Listening to the Spirit

Now the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children (Romans 8:16).

No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us

(I Cor. 2:12)

But as his annointing teaches you about all things and as that annointing is real, not counterfeit -- just as it has taught you, remain in him (I Jn. 2:27).

God has placed in each one of us a human spirit capable of communing with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is given to teach our human spirit the thoughts of God, things that we cannot know by our own reasoning.  When we remain in, or with, the Spirit of God, He teaches us through an annointing or "testimony" to truth.

All of the saints, whether officially recognized or not, have received wisdom and understanding and knowledge about "the way things work" from the Spirit of God.  His ways are not our ways, so the poverty of St. Francis, the prayer of Catherine of Siena, and the Counsel of St. Seraphim are not always understood by the people of their times -- or of ours.  But in every age, God pours out His Wisdom and knowledge to those who will listen.

My prayer is for a world that will listen to the Spirit of God!

The Power of a Feather

"Listen, there was once a king sitting on his throne.  Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor.  Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly.  The feather flew, not because of anything in itself, but because the air bore it along.  Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God" (from the writings of Hildegard of Bingen--Sept. 17, 1179).

Hildegard has been called one of the most important figures in the Middle Ages and "the greatest woman of her time."  In addition to rebuking both Pope and Emperor at a time when the church greatly needed reform, she has today been recognized as the first gynecologist, as the "Dear Abby" of the 12th century, as a musical genius and an inventor of musical forms which only today are being recorded, as a recorder of medicinal observations which are, again, being studied today, as a noted writer of plays, poems, and books.

In the Old Testament Book of Judges, we find another remarkable woman raised up by God to do what the men of the time were afraid to do.  Deborah, a "judge in Israel," spoke prophecy -- which is not so much foretelling the future as interpreting what is happening in one's own time from God's perspective.  Just as Hildegard in the 12th century had the temerity to interpret her times to both Pope and Emperor, so Deborah spoke the Barak, the commander of Israel's army, telling him to go up against Sisera, the commander of the Caananite forces.  Barak replied that he would go only if Deborah went with him -- does this story remind us of Joan of Ark?

Deborah agreed, telling Barak that because of his reply, God would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman, so that Barak himself would receive no glory for the victory. 

In every age, when men of power seem to be reluctant to be "driven by the force of the Spirit," we see "powerless" women who are borne along on the breath of God, like feathers, who reform the age.  In Hildegard's writings, she sees the "Living Light" of God shedding its rays on the relationship between human life and plant life, between the subtle workings of the mind and the functions of the body, between woman and man in the fullness of relationship, between all creatures and all creation."

Like Solomen, she writes that it is Wisdom/ Sapientia "...who gave me sure knowledge of what exists...the powers of spirits and human mental processes, the varieties of plants and the medical properties of roots" (Wisdom 7:17-20).  My own mother had this kind of "practical wisdom," using remedies 50 years ago that are only now being "discovered" and marketed.  She used red peppers, or Capsacin, to heal headaches; comfrey and onion juice for bronchitis; orange peel for mouth ulcers; bilberry for night vision  --- and she's the one who "cured" the arthritis in my feet by telling me to stay away from corn and the other nightshade vegetables.  All this wisdom was given to her by God, as I am convinced He willingly and freely gives to all who listen.

Maybe the "power" of women to reform the world and the church and families comes from their ability to listen to the still, small, voice of God whispering in their hearts and the breath of God blowing through their souls to bring about a "new creation."

A New Creation 2

If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:17)

God's creative Spirit overflows to the world through those joined with Him.  When the "first creation" had been marred, smeared, bleared, scarred by sin and indifference, God needed a "new creation," a new spring, a new life.  

God is ever-renewing His Life in the world through His Spirit.  Jesus took the first creation -- the "first man/ adam"-- to the cross, bringing our old life to the grave, but rising with a new, untainted life -- the "second man/ Christ (I Cor. 15).

When the breath of God --the Ruah, or Spirit of God---breathes into our old natures, we become a "new creation" in Christ Jesus, the "second adam."  And God's creative spirit begins to flow out of our inner beings to the world around us; wherever we are, "the desert bursts into bloom; the mountains and hills burst into song before you....instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers, the myrtle will grow" (Is. 55).

Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval monastic woman whose life overflowed with creativity in many areas:  writing, poetry, music, prophecy, theater, reform, natural medicine, harmony with all creation.  She saw visions concerning the future and "the depths of the mysteries of God," which she was commanded to "transmit for the benefit of humanity an accurate account of what you see with the inner eye and what you hear with the inner ear of your soul."

Hildegard invented new forms of music for the Middle Ages and a cycle of songs with a vocal range especially suited to the registral disposition of her nuns.  Her biographer writes this of her:

Wisdom enters into the human spirit, finds a home there, and gives birth to a new creation...for one so highly sensitive and receptive to the varying shades of light, it is not unusual to find a "new creation" at the touch of her hands or the sound of her voice.  But what is a new creation?  Surely it is something that frees the human spirit from bondage and calls forth a person's full potential.  It is an act of Wisdom which "renews the world," a Wisdom that is "the breath of the power of God" breathing into one's spirit the very life of the Creator - God.

There is so much more on this theme that I will have to continue tomorrow.  In the meantime, if we find ourselves noticing the play of light on a leaf, bursting into song, or bowing in adoration at the goodness of life, we might want to note that the Breath of God has blown through our spirits, renewing and redeeming what had grown old and weary in our souls. 

On the Gospel of John the Divine

I am reading the Commentary on the Gospel of John by St. John Chrysostom (c. 386) (the name "golden-mouth" was given to him by the people because of his eloquence in preaching.)  St John C. begins his homilies by reflecting on the background of the Gospel-writer, John ("The Divine"), a name given to him because his Gospel seems to have descended from heaven itself.

