What's Love Got To Do With It?
After walking with Rose of Sharon to school this morning, and while turning the corner on my way home, Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It popped into mind... I could hear the tune and chuckled Where Did That Come From? But as my usual, I figure it came to mind so that I could take it into consideration, give it a rumination, and write the up-shot for your consideration in turn... So, here it is...
What's love got to do with it? Simply: everything! Love is the hospital for the broken heart. In a world being shredded by violence, fear of "other" religions, and a raw fear of the "other" regardless of an evident common humanity, we are in dire need of individuals and who will take upon her / him self the servant mantle of becoming a living, breathing, hospital of hearts... Seriously, exactly like our Brother / Mother Jesus...
What if, instead of emphasizing "right belief" through formal creeds and doctrines, early Christian leaders had instead emphasized identification with the life-example of the Master? What if baptism was by fire instead of water? What if fire was understood to be our steady transformation into Love, into loving? What if loving in action was the definition and hallmark of the Christian? And what if the "Holy Spirit" was experienced as the Living Breath of Jesus, reaching out to us through the practiced remembrance of his words?
What if faith was experienced as our intimate identification with the Master? What if the hospital of our hearts meant that we lived as compassion givers in our families, our work places, our communities, our nations, and on into the entire world? How would everything change in our religions, our politics, our economics, and in our cultures if we all were to summon the courage to become compassion givers? Folks who work in hospitals and in hospices are considered care givers, and they certainly are! But what I am pondering is the absolute necessity of a complete social transformation: a gigantic leap into rEvolution!
There is a word... what is it? Hmm, ah! Yes, it is kenosis. That's Greek, right? Well anyway, in terms of the Christian faith, it means a radical emptying of the ways in which we identify as separate from the Divine Beloved, so as to be filled with the fullness, the Wonder, the Mystery, of the Cosmic Christ Consciousness... This core spiritual rEvolution is the Way of St. Francis, and of all of the Saints and Elders in the Christian rEvolution. (I'll not say "Church", because we all know that that would be a lie)... (Unfortunately!)...
There are a few "signs" that point to the possibility of transformation, and in no particular order: 1) Simplicity of life-style: what can't be shared or easily given away should not be possessed. 2) Prayer of the heart: words are good, but adoration, longing, and yearning are better. 3) Clarity of intention: every "division" is rooted in the necessity of lies, hence every "unity" is observable in truth. 4) Become a new revelation of the Master's love: this has radical implications for social justice, equality, care for Mother Earth, and peace. And, 5) Tenderness is the Face of God: letting tenderness become our very own face is to give birth to God in a world that is dying for love...
So, What's Love Got To Do With It? Simply: everything!
[One final note: while this rumination has been written in "Christian" terms, with minimal effort, it is easily translatable into any other world faith.]
After walking with Rose of Sharon to school this morning, and while turning the corner on my way home, Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It popped into mind... I could hear the tune and chuckled Where Did That Come From? But as my usual, I figure it came to mind so that I could take it into consideration, give it a rumination, and write the up-shot for your consideration in turn... So, here it is...
What's love got to do with it? Simply: everything! Love is the hospital for the broken heart. In a world being shredded by violence, fear of "other" religions, and a raw fear of the "other" regardless of an evident common humanity, we are in dire need of individuals and who will take upon her / him self the servant mantle of becoming a living, breathing, hospital of hearts... Seriously, exactly like our Brother / Mother Jesus...
What if, instead of emphasizing "right belief" through formal creeds and doctrines, early Christian leaders had instead emphasized identification with the life-example of the Master? What if baptism was by fire instead of water? What if fire was understood to be our steady transformation into Love, into loving? What if loving in action was the definition and hallmark of the Christian? And what if the "Holy Spirit" was experienced as the Living Breath of Jesus, reaching out to us through the practiced remembrance of his words?
What if faith was experienced as our intimate identification with the Master? What if the hospital of our hearts meant that we lived as compassion givers in our families, our work places, our communities, our nations, and on into the entire world? How would everything change in our religions, our politics, our economics, and in our cultures if we all were to summon the courage to become compassion givers? Folks who work in hospitals and in hospices are considered care givers, and they certainly are! But what I am pondering is the absolute necessity of a complete social transformation: a gigantic leap into rEvolution!
There is a word... what is it? Hmm, ah! Yes, it is kenosis. That's Greek, right? Well anyway, in terms of the Christian faith, it means a radical emptying of the ways in which we identify as separate from the Divine Beloved, so as to be filled with the fullness, the Wonder, the Mystery, of the Cosmic Christ Consciousness... This core spiritual rEvolution is the Way of St. Francis, and of all of the Saints and Elders in the Christian rEvolution. (I'll not say "Church", because we all know that that would be a lie)... (Unfortunately!)...
There are a few "signs" that point to the possibility of transformation, and in no particular order: 1) Simplicity of life-style: what can't be shared or easily given away should not be possessed. 2) Prayer of the heart: words are good, but adoration, longing, and yearning are better. 3) Clarity of intention: every "division" is rooted in the necessity of lies, hence every "unity" is observable in truth. 4) Become a new revelation of the Master's love: this has radical implications for social justice, equality, care for Mother Earth, and peace. And, 5) Tenderness is the Face of God: letting tenderness become our very own face is to give birth to God in a world that is dying for love...
So, What's Love Got To Do With It? Simply: everything!
[One final note: while this rumination has been written in "Christian" terms, with minimal effort, it is easily translatable into any other world faith.]
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