changing. As my heart continued to open, I saw everything through new eyes.   

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5 For Friday John Chaffee

1.
“The monk is separated from all things, and united with all things.”

• Evagrios the Solitary, 4th Century Desert Monk
   
  Binary oppositional thinking is something that religious thinking tends to subvert.

For instance, you might expect a spiritual master such as Evagrios to say that a Christ follower is separated from all things OR united from all things.  They are to be unique/set apart/distant from/detached from all things OR they are to be united/one with/in solidarity with/attached to all things.

But to hold the two truths next to each other in a way that is not exclusive?  That is paradoxical and exceeds what logic can allow.

Even still, I have been mulling over this quote.  There seems to be so much packed into this one, single sentence.

2.
“You will know your vocation by the joy it brings you.”

• Dorothy Day, Founder of Catholic Worker
   
  I don’t know if I am living into my vocation yet, but I admit there are parts of my life that bring me quite a bit of joy and purpose.

Perhaps then the task is to chase after the joy (which is not the same thing as happiness).

3.
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results..”

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
   
  To Kill a Mockingbird is something I first read around 8th grade, and this quote leads me to think that it is past time to read it again.

When I hear of Christian folks who do not believe in social justice, or who believe that it is not a high priority for the Christian, I am so very confused.  My reading and understanding of the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament is that the Divine is very much concerned with whether or not our social structures and the organizing of our neighborhoods are conducive to human flourishing.

However, for Harper Lee to contrast the alcoholic and the Bible-thumper in such a way that the Bible-thumper seems to do more passive harm to the world by neglecting it is a bold task.  Rather, it drives the point that one can be “too heavenly minded they are no earthly good.”

In fact…

Here is a link to a Johnny Cash song called “No Earthly Good.”

4.
“No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees…or the silence and peace that is “heard” when the rain wanders freely among the hills and forests.
 
But what can the wind say where there is no hearer?”

• Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk
   
  Take a walk in the woods.

They have holy mysteries to share with you if you can be silent among them.

5.
“Losing makes you grow.  Who wants to grow with me?”

• Good News First by Listener
   
  Over the past 15 years I have probably seen Listener play live 5-6 times.  They are a spoken word/slam poetry over music group.  The lead singer, Dan Smith, used to be in a rap group but felt too constrained by rap as a genre.  He is one of the best lyricists if you ask me.

This line comes from early on in the song and it reappears several times throughout.

If I remember correctly, this line happened to me somewhere around 2013 when I felt as though I was losing everything around me and I was myself feeling like a bit of a loser.  Suffice it to say, it reframed “losing” for me.  If losing helps us grow, and growing helps us win, then we can be courageous and hold our chin up as we walk straight into losing/failure knowing that it will help us to grow in the end.

I even love the fact that the line is not, “Who wants to go with me?”  That is a clever pun.  Do you see what I mean that Dan Smith is a great lyricist?

Who else wants to grow with me?.

Father Richard describes how contemplation sustains our transformation: 

We can experience the Absolute in a transformative moment that relativizes everything and invites us into the world of love and grace. We can allow our opinions on politics, economics, race, and gender to gradually be changed. But these things are just sort of badges of how enlightened we are unless we find a way to go deep with them. Unless we are led to some kind of contemplative practices that continually reveal our dualistic, argumentative, and biased ways of thinking, we won’t move into a new stage of life. We’ll just have opinions. What we really need is a sustained practice that rewires and transforms our hearts and minds.  

The sustained practice of contemplation involves letting go of all the things that we use to define our so-called separate selves. It helps us access our True Self, the part of us that is always connected to God. Contemplation teaches us how to live in this open place where we watch reality come and go. We learn from it and let it change us. [1] 

Brian McLaren suggests a contemplative practice focused on being “here” with God:  

Here is the simple word by which we show up, respond to the one calling our name. Here is the way we name where we are—pleasant or unpleasant, desired or not—and declare ourselves present to God’s presence…. 

The simple word here … subverts the assumption that we have God named, figured out, and properly “targeted.” Instead, it places us out in the woods, so to speak, calling out so that we can be found by the one seeking us: “Here I am, in the presence of a mystery. Here I am, in the presence of a Presence who transcends, surpasses, overflows, and exceeds every attempt at definition, description, and even conception. Here you are, whoever you are…. May the real I and the real you become present to one another here and now.”  

