|
Psalm 23 opens with a metaphor of relationship with the Divine: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not have any lack” (v. 1). The words remind of the trust evolved from past sharing. So the psalmist is not glibly speaking of a goody-goody, easy-come-by intimacy with God.
I hope you will read Psalm 23 now. All the talk sounds unreal, like two lovers speaking the nonsense of passion. Or is it quite sensible? The talk should sound so unreal, for God is a Lover.
And if you wish to read a poet that knows God as Lover, read Rumi. Rumi is running over with ardor for the Divine. Rumi knows a Friend, the Divine, whom he pants for and gets sated with. Rumi dances and loses his mind. Rumi enjoys Divine inebriation. Rumi has a friend, Shams, whom he spends hours talking with, for Rumi has committed to Shams as means of sitting with God. Rumi and Shams talk well into the night hours. With Shams, Rumi knows God face-to-face, voice-to-voice, and longing-to-longing. We in Christianity have not done well in teaching this experience of the Living Christ through intimate friendship in same-gender or opposite-gender relationships.
I once had Divine inebriation with a person. She was a beautiful, smart, and shining woman. Her life was one of suffering, but her soul was bright. Not once did I ever wish to make it a sexual relationship, though this woman was one of the most spiritual and physically lovely persons I have ever known. We would sit for hours, and it was like sitting with God: Rumi with Shams, Brian with Karen. We never touched, except maybe a handshake, and never spoke of anything physical; it was all about Spirit and Life. In those times the time stopped forever. I think that is what heaven is to me, like those moments when with Karen. Such moments last forever. They leave traces on our souls, and they nurture us for years.
|
|
Rumi and Shams, and my times with Karen, and a few other persons during my life, remind me that sometimes a most wonderful love will have nothing to do with sexual engagement or physical lust. However these relationships can be erotic, in the sense of “sensual.” This sensuality derives from and is given into God-Love, or Agape, and sacrificed within that Perfect Embrace of Grace.
The act of sex is a metaphor for the deep joining of two souls, of intimacy. And the great perversity of much sex in our culture is that it is objectifying another as a thing, not a sacred Self to be with. And that perversity can happen even in a committed marriage. But we are each the less when we use anyone else as an object and in any way, sexual or otherwise.
So sex may seem an aside from my topic, but God must be sexy to make love to the Universe, that is, to be with all things in openness and intimacy. And if sex is of God, then it says something about our relationship with the Divine directly and through spiritual friendship. Dare we say that God is sexual? Yes.
A Hebrew poet writes, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God” (Psalm 42.1, NLT). What intensity! This panting for the Divine is a reason deeply spiritual persons are often somewhat odd but so alive. Their hearts might be seething with this longing; a turbulent and sometimes sweet panting, and the Mystery is always just under the surface of their placid, shining faces.
After speaking in 3rd person, in the middle of the poem Psalm 23, the poet addresses the Beloved. He writes, "For You are with me."
Over years I have kept hearing a Voice speak those words to me: "I am with you." I never know when I will hear it. It is always as clear as if someone walked into my home and spoke. It comforts me. And God breathes through my whole world. I am inebriated with Love.
Continued... |
