Providing Soul Space

Even a brief look at the gospels reveals that a constant theme in the teaching of Jesus was the Kingdom of God.  Jesus made it clear that he had come to establish the Kingdom of God in the world.  His ministry was to practice and preach the Kingdom.  The mission of Jesus was to bring about the reign of God in our lives. 

For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is not a place or a territory.  It has nothing to do with geography or nationalism or indeed political power.  It is clear from the example and teaching of Jesus that the Kingdom of God is a way of life; it is about the values we chose to live by.  In particular, it is about the way we relate to each other.  In a word, it is about love.

Who then belongs to the Kingdom of God?  It would seem those who are sincerely trying to live what is known as the beatitudes in their daily lives.  These are the peacemakers, the gentle, the humble, the merciful, those who work for justice, those who are persecuted in the cause of right, those who have mellow and grateful hearts.   Jesus preaches a religion of the heart and his religion is about developing attitudes that create a right relationship with ourselves, other people, the environment and of course God.

It is important for us to realise that those who belong to the Kingdom of God may be members of a church, but they may not. We cannot limit the Kingdom of God to church membership. To do so would be exclusive and misleading. Obviously, a church is a community where we are meant to experience the Kingdom of God, but there are many people who belong to the Kingdom of God who do not belong to a church.  Indeed, there might be people who belong to the Kingdom of God and who do not have a conscious awareness of God in their lives.  We could call these ‘anonymous Christians.’  Kingdom people are sincere people who show kindness and seek to do good. They try to make the world a better place, often working quietly in the background.  Kingdom people are a leaven in society.  They may not have a public profile but their positive influence is significant, reaching well beyond themselves and beyond even what they dare to imagine.  

Towards the end of St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 25) Jesus makes it clear that we will be judged by the way we treat our neighbours, especially those who are struggling and suffering.  Surely this is the yardstick for deciding who belongs to the Kingdom of God.

God is certainly persistent.  God never gives up on anyone, no matter who they are and what they have done.  God keeps pursuing us, reaching out to us, drawing us back, leading us home.  God is, in the words of Francis Thompson, ‘The Hound of Heaven.’

Why does God pursue us so persistently? Because God is merciful.  The heart of the Lord is mercy.  The gospels, especially the Gospel of Luke, are full of stories about the mercy of God.  Perhaps the best known is the story of the prodigal.  The word prodigal can mean two things.  It can mean wayward and it can mean lavish.  The love of the father for his wayward son was lavish in the extreme.  It was a love that was expressed in and through tender mercy.

One of the plays I studied in secondary school was ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare.  For some reason the words I find easiest to remember in that play are those spoken by Portia to Shylock the merchant intent on getting his pound of flesh:                                    

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest.”

The quality of God’s mercy is never strained; it is never measured, never weighed on a balance.  Because of God’s unlimited mercy we are forgiven when we fail, followed when we stray and found when we are lost.  It is the mercy of God that turns our feelings of guilt into feelings of peace. Many of us have inherited a judgemental and critical God, a God who is demanding and difficult to please, a punishing God who exacts justice.  Let’s be clear. This is not the God of Jesus.  This is not the Abba Jesus spoke so affectionately and intimately about.  Like Shylock, we humans may want others to pay for their wrongdoing but let us not project this on to God.  God is way beyond our desire for vengeance. God is mercy, pure and simple.  For each and every one of us who are constantly failing and falling, God’s unlimited mercy will have the last word, the final say.  In death we will simply fall into an ocean of mercy.

Christians believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  In other words, Christians believe that there is a community life in the reality we call God.  To find out what this means we can read the Scriptures.  We can also explore our human experience.  If God has created us and our world, and if God is Trinity, then the Trinitarian life of God must be reflected in our human lives in all sorts of ways.

An obvious way is our social nature.  We are social beings.  We create relationships and we sustain relationships.  In fact, without relationships we wither and die emotionally, even physically.  John Donne once said that no man is an island unto himself.  We cannot survive in isolation.  It is in living with others, it is in loving others, that we find meaning and that we become our true selves.

Another way is the power of cooperation.  When it comes to a project, a task, an undertaking, the best results are usually achieved when there is cooperation, when people work together as a team.  Ask any sports person, any project manager, any government and they will tell you that the team effort is the best effort, it is the most fruitful and successful effort.  It is also the effort that gives most satisfaction and fulfilment to all those involved.

