Holy Wisdom Church
Early peoples were so impressed with creation that they made gods out of what had been created: fire, wind, water, sun, and moon among a host of others. God’s imagination has created creatures that run, walk, swim, slither, waddle, hop, and fly. We witness on this earth profuse expressions of our God creating life. That is why Scripture summarizes the wonder of God’s creation with these simple words: God is Love.
To be fashioned in the
image of God, as Scripture says, means that we are gifted with this potential.
We are not merely consumers; we are life-giving creators. We can create peace
and justice. We can create connections between diverse peoples. We can create
art and music. We can plant, grow, and cultivate life.
Metanoia, conversion, is
an ancient concept. Early seekers went to the desert to escape the spiritual
aridity of the cities, the lack of love within these cities. Their “flight from
the world,” and their separation from the systems and corrupted values that
drove the world around them, was fundamental to the conversion of seeking
purity of heart and single-mindedness in their contemplation and search for this
God of love.
Changing the way we go
about the externals of life is not all that difficult. Real change is changing
the way we look at life. That is the stuff of conversion. Monastic life is very
helpful, but any kind of community living can be beneficial to our conversion.
We do not need to leave
where we are in order to contemplate God. Jesus—the healer, the prophet, the
teacher—was surely contemplative as he walked the dusty roads of Galilee
surrounded by the sick, the children, the disciples, and crowds of the
committed and the curious.
“Flight from the world” is
not about leaving any specific location. It is about shedding one set of
attitudes, one kind of consciousness for another. We need a different state of
mind. We have to be in our workplace with the good of the whole world in mind. We
have to be in the home with the good of those we live with as our first
concern. Is that self-denial? Perhaps. Jesus does tell us to deny ourselves,
take up our cross, and follow him. It means denying our false self. The true
self recognizes who I am in relation to God. Losing my life means surrendering
day after day.
Love then is not just a
warm fuzzy feeling. It is a mindset, an approach, a behavior, a decision, a
choice. It means opting to treat others well and to do right by them out of an
open-minded, open-hearted, and open-handed spirit of goodwill.
What makes prayer and the
contemplative inner life so compelling is that it is a progressive initiation
into a mystery that has been unfolding throughout the ages and in our own life
span. The mystery is such that it can never be taken in fully at once. It takes
patience, as it is revealed more and more through time, expanding its scope,
through the Spirit helping us to see and perceive how limitless is the love
that draws all creation into the very life of God.
Nothing is forever.
Change happens. Learning to live in the now, realizing the value of the present
makes for a fullness of life.
Christ is in our midst!
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.