A CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY

During Christmas I re-discovered some words that spoke to me and which seemed to belong together.

Words of St John of the Cross, that I had unconsciously echoed in “Midwife God this Christmas”

“If you want

the Virgin will come walking down the road

pregnant with the holy,

and say,

“I need shelter for the night,

please take me inside your heart,

my time is so close.”

Then, under the roof of your soul

you will witness the sublime

intimacy, the divine, the Christ

taking birth

forever,

as she grasps your hand for help,

for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.

Yet there, under the dome of your being does creation

come into existence eternally,

through your womb, dear pilgrim—

the sacred womb in your soul,

as God grasps our arms for help;

for each of us is

His beloved servant.

{St. John of the Cross, “If You Want” in Daniel Ladinsky Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.]

Words of Meister Eckhart that spell out that the work of ‘His beloved servants’ is to carry on the work of God: “God became Man that Man might become God.”

Words of Howard Thurman in ‘The Work of Christmas’, that make clear in some detai; as to what specifically that work entails:

“When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart”

Jesus of Nazareth announced the presence amongst us of the Kingdom of God. I take it that that means two things: the presence of the Love of God within each of us and everybody, and the call to co-operate with God in the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth in the way that Jesus did, as expressed in Howard Thurman’s words.

There are certainly many Christian people doing that, many Christian congregations doing that. There are also many people of other faith traditions and none, doing that. We should praise God that it is so, that God is active through all of creation, and calling all of creation, and not just some of it, to co-operate with Him/Her in building the Kingdom of God.

Faith traditions that are primarily concerned with their own survival and numerical flourishing rather than the building of God’s kingdom sound uncomfortably like the leaders that connived at Jesus’ death.

Leaders like Putin, Trump and Farage who seek to impose a different vision are people of straw whose time is short. They will soon fall and be forgotten. Praise be to God.