FOCUS: Christian practice is being re-visioned, re-tooled, and reclaimed by those who are living the questions of their faith. They’re attentive to ancient ways, comfortable with ambiguity, and open to the unknowable and indescribable mystery of the Divine.
Mystery
“We may find a certain security in believing that ‘our’ way is the only way. This is a natural part of any cultic religious experience. Far greater faith is required, however, to seek and trust that which you accept as infinite, beyond your comprehension, and subject to change. Today, this just may be the challenge of an educated and thinking Christian — to retain a faith "in face of the mystery." – Gordon D. Kaufman, Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School
Many seekers today are discovering ancient spiritual insights for the first time – not through blind faith and certitude, but through a commitment to openness and flexibility. Those who leave room for spiritual uncertainty discover what mystics have always known: that ambiguity is not something to be feared but recognized as an integral part of any spirituality that continues to develop and evolve. To acknowledge the wisdom of the unknowable. To celebrate the importance of the experiential. These are at the heart of the long-established spiritual practice reemerging in our day: that of embracing mystery.
The idea of mystery itself refers to that which is unexplainable or beyond comprehension. Its Greek root implies the closing of eyes and lips, suggesting that which is beyond our ability to see or even comprehend. Antiquity is rife with “mystery cults” and other rites, the meaning of which was known only to the initiated. Even in the early Christian movement, there were carefully guarded teachings referred to as “the mysteries.”
Rudolph Otto is just one in a long line of thinkers who have tried to categorize the non-rational reaction experienced by those who are “awestruck” or full of wonder. When he published The Idea of the Holy, he described the source of that indescribable and awe-inspiring sacredness with the Latin words “numen” and
“numinous” (literally meaning divine power or spirit). Otto’s intent was to offer vocabulary that suggests that “presence” which is just beyond our ability to grasp or describe. But his efforts to describe the indescribable come up against the same challenge of anyone trying to quantify or categorize mystery: that the truly holy is not something grasped in the intellectual realm, but firmly rooted in the experiential.
Ironically, while mystery has always been the source and core of what we call “religion,” those who fully embrace mystery are usually relegated to the fringes of religious systems. For the sake of institutional stability and corporate identity, right belief and certainty have been emphasized instead.
“Religion has always been about honoring mystery. [But] we have created people who’ve been afraid of ambiguity, mystery.” –Fr. Richard Rohr lecture “The Edge of Christianity," 9/13/2007
People have been programmed to be suspicious of ambiguity and are, in fact, expected to adopt pre-determined belief systems – never mind the stifling spiritual effects it has on adherents.
“When you think about it, faith as belief is relatively impotent. You can believe all the right things and still be a jerk. And to soften that: you can believe all the right things and still be miserable, or still be in bondage, still be untransformed. So the emphasis upon belief is, I think, modern and mistaken. It’s also very divisive – once people start thinking that being a Christian is about believing the right things, then anybody’s list of what the right things are to believe becomes a kind of litmus test as to who’s really a good Christian and who’s not. And in my own work (and I think this is very ancient) I emphasize that being a Christian is really about one’s relationship with God. And that relationship with God can go along with many different belief systems.” – Marcus Borg, in Living the Questions’, Saving Jesus
Whatever comes next for Christianity, it will have to teach people “how” to believe and live and not dwell simply on “what” to believe. Travelers with mystery will be grounded in the experiential that grows out of the seeker’s sense of inner authority. In the same way music, art, drama, and poetry defy any one interpretation, those who embrace mystery will bring to the table a variety of interpretations of the Divine. Concrete operational thinkers will find this line of pursuit maddeningly counter-productive, yet it is the disequilibrium created – the very indescribability of these insights – that give them their value. Poetry will often leave people open to mystery, each in their own way. The spirit fills in the rest.
To receive a complete copy of the text used for the session, please contact Pastor Marj at daytonfirstcong@gmail.com. It will be sent as an email attachment for your perusal as opposed to printing multiple pages, a stewardship practice. Because of copyright law, we are not able to make the materials available here. Another option would be to purchase a copy of Felten and Procter-Murphy's newly-released book, Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity from your local bookseller.
Questions to be considered in light of the video and readings:
“So, what the hell can we know about anything?”
What are the certainties that make you a heretic?
What are the implications of science and religion having gone in two different directions?
Nelson recounts Rabbi Heschel claiming that there’s no distinction between the sacred and the secular. Explain.
What is the “one reality?”
Borg calls God “Mystery” with a capital “M.” How does this counter our inclination toward embracing “tight maps of reality?”
List some of the negative consequences of giving in to our tendency toward excessive certitude.
How would acknowledging that “we dwell in Mystery” affect one’s day-to-day outlook on the world?
Why is embracing uncertainty a virtue?
List some of the ways bringing back the sense of Mystery can call us beyond our knowing into an exploration of the Holy.
Describe some of the characteristics of Jesus the Mystic.
Carcaño speaks of her mystical experience in a Texas cotton field. How does this story inform your understanding of Mystery?
What does Scott mean when he says that Jesus used parables to “eliminate the sacred?”
How does the Cosmic Christ or Cosmic Wisdom lead to mysticism?
How does embracing cosmic mysticism affect our relationship with the environment?