Whether I feel I’m seeking God, calling out, “Is anybody here?” or whether I feel God is calling out to me and I respond, “Here I am!” I think the simple word here can do something amazingly comprehensive. Through it, I show up. I come out of hiding. I let myself be found…. This acknowledgement of mutual here-ness becomes the prelude to mutual nearness.…  

This kind of awakening begins the transformation of a religious … life into a spiritual life, a life with God—not later and elsewhere, but here and now. How much higher and wider and deeper and richer our lives become when we awaken to the presence of the real, wild, mysterious, living God…. We can respond with presentation [of ourselves], saying “Here I am, Lord. I present myself to you, presenting yourself to me.” We begin to live with a perpetual Here I am, and here you are, in our hearts, inviting constant, vital connection, unbroken communion, lifelong friendship—starting right here, starting right now. [2] 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Stay calmly conscious of Me today, no matter what. Remember that I go before you as well as with you into the day. Nothing takes Me by surprise. I will not allow circumstances to overwhelm you, so long as you look to Me. I will help you cope with whatever the moment presents. Collaborating with Me brings blessings that far outweigh all your troubles. Awareness of My Presence contains Joy that can endure all eventualities.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 23:1-4 (NLT)
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3     He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
Additional insight regarding Psalm 23:1: In describing the Lord as a shepherd, David wrote out of his own experience because he had spent his early years caring for sheep (1st Samuel 16:11,11). Sheep are completely dependent on the shepherd for provision, guidance, and protection. The New Testament calls Jesus the good shepherd (John 10:11), the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20), and the Great Shepherd (1st Peter 5:4). As the Lord is the good shepherd, so we are his sheep – not frightened, passive animals, but obedient followers, wise enough to follow one who will lead us in the right places and in the right ways. This psalm does not focus on the animal-like qualities of sheep but on the discipleship qualities of those who follow. When you recognize the good shepherd, follow him!

Additional insight regarding Psalm 23:2-3: When we allow God, our shepherd, to guide us, we have contentment. When we choose to sin and go on our own way, however, we cannot blame God for the environment we create for ourselves. Our shepherd knows the “green meadows” and “peaceful streams” that will restore us. We will reach these places only by following him obediently. Rebelling against the shepherd’s leading is actually rebelling against our own best interests. We must remember this the next time we are tempted to go our own way rather than the shepherd’s way.

2nd Corinthians 4:16-17 (NLT)
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

Additional insight regarding 2nd Corinthians 4:16: It is easy to lose heart and quit. We all have faced problems in our relationships or in our work that has caused us to think about giving up. Rather than quitting when persecution wore him down, Paul concentrated on the inner strength that came from the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:16). Don’t let fatigue, pain, or criticism force you off the job. Renew your commitment to serving Christ. Don’t forsake your eternal reward because of the intensity of today’s pain. Your very weakness allows the resurrection power of Christ to strengthen you moment by moment.

Drawing on the work of American thinker Ken Wilber, Father Richard describes three stages of transformation: Growing Up, Waking Up, and Cleaning Up. 

Growing Up refers to the process of psychological and emotional maturity that persons commonly undergo, both personally and culturally. We all grow up, even though inside our own bubbles. The social structures that surround us highly color, strengthen, and also limit how much we can grow up and how much of our own shadow self we will be able to face and integrate. But any full growing up has to be a growing outward and not just upward; in other words, we can be aware without being caring—which is not to be very aware!  

By Waking Up we are speaking of any spiritual experience which overcomes our experience of the self as separate from Being in general. This is variously referred to as enlightenment, awakening, or unitive consciousness, and it should be the full Christian meaning of salvation. Unfortunately, we pushed all waking up into something that would hopefully happen later, in heaven or after death, or as a reward for good behavior in this world. This was a major loss and defeat for Christianity and a disastrous misplacement of attention. We became a religion of religious transactions more than spiritual transformation.  

Waking up should be the goal of all spiritual work, sacraments, and Bible study, but, at least in the West, this has not been the case. Because we were not practice-based for the most part, and had a bias against inner experience, it seemed very presumptuous to actually believe—or believe possible—the conclusion of every significant mystic: Jesus’ “I and the Father are one” (see John 10:30), Augustine’s “God is closer to me than I am to myself,” [1] or Catherine of Genoa’s “My deepest me is God.” [2] Organized Christianity largely described waking up in terms of growing up, and that growing up was almost entirely interpreted in highly moralistic terms—and even that morality was largely culturally defined!  

We ministers talked, wrote, and preached about Cleaning Up the most, but actually did this very poorly. We happily reminded people of their moral failings with regular shaming and reminders of their sins, particularly the “hot” ones. This led to religion being identified almost exclusively with morality, rather than any deep transformation of consciousness. Hear me, please. We do indeed need to clean up, but this largely involves putting boundaries to our natural egocentricity, which does have the potential to wake us up to the illusion of our separateness over time. The goal in waking up is not personal or private perfection, but surrender, love, and union with God. Any preoccupation with my private moral perfection keeps my eyes on myself and not on God or grace or love. Cleaning up is largely about the need for early impulse control and creating necessary ego boundaries so we can actually show up in the real and much bigger world.  