Then there is the unity of creation.  One of the things we are becoming more aware of today is the way creation functions.  The created world is interdependent.  One part of it affects another.  For example, the cutting down of the rain forests in South America has an impact on climate patterns in Europe and Africa.  The laws of nature are finely balanced and when they are allowed to work together in unity and harmony they fulfil their purpose.

And finally, there is this attempt by a woman to describe what trinity means in her life: “I am a daughter and a wife and mother – three things, yet I am one totality.  To my parents, I would always be their child.  To my husband, a companion and a mate.  To my children, the one who gave them birth and nurtured them till they reached adulthood.  I seem to each of them a different person.  They each know a different kind of ‘me.’  But I am one, within myself a trinity and each of them finds unity in me.”

Of the three Persons in the community life of God the one that tends to get least attention is the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps this is because we find it easier to relate to Jesus who became human.  We also have some experience of what it means to have a father.  The idea of Spirit is more nebulous.  And yet if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit we would not be able to live the Christian life.  In the Holy Spirit we have received a wonderful gift.  The Holy Spirit does many necessary things for us. Here are four:

The Holy Spirit helps us.  We cannot live the Christian life on our own power and strength.  Jesus knew that what he was asking us to do was humanly impossible.  He knew we would need divine help.  This is why he and his Father gave us the gift of their Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our energiser, the tiger in our tanks!  The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers us to live like Jesus in our daily lives.  The Holy Spirit is also the one who helps us to pray.

The Holy Spirit enlightens us.  Many of the traditional prayers we say to the Holy Spirit focus on inspiration, understanding and enlightenment.  This is because we associate the Holy Spirit with the gift of wisdom and discernment.  The Holy Spirit is the one we naturally turn to when we need to be inspired and when we have important decisions to make.  When it comes to guidance and to the ability to see the hand of God at work in our lives we are dependent on the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit transforms us.  We are invited to become like Jesus.  Our destiny is to share in the very life of God.  The problem is that we all have hurts, bias and selfish tendencies within us that need to be healed and purified.  This healing and purification is the work of the Holy Spirit.  One of the symbols we use to describe the action of the Holy Spirit is fire.  Fire refines and burns.  The flame of the Holy Spirit within us is a refining fire.  It burns away the evil in our hearts so that we can become like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit unites us.  The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the bond of love.  This is a beautiful description of the Holy Spirit.  In the same way that a child is the bond of love between a husband and wife so the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son in the life of God.  The Holy Spirit is also the bond of love between Jesus and us and indeed between the members of the Christian community.  The Holy Spirit is the one who links us up, who makes us into a family.  The Holy Spirit is the source of unity between us.  This is why we say that the Church was born as a community on the first Pentecost.  There is a divine energy flowing between us, holding us together, allowing us to affect one another, even when we are physically separated.  This divine energy is the Holy Spirit. 

The period between the Ascension and Pentecost is a very sacred time.  It is the period of the first novena, nine days of prayer.  Between the Ascension and Pentecost the disciples of Jesus kept vigil, they watched and waited for the gift from above.  Conscious of their need for divine help and inspiration, the disciples prayed earnestly for the gift Jesus promised them, the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The scriptures tell us that they “joined in continuous prayer, together with several women including Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). 

The days leading up to Pentecost offer us an ideal opportunity to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives and in the life of the Christian community. The energy and enthusiasm required to live the Christian life comes from the Holy Spirit; so does the wisdom we need to make good decisions. The world today needs Christians who have listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and who are willing to practice the values of Jesus with conviction and courage.

The sacred days leading up to Pentecost are also an ideal time to bring into the Divine Presence our needs and our intentions.  We all have things we are struggling with, things that are difficult and perhaps painful.  Even though we tend to rely on our own power and strength to overcome our problems we do not have to manage these on our own.  The Holy Spirit is waiting for our invitation.  The Holy Spirit wants to help us.  The Holy Spirit can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the Church is undergoing a major transition. Old models of faith practice which we held dear are breaking down leaving many of us feeling confused and lost.  While it is necessary to grieve for the things we are losing, it is also important to believe that this time of transition offers us new opportunities.  The Holy Spirit is with us as our guide and inspiration.  The sacred days between Ascension and Pentecost are a special time to ask the Holy Spirit to help us find a new direction for the Church, new ways of being community and new sources of nourishment for our spiritual lives.       