John Chrysostom says that if John the Divine were coming to speak to us, we might want to know about his family, his background, his education, and his qualifications to speak about Jesus -- something I had never thought to ask.  But if we think about it, as does St. John C., we really have to laugh.  The Gospel-writer John comes from Galilee, the most remote and backward region of all Palestine, and from that region, the poorest village---"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

In this village, the poorest trade -- his father and brothers and he himself were all fishermen.  As John Chrysostom says, "Nothing can be poorer, meaner, no, nor more ignorant, than fishermen."  And he was called from "mending their nets," which indicates even greater poverty.  Luke points out in Acts 4:13 that Peter and the others were "unschooled, ordinary men," but the people took note that "they had been with Jesus."

This fisherman, then, who had "never learned letters either before or after he accompanied Christ" (Homilies of St. John Chrysostom), "let us see what he utters, and on what matters he converses with us.  Is it of things in the field?  Is it of things in the rivers?  On the trade in fish?....but no...we shall hear of things in heaven, and what no one ever learned before this man." 

St. John C. points out that before John the Evangelist, the disciples of Plato and Pythagoras and other philosophers had inquired into these questions on the nature of divinity - and in all have been more shamefully ridiculous than children....for since they assert everything on uncertain and fallacious arguments, they are like men carried hither and thither....

But this unlettered man, the ignorant, the native of Bethsaida, the son of Zebedee...so much the brighter does what we have with us appear, for when a barbarian and an untaught person utters things which no man on earth ever knew....who will not wonder at the power that dwells in him?  As for the writings of the Greeks, they are all put out and vanished, but this man's shine brighter day by day....wherefore we who hear them would prefer to give up our lives than the doctrines by him delivered to us.

What St. John Chrysostom says about the Apostle John is so obvious that we have completely overlooked it.  Reading the Gospel of John makes us forget its origin as coming from the most simple and untaught of men.  When we read In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made...In Him was life and that life was the light of men...., we immediately bow our heads before a great and learned philosopher and writer of truth.  But upon further reflection, we must realize the Source of John's wisdom --- it came not from himself or from his background or education or from teachers, but from heaven itself. 

As a very young man (no more than 17 years old), John was "the Beloved Disciple."  He describes himself as "the one Jesus loved," -- probably because he was so young and so untouched by the world's sophistication.  He had a pure soul, one that could absorb divine teaching.  And the radiance of that teaching continues today to enlighten the whole world, despite Greek and Roman philosophy which existed at the time of John's exile and Gospel.  I have heard it said that if one wants to begin reading the Bible, he should first read the Gospel of John 7 times.  Then he will be ready to embark on the rest of the Bible.  It might not be a bad idea for all of us to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of an unlettered fisherman during this Lenten season.  Then and only then will we be ready for the glory of Easter Sunday.

Changing Our Brains

Newsweek Magazine for this week (Feb 27-March 5) includes an article on "The Science of Feelings" that I find fascinating.  In the article, the researchers find that feelings -- long thought to be a function of personality -- are more linked to certain brain activities in cognition, reason, and logic than we ever imagined before.

The reason I find this finding interesting is that science is also discovering that "happy" people are more successful in every area of life.  If "happiness" is something within our control through cognition, reason, and logic, then truly, our success lies within our minds.  Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be." 

A recent book entitled How God Changes Your Brain presents one study after another of how prayer, reflection, reading, and meditation actually -- physically -- changes the structure/ anatomy of the brain-map.  Now that science has the capacity to actually "see" brain structures, it can see that the brain-maps of London taxi-drivers are significantly different from those of violinists.  In other words, what we "study," or concentrate on, or focus on for significant periods of time actually changes our brains in ways that can be seen.  And if what we study changes our brains, then it will also change our feelings.

2 Timothy 7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a sound mind.  So how is it that fear, anxiety, helplessness, lack of control is driven out and replaced with "love, power, and sound mind"?  I believe that God has provided Scripture not only so that we do not have to guess how and what He thinks, but also so that we can be "cleansed through washing with the water of the Word" (Ephesians 5:26). 

As we learn to focus, study, pay attention to the Word of God -- the words of God, as given to us in Scripture-- we actually change our brains.  Psalm 23 says that the Lord makes me to "lie down in green pastures, leads me beside quiet waters, and restores my soul."  I can think of no better image to describe what happens to someone who reads the Bible on a daily basis.  Psalm 1 describes the one who "meditates day and night" on the law of the Lord like a "tree planted by streams of water, whose leaf does not wither."

How is it that there is so much similarity in the brains or thoughts of those who read Scripture?  I am not talking about those who argue and debate the meaning of Scripture -- I am talking about the simple folk who allow the Word to wash over them in prayer every day.  With them, you find a striking similarity of experience.  Philippians 4 says this:  whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things...and the God of peace will be with you.

If these are the things we think about, our brain-maps change in response.  As as we think about the words of Scripture, they wash over us, cleansing us from all "unrighteousness,"  replacing "ashes" with a "crown of beauty," the "oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair"  (Is. 61:3).

The Lord says, I have put my words in your mouth/ and covered you with the shadow of my hand (Is. 51:16).   What more do we need to be "happy"?  But first, we must "open wide our mouths and eat" the scroll of the Lord (Ez 2-3).  Only then will we know the thoughts of God; only then will our brain-maps change to reflect those thoughts; and then our feelings will follow and fear flee from us.

Choose Instruction

My son, from your youth choose instruction,

thus, even to grey hair, you will find wisdom.

As though plowing and sowing, draw close to her;

then await her bountiful crops....

How irksome she is to the unruly!

The fool cannot abide her...

For discipline is like her name,*

she is not accessible to many (Sirach 6:18-23).

(* in Hebrew, "Discipline/ wisdom/ skill is a perfect homonym for "removed, withdrawn."

Thus, the path of instruction/ discipline/ wisdom is inaccessible to many.)

If we had to choose just one virtue that would lead to a happy and productive life, it seems to me it would be the virtue of "listening," of "choosing instruction," of willing to be taught, of the willingness to learn. 