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Saved From vs. Saved For

When the younger son finally returned and was embraced by his father, it meant he’d successfully escaped poverty, starvation, and death in a distant country. This perspective, however, only looks back at what the son was saved from, it does not look ahead to what he was saved for.There is a detail in Jesus’ parable we must not overlook. The son begins apologizing to his father for his rebellion, but the father never responds or even acknowledges his remarks. Instead, the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.” These adornments—particularly the ring—are symbols of the son’s identity and status. The son only hoped to become a servant in the father’s house, but instead, he was given back his full dignity as an heir with all of the authority the role includes. He will again rule with his father over the estate. Within too many Christian communities we fixate on what we are saved from— sin, death, and damnation—but we lack any vision of what we have been saved for. In the beginning, God created humanity to rule over creation on his behalf; we are to be God’s image-bearers on the earth who labor with him to bring all things into full, glorious flourishing. Like the younger son, however, our calling was interrupted when we rebelled against our heavenly Father.Through Christ, our full status and dignity as God’s children are restored. We aren’t merely saved from death and sin, we are also saved to reign with God and join him in the restoration of his creation. Many of us, like the younger son, come to our heavenly Father seeking to be rescued from the past and pulled out of the pit of sin we have fallen into. He certainly does that, but we then fail to celebrate the exalted status to which we have been lifted which is far above that of a servant, slave, or even restored sinner. He has made us a daughter or son with the full privileges, rights, and authority to rule alongside our heavenly Father. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 15:11-24 GALATIANS 4:1-7 2 TIMOTHY 2:11-13 WEEKLY PRAYERFrom John of Damascus (676 – 749)Master and Lord, Jesus Christ our God, you alone have authority to forgive my sins, whether committed knowingly or in ignorance, and make me worthy to receive without condemnation your divine, glorious, pure and life-giving mysteries, not for my punishment, but for my purification and sanctification, now and in your future kingdom. For you, Christ our God, are compassionate and love humanity, and to you we give glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already blazing.” —Luke 12:49 

Richard Rohr’s faith is strengthened by acknowledging that everything changes: 

The inner process of change and growth is fundamental to everything, even our bodies. Having undergone several surgeries, cancer, and a heart attack, I’ve been consoled by the way my body takes care of itself over time. In religion, however, many people prefer magical, external, one-time transactions instead of this universal pattern of growth and healing—which always includes loss and renewal. This is the way that life perpetuates itself in ever-new forms: through various changes that can feel like death. This pattern disappoints and scares most of us, even many clergy who think death and resurrection is just a doctrinal statement about Jesus.  

Religions tend to idealize and protect the status quo or the supposedly wonderful past, yet what we now recognize is how they often focus on protecting their own power and privilege. God does not need our protecting. We often worship old things as substitutes for eternal things. Jesus strongly rejects this love of the past and one’s private perfection, and he cleverly quotes Isaiah (29:13) to do it: “In vain do they worship me, teaching merely human precepts as if they were doctrines” (Matthew 15:9). Some Christians seem to think that God really is “back there,” in the good ol’ days of old-time religion when God was really God, and everybody was happy and pure. As if that time ever existed! This leaves the present moment empty and hopeless—not to speak of the future.  

God keeps creating things from the inside out, so they are forever yearning, developing, growing, and changing for the good. This is the fire God has cast upon the Earth, the generative force implanted in all living things, which grow both from within—because they are programmed for it—and from without—by taking in sun, food, and water. Picture YHWH breathing into the soil that became Adam (Genesis 2:7). That is the eternal pattern. God is still breathing into soil every moment! [1]  

There is not a single discipline studied today that does not recognize change, development, growth, and some kind of evolving phenomenon: psychology, cultural anthropology, history, physical sciences, philosophy, social studies, art, drama, music, on and on. But in theology’s search for the Real Absolute, it made one fatal mistake. It imagined a static “unmoved mover,” as Aristotelian philosophy called it, a solid substance sitting above somewhere.  

To fight transformative and evolutionary thinking is, for me, to fight the very core concept of faith. I have no certain knowledge of where this life might be fully or finally heading, but I can see what has already been revealed with great clarity—that life and knowledge always build on themselves, are cumulative, and are always moving outward toward ever-greater connection and discovery. There is no stopping this and no returning to a static notion of reality. [2]   

Authentic Experience and Transformation 

Father Richard names transformation as the fruit of an authentic spiritual path:  

For much of my life, I’ve been trying to facilitate transformation—conversion, change of consciousness, change of mind. The transformed mind lets us see how we process reality. It allows us to step back from our own personal processor so we can be more honest about what is really happening. Transformation isn’t merely a change of morals, group affiliation, or belief system—although it might lead to that—but a change at the very heart of the way we receive and pass on each moment. Do we use the moment to strengthen our own ego position, or do we use the moment to enter into a much broader seeing and connecting?  

Authentic God experience always leads toward service, toward the depths, the margins, toward people suffering or considered outsiders. Little by little we allow our politics, economics, classism, sexism, racism, homophobia, and all superiority games to lose their former rationale. Our motivation foundationally changes from security, status, and control to generosity, humility, and cooperation. [1] 

Activist Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove tells how his transformed Christian faith led him to work for racial justice:  

Twenty years ago, Jesus interrupted my racial blindness….   

