An invitation to peaceful living

Painting by Annete Trent

I wonder if we have allowed our collective selves to be taken over by the absolute. I wonder if we have lost touch with the blessing of the unknown, the mystery of God, the Divine YHWH, and the expansive God of the universe. In our losing touch with the Mystery, we have replaced the Christ incarnated in Jesus with an exclusive Jesus as the only and a last name of Christ. We have taken an invitation from God and created an absolute in or out Christianity.

It seems that this may be one of the reasons for the sharp decline in attendance at mainline churches, especially among the young adults and their parents. The world is a mystery, and our young people know it. They have the mystery at their fingertips and may be searching for answers but are more eager to have a person or institution that helps them create space for questioning and exploring. Instead, many have found the absolute believe or else way of understanding the world through an exclusionary Christianity to be empty. There may be some absolutes in our world and in our lives. However, there is much more mystery and paradox then we dare to admit. Maybe we have been helping folks get stuck on the finger instead of gazing upon the mystery of the moon. Maybe we have been providing answers instead of joining in the exploration of it all. Yes, The All includes the expansive and expanding God.

If we can expand our own understanding beyond our need to know exactly with exactitude, we can live in the unknown and appreciate the mystery. If we can appreciate the mystery, then we can release Jesus from the shackles of absolutism and exclusion. And in that releasing we can get to know Jesus as invitation instead of dogma and creed. We can come to know the spiritual flesh under and beyond the words.

Maybe we can become invitational ourselves.

Jesus invites all of humanity into the relationship with and within God; Come to Me all of you who are weary. Sometimes we get stuck on the preceding verse when Jesus says that the way of greed and empire, the Father of the Roman empire, the emperor, or the Lord as the Roman rulers were called, is not the way to a relationship with God. To know God, Jesus says, we must know the Christ within Jesus, we must know this through relationship much more than belief. Only through that knowing of the Christ, the Father/Divine/Sacred/YHWH/Lord, can we know God. Greed and power, the way of empire, are not the way to know the God incarnated in Jesus as the Christ.

Maybe we can become invitational ourselves.

If we see Jesus as the Christian incarnational invitation to know the Divine Christ, the substance and sustenance of God incarnated in Jesus, then we can be that invitation in our own time and place. Then we may be able to step back from the cliff of absolute and begin to create explorers of faith instead of violent warriors for the faith.

Violence is often thought of as carried out with a weapon or physical altercation. But violence can be carried out in damaging ways with words and often to more destructive ends. Ask anyone who is in an emotionally abusive relationship, and they will tell you that words hurt, bruise, cut, and cause lasting trauma to the soul without a single shot or punch.

Invitational language may help us to be healers and sustainers of healthy relationships instead of breaking things apart with violent language; And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

One simple way of hearing the difference; You should do it this way! can be more invitational if we asked, how can I help? With that example we may be able to hear the invitation instead of the direction. That might not sound like the difference between violence and love. It does present an idea for a more inviting way of being in the world. After we ask, how can I help, the person my respond with a need for direct advice. But training our voices to be more inviting may help us all realize the power of those words…. Come to Me, each of you that are weary! Come and be in relationship with the Love of God.

We are the invitation with our words and our lives.

When we tap into our own internal need for a relationship with pure Love, God as Paul says, we can realize the calling of Jesus to come to him and know Peace. With invitation we can create space for others to know that pure Love of God.

Jesus again invites us in the Gospel of John, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you

Did we hear that? My Peace! God’s peace is what Jesus left us with by his life as the example for invitational peaceful living.

I invite you to explore what invitation sounds like for you.

I invite you to explore how you hear God’s invitation into a deeper relationship with that Divine Love.

May the peace of God be with each of us, all of these days, and the days beyond today.