church councils – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

SPIRITUALITY BEFORE BIBLE

A Jesuit approached a guru

and asked to be initiated

into the art of praying without ceasing

the guru said “Concentrate on your breathing

and the air you breathe in and out is God

and stay with that awareness”

the Jesuit soon realized

prayer is as easy

as breathing

and that with the guru’s method

praying without ceasing is easy-

all of us are praying without ceasing

as we breathe

as long as we are aware

but constant awareness is the great challenge

for all of us, not just Hindus and Jesuits –

and in addition, the challenge for Buddhist practice

is to hold the sadness of Samsara

and the vision of the Eastern Sun

at the same time –

to hold sadness at our broken/illusory world

and the joy of heaven

simultaneously

and in constant awareness

but any type of prayer, Eastern or Western,

is powerful –

it was three hundred years of praying

that came before and led to

the Nicene Creed

and to choosing what books went in the Bible

and what did not make the cut –

the Gospels of Peter/Mary/Magdalene/Phillip/Thomas/

Gospel of Truth/Gospel to the Egyptians/Secret Book of James –

prayer came before choosing

the Canon of Scripture –

the officially sanctioned books by the Church –

the Bible and Creeds came after the prayer of the Church

the Bible and Creeds are not unimportant

but they are not foundational

spirituality/prayer is.

THE NONDUAL BEDROCK OF RELIGION

The modern/postmodern/secular world is often struck

by its own power, and raises anxious questions

about humanity’s meaning/role/destiny in the universe

so, Christianity needs to bring its own vast resources

to bear on these questions.

If Christianity’s mission is to dialogue

with all people, it must begin

by creating mutual respect/harmony with all churches –

interdenominational infighting makes Christians

hypocrites when they try to reach out.

As a chaplain in World War II, John MacQuarrie

saw the basic goodness of soldiers

and grace operating in Muslims

which challenged his Calvinist negativity

about human nature’s “absolute depravity”

and led to his conversion from Presbyterian to Anglican

letting go of Calvin’s exclusivism, he found grace

everywhere, and became the stellar Anglican theologian.

Jesuits in Japan hung out with Zen monks

and readily participated in the quasi-religious

“Tea Ceremony” which looks from the outside

like a non-spiritual ritual, but internally

is about disciplined silence/simplicity/

self-effacement/contemplation.

There may not be a universal religion

but there is a universal wisdom

which Aldous Huxley wrote about in 1945

in The Perennial Philosophy – all religions

value virtues like patience/humility/kindness/

compassion/peace. Like John Henry Newman

who was a major influence in Vatican II

Huxley believed God’s Plan included all religions.

The fact that nondualism is central

to three major religions: Taoism/Hinduism/Buddhism

and underlay Christian mysticism for sixteen centuries –

Jesus said “You are in Me and I am in you

and we are in God” – means nondualism

unites both Western and Eastern religion.

3 Big Ideas for March 4, 2019

This is what God wants to say to you. Imagine yourself being full-immersion baptized like Jesus, the heavens parting and God saying to you “You are my beloved in whom I take great delight.” Let God’s voice resonate deep within you and heal all your emptiness and pain.
The point of both the Councils of Chalcedon and Nicaea is that only God can save us from destroying ourselves. And God can only save us humans through a fully human life, the life of Jesus.
According to St. Francis de Sales, God placed you in the world not because God needs you in any way, but just to exercise God’s own goodness by giving you God’s grace and glory.