I was both born into an economy built on race-based slavery and baptized in a church that broke fellowship with sisters and brothers who said God was opposed to slavery. White supremacy isn’t something I chose, but I have to own it. It is my inheritance. In this, I am not alone.…  

By God’s grace, I was invited into a [Black] church that offers a real alternative to the patterns and practices of this death-dealing system. My life in that beloved community has ushered me into a moral movement that not only offers the possibility of a better politic but also connects me to beloved community beyond my own faith tradition—a confluence of streams that make up that great river Revelation [22:1–2] images as the chief corridor in the polis[city] that is to come, right here on earth as it is in heaven…. 

The only gospel that can be good news to me is the one that has the power to touch me down on the inside and heal the hidden wound that rends my soul. Reconstructing the gospel can never only be about the individual. This is why so many noble efforts at reconciliation fail. They pretend that broken people with the best of motives can simply opt out of hundreds of years of history through individual choices and relationships. Such relationships are necessarily dishonest, both because they ignore the real material conditions that weigh on people’s lives and because they offer a false sense of relief from white guilt, which keeps people like me from facing the hidden wound of our whiteness.…  

For white people who have learned to think of themselves as naturally in control, the rare experience of vulnerability introduces the possibility of the essential soul work that might lead to conversion. [2] 

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A Long Way Off

The most shocking part of Jesus’ parable, at least for his original audience, was undoubtedly the father’s reaction when he saw his son. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Given the magnitude of the son’s disrespect and disregard for his father, most would have expected a very different response. In fact, it would have been acceptable and even required, for the son to be stoned to death for dishonoring his father. This is when we must recall why Jesus told the story to begin with. Jesus used this parable to explain why he welcomed and embraced sinners. The story is meant to reveal the heart of God, therefore the father in the parable does not act as one would expect a first-century Jewish patriarch to behave. Instead, Jesus used the father in the story to illustrate the character of our heavenly Father.To understand the link between the father in the story and God we must remember two things. First, the father in the story allowed his rebellious younger son to have his inheritance, leave his home, and squander it on sinful self-indulgence. No respectable man in Jesus’ audience would have permitted that, but God is not bound by our cultural expectations. He gives us the freedom to choose our path—even if it leads to self-destruction. Likewise, Jesus invited many to follow him, but he also allowed many to walk away. Second, no respectable Jewish man would publicly embarrass himself by running to embrace a rebellious child. The father’s love in Jesus’ story, however, far outweighed his anger or even his honor. This is what so many of us, like Jesus’ original audience, fail to recognize about God. We think he is driven by anger, or holiness, or the need to magnify his own reputation. While there is some truth in each of these, Jesus wants us to see that overwhelming and filling all of these aspects of God’s character is his love. While you were still a long way off, it was not God’s anger that led him to embrace you. While you were still a long way off, it was not Jesus’ desire for honor that led him to accept a humiliating death for your sins. Above all else, it was his love. And if you are still a long way off, remember that it is God’s love, not his anger, that you will receive when you return. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 15:11-24 EPHESIANS 2:17-21 ROMANS 5:10-11 WEEKLY PRAYER From John of Damascus (676 – 749) Master and Lord, Jesus Christ our God, you alone have authority to forgive my sins, whether committed knowingly or in ignorance, and make me worthy to receive without condemnation your divine, glorious, pure and life-giving mysteries, not for my punishment, but for my purification and sanctification, now and in your future kingdom. For you, Christ our God, are compassionate and love humanity, and to you we give glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and forever and ever. Amen.

Father Richard describes how practicing contemplation moves us beyond dualistic thinking:  

I used to think most of us begin with contemplation and a unitive encounter with God and are then led through that experience to awareness of and solidarity with the suffering in the world by some form of action. I do think that’s true for many people, yet as I read the biblical prophets and observe Jesus’ life, I think the reverse also happens: first action, and then needed contemplation.  

No life is immune from suffering. When we’re in solidarity with people facing pain, injustice, war, oppression, colonization—the list goes on and on—we face immense pressure to despair, to become angry or dismissive. When reality is split dualistically between good and bad, right and wrong, we too are torn apart. Yet when we’re broken, we are most open to contemplation, or nondual thinking. We’re desperate to resolve our own terror, anger, and disillusionment, and so we allow ourselves to be led into the silence that holds everything together in wholeness.  

The contemplative, nondual mind is not saying, “Everything is beautiful,” even when it’s not. However, we may come to “Everything is still beautiful” by contemplatively facing the conflict between how reality is and how we wish it could be. We must face dualistic problems, name good and evil, and differentiate between right and wrong. We can’t be naive about evil, but if we stay focused on this duality, we’ll become unlovable, judgmental, dismissive people. I’ve witnessed this pattern in myself. We must eventually find a bigger field, a wider frame, which we call nondual thinking.  

Jesus doesn’t hesitate to name good and evil and to show evil as a serious matter. Jesus often speaks in dualistic images; for example, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). He draws a stark line between the sheep and the goats, the good and the wicked (Matthew 25:31–46). Yet Jesus overcomes these dualisms by what we would call the contemplative mind. We must be honest about what the goats fail to do, but we can’t become hateful, nor do we need to punish them. We keep going deeper until we can also love them, as Jesus did. 

