A Finger Pointing To The Moon

This week the discussion has been on the concept of the Trinity, a theological term like most, if not all other theological terms, that came into existence as a response to other seemingly untenable beliefs on God and one’s relationship with God.  We have learned that “Christian Theology has always served to clarify and criticize the faith of the churches”.  Put into a layman’s language, Christian Theology has always served to prove how my belief is the truth and yours isn’t, or perhaps more diplomatically “better than yours”.

A review of the doctrine of the Trinity as discussed in Van Harvey’s Handbook of Theological Terms is an excellent example of the mechanics of theology.  It is a term that was developed in conjunction with that of Christology which asks and explores the question, “who was Jesus Christ, what was his relationship to God and what does that mean to us?”  It took over three hundred years to finally crystallize into something that questionably most of the Christian churches could agree to; although, as Harvey points out, “the doctrine has always been alleged to be a mystery”.  In other words it is something we can never prove, but as theologians we will not hesitate to try to clarify it and make it the most believable of the unverifiable theological concepts out there. Although, a flippancy may be heard in this on my part, it is being used to point to something of importance to me and hopefully to you.

It is important to remember that all theological terms are symbolic.  They point to what the user believes to be the Truth.  They are the finger pointing to the moon.  They are not the moon.  When it comes to Christian theological terms such as the Trinity, Christology and Incarnation, they are all symbols used as vehicles to point to and reflect on the unique figure of Jesus of Nazareth, a man who lived over 2000 years ago, who through his life, teachings and death changed the world and continues to do so.  If we are to call ourselves Christians, Metaphysical or otherwise, there is a demand placed on us to struggle with the questions of who and what Jesus was, what his relationship was to God, what we mean when we acknowledge him as the Christ and most importantly of all, what is our relation to this Christ and what in turn does this require of us?

   

These are questions that Charles Fillmore, one of the founders of Unity, struggled with.  In Talks on Truth Fillmore says that Jesus “was more than Jesus of Nazareth, more than any other human who ever lived on the earth.  He was more than human, as we understand the appellation in its everyday use, because there came into his humanness a factor to which most people are strangers.  This factor was the Christ consciousness.  The unfoldment of this consciousness by Jesus made Him God incarnate, because Christ is the mind of God individualized, and whoever so loses his or her personality as to be swallowed up in God becomes Christ Jesus, or God man.” This is Fillmore’s answer to one of the questions asked in class, “was Jesus the exception or the norm?”   What is your answer, and what does that mean to you and therefore to the whole world?

The Breath of God

The question today for our theological discussion is:

Shall we pray to God’s Presence and Power in the Cosmos, opening ourselves to the infilling of Sprit?  Or shall we center on the Spirit within, allowing it to emerge? Also known as the “Let It In/Let It Out Controversy”.

This question is just another manifestation of a fundamental problem within theology regarding the definition of God.  In Van Harvey’s A Handbook of Theological Terms, it is noted that in Christian Theology, God is “both a proper name and an abstract noun for deity.”  Within this twofold meaning lies “the problem of relating the God who may be named and addressed in prayer to the absolute and underlying power of the universe called deity”.

We are immediately faced with multiple paradoxes.  How can we ever know that which is absolute and incomprehensible? How can the finite comprehend the infinite? How can the personal symbols of our faith be reconciled with the symbols for the changeless, timeless, omnipotent, ineffable absolute?  How can God be both immanent and transcendent? As Harvey points out, since Kierkegaard paradox itself has been “defended because it is said to point to the inability of man’s reason to grasp the infinite nature of God.  All true theological doctrines, therefore, are alleged to be paradoxical…..”

In such paradox, “Traditionally, Christian Theology has asserted both the immanence and transcendence of God”…….transcendence as “that which stands ‘over against’ all finite Being as such, hence a term for God, the ground and source of all being” and at the polar opposite immanence “that technical term used to denote the nearness or presence or indwelling of God in the Creation”. 

At the heart of Unity’s Metaphysical Theology lies the same paradox of a Oneness that is both transcendent and immanent.  One Presence and One Power in the universe and in our lives.  This Oneness is not a being, but Being itself.  In Revealing Word, Charles Fillmore speaks of  “Transcendent God----God above or beyond God’s universe, apart from it.  God is more than God’s universe; God is prior to and is exalted above it, but at once God is in the universe as the very essence of it.  God is both transcendent and immanent”. How could an Omnipresent God or Omnipresence be otherwise? 

In theologian Paul Tillich’s book The New Being in his chapter on The Paradox of Prayer, Tillich comments on the Apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 8:26-27 where the Apostle says, “we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words”.  Tillich says “God Himself in us: that is what Spirit means.  Spirit is another word for ‘God present’, with shaking, inspiring, transforming power.  Something in us, which is not we ourselves, intercedes before God for us.  We cannot bridge the gap between God and ourselves even through the most intensive and frequent prayers; the gap between God and ourselves can be bridged only by God”.

So the answer to our question: Shall we pray to God’s Presence and Power in the Cosmos, opening ourselves to the infilling of Sprit?  Or shall we center on the Spirit within, allowing it to emerge? Also known as the “Let It In/Let It Out Controversy”. In Genesis 2:7 we read of God forming man from the dust of the ground and that Spirit “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”.  So the answer is both, for Spirit which is our life continues to breathe life into us and with every exhale we allow Spirit to emerge from us. There is no controversy, for God’s breath is ours……….. a very natural in and out.

