Outsider religious way versus seat of power

 The roots of the Jesus Movement to fulfill the teachings of YHWH center on houses of worshipers meeting secretly, since neither the Establishment of Jewish leaders, nor by extension the Roman occupiers wanted to see something that did not conform to peaceful social order and status quo. Later, the early church spread along the trade and transportation routes around the Mediterranean basin and attracted not only Jews far from Jerusalem's sway, but other God-fearers, as well as pagans - citizens of Rome, its slaves, and those from inside and outside the Empire.

The status of outlaw sect of Judaism changed overnight with the declaration by Constantine at the beginning of the 4th century C.E. that Christianity would be the State Religion of the Empire and that he would be its champion in the wide world (the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire). His pledge to do this if YHWH would allow military victory thus was fulfilled after defeating the attackers at the battle of Milvian Bridge.

From now on the followers of The Way could own property, govern themselves openly, establish schools of learning and all the things that make a group of people an organization and perpetuate it until at last becoming a self-sustaining institution. Hierarchies grew, buildings were endowed, traditions of knowledge expanded, and doctrinal hairs were split ever more finely. With power comes corruption. Reforms came and sometimes gained traction. Sects splintered and power in the World grew bigger and bigger.

Importantly, Jesus answered Pilate by saying "my kingdom is not of this world." And a good deal of the meaning behind the phrase of the Lord's Prayer, "...Thy will be done; on Earth as in Heaven," is about one's own heart. That is, the Kingdom is not something standing on the surface of the planet, but instead dwells within each practitioner's own heart: the person's attitudes, habits of talking, strength of relationships, daily exercise of care for others, expressions of humility and also unshakeable faith, and so on. Therefore, the watershed begun with Constantine the Great to bring Christ-followers into the light of the world to freely worship and evangelize, is a mixed blessing and curse. The blessing is the reduction in persecution. The curse is the accumulating power, generation by generation, that imposes temptation and corruption.

Given the choice of fringe religion and mainstream institution, perhaps most would opt for today's model. But maybe there is a third way, neither institutionalized rigidity nor small-time desperation. Perhaps the sweetest form of The Way is to be in the World but not of the World; blessed by the material well-being and physical abundance that may be put to good use, but not redirected from stewardship of God's creation and distracted by stewardship of "stuff" bought or bequeathed from the faithful.

The question remains: can it still be Christianity when there is wealth and power and prominence involved?

Us versus Them restated as "we together"

Early August 2020 the guest on the weekly radio show, "On Being," was the poet Marilyn Nelson, in a rebroadcast of the original 2017 conversation with host Krista Tippett. She compares God seekers who expect to find God and God-at-work somewhere outside themselves ("magic mentality") to the people who see God at work in all places and times, including in their own selves ("alliance mentality").

Image search result for 'Marilyn Nelson poet' (8/2020)

Quoting the interview (full text link appended, below), she says:

I think people who have a “magic mentality” believe that God is something out there that we have to find to connect with and people who have an “alliance mentality” know that God is inside of us and in our connections with each other and with the world, that God exists within and between, not exterior to us, but within us and between us. I think that’s what he was trying to say... There is no separation. We are a part of God. That’s — isn’t that the ecstatic experience? We recognize that. And some people know that just naturally. Other people have to learn it. [emphasis added]

Other authors and thinkers from the Stewards of Earth tradition in Abrahamic religions have said something similar with regard to perceptions in public about "nature" versus society, or  "the natural world" ---as if the definition of "nature" consists of everything apart from human lives. Whereas industrialized, Western societies have cultivated an imaginary separation of human (cultural and technologically mediated) environment from all of the land and waters that people require to live, other societies have viewed the human/non-human boundary as much blurrier and movable. One instance of the "nature" concept being cut-off from human life comes from the translation into Japanese from the English concept of "nature." There was no exact pre-existing Japanese word, so a new one was coined, ShiZen (the kanji character 'shi' means "of itself" and 'zen' means something like "wild vitality").

