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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, I hope persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps us trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches us each. Please share this ministry with others, and please return soon. There is a new offering daily. And to be placed on the daily OneLife email list, to request notifications of new writings or submit prayer requests, write to briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader,
Spiritual Counselor, and Chaplain.
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Why do we so often find the unfamiliar so scary? We often act like God cannot give us that chocolate pie we love, rather, we are assured we will end up with a mouthful of liver that we detest. What if, during a transition into a new and unfamiliar landscape inwardly or outwardly, we said, “Wow! I'm excited about what God is going to do in this”; rather than chant, “Oh me, oh my, don't know where I'm going, don't know why. Oh me, Oh my, listen, while I cry.” Many of us have to learn a whole new language to speak and sing, one of positive faith. If we do, it will help us feel the sense of possibilities, which will give us added energy to traverse through the changes.
*Brian Kenneth Wilcox
Scripture
1The Living One spoke to Abram: Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will bless you and make your descendants a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will curse anyone who curses you. Everyone on the earth will be blessed because of you [or, by you all peoples of the earth will bless themselves].
*Genesis 12, Author’s Translation
Spiritual Teaching
I have been much encouraged by Genesis 12.1ff. This passage is my favorite to preach. Partly, this is because my life has been one of setting out, again and again, to a new place. I came up in a settled, sedentary community. Persons were, generally, born in the area and remained there until death. My father, for example, has lived in four different houses in his life. All four are within an area of one-and-a-half miles. My life, since leaving home in 1979, has been a journey and, at times, a wandering.
I think most of us, when we move, are most concerned about making new connections in relationships. We might wonder how persons will respond to us. Especially, as an intellectual, progressive, and mystical pastor (which, frankly, does not fit in many churches), when going to a new church as pastor, I have wondered how persons would respond to me – always the previous pastor was not progressive and not mystical – sometimes not an intellectual.
I am encouraged, not just now but repeatedly in my life, by the words “the land that I will show you.” I now await new “land,” as I explore up to four career avenues to take. I know the “land” of the past is gone. I know that is good, even though I have trepidation about what the new “land” will look like.
Possibly one “land” is the right choice for me. Possibly, the Divine Leadership is sometimes to make a choice among more than one good possibility.
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I once was so drawn to the adventure of moving and facing the unknown, so much that I had to stay somewhere longer than I wanted, partly to learn how to deal more maturely with the familiar place, rather than moving on to the unfamiliar place – which always excited me. St. Benedict, in his rule, counseled stability, or the monk remaining at one monastery until death, and he had nothing good to say of those who went from monastery to monastery. So, he was insightful in seeing that wandering is not always good. Still, there come times to move on, and sometimes it is not our choice, but a choice given us. I had remained in a denomination and had been restless for years – not feeling what St. Ignatius calls “consolation” - a sign we are in a good place, even if it is difficult to be there. I was released, for I did not “fit.” Actually, I did fit, or I ought to have been one to “fit,” but, regardless, I was given no choice but to move on. For that, I am thankful, and seek a new “land,” one where consolation will be instead of the restless feelings I carried for years.
We move on in different ways, and geographical is only one of them. Moving on and to the unknown can entail a change in a relationship or vocation, a promotion at work, a change in health, an addition of a new child to the family, leaving a religion to another one, ... Moving on can mean a marriage or a divorce; moving on can mean loss of a spouse who moves on to the Other Side. Moving on to the unknown can mean suddenly getting a sizable increase in money or having to learn to live with much less money. Moving on can mean letting go of out-dated views of God and embracing new ones, even when those around us think we are losing our faith.
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Internally, spiritual practice moves us on. One day, during meditation, after a restful and peaceful meditation hour the day prior, the meditation moved me on to an edge that was frightening. I was able to be wakeful to what was happening, breathe deeply - for I almost went into a panic -, pray, and realize I needed to face that edge. I did. After maybe forty minutes, I settled down and enjoyed some peacefulness. I had moved on into an area that was very threatening; I was wandering in an area I had run from before. This was not a bad place, but the place was a place outside the boundary of familiarity. I stayed there, trusting that blessing awaited me. Now, I look forward, through Grace, to extending more into that unfamiliar place.
Zen Teacher, John Daido Loori, in Riding the Ox Home: Stages on the Path of Enlightenment, speaks of a “movement toward the edge of practice,” which is followed by “pulling back.” Loori describes this as a “cyclic venture towards the unknown and a retreat back to the safe.” He observes that this place of safety is an “increasingly unsatisfying place of familiar patterns.”
