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Word spread abroad about a wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village made a long, difficult journey to visit him. Upon arriving at the house, an aged servant greeted him at the door. "I would like,” said the villager, “to see the wise Holy Man." The servant smiled to him. He motioned for him to enter. As they walked through the house, the villager looked eagerly around, anticipating meeting the Holy Man. Soon, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turning to the servant, he said, "But I want to see the Holy Man!" "You already have," said the servant. "Everyone you meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant, see each as a wise Holy Man. If you do this, whatever problem you brought here today will be solved."
Today, June 26, 2005, my last message at Southwest United Methodist, Gainesville, FL, was given. I wanted to give a message summarizing the one Message I always share, for I have only one Message. That Message is Love. As I reflected on the message, today, and its relationship to the Grace of God, it dawned on me of a change in my experience of Grace, or Love, since my moving to Gainesville. I realized that relationships are central to my experience of God, of Grace. This means that, for me, to experience the Grace of God is principally through relationships with persons.
For relationships to be graceful, we need a transformation of how we “see” persons. Transformation is not only a change in behavior, as in how we treat others. A transformation of how we “see” others is essential.
As I grow closer to the Heart of Love, God, I “see” persons differently; I "see" into them, rather than just looking at them. I believe that means I see persons more through the Eyes of God, not the eyes of my group: religiously, politically, socially, …—Friend, be assured, God is not a member of your or my group...— And this is the essence of OneLife Ministries, also. Every creature is holy, for every creature is part of creation participating in God, the Creator.
The labels that define persons religiously, politically, racially, ethnically, ethically, and sexually are attributes that often come to define how we view others. However, underneath all the labels is a sacred Person: Person in contrast to person. There is that of God in everyone, I truly trust and know by immediate experience. I am convinced that at the level of Person every person longs to accept the freedom that comes with this kind of knowing, for we each long to love unconditionally. And we suffer to the extent our political, religious, and social structures define us as essentially separate, rather than essentially one.
However, often religion and government becomes a barrier rather than helpful in entering this pervasive Love toward our brothers and sisters. I am convinced that many long to hear this Message, rather than one that continues focusing on who is right and who is wrong, who is in and who is out, who is a sinner and who is righteous, who is of God and who is godless, who is going to a heaven and who is going to a hell, … Such differentiation is an unspoken burden on many, for we long, in our deepest Self, to see and treat everyone equally. And, likewise, our differences can only be resolved at the level of Person.
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War, like counseling, can be remedial and normalizing. However, war and politics cannot create the sense of being one that brings us back to our participating together as all brothers and sisters. You say, “Brian, give me some evidence on your point?” Okay, look back over history. Now, what do you read in history? Whether it is Christianity or Islam or Buddhism, whether it is democracy or communism or socialism, when some persons are esteemed in and others out, then, injustice is always a consequence. So, take the war in Iraq. Even if the war can help stabilize democracy in that pivotal region, such political ploys cannot go the extra step and create the respect that is essential to brotherhood and sisterhood. And this union I speak of is beyond toleration and cooperation, for it is before either, as well such union is prior to religion.
Therefore, as we are led by the Holy Spirit to the Heart of God, we are led to experience that innermost tabernacle, wherein we know ourselves to be Person. There we know, directly, our union with the One. In that union with God, beyond experience, we are in union with all other persons. We know our essence to be Person, Divine Image, regardless of how that has been overlaid, sometimes so much so that we find it difficult to remember the Person we are, really. But, as we come to agree with God about our Person, we discover that Person is the same Person as the Person of everyone else. There is no this and that Person. As Person, or True Self, we are part of a Whole. Likewise, that Person is holy.
Some might think, “Well that sounds prideful.” No, my friend, rather I say, “It is more likely that one is prideful in resisting the truth of what I am teaching here.” If I denied my genetic sharing with my father, even if in the name of humbleness, would that honor him? No. If I denied my oneness with my mother, would that respect her? No. Rather, in discovering Brian, I discover how I share with my parents in their essence and, likewise, how I am one with my brothers, too.
What I am teaching, here, though often not addressed in Christianity, is the teaching of Christ. Likewise, it is the ancient teaching of the Church and plain common sense.
Possibly, one reason we often struggle to treat as sacred other persons and creation, also, is we have not learned, often, to honor our participation in God as Person. In coming to respect the Creator by accepting myself as Person, as sharing in God as an offspring of the Creator, my Father, my Mother, then, I come to see that of God in everyone.
This is beautiful! This is wonderful! To move beyond labels, which tend to separate, to what we all are together, is freeing. In this freedom, given by Love, we find Love. And, then, we experience Grace as principally received within the contexts of life with others in our own home, our workplace, our worship place, and the world village we live in, together, by and in Grace.
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