Ch 15 – Worshiping the Way … (04/13/11 – day 4, part 1)
“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” ~ Mark 6:46
What a fitting verse for this day – I had indeed said farewell to quite a few beings, though all of them had been residing within me. After last evening’s extreme crisis of faith, I had said farewell to doubt and had bid fear adieu. After that darkest of nights, my day had dawned even before the sun had risen. And I walked on in Gratitude …
I walked on in reverence …
My Walk had itself become a prayer.
And as the day dawned, I reentered civilization in the form of a small diner that was to provide the theme for the morning: what it means to “worship” and what it means to “witness”.
Michelle was the proprietress there, and she ended up serving me a humongous breakfast almost before I had even sat down to sip the meager glass of water I had requested. In broken English, she told me that she could sense something different about me; that I wasn’t the usual “beggar” coming to ask for a free meal. Maybe this was because I hadn’t asked for any food at all, and maybe she had sensed the Purpose of my Journey. Either way, the diner was pretty deserted at that point, which allowed us to share a wonderful conversation about Jesus Christ and Jesus’ message – essentially working through what it meant to truly “worship him”, including what we were to do with life’s “beggars”.
With Michelle hinting that we had to mentally & emotionally revere Jesus as a king and then let our actions flow from that reverence, I offered the possibility that the only way to do the former was to enliven the latter; that the only way to truly respect Jesus was to follow his own admonition, which was to go forth and Love folks – period.
It was quite the lively discussion, and yet it was the gentleness of it that I will always remember. Though Michele and I clearly disagreed as to where the focus of our lives should be, we both looked past our differences to the place where all men & women agree — to the belief in the value of Kindness; to the reverence for the desire to Love that joins us all as One. And the quote I then pulled from my bag spoke to this as well:
“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world:
to testify to the Truth.” ~ Jesus Christ (John 18:37)
As I departed, I remembered that it is not for me to tell anyone what The Bible actually means or what its verses actually imply. That is a personal journey that each must take for his/herself (atheist & believer alike). And what it is for me to relay is what those verses do when they are radically lived – to share which of their interpretations have born “the Fruit of the Spirit” (i.e. Love & Peace & Joy) and which have not.
I thought of the many people concerned with “worshiping Jesus”, when all Jesus himself wanted was for us to honor the poor and care for the downtrodden. I thought of how almost all the world’s religions have veered so drastically from the gentle Oneness that still resides at their center.
Can we set aside our “knowledge of Salvation” long enough to hear again the message of radical, active Kindness?
Can we set aside our need to “worship zealously” long enough to deeply Care for those who believe differently than we do?
Can we set aside our personal agendas long enough to re-experience the Peace of giving Love when it is inconvenient or frightening to do so?
We teeter today on a crumbling precipice – a collective choice that will determine the fate of our species. And that choice rests between our imminent destruction and our potential Divinity;
… between our suffering and our Salvation;
… between perishing and Peace.
Will we finally choose Love over our litanies?
Will we finally honor deeds over our dogma?
Will we finally choose service for others over our own “salvation”?
Will we finally start walking The Way instead of merely worshiping it?
I wonder …
Such a choice is never an easy one to make, especially in a society that encourages us to hope for so much while doing so little.
And yet, we all have that choice …
To engage Love over fear might mean persecution. It might mean poverty. And yet I believe the consequences of not walking this Way are far greater.
Today, I will do my part …
Today, I choose to Love.
“As a dreamer of a prophet,
know that you will be ridiculed and denigrated.
Remember to thank those enemies …
They remind you of the importance of your Path.”
~ anonymous
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