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Wisdom Saying
Tradition is not killing churches, traditionalism is. Christian Scripture shows the communal struggle to adapt aspects of faith to changing times and contexts. Traditionalism closes off the lively emergence of faith in a cocoon of idealized past remembrance. Tradition respects the diversity of cultural aspects incorporated into the past and present shape of faith and sees the continuance of that openness as essential to the survival of vital spiritual experience. The only alternative to the risk of open tradition is the death of tradition altogether.
*Brian K. Wilcox
Wisdom Story
A great Rabbi spent years in solitude meditating on the Divine Mystery. When he returned to live among men and women, his eyes shone with the beauty of what he had discovered of Divine Presence.
Many seekers approached the Rabbi for his truth. The Rabbi was reluctant to answer them. He did not feel comfortable trying to put it into words. Being pressed for years, he relented and with eloquent words offered an approximation of what he had discovered of Divine Presence.
The seekers took the Rabbi's words with them everywhere. They spoke them, wrote them, and created sacred texts about them, and religious groups were formed of those who repeated the words. The words were put into confessions and creeds. Many seekers who did not agree with a group's understanding of the Rabbi's words were excluded from the group. Many persons, being unable to agree, were judged to an eternal separation from Divine Presence.
At last no one remembered the words were actually about a very personal, intimate experience. As the Rabbi's words spread, he became disheartened and thought, "I had hoped to help. But perhaps I should have not said anything at all."
Suggested Reflection
What is the contrast between affirming faith and experiencing faith?
Have you had an experience of Divine Presence you feel does not fit into the faith affirmations of most within your faith group? How do you handle that matter?
Is your experience of Divine Presence "personal, intimate"? Explain your response.
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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