Candle in the Wind in True Community

Walking home this morning from tai chi class, I was blessing all the children and babes in the mother's arms along the way.

But I was thinking of and praying for my new granddaughter, Zara, and my new great great grandson, Aiden, way off in Michigan.

They had just sung Happy Birthday to me at tai chi. Yesterday they sung Happy Birthday to me at two worship services -- where I worshipped with more than 50 beautiful Christians in the MCC venue in Makati.

I was thanking God for what God has done since we gathered for that first MCC service in the Philippines in September 1991.

I was thanking God that a candle in the wind was bringing a little light of true Christian Community, a candle here, a candle there, and the light was getting brighter.

As always, my colleague, Fr. John Chuchman captures the picture in one of his inimitable poems (added below). Sadly in today's email, one of my seminary friends was reported to be in bad shape with cancer, and even worse shape worrying that he will go to hell because he remarried after his first wife was declared mentally ill and incurable. Imagine a church which puts a good person in such dread.

That's the kind of moral slavery our LGBT friends are victims of every day, everywhere.

Before I came to the Philippines with the MCC message of our beloved founder, Rev. Troy Perry, there was no one telling even a fraction of the 10 million LGBT people here that God loves them unconditionally and passionately -- and that no homophobic church can take that away from them.

On Sunday when it came to testimony time, a handsome young man was speaking passionately in tears in Filipino. I asked Oliver, sitting next to me, why that young man was crying as he gave his testimony.

Then I was brought to tears when Oliver told me that the young man was testifying about how Fr. Richard Mickley had been an inspiration to him and helped him change his life to a happy life, knowing God's love. He even shared my childhood story from my blog about down on the farm in Ohio, milking the family milk cow every morning before school and every night before the evening meal when I was 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 -- and when I was 11-13 (before entering seminary at 13) after milking the cow I rushed to church to serve the parish Mass before school.

Well, yes, I was in tears as I poured out my heart in my testimony -- for what God has done in the Philippines over the last 21 years. From one struggling MCC -- before computers, before email, before Facebook, before cell phones and iPhones and Blackberries and iPads -- to a tithing church in Makati, a resolute chuch in Quezon City, a growing ministry in Marikina under the leadership of my long time co-worker, Jason Masaganda, to MCC Olongapo shepherded by John Linsangan, another long time co-worker, to MCC Baguio where another long time friend and co-worker, Fr. Myke Sotero, brings the message of true community.

And lo and behold, the Sunday worship service on this particular Sunday at MCC  Makati was led by Fr. Regen Luna, former MCC Makati pastor with his dynamic and authentic preaching of the Word. It is interesting because Fr. Regen is now a Catholic Priest of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit. Surely this is concrete evidence of the authentic Christian witness that we are all God's children, one God, One Lord, One Spirit, One Savior and Friend in-dwelling in us all, Jesus.

We have been called by Jesus to pray, pray always, so that has become a special joyful ministry of Argel Tuason and I as we sponsor prayer partners for the wonders of prayer, care, and sharing "where two or three gather" with Jesus in our midst.

So, in 21 years God has come to be known as the loving God our God is in many communities in Luzon -- and, praise God, in many individuals throughout the archipelago who read my blogs and intereact with me by email.

At tai chi they sang to me; at MCC they sang to me and prayed over me. At home I feel the warmth of the hearth and heart-felt warmth that has kept my heart warm for 14 years. I miss my children and grandchildren (who lost their unequalled awesome mother this year) and can now only be in prayer for them throughout the day.

So, today 84 years after November 12, 1928; 21 years after September 7, 1991; I have much to be thankful and joyful for. Work is not work if it is a labor of love, and I am thankful for every labor of love I am given the opportuinity to do for people with the Lord with us.

The following poem is how my fellow CDOS priest, Fr. John Chuchman, puts this into a worldwide perspective.

True Community

 

I strive for a table
where people are together
at the table of the Divine
working to contribute healing and growth
to each other's lives.

 

I abhor a table of clashing cymbals
competing for attention

each claiming to know
the "right" way.

 

Christianity seems to have lost
unity amongst diversity
because it has lost
the Way
of the Director, Jesus.

That which Jesus taught
has been replaced with creed, dogma and hollow ritual.

