The Golden Rule

Because the One I love lives inside of you, I lean as close to you as I can. Because God has pitched tent inside your humanity, I set up camp in your courage and hike on the trails of your wisdom. Because God goes with you, I stand in your shoes, feel the soul of your feet, and walk in your sacred footprint. I want to know you, really know you, in all your beautiful, messy, brilliant, fragile humanity. You are accepted just as you are.

Practice being human together. Treat others as if you are the others, as if they are holding up a mirror to divine beauty. I’m not talking just about the respectable or outwardly impressive parts. I’m talking about your fears and foibles too. Learn to appreciate the good days as well as the bad days.

There’s a beautiful story about Mother Theresa. She made friends with a man who was dying on the street. He had maggots eating at his open wounds. She brought him to the convent to clean him up.

The whole time, the man complained and cursed her. One of the younger nuns asked her how she could stand to clean him when he was being so nasty. Mother Theresa said, “Oh that was just Jesus having a bad day.”

Mother Theresa was the embodiment of the Golden Rule. A little likeHaley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense who saw dead people, Mother Theresa saw God…..everywhere……. in all people, especially in those who were having a bad day. She saw God and treated people with the sort of sacred respect that most of us reserve for royalty. If you think of The Golden Rule as being an exchange of kindness, she was only concerned about her part in the exchange. It was always her move and she didn’t worry too much about having her kindness returned.

Life would be so much more peaceful if we all learnt to accept each other’s bad days. How can we learn to appreciate each other’s imperfections? How can you follow the inspiration of Mother Theresa and make it your move even when you are trying to love someone who annoys or repulses you? Maybe you can start by accepting your own imperfection.

God Within

The Japanese Kimono gown is a beautiful symbol of God within. Some Kimonos have very plain outer designs but immaculate and exquisite decoration on the inside of the gown. Some of them are even intentionally imperfect on the outside. The purpose is to remind the person wearing the gown that beauty ultimately resides within. Those who see the imperfections of the outer gown are reminded to appreciate the variety of the outer and look to the magnificence that lies beneath the surface.

I like to think of myself as being fairly competent, but underneath this calm exterior there are some cracks. As a home handyman, for example, I make a great theologian. The very name “Ikea” makes me break out in a cold sweat. I don’t understand restaurants where you have to cook your own food and I don’t appreciate furniture stores where they send you out with a box full of wood, a wingnut and a prayer. Our home is full of reminders of my imperfection. We once bought an Ikea bed. It was called the BLAARKEN which is Swedish for “best of luck, you sucker”. After 6 hours trying to put together this Swedish puzzle, we gave up and decided to use it as a bookcase.

Another time, I was trying to assemble a cabinet and got trapped inside. I had to call technical support to help me get out. I tried to put together a bed side table for Meg. The drawers wouldn’t open; never did, never have. The coffee table in our living room has two big cracks in it where I failed to properly install the storage compartment. Every time we look at the cracks in our coffee table, we are reminded of my glorious imperfection.

You see, as Leonard Cohen said and I take great comfort, “There is no perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” The Bible describes this as treasures in clay jars. The outer form, the container, is fragile but what it holds…now that is incredible. Our frail humanity is a reminder to not get attached to the outer form and also of the treasures that lie beneath the surface.

Sacred wonder and beauty is so often experienced in the cracks of life, where the light gets in. Jack Kornfield tells the story of a Buddhist statue in his book The Wise Heart-

In a large temple in Thailand’s capital, Sukotai, there was an enormous clay Buddha. It had survived over five hundred years. At one point, however, the monks who tended the temple noticed that the statue had begun to crack and would soon be in need of repair and repainting. After a stretch of particularly hot, dry weather, one of the cracks became so wide that a curious monk took his flashlight and peered inside. What shone back at him was a flash of brilliant gold! Inside this plain old statue, the temple residents discovered one of the largest and most luminous gold images of Buddha ever created in Southeast Asia. The golden Buddha now draws masses of devoted pilgrims from all over Thailand. The monks believe that this shining work of art had been covered in plaster and clay to protect it during times of conflict and unrest.

God Between

If you learn to accept your bad days, you will be a lot more accepting of other people’s bad days. If you embrace your own quirks and foibles, you will be a lot more appreciative of the quirks of others. They may even teach you something about the divine nature of life.

Here’s the hardest part of the Golden Rule- Its your move! It’s always your move when it comes to the Golden Rule.

The Golden Rule at the most general level is a moral measurement, but its not black and white. How does it apply to increasing the numbers of troops in Afghanistan? How does it relate to health care reform? Whatever your perspective on these big issues, the Golden Rule frames the question. How can I treat others as if I am the others? You don’t have to start with the tough global issues. You can start just by smiling more often.

The Talmud teaches that it is better to show a person “the white of your teeth” than to give them a drink of milk (Ketubot, 111b). It adds that this applies even if the person has just come in after a long trek on a hot day. Your smile is of greater value, and does more good than a cold drink.

Smile at people for no particular reason. Smile at strangers. Smile at your enemies. It will drive them crazy. But don’t do it for that reason. Do it because loving for no apparent reason brings you nearer to heaven.

Toward the end of the church service, the minister asked,” How many of you have forgiven your enemies? One small elderly lady raises her hand.

“Mrs. Jones? How is that you have managed to forgive all your enemies?”

“I don’t have any.” She replied, smiling sweetly.

Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?”

“Ninety - eight,” she replied.

“Oh, Mrs. Jones, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live 98 yrs and not have an enemy in the world?”

