Father Richard reflects on how the Spirit’s presence can transform our lives and institutions:
Without a conscious living in the flow of the Spirit—through us, within us, and for us—and those are the three movements—I think prayer can become merely functional. But if we live within that flow, prayer can become an experience of mystical communion. There is no problem to be solved; it’s simply enjoying what is, learning how to taste it, learning how to receive it, learning how to see God in it, and knowing that this now—whatever it is—is enough.
When that flow is not there, church becomes overly problem-solving and practical. Sacraments without the Spirit become strategic. They become something we feel obligated to attend or belong to in order to go to heaven. Church becomes about paying fire insurance dues. We don’t really want to be there, but we go along for the ride in case the whole thing just happens to be true. I know this might be shocking to say and hear, but this kind of church deserves to die. There’s no life to it; there’s no future to it. It is not of the Spirit. It is precisely a blocking of the Spirit, but it’s disguised as if it’s spiritual.
Outside of the Spirit, reading the Bible can also become nothing more than ego ammunition. Without the Spirit, Bible study does not lead to divine intimacy and union; rather, it can lead to self-sufficiency and confirmation about why we’re right. Instead of leading us to God, it becomes a way for us to protect ourselves and to judge and diminish other people. But when we read the scriptures inside of the energy and flow of the Spirit, the stories themselves reveal a thousand confirmations of that very pattern—people allowing the flow, people resisting and opposing the flow, and sometimes, finally being swept up by it. They become models for us that allowing the flow of the Spirit leads to new life.
Outside of the Spirit, authority becomes domination. Inside of the Spirit, authority becomes service. Outside of the Spirit, politics becomes control. Inside of the Spirit, leadership is something we know is given to us to offer to others: not authority over people but authority to call forth the presence of God within so they can be in the same flow and enjoy the same freedom.
I think the simplest way to discern the presence of the Spirit is to look for where there is unity, where there’s movement toward reconciliation, for two becoming one, for enemies becoming friends. The Spirit self has no need to think of itself as better than anyone. We just live with an energy and aliveness that Paul called the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Our job is simply to stay inside the flow of the Spirit which is love.
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John Chaffee 5 For Friday………Jesus Was a Troublemaker
1.
“Yeshua was a troublemaker.”
– James Cone, Methodist Minister and Theologian
This may not come as a shock to some of you, but Jesus was a troublemaker. He stood in the same lineage of the prophets and spoke hopeful critiques of the status quo of his day.
However, sometimes we think that Jesus was a troublemaker toward those outside of the religious sphere. The problem is that he was not violent, did not overthrow the Roman oppressors of his day, and try to establish himself as a new emporer or pharaoh.
Rather, Jesus was quite a troublemaker WITHIN the religious sphere. He challenged the special seats, those with impressive titles, the class systems of the Temple, what defined ritual vs spiritual cleanliness, and so much more.
Jesus was a troublemaker because he upended the religious paradigm from within itself while staying true to the roots of his tradition: Judaism. In many ways, he was such a radical and faithful Jew that it gave him a target on his back from the religious leadership of his Jewish tradition.
It is then ratcheted up to an even higher degree when we contemplate the Christian tenet that Jesus was God incarnate, and it was God himself who was upending religious paradigms from within!
This earnestly makes me question what kinds of things God would be willing to overturn today within the religious sphere.
2.
“The only thing that matters is you getting better at your craft.”
– Jerry Seinfeld, American Comedian
This past week, as I contemplated my work in the world, this insight from Jerry Seinfeld spoke to me.
Some may like what I do, some may not. I cannot control that perception of my work and certainly cannot persuade someone to like it if they don’t.
The only thing we can do is focus on what we are here to do and dive deep into that task, so deep that we cannot be bothered with outcomes or approval.
The only thing that matters is doing what we are here to do.
3.
“I am neither of the East nor of the West, no boundaries exist within my breast.”
Rumi has spoken to me for a while. Ever since the Philly band mewithoutYou introduced him to me through their lyrics, his poetry has been something I return to frequently.
There is so much division within the world because there is so much division within ourselves. We love to separate or divide. We think it is a mark of maturity or intellect or holier-than-thou-ness to hold ourselves in differentiation from people and things.
But what if the world peace we are all looking for, hoping for, and praying for is a personal issue? What if external wars end because we have learned how to reconcile the internal wars within each of us? What if the solution to our loneliness is solidarity with those around us?
What would happen if we lived lives that had “no boundaries” at all? Is it possible we might start seeing everything as connected? Is it possible we could see how we are all already in this together if we just stopped to realize it? Are we not all on the same team? Are we not wanderers each walking one another home?
4.
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:22
The ratio is 1:Infinity. As all die, all will be made alive.
The First Adam’s capacity for chaos is eclipsed by the Second Adam’s ability to redeem.
5.
“Love and do what you will.”
– St. Augustine of Hippo, 4th Century Philosopher and Theologian
This is both easy and difficult to grasp. Within the Christian faith, there is a constant dialogue/struggle between obedience and freedom.
However, obedience is not slavery and freedom is not anarchy. Freedom without any purpose or guardrails is chaos. Freedom must be governed by something or else it can devolve into disconnected, unbounded, wildness.
That said, if Love is present, then Love redefines obedience and freedom. The one who Loves will not seek anything that causes hurt or harm to someone else, it will not allow us to use and abuse one another, Love is the fulfillment of the Law.
