What you see and hear depends a good deal
on where you are standing; it also depends
on what sort of person you are.
- C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew
Often, my priest, Rev. John Mennell, will ask a simple question when folks are gathered in some worthwhile pursuit at our church. "Where have you seen God lately/this week?" Invariably, in response to this simple inquiry, I will be flooded with recent intimations of the Divine, as I was recently on a retreat with members of the Men's Group at my church, at the most recent meeting of the group at church yesterday morning and, last night, at a dinner with several members of my church. In each of these varied settings, I felt a sense of the Eternal in the temporal, the Kingdom in the here and now, which, for me, is how I experience God at this point in my life.
The House of Antioch, as the group of members of our church who meet regularly for a meal, fellowship and friendship is called, is a diverse group. Most of us are "8 O'Clockers," members who attend the earlier, music-less, more contemplative service at that time. The others attend the traditional, choral service at 10am and one of that cohort is a former Senior Warden - in effect, the Chairperson of our Vestry/governing board - though you would never know it from her unassuming demeanor. Those of us who attend the early service are a varied group, too: one couple is retired and joined the church several years ago upon returning to live in town; another is a practicing attorney whose faith journey is welcomed and supported in our progressive, open church environment; and my wife and I are the final couple in this cohort, her a five-year member who joined at my suggestion before we became a couple and me a 25-year member who's now active in numerous church "ministries," including its Spiritual Enrichment effort.
Before we were selected to join the House of Antioch - in the context of an effort to have church members gather outside of worship services to get to know each other better in informal settings - for the most part we knew each other, but not well. Suffice it to say that after only two dinners, this has changed - we are getting to know each other quite well - and this experience is one of the cherished ways that I have seen (read = experienced) God lately.
At last night's dinner, after some 'secular' discussion about various topics - including the often taxing demands that professions make on those who pursue them and, especially, on their families - we began to speak about matters spiritual. Eventually the discussion turned to how we see God, spurred, in part, by a recounting of the unique perspective of our former Bishop, the Rev. John Shelby Spong, on the subject. What ensued was a robust, multi-faceted reflection on the Divine, replete with perspectives as diverse as the members of our group. It was an elevating, Spirit-filled exchange from which we all benefited, and in and after it I perceived the presence of God.
As we shared openly about how we perceive Him/Her/It, there were an honesty and stepping beyond vulnerability that was palpable, as was a clear respect for each other's contributions to our collective exploration. In this supportive environment, doubts were shared openly and challenging questions were put to the members of the group. (One of my favorite of the latter occurred when one member, a retired CEO and lifelong [or "cradle"] Episcopalian, proffered energetically in response to another member's idiosyncratic perspective on God, "Isn't that just an glorified form of Humanism?") In sum, for more than an hour on what became a long but uniquely satisfying evening, our group groped, shared flashes of inspiration, questioned and wrestled with our perceptions of the Divine, what it means to be a Christian and/or Episcopalian and how we each see God a little differently. It was truly a wonderful, illuminating experience ... and, for me, a profoundly meaningful God-experience.
Among the propositions with which we wrestled was Bishop Spong's belief that we are called by God to live fully, love wastefully and be all that we can be, which echoes the sentiments of the second century bishop St. Iraneus of Lyons who perceived that the Glory of God is man - now more inclusively phrased as "the human person" - fully alive. What struck me was how the group engaged on this passionately, especially how it relates to our Patron, Jesus Christ, what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century and how this compares to and contrasts with other religions/belief systems. Some members felt that it captured this calling well and others wanted more. In other words, there was a healthy - I think - diversity in how we see and experience God....
So, today, as I made my way through modern theological sage Karen Armstrong's latest book, I was struck by similar themes revealed in an exploration of the development of Jainism and Buddhism. The Jains' patron was Vardhamana Jnatraputra, reverently called Mahavira by his followers. For him, Ms. Armstrong notes, "the only way to achieve liberation (moksha) was to cultivate an attitude of friendliness toward everyone and everything. Here, as in the Upanishads, we encounter the requirement found in many great world traditions that it is not enough to confine our benevolence to our own people or to those we find congenial; this partiality must be replaced by a practically expressed empathy for everybody, without exception." (The Upanishads are a collection of foundational Hindu texts dating, scholars believe, from before the 6th century BCE to the beginning of the Common Era.)
Ms. Armstrong continues that "Jains, like Upanishadic sages, taught their disciples to recognize their community with all others and relinquish the preoccupation with 'us' and 'them' that made fighting and structural oppression impossible. ... Jain meditation consisted simply of a rigorous suppression of all antagonistic thoughts and a conscious effort to fill the mind with affection for all creatures. The result was samayika ('equanimity'), a profound, life-changing realization that all creatures were equal."
Then, when examining the founding of Buddhism, the author observes that "The Buddha's enlightenment was to live for others. Unlike other renouncers, who retreated from human society, Buddhist monks were commanded to return to the world to help others find release from pain."
Comparing the two belief systems, Ms. Armstrong concludes that "Buddhists and Jains were self-made men, reconstructing themselves at a profound psychological level to model a more empathic humanity." (Emphasis mine.) Sounds a lot like loving wastefully to me....
And that's the point, as we struggled to comprehend and synthesize in our group last night and, indeed, as believers of good will the world over seek to do, it would appear that there are common themes running through our different ways of seeing God, be they individual or collective. One of them is this principle of Universal Benevolence, that we are called by our Source to be loving in our conduct to our fellow man/humans, irrespective of their religious or other affiliations. In essence, then, we are called to remember always that we are Children of God first and to honor this inner divinity in our interactions with each other. Another way to say this is that we are called to love each other as God loves us, unconditionally, without discrimination for the receiver or concern for reciprocation ... indeed, wastefully....
So, for me for example, this makes the "marriage equality" and other issues pertaining to affirming and celebrating the humanity of our LGBT brothers and sisters quite simple: they are Children of God first and foremost and thus deserve to be treated lovingly and supported in every way that those of us who are not LGBT want to be.
So, too, with respect to the less fortunate among us: they are Children of God first and foremost and thus deserve to be treated lovingly and supported in every way that those of us who are more fortunate wish to be.
Also with respect to those who are different from us: they are children of God first and foremost and thus deserve to be treated lovingly and supported in every way that those of us who are not "the Other" want to be (because there is no 'us or them,' only us, Children of God...).
And ... well, you get the picture....
So, to sum it all up, as I experienced exhilaratingly with my fellow members of the members of the Men's Group both on retreat and not, with my fellow members of the House of Antioch last night and in the pages of Karen Armstrong's latest piercingly insightful book today, we all see God differently, in idiosyncratic ways that both reflect and celebrate the diversity in which He/She/It created us. Yet we are all Children of God, endowed by our Creator with abundant and yet different gifts and lives. May we ever recognize this, that beyond being human we are something even greater - of God - and live accordingly ... which for me, means a continuing but joyful struggle to live fully, love wastefully and be all that my/our Source created me to be and, in so doing, to support my fellow Children of God humbly and gratefully as they do so, too....
In closing, a sincere thank you to those of you along my path who've helped me in ways large and small, intentional and accidental, to come closer to understanding the ineffable mystery of the Divine. Please know that I see and appreciate you both as God's gifts and as proof of His/Her/Its profound, enriching and indelible presence in our world....
You must ever act in consciousness of your divinity and recognize in each being a brother, a Child of God. The whole world is one family.
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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