The sweet little lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said: “I outlived the lot of them.”

That’s one way to do it. Another way is to learn to love your own imperfections and in so doing become more compassionate to others.

The Golden Rule is Universal

The Golden Rule is a universal moral code. It is present in some form in most of the world’s traditions. Douglas Adams gave the simplest form of Jesus teaching in his prologue to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where his narrator explains that the story begins “nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change”.

The Golden Rule was laid out clearly in Ancient thought as well as most world religions. Isocrates (436-338 BCE) said, “Do not do unto others what angers you if done to you by others.” Roman Pagan culture said: “The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves.” Chinese text The Art of War said, “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

Here is a sample of Golden Rules from various religions:

Christianity- Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6;31

Confucianism- Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2

Buddhism- Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism- This is the sum of duty; do nothing to others that you would not have them do to you. Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam- No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Hadith of an-Nawawi 13

Judaism- What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism- Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism- Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others. Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29

Native American Spirituality also contains a form of the Golden Rule- “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” -Chief Seattle.

Evolutionary theory also seems to include a form of the Golden Rule. Natural selection prefers cooperation. If you know that someone may hold your fate in their hands at some future time, it’s wise to get on their good side while you can.

As people who understand that all of life is connected; all people, all actions, people with the earth etc, the challenge is to move beyond caring for survival, and expanding your compassion beyond your tribe and current perspective to include the stranger, the enemy, even those who haven’t yet lived. Spiritual evolution includes celebrating the bad days and the beauty of imperfection. You want the best for everyone in all situations, and you are creative and skilful enough to help others to achieve.

Because the One I love lives inside of you, I lean as close to you as I can. Because God has pitched tent inside your humanity, I set up camp in your courage and hike on the trails of your wisdom. Because God goes with you, I stand in your shoes, feel the soul of your feet, and walk in your sacred footprint. Namaste.

For Further Reflection (Questions that can be used privately or in groups)

1. What are the personality traits you find hardest to love or accept in yourself?

2. In what ways are other people mirrors of divine beauty in your life?

3. How does the Golden Rule apply to the deploying of more troops in Afghanistan? How does it apply to health care reform?

4. Which formulation of the Golden Rule is most meaningful to you?

Jesus was SBNR / Membership at C3

Retired Calvin English professor Steve J. Van Der Weele feels that the spiritual-but-not-religious movement merits attention. That is an understatement. The church will ignore the mass exodus of people out of religion at its peril. The fact that so many people are claiming spirituality outside of religion is to be celebrated — and is far preferable to people leaving religion with nothing to put in its place.

The spiritual-but-not-religious movement is not in competition with religion. It is a clear alternative for those who are seeking new ways of relating to God and the world outside of mainstream religion. Steve Van Der Weele uses an interesting metaphor to suggest a pitfall of being spiritual but not religious. He says that water needs a container.

We can agree on this one thing

I resonate strongly with his metaphor, but for a different reason than the one he intends. Water does not need a container. Water is invisible in the atmosphere but essential as a life force. Water may be held in a container, but only for a brief time, and for a very limited purpose. The container can never define water, nor does it ultimately contain it.

Human beings often seek containers. We want our lives to be framed by something more significant than our daily routine. We want to make a lasting difference in the world. We desire a connection with something greater than ourselves. We belong to groups and movements that expand our circle of care and compassion. Once the container is limiting our growth and reach, it is a mark of human maturity to move beyond that container. Some will move beyond the religious container of their upbringing and explore other world religions. Others will explore the universal human connections that are beyond any one container.

After all, look at Jesus

Water is a wonderful metaphor for spirituality without religion. John, chapter 4, tells the story of Jesus breaking all the social traditions of his day and mixing with a Samaritan woman at a well. In the first century, many Jews would opt for a nine-day journey along the Jordan River to avoid the type of meeting that Jesus and the Samaritan woman enjoyed. For a Jewish man to drink from the cup of a Samaritan woman was unthinkable. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus did. He drank from a new container. He was more concerned with drawing people together than with upholding religious purity laws that divide people.

Jesus was spiritual but not religious in the sense that he was more interested in connecting with people beyond his own tribe than he was with maintaining religious purity. He worked against the separation and division of people. The poison of separation based on religious or ethnic exclusiveness is just as toxic as water pollution.

Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan which flows into the Sea of Galilee, a water world teeming with all manner of sea and plant life. The River Jordan also flows into the Dead Sea, where displaced fish die within minutes. An increasing number of people are finding religion to be a Dead Sea, lifeless and stagnant. This is the religious challenge: Evolve into something relevant and meaningful or else fade into oblivion.

Meanwhile, those who are spiritual but not religious are getting on with life that is lived fully and with depth. We are seeking an experience of love and acceptance that is oceanic. We look to water to be reminded that all are connected, that all things change and that we need to adapt to new circumstances. The ocean refuses no river, asks no questions of the river, and organically the ocean and the river merge into one.

Water that is boundless and free is a wonderful metaphor for the sort of spirituality that Jesus encouraged. To seek the depths of life is far more empowering than materialism. The good news is that materialism is not the only alternative to religion. Thank God for spirituality without religion. People who feel no connection to religion can live with depth and love the world with abandon, in an ever widening circle of kindness, until the day when love conquers all hatred and no one and no thing is excluded from love’s inclusive embrace.

Above you are the stars. Beneath you is the earth. Within and around you are the waters of life. Like the stars, may your love be constant. Like the earth, may your life be grounded. Like the waters of life, may you know that you are never alone and are flowing in a beautiful stream of divine becoming. Peace to all.

