Uncovering Joy: Urban Spirituality (3 of 25)

Once again it is a Wednesday so another part of Uncovering Joy: Tales of Everyday Urban Spirituality.

Uncovering Joy - Urban Spirituality 

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o‟clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his eyes on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. (Acts 3:1-7) 

One day after a session with my massage therapist we were talking about healing and wholeness. She said that she was planning a series of eight lectures and discussions around various aspects of healing. She asked if I would be willing to do one afternoon session on spirituality. I was a bit befuddled by the request. I really think I may have been the only clergy person she knew and through our conversations I must have communicated an interest and a grounding that would at least bring a lively discussion into this eight-week series. To my surprise, I said “Yes.” 

Driving home I realized that I was not sure how I would go at this project. I also wondered what I could offer to a group of people that was bound to be quite eclectic. I tossed the idea into the back of my mind and continued on within the routine of my life. 

One of the parts of the routine of my life is the simple interaction with those around me. I’m an introvert so you will never find me “working the room.” Rather, I do quite a bit of watching and thinking and wondering. The ordinary of the day – no matter where it may be – has been the source of much joy and certainly many surprises. Joy for me is when the adventures within the ordinary and every day paths of life reveal the depths of our humanity as we are created in the image of God. This, I realize, is the way I stay grounded – the way I take note of God‟s presence and power that is available for life that is constantly at hand. It is much like the simple reminder that the Reign of God is at hand and not off in another place or time. 

Throughout the scriptures we hear that God is revealed within the community. From the wilderness wandering following the sojourn in Egypt to the Spirit pushing the early church into the life that was beyond the boundaries they knew so well, God is not beyond us and waiting for us to come and plug into God’s domain. The engaging love of God brings the Reign of God out into the open as we are invited to see this Reign in the life of Jesus. Could it be that we are daily pulled into this Reign by simply being present within the context of our lives – the place where even God abides? To be present is to be involved and watchful and alert like someone who is in prayer – with senses alert to the fabric of God’s Reign that is moving around us and stirring within us. Prayer like this is prayer with eyes wide open so that we are never lost within ourselves and forget about the vitality that is the community at hand. 

Unsure of when the series on healing and wholeness would take place, I continued to read and reflect and write and watch the life going on all around me. As you might expect, I returned to those people who have nurtured me through their writing and teaching. Most of these people are the theologians – observers of God‟s Reign - who help me with the ongoing reformation of the thinking of the faith. For me, this even means reading the daily comics and laughing at the ways we can make fun of ourselves. During this time I noticed that I was missing something that has been at the very core of what I would call my “spirituality.” Year after year, I have found great peace and inspiration and enlightenment simply as I pass through the day. For me, that “passing through the day” has taken place in various urban settings during my life. 

Many people see the life within an urban setting as being intense and busy and fast paced. I agree. Then again, I also see it as a fast moving stream that carries along the life of the world. 

The ordinary moments of urban life move by and change as quickly as they come upon us. Just as people enjoy sitting by the side of a river or stream and find that they are able to contemplate and pray and ponder the meaning of life within the grasp of God‟s Reign, I find the sidewalk along a busy street filled with such an abundance of vision. It provides moments ripe for contemplation and engaging prayer. When I go on vacation I have come to realize that I experience in places like New York City or Washington D. C. or Columbus, Ohio, a rich oasis of refreshment about which so many people write when they point out traditional characteristics of being on retreat. It may be that our God offers us a life full of opportunities to look again at the foundation of our lives within the very context we have come to know so well. 

The more I thought about this workshop I was asked to lead, I continued to fold myself in on myself. I must admit that I am confused by the explosion of the word spirituality in today‟s religious and popular culture. I was finding that I was at a loss as to how I would address myself to “spirituality” as it is so often sold in the marketplace. But then, as I looked at how I approach being a follower of Jesus, I realized that I am a follower of Jesus within the context of the ordinary, daily journeys of my life. Spirituality for me would take the shape of reflections and contemplation on nothing more than that which is all around me and how I engage this world. 