The proud man thinks he already knows the right way; the humble is willing to listen to others to discern the truth.  For centuries, Oriental wisdom was taught each generation to "listen," to learn from others and not to speak until they themselves had acquired wisdom.  Wisdom, for the young, meant listening to the elders.  When I first began teaching English as a Second Language, I -- in the Western mentality-- encouraged my Oriental students to speak in class, to give their opinions, something that went against their cultural upbringing.  One of my students told me:  In our culture, it is God first; teacher, second; parents, third. 

 They were taught to speak and to share their knowledge only with one another--to help one another to acquire the same knowledge they had learned.  Of course, in our Western classrooms, we saw this as "cheating;" every student was expected to do his/her own work and to think for him/herself. 

Now, in my old age, I wonder what we have done in encouraging so much independence in our children.  They do think for themselves, but in doing so, they have lost all acknowledgement of the wisdom of "God, teachers, parents."  They have become "like gods" in their own minds, and they no longer "choose instruction," but must learn only from their own experience.  In the words of Sirach, they are no longer willing to "put [their] feet into her (Wisdom's) fetters and [their] neck under her yoke...to search her out, discover her; seek her and find her (25-28).

I am not condemning the young here, like an old lady shaking her cane at the upstart generation....not at all, for I teach a class of wonderful 11th grade students each week, who could not be sweeter or more respectful.  These are the children I love, who do "draw close" and "seek instruction," and who I am convinced will find joy and enlighten their minds, again in the words of Sirach.

When I look at the advances of the education system over the past 50 years, I do see that we as a society have embraced some of the Oriental wisdom, and we now recognize the value of "collaborative learning," where children are now taught to acquire knowledge from one another and to work in teams in the classroom, where the success of one is the success of all, where competitiveness is giving way to collaboration, where bullying is being replaced by respect for each person, where listening to others is valued over bragging and boasting.  I rejoice in these new methods of education, and my hope is that this generation can overcome the win-lose mentality that is now so evident in Congress and politics, where the good of the country suffers by the supreme unwillingness of our "leaders" to listen and to learn from one another.

Independent thought is indeed a virtue, as Socrates taught, if it is preceded by the wisdom of knowing " that we do not know," as Socrates also taught.  If we from youth "choose instruction" as our discipline, we will indeed wear wisdom "as a robe of glory, and bear her as our splendid crown" (Sirach 6:31).

The Power of Words

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch_popup%3Fv%3DHzgzim5m7oU%26vq%3Dmedium&h=PAQEczMv4AQE-KMO_kesQAizPbDplkLDqd5fHj5N-2iJ_bQ

Double-click on this link and watch the video.  It's inspiring!  Then add your own words of reflection to it.

The God Who Acts

God is He Who Is;

Catherine is she who is not.

(--from the writings of Catherine of Siena)

One thing we can know for sure about God is that He is the One Who Acts -- and Who Acts on behalf of those who love Him.  Someone once wrote:  God, it seems to me, is a Verb.

If we believe in God at all, we must believe that He is at this very moment acting on our behalf.  He cannot do otherwise.  And if He is acting on our behalf, we can trust Him. 

His first Act on our behalf was the great and perfect work of creation, which we do not have to travel to observe, but which we see the moment we open our door to glance out.  There we can see the whole work of God within the scope of our vision. 

In Jesus Christ, through whom and for whom the world was made, the work of God and the work of man were perfectly united.  In surrendering His will to the will of His Father, Jesus allowed the Father to continue His perfect work in the souls and minds and bodies of all mankind.  Those who felt abandoned by God --- the woman married 5 times, the leper, the blind, the lame, the deaf -- those who had indeed been abandoned by society --- were found and touched by the love of God given to man in Jesus Christ.

If our own work is to unite with the work of God, then we must enter into His great work on behalf of those whom He loves and who love Him also.  In the 6th chapter of John, the Jews ask Jesus, "What must we do to do the work of God?"  Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent."

One writer has put it this way:  Our God is infinitely liberal, and His hands are always full of graces which He only desires to pour out on us (de Caussade: Abandonment to Divine Providence).  Once we know that God has touched us, that He has acted on our behalf, we too must turn and act on the behalf of others around us.  How we do this can be directed only by the Spirit of God, who gives different gifts to the Body of Christ, which continues today to act in the world.

If we look around us, we cannot fail to see the great acts of God continuing today:  the lame walk, the deaf hear, the poor have the Good News preached to them.  The work of God, the work of Jesus, continues today through those who cling to Him, who have themselves been rescued from the power of darkness and evil.

Light and Salt

Ye (old English plural form of "you") are the Light of the world...ye are the salt of the earth....

What if we took these words as reality, instead of as metaphor?  What if the followers, disciples, of Jesus were truly light and salt?  And what if we thought of ourselves that way?  Would it make a difference in the way we relate to others around us?

In the Old Testament world, "salt" was preservation; it kept things from spoiling -- we know that.  But "salt" was also a sign of friendship.  It was so rare that Roman soldiers were paid in "salt," the source of our word "salary."  If you shared salt with your dinner guests, it was a sign of friendship, equilavent to handing them part of your salary.  So "an offering of salt" was a sign of friendship with God.

If we are the friends of God, through our relationship with His Son, then it seems to me that we would want to extend the friendship to all we meet.  It is not something about which we boast, but something for which we are eternally grateful and that we want others to know about and share in.

If Christ dwells in us through faith in Him, then it is His Light we radiate to the world.  Like the moon reflecting the light of the sun, those who have some relationship to Jesus should reflect His Light also.  But we cannot reflect His Light unless we are continually "facing" or looking at Him.  If we turn our back on Him, our light will go out.  And the world around us has no use for burned-out lightbulbs or tasteless salt. 