Membership at C3

Groucho Marx once sent a telegram to the exclusive Friar’s Club in Hollywood: “Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” How do you feel about membership in institutions like the church? My sermon on Sunday addressed this question.

This past Sunday was one of my all time favorite Sunday gatherings at C3. If you were present, you know what I’m talking about. Thank you for helping to make it so extraordinary. If you were not present, I want to give you a chance to catch the same energy.

Believe it or not, we had an altar call of sorts. We collectively agreed to reinstitute a clearer membership focus. Over 100 people on Sunday declared membership at C3 for the very first time, with many more reaffirming their membership. After the gathering, people were bursting at the seams with optimism and sharing stories of how they had been at C3 for many years but never taken this step or else they were more recent participants but had just been waiting for an opportunity like this.

So this is your opportunity to join the incredible C3 momentum. You can declare your membership right here and right now! Please fill out this form and hit 'Submit' now.

Membership at C3 is not about assenting to particular beliefs or creeds or gaining some exclusive sense of entitlement. You don’t have to be baptized or background checked or prove your worth in any way. Membership at C3 is a way to say “yes” to life alongside others who share your core values for a more peaceful, loving world.

It is a mark of mature freedom to pledge your commitment to this world changing community as you strive to be all you can in your life and help C3 to be all it can be in the world.

Here is what I am asking you to do right now. If you are a local person, please fill out this form and hit 'Submit' now. Mark on the form whether you are declaring your membership for the first time or reaffirming a previous commitment to C3.

If you are not local to C3, then we love being connected with you as well. Please continue to hold C3 with your best thoughts, love and support and we will continue to partner with you in pioneering an alternative to church as usual.

My sermon on Sunday touched on issues related to “Don’t ask Don’t tell”, both in the military, in the church and in your own private life. I invite you to read the sermon here and please feel free to leave your comments. The intention of this sermon is to empower you to fully manifest your highest self in the interests of a better world.

Born Again Or Just Growing Up?

When I was 17 I had a life changing experience. I was your typical 17 yr old boy; withdrawn and full of restless angst. The only thing I really got excited about was football. One night I was listening to a band when a mysterious force entered my body and ‘took possession of me’ for several minutes. I physically shook. I began to perspire. A flood of emotions accompanied the physical wave through my body. At one moment I felt shame, and at the next exhilaration. After a few moments, the feeling left my body and I couldn’t begin to describe the relief. I felt light, like a completely new person.

It all happened without anyone around me noticing. I didn’t even tell anyone about it. I didn’t know what to say. It didn’t even feel like it was a story that needed to be told. But then something equally amazing happened. The next morning I was eating breakfast with my sister. We were eating in silence.

Suddenly she looked at me and said, “You’ve changed.”

She had confirmed what I was feeling. I was a new person. I needed some language for this experience, so I turned to the only language I had. I decided that I had experienced a Christian conversion. I had been born again. Jesus had entered my heart. The Holy Spirit had washed over me, purged me of my sin and made me a new creation. I decided that day to become a pastor in a Christian church. I never played football seriously again. I even began (wait for it) evangelizing other people. I emptied lunch tables as my Jewish friends wondered what had come over me. Thankfully my evangelical stage lasted only a few weeks.

It took me many years to come to an important realization. Language is not an experience. Language describes an experience but does not contain an experience. More recently I would describe the same experience quite differently. There was no doubting that something profound took place. My whole personality changed over night. Apart from the annoying experiments in evangelism, I became a nicer person. I was more optimistic and connected to people around me. The changes were all good, but I no longer need the Christian language to explain the experience. In fact the Christian language put a period on the experience when what I needed was a comma. It was a lesson in openness.

The philosopher William James is one of the early SBNR leaders. He offered much insight into the nature of experience. He was an unlikely leader in the spiritual world. He came from a dysfunctional family. As one writer put it, “he was the weird son of an even weirder father.” The family was so wealthy that he had no need to work. He spent his time on spiritual quests. Eventually he became a physician, and pursued his two greatest passions; spiritual experience and science.

He was a champion of the view that certainty comes from within individuals and not from either scientific orthodoxy or religious belief. Rather than studying religious texts, he spent time studying the actual experiences of people. He concluded that “experience is everything.” Experience should be assessed not by the language placed on the experience, but by the fruits of the experience. Does it lead to greater happiness, and optimism? Does it solve existential anxieties? Does it get things done in the world?

James’ conclusion was that religion worked when it was seen as a set of experiences or as a way of life. He suggested that there are two features of religious experience

1. Uneasiness. The experience should lead to a sense that something needs to be changed, improved.
2. The solution to this uneasiness lies in making connection to higher powers.

He didn’t define what the higher powers are, or what they should be called. He simply suggested that the problem in life is feeling small or isolated or powerless, and the solution is finding yourself embraced by something larger than yourself or by some higher purpose. It expands your focus and perspective and often shifts you out of the rut you are in.

He says something about this larger purpose in the final chapter of The Varieties of Religious Experience, where he uses the language of “the more”:

“Apart from all religious considerations, there is actually and literally more life in our total soul than we are at any time aware of. . . . Let me then propose, as a hypothesis, that whatever it may be on its farther side, the “more” with which in religious experience we feel ourselves connected is on its hither side the subconscious continuation of our conscious life.”

