| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. For Orthodox mysticism as Gregory Palamas taught it, the light that shone on Tabor transfigured not just Christ's soul but his body and clothing too (Matthew 17:2ff), as a visible anticipation of the 'transfigured body' of the risen Christ (Philippians 3:20), into which 'our lowly bodies' will be transformed. A spirituality along these lines cannot have anything to do with the suppression of the body and the senses, but will already seek here and now the transfiguration of life. This comes about when we open our bodies and senses as well as our souls to receive the Holy Spirit, preparing them to be his earthly temple. In the divine love for life we sense how his eternal living stream penetrates us through and through. Opening our 'bodies and senses as well as our souls' to receive the Holy Spirit is risky because nothing is left out or left behind. When the Spirit takes us up into the realm of new life that is wholly holy, we can never be quite sure what will come of us. Sure we know that we will be pulled into God's Reign. And yet, we do not know what part we will play in that coming Reign - or how we will be transfigured in the midst of it all. Having said that, we are encouraged to come and live within this ever-expanding presence of God's reign. When we say with our whole body and soul, it mean the whole of us - living in the transfigured image of God's people. Connection: Every part of our lives becomes changed and renewed as we enter into the realm of God's grace in Christ, Jesus. Take that to heart. Spirit of God renew us and refresh our lives that we will find in the midst of our everyday life the joy of your eternal Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. The life-giving Spirit must be experienced holistically, with body and soul and all our powers, and must be sought for and experienced in community with other people. That is the promise implicit in being God's image, which is what justifies the expectation of 'the resurrection of the body' and 'the new earth'. 'Through their nature, human beings remain wholly human in soul and body, but through grace they become wholly divine in soul and body,' said Maximus Confessor, the Orthodox church father. More and more I am coming to appreciate the notion of the whole image of God. This is an image that takes in all of us - at one time and through all time. It is an image grounded in everyday life and in the relationships that make up the day. There in the middle of our daily joy and sadness and the strange mix of people and events that may not be what we would expect or like, there is this overarching image. To know that image, I must be connected to others. To see that image and its glory, I must be in touch with others and be willing to learn from experiences that may be quite contrary to the world as I would anticipate it. In this section, do not think of "divine" as something other than what is. Rather, it would be best for us to think of that which in a way that sets it within the glorious vision of God's Reign - the image of God fully alive: body and soul. Connection: It is not easy to see the image of God in the other person. Yet, without seeing it in the other, can we be so sure that we see it at all? Take another look. Creating God, surprise us again within the faces and lives of those around us so that we will begin to experience more and more of the fullness of your image and your Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. Is there such a thing as a mysticism of the soul without a mysticism of the body? No, every good meditation begins with eutonic physical exercises. Every healing of the soul begins with movements of the tense body, so that hurt and sick souls can become one with the body again. Is there a spirituality of the individual, closed to the world and other people? Of course to be alone can be a step on the road to oneself, if society has robbed us of our freedom and alienated us; but individual spirituality is never there without the spirituality of the community, just as the spirit of a community is never determined other than by the spirit of the members. In 'the fellowship of the Holy Spirit', individuals do not dominate the community, and the community does not dominate individuals. I find this to be one statement that is most in line with how I look at spirituality. In reading previous sections of this book, I really had this feeling - but here he says it. There is no separation - our spirituality is us: all of use and each of us as one. The followers of Jesus are not isolationists. We participate in life alongside others and in conversation with other. What is mystical is not that which is beyond us. Rather, what is mystical is what is so close at hand that we too often fly past it in pursuit of something else that we think is more than what is already. I have used the words urban mysticism to describe what I see as a journey into the everyday of life that is no farther away than the room in which I sit right now. Here, heaven and earth come together and we are made welcome into the wholeness of God's Reign. This doesn't mean you cannot go off on a pilgrimage to distant place and experience some solitude and isolation. It means that one need not do that in order to be pulled up into the wonder of life that captivates and inspires. There are many ways to see again what is so obvious and so available. The very physical life that surrounds us can be repulsive. And yet, it is a part of the fullness of life that brings us another glimpse of God's face. We need not be afraid of the common, the ordinary, the less than perfect, the irreverent, the dirty, the spontaneous, the orderly. This is it and we are in the middle of it. Connection: Come and fly within the day at hand and experience what is so easy to walk by and ignore. Holy Spirit, come and take us for a ride within God's Reign throughout this day. