Poem: Hand and Cheek
By W. Rian Adams
Hand and Cheek is a poem about communication… well, let’s be honest, it’s really a poem about a girl!! A very pretty girl I call the love of my life. Over the years I’ve learned that love often communicates without the need for words. As we stare into the eyes of someone who loves us, their eyes will tell a story as old as time.
Additionally, love is able to communicate through gentle or erotic touch. You can tell someone you love them and that you deeply desire them through the fingertips. Sometimes all it takes to say “I’m yours” is a gentle hand on a strong cheek.
Herman Hesse was a German poet. The Nazis banned his work and burned his books. He said it this way: “…she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other… so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused.”
Healing Snakes: Christ and Healing from Bitterness
By The Rev. Rian Adams
The title says it all! Through the Christ and his love there is healing from bitterness. Today’s lesson is a prime example of how that can happen.
When the image of a snake comes to mind it usually carries a negative connotation. I had many lessons as a child about the dangers of snakes. But Jesus, like so many things in the Gospel of John, flips the reader’s preconceived notions to the other side of the coin. Snakes can also be a symbol of healing. As a matter of fact, Jesus likens himself to a snake!
The lectionary reading for this Sunday contains one of the most famous passages, John 3:16. However, in this post I want to focus your attention elsewhere. As you read, listen to how Jesus likens himself to a snake.
The Lectionary Gospel, John 3:1-17. The First Sunday After Pentecost.
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
A fight of consciousness
The story of Moses and the snake is in Numbers 21:4-9. It’s a familiar story if you grew up around church. To summarize it, the people of Israel were wandering in a desert after their escape from Egyptian slavery. Israel is in the desert with no food, no water, and no hope. So, they do what people do… they turn on their leader. They blame Moses for getting them in the situation. I suppose when things get rough it’s always easy to blame the pastor.
It’s ironic that when people are on the precipice of growth, the unconscious will often rebel and demand they revert back to old ways of thinking. Jung said in Psychology and Alchemy, that “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.”
Case in point, Numbers says that the Israelites lusted after their slavery in Egypt. Oh the irony… some would rather be slaves and eat than have their freedom and go hungry.
Often growth means we will become uncomfortable. Perhaps to grow also means that we will come face to face with our greatest anxieties.
Healed by a snake
The deity of Israel becomes angry because of the attitudes of his people. Therefore he sends poisonous snakes among them to bite them. The story says some even die of the snake venom. They repent and then ask Moses to talk to God for them.
I think Israel failed to appreciate the spiritual journey and that opened the door to bitter poison in their veins. .
Moses forges a serpent out of bronze and places it on a pole. A miracle occurs and all who gaze upon the snake receive healing from the poison.
In other words, once you are willing to look at the true cause of bitterness in your veins, then healing can occur.
When we are willing to observe our pain, then we are able to find healing from bitterness. It’s often terrifying to accept one’s self. However, Israel had to observe the instrument of their own poison before God healed them.
The snake and myth
In the minds of many Christians the snake is a dubious creature because of the role it plays in the Garden of Eden. It’s often associated with evil. However, in the Eden story the snake even talks. I think this highlights the snake’s wisdom, but also it shows us the snake’s shadow side of patient deception.
Other cultures do not view the snake in such a negative light. For instance, the ancient Sumerians held a different view. the snake sheds its old skin only to emerge in a new one. In this way, the Epic of Gilgamesh presents the serpent as the one possessing the gift of immortality — always shedding its smaller self to grow into a new definition.
In Greek mythology the snake is found in the god Asklepius who often takes the form of a snake. Various cultures present the serpent as a symbol of growth, immortality, and healing. The snake can teach us wisdom. We shouldn’t over emphasize the snake as a one dimensional picture of evil.
Jesus even admonishes his listeners to be “as wise as serpents.” (Matthew 10:16).
Jesus and healing from bitterness
Enter Jesus! He speaks with a Pharisee named Nicodemus about spirituality. Their exchange has sarcasm… Jesus says, “How are you a teacher in Israel and do not understand the Spirit blows wherever it would like?”
To paraphrase, “Nicodemus, your sect has created a box for God, and through that box you have limited God to doctrines and behaviors. That won’t work because God will show up in other ways, in other cultures, by other means. If you’re not careful, you’ll miss it.”
Jesus goes on to say that following the Spirit would mean observing the healing power of the Christ crucified.
Like the snake, the Christ brings healing when we observe his sacrifice. The symbolism is clear, when we recognize that our propensity for persecution is based in our resistance of wisdom,
then we are able to find healing for the soul.
I think Jesus likens himself to a snake to teach an important lesson. That lesson is that when we observe the way of love and mercy through sacrifice of the self (ego), we can receive healing from the poison of bitterness, anger, and hatred.
God loves us. God desires to heal us of the areas of anger and bitterness. The challenge is often our willingness to observe the truth of it first. My poem Destiny touches on the subject. If you can find it here.
Follow the way of the one who heals the soul and gives it life… there you find healing from bitterness.