This is another way of saying that there is always more; more to learn, more to experience, more to share. All your experiences are precious and valuable. Just don’t be too quick to label them with language or explanations. Instead, dwell in the wonder of your own place in divine becoming that is greater than all and yet present in each and every moment. Your subconscious connections are more powerful than you could even begin to imagine.

The Harmonic Resonance of Thriving Community

Couples learn a lot about each other on trips. Take for example the couple on a road trip that stopped at a diner for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and resumed their trip. When leaving, the woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table. She didn’t miss them until after they had been driving about twenty minutes. As they drove back to get them, the husband moaned and groaned under his breath about his wife’s forgetfulness. To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the husband yelled to her . . . “While you’re in there, would you get my hat and credit card?”

Does that sound familiar? Men and women are so different, and it’s never more obvious than on road trips. The stereotype for men is generally true. We don’t like to ask for help. Why does it take millions of sperm to fertilize one egg? Because they refuse to stop and ask for directions.

Recently, Meg and I were driving from downtown Grand Rapids to Rivertown Mall and we didn’t have the GPS. We were on a tight timeframe, and it was taking a little longer than we expected. Meg said, “You’re lost. You have to stop and ask directions.” I replied, “We’re not lost. We’re just not there yet.” For a man there is no such thing as being lost. That’s why we don’t ask for directions. If there is still gas in the tank and hours in the day . . . , basically if you’re moving you’re not lost. Remember Moses! He wandered in the desert for 40 years without asking directions. That trip could have been so much quicker.

Seriously, why is it so hard for many of us to ask for help? Do we think we will lose face? Is it an ego issue? Have we fallen for the delusion of separateness?

Asking for directions is an essential spiritual practice in this time of massive change. So much is changing, whether it’s a new economic situation or a new spiritual paradigm. As someone said to me during the week, we are in uncharted territory. Many of the things that gave you a spiritual compass in the past no longer seem relevant. The Bible doesn’t have the same literal, inerrant authority. Your concept of God is changing and growing. Religion doesn’t provide the same certainty it used to offer.

While it’s true that you have incredible inner wisdom and resources, it’s also true that we need to encourage and challenge, sharpen and support each other. That’s why community is so important. We need each other for sustained spiritual growth. Spiritual community is a place where you can practice being human in an ever changing world, and create sweet harmony alongside kindred spirits.

Harmonic Resonance

What does harmony have to do with spiritual growth and life purpose?

A man was deep in meditation. He wondered to himself, “Is there a plan for my life? What is the plan?” He heard a voice say “It’s B flat”. He repeated it to himself, “The plan for my life is B flat!” He understood it immediately. He had a clarinet tuned to the key of B flat. His favorite pastime was to improvise with his B flat clarinet. The plan for his life was to improvise.

When you are in uncharted territory, you need to improvise. That’s quite different to what many of us have been taught in church. We have been taught to follow the rules, do what you’re told. God said it. Believe it. That settles it.

There is an awful church sign that says, “A free thinker is Satan’s slave.” The name of the church? Harmony Baptist Church! Harmony? The harmonic resonance in a community has nothing to do with group think. A community of free thinkers can experience profound harmony. There is something more subtle about harmony than group think or sharing a system of beliefs. Harmony is the song that we sing when we celebrate our diversity and the pitch we find is the sweet sound of unity in diversity.

Harmony is an experience that grows much like diversity. There is some pleasure in hearing the same note an octave apart. This was the ancient Greek notion of harmony. This is like the achievement of having Baptists and Presbyterians in the same room, or men and women singing the same note octaves apart. It is the most basic diversity. But there is a much deeper harmony. It was discovered in monasteries in the 9th century, the contemplative beauty of tones five notes apart. This is like the achievement of having Catholics and Protestants in the same room, or Republicans and Democrats finding common ground. There is a harmony even deeper still. The major third, by the twelfth century, sounded the tone of what we now think of as harmony. This is shalom. It is unity with depth, like people of all religions and no religion coming together and working on shared universal values.

Bach took harmony to new levels of subtlety. He said this about his music:

“In the architecture of my music I want to demonstrate to the world the architecture of a new and beautiful social commonwealth. The secret of my harmony? Each instrument in counterpoint, and as many contrapuntal parts as there are instruments. It is the enlightened self-discipline of the various parts, each voluntarily imposing on itself the limits of its individual freedom for the well-being of the community. That is my message. Not the autocracy of a single stubborn melody on the one hand, nor the anarchy of unchecked noise on the other. No, a delicate balance between the two; an enlightened freedom. The science of my art. The art of my science. The harmony of the stars in the heavens, the yearning for brotherhood in the heart of man. This is the secret of my music.” – Johann Sebastian Bach

As Radar from the TV show M*A*S*H would say when trying to impress a woman on a date, “Ah, Bach.” He has captured the essence of harmony in community. Ah Bach! Enlightened freedom. Mature freedom. The delicate balance of freedom and responsibility to the whole.

Nature herself offers the pattern of community membership in her delicate harmonic resonance. Do you know the sound that comes out of a black hole? B flat. 57 octaves below middle C; so, human ears can’t hear it. It is the same frequency that occurs when lightning strikes water. It is the sound of creativity.

In the beginning was the word, or to say that another way, in the beginning was sound. If anyone had been present to hear the Big Bang, would it have struck a chord? Yes. I believe it would have been a minor 6th in B Flat like the opening music for the classic film Love Story. Resonant harmony is all about relationships! Even the heavens declare the glory of God in harmonic tones, as the Psalmist said. Your life, all of nature, human community; they all have their own divine harmony.

