Saying For Today: Christ not only stands with the powerless, Christ is the powerless.
Saying: Christ not only stands with the powerless, Christ is the powerless.
* * *
WE ARE... WE CAN
If I enter the cross not keeping it at a distance not saying, "Jesus, thanks for doing that, so I don't need to"
I find I, too, am powerless with the powerless I find we all are only some of us appear to be, some not
I find love resurrection
I find in the powerlessness there is great power - we together are
When will we awaken to our power the power of the people the power of the 99 percent
We are the one Christ Your blood is my blood Your breath is my breath Your hopes and dreams my hopes and dreams So to say "I" is to say "We can together"
* * *
The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish teacher and thinker [Jesus] appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.
*Howard Thurman. Jesus and the Disinherited.
* * *
The following is a meditation from when I was attending worship in Christian churches, after I had discontinued serving as a clergyperson. The church context shapes the imagery. I present it as written then, with minor changes, for persons can apply it not of the Christian faith, not of any religion. What is indicated transcends Christianity, as Love does. The Gospels do not belong to Christianity, for Jesus did and does not, and Christ did and does not. I urge you to read thoughtfully and translate the following words in a way that edifies you. Truth is wisdom, not doctrine.
September 9, 2014 -
This morning, in worship in our sanctuary, I gazed on the figure of Christ on the cross with outstretched arms. He looks down upon us from way above our heads, rightly placed far above us. Yet, unlike many other times, when gazing on this image brought comfort, there is consternation this morning.
I reflect on the image more closely than ever before. I see the apparent contradiction. Here is one we adore as a lowly shepherd, associated most closely with the poor, those suffering injustice socially, and those most looked upon with suspicion and disdained by the elite religious. Also, he was killed by a plot between the religious elite and the empire elite. But, here, oddly, I look upon the image of this Christ adorned in costly, ornate priestly attire and with a gold cross sitting atop his head. Where did this "Christ" come from?
Possibly, there is an irony here. I see what we could call divine humor. Possibly, Grace is playing a joke on us?
What does the cross imply? Powerlessness. Surrender. Death. Here, we have high above our heads in this cross and its image a convergence of symbols of power nailed to a symbol of death and, therefore, resurrection.
And resurrection, spiritually, means newness, transformation. Now, looking at the image, I see the irony of it all. I see the joke is on us. We clothe a dying, being-crucified Jesus with symbols of priesthood and empire. We intend them to say something about Christ. They say more about us. We cling to images of power and prestige, for we deeply wish we had power and prestige. We fear surrender to the powerlessness of the crucified Jesus. We cannot allow him to remain in such a surrender of being acted upon. Or can we?
We express what we have denied; we clothe Christ with what we want, not what he wants, and made clear that he did not wish for. Yet, in this clinging to power by projecting it onto our Savior-figure, we are, likewise, applying our unspoken, guilty longings - that we dare not admit - to a symbol of death and resurrection.
Our tragedy is transformed into a comedy, for the Christ on the cross is not dead. This Christ has transformed death by the power of Love to redeem that in us we cannot confess is true, we do not even see to be true. Can we laugh?
* * *
February 9, 2021 -
I Corinthians 1.18, in the Christian Bible, depicts this paradox of the cross, which is the paradox within any path of spiritual wisdom - we cannot separate death and life, in embracing one, we live the other, for they are one, not two.
For the proclaiming of the cross is to the spiritually-lost foolishness. But to us spiritually-healed, the cross is Spirit's power.
So, the more I identify with the powerless One, including all the disempowered ones, the more I know the resurrection in Life, the more I know Love. And, yet, I find, too, this One is not powerless at all, neither am I, you. The forces of crucifixion may act upon us - we may even need them to; yet, we are not their victim. We are the sacrifice to Love for Love We find in this we are more powerful, more alive, than we thought possible. Saying "Yes" is entering this paradox of the lowly shepherd executed between sky and earth, among east and west and north and south, by church and state. Saying "Yes" means saying "No" to the golden crown and the priestly attire - "I don't want your worldly glory or your nationalistic religion. I don't need it." In this choice of powerlessness is beautiful power. Christ stands with the apparently powerless to show true power. This Love crucifies in us what is not of the Light, that we might shine more brightly with the Light.
* * *
Below is a short video regarding caring for the poor... an excellent talk on living as compassionate beings.
* * *
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, predominantly Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