Ruah

As softly as the sunrise,

Like a cat walking across wet grass,

Like the song of a bird,

The Word of God steals into our heart,

Softening it with dew,

Enlarging it with beauty,

Strengthening it with truth,

Setting it aflame with love.

Our mind is slow to follow

the subtlety of Divine Energy,

fashioning earth's dust into a man

in whom the Breath of God can dwell.

O Beauty!

O Truth!

O Divine Energy!

O Goodness!

O Hope of Man!

Be my breath now and forever!

When you get down to it, is not the popular idea of Christianity simply this: that Jesus Christ was a great moral teacher and that if only we took His advice we might be able to establish a better social order and avoid another war?  Now, mind you, that is quite true.  But it tells you much less than the whole truth about Christianity and it has no practical importance at all.

It is quite true that if we took Christ's advice we should soon be living in a happier world.  You need not even go as far as Christ.  If we did all that Plato or Aristotle or Confucius told us, we should get on a great deal better than we do.  And so what?  We never have followed the advice of great teachers.  Why are we likely to begin now?  Why are we more likely to follow Christ than any of the others?  Because He is the best moral teacher?  But that makes it even less likely that we shall follow Him.  If we cannot take the elementary lessons, is it likely that we are going to take the more advanced one?  If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance.  There has been lack of good advice for the last four thousand years.  A bit more makes no difference.  (from C.S.Lewis:  Mere Christianity)

Good advice rarely changes an individual; I would have to think that it never changes a culture. Teens are known to laugh at "good advice" -- their frontal lobes have not yet fully developed, and they learn more by personal experience than by the words of their elders.  In fact, even in adults whose frontal lobes are fully developed, it is probably true that they are more "taught" by personal experience than by good advice. 

In the raising of children and going to work on a daily basis, there is almost no time for reading.  Television provides our daily relaxation and "down time."  There may be even less time for discussion with elders, who have gained wisdom by experience.  The Chinese culture up to now has respected the elderly and sought their advice, but now even that is changing, with the world of technology. 

Young people rarely attend church anymore, so whatever good advice might be available through that venue has also been lost to this generation. 

If we look at the early Christian church, we find that it began with 3000 men, women, and children who happened to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.  They heard and saw something that drew them together in one place---they had a common experience that drew them together, much as the Israelites had a dramatic common experience at Mt. Horeb and then in the desert before entering the Promised Land.  Then, they heard the thunder and saw the fire on the mountain, and Moses explained to them what was happening.  Their experience knit them together into a "new nation" on earth, one that had received the laws of God---their constitution.

The experience of Pentecost birthed also a new people.  They all heard the sound of rushing wind and saw tongues of fire and wanted to know the meaning of what they witnessed.  Peter stood and explained to them what was happening --- and they were all baptized in the name of Jesus.  Then they went back to their homelands and met together to explore further the meaning of what they had experienced --- searching the Scriptures and seeking teaching.  That is why Paul had to visit all the early home churches, to draw out the meaning of this new "constitution" that was creating a "new nation" on the face of the earth.  Peter and the other Apostles, too, after establishing the church at Jerusalem, went out to the "ends of the earth," answering the call of people who begged them to come help them further understand this "new thing" that they had witnessed at Pentecost. 

We tend to think that when people hear good advice, they will listen.  I think that they will listen only after they have experienced power from on high.  Then they want to understand their experience, and so they begin to hear the words of those who have gone before them.  Even the good advice of Jesus did not seem to make a difference to those who had no experience of healing, acceptance, or conversion from Him.

I think it is safe to say that "good advice" is generally ignored until something happens in our lives that opens our ears and understanding.  As Jesus said, Let those who have ears to hear, hear my words.

What Christianity Offers

Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this:  that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ.  If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist.  Christ is the Son of God.  If we share in this kind of life, we also shall be sons of God.  We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Spirit will arise in us.  He came to this world and became man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has--by what I call a "good infection." Every Christian is to become a little Christ.  The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.

C. S. Lewis --Mere Christianity

I love C.S. Lewis and return to him again and again, because he has a way of stripping away non-essentials and paring truth down to its basic form -- a form that allows the reality of faith to emerge clearly.  I cannot think of a more elementary way of saying what it means to be "Christian."  It simply means to allow Christ to live within us and to bring us to the Father, to allow Him to see through our eyes every day and to see through His eyes every day. 

Of course, we will make mistakes and switch back to seeing through our own eyes and our own filters, but the process is gradual, as we realize what we have done and turn back (literally, "repent") to seeing through the eyes of God.

I think this may be the meaning behind "A Second Touch," where Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind and then asked, "What do you see?"  "I see men that look like trees walking around," was the man's reply.  Then Jesus touched his eyes again, "and the man saw clearly."  Once our eyes are opened and we begin to see, we see in a distorted fashion, according to our own brain-template.  But Jesus is not finished with us yet.  Once we "confess" or reveal to Him what we are seeing, there is a second....and a third....and a fourth touch, until we see more and more clearly as we remain in conversation with Him.

In our churches, in conversation with other disciples, we reveal to one another what and how we see at the moment.  And all the "other Christs" around us tell us what they are seeing.  Gradually, we all begin to "see again" in communion with one another, as we allow God to 'have his way' with us. 

As I listen weekly to the women in our Bible Study, I hear again and again what they have seen of the Gospel, the "Good News" that God is with us.  And my faith jumps to yet another level, hearing their stories.  I know that my experience has been "certified as true," that it has not been simply "my opinion," or "my point of view," but that God has indeed revealed Himself as kind, faithful, "with us," and true.  This kind of conversation requires a group who truly seek God in their own lives and then who are willing to reveal to one another both their inner struggles and peaceful understandings as they seek God.  There are no "agendas" or "soapboxes" to defend in such a group.  We all know ourselves to be somewhat helpless without the grace of God, and we are truly grateful to have that kind of knowledge about ourselves.  The "Good News" is that we are not alone---that God is with us.  And this is the news we share among ourselves when we meet together:  not what we are doing, but what God is doing in us. 