Praise and gratitude are one expression of creation’s harmony. Listen to this amazing recording of crickets. Crickets have a short life span, so if you slow down the life span of a cricket to that of a human, the recording sounds like an incredible choral symphony. There is no instrumentation added to this recording.

All of creation makes the sound of praise and gratitude. Harmony also depends on some tension, or counter point. Life is full of syncopated rhythms, surprising you and filling you with wonder and awe at the constantly evolving serendipity and second chances that open up all around you.

Everything in the cosmos has its own sound, even if we can’t hear it. Our human hearing puts us in the middle. The sound coming from the planets is too low for us to hear. It is cosmic bass. The sound of the atom is too high for us to hear. It is cosmic treble. We are musically midway between the macro world of the universe as a whole, and the micro world of the atom.

Maybe this is part of an answer to asking for directions, seeking and being a help to others in community. We are part of a whole that is so much bigger than the parts, and yet life is experienced one atom at a time. Sweet harmony happens when one guides another to a resonant pitch.

A thriving community will share so many of the wondrous qualities of harmonic resonance:

1. Praise and gratitude

2. Improvisation

3. Surprise

4. Unity in diversity

Your Place in Sweet Harmony

All musical theory aside, here is the bottom line. You participate in human community to find your voice and to help others to do the same. In the words of Mary Oliver, “. . . there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world.”

The world needs you to sing your own note to create the sweet harmony of community. If you aren’t present and engaged in community, it’s like a note on a piano being ripped out or a string torn from a violin.

Maybe you feel, like me, that you don’t have much to offer the community musically. I’m not a hugely musical person. When I was a kid in church, I always thought that Agnus Dei was the name of the old choir director. When the bulletin said refrain, I thought that meant “don’t sing.”

For those in West Michigan, check out this amazing opportunity to sing in community on October 24.

We all bring our unique notes. What is your note? Let me end with a story about musical participation.

A simple, uneducated Jew with no great religious learning was invited to a Sabbath meal. The Rabbi presented a brilliant sermon on the Torah portion of the week. “I don’t understand,” exclaimed the guest, with a puzzled expression on his face. One of the elders then told a story, a wondrous miracle-story. “I still don’t understand,” whispered the guest, tears beginning to form in his eyes. After a while the group began to sing a tune of joy and of love, a song of shalom, a Sabbath harmony. Slowly, the visitor began to sing along, to move his fingers to the rhythm of the music, to join hands with his friends as they rose together to dance. With tears in his eyes and a heart wide opened, he said, “Now I understand.”

Music touches and connects us beyond word, beyond concept, and beyond religious belief. It is the sweet harmony that unites people across all manner of difference, to find the common heart that beats for peace. May you find your voice, grow and thrive, and help others to do the same.

For Further Reflection (Questions that can be used privately or in groups) -

1. Why do you think it’s so hard for some people to ask for help?

2. How does community enhance your spiritual life?

3. When do you experience harmony; both within and in relationship with others?

4. What does music teach you about spiritual growth?

Holy Ground

Excerpted from Life Beyond Religion- Fountain Street Church September 23, 2009 by Ian Lawton



My previous church was St. Matthew in the City, a downtown city church in Auckland, New Zealand. It was a beautiful and historic building, known as a center for radical activism. During the South African Rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981, St. Matthews became the base for organizing protests against the tour because of the racist apartheid policies in South Africa. The tour went ahead, but protestors stormed the playing field and dropped flour bombs from light airplanes. Fifteen years later, Nelson Mandela stood in the pulpit of St. Mathew in the City as a way of thanking the people of New Zealand for helping to end apartheid. The pulpit of St. Matthews became a symbol of freedom, equality and justice.

I never took the privilege of sharing a pulpit with Nelson Mandela lightly. As I climbed the stairs of the pulpit to deliver my sermons, Nelson was with me every step.

As I climb the stairs into another famous pulpit, Dr. Duncan Littlefair is also with me. Duncan filled this pulpit of Fountain Street Church with his life’s passion: rigorous self responsibility, honest inquiry, awesome wonder and a deep respect for life, nature and humanity. I’m humbled and grateful for the honor of standing in this prominent pulpit to share my life’s passion: deep and inspired spirituality freed from the limiting and otherworldly baggage of religion.

In 1999, Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave a speech (National Press Club October 6, 1999) where he reflected on the courage of those who had testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Many of them had been treated grievously. They had every right to be angry and seek revenge. Instead, they came and told their stories. Archbishop Tutu said in this speech that he had so much respect for their courage and humanity that he wanted to take off his shoes. It was as if, he said, “he was standing on holy ground.”

As a symbol of my respect for Duncan Littlefair, I remove my shoes. Tonight I am standing on holy ground. It’s not holy because it’s in a church. You could say it’s holy in spite of being in a church. It’s not holy because it is high and ornate. You could say it’s holy in spite of its height. It’s holy because he dedicated this space to speaking for those who had no voice within mainstream religion. These people have a right to feel angry and let down by religion. My passion is to offer a place for people to heal from the hurts of religion and move forward in a healthy manner.

I remove my shoes in honor of the growing number of people around the world who call themselves spiritual but not religious. You are my people. We share an incredible vision for universal love and healing in the world. It’s a new movement, still finding its voice. I intend
to play my part to ensure that this voice is heard, and what better place to launch this vision than on this holy ground, right here and right now.

SBNR.org stands on holy ground as it is dedicated to speaking to and for those who have no voice within organized religion and who prefer to find their spiritual path outside of mainstream religion. Watch this space for more excerpts from the historic Fountain Street Church talk and other SBNR resources.

