Exploring a church recently, I came across a welcome poster with children’s drawings illustrating four quotes: “Open Door, Open Road, Open Table, Open Spirit.” I cannot think of a better way to present a church’s mission. And from the mouths of babes!
The repetition of the word “open” reinforces something quite easily lost upon churches: in my experience they are usually anything but. This is nothing new: Jesus’ chief confrontation is always with closed religious minds that say, “We understand doctrine. We control values. We will set the agenda for our religious culture.”
Unless you receive like a child….The best thing we can do is become like children again, open to the various diverse and other ways in which God works, ways wholly foreign to us, outside our understanding and control. Only then can the transcendent cosmic Christ be seen.
And he opened their minds. Jesus spoke to the people to open them up to another reality: see this water, it is now wine! See these loaves, they are enough for everyone! The mind-opening and truly mind-bending part of it is that Jesus is at the center of this reality, but not in a closed way. The cosmic Christ contains all things, all roads, all spirits, and is therefore not exclusive to any one of them. Everyone is invited to the wedding.
Open my mind, open my heart, open my spirit, open my path. Amen.
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Recommended: New Album by Yo Yo Ma and Chris Thile!
The Goat Rodeo Sessions
These musicians had to be remarkably open to a diversity of sound, style, and instrumentation: a good metaphor for humanity's need for more openness!
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Not being open to the (dangerous) reality of spirit, and instead trying to control it through the camera, causes huge problems for the characters in the delightfully scary Paranormal Activity films:
Read more about this strange and ironic combination of denial and control at my film review blog:
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