During this time I started to play with an odd concept. I wondered if I it would be helpful to play with the notion of what it would mean to be an urban mystic. I found that this simply meant that my eye would be caught up in seeing and my ears would be caught up in hearing the presence of the holy within the ordinary spaces and times of the day. Some may speak of visions of the holy. Too often this vision of the holy is meant to mean that something “Other” breaks into our space and time. I find that my experiences with the Sacred are so close by and so much a part of the ordinary moments of the day, that my notion of being on a spiritual “retreat” is most often no farther away than the space in which I live – the city. Here in the mix of the currents of urban life, the Divine the Other - becomes visible and brilliant and my life becomes - joy filled. 

What was most important for my own understanding of myself was that I put into words something that has long been right under my skin. Within the hustle and bustle of urban living comes the wonderful acknowledgment of the fullness of life that is constantly moving like a stream that is changing shape from moment to moment. Within each moment we are invited to enter into the presence of the Reign of God and let ourselves experience the expansiveness of life in the image of God. Urban life is filled with images to contemplate and actions to take – both are necessary for a wholesome spirituality. There are so many people in the church who live in urban areas but too often we do not encourage one another to look toward our own streets and sidewalks and neighborhoods to experience the presence of God longing for us to see what God sees in the midst of what is so often overlooked. Too often we are taught that we must go away in order to be grounded to this ground of life that is our God – the God of all time and all places - the eternal Other always with us.

The foundational story of this new understanding of my spirituality came in a news story in the New York Times that made its way across the country. It has become the way I now define urban spirituality and the spiritual journey that awaits all of us - just as we are and just where we are. Here‟s the story that has deepened my sense of God available within a life that is so ordinary and present I often forget to pause and be a part of its fullness. 

A fifty year old construction worker, Wesley Autrey, was standing on the platform of one of New York City’s subway stations. He had his four and six year old daughters with him. In the twinkling of a moment a young man, Cameron Hollopeter, fell to the subway platform during a seizure. Autrey and another woman went to his aid. Once Hollopeter seemed to be stabilized, he stood up but stumbled and fell off the platform, down onto the tracks. As the lights of an approaching train entered the far end of the station, Autrey jumped from the platform, pulled Hollipeter between the train tracks, and laid his body on top of Hollopeter’s. The train was not able to stop before it reached the two men. Several cars passed over them before the train finally came to a stop. Those two men were in such tight quarters beneath the train that Autrey later showed people his wool hat that was stained with grease from the bottom side of the train. 

This in itself is an amazing story – it was news. And yet, the stream of life that was moving through that subway station in those intense moments was much deeper and overflowing than Autrey’s leap onto the tracks. The joy of God’s Reign was brilliantly shining through those moments of intense action and profound silence amid the cacophony of urban subway sounds. 

You see, in the moments of Hollopeter’s seizure and then the men wrestling down on the tracks and being pinned beneath the moving train, those two young girls were left up on the subway platform in the care of others - strangers. When the train finally came to a stop, Autrey yelled, “We’re okay. I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s okay.” Not only did Autrey leap into the moment at hand in order to uphold and honor the life of another person, he expected that others would honor his children and would keep them safe. For that moment, the universe and all that is and will be - was blessed with the presence of the image of God alive in the flesh. The Reign of God breaks in and becomes incarnate among us no matter where we might be. Those who enter into the life of the Reign of God enter with the expectation that there will be others leaping into its life – the city of God was present in all its promise and saving power. 