Liberating the Energy

Great Radiance! Big Bang! Holy Mystery! A wondrous web of cosmic alchemy swirls within and around you. Above you are stars - hydrogen cocktails fusing into helium. At the right time, the energy of the star is liberated. It explodes with an “out of this world” fireworks display, showering the galaxy with a smorgasbord of dust. The star dust has all the stuff of life within it; poised for possibility, pregnant with YOU.

In your body are 50 trillion cells. Each cell includes a chorus line of protein acids. Dancing protein move thousands of times every second, in a waltz between nature and nurture, DNA and environment. Who could say who is leading whom in this dance called life? Is it nature or nurture? Is it the cells you inherit or the company you keep? Every breath, every step, every word, every thought and every action manifests cellular alchemy; a God-breathed miracle.


Your body is 70% water, about the same proportion of water as exists in the universe. The atoms of hydrogen within water connect you with the Big Bang 13 billion years ago. Don’t you see – YOU are a 13 billion year old bundle of evolving energy. This ancient hydrogen in your body has been liberated to become oxygen, the breath of life becoming more alive in each moment.

Religions attempt to place people in the context of a larger story or tradition. For Christia, it is the Hebrew campfire creation stories. They were attempts to answer questions of life and death, and inspire courage in uncertain times. Gods and spirits were bridges to an unknown future. This has worked well for many people over many centuries. However in this age of globalization, many people are looking for a story that has more scientific integrity and places human life in a much larger context.

Evolution offers this universal context. There is no larger story than the evolution of the universe. The Big Bang is your creator. The stars are your ancestors. The story of the universe is every person’s story. All people and all things are part of your spiritual family. The evolutionary story also offers inspiration to be courageous in uncertain times by remaining open to an unknown future.

Maybe the greatest miracle of all is the emergence of new beginnings out of death. Another way to describe the death of a star is to say that it has run out of fuel. Maybe you have times in your life when you feel like you have run out of fuel. The miracle of fusion is that it is really not a death at all. Fusion is a new beginning, the emergence of fresh opportunities. Next time you feel that you have run out of fuel; consider the new opportunities opening up before you, like an exploding star.

Next time you look at the night sky, feel your body and know that you are the liberated energy of star dust. It may bring you to your knees in humility at the potential for life that you carry in your body. Every one of those sparks of light is a reminder of the miracle of fusion.

Fusion

What is fusion? Fusion takes place naturally within stars. Under extreme heat and pressure, hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium atoms, releasing enormous amounts of energy. This fusion is well known to us in the form of light and warmth from the sun. We take it for granted, and yet it is our life force. Many people have wondered if it’s possible to harness this natural fusion to create sustainable energy. It turns out that a process that comes naturally to the sun is not so easy to reproduce in a lab.

Nuclear fusion is like the bright teenage star with enormous potential that just can’t seem to find his place in the world. Scientists often say it’s thirty years away; and always will be. It has the potential to solve the energy crisis by mimicking the wise patterns of nature. To date it has eluded scientists, but there is renewed enthusiasm.

corn1There is a light hearted story about a physicist who tried many times to create cold fusion in the lab. In his latest effort, he used molecules from corn to trigger the process. The Nobel Prize committee considered his results but dismissed them, saying he had only created a ball of corn fusion.

I apologize. That was very corny. But there’s nothing corny about the energetic power of fusion.

Another form of fusion that uses sound is sonofusion. Sound waves fuse with liquid to create tiny bubbles. The bubbles expand and then collapse to generate a flash of light and enormous heat. The energy of fusion is something you have experienced many times in your life. Every time, you fuse the right combination of music, voice and movement together, you liberate energy. It runs through your body, mysteriously inspiring you, moving you, liberating you. Every time you are in the presence of someone who makes your heart skip a beat, you know the fusion of shared love. Every time you are lost in the immensity of nature, you feel an affinity with the earth.

Did you know that if you put two pianos next to each other and you play the middle C on one of the pianos, the middle C on the other piano vibrates? It resonates with the middle C on the first piano. There is a fusion of resonant energy.

Why Fusion is Powerful

The way you live makes a difference to those around you. When your speech builds people up rather than tearing them down, when your actions come from a place of loving kindness, you create energy around you and it becomes contagious. It inspires that same positive speech and loving kindness in others. It strikes a cord like two pianos sitting along side of each other.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the crazy talk going on in this country about health care. It just gets curiouser and curiouser. There is so much misplaced hatred, and such a lack of kindness. How can we counteract the craziness without being condescending to those who hold different opinions on issues such as health care?

Consider that every thought that you have is a wave. Some scientists would say that if you add waves together, the result is the square of the sum of the waves. Therefore, two waves together are four times more powerful than one. Ten waves together are one hundred times more powerful than one. And on and on we could go.

If our thoughts are that powerful, just imagine the effect of loving, kind actions toward those around you. The fusion of loving and kind thoughts is similar to the benefits of nuclear fusion. Loving thoughts produce a huge amount of healing energy without any toxic waste. It is a clean energy, and it is long lasting. The raw materials required for fusion, water and silicon for nuclear fusion, are in abundant supply in the world. So it is with the raw materials required for a fusion of global love. All it requires is humility, and awareness.

Liberating Community Energy

Now relate this idea of energy fusion to spiritual community. Einstein’s famous equation E=MC2 is often cited to show that energy and mass are two different manifestations of the same thing. If you speed up mass it becomes energy, and if you slow down energy it becomes mass. Here is a new equation for community.

