Time
to
Tell Your Friends
by
Rev. Tom Thresher
Time to tell your friends; the world
needs what we have to offer.
Every year about this time we begin to
think about the budget. We start to plan for next year
and we notice that we aren’t going to make the budget
for this year. Yes, once again, we are dipping
into savings to cover ongoing expenses. Yuk!
At the same time we look around and
notice that we are in a vibrant, loving congregation. We
may or may not be winning the numbers game, but we’re
doing great at quality of life, spiritual awakening and
community.
Hummm? Which one is truly important?
Both, actually.
In his newest book,
Integral Spirituality,
Ken Wilber makes a persuasive argument that religion in
general -- and the church in particular -- is “a natural
resource as precious as oil and gas.”
That’s quite a
statement in this day of rampant materialism, secular
humanism, scientism, terrorism and fear mongering. He
is saying something fairly simple, that since the great
religions were forming at the same time that humanity
was developing through the worldviews of magic, mythic
and conventional that religion holds a place in the
development of human awareness that can never be
replicated.
In other words, since
religion was magical when humanity viewed the world in
terms of spirits, demons, elves, and other magical
creatures (ancient paganism) it was in sync with human
needs at that time.
Similarly when humanity
began developing conventional awareness (the rule/role
mind) during the era of empire building, Christianity
was there with conventional, imperial stories to meet
the emerging needs of humanity. Since religion was
there to support humanity at each stage of its
development, only religion has the
legitimacy
to carry humanity beyond the conventional mindset into
modernity and post-modernity.
But instead conventional/mythic religion
(especially fundamentalist Christianity and
fundamentalist Islam) has clamped a lid on spiritual
development that foments huge tensions between religion
and science. Not surprisingly, pretty much every
terrorist, whether Christian or Muslim, operates from
the motivation that, “since the modern world makes no
room for my (mythic/traditional) religious beliefs, I
will just blow it up in the name of God.”
From this understanding, Wilber asks an
essential question of the church:
Will
[the church provide] a conveyor belt that
individuals can safely ride from pre-rational to
rational to trans-rational [awareness], or will
religion remain merely the repository of humanity’s
childhood?
If
religion chooses the latter, then all around it, the
other disciplines (law, medicine, science,
education) will continue to move into the things
that adults do, and religion will remain the things
that children (and adult children) do – like blow
things up.
But
if religion lives up to its promise as being that
endeavor in humanity that allows Spirit to speak
through it, …then religion becomes a conveyor belt
for humanity, carrying it from the childhood
productions of Spirit to the adolescent productions
of Spirit to the adult productions of Spirit … and
beyond that into the great tomorrow of Spirit’s
continuing display.
Wilber then offers a challenge that I
believe speaks directly to our mission as a church, one
that we are already engaged in. “What is particularly
required is an institution that embodies the stations of
life [all the stages of our development] in its own
concrete social (and cultural) system.”
In other words, an Integral Church.
I believe our church, with its
intelligence, its deep loving support and its great
sense of humor has a vital role to play in exploring new
ways of meeting the needs of a spiritually bereft
culture. We become scouts, if you will, in finding ways
to help the larger church institutionalize means of
carrying humanity from the childhood productions of
Spirit, through the adolescence productions of Spirit,
through the adult productions of Spirit and beyond. We
do this as we build upon what we already have and become
clearer about how we can contribute.
We already have a wise, loving and
supportive community that genuinely welcomes a diversity
of views. We provide a safe environment where
individuals are invited to explore new ways of knowing,
different ways of believing, different ways of
not-knowing and ways of letting go of beliefs
altogether.
This dynamic of holding believing and
not believing, knowing and not-knowing, in a loving
community allows new ways of seeing and knowing to
emerge that engage our bodies, minds and souls in new
and profound ways. When we do this within the context
of a tradition that already shapes the hearts and minds
of our culture, we use our institutional legitimacy to
call forth the kingdom of heaven on earth.
This is a job that only religion, and
especially Christian churches, can do. We own the great
myths that are the foundation of our culture and only we
can legitimately move beyond the confines of traditional
interpretations. We at Suquamish Church are pioneers in
discovering essential new ways in which the larger
church can serve humanity as a whole.
This is not my project. It is your
project. You said as much when you called me as your
pastor. You said, "We have something very special to
give the world, come help us figure out how to say it
and how to give it."
I think we’re getting closer. It’s time
to tell your friends. It’s time to get more deeply
involved. It’s time to share more of your resources.
The world needs what we have to offer.
With Love and Blessings and great thanks for letting me
be your pastor….
Tom