Loori teaches that we, through meditation, get familiar with the “edges of the unknown.” This is, in the narrative of Abram, Abram leaving his familiar and familial home toward the place “I will show you.” Notice, the Living One does not tell Abram exactly where he is going, the Living One does not name it. When we name things, that gives us a sense of control. This may seem harsh, this call of the Living One, but Abram is assured that the unfamiliar, unnamed place will be the place of blessing. He does not know the place now, but he will become famous in that place later.
All that God has for Abram is past the edges of the familiar. He will never become Abraham, a newly named and destined man, if he remains in the familiar, inside the borders of the known. In the familiar he will feel safer and know the area better. In the familiar he will not lose his close relations with family and friends, likely, many of whom he grew up with from a child. But Abram has to choose between the familiar or journey beyond the edges of the known. We do, too. But how do we do this?
Loori says that our meditation is an “engaging our edges.” Then, as we do this, our confidence deepens. The unknown becomes more positively inviting and less threatening. Meditation, and other intentional spiritual practices, provide a “place” to work with working with the unfamiliar.
Talk to anyone who has meditated for a few years, consistently. Likely, she can say something like this: I have experienced a moment when I went somewhere else, and it scared me so badly that I turned back. At that “somewhere else” we sense we are losing control—we are! In fact, by personal experience, the word death is an apt word. Life to many of us is having reference points for our identity: Christian, Buddhist, White, Black, mother, father, daughter, son, lawyer, … At that “somewhere else” all that drops. And, likewise, we can feel that we might not be able to return to “here.”
I do not intend to discourage you, but meditation is not a practice to bring you lasting peace of mind and comfort in your familiar place. If you want only to be more religiously or better psychologically adjusted in your familiarity, do not begin or continue practicing meditation – and stay away from serious engagement in spiritual practice.
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The Gospel has several references to the language of following Jesus. For example, Jesus spoke to a wealthy, young man seeking eternal life:
20The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" 21Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
*Matthew 19, ESV
Jesus called this man to the edges of the familiar. The familiar was the security of money. The man would not surrender the safety of the known for the uncertainties of following Jesus.
In Acts 9, the slanderous, murderous, but deeply religious Saul is confronted by the Living Jesus, as Saul is traveling to Damascus to take Christians to be placed in prison. He sees the Christ, and he asks for his identity. Then Christ replies.
5"Who are you?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus," the Lord answered. "I am the one you are so cruel to. 6Now get up and go into the city, where you will be told what to do."
*Acts 9, CEV
Again, we see the edges of the familiar. We see a man called to “where you will be told.” Saul became Paul, and history has never been the same since.
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We proceed to the unfamiliar, however, by being faithful where we are. We want to be responsive to the leading of Divine Presence. We do not want to run into the unknown as some ego trip. If we are faithful where we are, externally or internally, we can be assured things will change. Being faithful where we are prepares us to be faithful where Spirit leads us. We are meant to move from horizon to horizon, from question to answer to question …, and from “place” to “place.” The spiritual life is an adventure, not a destination. We are on an Unending Journey of Emergence.
Responding
1.1. Reflect on one move imposed on you in the past, but a move that turned out to be for your good. Do you see how Spirit worked for your good? In what ways do you see Spirit worked, as you reflect back on this change.
2.Do you sense a needed change in your life now – either a move externally, or internally? How might you proceed to engage the change? How does your spiritual perspective and values give you guidance in this prospective change?
3.If you need to make a change, go into meditation and envision the “land” you would like to come true for you. This could be inward: renewed faith, successful utilization of a spiritual gift, love for someone you are struggling to love, blessing someone who has hurt you deeply, … This could be outward: being in your new home, having the job of your dreams, going to a place you have long longed to see, having a healing physically, getting a much-needed pay raise, …
4.During facing the unknown, we may speak too much about our fears. We do need to be honest with someone about struggles with anxiety, confusion, ... But we need to be aware of our words. We need consciously to speak positive: an example, “I know something good is going to come out of this, and so ...” So, go into meditation, see one change into the unfamiliar facing you, and see yourself speaking positively to someone about it. Use words loaded with faith and assurance - positive energies.
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, with friends and under a vow of simplicity. Brian is an ecumenical-interspiritual leader, who chooses not to identify with any group, and renounces all titles of sacredness that some would apply to him, but seeks to be open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He affirms that all spiritual paths lead ultimately back to Jesus Christ. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for preaching, Spiritual Direction, retreats, workshops, animal blessing services, house blessings, or other spiritual requests. You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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