E=MC3. The E is for energy. M is for member. The energy of C3 is the combined good will of its members which of course is greater than the sum of its parts. When I say members, don’t imagine that I am talking about people who have signed up for some particular beliefs. Being a member at C3 has little to do with beliefs. Being a member at C3 is about saying yes to the shared values of this diverse community. Being a member at C3 is about committing to making the world a better place by liberating the combined energy of the community.

When two or three are gathered, fusion happens; energy is liberated and there is no limit to what can be achieved. The fusion of community, bringing together all the parts to make a powerful whole, liberates energy in an explosion of love.

As 19th century visionary Teilhard de Chardin said,

“Someday, after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energy of love; and for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

What is on your Bucket List?

What could be more important than being part of a community that is a fusion of energies spreading love in the world? Put it on your bucket list. Have you seen the recent movie Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? Two older men set out to achieve life long dreams before they run out of time.

sky1I ticked something off my list yesterday. I have always wanted to complete something with the word “marathon” in it. It happened yesterday. There was a lot of laughter when I arrived at the starting line for a half marathon. It was certainly a new experience for me. When I came to the first water station, there were people holding out cups. Some of them were calling out “water” and others were calling out what I thought was “heat”. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to drink hot water during a race. It reminded me of the Seinfeld Episode where Kramer is drinking hot coffee at a marathon race. He is holding it out in front of his body, and a runner grabs it thinking its cold water. The scene ends with the loud screams of the runner. Anyway, it turns out that yesterday they were offering an energy drink called “heed” and not hot water.

The point of the movie is that it’s not so much the activities on your bucket list that give you satisfaction. It’s what the activities teach you about yourself. True fulfillment comes in making peace within yourself, making a difference in the world, and tending to your closest relationships.

The run was a wonderful opportunity for me to stay in the moment and take just one step at a time, one mile at a time. It was a battle of the mind to not get ahead of myself and to break the run down into manageable chunks.

So what’s on your bucket list? Fill your bucket list with things that make a difference. Choose to make your life count for something incredible. Maximize your efforts by fusing your acts of kindness with the kindness of others in community.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by how many moments take your breath away.

Jorge Luis Borges envisioned a life lived in the moment, with his poem Moments-

If I could live again my life,

In the next - I’ll try to make more mistakes,

I won’t try to be so perfect,

I’ll be more relaxed, I’ll be more full than I am now,

In fact, I’ll take fewer things seriously,

I’ll be less hygienic,

I’ll take more risks,

I’ll take more trips,

I’ll watch more sunsets,

I’ll climb more mountains,

I’ll swim more rivers,

I’ll go to more places - I’ve never been,

I’ll eat more ice creams and less lima beans,

I’ll have more real problems - and less imaginary ones,

I was one of those people who live

prudent and prolific lives -

each minute of his life,

Of course I had moments of joy - but,

if I could go back I’ll try to have only good moments,

If you don’t know - that’s what life is made of,

Don’t lose the now!

I was one of those who never goes anywhere

without a thermometer,

without a hot-water bottle,

and without an umbrella and without a parachute,

If I could live again - I will travel light,

If I could live again - I’ll try to work bare feet

at the beginning of spring till

the end of autumn,

I’ll ride more carts,

I’ll watch more sunrises and play with more children,

If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,

- and I know that I am dying …

For Further Reflection (Questions that can be used privately or in groups)

1. How do you understand the balance between history and myth in relation to Genesis and other creation stories?

2. How do you integrate the evolutionary story with religious creation mythology?

3. How does evolution help to shape the way you understand God, and life and death questions?

4. What lessons does evolution teach you about uncertainty and living with awe and wonder?

Coming Home to Spiritual Community

A dog had gone missing for a couple of days. Before he was eventually found, his owner posted a sign on every tree and telephone pole she could find within 20 miles of her back yard,


The sign said:

Help… Lost Dog.

He’s a mixed breed, kind of smallish. He has oversized paws, a long body, a stomach that almost drags on the ground at times, a large nose and big floppy ears that he tends to trip over now and again.

He has a large red scratch on the left side of his nose where he recently did battle with the neighbor’s cat. (The cat won.)

We need to find him because he is blind in one eye. He has a noticeable bald spot on his tail from when the German Shepherd down the street bit him. The edge of his right ear is a little ragged and chewed; another permanent souvenir from yet another battle with another neighborhood dog, a terrier that time I believe.

There is also a big red scar about two inches long between his eyes from when he was hit by a car.

If you find him please call us and we will come immediately to pick him up.

Oh, and finally, he answers to the name. . . Lucky.

Tuned to Home

Lucky! Or, is it lucky? Is the survival instinct of an animal luck, or an ingrained intuition? Is the ability of animals to find home when they are lost a matter or luck or some finely tuned inner radar?

There are some amazing stories of animal homecomings.

In the 1950’s a cat traveled 2500 miles from Florida to California. Her family moved to California and left her behind in Florida. It took her over 2 years, but disheveled and weary, she eventually arrived at a home she had never seen before. Can you imagine the determination? How do they do that? Maybe animals sense the subtle energies that connect us more acutely than humans.

Then there is the clownfish. Remember Nemo? After clownfish hatch from their eggs, they spend 10 to 12 days in the open sea, carried out by currents. But they often miraculously find their way back to the reefs where they were born. It turns out the colorful fish are not fools. They sniff for leaves that fall into the sea from rainforests near their coral reef homes. The lure of home fills their senses.

