Face to Face

Recently, I told someone that I despised talking on the phone.  To me, the phone is for information-exchange only, not really for deep conversation.  Yet, I think maybe that is, for most of us, the way we talk to God:  asking for something, informing Him of a situation, complaining, etc.  It is really hard to have a heart to heart flow of exchange "over the phone."  If that's all we have, I'll admit it's better than no communication at all, but it's really hard for me to feel satisfied after a conversation over the phone -- or even to get one started, for that matter.  And it's pretty obvious what kinds of communication happen over facebook and texting.

A few days ago, I heard a definition of "mysticism" as "direct experience, or reflection upon, the direct experience of God."  There is just no substitute for direct experience in person-to-person communication.

At the beginning of this week, a friend and former colleague called me, asking whether I could come to visit her in Florida.  She travels all over the world, giving talks to large groups of people, but this week she had a sudden break in her schedule.  For some reason, I just packed up the car and drove to Florida, a ten-hour drive, to see her.  On the way, I listened to a series of tapes on Francis of Assisi, a simple man who reformed the medieval church by his poverty, simplicity, and humility.  Francis was a mystic:  he experienced God directly in all of creation.  His great Canticle of Creation celebrates sun and moon, stars and sky, sea creatures and land animals, plants and everything that has life and breath.

He took literally the command of Jesus:  Go into the whole world and preach the good news to all creatures (alternately: to all creation) (Mark 16:15).  In his simplicity, Francis did not debate, argue, analyze, or question how it was to be done.  He just did it.  He preached to the birds, who stopped their chattering to listen to him; he preached to the wolf threatening the village at Gubi and came to an agreement with the wolf that if the villagers put out food for him, he would no longer threaten them or their children.  For the sake of the villagers, he put the agreement in writing in the city archives.

Francis' communication with all of creation was face-to-face, not at a distance.  He spoke to the people and things immediately in front of him, and they were charmed into submission -- even the Muslim sultan waging war against the Christians.  Francis did not "convert" the sultan, but he went as a listener to hear what the sultan had to say, and there was an exchange of spirits.  He knew he would probably be killed in the attempt, but he went anyway. 

After 12 lectures on Francis, I was so imbued with his spirit that I was ready to speak with him to all of creation.  As I watched the sunrise early in the morning, I said what I could recall of Francis' Canticle of all Creatures:  "sun and moon, bless the Lord; all you waves of the sea, bless the Lord.  Birds of the air, bless the Lord; creatures of the deep, bless the Lord....." 

And as I sang, the small birds flew in front of me; the pelicans swooped and dived for fish;  and there were dolphins dancing just off the dock underneath my window.  All of creation, it seemed, was responding to my song.  Later that morning, we visited the sunken gardens where the magic continued:  we watched the male flamingo spinning in place to impress his mate (and us, of course), and the flowers practically shouting in the display of their beauty.

My friend and I had outpourings of both grief and laughter as we celebrated together for three days.  We sweated together in the hot Florida sun as we re-constructed her small garden to give her the privacy she needed to read and pray on her condo patio.  She 'confessed' to me her loneliness and hopes for the future; she gave me my first martini and laughed at my helplessness after I drank it.  We shopped the garage sales to find items for her home, and I found a ridiculous Queen Elizabeth / Kentucky Derby kind of hat which I wore all day to embarrass her in public.  (Of course, she told all the shop-keepers and waiters that I had just gotten out of a home.)

If only we could celebrate and share all of life with our Creator, our Lover, our Friend and Companion -- not 'over the phone,' but in the midst of walking, shopping, planting, and building.  If only we could laugh and sing and shout -- and yes, get drunk in His Divine Presence on the wine of His Holy Spirit.  If we could only allow Him to summon all of creation to us in response to our song of praise!  There's just no substitute for mystical experience -- but it never happens over the phone!