In the particular phrase, above, "We are a part of God," there is a poetic double-meaning, or perhaps it is best described as ironic reflection. One meaning is "a part" or one of many pieces that all together contributes to the whole. Another meaning, this time a clever pun, is "apart" or separated from the rest. Taking the spoken word and transcribing it as "We are a part of God" means that we cannot be separated from God since we are integral to what and who and why God is. But taking the spoken word and transcribing it as "We are apart of God" means that we stand outside of God's ways and spend our waking hours seeking a way back in.

[from https://onbeing.org/programs/marilyn-nelson-communal-pondering-in-a-noisy-world/#transcript ]

Ephesians 5:3-10, being warry of self-satisfaction

In the weekly Men's Bible Study we heard the list of old habits that the recipients of Paul's letter were wont to do. This is followed by reference to living in the light and not wallowing in the dark.

³ But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^{[a] 6} Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.
⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord.  [source at Bible Gateway.com from NIV]

The distinction of light and darkness reminds me of Barbara Brown Taylor's book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, about all the important developments noted in the Bible that *do* require dark. Elsewhere in the Bible there is reference to darkness and light being identical in God's knowing: there is little  difference since all is known to God, with or without photons to stimulate one's visual cortex.

Continuing on the theme of light, visibility, seeing-as-knowing (at least among mortals), it seems that perfect vision leads a person to believe that everything has been grasped; to see is to know. And yet there is much the eyeball misses: the old guy searching in vain for something right in front of him, the person disregarding pandemic preventative measures because the virus is invisible to the naked eye, the edges of the visible light spectrum that are just beyond human capacity (but which dogs can see; and the things that birds can 'see' but not with light to perceive the Earth's magnetic lines). The line from St. Exupery's book, The Little Prince, sums up the limitations of the visual senses that lead a person to assess and judge in confidence the appearances that present themselves: "It is only with the heart that one can truly see."

By extension, also the book of James emphasizes deeds over words. This form of engaging others can change one's heart as a side-effect, but rote good deeds do not "make merit" or improve one's Godliness, since only by grace (not by works) is a person forgiven and salvation advanced. A person who is preoccupied with doing good deeds can easily be lead to the sense of achievement and rest: that all efforts are completed and all duties are fulfilled; vigilance can be relaxed, and the awareness of opportunities to lend a hand can dim.

A third instance for a person to be led to believe that a goal has been accomplished is with knowledge; it could be the Gnostic game of "secret knowledge" (if only I knew the key Bible passage, mysterious number, or symbolic meaning, then my spiritual growth can reach perfection), or it could be more pedestrian knowledge gained by memorizing, reading commentators, taking part in seminars, and so on. All three of these instances - seeing in the light, accomplishing tangible results in one's deeds, and adding to one's store of knowledge - have some value as a process that leads to something else, but can also be a danger in leading the person to self-satisfaction, perceiving the goal has been attained and therefore that no further (self) examination is needed.

In the end, the premise upon which God knows all the creatures, including each person, is love; or maybe a better translation is something Buddhism's Loving-kindess, an agape basis for caring for self and others. Once a person accepts this fundamental relationship of belongingness, then strangers are not really strangers, but instead are in the same family of God that everyone and everything belongs to. There is the instruction to strive to move one's heart and being ever closer to God's ways and will; and to take Jesus as a flesh-and-blood role model. But knowing that Jesus is infinitely closer to God's ways than we are, or could be, a better first step would be to see among one's peers some examples of habits, routines, phrases and aspirations that are closer to our own - ideally a step or two ahead of our own condition, but not in the pinnacle position of Rabbi Jesus. Even when it is not immediately clear how to be more like Jesus, at least there are many temptations and distractions to discard and disallow: knowing how NOT to be like Jesus reduces the universe of possible ways to be. Then the remaining alternatives in this narrowed field come into sharper focus.