Crocodiles in Australia were moved away from their homes as part of an experiment. They were then tracked as they traveled 400 kilometers in 20 days to arrive home. How do they do that? Were they following the sun with some sort of crocodile compass, or do they have some geographic memory built into their DNA? Maybe they followed the trail of unsuspecting tourists they had devoured along the river. However they did it, home was calling, and they were determined to come home.

There are many theories explaining the incredible ability of animals to come home. No matter how you explain it, animals seem to be deeply in touch with home. Maybe home is where they feel most fully alive and safe. They are at one with their senses and a deep intuition, and they know that home is the place they are connected. Is it the same for humans?

People Coming Home

hhWe have our own connections to home. I heard a great homecoming story about a soldier stationed in Korea. While in Korea he had asked his wife in the States to send him a harmonica to occupy his free time and keep his mind off of the local women. The wife sent the best one she could find, along with several dozen music books.

Eventually, he finished his tour and was sent home. When he arrived home, he rushed through the front door. “Oh darling” he gushed, “Come here . . . let me look at you . . . let me hold you! I’ve missed you so much! You are the one and only woman in my life.”

The wife, keeping her distance, said, “Good to have you home. Now before we go any further, prove your love for me and play that harmonica.”

Home is a place where the full range of human experience is played out. During the week, I was honored to preside at a wedding on Spring Lake. Four generations gathered in the family cottage; ranging from a little two year old miracle to a sharp eighty-six year old matriarch. The family shared stories about summers spent at the cottage, quirky houseguests and family reunions.

Eventually conversation turned to the tragic lake accident that had taken place within view of the cottage a week earlier. Voices softened as we mourned the loss of a teenager, taken before his time, and we wondered about many lives in disarray. Gathered together in this family home, we tried to make sense of the loss and encouraged each other to live more fully and compassionately.

We were connected to each other. Two year old was connected to eighty-six year old. They were bookends on a family story that was packed full of all the stuff of life. In joy, we were connected to the newlyweds. In sorrow we were connected to the families affected by the tragedy. By story, we were connected to the many people who had lived and loved in the family cottage. In the face of such joy and such sorrow, all the differences just fade into the background. We are all spiritual people on our own human journeys.

Being at Home With Growth

When you feel at home, you don’t need to have all the answers. You feel safe to ask the questions, even if the questions make you a heretic.

As T. S. Eliot said:

“We shall not cease from exploration 

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres once said, “I was coming home from kindergarten- well they told me it was kindergarten. I found out later I had been working in a factory for ten years. It’s good for a kid to know how to make gloves.”

The journey home is sometimes a surprising one; and one where you are allowed to change directions and make mistakes. There is a great story about the time when the famous preacher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, was giving a sermon. He was in the middle of the sermon when he suddenly paused and said, “I no longer believe the previous statement.” When you are at home, you are free to change your mind and know that people may roll their eyes, but they will still accept you.

When you feel at home, you are safe to question old beliefs; and stop believing them if they no longer make sense to you. You are free to rid yourself of assumptions and prejudices that are stale reminders of another time. When you feel at home, you are courageous and free.

When you feel at home, you are free to grow and change and make mistakes; and learn and heal and do it in your own time; and know that others will stand with you through your craziest moments. We may roll our eyes, but we love you anyway.

Home Where All Are Welcome

Who is welcome in a spiritual home? Everyone! What happens in a spiritual home? There is a beautiful Jewish story about a person who comes to a rabbi and says, “Tell me about Heaven and Hell.” And the rabbi says, “I’ll show you.”

So the rabbi takes him to a home and says, “This is Hell.” In the home were a group of people who were hungry and miserable. They were sitting at a large table with a huge pot of stew on it, and they were holding large spoons. As he looked closer, he realized that the handles on their spoons were so long that they couldn’t get them into their mouths.

The person says, “Now show me Heaven.” So the rabbi takes him to another home and again there are many people around the table, and a great pot of stew in the center of the table. Again the people have very long spoons, but these people are joyful, blissful, and satisfied. As he looks closer, he sees that in this home they are feeding each other. That’s all they can do with their long spoons. What do we do in spiritual community? We feed each other! We practice being human together.

In the post exilic Hebrew world, they looked for euphemisms to avoid using the name of God. One of the euphemisms they used was heaven. It was a practice that carried into the New Testament world, which is why the New Testament alternates between describing the ideal home as the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. Heaven was another name for the presence of God.

When do you experience the presence of God? You experience God WITHIN when you are at home with how you are showing up in the world. You experience God BETWEEN when the differences between you and others fade away and you become one. You experience God BEYOND when you find your way home like a lost dog; and you can’t even explain how you know, but you know that you have arrived home.

Coming Home to Your Center for Spiritual Growth

Do you feel at home in this spiritual community? How did that happen? How did you find your way home? Did you take the route via another religion or denomination? Did you arrive looking disheveled and weary like the long lost cat?

This spiritual community is a family cottage where you are fed and you feed others. In this family cottage, two year old miracles feed eighty-six year old matriarchs, believers feed atheists, Christians feed Muslims, straight people feed gay people, and vice versa.

If you resonate with the vision of home that is inclusive and welcome, then you have come home. Take off your shoes and relax. Pull up a pew and make yourself at home. You have come home to your spiritual community. What a relief!

You can be yourself and allow others to be themselves. You have grown and healed from being here. Now stand alongside others as they grow and heal.

I leave you with the words of the mystic Rumi-

Come, come, whoever you are
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times

Come, yet again, come, come.