Impotent churches

This is a true story about an event in Sun Valley, Idaho. It is related to a present situation in my life where The Church of St. Paul in the Desert, Episcopal, in Palm Springs invited me to give the final lecture in their Lenten series and then three weeks later told me they did not want me to speak.

In Sun Valley, the Hospice group invited me to lead a three day seminar on the different views of death and dying in world religions. They liked my columns that I was writing for THE IDAHO STATESMAN of Boise. They rented a large hall in the Presbyterian church for the event. A week later an officer of that church called me and said their Board did not want me, an “outside” speaker, coming into their church and talking about “foreign” religions and all that “occult” stuff. In a vain effort to make some dent in his religious ignorance I informed him that Christianity was a “foreign” religion and only the American Indian had a native religion.

The entire community of Sun Valley and Ketchum was shocked at this sequence of events, as well as the more enlightened members of that church. A large hall was rented for the seminar in Ketchum.
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Mysticism

People are always asking me, “what are you…what do you believe?” The answer is easy. I have been what I am as far back as I can remember into childhood…through the Marine Corps, University, Theological Seminary and Senior Minister of Congregational churches.

I live and work and write and speak within the stream of mysticism. What is mysticism? It is the Jewish Kabbalah saying “God is not external to anything. Do not say ‘This is a stone and not God’, for all existence is God.”

Mysticism is the old Master of Taoism, Lao-Tzu, teaching about the womb from which everything comes and to which everything will return.

Mysticism is Jesus saying “to have seen me is to have seen God.” Every rock, flea, dog, bird, leaf and human could say the same thing.
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Love

The so called “Great Commandment” found in the book of Matthew (22:37-40), which is also the Jewish Shema, has to take first place as one of the most absurd paragraphs in biblical literature.

“This is the Great Commandment”, said Jesus, “You shall love God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” Now, why do I call this absurd?

Not any human being on this earth loves by ‘command’. Love and command are antithetical. No human being can command love. Can you imagine saying to your wife, husband or child, I COMMAND YOU TO LOVE ME.

On this Valentine weekend, love can never be a duty or an obligation. Either you feel love or you do not, period.
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