The supreme task of democracy in the 21st century is for the individual person to transcend self... and to identify instead as all... for the personal to become fully and completely Planetary...
 Well, I have (years ago) argued with Franciscan Father Richard Rohr, but I'll not do that here, only adding that I am sure that he would agree that prophetic witness is an essential aspect of authentic spirituality and self-change. The core values of this prophetic witness are feminism and nonviolence: indeed, beatitude bliss depends upon both: in transformation and in social change...
In its formative self-definition, Christianity understood itself as Way... as in way of life... this is clear in the Acts of the Apostles. Way was the non-dualism of belief and action: a seamless garment woven around the Sacred Presence... Sharing goods in common, mutual aid and reverence, equality-in-the-Christ-Body, and nonviolence were the evidence of a radical change of mind / change of heart... One can easily imagine the Holy Mother instructing way-followers from her particular vantage point of the Magnificat: her synthesis of centuries of prophetic witness... What was it like to experience birthing-pains while at the same time the divine presence was made flesh, in and through her? What must it have been like to teach the rEvolution of the Magnificat to the Children of God? One can study, if having the mind to, all of the wheeling-and-dealing that went on between Empire and Early Christianity: between bishops, monks, and theologians attempting to corral a wild God with certainty and definition: and with an equally wild Sacred Spirit that could not be tamed... Nevertheless, original sin became the origin point of Christian faith effectively replacing way of life... Magnificat became "Virgin Birth" and Beatitude became "doctrine" and both receeded into the nether-world of virtual heresy... and yet, and yet... Unable and unwilling to surrender to the "revenge" of the Powerful Angry Christian, whether Bishop or mob, some folks simply walked away... some became nuns, monks, and seekers of caves and silence and peace... Others, went "underground" but always remembering and clinging to what the P. A. C. called the "mystic path" and warning always of the cost of heresy... but remembering and clinging nevertheless... On the one hand there was Augustine, but on the other, there was Hildegard... There were Crusades and there was St. Francis... Francis dared the risk of heresy and re-united with primitive Christianity in faith as way of life: in his heart he jumped the divide of dualism, united with the Magnificat and the Beatitudes, settled into the Bliss they yield, and rEvolutionized once more the meaning of faith... Francis' poem, Canticle of the Creatures, unveiled the essential pansacramentalism of the Christian insight: the Divine Beloved waits in ecstatic expectation behind / within the everyday and the everything of all of our daily lives... this sacred insight can be buried beneath layers of history, doctrine and evident obfuscation, but it can not be denied... In case you have yet to notice, there is a world-wide, and most assuredly here in the "United" States, an assault on truth... Don't kid yourself, but Trump and Minions are only a symptom of this assault: it extends way beyond his / their feeble delusions of grandeur, and it goes right to the heart of the matter: Christianity has failed precisely because it has given itself over to a vain attempt to tame a God who simply can not be tamed! It has neglected both the Magnificat and the Beatitudes: replacing their liberating power with a vapid theology of original sin and a mythical power over the keys of heaven... Various flags and the Ten Commandments (which quite conveniently has replaced "Thou shalt not kill" with "an eye for an eye") are the ever-present "side-arms" of the Christians who make war upon truth... Within the limitations of a blog, there can be no in-depth critique of Christianity, nor of any other religion. However, no in-depth critique is needed, is it? I mean seriously, one has only to open one's eyes and look and see! It is not just faith, but the entire Planet that is @risk! And in their madness, the fundamentalists of all stripes, want this Planet to burn! What is the alternative? It's in the Magnificat. It's in the Beatitudes. It's in the franciscan vision of a radical (into the roots) pansacramentalism. It's in sacred agitation for equality, for social justice, for peace, and for the Planet. It's in the construction of an alternative reality: we are not destined for "burning", rather, we are destined for "bliss"... Herein lies the difference and the very home of truth... Finally, it's fine if you doubt my words, but ask yourself how often did Jesus say anything about original sin? Now, contrast that number with how often he said, "The Kingdom of God (heaven) is within you"? The Kingdom of God is within us as a direct consequence of our humanity: it is our natural condition... we are expected to tune-in, turn-on to the Beatitude Bliss, and extend the Kingdom by our way of life... which is precisely why the first followers of the Way joined into intentional communities... it's easier to live a dynamic festival life with sisters and brothers as companions of the way... "God's purpose is to bring in the age of shalom, which implies not only peace, but all aspects of a restored and whole human condition: truth, community, wholeness, communication, and justice." -- David Kirk (Quotations from Chairman Jesus) |
AuthorRobert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time Companion of the Way still dreaming... Archives
May 2022
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