The fact that we meet immediately after Mass and the Eucharist means that each one of us has first had Face-to-face time alone with God before we begin speaking to one another.  We have each had a moment in which God has 'had His way" with us.  Only then are we prepared to open our hearts to one another and to reveal what has taken place there between us and the Most High.  So then, there is no division, or "difference of opinion," or dividing wall, but only sweet unity -- because Christ has already done the work of demolishing those walls in us and establishing His peace in us.

What a wonderful gift is the true church of Christ --- those who are being transformed day by day by His Spirit!

Nourishing Life

A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself.

In the same way, a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble -- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.  (C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity)

Even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting on his own steam---he is only nourishing or protecting a life he could never have acquired by his own efforts (ibid).

Yesterday, I read the words written by the founder of a religious order:  "Prayer is our life; we live as we pray."  The words struck me as true.  For two weeks, I had been traveling with friends, and although it was a wonderful, magical, trip that I will always cherish, with the constant schedule of activity, I had no time for prayer.  And when I returned home, I saw and felt the difference.  It has been a week and a half since I returned, and I still feel lost, unanchored, in chaos.

I think our lives tend toward chaos.  We struggle to keep afloat in a sea of concerns: we are "busy about many things."  But Jesus said of Mary, sitting at His feet: "Only one thing is necessary."  I think He was speaking about prayer, listening, absorbing the Divine Energy and direction for our lives.  When we go for any length of time without doing this, we lose our bearings and begin to drift.  We can begin again to pray, but it seems to take a little time for the "body" -- or, in this case, the soul -- to repair itself. 

If we cannot find the time to take deep drinks from the fountain of life, we must learn to take small sips throughout the day to continue nourishing the life within.

Inadequacy

What great freedom it is to know oneself wholly inadequate for the task of life---but also to know the One Who "does all things well!"

Brother Andrew's (Practice of the the Presence of God) spirituality was a calm acceptance of his humanity -- his natural tendency to fail, unless he was upheld at all times by the supporting Presence of God.  It is okay not to be "enough," or "adequate" if we cast our cares on the Lord, Who is with us at every moment.  Even at my very best, I am not equal to the task that needs addressing at this moment.  I can only rely on the provision and Providence of God to guide, lead, support, and sustain me in every circumstance.

The "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" are those listed in Is. 11: wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, fortitude, and fear of the Lord.  These gifts are given to us to overcome our own lack of wisdom, lack of understanding, lack of power and knowledge, lack of fortitude, and lack of fear of the Lord.  The wonderful thing about true Christianity is the assumption that we need "saving" because we are not in ourselves "like gods," but only flesh and blood.  We do not have in ourselves what we need, but we do have a "Helper," as Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit He would send to us.

This is our confidence---not that we are adequate in ourselves, but that God cares for us, and will supply everything we need for life and holiness, as Peter says in his letter.

When my children were small, I lived with a constant sense of failure, of my inablity to cover the bases.  As someone who grew up with confidence in myself to do almost anything, it was a sobering time in my life:  beds were unmade; house was not clean; meals were hastily and poorly thrown together; babies were crying.  Everywhere I turned, I was faced with my own inability to cope.  I was discouraged and maybe even depressed.

But the experience brought me face to face with the God, who "took me by my right hand," as Isaiah puts it.  He transformed my lack of confidence in myself to wholly relying on Him to sustain me and hold me.  Now I can "laugh at the days to come," because my hope is in Him, Who has shown Himself again and again to be entirely faithful and trustworthy, as One Who can provide, sustain, "be there" at the time of trouble or when help is needed.  Now that I know -- have experienced-- the One of whom the Scriptures speak, I am no longer disturbed by my own inadequacy.  Instead, I shout for joy, knowing that He 'will uphold all those who fall and lift up all who are bowed down" (Ps. 145).

Even David, who had the confidence to slay Goliath, had to learn from his years of hiding in caves that God would provide for him and raise him up once again.  Only David, having gone through this terrible experience, could have written 150 Psalms of praise and thanksgiving!

Deliverance

And this was [John the Baptist's] message: After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:7-8).

Jesus said of John the Baptist that he was a prophet and "more than a prophet....among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (Luke 7:26-28).

If Jesus' words are true (and how could they be otherwise?), then there must be something to account for their truthfulness.  John was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets; he was the immediate herald of the arrival of the kingdom.  All of the other OT prophets foretold the coming of the kingdom of God, but they saw its arrival in the far distance.  John saw its immediate arrival in the Person of Jesus, "the Lamb of God."

The Jews would have recognized John's reference to "the Lamb" -- more than we would, unless we are familiar with the Jewish Passover.  Every year, the Jews celebrate their deliverance from slavery through the blood of the sacrificial lamb that was smeared on their doorposts.  The Angel of Death "passed over" their homes that night that all the first-born of Egypt died. 

So when John saw Jesus approaching and said, "Behold the Lamb of God," the Jews would have made connection in their minds to the Passover, and the Exodus from Egypt.  Immediately, the disciples of John left him and began to follow Jesus.  They believed what John said: "I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The Old Testament, the Baptism of John, everything we experience in our churches today -- whether sacraments, preaching, or ceremony -- point to this one thing:  the arrival of the kingdom of God and the giving of the Holy Spirit by Jesus.  We, too, like the Jewish people, celebrate deliverance from the bondage of sin and evil and oppression.  We too experience Passover at Eastertime, if the Spirit of God has set us free from the past.  It is hard to believe that the one who is "least" in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist ---but it is true because, as Jesus said:

If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

When Isaiah was prophesing, he mourned over the sadness and darkness of his people -- yet another form of slavery and oppression --- but he foresaw a time when there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress/ in the future, he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan--

the people walking in darkness have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned....

you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders, the rod of the oppressor (Is. 9:1-4).

