Taking a Chance on God

This is the trailer for an important new film to be released this year on the life and ministry of Fr. John McNeill, the former Jesuit priest who was expelled from his order for ministering to LGBT faithful. Personally, I'm deeply grateful to Fr. McNeill for the courage and inspiration he gives to so many to keep working for what is right no matter how difficult the journey may be. May his example continue to awaken the church(es) to the reality of a God in whom we can really trust - on whom we can take a chance as we step beyond the bounds and bonds that keep us from experiencing the true and "glorious freedom of the children of God" (Rom 8:21).

Peace,
Padre Chuck

Practice of Incarnation

Barbara Brown Taylor also talks in her book about the need we have to not only now things *about* God but to actually experience God's love in our bodies and souls through spiritual practices. Here's how she puts it:

"In an age of information overload...the last thing any of us needs is more information about God. We need the practice of incarnation, by which God saves the lives of those whose intellectual assent has turned as dry as dust, who have run frighteningly low on the bread of life, who are dying to know more God in their bodies. Not more *about* God. *More God*" (45).

I think this practice is particularly important for religious people and institutions, who can sometimes get caught up in and become overly rigid about doctrinal formulations about God. While these can be important, they also need to be balanced with the kind of prayerful, spiritual practices that ground us and remind us that anything we say about God is only, by necessity, a dim, remote approximation of a reality that's at once far beyond us and at the same time closer to us than we are to ourselves.

Peace,
Padre Chuck

Practicing Reverence

Another helpful book that I've read recently is the Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith. This book is wide and diverse in the topics it addresses but one thing that stood out for me was the author's emphasis on reverence - for God, for others and creation. Here's a helpful summation of what she says:

"Reverence stands in awe of something -- something that dwarfs the self, that allows human beings to sense the full extent of our limits - so that we can begin to see one another more reverently as well. An irreverent soul who is unable to feel awe in the presence of things higher than the self is also unable to feel respect in the presence of things it sees as lower than the self...This raises real questions about leaders, especially religious leaders, who cite reverence for what is good as their warrant for proclaiming whole populations of people evil" (21).

As is implied in this passage, I think a major problem in a lot of churches and religious organizations is a lack of genuine spirituality that transcends the often very human agendas religious leaders tend to promote. In other words, if we read about supposed spiritual leaders who often make sweeping, condemnatory statements about whole populations of people (e.g., various religious organizations' statements on LGBT people), it's probably a good idea to question the degree to which those "leaders" are in fact people who have had authentic experiences of the sacred in their lives. Often, I'm afraid that what passes for spiritual leadership is really nothing more than naked fear and the defense of entrenched power masquerading as sincere spirituality. In any case, it's good to interrogate sweeping authoritative statements before assenting to them, whether in the realm of faith or any other aspect of our lives.

Peace,
Padre Chuck

Authentic Religious Pluralism

One other important idea Borg brings up has to do with religious diversity. As the world grows smaller and smaller and we all become more and more connected, increasingly it becomes apparent that there is a great deal of truth and goodness to be found in all religions. Although traditional formulations within Christianity and most other world religions have made claims to have the "exclusive" or "complete" truth on their side, a healthier, less rigid approach seems to ring truer. As Borg puts it:

"Religion's purpose is to mediate the sacred and, by so doing, to inform, engender, and nourish a transforming relationship to 'the More.' The enduring religions share these characteristics in common. Each is a massive and magnificent sacrament of the sacred, a finite means of mediating the sacred, a 'treasure in earthen vessels'" (215).

As Borg also points out, however, this doesn't mean that "anything goes" or that differences don't matter. Rather, a healthy approach to religious diversity recognizes the differences among traditions and respects the need for each of us to have a "path" or tradition that we participate in - not so much because it or any other is "right," to the exclusion of other paths, but rather because the discipline of following one path or way ultimately changes us and shapes us into people of compassion and mercy who seek justice for the least among us and who grow in our awareness of the depth and reality of God's love and goodness.