Beginning with necessary, dualistic action and moving toward contemplation seems to be the more common path these days. We see this pattern in Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others. Such people enter into the pain of society and have to go to God to find rest for their soul, because their souls are so torn by the broken, split nature of almost everything, including themselves.  

The most important word in our Center’s name is not Action, nor is it Contemplation, but the word and. We need both action and contemplation to have a whole spiritual journey. It doesn’t matter which comes first; action may lead us to contemplation and contemplation may lead us to action. But finally, they need and feed each other.  

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Five for Friday Skye Jatheni

1.”I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It’s almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building.”- Bono, Lead Singer of U2I have shared this quote before, but Bono touches on a perennial topic here. Of course, everything depends on how you understand religion. Religion is a bit like a cup that carries coffee to me.  The cup needs the coffee and the coffee needs the cup. A cup without coffee is pointless and deserves to be moved on from, yet some people cling to it because it once had a good experience of coffee in it. Coffee without a cup is a mess, it spills everywhere and burns us, and it becomes a desperate experience to hold the coffee in our own hands. All said, I agree with Bono.  I just would take the metaphor in a different direction.  Religion needs Spirit or else it is like an empty coffee cup, and Spirit needs Religion because it paradoxically needs a finite little cup for us to experience it. 2.”There is no part of the world, no matter how lost, no matter how godless, that has not been accepted by God in Jesus Christ and reconciled to God.”- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran PastorBonhoeffer was the first pastor and theologian I ever heard who gave a full treatment to the New Testament idea of the “reconciliation of all things.” It is a topic that I believe is avoided and not fully taught in Western Christianity because it completely challenges the entire framework.  Western Christianity seems to be beholden to the idea that some things or people are saved and others are damned, some are reconciled because of what they have done or prayed while others are choosing their own perdition. In full honesty, when I did church work, I was reprimanded and told not talk about it or teach it. Anyways, here is what Paul says in Colossians 1:15-20… “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” I swear, it feels as though the reconciliation of all things in Christ is a taboo secret that should never have become such a taboo secret. 3.“The Christian of the future will be a mystic or they will not exist at all.”- Karl Rahner, German Jesuit TheologianNot an Evangelical, not a Pastor, not a Theologian, not a Catholic, not a Baptist, not an Eastern Orthodox, not a Methodist, not a Lutheran, not an Activist, not a Politician, not a Biblical Scholar, not anything like those things. If the Christian of the future is not encouraged to experience or taught how to experience God in all things and all things in God, if they are not romanced by the mystery of the Presence in everything, then they will not exist at all. Rahner writes about this topic in The Mystical Way in Everyday Life. 4.”When the intellect attains prayer that is pure and free from passion, the demons attack no longer with sinister thoughts but with thoughts of what is good.  For they suggest to it an illusion of God’s glory in a form pleasing to the senses, so as to make it think that it has realized the final aim of prayer.”- Evagrios the Solitary, Desert Hermit from the 4th CenturyThis one stopped me in my tracks this week. The idea that the demons would stop attacking a person with evil thoughts, and begin attacking them with seemingly good ones is so insightful. A few weeks ago I remember reading about some other mega-church pastor who was found to have sexually abused a minor decades earlier.  During his tenure, he was known to often say, “God told me he wanted me to be famous to make Him famous.”  If that doesn’t scream narcissism within a “pastor” then I don’t know what else does. What I enjoy about the early Church desert monasticism is that it was something like the opposite of celebrity culture today, which has unfortunately also infected the church world.  The early Church seemed to be aware of the temptations of riches, reputation, adoration, etc. and warned people deeply against wanting those things. The further I dive into the desert monastics, the more I think that their wisdom is desperately needed today for the sake of our generation’s spiritual formation. I guess, if I think about it, this whole 5 on Friday newsletter began as a result of my thinking that the ancient, deep, and wide wisdom of the Christian tradition was being overlooked.  In a way, this weekly newsletter is very much about sharing the underappreciated wisdom of the Christian tradition. 5.”Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”- Paulo Friere in Pedagogy of the OppressedI believe Moses and Jesus would agree.

Contemplation is very far from being just one kind of thing that Christians do: it is the key to prayer, liturgy, art and ethics, the key to the essence of a renewed humanity that is capable of seeing the world and other subjects in the world with freedom—freedom from self-oriented, acquisitive habits and the distorted understanding that comes from these. 
—Rowan Williams, Holy Living 

Author Cassidy Hall considers the paradoxical freedom she experiences through contemplative ritual:  

Routines and rituals can also meld together. The morning cup of coffee becomes a sacred process of movement and pauses, senses and stillness. The evening walk shifts into a meditative trance of watching the ducks in the nearby pond. My routines become rituals the second I sense an internal bow to the moment’s entanglement with holiness, with mindfulness, with love, wonder and awe. In ritual, I am rooted and invited to dive deeper into the expanse of myself and my own unfolding. The mindful shift of acknowledgment takes me into more spaciousness, questions, and curiosities. Without my routines and rituals—and my routines shifting into rituals from time to time—I don’t think I’d be as alive and awake to my own personhood.…  

