Traveling light

Read Genesis 17:1-2

 

God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction

                               Meister Eckhart (Quoted by Matthew Fox in Christian Mystics)

 

We need to step out and feel the way, how the Spirit guides.  The wind and current come from behind to usher us forward.  God is saying we must walk first, not follow, and feel the allure of the Spirit along the way, to trust that the fresh perspective will come as  wind or current from behind.

                               Christine Valters Paintern (reflecting on the call of Abram)

                               The Soul’s Slow Ripening

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ah! that Abram (and Sarai)

standing on the edge of nowhere

looking into the far reaches of nothing

feeling the breath of God on their necks

feeling the Spirit push them gently into the desert

 

toward a destination unknown

 

ah! those disciples, hiding in a room

suddenly blasted by the wind of God

and seared by the fire

and driven into the street proclaiming!

 

ah! those ancient Irish monks

foolish souls who stepped into coracles and let the wind

blow them into the unknown

to the edge of the world

 

ah!  may I join these wanderers on their journey

may I step out into the day

not knowing where the wind will blow me

 

this is not easy for me

I want to know where I am going

I want a map

I want the route defined

 

at least it seems, Sacred could lead the way

giving me a path to follow

 

I get following

following Jesus

following “the way”

following the teachings of scriptures

following the confessions

following

 

following I can do

 

trailblazing is another matter

letting the Spirit blow me

into God’s new thing

 

I suspect I often look ridiculous

as, buffeted by the wind of the Spirit

I cling grimly to what is old

and comfortable

 

refusing to let go

of old ideas, old priorities

old expectations

old patterns

old frameworks

 

but God is not about old

God is about NEW

and this is where we err

we intense and dedicated ones

 

who sternly fight for the status quo

and think we are being faithful

 

standing up

standing against

standing by

standing for

 

but in reality we are often just

hanging on to things that we must let go of

if transformation is going to come

 

Abram could have stayed, comfortable in the city

and looked out from the comfort of his home

at the inhospitable desert

 

Those monks could have stood on the shore

and looked out over the endless sea

 

the disciples could have stayed hidden in their room

 

we can lookout at the world

changing, moving

and stubbornly insist we will not move

 

But then Abram would never have become Abraham

Pentecost would not have been a thing

And those monks would never have touched distant shores

And we?

 

A Wind of God

Blow

Blow us out of the safe and familiar

Move us

Transform us

 

our vision is small

our expectations pathetic

 

we cannot grasp what you can do

impel us into wonder