Peace,
Padre Chuck

Salvation and Healing

Another important point made by Borg concerns the nature of salvation or "being saved," as some Christians tend to put it. While there is nothing wrong with this language it can also obscure the original meaning - which referred more to integral healing and renewal of people and of creation. Here's how Borg puts it:

"[S]alvation in the Bible is primarily a this-worldly phenomenon. It happens here. But what is it? The root of the English word is helpful. It comes from a Latin word that means 'wholeness' or 'healing' (the same root from which we get the word 'salve,' a healing agent). In its broadest sense, salvation thus means becoming whole and being healed" (175).

So what exactly is salvation? Much more than a one-time, guaranteed ticket to the afterlife, salvation in Jesus' time and ours is about coming into contact with God's grace and love and learning to share and pass it on in a world often focused on other priorities. In a word, it's about healing our tendency to care only about ourselves and learning to see our connectedness with others. In this way our lives are gradually transformed as we become instruments who help proclaim and make concrete God's desire that everyone be healed and be whole - that is, that they be saved.

Peace,
Padre Chuck

Thin Places

Another helpful concept Marcus Borg talks about is the idea of "thin places." By this he means either actual physical places or other types of practices or experiences in which we're awakened to the deeper reality of God or the sacred. In other words, thin places are those practices we enter into or places we travel to that help remind us that there's more to life than meets the physical eye. If God is both present among us and yet always beyond our ability to fully grasp, then we need places or practices like these to keep our hearts open and prevent them from getting stuck or closed in the mistaken belief that we can fully hold onto or control God. Here's a helpful quote from the author to conclude:

"The Christian life is about the 'hatching of the heart,' the opening of the self to the Spirit of God by spending time in 'thin places'--those places and practices through which we become open to and nourished by the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being" (161).

Peace,
Padre Chuck

God and Justice

I'll keep posting for awhile about Marcus Borg's book The Heart of Christianity as I believe he has a number of important insights to share. Here's something he says about the political message of the Kingdom of God:

"So what is the political meaning of the Kingdom of God? In a sentence: it is what life would be like on earth if God were king and the rulers of this world were not. The Kingdom of God is about God's justice in contrast to the systemic injustice of the kingdoms and domination systems of this world" (132-133).

I think this is an especially important point as often we tend to get caught up in thinking of religion as mostly being about believing certain things and then getting "saved" as a result. However, when we look at Christ's message more closely and understand the historical context in which he lived and ministered, it's clear that his message above all was about God's reign here and now - in other words, about how each of us encounters the living God in our lives and begins to live that reality out in concrete ways. Belief is very important but it's not just about giving mental assent to a set of propositions. Rather, it's about really living in our bodies and souls the message of the kingdom - that is, God's justice and God's peace - each day.

Padre Chuck

The Heart of Christianity

Just wanted to mention briefly a helpful book I finished recently called The Heart of Christianity (Marcus Borg, HarperOne, 2004). Written in a learned yet accessible way by the scripture scholar Marcus Borg, this book proposes a new way for Christians to understand their faith. In contrast to what Borg describes as an older paradigm that understands belief in stricter terms, he has the following to say about this new way forward:

"The emerging paradigm sees the Christian life as a life of relationship and transformation. Being Christian is not about meeting requirements for a future reward in an afterlife, and not very much about believing. Rather, the Christian life is about a relationship with God that transforms life in the present" (14).

I find this very helpful personally as I agree that for too long Christians have been focused on the "rewards" of the afterlife at the expense of the present moment. The message for many centuries has been that if only we believe the right things in a certain way then we're guaranteed a spot "up there" and we can pretty much coast till then. This, of course, is a simplification but I think there's a good deal of truth to it. Professor Borg puts it much more elegantly in his book but I would agree that the most important value for Christians is not doing any certain thing or another but rather awakening again and again to the reality of God's love for us and living in it through the ways in which we interact with others and seek to live with justice, compassion, and mercy in our daily lives.

Peace,
Padre Chuck