When the risen Jesus appeared to his followers he showed them his wounds.  Indeed Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, needed to see the wounds of Jesus before he would believe that Jesus had risen from the dead (see John 20: 24-29).  It is significant that in his resurrected body the wounds that were inflicted on Jesus remained.

We are all wounded.  This is a fact. It is the human condition. We were born into a wounded world and into a wounded family. We could call this inherited sin which is another name for original sin.  We also pick up our own personal wounds, especially in childhood. What we do with our wounds is the thing that makes the difference.  If we allow our wounds to become sacred wounds then our lives can become sacred stories.

For our wounds to become sacred wounds we first of all need to accept that we are wounded.  This may not be easy.  We do not like to admit that we are weak and vulnerable.  We prefer to protect ourselves behind a coat of armour.  To accept our wounds is not to put ourselves down.  It is important that we do not hate ourselves because of our wounds.  It is also important that we do not blame others for our wounds.  Many people spend much of their lives blaming other people for the wounds they carry.  This is a cul-de-sac.  The people who wounded us were wounded too.

Once we accept our wounds we then need to acknowledge them in the company of others. This is about bringing them into the light. To share our wounds with people we can trust is liberating.  It also brings healing.  Remember the words of Jesus, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32).  

Finally, we need to surrender our wounds to God.  If we hand our wounds over to God we begin to experience God in a new and personal way. We discover the power of God working in us. We also discover that God loves us without conditions. This is something those who follow the twelve steps in the Alcoholic Anonymous Programme realise. In the third step they are invited to surrender their addiction to their higher power. Without this surrender they know they will fail. This too was the experience of the great St Paul who discovered that his wounds made him stronger (see 2Cor 12:7-10). God may not take away our wounds, but God will certainly help us to find a way of living with them.   God may leave our wounds to help us stay dependent on him and to remind us that he is the one who satisfies the deeper longings in our hearts.

We all need companionship in our lives.  Without some experience of companionship our lives can become lonely and sad.  When John Donne said that no man is an island unto himself he was giving expression to the need human beings have to be in relationship.  Of course companionship is much more than being social.  It is the experience of mutual presence.  It is a space where our capacity for life is nourished by others.  It creates the possibility of becoming intimate with someone. This is why the type of relationship we call companionship is one of the most beautiful gifts we can give to each other. 

There are different descriptions of what companionship actually is.  One model is what two people experienced as they travelled from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the death of Jesus.  On their journey they were joined by an apparent stranger who walked with them.  Their relationship with the stranger began with the experience of mutual acceptance and ended with a shared meal.  On the road there was attentive listening and soulful conversation.

This is a good example of what we might call Christian companionship.  Christian companionship has four aspects.  It begins with an attitude of acceptance that is inclusive and that transcends race, colour, religion, class and sexual orientation.  It offers people a listening hear and an opportunity to tell their story.  It allows soulful conversation to develop, the kind of conversation that gives expression to the things that truly matter.  And it includes the experience of a shared meal, which is sometimes referred to as table fellowship.  In fact, the word companion comes from two Latin words ‘cum’ and ‘panis’ which literally mean ‘with bread.’

When we experience companionship in this way we find that the longing within us is satisfied.  The experience of Christian companionship can be the key to unlock our hearts.  It can also open up the teaching of Jesus allowing us to find meaning and life in the Gospel.  It is no wonder that the two people who were accompanied by Jesus on their journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus found themselves saying, “did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us” (Luke 24:32).

As Christians, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday.  He broke the chains of death and rose to a new way of living and loving beyond our wildest imagining.  The resurrection was an earth shattering event, the most important event in human history and it has many implications for us and for the way we live our lives.

One implication of the resurrection is the fact that Jesus is still with us.  The presence and power of the risen Jesus permeate our lives.  As a consequence of the resurrection, Jesus is no longer limited by time and space.  He is present to us and with us at every moment of every day.  He is the invisible companion of our life’s journey.  We do not have to wait for heaven to experience the friendship, the healing, the peace and the joy of the risen Jesus.  These things are already available to us.  The risen Jesus is working in our lives.  He is involved with us here and now.