Ritual also frequently offers me some inexplicable sense of freedom. While traveling to Trappist monasteries, I often felt a strange sensation of freedom. Hearing the bells calling the community to prayer seven times a day felt like a homecoming. The hours of work combined with prayer gave me a sense of rhythm that soothed me. The irony—of rituals feeling like a loving freedom—is not lost on me. When ritual comes as an invitation, a choice to engage or not engage, limits are expanded because freedom is present. And from this place, where ritual meets freedom, our relationship to self, others, and the Divine can be continually deepened. [1] 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams considers the importance of a rhythm or “rule” of life in Benedictine spirituality:  

The idea that all of time can be sanctified—that is, that the time we may instinctively consider to be unproductive, waiting or routine activity, is indispensable to our growth into Christian and human maturity. How we spend the time we think is insignificant is important. It is not only the well-known Benedictine union of laborare and orare [work and pray], but the wider commitment to a life under “rule,” a life that takes it for granted that every aspect of the day is part of a single offering.… 

Christ’s human life is open to the divine at every moment; it is not that God the Word deigns to take up residence in those parts of our lives that we consider important or successful or exceptional. Every aspect of Jesus’ humanity and every moment of his life is imbued with the divine identity, so that if our lives are to be images of his, they must seek the same kind of unbroken transparency. [2] 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

When you worship Me in spirit and truth, you join with choirs of angels who are continually before My throne. Though you cannot hear their voices, your praise and thanksgiving are distinctly audible in heaven. Your petitions are also heard, but it is your gratitude that clears the way to My Heart. With the way between us wide open, My blessings fall upon you in rich abundance. The greatest blessing is nearness to Me–abundant Joy and Peace in My Presence. Practice praising and thanking Me continually throughout this day.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

John 4:23-24 (NLT)
23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Additional insight regarding John 4:24: “God is spirit” means he is not a physical being limited to one space. He is present everywhere, and he can be worshipped anywhere, at any time. It is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship. Is your worship genuine and true? Do you have the Holy Spirit’s help? How does the Holy Spirit help us? The Holy Spirit prays for us (Romans 8:26 – And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.), teaches us the words of Christ (John 14:26 – But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.), and tells us we are loved (Romans 5:5 – And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.).

Psalm 100:4 (NLT)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 100:4: God alone is worthy of being worshipped. What is your attitude toward worship? Do you willingly and joyfully come into God’s presence, or are you just going through the motions, going to church without surrender and connection? This psalm tells us to remember God’s goodness and dependability, and then to worship with thanksgiving and praise.

Mystic and theologian Howard Thurman (1899–1981) writes of the contemplative practice of making time to “center down”:  

How good it is to center down!  
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by! 
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic; 
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,  
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still  
    moment and the resting lull.… 
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?— 
    what are the motives that order our days?  
What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?… 
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.  
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes  
    of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind— 
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart  
    makes clear.  
It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are  
    answered,  
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of  
    our daily round 
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.  
How good it is to center down! [1] 

Spiritual director Caroline Oakes writes of the impact of a faithful practice of “centering-in”: 

The reason the gospel writers made a point to include their many accounts of Jesus returning to the presence of God was not so that those hearing their message could marvel at how centered in God Jesus was. The gospel writers were offering those who would hear their message, then and now, an invitation to experience that power ourselves in ways that are real and relevant to our day-to-day lives and relationships.  

Active, engaged, world-changing contemplatives since the desert mothers and fathers of the third century have realized how life-transforming, even world-transforming, that gospel invitation is.  

And we can too….  

The spiritual journey begins with a pause, a centering-in-God pause, and over time becomes a constant and ceaseless prayer, an honoring of and a connection with the Divine in you that awakens your essential self…. 

This returning to our center again and again is a kind of in-and-out, in-and-out movement, like breathing: breathing in, we gather strength and calm, maybe an insight, maybe a sense of an injustice needing to be righted, and then breathing out, we go back out in to the world to live into what we’ve been given and what we’ve received…. 

When you engage in any one of several centering practices that are available to us today, practices in which you can just be, alone, in quiet, in awareness of your innermost self with God, then over time, something holy and extraordinary happens in ways that … we can’t imagine or foresee. The closeness of your inner, relational life will be changed, to yourself, to others, to God, and to the world around you. Your relationship to your own life will shift subtly but profoundly. [2] 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

My children make it a pastime of judging one another–and themselves. But I am the only capable Judge, and I have acquitted you through My own blood. Your acquittal came at the price of My unparalleled sacrifice. That is why I am highly offended when I hear My children judge one another or indulge in self-hatred.
     If you live close to Me and absorb My Word, the Holy Spirit will guide and correct you as needed. There is no condemnation for those who belong to Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Luke 6:37 (NLT)
Do Not Judge Others
37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.

Additional insight regarding Luke 6:37: A forgiving spirit demonstrates that a person has received God’s forgiveness. If we are critical rather than compassionate, we will also receive criticism. If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, however, these qualities will come back to us in full measure. We are to love others, not judge them.

