The Spirit Master*

Len Schreiner, M.Div. ( Co. 2005)

 

Two theologians in a lively discussion become more and more heady, and rationalistic. Finally, the one theologian, a modern mystic, says to the other: "Yes, you see, you're actually only really dealing with Jesus when you throw your arms around him and realize right down to the bottom of your being that this is something you can still do today." Nodding his head slowly, the other agrees…"Yes, you're right, of course, if you don't mean it too pietistically."

 

Driven by the contemporary desire to provide an "answer", or a "savior" that sells, popular Christianity has crafted a staid, stereotypical safe Jesus for the post 9/11 era and 21st century. Instead of grappling with the "Christ" who is always a mystery, popular Catholic and Christian art and literature offers up a Jesus that is cozy, cut and comfortable. I weep to see that the image and likeness of Christ has become a cheapened and watered down commodity for mass consumption. Here's there's no need to struggle, as one necessarily must, with the breadth and depth of a realistic relationship experienced by Peter, John and Mary Magdalene.

 

Troubadour Ministries aims to proclaim the beauty and fullness of Christ, to be explore His multifaceted character, and simultaneously to find our own destinies as they overlap, and intermingle with His. In discovering all He has to offer us, in the 21st century, we are challenged to sort through the many "Jesuses" we see, that is, the various images which are either superficially or substantially the irreducible figure who is our brother in the flesh and Spirit. Jesus is certainly unique in the historic crowd of mythic figures, historical heroes, and wisdom figures. He exemplifies what it means, "to be a human being." "I have come," He said, "that you might have life to the full,"(Jn. 10:10 ) In His life, he showed deep concern for human dreams, desires and the demons that haunt us. His healings opened a way to achieve an integration of those conscious and unconscious forces that move us, for good or ill. The accounts of His life provide a portrait of His heart; someone recognizable and immediately loveable, a Brother to all humanity.

 

The Universal Spirit of Christ

 

A realistic, not overly idealistic orientation of Jesus the Christ, is one that follows his own standard for teaching: "Every scribe who is learned (a disciple of the Kingdom) is able to bring from his storeroom things both old and new." (Mt. 13:52) The recent trend in Christianity is to capture the historical, mystical, and scriptural Jesus in a denominational or sectarian container, and hold onto that image for dear life. Such tightly held, dogmatized portraits may appear helpful to the uncritical seeker, but they are as limited as they are limited in proclaiming the fullness of the Christ of the New Testament.

 

In history, the Divine always reaches us through our own experience. I have learned that the spirit and aroma of Christ is never limited or confined, nor possessed by a few, no matter how sincere or zealous. Reflections of His spirit are present in imperfect pontiffs, in authoritative hierarchs, in zealot beginners, in intellectual elites, in actors, politicians, presidents, peasants, teachers, social workers, laborers, teenagers, the unchurched, in alienated Catholics, in persons of every religion, race, region, tradition and lifestyle. His compassionate, liberating spirit is also present in the actions of unofficial followers of the "Way", and in those with no titles. They are dedicated individuals who serve the poor, who seek justice and human rights, who question themselves and religion itself. They are healers of every stripe, "anonymous christians," ordinary parents and teachers who live the gospel without words, through an imperfect down-to-earth love. Nor is His Spirit apart from those who are yet finding their way. As Meister Eckhart said, "there is nowhere you can be outside of God".

 

Just when you think you have your religion taken care of, or settled in your mind, you find that you cannot capture Christ completely, "possess" His friendship, define his person, or conclude the spiritual controversy that follows Him like prophetic fallout. His attraction is perennial. So, you hesitate to dismiss Him, for something in you suggests that He is the one who reflects the hidden meaning of the interaction of the divine and human spirit(s). As John Shea writes, "he is a cultural constant, moving from one generation to the next, sometimes a ragged figure, other times a splendiferous Pantocrator gloriously reigning." Even in a post-Christendom era, a new age, He is someone "who haunts the psyche of the Western person, and is burned into the flesh." (Shea)

 

In Images, Songs and Silence

 

Words alone are insufficient to convey the Reality of Christ-presence. As the Sufi put it, how does one learn about fire? First you hear about it, then perhaps you see it, and thirdly, you are burned by it. Finally you are carried beyond "beliefs", to knowing, through an experiential faith. The purpose of Troubadour Ministries is to construct bridges to the Christ-presence, using images, literature, history, Scripture, poetry, music, journaling, storytelling and our own story - until somehow we find the intersection of our life and His. In finding Him, we find ourselves and our destiny.

 

Apocalyptic books (concerning the end times), music and movies are stirring up great interest these days.

For we cannot survive without hope, and curiosity is as perennial as people. The question is, where should we place our hope? In future heaven? In human effort and determination? Or in the daily gift of grace that builds on our own nature, personality and path. Are we ready to believe with St. Paul , who never saw the historical Jesus, that His life is growing and rising in us even now? Scripture scholarship teaches us that warnings of the prophetic, and Book of Revelation, signal not the end of all time, but the end of the world as we know it.

