Discovering Spiritual Awareness (series)
“Shadow and Substance”
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United Church, Aurora, CO
6/28/2015
Based on Genesis 1:27-28 and Psalm 139:1,
13-20, 23-24
Have you ever felt like the odd-person out in your family? I was the religious freak in my extended family and when inviting family members to attend church with me, the battle cry in refusing my invitations was, “I don’t need church to be spiritual”, and they were correct. You do not need church to recognize God and the reality that there is a higher being that seems to have woven the universe and life together. Today I hear the same from non-church going folks, “I’m spiritual but not religious.”
So
what does being Spiritual really mean?
How do I recognize a spiritual journey?
How do I measure the relevance of spirituality within my life? Or, in a world of Donald Trump’s what value
is there to being “spiritual?” These are
questions that the modern church (religion) has not been very effective in
answering, sometimes not even asking the questions. Over
the next few weeks I would like to focus on concepts around discovering
spiritual awareness. As we think about
our relationship with God, how does that affect my relationship with Jesus,
with a faith community, with other people, and how does my relationship with
God affect my relationship with myself?
I believe it is in the recognition and the understanding of one’s
spirituality that lays the foundations in which we build and live our daily lives. For spirituality is the most foundational
piece of our humanity.
This
past Friday there were two major events taking place, one at the national
scene, the other in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood. On Friday morning, the Supreme Court once
again upheld the constitutional understanding that “all people are created
equal”, and based on the protection of the 14th Amendment that: all citizens of these United States shall
not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. In the
battle of recognition of equality for all Americans to marry who they chose,
the court cited the Plaintiffs request saying, “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law; the Constitution grants them that right.” The new law
of the land now states: marriage is between two people.
The other event took place Friday
evening as over two hundred people, Black, White, and Latino, took to the
streets of the Park Hill district in Denver, on a prayer walk asking God to help bring peace back to that
neighborhood and all of the Metro area.
As we walked, we would speak to neighbors about the request to God for
peace against gang violence, drive by shooting, and other crimes against those
living in that neighborhood. I cannot
tell you the feelings of connection when we would stop at locations where
someone had been killed by gun violence and pray for forgiveness and
restoration for those who died and their families.
So what does the Supreme Court
ruling on same-sex marriage and the walk for peace in Park Hill have in common
and more importantly to do with spirituality?
More than what we might think. A
part of our spirituality is becoming aware of who we are, of how we perceive
ourselves and how we relate to other human beings. Are we solely single individuals or are we a
part of something that is larger than ourselves.
Some of the ministers who were
leading in this prayer walk are former gang members. These men who were once “gang” members were
always “spiritual”, but somewhere in their lives, their awareness of being
created in the image of God changed the whole direction of their lives. In the very first book of the Hebrew
Scriptures, we read: So
God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. As a human we exist as the image of God. I can look around the room and quickly see
that I do not look like anyone else, so I must also conclude that the image of
God doesn’t mean the color of one’s skin, the sex of one’s body, or any other
physical attribute that one exhibits.
The image of God must be something more intrinsic. I propose it is what we call a soul. That piece of us that we cannot physically
identify, but yet is revealed in all aspects of our lives.
Our soul is at the heart of our “Image.” Hear the words from the hymn, Shadow and Substance: We are your image, formed in community; sisters and brothers of Adam and Eve. You gave us color, custom and history; teach us to honor what others receive. For those who live in a society that demonizes homosexuality, there is a constant struggle to maintain a healthy and positive self-image; For those who live in a society that demeans people of color, there is a constant struggle to maintain a healthy and positive self-image; People who immigrate to this country, documented and non-documented alike, struggle with healthy self-image because of societal prejudices.
Low self-image is most often a
result of receiving negative reinforcement by outside sources. As an
example, many young girls are inadvertently given information that the ideal
woman should look like "Barbie". Young boys are taught that men
do not behave in certain ways, such as showing emotion that would be conceived
as weak, such as crying. Society tells each and every one of us, what is
appropriate and what is desirable. We call them norms. Norms are what helps a society function with
some order and hopefully providing less anxiety for individuals. But what
happens when these "norms" do not ring true with the
individual? What if society says "blue eyes" are better and you
happen to have "brown eyes?" Studies
have shown that those who possess what the general norm is, tend to be less
tolerant toward those who do not fit the accepted norm. This
intolerance provides the basis for negative reinforcement, which leads to lower
self-image for those who are not meeting the expectations of those they live
around.
Psalms 139, speaks about negative reinforcement as speaking against God. The Psalmist says, "They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name." So how does one commit evil against God - by misuse God's name. How does this happen? How does someone misuse God's name? It has been my observation that many well meaning Christians and ministers often misuse God's name. Pulpits all across this country Sunday after Sunday speak evil of God by misusing God's name and do not even recognize it.
We misuse God’s name whenever we speak against the
“image” of God. The Psalmist reminds us
of our relationship to God: For
you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days
ordained for me were written i your book before one of them came to be.
From the creation stories we learn that what God created, God
pronounced "good." The Psalmist see's that each of us is made by
God, to God's specification, when we diminish a human being as "less
than", we are in truth telling God that God has done wrong. When we
see ourselves as less that who we truly are, we are tell God that his work is
not worthy. This is not a good thing to
do according to the Psalmist. For
who are we, as Job was reminded, to question the works and wisdom of
God? When well meaning Christians start to beat people up in the name of
God, whether physically, socially, or verbally, then they are acting in evil
against God.
We have much to learn in the Church about how we abuse
God. When we stand on traditions that have been handed down to us from
generation to generation, without examining how these traditions affect
humanity and the world in which we receive our daily bread, we might very well
be acting as evil agents against God. When our actions and words are used
to deniger another human being and we use those words and actions in God's
name, we are acting in evil toward humanity and toward God. It is through
these negative actions and words that we create and cultivate within any
brother or sister low self-image.
For God created each and every one of us, we are His
children; we are brother and sister to one another. Like the Psalmist we
need to be in constant prayer asking, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious
thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting." Does our need to
demean another come from our own anxieties about who we are deep inside? Is
our self-image consistent with the image of God? By allowing the “image of God”
into our heart and mind, we will recognize the full beauty of each person that
God has placed in our lives. We will recognize the spirit of unity, who guides us to mystical union. Amen
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