So often we picture God as very separate from us, that there is me and there is God. But is that true? Or is God very close to us? In fact, the word “close” is probably still the wrong word for that still implies that God and us are separate. Apostle Paul writes that “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you” (Rom 8:12), lives in us. Other Bible scriptures point to this same truth when they indicate that “God’s light shines within us” (2 Cor 4: 6) or that the indwelling Christ lives within us (Gal. 2:20). One could picture this Christ light within us as a divine flame. What does it look like to nurture and free up this divine flame that seeks to burn within us? That question is essence of this blog. To help understand this spiritual flame, let me turn to the Christian tradition that I am most familiar with. Christians often talk about how Jesus Christ was both human and spirit. The human part of Jesus is easy for us to see. Based on historical records, including the Bible, there is doubt that Jesus was part of human history. Jesus was a human that people could see, touch, hear, smell, and relate with. It is very obvious that Jesus was human, just like you and me. The "spirit" part or the “Christ” part of Jesus is harder to understand. One way to understand this Christ part is to imagine that there was a Christ flame burning within the human Jesus. This Christ flame was the source of all the essential qualities we see manifesting in Jesus’ life: compassion, love, grace, truth, strength, resilience, joy, truth, power, grace, etc. The human Jesus felt all of those experiences coming from the Christ flame burning inside him, and these spiritual experiences shaped how Jesus acted and what he said. It also shaped how people experienced and responded to Jesus. This Christ flame burnt so brightly within Jesus that people began to call the human Jesus, "Jesus, the Christ" meaning "Jesus, the anointed one of God." People came to see Jesus as God’s Light in the world. But Jesus expanded this idea of God’s light a lot further, radically further, and this truth has often been lost in the church. He said that each one of us is God’s light to the world…just like him (Matt 5:14). Each one of us, has a Christ flame burning inside of us, just like Jesus. Wow! That is pretty amazing. Just as Jesus is both human and spirit, so are we. Just as Jesus was a child of God, so are each one of us a child of God. In fact, every human is born as both human and spirit. When we were physically born, there was already a young bright Christ flame burning inside of us. And this burning Christ candle is why children are so responsive to love, so responsive to joy, so responsive to being held, so responsive to grace, and all the other fruits of God’s spirit. The more young children experience these spiritual fruits from their parents and their family and friends, the brighter their Christ flame glows inside them. I want to take this Christ flame metaphor one step further, and this gets at the essence of this blog. This Christ flame in each one of us is meant to shine brightly but that is not what often happens. Instead, this Christ flame often gets buried under what Jesus calls a bushel basket (Matt 5:15-16). Different Bible translations use other words rather than bushel basket like bowl, tub, or bucket. When I preached this sermon at Mannheim Mennonite Church, I brought two examples of bushel baskets---a weaved basket and an iron pot. When I place this weaved basket over a Christ candle, that basket impacts our ability to see the Christ flame. This basket represents how I and many other faithful spiritual people experience the Christ flame in our lives. There are moments when this basket is missing and we have very pure experiences of the Christ flame in our lives. In those moments, we are very present and aware of our experience including whatever aspects of Christ’s spirit that maybe flowing within us and through us whether it be compassion, joy, love, strength, inner confidence, truth, etc. And we often express these Christ-like qualities to the people we encounter. But many times in our lives, we have a basket like this one over our Christ flame. While there are moments when we are connected to the Christ flame, there are many other moments when we are lost in our thoughts, or feelings or busyness or work or relationships and have very little awareness of the Christ flame burning within us. In these moments, we are not near as Christ-like in our behavior to those around us. But many people don’t have a bushel basket like this over their Christ flame that burns inside them. No, they have a bushel basket like this iron pot over their Christ flame. When this iron bushel basket is over our flame, we find it very hard to experience the light, warmth, and all the aspects of the Christ flame burning within us. When we experience life like this, how would we see ourselves? Would we identify with the Christ flame inside the pot, that is, believe we are a child of God, a brother or sister to Christ, something we rarely experience? Or would we identify with the pot, the pot that shapes almost every experience in our life? Most people identify with the pot…that this negative self image or identity is who I am. For the past few weeks at Mannheim Mennonite Church, we have been working through the deadly sins and holy virtues. We have noticed how each of the deadly sins is a coping strategy that we use when we lose touch with the experience of the holy virtue or spiritual fruit connected to that deadly sin. For example, when we lose touch with the divine experience of our inner confidence (virtue of humility), we have to self-generate that confidence by lifting ourselves up and putting others down. That is the coping pattern of pride. When we find it hard to experience divine rest (virtue of joy), we have to self-generate that sense of rest and settling by avoiding all situations and people that cause us stress. That coping pattern is often judged as laziness or the sin of sloth. When we struggle to experience intimate connection that comes with healthy boundaries (virtue of chastity), we self-generate that sense of intimate oneness by seeking to control another through the act of sexual intercourse. That is the coping pattern of lust. When we lose connection with divine trust that helps us realize that life/God will provide more than enough for our needs (virtue of generosity), we have to self-generate this trust by making sure we have lots of wealth and assets for our future. This is the coping pattern of greed. When we find it hard to feel divine contentment, we project this missing contentment onto others and the outside world. This causes us to envy others who have something we don’t have, the coping pattern of envy. When we struggle to experience divine fullness (virtue of abstinence), we feel a deep hunger in our lives, an immense apetite food, drink, things, etc. that will take away that empty feeling inside. This is the coping pattern of gluttony. Finally, when we lose touch with our divine love for someone and experience them instead as dangerous, we will see them as our enemy and seek to destroy them. This is the coping pattern of wrath. These coping patterns, and the deadly painful experiences at the root of them, are all part of what makes up our bushel basket. The more painful experiences we carry in our lives from our past along with the deadly coping strategies we wrestle with connected to this pain, the thicker and harder our bushel basket or pot is that interferes with our ability to experience the Christ flame. In contrast, the seven holy virtues, plus many other spiritual fruit, are all expressions of the Christ flame shining within us that seek to heal and transform us and our bushel basket so that more of our Christ light can shine through to the world. This begs the question: how do we work at the transforming our bushel basket so that the Christ flame inside us can be nurtured to become a blazing fire that warms our soul continually and shines out to those around us? As I have come to understand it, there are two primarily ways that this spiritual transformation can happen. One is life circumstances. Due to the realities of our suffering and pain, our bushel basket sometimes gets cracked open allowing us to experience our Christ flame and the comforting presence of God. Sometimes, but less common, we experience profound moments of joy or mountaintop experiences in life that again caused our bushel basket to crack allowing our Christ flame to brightly shine through. The second way we can work at transforming our bushel basket is through spiritual practices … like coming to church to worship, sing, pray, be with other Christ-centred people (other religious tradition would say this differently) … like reading the Bible or other spiritual writings … like having times of centering prayer or meditation … like praying by having conversations with God through talking or writing (journalling) … like taking contemplative or mindful walks in nature, … like listening to Christian music or music that helps you enter into a place of contemplation … and many more. Transforming our bushel basket is also the primary purpose of people seeking spiritual direction. By working regularly with a spiritual director, people intentionally work at softening their pot or bushel basket interfering with their Christ flame. As the shell of their structured personality softens, people are more able to sense the Christ flame that shines within them, and allow its light and influence to flow into more and more aspects of their life. (To learn about my expanding spiritual direction practice, check out my updated website.) Questions to ponder:
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