The Passover Event was the great prophecy and proto-type of the shattering of the "rod of the oppressor."  If we look around at the people we know, we can see examples all around us of those who have been delivered from oppression, and out of whose "bellies flow streams of living water." 

When we can truly celebrate the Passover and know that we have passed from death to life, we will know that the kingdom of God has truly arrived.





Our Source of Strength

"For I am the Lord your God,

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, 'Do not fear;

I will help you.

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob,

O little Israel,

for I myself will help you," declares the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

I have always loved that the Lord called Jacob a "worm," and Israel, "little."  Like Therese of Liseux, I have always felt myself to be "little," the opposite of a "mighty warrior of God."  Therese recognized that in herself, she had no strength "to climb the rough stairway of sanctity." Instead, she compared herself to a toddler trying to lift its foot to the first stair.  She said that Jesus, seeing her helplessness, had compassion on her and descended the stairway to carry her up to His Father.

Throughout the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites that it was not because they were "the largest of nations" that He chose them, but because they were the "smallest."  In them, He could show forth His glory because it was so obvious to the nations around them that they had no strength or power of their own.  They, in fact, were a laughing-stock among the nations, until their God, Yahweh, took ahold of their "right hand" and led them out of Egypt into the desert.  There, He fed them with manna and gave them water from the rock.  On their journey, they requested permission to pass through the territories of nations more powerful than they were.  They promised to take nothing along the way, nor to "turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well."  But some of the more powerful nations would not allow them passage and instead went out to conquer this small people.  What they discovered was that Yahweh, their God, would defend them in battle, and that Israel instead would "settle in the land of the Amorites" (Numbers 21:21-31). 

Gradually, the "dread of Israel" settled upon the surrounding nations, and they began to call forth spiritual forces to defeat Israel.  (Read Numbers 22.)  Balak, King of Moab, calls forth Balaam, a seer, to curse the Israelites so they can be defeated in battle.  Balaam, however, is forced to say, "God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox" (Numbers 23:22).  Now, the "worm" Jacob and "little" Israel has become "a wild ox."

Many years later, the prophet Isaiah is to remind Israel of their Source of strength:

Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all you who remain of the house of Israel,

you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,

and have carried since your birth.

Even to your old age and gray hairs,

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you (46:3-4)

Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  To be "meek" is to put our trust in God instead of in our own strength.  To be "meek" is to know that we are "a worm" when it comes to accomplishing great deeds, but to also know that we have a God-sent Savior, who has promised to make Israel a "light to the world."  As Isaiah says,

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint (Is. 40:29-31).

It is so good to know that even though we ourselves are small and weak, that He is able to do great things and to renew our strength.  Our hope in in the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Spiritual Warfare

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.  Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalakites were winning.  When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it.  Aaron and Hur held his hands up---one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady until sunset.  So Joshua overcame the Amaleite army with the sword (Ex. 17: 8-13).

While we are engaged in "battle" on the physical plane, we often forget that there is a spiritual world swirling around us, and that there are forces within that world that can be overcome only by prayer, or "lifting up our hands."  The Book of Ephesians could be seen, according to the great Watchman Nee, as the pattern of our spiritual lives.  In his book Sit, Walk, and Stand, a great classic of spiritual writing, Nee demonstrates that our spiritual lives begin while we are still "helpless," with an outpouring of the grace of God, lavishing on us all spiritual riches through being "included in Christ."

At first, we are "sitting," as Paul says, "dead in your transgressions and sins, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature," (but then), "God made us alive in Christ....for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Because of what God has already done for us, "we are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit."  Thus, the second stage of our spiritual life (Walking) begins:  "to live a life worthy of the calling we have received."  Chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians outlines what it means to live a life worthy of our calling and to live a life of love.  Most of us grow up thinking that first, we must live a worthy live, and then we will receive the blessing of God.  But the Book of Ephesians says just the opposite.

And if we look at  Exodus, "where it all began," we see the Israelites "sitting" in slavery to the Egyptians, helpless to help themselves-  but God sent Moses to deliver them from captivity and to lead them to the Promised Land.  Since they had received all these blessing, they were to live a life worthy of their calling---not, like the people around them, oppressing others, but walking according to the laws of God as they entered the Land of Promise.

In the final chapter of Ephesians, Chapter 6, we find that "after you have done everything (you can), to put on the armor of God and to stand...for our struggle is not against flesh and  blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

I like Watchman Nee's observations about the pattern of life, for only then do we see that we have the power to "walk" or to live the Christian life because God has already accepted us and given us everything we need to do so.  And finally, that our wrestling with the forces of evil depends not on our own strength, but rather on our ability to "put on the armor" of God and to "lift up our hands" in prayer.

Open My Ears, Lord, to hear Your Voice

During His earthly ministry, Jesus opened the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.  Today, He still continues to open the eyes and ears of our souls.  It has always struck me that our souls have the same "parts" as our bodies:  we have "ears to hear" and "eyes to see," in Biblical language; we "hunger and thirst for justice," (which means holiness, or "rightness within" as well as rightness externally).  We are filled with good things spiritually, just as we are filled physically with the fruit of the land.  We desire to be united with God, as man and woman desire to be united with one another. 

Even more striking is that God Himself has the same "parts," though He is pure Spirit.  His eyes roam the earth, seeking those who will hear His voice; He hears the cry of the poor and of those who cry out to Him. His voice thunders over the waters; He yearns for union with His friends, His beloved.  He hungers and thirsts for our love and companionship.  All these things we learn from Scripture.

The theme of "listening," or of "opening our ears" to hear God's voice runs throughout Scripture almost continually from the opening pages of Genesis to the closing pages of Revelation.  When Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd, He links His active guidance to the fact that His sheep "know His voice, but...they do not recognize a stranger's voice."  He even says that He has "other sheep, not of this sheep pen."  They also "listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

All of our efforts at unity seem to rest on this one event---those who listen to His voice are one flock, with one Shepherd.

