A letter from Nashville

David W. Graves, Bishop of United Methodists in Tennessee and Western Kentucky, issued a statement to his clergy which will be published today. (I received his email as a retired clergy.) As of 6:30 am (CT) today, it was not yet posted on the Conference website, but it may be by the time you read this. I’ve condensed his letter for brevity. Since not everyone who reads this blog identifies as Christian, I’ve omitted most references to faith. With a universal grace, he speaks a universal truth:

Our country is more divided than ever. …

It is our understanding that the National Guard will soon be deployed into Memphis, Tennessee. …

This past week, we witnessed the tragic shooting of a well-known political activist while in conversation with college students. And … yet another school shooting – this time in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado.

… Sit down with someone who does not look like you, vote like you, or pray like you. Listen with compassion. Extend grace. Refuse to let the story of our nation be written only in terms of hatred and violence. ... 

How might you take responsibility for changing the narrative of this country? ...

… Memphis Mayor Paul Young stated in his September 12 News Conference for everyone to come together regardless of our differences. …

…Use your voice, your influence, and your presence ...

twkumc.org

A “welcoming” prayer

The “Philippian Hymn” likely was an early Christian song quoted by Paul, declaring that life is not about how much praise, power or money we can accumulate, but rather how much we can give away. Throughout The Wisdom Jesus, Cynthia Bourgeaut returns to the theme of kenosis (“he emptied himself”) and the cross/crucifixion. She begins Chapter 15, “Welcoming,” with Paul’s introduction to this beautiful kenotic hymn: “Let the same mind be in you as was seen in Christ Jesus.” Bourgeault said:

When we hear the word “mind” we immediately think of some mental construct, and “putting on the mind of Christ” gets interpreted as “putting on the attitude of Christ.” This in turn, is usually interpreted as trying to imitate those admirable qualities we see in Jesus’s being: kindness, compassion, gentleness, integrity. … To really put on the “mind” means … discovering in our own selves the secret of Jesus’s capacity to open himself to life in such an extraordinary way.

Bourgeault invites us to consider a “Welcoming Prayer” rhythm developed in the 1980s following the work of Thomas Keating. It “demonstrates … that the kenosis Jesus taught and modeled, far from being passive or spiritually indifferent … is in fact a pathway of vibrant spiritual strength and creativity connecting us to energetic fields far beyond our own finite resources.”

A Welcoming Prayer is: a three-step process of acknowledging what is going on internally during a distressing physical or emotional situation, “welcoming” it, and letting it go.

Tomorrow’s post will conclude this week’s excursion into Cynthia Bourgeault’s The Wisdom Jesus.

From “The Welcoming Prayer by Thomas Keating OCSO,” by the Diocese of Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island), January 21, 2024.

Kenosis

Cynthia Bourgeaut’s excursion into the Gospel of Thomas ends with (what I see as her book’s thesis): It is not a ladder but a circle that brings us to God: the continuously renewed giving and receiving which in its totality is where God dwells. This kenotic spirituality (self-emptying as the path to fullness) is in my opinion Jesus’s unique and profoundly original contribution to the spiritual consciousness of humankind.

Seeing Jesus through this new filter … gives us the freedom to go deeper. I find nothing in the Gospel of Thomas that contradicts any of Jesus’s teachings in the canonical gospels. Rather, it rounds them out … and creates a newfound sense of awe as we see just how original and subtle his understanding really is. He is the first truly integral teacher to appear on this planet. She elaborates:

I think … all of the great spiritual paths lead toward … this larger, nondual mind as the seat of personal consciousness—but they get there by different routes. While Jesus is typical of the wisdom tradition in his vision of what a whole and unified human being looks like, the route he lays out for getting there is very different from anything that had ever been seen on the planet up to that point. She continues:

In Jesus everything hangs together around a single center of gravity …. What name might we give to this center? The apostle Paul suggests the word kenosis … in Philippians 2:5-16 … to describe what “the mind of Christ” is all about. (This is from Bourgeault’s Chapter 5, “Kenosis–The Path of Self-Emptying Love.” The Greek word kenosis means “to empty,” like letting the air out of a balloon.)

From “Kenosis,” a Daily Meditation by Richard Rohr, December 10, 2017 (which draws from Bourgeault’s The Wisdom Jesus).

Catch-up metaphors

Sometimes Don Saliers‘ first words in response to a deep theological question are: “Within the limitations of human speech….” Metaphor is the language of faith. As humanity evolves, we find new metaphors to describe our experience with, and our (always limited) understanding of, “God.”

Ilia Delio’s use of “God” (in quotes) reminds us that it (and every word) is inadequate, an important lesson from Moses’ encounter with the burning bush, where he was inspired to go back to Egypt (from where he fled) to lead his people out of slavery. He asks the Voice, “What is your name?”

The answer was, “I am.” The point of this ancient story is that Divine Reality is beyond any name. Ironically, and profoundly, YHWH (the Hebrew term for “I am”) became the name of the Nameless One. To put Delio in my words, we need to refresh the metaphors of our God-language.

An “up there” God worked on a flat earth. (Our son Cully met some flat earth believers on a hike awhile back in New Zealand.) We (most of us, at least) know the Universe is populated with many burning, light-giving spheres such as our sun, as well as cooled, spinning spheres we call planets.

Delio says an “out there,” or “up there” God is first-axial age language. We need a metaphor refresh for the second-axial age. Look within yourself, as well as beyond yourself, to dis-cover God. A burning bush inspired Moses to take action; maybe trillions of burning stars can inspire us to take action.

From “Light Up the Sky: How Many Stars Are in the Universe?“, Little Passports

A designful work of art

With a hat tip to Marty Neumeier (now 76), who in 2008 wrote The Designful Company, I recommend yesterday’s “A Foundational Practice” by Richard Rohr (now 81), which included this opening sentence: “I believe that the combination of human action from a contemplative center is the greatest art form.”

Joe Ellmore (now 93), has for 54 years shown me what it means to live an intentionally contemplative life. Yesterday, in Sunday School, the SALT Class (Serving And Learning Together), Joe said, “I read your blog post” (about the debate between Joe Biden, now 81, and Donald Trump, now 78). “Next time, please tell us what you really think.” Okay. I originally wrote that Trump’s disrespect “poisoned” the atmosphere, but I substituted what I really think with a less severe “polluted.”

As we enter the second half of this consequential year, I (now 73) move between action regarding the disaster of a second Trump administration and the desire for a more contemplative life. Rohr helps. Here’s the full paragraph of yesterday’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation:

I believe that the combination of human action from a contemplative center is the greatest art form. When action and contemplation are united, we have greater beauty, symmetry, and transformation—lives and actions that inherently sparkle and heal, though the shadow is still present. 

You (at whatever age) are a designful work of art. Hold that thought.

Among my descriptors for Donald Trump is “a piece of work.” As I oppose him, I acknowledge our kinship, often around the “shadow” that Rohr mentions. Yes, each and every one of us is a work of art. The photo is from “Trump’s Latest Lies About His Lies,” by William Kristol, The Bulwark, June 24, 2024.