Who Do You Say That I Am ...

Many months ago I remember standing in the shadow of small caves dedicated to the Roman god Pan on the toe of Mt Hermon in northern Israel ... One of our leaders shared the story of Jesus and his disciples journeying to this place and on their return, Jesus quizzing them with the question - "who do you say that I am?"

It was a trick question ... it remains a tricky question ...

Today I was reading a book entitled "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd. In the book Ms Monk Kidd abandons her Baptist roots and moves to the Episcopalian Church ... In the process she struggles with the awakening within her of a new understanding of God beyond the traditional Imagery offered by the Church. Imagery that is predominantly Male.

She outlines the revisioning of a Feminine Diety for her personal spirituality ... It is a fascinating and enlightening read ... But as I read her words today, I began to consider how I envision and experience the Holy ... The question of gender and the Holy Presence has never been an issue for me. I've believed that God (as I envision and experience God is beyond gender and embodies all gender). But it is the nature of the Holy that caused me pause.

Today I began to think about what I believe when it comes to God and how I celebrate, experience and proclaim God's presence in my life, ministry and world ... And so I began with a broad concept:

Great Spirit ... the words borrowed, or loaned from the First Nations' Traditions. The force of creation and the Creator ...

Then I moved to the images of the Holy I surround myself with in my office ... The West Coast First Nations design by Tony Hunt of The Baptism of Jesus - The Great Spirit is the Sun, The Christ figure of Jesus is the Shaman Initiate and the spirit descending at his Baptism is an eagle ... a radical revisioning of a traditional Christian story.

Along the wall there is a sand cast of a dancing Ganesh, the elephant headed god of the Hindu faith. Ganesh, the joyous playful god, who dances and plays ... an image of the holy that is welcoming, radical and inspiring ...

On my desk sits a wooden carving of a very fat, laughing Buddha ... hands outstretched to a world in desperate need of joy ... He sits, perhaps exhausted from his play and laughter ... he invites us to join him, to laugh with him, to celebrate the fullness of life ...

Beside the Buddha stands a plastic Jesus, a cartoonish figure with a broad smile and hidden silent glide wheels ... a figure of whimsy and silliness ... His outstretched hinged arms beckoning the visitor to pick him up and turn him over in their hands - challenging you NOT to smile as you do so ...

I sit at my desk surrounded by images that whisper to me the simple word: "Holy."
There is nothing orthodox about them ... there is nothing reverent about them ... there is nothing traditional about them ... They are what they are ... in some they evoke laughter ... in some they evoke anger ... in some they bring a smile, while in others a dismissive shake of the head ...

I envision the Holy as a place of laughter and joy ... I see in Ganesh, the Laughing Buddha, the First Nations' Shaman, and the wheeled Jesus, the gift of Holy Laughter ...

Today I realized that when I envision the Holy within me there is great joy and cause for celebration ... and the faith I live eminates from there ...