I just picked up a book I've had for a long time, but I don't recall reading. It's Helen Keller's "My Religion." I hadn't realized how much she was influenced by the thoughts of Swedenborg. Makes me want to find my Swedenborg books somewhere, probably on shelves in the garage. Or, if I'm blessed to get a Kindle for Christmas, maybe I can download some of his writings.
One of the things she wrote about near the beginning is how he was able to see spiritual dimensions and hear from the cloud of witnesses. At the risk of sounding daft, I have had quite a few such moments. Someday I'll share more of them with people -- I've told a little to some.
She describes some of the problems with narrow thinkers and extreme fundamentalists. Wow! Have I ever had that experience in spades, so to speak! They don't even try to reconcile their lack of loving kindness. They somehow think they can take the Bible completely literally! They don't want to know a lot is in poetry, song, metaphor, instructive stories such as parables and myths. They don't want to know what were the customs or idioms of the people back in the day.
In fact, here is a quote: I was glad to discover that the City of God was not a stupid affair of glass streets and sapphire walls, but a systematic treasury of wise, helpful thoughts and noble influences. Gradually I came to see that I could use the Bible, which had so baffled me, as an instrument for digging out precious truths, just as I could use my hindered, halting body for the high behests of my spirit....I can only say that the Word of God, freed from the blots and stains of barbarous creeds has been at once the joy and good of my life..."
As a person wounded deeply by loved ones who think they are always and only right, her book is healing for me and a gift I really needed to receive right now. Thank you, Helen Keller, if you're looking right now.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Holiday Reflections
Christmas has been so dear to my heart as far back as I can remember. As a child the secular and the sacred parts mixed together into a homogenous blend.
In Sunday School we sang "Away In A Manger" and listened again to the beautiful Christmas story. In the stores I sat on Santa's lap and asked for some special little thing that my heart desired. We put up the nativity scene and the Christmas tree. My dad made a wooden moving silhouette scene for the window of the Wise Men enroute while also putting up multi-color lights. Smells of cinnamon wafted out of the kitchen as mother made her famous filled cookies and then later the smells of my dad's Christmas candies filled the house. It all seemed to go together.
Today there are those who want to take the Christmas experience apart and dissect it and cut out Jesus. What a strange idea that Jesus might offend someone. A baby born who came to teach us to love and forgiveness and God's Love for us and oneness and spiritual understanding is now controversial. Who did that? Was it the media desperate for a story who magnified the delicateness of the atheist or people of other religions? Was it the ACLU wanting to control everything? Was it the Madison Avenue advertising geniuses who wanted to make it a commercial venture? Was it our lack of courage when we didn't say "ENOUGH ALREADY!"?
For me Christmas is a sacred time, even with Santa and elves and trees decorated. It has changed in my life. My parents are not on earth any longer. My family is scattered. There are painful memories of the Christmas when the father of my children had an aneurysm and died. There are current painful moments due to some family crises. But, the child WAS born. The child grew up. The child died. And the child LIVES again.
My hope and prayer is that The Child will be born in the cradle of millions of hearts this Christmas and a great spiritual awakening will ignite a wave of love and peace. Let us call forth this awakening together, first by being a welcoming place for the Christ Child in our own hearts and lives, and then in the hearts and lives of millions, even billions of others. Let us call forth a Christmas miracle together.
In Sunday School we sang "Away In A Manger" and listened again to the beautiful Christmas story. In the stores I sat on Santa's lap and asked for some special little thing that my heart desired. We put up the nativity scene and the Christmas tree. My dad made a wooden moving silhouette scene for the window of the Wise Men enroute while also putting up multi-color lights. Smells of cinnamon wafted out of the kitchen as mother made her famous filled cookies and then later the smells of my dad's Christmas candies filled the house. It all seemed to go together.
Today there are those who want to take the Christmas experience apart and dissect it and cut out Jesus. What a strange idea that Jesus might offend someone. A baby born who came to teach us to love and forgiveness and God's Love for us and oneness and spiritual understanding is now controversial. Who did that? Was it the media desperate for a story who magnified the delicateness of the atheist or people of other religions? Was it the ACLU wanting to control everything? Was it the Madison Avenue advertising geniuses who wanted to make it a commercial venture? Was it our lack of courage when we didn't say "ENOUGH ALREADY!"?
For me Christmas is a sacred time, even with Santa and elves and trees decorated. It has changed in my life. My parents are not on earth any longer. My family is scattered. There are painful memories of the Christmas when the father of my children had an aneurysm and died. There are current painful moments due to some family crises. But, the child WAS born. The child grew up. The child died. And the child LIVES again.
My hope and prayer is that The Child will be born in the cradle of millions of hearts this Christmas and a great spiritual awakening will ignite a wave of love and peace. Let us call forth this awakening together, first by being a welcoming place for the Christ Child in our own hearts and lives, and then in the hearts and lives of millions, even billions of others. Let us call forth a Christmas miracle together.
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