A Labyrinthine Journey

I’m turning my thoughts to Confirmation class which begins tomorrow. Last year, I began working with my own curriculum to utilize the insights of the Church Year, the Enneagram and the Christian Virtues. While there is some basic doctrine and practices (the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is definitely present) the focus is on how to live as a follower of Christ. Which fits nicely to this last reflection from the Magi.

To recap, Part 1 I called Mindfulness. This was the openness of mind to the fuller reality of our lives and the world around us. The tragedy in Haiti has been a test of how open we remain to that fullness. But the gospel must be rooted in the truth of our experience or else it is worthless to us.

Part 2, I called soul-filled awareness (I really couldn’t come up with another phrase that I liked). This was an openness of soul and spirit to the reality of the presence of God in our lives. For me it is an invitation to really believe that God is there and is already working to bring righteousness and justice into my life and into this world.

It certainly takes a healthy faith and hope to hold both these perspectives on reality before us and within us.

So, now what I am calling Heartfulness. This completes the Three-fold teaching of the Magi. As we remain open to the reality around us and as we keep our spirits looking heavenward to receive all that God is doing we need to get up and get going.

The Magi who visited the baby Jesus responded to the sign in the heavens. I can imagine that this was not a simple process. They had to verify that the star was still there for a few nights. They then had to consult with one another to discern the meaning of it. Then they had to go to their Boss with those ideas and with the proper response laid out. “If this is a new-born king whose birth graces the heavens, it is best for us to do something to honor that birth”

The Ruler had to be convinced, then resources had to be mobilized. The gifts gathered (gifts that pretty much were reserved for royalty, I’m sure you couldn’t pick up a container of myrrh in the local convenience store). A caravan needed to be gathered together and only then could they venture out.

A lot of work to honor a baby and bring royal gifts.

Then to return home.

That took a lot of investment of time, money, even reputation. What if they got there and there was no royal birth (which Herod’s surprise may have led them to fear)? Yet, they did it. They saw, they responded.

As we believe that Jesus is the Light of our World, our response can be no less, in fact, it needs to be so much more. We need to follow this Christ with our whole-hearted, fully-lived response (hence my name for this).

We need to begin with honor and homage, but that is only the beginning.

The heart is the seat of expressed Love. Love received with thanksgiving and grace, and love poured out with gratitude and generosity.

That is what we are invited to give as gifts to the Christ. Our valuables (gold), our prayers (frankincense) and our utter dependence of Christ’s salvation (myrrh) are good starting points. But the great commandment is to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and to express that same love in all of our relationships.

This respond invites our complete investment. All our ideas, our perceptions, our words, and our actions need to be expressions of God’s love and our love woven together by Heartfulness.

Now, how to invite a group of 8th graders to see that. How to inspire of congregation of children and adults who already feel overburdened by failed expectations to set aside fear and give their hearts. How do you and I continue to stay “full” (mind-full, soul-full, heart-full) during the seasons of life.

Only be the Grace-Full-ness of Christ within us can we even hope it will happen. Yet, faith keeps inviting us to live that hope.

Before I move to part 3 of my thoughts on spirituality in the steps of the Magi, I wanted to pause for a moment for a footnote. This actually connects to a lot of thoughts I am having about our spirituality becoming more than 3-Dimensional.

In part 1, I thought about developing eyes for what is going on in the reality of our lives through what I am calling Mindfulness. Then in part 2, I talked about keeping our eyes looking toward the heavens in spirit/soul-filled awareness. The footnote is that we need both of these visions.

As we see more and more about the reality of our experience we need to see where God is at work. When we don’t do that we become open to a cynical and despairing view of the world. This is a part of our current reality in society and even (especially?) within the church.

We can see more and more the dark sides of ourselves and of others. We are inundated with studies and voices of critics that spell doom unless we do something about it. And many of those voices are even doubting whether there is anything we can do about our reality saying that we have messed things up too far. Whether it is politics, economics, global climate upset, or the future (lack thereof for many) of the church.

Things are bad, and we have to fix it before it is too late (if it isn’t already too late).

That is the message of those with an overly developed mindfulness without the spirit-filled awareness. When we lean too much in that direction we have already taken God out of the picture. It only makes sense, if we really don’t believe that God is involved in our lives then we are open to all the doomsayers and cynics. Also, if we don’t see that God is doing anything (seeing God as a classic underfunctioner) then we are compelled to step in, over-function, and try to fix things ourselves (which ironically is what created the problems in the first place)

That living belief in the living activity of God in our lives helps curtail or descent into despair and rampant control.

Yet, we can also become out of balance the other way. I know people who live within a fantasy world based on visions and words of mystics and scripture that has no contact with reality. How many of our best-selling Christian books come from this limited vision of life that does not allow for the shadows of life or the reality that evil is within each one of us. This view of reality that forgets or ignores what is actually happening in our world leads to a different kind of fear that removes us from our neighbors. This view even removes us from our own selves. If we cannot accept the shadows of our own lives then we cannot allow God to come into those places and heal us.

