Spiritual Maturity: The Mystical Path

“Spiritual Maturity: The Mystical Path”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

July 21, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Colossians 1:24-28

Luke 10:38-42

         When I was twelve years old, I went on a middle school retreat with my Methodist church’s youth group. I was nervous because I was a shy kid. I wasn’t very social and I didn’t know what to expect from the retreat. We went into the beautiful mountains of West Virginia for Spring Break. Wildflowers were in full bloom. We stayed in cabins, took hikes, and took paddleboats onto the lake. On the second day there, I learned that Christians are fallible… because one of the chaperones went out on a paddleboat with me and a gust of wind sent his toupee into the lake. The words that came out of his mouth after that made me giggle. He didn’t find it so funny.

         On the last night of the retreat, we all sat around the campfire and took Communion together under the stars. It was probably the first time I had ever taken Communion. Our Youth Minister Wendy told us about Jesus and how much he loves us. And while looking up at a million stars and taking that simple sacrament, I asked God if we could be friends. And it was as if God said, “Of course! Let’s go on an adventure!”

         My inner life transformed from that point on. With all the turmoil and loneliness of my childhood, I finally had an Eternal Friend. Soon after that experience, I began preaching at the age of thirteen. I preached a few times a year in the church of my upbringing until I was 17. During that time, I led prayer groups, led worship, and attended wonderful retreats and Christian work camps. My faith became my strength.

         I have always known I was attracted to the same gender. I had crushes on boys since I was 4 years old. I actually started to wear my mom’s wig and clothes since I was 4 as well. Whenever I was alone in the house, I would sneak into my parent’s room and put on lipstick and stare into the mirror for hours. I didn’t want to be a girl. I was just fascinated with gender.

         I was also fascinated with God since I was a small child. I remember teaching myself to meditate without even knowing what it was called when I was 3 or 4. I had a special hiding place under the record player where I would sit and just be with the Divine. I remember feeling like I remembered being in the womb, safe and warm, and growing with potential.

         I have always been a mystic. A mystic is someone who has a natural inclination to feel the Divine on an intuitive level. Even before I knew the word “God” or went to Sunday School, I knew who God was. God was my friend then. But until my Middle School retreat experience, I all but forgot. “Growing up” began to erase that element in me. But I did spend most of my childhood in the State Park that led up to the back of my house in Maryland. Almost like Snow White, I befriended the trees and the animals of the forest. I played “Oprah” and interviewed the squirrels and birds. I took refuge next to the stream. I dove into my imagination about what had happened among those trees over the centuries.

         This is what I know to be what Jesus called “Faith like a child.” It is a faith with an open heart. It is a vulnerable faith. It is a trust that God will guide the path, even when I feel I am lost. It is a right brain, creative faith. It doesn’t require dogma, doctrine, creeds, or fear of a Boogie Man. All it requires is a deep love for life, and that I had.

         A deep love for life is a fundamental element of adult spiritual maturity. The paradox that Jesus gives in the Gospels is that we are to be mature through being childlike. Note that there is a huge difference between being childish and being childlike. Being childish is demanding what you want without regard to the needs and desires of others. We also call this ego. There’s an annoying element to being childish. Being childlike means embracing the creativity that we were born with. It means remembering that we are co-creators of our lives with the One who gave us life. It was once said that the creative adult is that child that survived. Being childlike is wise.

         The other element of adult spiritual maturity has to do with a willingness to be a lifetime learner. Even when we graduate from one school or another, we are always learning. A diploma is not an ending; it is a new beginning. My 90 year-old grandmother is still learning. You are still learning. Don’t be ashamed of it; embrace it! Some of my seminary colleagues were in their late sixties. They hadn’t given up on their dream of becoming ordained ministers and so they took a leap of faith and attained their goals. It is never too late to learn.

         Mary (of Mary and Martha) embraced the opportunity to learn when she could. She sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened intently. In Jesus’ time, that was not proper for a woman to do. Women were not supposed to listen to the wisdom of prophets. They were only supposed to serve them politely. So Mary’s sister Martha did as society told her. She worked away in the kitchen to entertain Rabbi Jesus. The Scripture tells us that she was “distracted”. Martha notices that her sister Mary is transgressing gender norms by placing herself as a student of Jesus and angrily asks Jesus, “Don’t you care that she left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

         Instead of catching himself off guard with the rules of society, Jesus tells busy Martha, “You are so distracted! Only one thing is important. Learn from Mary; what she has chosen is eternal.” This must have shocked Martha. “Who is this Rabbi to make women equal to men??”