Peace,
Rian+
Pentecost: John’s Critique of Our Preoccupation With Sin
By The Rev. Rian Adams
Pentecost is the time of the church year where Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, over the years it’s also been a confusing time for me personally. Mostly because sermons tend to focus our attention on how the Spirit came (e.g. rushing mighty wind) or when the Spirit came (e.g. when the church was gathered in one mind… unity) instead of why.
The Gospel lesson for Pentecost Sunday gives us a good look at why. As you read the Gospel, look for the why.
The Lectionary Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Jesus said to his disciples, ”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth about sin.
The lesson says that the Holy Spirit’s role is to show the world it is wrong about sin. I find this fascinating because I think the church (and most Western religions for that matter) obsess over sin. In my denomination we rarely have a church service without the obsession. As Episcopalians we even tell God how bad we are: “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we… most grievously have committed,… against thy divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.”
To sum up that liturgical prayer, our sins provoke God’s anger towards us. The funny thing is… I can’t find anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus told “sinners” to be afraid of his wrath… or to bow at his feet. I wonder if some of our liturgical prayers are remainders of a religious heritage from monarchal days when subjects groveled before kings.
I’m the father of an amazing eight year old. I never want him to be scared of violence when he makes a mistake. I’d rather create room in the relationship to talk honestly about problem. Further, I want him to know that I will advise him if he desires it. His mistakes are never reason for violence toward him.
Pentecost proves the world wrong about sin.
The Holy Spirit shows us graceful relationships.
That begs the question then, how has the world been wrong about “sin?” In Greek the word sin is hamartia. The root meaning is “missing the mark.” For me the “mark” is the way of Jesus shown in the Gospels… the mark is love, mercy, compassion, and grace!
Grace is far removed from a behavioral religion obsessed with sin. To take that one more step, grace is a long way from the notion that “sin” is actions of “manifold wickedness… provoking God’s indignation.”
Let me be upfront, I believe sin is a failure of consciousness, not a simple behavioral problem. Sin is a failure of psychological awareness. By the same token, sin is the willingness to live solely in the ego instead of living from the divine center – the mark – of mercy.
When we live from the center, the Holy Spirit can “lead us into truth” by showing us that sin never was about behavior. Rather, the Holy Spirit teaches us about graceful relationships.
The Holy Spirit brings depth, not judgement.
An immature form of spirituality reduces sin to a surface level… “good” and “bad.” That equation assumes that the Holy Spirit convicts followers of Jesus of various behaviors that God finds offensive. This is a surface approach to the work of the Spirit and lacks spiritual depth.
It’s ironic that entire Christian denominations are founded on Pentecost (I grew up in one) yet these denominations fail to give up the simplistic approach to sin as behavior. When the Christian Church understands sin in the same context as Pharisees did 2000 years ago we have… missed the mark.
A depth approach sees the Holy Spirit as “God’s operative” that helps us grow past egocentrism into a divine consciousness… a consciousness that realizes God “desires mercy and not sacrifices.” (Matthew 9:13). This spiritual consciousness recognizes the centricity of “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7).
So, the Holy Spirit teaches us the deep truth that Jesus is God’s example of how we should live. The Christ “gave his life for our sins… in order to rescue us from this world in which we live.” (Gal. 1:4). “This world” are the ones who remain unconscious of God’s call to follow the truth, the mark, of mercy.
The Spirit of mercy!
John’s Gospel illustrates this point when a woman, caught in adultery, is brought before Jesus. Religious law said to stone her because she broke God’s rules. Jesus took a deeper approach… a much more difficult approach. Jesus deployed MERCY… “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7).
Pentecost is a call to allow the Holy Spirit to deepen our minds and transform them into the mind of Christ, the merciful one. When that happens, behavior will fix itself without obsession or pathology. Patience and process are key here!
The Holy Spirit indwells the soul.
But it doesn’t simply stop with the imitation of Christ. Carl Jung said, “One of the functions of religion is to protect us against religious experience.” In essence, what Jung says is that our religion can become so corporate that it loses the spirit upon which the institution sits. That foundation is the Christ of the Gospels, Mercy. The Holy Spirit isn’t simply an experience or a baptism… the Spirit is a spiritual and psychological awakening.
Here Fritz Kunkel offers some helpful insights. He says that the disciples would have been in a continual state of idolatry if Jesus had not left them and ascended to heaven. Kunkel thought idolatry occurred when the center (God) projects on to a human being. In other words…
They needed the Holy Spirit to lead them to the Christ in their souls. Christ leaving the disciples at the crucifixion and ascension was an essential part of their spiritual growth.
The world is wrong about sin, righteousness, and its judgmental approach to people because it assumes sin is action, or a state of being (e.g. original sin).
Jung said the Holy Spirit was “not about the imitation of Christ, but about the assimilation of the Christ image to the self.” Jung knew the work of the Spirit is related to a soul awakening to mercy.
Or, as Paul said, “Christ in you is your hope.” (Colossians 1:27). My poem pieces hints at this transformation. Don’t worry so much about sin… just let the Spirit transform your heart into a heart of mercy.
Love God, show mercy to yourself and others, and be filled with the Spirit of Jesus this Pentecost.
Peace,
Rian+