The story in the Times goes on to say that Autrey took his girls home and then he continued on to work. Another newspaper made note of a “subway angel.” Autrey was no angel. Autrey was what we all are called to be – fully human - the image of God among us. It is a leap that takes place whenever we become vulnerable within the life at hand and are willing to become utterly available to those around us. It is then that we see and experience and catch a glimpse of the wonderful mastery of God‟s Reign among us. This reminds me of Dr. Leland Elhard writing and speaking about the fullness of God – the Trinity – made known as vulnerability, availability, and mastery. There on that platform and on that subway track, we were given the opportunity to see the in-breaking of this fullness of our God that is quite like those moments of the grand epiphanies we witness in Scripture. In our time, in real time, in the streams of life that flow by us, around us, and wash over us, there is no separation between the fullness of the Reign of God and the paths we take through the ordinary events of this day. 

Wesley Autrey probably would never consider himself an urban mystic. He said, “I tried to do the right thing.” He acted. The engaging love of God is once again observed and experienced in the life that goes on around us – not an experience that is separate and distant from the life in which we find ourselves. When we consider the invitation to enter the Reign of God that is already at hand among us, urban spirituality is simple code language for “stop, look, listen.” For right here and now there are so many ways we can connect and become available to others and thus encounter the domain of God‟s Reign. There are so many moments in which simple acts of vulnerability will transform us and those around us. And then, in the meantime, we “get it” or “see it” or “hear it” or “feel it” by dancing within the pulse of the life we experience as we wait for the train to come. No need to retreat from the availability of God all around us. 

Urban spirituality is all about opportunity. At the center of urban spirituality is the graciousness of our God who invites us to leap into the flow of life and engage one another - now. If we do not leap now, another moment will present us with a time to act - and then another - and another. The opportunities to enter in the life of the Reign of God are never-ending for they are eternally present. There is no room for guilt in this journey for we walk within the domain of grace that brings to life God‟s Reign among us – joy. 

One of the most important aspects of urban spirituality is the simple acknowledgement of how blessed we are with opportunities in which we can honor God and one another through the ways we share our lives with one another. At the same time, this is not about having to do something. It is more about becoming aware of how close the Reign of God comes even when we simply stay right where we are. It is then that the sky opens - the Spirit whips in grabs us.

The story of Wesley Autrey is a reminder of how holy this moment is. We each are present within the unveiling of the image of God. It is not distant. It is truly among us. Urban spirituality may simply be the recognition that we are indeed on holy ground and are invited to honor this place and time with our attentiveness and our own capacities to engage the moment as part of the image of God. 

It would have been interesting to have come upon that holy scene in the subway station. i always pray that I will take note of God’s presence. What an honor it would have been to observe the crowd and take note of how the presence of God within that place made a mark on those who were on the platform. I’m certain that there were cheers of from those who heard that the two men were safe. There is always a uniting spirit in those kinds of moments. Lives are changed and enriched and serve to shape us for the days to come. 

Even though the attention of this subway hero was drawn to the actions of Autrey Wesley, back up on that subway platform it is important too remember there were those people who noticed the two daughters and came to their side in what must have been a moment of trauma. It must have been a time and space of amazing grace upon grace. 

There had to be many people who were rushing along the platform in order to make the next train or the next part of their day. Some of the people in that stream stopped and stayed and helped to make things whole and well and filled with peace. Others may have only caught a glimpse of the courage and community created in that moment. We must remember that along the ways of our day, even when we are simply passing by, we are characters within holy moments even when we do not catch them and become a part of their action. As we go along our way, we carry images of humanity that teach us how vital it is to honor what is here and now – and experience the sheer joy of it all. 

Leaping onto the track seeking the welfare of another happens in many and various ways. By that I simple mean that the day is full of opportunities to boldly act and move within the image of our God. Could it be that urban spirituality is simply coming to the understanding of how available the life within the Reign of God is as we move along to the next appointment or destination of the day. 

Between here and there, we find ourselves in the company of people like the John and Peter who saw a man lame from birth lying at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. As far as anyone could remember, he was there all of his life - day in and day out. But on that day the presence of God-in-the-flesh transformed a sidewalk in an urban setting into a place of joy - and we still talk about God’s Reign coming to life in all its glory. It truly was a Beautiful Gate within God’s Reign.