To practice resurrection¹ means to view the world and live in it from a radically new perspective. For Christians this means that contrary to the front page of the morning newspaper, the headlines on this morning’s webpage, and yes, some of the realities of our own lives, that the world is held in the redemptive mystery, mercy and meaning of God. For those of us who claim to be soulfully smitten by Jesus, this raises a question along the lines of Einstein’s existential question about whether or not the universe is friendly. What might it mean and look like in a world broken and bruised to live in the radical trust of the friendship of God embodied in Jesus?
Practicing resurrection means that we see with a new vision and live by a new ethic – what Jesus called the reign of God – and that this new way of being, though truly and supremely enlivening, will inevitably put us at odds with the agenda of the dominant culture in which we daily live and move.
As such, practicing silence and simplicity are concrete ways to participate in the enactment of the reign of God “on earth as it is in heaven.” There are perhaps no more important practices required today for grounding and nourishing personal and cultural transformation.
In a wordy, noisy world we need to cultivate hearts that nurture silence.
In a society that is scattered, frenzied, encumbered, cluttered, complex, frenetic, busy, multi-tasking, and consumptive we need to cultivate simplicity. Before it is anything else, simplicity is a conscious orientation of the heart.♦
REFLECTION:
The word orientation has to do with the sunrise, direction, alignment, location. Simplicity directs our lives toward the light and thus is itself illuminating.
Leaning into the Light,
Dan
¹ NB: The Almond Tree began as a poor man’s epistles sent by email attachments to members of The Human & the Holy(H&H) spiritual formation community which I began in 2003 in Orange, CA. I started sending these reflections more regularly in 2009. Each year of H&H had a theme and each monthly gathering a sub-theme. I was writing as the spiritual guide of the community and the tone reflects this. If you are wondering why I’m writing about Practicing Resurrection in Autumn and Winter it is because it was our 2009-2010 theme.