christianmystics.com

 

Rufus Jones, writing about God from the point of view and teachings of George Fox who founded the Quakers:

"He (God) needs no vicar, no person of any sort between Himself and the worshipper. Grace no more needs a special channel than the dew does. There is no special holy place, as though God were more there than here. He does not come from somewhere else. He is Spirit, needs only a responsive soul, an open heart, to be found. Worship properly begins when the soul discovers Him and enjoys His presence -- in the simplest words it is the soul's appreciation of God.

"With his usual optimism, he (Fox) believed that all men and women were capable of this stupendous attainment. He threw away all crutches at the start and called upon everybody to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Light. His house of worship was bare of everything but seats.

"It had no shrine, for the shekinah was to be in the hearts of those who worshipped. It had no altar, for God needed no appeasing, seeing that He Himself had made the sacrifice for sin. It had no baptismal font, for baptism was in his belief nothing short of immersion into the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- a going down into the significance of Christ's death and a coming up in newness of life with Him.

"There was no communion table, because he believed that the true communion consisted in partaking directly of the soul's spiritual bread -- the living Christ. There were no confessionals, for in the silence, with the noise and din of the outer life hushed, the soul was to unveil itself to its Maker and let His light lay bare its true condition. There was no organ or choir, for each forgiven soul was to give praise in the glad notes that were natural to it. No censer was swung, for he believed God wanted only the fragrance of sincere and prayerful spirits.

There was no priestly mitre, because each member of the true Church was to be a priest unto God. No official robes were in evidence, because the entire business of life, in meeting and outside, was to be the putting on of the white garments of a saintly life. From beginning to end worship was the immediate appreciation of God, and the appropriate activity of the whole being in response to Him."

Whether or not one takes the path to Christ as championed by George Fox (and one could certainly do worse), his life and teachers are a challenge and a reminder.

Many of us find great inspiration in the things of religion. First perhaps the church building itself, where once a week we feel we're having an appointment with God, as if both God and I are so busy we'll "do lunch" together -- meaning communion -- and then go our separate ways to get through the week. Perhaps the icons or statues (if we are Orthodox or Roman Catholic, respectively) or the stained glass windows are ways we remember God. Perhaps it's the choir that we enjoy. Maybe the lessons that we are taught by sermon or homily.

Now, I for one am not going to suggest that there's anything wrong with any of these things, they are ways in which God draws us closer to Divine Love. Rufus Jones, writing about George Fox who founded the Quakers, is reminding us of something that is essential. Beneath all these things (any of which have the power to stop our mind and hold it, keeping our soul away from God's touch) there is the simple, direct and unequivical moment of experiencing God directly and with power and Grace.

This can be a very uncomfortable path, a frightening path, to some people. For them, the thought of doing without what Rufus Jones called "crutches" is either unthinkable because it is "not Biblical" (whatever that means in this instance!) or, more likely, because it can be like suddenly swimming without a life jacket.

The reaction makes me think of the attitude some people have about poetry -- that it simply MUST rhyme or it's not true poetry. The idea of "free verse" seemed, certainly at one point, to be a kind of blasphemy to the Muse of poetry. Where were the rules? Now would one know if one had created a masterpiece or simply a jumble or prose? Yet anyone who has written the poetry of free verse knows that there are ways to know, it's just that it's much more subtle -- the rhythm, the way the sounds are used, the choice of line length, the very length of the words and so on. And like it's rhyming "cousin", free verse can point beyond itself to a deep experience and understanding.

In the same way, to worship God as Fox did is like a kind of spiritual free verse. There are checks and balances in the form of scripture and the writings of the saints as well as ways within to authenticate the experience of God and to stay on the right path and not wander off into danger.

And, taking Jesus as the example of how to be in relationship to God (from the fully human part of dual nature) what does one find? A life lived in free verse, in the immediate presence of the kingdom of God without intermediary or device, a life he called each of us to live to the fullest. To reject that is to say that Christianity is based on a lie, that the Christ is no longer present and that God is no longer interested in our individual spiritual life. It is to say that a humble heart, seeking and longing for unity with the Divine, can be defeated by some vague force of Evil -- and that God, therefore, is also defeated.