 

Christians these days
are not known
By Their Love.

 

Instead of healing wounds,
church rules/structures/walls
offend, exclude, abuse people.

 

Instead of nurturing people
to a higher consciousness and Spirituality,
hierarchy expend effort
in defense of dogma.

 

Instead of helping with people with rebirth in the Spirit
through encouragement, humility, and support,
church seems focused on
legalities, money, and politics.

 

It is now the time,
for the feminine and masculine Spiritual warriors
to rise up
and take responsibility
for building true community
where we can all be healed
and grow.

 

Imagine what our world would be like today
had we Spiritual Warriors
risen up 1700 years ago
to combat Constantine
and
a Roman Church.

This is not my first time here.
This is not my beginning.

 

I will no longer
sit in church singing outdated hymns,
worshiping Jesus as he never requested.
I will no longer
sit in church with people not really interested in helping each other.

 

I seek something more:
a Community of fellow Pilgrims
walking together,
working, crying, laughing, listening, learning, singing, praying,
lovingly supporting each other,

growing and sharing
our human experience.

 

Let's together explore
the Great Mystery.

 

It really is,
not up to the hierarchs
committed to protecting the institution
and their jobs in it;
It really is,
as Jesus taught,
up to each of us.

 

Love, John

A discussion with a non-Christ​ian: What is Authentic Christiani​ty?

Recently I was invited to a very lengthy conversation with a very spiritual person who had never had an opportunity to learn about Christianity. Our conversation was sensational.

I wish I could convey to you the sincerity of her inquiry and desire to learn. I sent the following email to her after she returned to her Asian country.

You showed some interest in my expression "authentic Christianity." Let me try to explain. I think it fits the vision and mission of the social justice organization you represent.

Gandhi once said that he would become a Christian if he ever found a Christian who was living Christianity, in other words, an authentic Christian, living authentic Christianity.

Nowadays Christians are too often subjected to a NO NO NO Christianity which is not authentic:

NO masturbation,

NO condoms,

NO divorce where love didn't work out,

NO love for the one you love who is not approved by the (church) establishment,

NO sex except if married and to make babies,

NO sex in your whole life in any way

if God brings you into this world as an LGBT person.

NO cultural acceptance

if the code of the dominant religion is not lived up to.

All too often, oppression by the dominant religion

As you mentioned in our talks, others are qualified to point out where Islam or Buddhism may impose unjust requirements on their culture or the people of their country when their religion is dominant in the culture.

Here I have pointed out a few instances of some form of compulsory compliance with Roman Catholic rules in a country, such as the Philippines, where Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion. For the followers, I call it moral slavery if they feel bound and shackled to these rules.

For Protestants, Muslims, Atheists, people of any religion or non-religion who are directly or indirectly forced to comply, I call it cultural injustice. (Indirectly, for example, would be “No divorce” through the power of the church, by ballot box pressure, to prevent passage of a divorce law  thus imposing Catholic theology on every resident of the country. Or obstructing the passage of a reproductive health law which 70% of the citizens want because it assures sustainable human development, women’s rights, maternal and infant health, and reduction of abortion rates.)

Authentic Christianity

The teachings of Jesus make authentic Christianity.

The most basic principles of Jesus' teachings are to love and to pray.

Jesus mission was for people to have a more abundant life.

 

The dominant message of Jesus' behavioural requirements

for his followers are:

To enjoy peace and social justice,

To be agents of peace and justice for others.

Explanation of authentic Christianity

1. To love

Jesus consistently urged his followers to love, even their enemies, to love their neighbor as themselves.

But even more fundamental, is the Christian belief that God, the Maker of all people and things, IS LOVE, and those who live in Love, live in God, and God lives in them.

That belief gives Christianity a love dimension that sets it on a path where the authenticity of Christianity is measured by its love.

Furthermore, Christians believe that God became human in Jesus so that Jesus, God who became human, could show human beings what God is like. And then with the belief that God IS LOVE, that's what God is like, the very personification of Love.

Even more awesome is the belief that when God became human, divinity was infused into human persons, "and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them," as it is spelled out in the Christian Scripture. Thus human persons are united with the divine, with God-within.

