\n<\/p>\n
Happy The The The The Yet For The Cloud of Unknowing<\/span><\/i> asserts that \u201cthe spatial Earlier There + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Finally, Writers used to think that humility required them Given \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My dear friend and My Though I To date, the blog has had 511,000 visits, a count that does not include Copyright Tax-deductible Personal
\n90th<\/sup> birthday today to progressive Christian author Bishop John (Jack) Spong,
\nwho has helped Christians better understand our faith with the help and support of Christine
\nSpong.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nfollowing post appeared on July 16, 2014.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\ntrend of people identifying as \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d is sometimes a
\nrejection of biblical literalism, religious fundamentalism and official orthodoxy.
\nTo me that can be a good thing, and, in my reading of a recent translation<\/a> from
\nMiddle English by Bernard Bangley of the book, The Cloud of Unknowing<\/i>, very traditional.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nanonymous author encourages readers to discard what\u2019s not helpful in the book,
\nand so I freely disagree with the writer\u2019s rejection of physical and sensual
\nexperience as unspiritual, even ungodly. \u00a0This 14th<\/sup> century English monk must
\nnot have met the 14th<\/sup> century English nun, Julian of Norwich, who
\nwrote, \u201cIn our sensuality, God is\u2026\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nbeliefs of the church regarding creation, incarnation, and resurrection all
\nsupport a hallowing of bodily experience. As James B. Nelson and a diverse
\ngroup of other contemporary Christian body theologians have affirmed, we know
\nGod through our bodies or we don\u2019t know God at all. Nelson goes so far as to
\nadd, \u201cPleasure is the strongest argument for the existence of God.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI wholeheartedly embrace The Cloud<\/i>
\nauthor\u2019s understanding that literalism interferes with our spirituality, and he
\noffers many examples. I once wrote that we do a disservice to religion when we
\ntreat matters of faith as matters of fact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nexample, the writer cautions against taking the ascension of Jesus literally.
\nAs a college professor of mine once said, \u201cIf Jesus had ascended at the speed
\nof light, he still would not be out of the known universe.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nreferences are only symbolic. \u2026 The spiritual realm is always near, enveloping
\nus on every side. Whoever has a strong desire to be in heaven is already in
\nheaven, spiritually. Measure the highway to heaven in terms of desire rather
\nthan miles. \u2026 Love determines a soul\u2019s location.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe writer explained, \u201cSimilar in nature to heavenly bliss, divine
\ncontemplation already participates in eternity.\u201d I once wrote that people we
\nrecognize as living saints are those who experience God\u2019s commonwealth here and
\nnow. Spiritually they have found heaven in their desire to love and serve
\nothers. Heaven for me is where God\u2019s will and human will coincide. Saying the
\nLord\u2019s Prayer (\u201con earth as it is in heaven\u201d) is a way of aligning ourselves with that greater purpose. That\u2019s why Jesus could say, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of
\nheaven is at hand\u201d or \u201camong us.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nare many pearls of wisdom about the spiritual life in The Cloud of Unknowing<\/i>. Here are a few quotes I underlined in my
\ncopy:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nRemember your spiritual needs rather than your spiritual achievements.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nContinue until your prayer life becomes enjoyable.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nYou only need a tiny scrap of time to move toward God.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nLoving contemplation destroys our tendency to sin more effectively than any
\nother practice.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe essence of contemplation is a simple and direct reaching out to God.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nJudging others, pronouncing them good or bad, is God\u2019s business. We may evaluate
\nbehavior, but not the person.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nChrist taught us in Matthew\u2019s Gospel that spoken prayers are best when they are
\nnot too long.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nA little prayer of one syllable pierces heaven because we concentrate our
\nentire spiritual energy into it.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe person in great distress will continue calling for help until someone hears
\nand responds.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe little word \u201cGod\u201d can flood your spirit with spiritual meaning without
\ngiving attention to particular activities of God. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI desire to help you tighten the spiritual knot of warm love that is between
\nyou and God, to lead you to spiritual unity with God.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nLove functions as your guide in this world, and it will bring you to grace in
\nthe next.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n[After meeting our physical needs,] sensuality urges us to take more than we
\nneed, encouraging lust.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe important consideration is not what you are, or what you have been, but
\nwhat you want to be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthis anonymous monk seems to echo the axiom that spiritual guides remind us of what
\nwe already know:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nto say nothing out of their own heads, but to corroborate every idea with
\nquotations from Scripture or the [Church] fathers [and mothers]. Today this
\npractice demonstrates nothing but cleverness and education. \u2026 If God moves you
\nto believe what I say, then accept my ideas on their own merits. (p 99-100)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nits encouragement to surrender certain knowledge of God for intimacy with God, I
\ncan\u2019t help but think The Cloud of
\nUnknowing<\/i> would be a great text for the \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d
\ncrowd. As they say in recovery programs, religion is for people afraid of going
\nto hell; spirituality is for people who have already been there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nlongtime supporter of this blog, the Rev. Steve Pieters, will be featured as a
\ncharacter in a film about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker due out in
\nSeptember of 2021. Her interview with him on national television opened many
\nevangelical hearts to people living with AIDS and more broadly, the LGBTQ
\ncommunity. Watch the trailer.<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nfinal post on my blog \u201cProgressive Christian Reflections\u201d will occur on June
\n30, 2021. <\/span><\/i><\/b>More
\nthan ten years of posts will remain available to you on the blogsite, <\/span><\/i>https:\/\/chrisglaser.blogspot.com<\/span><\/i><\/a> and I encourage you to
\nenjoy them. I regret that I never created an index of post titles, but the search
\nengine in the upper left corner of my blog can help you find posts of interest
\nby typing in a subject, topic, name, scripture reference, religious season or
\nholy day. Or you may work through them by year and month listed in the right
\ncolumn.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\nthey may have been written with current events in mind, I intended them each to
\nbe read meaningfully at any point in time. You may continue to contact me at my
\nemail address used by the delivery service or by leaving a comment on a
\nparticular post. FeedBurner has announced it will discontinue all subscription
\nservices sometime in July, the occasion for my timing. It has been a pleasure
\nwriting this blog, but now, I believe, is a time for silence, something I
\nconsidered when writing the Zen series.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\nassure you I am well, content, and thankful to God for this extension of my
\nministry. Thank you for your interest, comments, correspondence, and
\ncontributions. I am grateful to Metropolitan Community Churches for recognizing
\nthis blog as an \u201cEmerging Ministry\u201d and ProgressiveChristianity.org for reposting many of my reflections<\/a>, as well as the dozens of Facebook pages that allowed me
\nto provide links to particular posts. I am grateful for the free services of Blogspot,
\nGoogle, Facebook, and the delivery service, FeedBurner. I am grateful for
\nartist and friend Becki Jayne Harrelson and my husband Wade Jones for their
\ntechnical and moral support.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\nalmost 500 free weekly subscribers. Once donations were possible, the highest
\nannual income ever was $2,000.<\/span>\u00a0<\/i>Subscriptions have always
\nbeen free and the blog non-monetized (no ads). Permission has always been granted
\nfor non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Donations may still
\nbe made through the links provided at the end of this post. Thank you!<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 2014 Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution
\nof author and blogsite. Other rights reserved.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\ndonations may be made safely to the \u201cChris Glaser Archive\u201d through the Tribute
\nGift <\/b>section of The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion<\/a>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\ngifts may be made safely by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0
\nThank you!<\/b><\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n