2 Timothy 4:8 (NLT)
8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

Additional insight regarding 2nd Timothy 4:8: Whatever we face – discouragement, persecution, or even death – we know we will receive a reward with Christ in Heaven.

Titus 3:5 (NLT)
5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

Additional insight regarding Titus 3:4-6: All three persons of the Trinity are mentioned in these verses because all three participate in the work of salvation. Based upon the redemptive work of his Son, the Father forgives us and sends the Holy Spirit to wash away our sins and continually renew us.

Spiritual director Ruth Haley Barton describes a “rule of life” as key to experiencing the reign of God: 

Many of us try to shove spiritual transformation into the nooks and crannies of a life that is already unmanageable, rather than being willing to arrange our life for what our heart most wants. We think that somehow we will fall into transformation by accident.  

Jesus had something to say about this. He used parables to picture a person who had searched long and hard for something very valuable and very special. In one story the prized item is a piece of land; in another it is a valuable pearl [Matthew 13:44–46]. In both stories, the merchant has been looking for this prize all his life, and when he finds it, he doesn’t hesitate. He sells everything he has so that he can buy what he has been searching for.  

Both the field and the pearl are metaphors for the kingdom of God—that state of being in which God is reigning in our life and [God’s] presence is shaping our reality. The kingdom of God is here now, if we are willing to arrange our life to embrace it….  

Christian tradition has a name for the structure that enables us to say yes to the process of spiritual transformation day in and day out. It is called a rule of life. A rule of life seeks to respond to two questions: Who do I want to be? How do I want to live? … [or] the interplay between these two questions: How do I want to live so I can be who I want to be? [1]  

For pastor Ken Shigematsu, a rule of life is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution: 

A monastic rule of life can help us learn what it means to live so that we are attuned to God in our everything. A life that does more than pray sporadically, but is itself a prayer to God.… 

Having a set of deliberate practices also allows us to build on our strengths and shore up areas of weakness. If we are experiencing a failure of self-control, we might deliberately practice fasting…. If we find ourselves overcommitted and distracted, engaging in a daily rhythm of ten or twenty minutes of silent prayer that centers us or meditating on a brief single passage in Scripture (lectio) may be a helpful practice.  

On the other hand, if we have a naturally contemplative bent and find ourselves spending a disproportionately large amount of time in private prayer and solitude, adding another way of praying may not be helpful. In fact, we might consider decreasing the amount of time we spend in formal prayer and perhaps enter into practices of justice or service so we can grow as a contemplative in action….   

Ultimately, a rule can enable us to live our lives, as Thomas Kelly writes, “from a Center, a divine Center … a life of amazing power and peace and serenity, of integration and confidence and simplified multiplicity.” [2]  

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Let Me show you My way for you this day. I guide you continually, so you can relax and enjoy My Presence in the present. Living well is both a discipline and an art. Concentrate on staying close to Me, the divine Artist. Discipline your thoughts to trust Me as I work My ways in your life. Pray about everything; then, leave outcomes up to Me. Do not fear My will, for through it I accomplish what is best for you. Take a deep breath and dive in the depths of absolute trust in Me. Underneath are the everlasting arms!

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 5:2-3 (NLT)
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
    for I pray to no one but you.
3 Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
    Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 5:1-3: The secret to a close relationship with God is to pray to him earnestly each morning. In the morning, our minds are more free from problems, and then we can commit the whole day to God. Regular communication helps any friendship and is certainly necessary for a strong relationship with God. We need to communicate with him daily. Do you have a regular time to pray and read God’s word?

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NLT)
27 The eternal God is your refuge,
    and his everlasting arms are under you.
He drives out the enemy before you;
    he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’

Additional insight regarding Deuteronomy 33:27: Moses’ song declares that God is our refuge, our only true security. How often we entrust our lives to other things – perhaps money, career, a noble cause, or a lifelong dream. But our only true refuge is the eternal God, who always holds out his arms to catch us when the shaky supports that we trust collapse and we fall. No storm can destroy us when we take refuge in him. Those without God, however, must forever be cautious. One mistake may wipe them out. Living for God in this world may look like risky business. But it is the godless who are on shaky ground. Because God is our refuge, we can dare to be bold.

Monastics should diligently cultivate silence at all times. 
—St. Benedict, Rule, chapter 42 

For Richard Rohr, silence is a foundation upon which we can build our lives: 

Silence is not just that which happens around words and underneath images and events. It has a life of its own. It’s a phenomenon with an almost physical identity. It is a being in itself to which we can relate. Philosophically, we would say being is that foundational quality which precedes all other attributes. When we relate to the naked being of a thing, we learn to know it at its core. Silence is somehow at the very foundation of all reality. It is that out of which all being comes and to which all things return.  

Silence precedes, undergirds, and grounds everything. We cannot just think of it as an accident, or as something unnecessary. Unless we learn how to live there, go there, abide in this different phenomenon, the rest of things—words, events, relationships, identities—become rather superficial, without depth or context. They lose meaning, so we end up searching for more events and situations which must increasingly contain ever-higher stimulation, more excitement, and more color to add vital signs to our inherently bored and boring existence. Really, the simplest and most stripped-down things ironically have the power to give us the greatest happiness—if we respect them as such. Silence is the essence of simple and stripped down.   