It's Not All About You

I went to Brandon Nagel’s really fine chapel service this past Wednesday, which he entitled, “It’s All About YOU!”  I thought his talk title was provocative.  It made me uncomfortable.  I wondered if it made others uncomfortable?  Anyway, it got me thinking. You see, I think so much of Christianity has frankly become selfish, the actual antithesis of Jesus’ message. Brandon’s message wasn’t that way. It was about our Christ Selves, our True Selves and the wisdom, love and power that is available when we awaken to it and allow it to express through us. It was about the real YOU, not the little me who comes to God for what he can get from God. 

So much of today’s Christianity is about right beliefs that make us eligible for free tickets to heaven.  It is about our victory and our salvation by being part of the right church with the right beliefs.  As a metaphysical Christian I like to think I am just talking about fundamentalists and mainline churches, but it definitely spills over into our circle.  We metaphysical Christians are certainly not beyond smugness.

Jesus didn’t call us to believe, he called us to follow his example.  In my Metaphysical Christian circle we call Jesus our “way shower”.  As disciples he invites us to do what he did. “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:2.

Here’s what I think. There are no true beliefs.  Beliefs like words, verbalized or not, are just symbols pointing to a transcendent reality.  Reality is being and doing, not visualizing or verbalizing images or words in our heads. I can write an entire cookbook with hundreds of recipes but not a single recipe will feed me or others until I use the recipe and actually cook a meal. To say I am a follower of Jesus because I can mouth what I consider to be his teachings means nothing until I actually obey his words.  “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” Luke 11:28

I’m reading Robin Meyers’ newest book, “Saving Jesus From The Church”.  In it he says, “Christianity as a belief system requires nothing but acquiescence.  Christianity as a way of life, as a path to follow, requires a second birth, the conquest of ego, and new eyes with which to see the world.  It is no wonder that we have preferred to be saved.”

Myers is calling us into a discipleship of “a collective victory over injustice, poverty, war, or environmental degradation.”  He continues, “Faith has become essentially an individual transaction, and the image of God is that of a personal trainer.  Much preaching today is framed as an invitation to God to come into our story, but the biblical invitation is radically different.  We are being invited into God’s story.”

I’m just getting warmed up.  In my next blog I’ll be continuing this theme and talking about Discipleship and how it applies to Unity. Until then…..Peace.

The Four Lenses of the Unity Quadrilateral

The Unity Quadrilateral is a “Theological tool kit” developed by Dr. Thomas Shepherd based on a Wesleyan model. He offers it as a “simple framework” whereby “we can begin to make sense of the world” theologically.

In ministry we are constantly entering into and inviting others to join us in the discussion of theological issues. The Unity Quadrilateral offers four lenses (Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reflection) through which we can examine and explore these ongoing theological issues.

Scripture

Each religion has its cannon of accepted sacred writings and as a Christian movement ours is the Bible.  Whatever theological issue we might examine, we have the opportunity to look to what the Bible says regarding it on several different levels…….literally, metaphorically, allegorically, and metaphysically.  Because we honor other religious paths we can also use Scripture from other religions as a supplement to the Bible.  And because there have been some prolific and very good writers within our “Theological Circle” of Metaphysical Christians, we are at ease in using their writings as well.  Our theology is strengthened, explored and sometimes called into question in our congregations by the use of Scripture in Sunday service readings usually through the Daily Word, as well as within our weekly messages and study classes.

Tradition

Shepherd’s description of tradition as “just history that sticks”….. stuck with me (no pun intended). As Shepherd notes, “If an idea or practice works for a community of faith, it binds with the thought patterns and lifestyle as part of that church’s traditions. No one is immune from this tendency”….including Metaphysical Christianity.  For example my home church’s weekly recital of one of Unity’s Five Basic Principals, reading from the Daily Word, closing with the Peace song followed by Freeman’s Prayer for Protection. As a fairly new movement, we have already created some of our own traditions.  At Christmas and Easter time we have a large list of traditions from Christian history that we can and do pull from including, traditional Christmas carols, use of Poinsettias and Easter Lilies, Christmas trees or Easter egg hunts….they are ideas that work for use.

Experience

We are all shaped by both personal and communal experiences.  We have each been born into and brought up shaped by a unique one of a kind combination of experiences.  When we come together in a spiritual community for classes, Sunday services, service opportunities and fellowship, we have the opportunity to share the stories of our past experiences as well as create new ones of our own as well as reflect upon them.  Any issue examined theologically will be viewed through a multitude of experiential lenses that we bring with us.

Reflection

As we wrestle with theological questions, reflection (both intellectual and intuitive) is the one pair of lens we will use most.  Intellectually we will reason, analyze, compare and contrast.  Intuitively we will “feel” our way around the questions……determining what emotions are moving us as we proceed?

In closing, the Unity Quadrilateral with its four lenses is a simple framework that we will use again and again as we do the work of theology.  Each lens is an unavoidable source of discernment that will help lead us to new insights.