To catch a fish - reflecting on the path of spiritual maturity

Tuesday Men's Bible Study bowed to the Covid-19 social distancing imperative in Michigan and put to use the ZOOM online meeting service. We wrapped up Ecclesiastes and settled on the next book, Ephesians, to begin next week. Part of the conversation sparked by chapter 11 onward was the stages of development as one matures spiritually - not by chance, but with some effort on one's own part.

One image that came to mind was the way that there is something in common for a total beginner ("the heart of a child") and a person with considerable experience or expertise in any field of endeavor, including spiritual growth, in this case. For both points along the trajectory the experience is highly personal or personalized. Using the illustration of fishing, one of our leaders described the progression in one's development. First the object is to catch a fish, any fish. Next the goal is to catch lots of fish. After that the challenge is to get the biggest one. Anglers with a lot of experience may try more difficult styles (fly-fishing), or more difficult fish, or circumstances that call for a lot of skill. Possibly the next higher step will be to go after a specific fish that resides in a particular place and may even have a name given it by the fisher. In other words, for the beginner the sensation of hooking a living creature produces a very personal encounter. Later stages include increased knowledge and pool of experience, perhaps more analytical (or software apps) relationship to the outing. At the highest level here, though, the person with the fishing tackle is taking things personally: pitting self against one particular fish, matching wits. Maybe there is an even higher level, when the angler achieves satisfaction purely by approaching the water and replaying the hundreds of experiences and hours on the water - no fishing gear involved; the outing is almost entirely conceptual. It is a state of being present at that time and place, fully immersed in that world.

display case, Grand Rapids Public Museum, grpm.org 9/2019

Transferring the fishing example to Spiritual Development, perhaps there is a similar unity between newcomer/beginner and the person with very deep wells of experience and vision. For the beginner it is easy to get lost in detail, so they seek direct, personal experience to connect to the worship process. For the very mature seeker after God's way, too, there is an appetite for direct, personal experience: less teaching and analytical precision and more of the holistic synthesis of the overarching glory. Each relationship, decision point, and interaction in a day turns into intensely (God-filled) personal moments of precious value. Interestingly of the fishing analogy and the spiritual growth situation, all that is real and what matters to the beginner and the master can be found in the same place: that same stream or lake (fishing place), or that same social interaction or pause to pray (seeking God). What has changed is not the setting but the way that it is viewed and therefore engaged in.

The other rich analogy that came up was of sailing, emphasis ING; the process, the gerund for that verb. (1) Recreational sailors may have a particular destination to aim for and as the wind shifts, the person must adjust the sails, read the puffs of air hitting the water ahead as a precursor to hitting the sailcloth, and turn the tiller as the boat deviates from the aim. In other words the process is in flux, dynamic rather that firmly set in place. This illustrates the way to seek after God's will: as one is buffeted and pushed off course, so long as the person firmly holds the destination in sight, the it is possible to make corrections as needed to line-up with the goal. (2) In contrast to the recreational sailor, there is the "straight-line sailor" who does not hesitate to furl the sails and turn the ignition on the auxilliary motor in order to traverse in the shortest distance (straight line), expediently getting to the destination. So if the paramount value is arriving quickly, there is logic in motoring/sailing to get there. But if the goal is gett+ING there (i.e. the experience produced along the way), the GETT+ing there (as in, objective attained), then the straight-line control and impatience will minimize the time and exercise of tactics and skill that sail+ING makes possible. This illustrates the way to seek after God's will: as one strives to know God more and more, "getting there" (as in final epiphany and omniscience) is not as meaningful as "getting... there" (the days and hours and events of one's life along the path). 

In both analogies - fishing as a process of growing capacities & sailing as a dynamic environment that is all about the experience of covering distance (not simply seeking expedient arrival) - the way to get closer to God and know personally one's creator is a long, patient process involving intention and effort in which much of the reward comes in the doing and being, rather than deriving from any sort of finish line, final project, or ultimate understanding.