Gathering Leaders:  

   Set-up/Put-away: open      

Greeter/Usher: Suzie Robertson  

Reader/Communion Assistant: Roshi Chatlani and Rachel Welch  

Offering Invitation: Beth Lanier 

Community Hour Hosts: Scott Bowling and Dave Miller

                

    
Co-creating a Progressive Christian Spirituality 

        

 

I am the road

I am the unknown

I am here.

I am middle-aged

I am knowledgeable

I am here.

I am changeable

I am unique

I am here.

I am a companion

I am a traveler

I am here.

I am happy when with you

I am home

I am here.

AWE & WONDER:

          

    James         Rachel     Humberto

               Richard      Roshi     John      Tim

                    Daniel        chocolate      Sarah

                  Swan Lake       Lisa    Javier       

                  Adri    Kim      Christina

                                love

 

spend years lost in the wildernesses of your own mechanical, spiritual programs. You can perish in a famine of your own making.

                     -from John O'Donohue, Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom

"Spirituality is about what works for you, on your path, at this critical point in history." 

The Via Transformativa is the making of Jesus the Prophet and Jesus the Revolutionary.  Don't put Jesus on a pedestal, but find the prophet within your own self and in your community.  Vias Creativa, Positiva, and Negativa prepare us for the Via Transformativa.

Jesus tasted the Via Positiva in the land in which he lived, a fertile land with green hills. He learned his spirituality from nature.  Jesus speaks of "the birds of the air," "the lilies of the field":  nature's bounty, diversity and beauty! All zeal is about falling in love. Thomas Aquinas called it "the intense experience of the beauty of things."  Who awakens your heart to gratitude on a daily basis? We need this! We need the Cosmic Christ and the Historical Jesus like two wings in order to fly.  Meister Eckhart said, "In the desert there is no room for two." God and the creature are one!  Creation is the sacred home of the Divine.

The Via Negativa: "Whoever loses his life will save it."  Jesus experienced the "shattering of self": "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Life prunes us. Pruning is an image of letting go, and with pruning comes strength, renewal, and sustainability.
 
The Via Creativa: Jesus' life of "living on the lam" was tough, it was survival! Jesus and his people lived under the oppression of the Roman Empire. In his teaching, story-telling and feasting, he "thinks on his feet":  "Here's a coin....render to Caesar what is Caesar's."  "Leave the dead to bury their dead." Jews have a tradition of creative thinking; they exercise their mind.

On display throughout the room were nine photographs of clay images depicting different events in the life of Jesus, and nine photographs of clay images depicting Jesus' "I am" statements from John's Gospel. These two types provided a balance between the Historical Jesus and the Cosmic Christ.  The "I am" statements were rarely Jesus' words but rather the words of the community, thus the Cosmic Christ's words and ours as well.  Matthew 25 is a link between the Cosmic Christ and the Historical Jesus. 

Eckhart said "The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me."  We are artists when we enter into the art.
We were invited to look reflectively at each piece. We can look at the "I am the light of the world...the door... the way, truth and life... the bread," etc. and consider in what way I am that. We can re-read the Bible seeing the Cosmic Christ. Whenever we see  glory in Sacred Scripture it means the Cosmic Christ. Angels were primary movers in Scripture, clouds were friendly, "Lord" meant "Son of God": all these refer to the Cosmic Christ.

The most important question in life is, "Is the universe friendly or not?"  Evil is not an object but a spiritual presence which is very smart; it is a spiritual battle in which we all participate.  We need to examine our motives and intentions every day, and we need courage and allies (community).  Evil goes to where the power is.  Evil is a door to understand the Cosmic Christ.

As we reflected silently before these images we heard the singing of "Listen, listen to my heart's song. I will never forget you, I will never forsake you."  We then had small-group sharings on what we saw and how the art spoke to us, remembering we are all called to be other Christs.  At some point we did a circle dance singing:  "We are stardust, we are fire, we are love!"

Thank you from the Editor