A second implication of the resurrection has to do with the mission of Jesus.  The resurrection was a vindication of the way Jesus lived his life.  It was a confirmation of the values Jesus practised, preached and died for.  The way of Jesus works. When Jesus was nailed to the cross on Good Friday it seemed as if his mission was a failure, that he was a dreamer who offered the world an unrealistic vision of happiness.  His resurrection changed this; it transformed it.  Jesus was no dreamer.  His values of justice and compassion and service and humility and forgiveness are in fact the only values that work.  His values are the values that make the world a better place and that bring us personal fulfilment.  The resurrection of Jesus was proof that love is stronger than hate, goodness is greater than evil and life is more powerful than death. 

Of course another implication of the resurrection is that our death is not the end.  What happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday will happen to us.  We will share in the risen life of Jesus when we die.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus we have a life to look forward to beyond the grave.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus a new world will be opened up to us on the other side of death.  Because Jesus rose from the dead the place we call heaven is our destiny, our destination, our future home.  Indeed, in the words of St Paul, it is our true home.  For those who believe in Jesus and in the power of his resurrection the future is bright because the best is yet to come.  No wonder the late Karl Rahner once said, “It belongs to the Christian to hope.”

In Western culture meals now seem to be mainly about food.  In the culture of Jesus, the Jewish culture, meals were mostly about relationships; creating relationships and building relationships.  The table was a place where people spent time with each other, got to know each other, enjoyed each other’s company.  When the Jewish people gathered to break bread, to share food, they experienced acceptance and companionship.

In providing us at the Last Supper with a table to gather around and with sacred food to eat, Jesus was offering us an opportunity to experience his companionship.  The traditional word we use to describe the companionship of Jesus available to us in the sacred food of the Eucharist is communion, Holy Communion.  Holy communion is the experience of being in close intimate union with Jesus.

Of course in providing us at the Last Supper with a table to gather around and with sacred food to eat, Jesus was also offering us an opportunity to experience the companionship of one another.  Jesus did not want the meal of the Eucharist to be a personal encounter with him only.  He also wanted it to be an experience of community, an opportunity for his followers to meet one another, to spend time with one another, to share in each other’s lives.

The meal Jesus ate with his disciples the night before he died was no ordinary meal.  It was the Jewish Passover Meal.   The Passover Meal was sacred to the Jews.  It was their way of remembering and celebrating their liberation from terrible slavery and oppression in Egypt.  We too have been liberated.  We have been liberated by Jesus from the slavery and oppression of evil and death.  Each time we share in the meal of the Eucharist we experience the liberation which Jesus won for us.  Each time we share in the meal of the Eucharist we are being redeemed and sanctified by Jesus. 

No wonder the meal we call Eucharist has always been at the very centre of the life of the Christian community.

Following Jesus is a demanding business especially if we are to take it seriously.  It involves taking the road to Jerusalem, along with Jesus himself.  Jerusalem is the city where Jesus suffered, died and rose to new life.  It is a place of sacrifice and reward, of pain and joy, of failure and triumph, of agony and ecstasy.  It represents the Christian life.  But what does taking the road to Jerusalem actually mean in practice?

It means that we refuse to build our lives around material possessions.  Material possessions have their place but they must be kept in their place.  It is our relationship with God that is the true source of our satisfaction and security not what we own.  Our relationship with God cannot be destroyed. It is eternal.

It means that we stop living in the past.  Dwelling on old memories and hurts keeps us tied to the past and trapped in a prison of regret and anger.  It belongs to the Christian to hope. Jesus is leading us forward in hope to a better and brighter future.  In Jerusalem the tomb is empty.

It means that we stop making excuses for ourselves and for our lack of ability and talent.  Of course we are limited; yes we have weaknesses.  The Christian community is full of misfits!  The people Jesus chose to bring his good news to the world were a pretty motley bunch!  Jesus is not looking for perfection; neither does he expect us to be geniuses. All he seeks is our generosity and enthusiasm.  What Jesus wants is what we call heart. Heart is the kind of thing that on the sports field often makes the difference between failure and success.

Finally, it means that when it comes to making choices we put the cause of Jesus, the mission of Jesus, the work of Jesus, first.  In the way we choose to live our lives the values of Jesus, known as Kingdom values, must come before earthly values.

As we move closer to Holy Week we are invited to travel with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.