This brings Christians to the amazing realization that since God is Love, we human beings cannot add to, or even earn God’s love. God loves each person first and unconditionally.

Thus, the Christian does not exert selfish effort to gain points or earn love from God. It’s there. The Christian loves God BECAUSE God loved first. Loving God and helping and serving and loving others is a response to God’s love, not an effort to win God’s love.

The website of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit, which I am a member of, puts this way:

“The message that Jesus brought was never a condemning one, or a set of beliefs to be adhered to under fear of punishment. It was, rather, a message of individual freedom, of each of us being a manifestation of Divinity itself, of love actually being the center that holds all things together, and of an invitation to recognize Divinity within all creation and within other people as the source of an ever-more-happy life.

“The Catholic Diocese of One Spirit tries to pay attention to this beauty and to understand what it means, in order to bring more meaning and joy into our own lives at every moment.

“We try not to be pious, stiff, judgmental or demanding. We support each other when we are down, and encourage each other when things are going well.”

Of course, as we discussed in our conversation, this is in sharp contrast to any religion, Christian or otherwise which is characterized by oppression, prejudice, and downright persecution of those who don’t stick to their rules. Such rules are not made by Jesus, the model for authentic Christianity.


2. To Pray

With God within, every human person can maintain a relationship with the divine, with the Maker of the universe, and, for Christians, with Jesus who showed us what God is like and that we can be like God and with God.

To pray, then, is the method by which we maintain connection with God-within. We can pray with others for social reasons, and that can be commendable, but we can "pray always" as Jesus told his followers, in order always to be in touch, connected with God-within.

Thus, to love and to pray are the foundation on which authentic Christianity is sustained and lived.


Behavioral requirements in the mission of authentic Christianity

Jesus said his mission in coming to this earth with us was so we could have life, have life more fully, more abundantly. He lived that mission lifting up people everywhere he went, healing them, championing the oppressed and outcasts, and often made the despised and marginalized  Samaritans the heroes of his compassion and stories, as in the “Good Samaritan,” the Samaritan woman at the well.

But throughout his teaching life, Jesus emphasized that his followers do not live merely for themselves. As Jesus, God-in-human-life, lived for others, so also, His followers, Christians, are to be guided by his teachings on peace and social justice.

His basic platform for peace and social justice He outlined in this way:
(Note: blessed can also be translated, “God blesses…” Theologians have labelled these points of Jesus’ message The Beatitudes)

Blessed [are] the poor in spirit:

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed [are] they that mourn:

for they shall be comforted.

Blessed [are] the merciful:

for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed [are] the peacemakers:

for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed [are] the meek:

for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed [are] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness:

for they shall be filled.

Blessed [are] the pure in heart:

for they shall see God.

Blessed [are] those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

By this He meant that all human persons are entitled to this kind of life, this kind of compassion, this kind of social justice, but furthermore, His followers are the ones He expects to make that happen by their action, works, and behavior.

And how does that follow the fundamental exhortation of Jesus to love? The peace and social justice platform of Jesus points out basic ideas for developing methods in our culture for carrying out the universal law of love.

The teachings of Jesus embrace also the very important matter of unity and working together. Jesus told His followers very emphatically he wanted them to be united, to be one was the way He put it. Of course nowadays we call it “community,” a living and working together in accordance with the plan of Jesus. But, communities also have to be authentic, living by the basic plan Jesus laid out for them.

Of course this brief introduction to “authentic Christianity” falls short of the awesome wholeness of what Christians call the “Good News” Jesus gave to His followers.


Conclusion

And so, my friend, in conclusion let me emphasize no matter what you, or your watchdog organization, may have observed about violations of human rights, religious freedom, or social justice in a “Christian” country, Christianity, IS NOT a set of NO NO NO rules.

Authentic Christianity is based on the principles of love put forth by Jesus and His prescription to put love in action in a program of peace and social justice.

To do this Christians recognize and connect with the divine through direct communication with God within, and thus are truly imbued with the spirit of peace, love, and justice.

It is brought to the fruitfulness of the mission Jesus entrusted to those who would call themselves Christian when they unite in action to bring peace, love, and justice to others.

This explanation is all too brief. If you have follow-up questions, I invite you to continue our discussion by email saintaelred@gmail.com