         Jesus, a mystic himself, had taught Mary to be a mystic. Jesus empowered women throughout his ministry to embrace the Spirit of God within them. When Mary did this, it absolutely shocked Martha. This may have happened to you too. People who knew you for a long time learned of your spirituality and were intrigued. Could you be a mystic too?

         Christian mysticism has been condemned for a long time by the institutional Church. Why? Because being a mystic means subverting oppressive power. When we are truly connected with God with an unsurpassable vulnerable trust, God takes precedence over the powers of this world. And that scares those in power; especially those who claim to speak on behalf of God.

         If you didn’t know, in the fourth century after Jesus, the Roman Empire chose to become Christian. It had long embraced the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses, but decided to embrace Christianity. This was a blessing and a curse at once. On the side of blessing, the Roman Empire would stop killing those pesky Christians who challenged the empire’s oppressive ways. On the other side, Christianity itself would be changed for the worse for the rest of history.

         When any group becomes the dominant group, it is destined to become tainted by power. As feminism teaches, only shared power is truly good. We know by historical record that for 1600 years, the Christian Church has used to name of God and Christ to oppress peoples around the earth. It has killed those who refuse to convert, such as during the Inquisition. It has embraced anti-Semitism (also known as the hatred of the Jewish people). It has officially damned all non-Christians to eternal torture. And remember, the Nazis claimed to be Christians.

         This kind of history alone is enough for millions of people to stay far away from anything bearing the name of “Christian.” But there is hope! Though the institutional church has carried this oppressive power for 1600 years, there has always been descent within the church from a minority that disagrees. Over the centuries, these folks have been identified as mystics. They were not necessarily ascetics, hiding away from the rest of society to just think about God. No, there have been many bold saints who stood up in the face of abused power and bad theology to say instead that ALL people are born with Original Blessing and are sacred children of God.

         Among that cloud of positive-thinking, loving, creative witnesses as living theologian Rev. Matthew Fox lists are Hildegard of Bingen of the 10^th century, Francis of Assisi (whom the current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church took his name), Francis’ close friend Clare, Mechtild of Magdeburg from the century, and Thomas Aquinas all in the 11^th century. And then there is Meister Eckhart, a German Christian theologian in the 13^th to 14^th centuries, who was declared a heretic by the institutional church, but has been revered by Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus alike for centuries. Teresa of Avila of the 16^th century reminded humanity that we are the hands and feet of Christ and that Christ is indeed our Mother. We never forget astronomer Galileo of the 16^th century who insisted that the world is spherical and revolves around the Sun. Then George Fox of the 17^th century who recognized the Divine Spark in every human being and founded the Society of Friends that we know as the Quakers.

         More recent on the list include African American spiritual leader Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, lesbian feminist Audre Lorde, and the list goes on.

         Are you in the list of mystics? Do you with your whole being embrace a trust in the Divine Mystery that created the Universe? Do you believe that the whole Human Family has been created good? Do you believe that human potential is always greater that human downfall? Do you value the Earth that God has given us as the most beautiful gift for our use and not our abuse? Do you recognize God in the world every day? Then you are on the list. You, my friend, are a mystic.

         Mysticism is not witchcraft. It is not a silly celebrity fad. It’s not confined to the category of “New Age” that fundamentalists warn people about over the airways. No, mysticism is looking into the sky as I did as a young adolescent and just standing in perfect awe of creation. It is saying, “Wow, I must be special to be alive in this Universe.” And it’s also saying, “Wow, this whole Universe also lives within me.”

         As we come closer to the time when we will define ourselves as a community in the future, I challenge you to “try on” the title of “mystic.” See how it fits. If it gives you joy unspeakable, if it feels right in your gut, and if it helps you to feel whole, then I encourage you to embrace it and move into the future. God bless our sacred, mystical journey together. Amen.

You also heard from the Book of Colossians today. The institutional Church has said for centuries that the Apostle Paul wrote it, but we now know that is not true. But we can still find truth within it, like we can in any text. We heard that the author felt a call to “Make the word of God fully known.” The author also says that the word of God is the “mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages, but now has been revealed.” Though God has probably been put in a box for you throughout your life, it is never too late to open your whole life and embrace that God is the Mystery Beyond Our Naming. We know that fireflies exist and that they are beautiful. We don’t need to keep them in a jar to light up until they die. We can observe creation and take in the beauty that fills our souls. In that experience, Colossians tells us that WE are the “hope of glory.” The word “glory” means “prosperity.” Think of that. WE are the hope of prosperity in the world. Hear and believe today.