1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
There are no limits or boundaries to Divine love, and although we may constantly profess that, we seek to avoid it at all costs. Rather, we set ourselves up as the appointed guardians of Divine love deciding as to who is worthy of it, and who is not. The arrogance with which we do this is simply breathtaking. We tend to live comfortably within the bounds of exclusivity, but cannot abide the widening embrace of inclusiveness. Sadly, this attitude becomes more embedded the longer we live in religious contexts dominated by this way of thinking, and a large proportion are.
The story of Jonah depicts the immense struggle in the human heart to break out of this and to learn to love and accept and communicate beyond all false barriers of separation. After much conflict, Jonah, for one shining moment seems to get it right, but then suddenly reverts back to his narrow and haughty perception. In the end he doesn't get it right and that's good news for us, because his story becomes ours - we too don't get it rightThe story starts with some penetrating words: "The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai. Go to the great city of Nineveh..." Two dimensions here, a Divine communication of love and concern (word), and a context (Nineveh), in which that communication is to be voiced and lived out. But here's the issue; the people of Nineveh, as far as Jonah's exclusive thinking is concerned, can never be recipients of Divine love and grace, only Divine distaste and rejection.
For Jonah the rift between his kind and them is beyond any sense of communal engagement, and what's more, the god of his understanding sanctions that rift. But, the Divine word that comes to Jonah communicates the exact opposite and he flees from it, he can't abide it, he suppresses it and instead goes to Tarshish, the symbol of exclusivity. There's something very secure in a form of spirituality which practices exclusivity. When you believe Divine favour rests only on you and not on others, you feed on a rather neurotic sense of assurance and conceited superiority.
The truth is, we cannot escape the gentle pressure of the Divine heart and mind on ours, always moving us towards transcending the barriers of separation, enlarging us and nurturing within us a greater sense of connection and union with all peoples, no matter what their religion, race, social standing, politics or culture. In surrendering to this gentle pressure we begin to participate in a love given to us, but which is far larger than ourselves stretching way beyond us and our own.
I've often been asked, "Is such an acceptance and union possible? Surely not." I try not to think of it in terms of large-scale, but in everyday acts of living. This I know, when we respond to that Divine word of inclusiveness and cross those barriers of separation, whatever they may be, something beautiful happens, love happens and that's enough for me because we're experiencing a foretaste of what is possible.
Lets end with some meditative questions: Why do we struggle so with being inclusive in our spirituality? In what way are we being challenged by the Sacred to extend our love and presence beyond present boundaries? What is the Nineveh we're being challenged to go to in our lives?
....i appreciate you bringing this meditation back around for further consideration and processing Don..evidently the Universe(God) agrees I need it!..its interesting..on a good day i can be inclusive and ecumenical but it does'nt "stick" for very long..so to speak...I find that i quickly tend to drift back into the Dogmatic thinking..in other words i can start out in the Spirit but i always seem to end up back in the Flesh in a manor of speaking...I sometimes feel that im the example in scripture of the man who is being tossed to and fro..unstable..i've noticed also that i have an underlying Fear of being "Wrong" doctrinally speaking or of being unknowingly misled into Heresy thus dooming my soul...This anxiety i believe comes from the programming/indoctrination that i recieved in my youth...working through these seemingly persistant issues has been difficult for me to say the least but i appreciate any opportunity to ponder and analyse which might eventually help me to find closure....I disclose this personal information not only for my sake but for the others who struggle with this as well........Thanks Don.
ReplyDeleteYour honest expression of the struggle you have is one, I believe, we all have. I think we so often speak rather glibly of this kind of ecumenical unity. It's something profoundly difficult and as you say we are tossed to and fro. The fact that this struggle is felt, I feel, means that we're actually holding the vision of unity before us and seeking to live it. God help us when we don't feel the struggle. To feel it is to know that we're working with it and that's good. I love the image of Jonah at the end of the story sitting under the tree angry and up tight, probably saying "to hell with it, this is not for me." We're not told what happens to him, but I hope he got up and tried again.
ReplyDeleteDon, sometimes I think you must be reading my mail, or secretly logging in to my Facebook account. This is the exact, just the exact thing that has been dominating my thinking. The best I have been able to come up with is: meet people where they are - I hope that doesn't sound condescending. I would hope people would have that same attitude to me and my place, whatever it might be. Meet them not to teach, preach or 'enlighten'. Just in the spirit of fellowship. And then expect to have all your wonderful spiritual stuff trampled underfoot. I think we all seek validation. I do, I know. The acid test seems to be whether one's practice or experience can survive this desire for validation. Wonderful post Don
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Meet people where they are." The difficulty I have with this little phrase has to do with motive, and I know this is not what you're saying, M. In too much so called evangelism this is employed as a kind of strategy e.g. in order to lead people in to the truth, which I have a monopoly on, you must "meet them where they are." And so the the meeting has nothing to do with a mutual engagement and a listening to one another, but becomes a one way imperialistic communication of what you believe to be true.You just have to wait for the right moment to apply it. "Meeting them where they are" simply becomes one of those wily strategies in accomplishing this. You've got to get them saved for Jesus at all costs, even if that means "meeting them where they are." I have an absolute aversion to this trite kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteyes that is the sense that I was trying to avoid. But then, in another way, how could it not be true? I mean, as I see it, whatever revelation or truth exists exists entirely in the private and ineffable. It's not 'the' truth. It is my truth, but, being hard won is not something I feel like abandoning just for the sake of fellowship. So I don't go as an evangelist. How can I - how can I extrapolate my learning into the general? I reserve the right to my truth but I do not assume that it applies universally. What I was trying to get at is why this desire for fellowship exists at all - and it may be exactly that, a humility about mystical truth; to say it is really private - how have you found it? To emerge, blinking, from it and ask in all sincerity: how does this compare? If meeting people where they are has become an epithet of evangelism I have no knowledge of that. And it is very unfortunate. My truth is not 'right'. I don't and would never assume it is the right fit for all situations. just something I want to share even if its essence is never recognised. It doesn't have any import for universal relevance as far as I am concerned. Equally we could be in danger of merging into a world of beige where everybody's experience, shrinking from its private relevance in case it is mistaken for authority when it is just conviction is thrown into the pot of a denominator 'revelation' where the private and essential is never allowed to apply. I go about in places where no-one ever thinks of God, for example. I am not about to give up God. Nor am I interested in converting anyone.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said, M. I couldn't have said it better.
ReplyDelete