Going Deep

Richard Rohr believes that the biggest mistake we make is by creating two worlds, a sacred and a secular, or profane.  He notes,  that “everything is profane if you live on the surface of it, and everything is sacred if you go into the depths of it—even your sin.”  When we go deep into our own mistakes, we find God. If we stay on the surface, even the things of God, like Bible, sacrament, or church, can be destructive, unkind, even  evil.

If we go deep we can "mend and renew the world by strengthening inside ourselves what we seek outside ourselves.." (Naked Now, p. 160)

What he is saying (or so it seems to me), is that as people of faith, when we go deep, and connect with the Sacred within.  When we give the Spirit (to give this piece of the Sacred a name) a place to dwell, and room to move, we create a different world, because we change the way we see and respond to the reality that surrounds us.

Then Rohr offers a series of admonitions, that I dearly love.  This morning, as the world around us looks fragmented and hopeless.  This morning, as those with radical ideologies stumble around in ideological blindness, and those who are prepared to fear see danger everywhere, as those who hate spew words that are ugly and hurtful, I would like to offer the hope that we can create a different reality as we respond in the power of the Spirit.

If you want others to be more loving, choose to love first

If you want a reconciled outer world, reconcile your own inner world

If you are working of peace out there, create it inside as well

If you notice other people's irritability, let go of your own

If you wish to find some outer stillness, find it within yourself

If you are working for justice, treat yourself justly too

If you find yourself resenting the faults of others, stop resenting your own

If the world seems desperate, let go of your own despair

If you want a just world, start being just in small ways yourself.

If you situation feels hopeless, honor the one true spot of hope inside you

If you want to find 'God, then honor "God within you, and you will always see God beyond you.  For it is only God in you who knows where and how to look for God.
(Richard Rohr, The Naked Now p. 161)

Have a blessed Sunday my friends

Go deep