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Unfortunately, once again this blog site has out smarted me and did not let me save all that was written yesterday. Therefore, I am resending Moltmann's stuff and adding a comment that obviously didn't make it yesterday. Again, we jump to a new section of "The Source of Life" by Jurgen Moltmann called "New spirituality: life against death. Who is God's image? God is known in the whole and entire, mutually related, and hence also bodily and sensory community of men and women, parents and children, and in other social relationships. It is not just the individual who is to correspond to God and reflects his vitality and beauty, it is the whole human community. It is not only the direct experience of the self (if there is such a thing) which is the place where we encounter the living God; it is rather the social experience of the 'Thou' and the responding 'I'. Our God creates community. We are not created as just one - single "I". In the storytelling of Genesis it is humanity as male and female. I read that as a sign of the essence of community. This is who we multiply and create the image of God in the world. This male and female creation is not meant to be an exclusion. Rather, I would submit that it is to teach us that all things within God's Reign rise up out of community. Therefore our spirituality is bound up in all that hold us together. We are on an adventure. To be a lone soul within God's Reign is impossible. We live and breathe as a people. When we are together from the fewest of us to the great multitudes, we enable ourselves to catch the vision of whose we are and who we are to become. It is necessary to have this very physical, very real collection of people. Here we have to deal with others and -because of that- deal with ourselves. Our self-centered wonder as to who we will become must be abandoned for the wonder of who we become within relation to others. Connection: What are you able to see -of yourselves and God's Reign- when you are involved with others? Again, Gracious God, lead us into the way of you blessed community. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Today we jump to a new section of "The Source of Life" by Jurgen Moltmann called "New spirituality: life against death. Who is God's image? God is known in the whole and entire, mutually related, and hence also bodily and sensory community of men and women, parents and children, and in other social relationships. It is not just the individual who is to correspond to god and reflects his vitality and beauty, it is the whole human community. It is not only the direct experience of the self (if there is such a thing) which is the place where we encounter the living God; it is rather the social experience of the 'Thou' and the responding 'I'. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | I'm including Friday's piece with what immediately follows those words - again from Jurgen Moltmann in "The Source of Life. Human beings are erotic beings through and through, but their eros can never fulfill its desires in this world because it is animated and attracted by the infinite beauty of God, the highest good, and it is only in God that it can find happiness. If the soul's hunger loses sight of God, it turns to things which are not God, and is disappointed. Nothing is more dangerous in this world than disappointed love and love that has miscarried. Disappointed love for God which has missed its mark is the power that destroys, the fury of annihilation. Ever since Augustine, theology has called this 'original sin'. The soul that is in search of God divinizes things or powers which are not God, expects too much happiness and security of them, and by doing so destroys them. Fear awakens in the soul, the fear that things and other people will fail to live up to what we expect of them, and this fear evokes hate of things and hate of the self; and this hate generates aggression and acts of violence. Is our hunger for God sometimes a hunger for more of what we all ready know and what we already have? Is that why we are so willing to place a claim on something less than the God who comes and takes us up into God's loving embrace - just because that is what God does? As Moltmann uses these images he does so in the sense that we often are able to see these limited gods who cannot stand up to time. Therefore, many often consider everything that is a part of the world something that will disappoint. We forget that the things of this world disappoint only when we put more power and value in them - value they do not deserve. I find that it is more of our task to find all things as being a gift that is to be valued for what it is. My relationships are valued as relationship - they do not rule. My wealth is a gift that is to be give me the ability to serve others - therefore no matter how much or how little, I can serve. It is here that we find our place and our power within a world that is blessed with so many possibilities to become the beloved creatures of our God. We are able to embrace all thing and demonize nothing at all - for we have nothing to fear. Connection: Don't fear what we may lose - live fully alongside that which is available and present with us as we take on the journey of this day. O God of All Creation, you bless us with an abundant life in the midst of all your creation. Inspire us to see the fullness of its beauty and way it comes together so that all things may thrive and become vitally alive. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | As Moltmann will point out, our "yearning for the next world" and the way we ignore the messianic hope will direct the way we look at our participation within this new life we are told we have been given. The consequence was that a mild, non-sensuous spirituality, hostile towards the body, remote from the world, and completely unpolitical, replaced the original Jewish and Christian vitality which lives from God's creative Spirit. Sins are still equated even today with 'the lusts of the flesh', which are identified with licentiousness, although it is patently obvious that the death-drivers of this world are to be found in the covetousness and greed for power of the God-forsaken, self-deifying souls of modern men and women. Could this be why we blow off wall street cheats and war mongers and racists and corporate powers - they do not deal with 'the lust of the flesh"? How is it that we only label things as indecent if they deal with the body - as in sexuality? TV and movies are even rated in such a way. We (people of faith) do not say it is indecent the way we ran into war in Iraq and stay in Afghanistan. We do not call business indecent unless they deal in porn - therefore, McDonalds is marketed to our children even though it is going to be the death of them. Odd. Quite odd. When we are willing to split up our lives so that spirituality concerns something other, we are less likely to see how corrupt life can be and how it is so often run by powers that really are quite at odd with the vision of God's Reign. Connection: Today I just heard an NPR piece that was really quite critical of McDonalds giving away their 'toys' just to make a sale of their food. Some people are taking action to stop it because of the way children are being used in an unhealthy way by marketing people. No one has said it is indecent but the piece sure came close to saying that. Lord of the New Day, take us up into your Reign that comes to life in the midst of us and makes our lives into a part of your eternal rule. Amen. |
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