Now listening is active, just as the "voice" is active, not passive.  We "hear" a voice that is speaking --- and not only speaking, but speaking to us.   Here and Now.  In the present time. 

In the Old Testament, the references to listening are so numerous that it is hard to know which to choose or how to begin.  The Book of Sirach speaks in the voice of Wisdom personified:

Come aside to me, you untutored, and take up lodging in the house of instruction;

How long will you deprive yourself of wisdom's food, how long endure such bitter thirst?

I open my mouth and speak of her:  gain wisdom for yourselves at no cost.

Take her yoke upon your neck; that your mind may receive her teaching.

For she is close to those who seek her, and the one who is in earnest finds her (51:23-26).

All of Proverbs 8 speaks of Wisdom and the gifts she bestows on those who "listen to me, watching daily at my doors/ For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord" (34-35). 

Strikingly, Jesus also says in Chapter 10 of John, the Good Shepherd discourse, My sheep listen to my voice; I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.  No one can snatch them out of my hand...no one can snatch them from the Father's hand (28).  His words echo those of Wisdom in the Old Testament.

How then, do we come to hear the voice of Wisdom, the voice of Jesus, the voice that speaks in the depths of our souls, the instruction that gives everlasting life that can never be taken away?

I think a great place to begin is with the prayer Open my ears, Lord, that I may hear Your voice, and not my own, nor the voice of another.  I want to hear You speaking in my soul, and I want to know that it is You that speaks. 

Proverbs Chapter 2 is another great place to begin, slowly, and with prayer:

...if you accept my words, and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding....

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair --- every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul (1-10) (emphasis mine).

Many people search for wisdom; how many know that truth and wisdom come from the "mouth" of the Lord, and that He is more than willing to open our ears to hear His voice speaking in our inner parts?



Wounded Healers

Ten years ago, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma, and it was a scarey time for both of us.  In the first few weeks afterwards, the future seemed uncertain, and I was anxious.  Then I received a note from a colleague in the Nursing School, someone I had met and worked with only a few times and who I did not know well.  But she had taken the time and thought to hand-write a card that touched me so much.  Today, I found it again, and again I was touched by her kindness and thoughtfulness. 

Because she herself had had cancer more than once, she was able to put our situation in a framework that no one else could do, with all their best wishes:

I was saddened to hear about your husband's melanoma and have been thinking about how I can succintly and gracefully capture some ideas to share with you.  Cancer has touched my life again and again.  If one lives long enough, (in this day and age), it's inevitable.  But whether it's cancer or tragedy or injury or even menopause or whatever, I'm struck with the opportunity we have to re-create and remember who we are.  My initial reaction when you told me about your husband was: What a journey you're on, an interesting and adventurous new chapter.  We both know how important attitude and "reframing" is.  I wondered how this is for you. My hope is that you can and will relax into it.  Your wisdom and spiritedness will lead you exactly where you need to go.  You have everything you need inside.  Be still.

It is but life as we know it, with its winding roads and illusions.  Cancer has a way of shattering our stability and returning us to our essence.  It is the gift in the confusion.  Fare thee well, Gayle Nolan and your husband.  My thoughts of good will surround you.  

I did not sign Barb's name because I have not received her permission to do so.  In fact, I have lost track of this "wounded healer" since I retired.  But her wisdom left a permanent presence with me.  As I re-read her note this morning, I was struck by its similarity to what Jill Bolte Taylor described in her book My Stroke of Insight.  She too was able to "re-frame" her tragedy into a blessing of wisdom and truth, not only for herself, but for all who read her book.  Once again, we see a person "returning to her essence" in the midst of illness.

In the Second Book of Corinthians, Paul says that if he suffers, it is for the sake of the new Christians, because in his sufferings, he finds God's consolation, or encouragement -- a consolation or encouragement he is then able to pass on to them.  In fact, at one point, Paul says he was so crushed as to believe that he would die---but in the midst of extremity, God restored and strengthened him. 

Those who suffer with grace and trust find God.  And they are able to pass on to those coming after them the very grace and strength they themselves have received.  Maybe in the end, this is what it means to be wise -- to be a wounded healer.

The Back of the Wardrobe

Recently, I watched The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time.  Lewis' book, supposedly for children, is so much more for adults too---and for once, the movie-makers did an excellent job with the novel. 

It occurred to me as I read My Stroke of Insight that Taylor's experience with the "death" of her critical left brain and entering into the life of her right brain was just like the youngest child's experience in The Lion....  She fell through the back of the wardrobe and experienced the Land of Narnia, with "fantasy" creatures who talked to her, but as she re-entered the "normal" world, no one could believe or understand her experience.  It was not within their realm of experience, so she was considered as myth-making, fantasizing.  But her experience was real, as the other children finally came to discover.

No one for whom the left-brain world is the only existence will ever believe in the truth and reality of Taylor's right-brain only existence.  But her attachment to that world and that reality can never be un-done, even as she re-entered the "real" world of left-brain engagement.  She knows what she has experienced, and she clings to its truth with every fiber of her existence.

So too all the early Christian martyrs who went to their death proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ.  Once having experienced the truth of the spiritual life He gave to them, they could never again deny that life and truth.  It has been said that the man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. 

As the experience of Peter the Apostle tells us, truth comes by revelation/ experience, not by explanation.  And Jesus said to him:  Blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

On the road to Damascus, Saul, the most learned and intellectual and educated Jew, had the same experience as did Peter, the unlearned and uneducated fisherman.  He met Jesus by revelation, not by explanation.  Later, after the experience, came the explanation, enlightened by the Spirit of Truth and revelation.

Once we have "fallen through the back of the wardrobe" or, like Taylor, encountered the world of spirit, it is possible to re-enter the world of flesh and somehow find the words to describe our experience; it is possible to study and to read the experience of others---even in Scripture---and to find our own story in theirs.  It is possible for the left brain to begin to "make sense" of our experience.