We need to experience silence as a living presence which is primordial and primal in itself, and then see all other things—now experienced deeply—inside of that container. Silence is not just an absence, but also a presence. Silence surrounds every “I know” event with a humble and patient “I don’t know.” It protects the autonomy and dignity of events, persons, animals, and all things.  

We must find a way to return to this place, to live in this place, to abide in this place of inner silence. Outer silence means very little if there is not a deeper inner silence. Everything else appears much clearer when it appears or emerges out of a previous silence. When I use the word appear, I mean that silence takes on reality, substance, significance, or meaning. Without silence around a thing, which is a mystery, it can be difficult to find a meaning that lasts. It’s just another event in a sequence of ever-quicker events, which we call our lives.  

Without silence, we do not really experience our experiences. We have many experiences, but they do not have the power to change us, to awaken us, to give us that joy or “peace that the world cannot give,” as Jesus says (John 14:27).

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A Foundational Practice 
  
I die by brightness and the Holy Spirit. —Thomas Merton 

Father Richard emphasizes the beautiful freedom that arises when we place contemplation at the center of our lives: 

I believe that the combination of human action from a contemplative center is the greatest art form. When action and contemplation are united, we have greater beauty, symmetry, and transformation—lives and actions that inherently sparkle and heal, though the shadow is still present.  

Contemplation waits for the moments, creates the moments, where all can be a silent prayer. It refuses the very distinction between action and stillness. Contemplation is essentially nondual consciousness that overcomes the gaps between me and God, outer and inner, either and or, me and you.  

The reason why the true contemplative-in-action is still somewhat rare is that most of us, even and most especially in religion, are experts in dualistic thinking. And then we try to use this limited thinking tool for prayer, problems, and relationships. It cannot get us very far. The irony of ego “consciousness” is that it always excludes and eliminates the unconscious—which means it is actually not conscious at all! Ego insists on knowing and being certain; it refuses all unknowing. Most people who think they are fully conscious (read, “smart”) have a leaden manhole cover over their unconscious. It gives them control but seldom compassion or wisdom.  

We are led forward by brightness, a “larger force field” that includes the negative, the problematic, the difficult, the unknown—that which we do not yet understand, the Mysteriousness that God always Is. Brightness does not exclude or deny anything. 

We cannot grow in the great art form, the integrative dance of action and contemplation, without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain a certain degree of anxiety, and a willingness to not know—and not even need to know. This is how we allow and encounter Mystery. 

Of course, we can only do this if Someone Else is holding us as a great Lover, taking away our fear, doing the knowing, and satisfying our desire. If we can allow that Someone Else to embrace us, we will go back to our life of action with new vitality, but it will now be smooth, One Flow. It will be “no longer you” who acts or contemplates but the Life of One who lives in you now acting for you and with you and as you (see Galatians 2:20)! 

Henceforth, it does not even matter whether we act or contemplate, contemplate or act, because both will be inside the One Flow, which is still and forever loving and healing the world. Christians would call it the very flow of life that is the Trinity. We “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) inside of this one eternal life and love that never stops giving and receiving. This is how we “die by brightness and the Holy Spirit.” [1] This is the greatest art form.  

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Sarah Young

Let My Love seep into the inner recesses of your being. Do not close off any part of yourself from Me. I know you inside and out, so do not try to present a “cleaned-up” self to Me. Wounds that you shut away from the Light of My Love will fester and become wormy. Secret sins that you “hide” from Me can split off and develop lives of their own, controlling you without your realizing it.
     Open yourself fully to My transforming Presence. Let My brilliant Love-Light search out and destroy hidden fears. This process requires time alone with Me, as My Love soaks into your innermost being. Enjoy My perfect Love, which expels every trace of fear.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 139:1-4 (NLT)
Psalm 139
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 139:1-5: Sometimes we don’t let people get to know us completely because we are afraid they will discover something about us they won’t like. But God already knows everything about us, even the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30), and still he accepts and loves us. God is with us through every situation, in every trial – protecting, loving, guiding. He knows and loves us completely.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 139:23-24: David asked God to search for sin and point it out, even to the level of testing his thoughts. This is exploratory surgery for sin. How are we to recognize sin unless God points it out? Then, when God shows us, we can repent and be forgiven. Make this verse your prayer. If you ask the Lord to search your heart and your thoughts to reveal your sin, you will be continuing on “the path of everlasting life.”

1st John 4:18 (NLT)
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

Additional insight regarding 1st John 4:18: If we ever are afraid of the future, eternity, or God’s judgement, we can remind ourselves of God’s love. We know that he loves us perfectly (Romans 8:38,39 – “38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”) We can resolve our fears first by focusing on his immeasurable love for us, and then by allowing him to love others through us. His love will quiet your fears and give you confidence.