 

"As to the exact day or hour, no one know it , either the angles in heaven nor even the Son, but only the

Father." (Mt. 13:32) So often this passage and others like it, are used not to support faith, but to manipulate conversion, and then to maximize control, a tactic Jesus himself did not use. Instead, Jesus offered hope through the embrace of faith and God's unconditional love and forgiveness. When He saw fear leading people to desperation and distortion, Jesus urged them to have faith. He gave this encouragement while living under Roman oppression, with extreme economic equality and uncertainty all around. Our faith must move beyond present circumstances or we will regularly give in to desperate attempts to assuage our egos.

 

There is a healthy "Gospel fear" but it is something akin to amplified awareness, just the opposite of psychic-numbing, apathy and escapism. We cannot have Jesus (a real relationship) the compassionate healer, without also accepting Jesus the prophet who upsets every heart to bring it to wholeness. Prophecy is essential in a world with glaring injustice, punishing poverty and rampant corruption in our institutions. Too many devout Christians today revel in praising "Christ the King" and "Christ the Ruler" (it feels so good!) but ignore His unmistakable Word about seeing the poor as our own, loving our enemies, offering peace to all, choosing equality with an egalitarian Lord, resisting injustice wherever it exists, and choosing a lifestyle of simplicity not luxury - in short, choosing the Kingdom of God over this world's false kingdom.

 

I am not as elated as some about the renewed popular interest in Jesus. Too much of it is a mile wide and an inch deep. Truly, the renewed interest in Jesus scholarship is a welcome grace. How much of Jesus' preswent popularity translates to discipleship, that requires far more than a few behavioral changes, the external marks of the "feel-good religion" of the masses. The spirit of the prophet Jesus calls us to release our selfish fears, and to resist the luster of a life of greed and luxury that comforts us momentarily.

 

The choice Jesus presented 2000 years ago, and that He represents still is to evolve or to self-destruct. Both are fully possible! In the 20th century the human family killed 100 million of its own species, through war alone. In spite of technological advances, we did not reduce bur rather increased the gargantuan gap between the billions of poor and millions of rich. Scientific analysis of fresh ecological dangers reminds us of the modern norm, self-centered lifestyles that we hold on to with stubborn denial. We are our worst enemy, and yet our best hope.

 

Tracing the Mind of Jesus

 

We know this much, Jesus worked urgently to inaugurate of new world order, one that would benefit all peoples. He modeled new forms for community. He puts the religious laws into perspective. They are secondary, a needed support-structure. He challenges the idea that a strict fulfillment of prescriptions substitutes for a life to be lived, for the demanding discipline of loving all, as God loves all. Dogmas, creeds and commandments are instruments of the spiritual journey, not icons. They are only elements of the greater "pearl of great price", "a treasure in a field"; the life of the spirit deepest within us (our consciousness/interior life). As John Sanford points out, the pearl is an "inner treasure, and that which (Who) is searching to find us." Such adventure, is coded in spiritual paradox and parables. It is a journey of a lifetime in the direction of God's Kingdom, not ours.

 

Therefore Christ and his message should not be diluted or refashioned into a comfortable commodity for mass distribution. Far too much Christian preaching has soured millions on Christ, by portraying him in dour and trite or idealized caricatures, in the hope of keeping the congregation comfortable and coming back. The heart of the Gospel are His own "hard sayings", parables and Gospel paradoxes they are never simplistic formulas for success. At this critical juncture in human history, we cannot bear the trivialization of Someone so profound, mysterious, human, majestic, and lovingly mysterious - a true reflection of the Divine reality.

 

The Elusive, Mysterious Lover of All

 

Without thinking, we tend to reduce Jesus to something our size. We apply to him platitudes and praise, but fail to examine his complexity, and the breadth of a human being who is "Brother" to all humanity. As much as we might like to, we can never cozy up to Jesus. He belongs to all of us, whether inside the Church, outside of it, or in another tradition. He is elusive and yet ever present. Yet, He does not offer us a panacea, a solution to all our problems, or even Himself as a scapegoat or private savior. We are invited to grapple with all the ambiguity, uncertainty, joy and paradox that is human life. Courage and self-surrender are required. Glance at the gospels, we see Him calling us to be our deeper, better selves. His presence may give comfort, but also challenges and confronts us.

 

The more significant the question (e.g. who is Christ? what is the meaning of life?) the more likely there is no simplistic answer. Thus I have set out on an earnest exploration of the figure and personality of Jesus. The Jesus of history and Christ of faith remains ever a mysterious stranger, and an inspiring Master. His "Way" that waits to be discovered, is no less complex than our hearts and destinies. None of us should presume we have the Gospel answer; there is no oneanswer. Thus, honest and open exploration is the focus and style of Troubadour Ministries.

 

When the Gospel questions intersect with our own personal and social values, which are failing us so dramatically today, there is breakthrough to the Kingdom. We have the opportunity to explore the mind and heart of Christ. In entrusting ourselves to this relationship, we unleash the eternal Spirit. Thus it all begins. Our true journey in launched with all its unwelcome agony, and unexpected ecstasy.

