The problem sometimes in reading the gospels is their familiarity. We have heard them so often and they are so familiar that we stop digging in for the deep meaning and let them go with just a passing glance. Having spent the last little while with the Gospel of Matthew, I’m beginning to think that I ought to take it for at least a year of serious study. I wonder what I would glean from picking apart each line and even each word that sits waiting for new interpretation. I’m not considering rewriting the gospel, but what spin from my experiences might gift a little newness to the rich passages that are waiting before me? Take today’s reading from chapter 7 for instance.
“Do unto others what you would have them do unto you…”(Pretty simple to interpret, right?) But then: “Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide that leads to destruction. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.“
So I start thinking about roads that I have traveled that were narrow and/or difficult to navigate. The first one that comes to mind is the road that leads up the mountain Haleakala in Hawai’i. The goal is to see the sunrise at the top of that winding road that has to be traversed in the pre-dawn dark. If you have not had the experience, think of the most winding road you have ever traveled and then cast a shadow over it. You will get the challenge! So why attempt that narrow road that winds up and up…(at 3:30 AM!)? For the sun that comes slowly, and when it is fully over the top of the mountain, is all you can see without your sunglasses…so you quickly put them on and then you can hardly breathe at the sight.
You had thought all along that you were alone atop the mountain but as the sun washes over the peaks you see that you were in great company! There are small groups of people populating the peaks…sitting quietly or snapping photos as they wait with you for the glory of full sun. And then everyone turns this way and that to smile and offer a “Good morning!” across the peaks. The camaraderie is inexplicable; it cannot be described but only felt. It is a good feeling – a feeling of unity that can never be achieved on a wide road to anywhere. The effort of climbing to the top, the waiting in the cold morning, and the surprise of those who experience it with you remain.
So what is the take away from that experience? You would have to be there to know. But being there, you could never refuse a narrow road again—whether it be on a mission of mercy, a community ritual, a brief encounter on the street…Never again…
This may take longer than I thought…Are you game? Do you have people with whom to share? Give it a try. What have you to lose? Blessings on the journey!
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go back in time and live in a simpler world with fewer people, a world where Jesus could say to his chosen Twelve: “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.” (One would probably want the power and authority Jesus gave to them over demons and to cure diseases, however, to keep them safe along the way as they preached the word of God.) (LK 9:1-6) When I left home yesterday to come to a meeting 135 miles away, I made sure I had my driver’s license, money, credit card in case of emergency, cell phone, and the food that one of the sisters had bought me at the grocery store for my lunch. Oh, yes, and the car that would get me here in about two and a half hours! Times have certainly changed! The world turns faster, the culture much more complicated – virtually nothing is the same!
This morning I got up at 6:00, the absolutely last moment possible if I were to complete the several tasks (or at least the majority) before scooting out the door for an 8:30 meeting 20ish miles away. Then I remembered that I had promised directions to a group of people who will be attending a workshop this weekend at The Spiritual Center where I live. I had told them at our evening book group meeting last evening that I would send the information about getting there before I went to bed. When I got home, however, I had no service, a distress for all of us and the electronic devices in our home last night. The upside of that predicament was that I got to sleep a bit earlier, but I was left with that task for this morning – thus the delay in this writing.
John’s gospel for today (12:1-11) always signals for me a pause in the frenetic events of Holy Week. Yesterday there was the uproarious crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem and beginning on Thursday the intensity of the Passion commences, not to subside until the next waiting period at the tomb. It feels this morning like watching the ocean waves in slow motion – building, crashing, subsiding and then building again to a crisis point – but in between, a space of silence and repose.
Today I am conscious – maybe just because it’s Monday – of the need to be aware of what surrounds me as I live today. There are already so many reminders and it isn’t yet 7:00AM!
In looking ahead to possibilities for the autumn “semester” at the Sophia Center, I began re-reading Finding the On-Ramp to Your Spiritual Life, a little book by Jan Phillips. The impetus came from two different conversations – one with Jan and another with a member of my Spiritual Practices Circle who is considering reading the book with a group in her Church. It’s a catchy title and the idea of using traffic signs as chapter titles was, it seems to me, quite an inspired idea. It’s part of Jan’s genius, I think, to see deep meaning in the connections that exist everywhere and use everyday experiences to mine deep truth. Think about all you could say about “STOP” or “DIVIDED HIGHWAY” or even “FALLING ROCKS AHEAD.” (Actually, that’s not a bad idea. What would you say about each of those things vis-à-vis your life?)
I was on the internet yesterday checking driving directions to the location of the retreat center I will be visiting next week. It was astonishing how quickly I came to know not only how to get there but also how many miles I would travel depending on which of two possible routes I take (with a map available for each) and how long (to the minute!) it would take to arrive at my destination – including the indication of how dense the traffic might be. Although this service of mapquest – or google maps or another site – is quite efficient, there was a tiny twinge of sadness associated with the exercise. I have always loved maps and figuring out the best way to reach a destination was always satisfying for me. No matter. The important thing is arriving at the destination, I suppose, even though the journey itself can be engaging and instructive if sometimes confusing.
Today ends what the Sisters in my local community have taken to calling my “triathalon” which denotes the three legs of my journey from Windsor, NY to Orlando, Florida for a national convention, then to Japan (through Los Angeles and Honolulu) for a retreat with our Japanese Sisters, and back to Albany for a “Wisdom Circle” experience called Mary Magdalene and Conscious Love. It has only been sixteen days since I left home but it seems so much longer because of the fullness of each of the experiences.