If the incarnation (the original even that brings the Magi to our attention) means anything is that God comes to the garages and cow barns of our lives because they too are part of this life.

I do believe these two points of vision fit very well together. And as we cultivate both areas of awareness we can see how for God, there are not really two realities, but just one. And in that one reality there is the one truth of God at work.

If the first task of the wise ones we call Magi is to be mindful of the reality of their lives and their world, the second one we need to learn from is to cast our eyes heavenward. We need to be filled with soulfilled awareness. The word is odd, I know, but I can’t seem to find another one that I like better.

The Magi were star-gazers. They looked for and reflected on signs in the stars and in the heavens. They had to do it as a regular practice otherwise how would they know there was a new star in the west. And how would they discern what it’s significance might be.

In the tradition I grew up in, the truth of these astrologers was conveniently passed over, but these wise ones read the charts. In fact, they probably made the charts. And God used those charts to lead them to the light. The more I think about it, the more amazing that little fact becomes to me. I have spent enough time listening to and learning from a lot of new age spirituality which those church leaders from my youth would declare as out and out heresy. But if God is able to speak to astrologers to allow them to bring homage to God’s own child, why can’t God use things like labyrinths, Enneagrams, meditation techniques, and ambient soundscapes to bring God’s own children closer to the Presence of the Beloved.

Anyway, that is simply an aside.

These Magi spent their time looking for and expecting the heavens to speak to them with truth they needed to respond to. As I think about that, I don’t advocate astrology (that wasn’t my point above) but I do believe that we need a spiritual practice that is oriented to listening to and expecting to receive the Presence of God in our daily life.

Do we really believe that God is speaking to us right now? Or do we think that God only works in other people’s lives?

I confess that much of my life I only theoretically believe that. I really don’t expect God to do something in my life. Most of the time.

Yet, I am learning differently. This is the second lesson of the Magi for me. Know that God is showing me things, then go find where God is expressing that Grace.

Believe that God is guiding me, then open my heart and soul to see that direction.

The way the Magi did that was by looking heavenward all the time. They were open to the subtleties of the stars. And they believed in the significance of even the smallest of events.

Rarely does God (if ever) communicate with us through big, neon signs. God tends to love the subtle whispers of the Beloved to communicate the most important information. If God seems hidden it is not because God is cruel or is not wanting us to discover the Divine in our lives. I believe it is because God wants us to look, seek, and then find.

Early in my ministry, I discovered a trick in responding to shy children. The first thing I learned is that children don’t shake hands, but they will almost always give someone a high-five. And usually with a smile and a laugh.

But that isn’t the trick. The trick is to turn it into a game. If a small child is hiding behind the legs of their parent or grandparent and look like they are scared of this strange, tall man with a beard wearing a dress (my preaching robe), then I will slip around the corner from them and peek. Instead of them wanting to run away from me in fear, they now want to find out where this funny man is.

God invites us into a relationship that is not based on our fears. So what if God chooses to hide behind other things in our life so that we become the ones who now seek the One who came from heaven to seek us.

And for us to see that and respond, the Magi tell us to keep on looking to the heavens expecting to find there all that we need to know.

Part 3 will come sooner than part 2 and goes by my name of Heartfulness.

In considering the story of the Magi, I realized that they provide a formula that works well for anyone of us who endeavor to follow the light of Christ upon the spiritual journey. I see three components of their journey that can guide us in our journey.

1. Mindfulness

I know that mindfulness is one of the hot words within spirituality circles nowadays, but I think my meaning is a bit unique. As I consider the Magi and mindfulness I see the importance of always awakening to what is going on in our lives and in our world. I’m sure the original wise ones provided such a service to their employers: the service of observing all that was going on within the society and outside their borders. I can imagine these magi as some of the original intelligence officers as they sought to understand the reality of life. Just as a skilled diagnostician needs all the info, so we need to have clear minds about our experience and circumstances.

It is easy to want to see only part of our experience. I want to forget or even ignore the unpleasant aspects of my life. Yet, they are a part of where I am in my life right here, right now. And it is within the right here and right now that life can be lived. We cannot go anywhere in growing or living if we seek to maintain a fantasy-based or a partial-truth based view of our lives.

So our minds and our understanding become tools to help us see the dirt and mirrors of life into which Christ seeks incarnation.

Trusting in the grace of God is essential to this mindfulness. If we cannot trust in a God of forgiveness and grace then we will not take the risk to see ourselves as we truly are with gifts, graces, brokenness and rebellion all included.

Let go of our judgement about what is acceptable before God. If Christmas means anything to us, it should mean that Christ came to where we were, as we were. God loves us too much to leave us disconnected with our own lives, so Christ comes to redeem us in our broken wholeness.

So, what is happening in your life? Where are you growing and expressing the essence of the divine? Where are you walking in darkness or pursuing other hopes than the divine will?

Trust God and let yourself be seen with the eyes of loving truth.

Part 2: Soulful Awareness.