 

(*Spirit Master, is the title of a book by John Shea, which I highly recommend for all to read)

 

(see related article: The Cosmic Christ)

 

THE COSMIC CHRIST

 

The Gospel was clearly not a story for a time, but for "all time", the Never-Ending Story. "Go out to all nations", He told his first followers. "I am with you always, until the end of time." Perhaps we have tried far too hard to preserve his memory and too little to live His life and spirit, here and now. Teilhard de Chardin captured better than most, the expansiveness of Jesus' trajectory through time and space when he wrote about "the insertion of Jesus' spirit into the depths of humanity and the core of the cosmos." This is not to say, He must be somehow brought in from outside history, He is already intimately involved with human history.

 

St. Paul , who never met the historical Jesus, but knew Christ intimately in spirit, wrote: "He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creatures. In him everything in heaven and on earth was created, things visible and invisible…He is before all else that is. In him everything continues in being…It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him and by means of him to reconcile everything in his person, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross." (Col. 1:15-20) Paul's faith and the Christian tradition of finding the Divine presence in Creation, is being affirmed broadly today by scientific inquiry and discoveries. They attest to the fact of unfathomable phenomenon and natural mystery behind every living thing. Christ's presence is cosmic, that is, everywhere in the universe.

 

As long ago as the second century, curious Christian philosophers sought to connect the dots between their faith and Scriptures and the natural world. They concluded that the Man of the Gospels, was also the spiritual One referred to in Genesis, the same divine "Logos" referred to by John (Jn. 1:1-3), the same "Reality" referred to in the book of Wisdom, in the wisdom literature of Old Testament, in Hebrews, in Exodus, in Ephesians (1:9-10); it was the Spirit of the One who says "I am, Who am". This Spirit is Emmanuel, God with us. The Christian tradition says the Divine Spirit was fully present in Jesus, but also that the Life of Christ extends far beyond his historical existence.

 

Paul's image the "mystical body of Christ" generally refers to those who choose Christ through baptism, but it can also be understood to include all those, and all that which belongs to God. For Teilhard de Chardin (it is my belief also) Christ is the Heart of the world, and therefore all is evolving toward its human and planetary fulfillment in Christ or the Divine source. Perhaps it is not too much to speak of Christ as a protean self, one who assumes many forms as He expresses the unity of all life that is united in Himself. This unity is the original dream of God, in which Christ is the progenitor, the divine life and spark within all things. Author Todd Lundgren wrote as if he heard an eternal echo: "You're so far away and so long ago. But my dream goes on forever. How much I have loved you you'll never know, until you join me within my dream." The invitation of Jesus was and is the same, "Come…and see where I live". (Jn. 1:39)

 

Is It You Lord?

 

It is a spiritual principle; we will be found by the One whom we seek, if only we seek Him as we too are pursued. When the heart opens, suddenly we see!

 

Dostoyevsky beautifully imagines the sudden and unsuspected presence of Jesus. Set in Seville in the sixteenth century, he describes the unforgettable encounter between the Grand Inquisitor and the returned Christ. "In his infinite mercy he once more walked among men in the semblance of man. The people are drawn to him by an irresistible force, they surround him, they throng about him, they follow him. He walks among them in silence with a gentle smile of infinite compassion. The sun of love burns in his heart, rays of Light, of Enlightenment, and of Power stream from his eyes, and, pouring over the people, stir their hearts with responsive love. He stretches forth his hands to them, blesses them, and a healing virtue comes from contact with him, even from his garments…

 

Then, in the Cathedral of Seville, he raises form the dead a small girl who has been brought in there for burial. Just as she is sitting up in her coffin and looking around her with surprise in her smiling eyes - just at that moment…the Cardinal, the Grand Inquisitor passes by the cathedral. He is an old man of nearly ninety, tall and erect, with a shriveled face and sunken eyes from which, though, a light like a fiery spark still gleams…He stops and watches from a distance. He sees everything…and his face darkens. He stretches forth his finger and commands the guard to seize him. The guards take the Prisoner to the dark, narrow, vaulted prison in the old building of the Sacred Court and lock him in there. The day passes and night falls, the dark, hot and breathless Seville night.

 

Amid the profound darkness the iron door of the prison is suddenly opened and the old Grand Inquisitor himself slowly enters the prison with a light in his hand. He is alone and the door at once closes behind him. He stops in the door and gazes for a long time…At last he approaches him slowly, puts the lamp on the table and says to him: Is it you? YOU?

 

As the Grand Inquisitor was speaking, Christ remained silent, saying not a word only looking into the old man's face. The old man is eager for some word, or pronouncement from his Prisoner. Suddenly He approaches the old man and kisses him gently on his bloodless lips. Momentarily the Prisoner went away, leaving he old man with that kiss glowing in his heart and his idea staying in his mind.

 

And so the story continues, everyday. The Christ, who pierces the heart of human darkness you and I at the intersection of our ordinary lives and His ordinary Presence.