But it is not always possible for those who have not experienced the right-brain, the spirit-world, the "resurrection," to grasp the "fantasy world" of which we speak.  They have no point of reference for the mystical creatures or words.  The left-brain categories are the only ones they know, so what we describe is nonsense to them, as it was originally to Saul of Tarsus.  For him, Jesus could not have been the Jewish Messiah---he knew too much about the Scriptures for that to be true:  until he had a face-to-face encounter with the living Christ.

God has no grandchildren; we cannot pass on our experience to others.  We can pass on our stories, but they seem as fantasies to our children and others.  Fortunately, however, in every generation in the Old Testament, the living God, Yahweh, encountered the children Himself:  I am Yahweh, the God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob---the One they told you about, the God of the ancient stories.  Now, it is between you and Me.  Will I be also your God?

Our stories are important, as were the spiritual stories of Taylor and of the youngest child in the Lion....
Once we encounter the Living God, we know then that THIS was the same God we heard about from times of old---the one the Scriptures have spoken about and our fathers told us about.  And we worship the One Who is from old.

Until that time, we can only pray that we too can fall through the back of the wardrobe and encounter the Land of Narnia and at last have a face-to-face encounter with the Risen Christ, the Son of the Living God.  All of our prayers, rituals, and the Scriptures, or stories and sermons we have heard are meant to lead us to that moment.  All of nature and the arts is designed to lead us to that moment; they have hidden within themselves hints of eternal and everlasting joy!

My Stroke of Insight

I recently read a book called My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, passed on to me by a friend.  Jill Bolte Taylor, the author, was a neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke at the age of 37, and in the introduction, she writes,

[This book] is a chronological documentation of the journey I took into the formless abyss of a silent mind, where the essence of my being became enfolded in a deep inner peace.

As a trained neuroanatomist, Taylor in a sense "watched" the entire left side of her brain shut down within a matter of hours, and she could recognize, but not prevent, what was happening to her.  The book is an amazing chronicle of the eight years of stroke and full recovery from someone articulate and knowlegable enough to document the journey.  As her "right brain" took over the functioning of her body and existence for the next few years, Taylor records a shift in perspective and understanding of who she really was as a person.  Here are some excerpts from the book:

...it was clear that the 'I' whom I had grown up to be had not survived this neurological catastrophe.  I understood that that Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor died that morning, and ....I felt no obligation to being her anymore....In my mind, in my new perspective, that Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor died that morning and no longer existed.  Now that I didn't know her life---her relationships, successes and mistakes, I was no longer bound to her decisions or self-induced limitations.

Although I experienced enormous grief for the death of my left hemisphere consciousness---and the woman I had been, I concurrently felt tremendous relief.  That Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor had grown up with lots of anger and a lifetime of emotional baggage that must have required a lot of energy to sustain....

I had spent a lifetime of 37 years being enthusiastically committed to "do-do-doing" lots of stuff at a very fast pace.  On this special day, I learned the meaning of simply "being."....Like walking along the beach, or just hanging out in the beauty of nature, I shifted from the doing-consciousness of my left brain to the being-consciousness of my right brain.

The entire book, after the first few scientific explanations of the brain and its normal processes, goes on in this vein.  I wanted to highlight and re-read so much of the book, but need to buy my own copy to do so.  One night, I was reading the book before going to sleep, as is my custom.  After reading just a few sentences, however, my own brain exploded with revelations, so much so that I could not sleep for hours---until I finally shut down all the ideas by doing logic puzzles to put me to sleep.

In one place, Taylor writes that it is a shame we cannot find a safe, non-invasive way to induce her experience of living in the right brain to others.  For her, as she worked her way back to full-brain functioning, the difficulty was to regain left-brain function without giving up the peace, joy, love, and fluidity of the right-brain.  She no longer had any desire to return to the "normal" world.  Time after time she had to ask herself whether she wanted to regain the affect, emotion, or personality traits that were neurologically linked to her left-brain memories and abilities.  Her "old" personality traits were no longer acceptable to the person she now wanted to be.  The most fundamental traits of her right hemisphere personality were "deep inner peace and loving compassion." 

Taylor now knows her tragic stroke to be the greatest gift of her entire life.  She has fully returned to normal brain function, with a lot of work, but she is no longer the same person she was before.  She was able to choose the values and brain circuitry she wanted as she recovered her personality.

Never before have I read anything that better explains the experience of being "born again" of water and the Holy Spirit that Jesus revealed to Nicodemus in John 3.  Almost the first recorded words of Jesus were: The kingdom of God is within you.  (Different translations may read: The kingdom of heaven is among you.)  As a scientist, Taylor describes her experience in terms of left-brain, right-brain functioning, and of course, the more brain research that is done confirms her descriptions.  For all of us non-scientists, everything in Scripture correlates exactly to what she describes: the death of the "old man/ the natural man/ Adam" and the birth of the "new man," the "spiritual man," risen with Christ from the dead,in the image of God, and in-breathed by the Spirit.  Everything Taylor describes I have experienced, not from a stroke, but more gradually, as the Holy Spirit gradually put to death the person I was before and made me a "new creation in Christ Jesus." 

The reason I could not sleep from excitement in reading this book is that I knew that what Taylor so desperately wished for---a way for people to experience the "right brain" ascendancy of our personalities, the part of us that is created like God---is truly available in the "born again" or "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" experience.  Like John the Baptist in his mother's womb, I "leaped for joy," recognizing in her descriptions what I had experienced spiritually. 

I think maybe Taylor, the brain anatomist, was allowed to experience and then to describe a path that is open to all of us.  As I read her book, I was so impressed at how what I call her "spirit" and what she calls her "right brain" was able to guide her actions and choices to recovery and full health.  I wanted to stand up and shout "Halleluiah!" just like they do in the Baptist church. 

More tomorrow!