Back to the Garden

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing 

and rightdoing there is a field.

I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is too full to talk about.” 

― Rumi

Have you ever been so filled with awe, so delighted to drink in life, so embraced by light and love that words failed to capture the moment?

This is the field of which Rumi speaks: the field of at-one-ness, gratitude, delight, peace, understanding.  This is the field out of which all things are created.  This is the realm of God -- grace incarnate, enlightenment.  Most of the time we seem to just stumble upon glimpses of it when we least expect it.

It is so palpable, yet so elusive.  If we were honest with ourselves, it is what we long for but can’t quite figure out how to get.  Joni Mitchell sings about it this way, “We are stardust. We are golden and we have to get ourselves back to the garden.”

But how do we do that?

Rumi gives us a hint -- it is beyond our rational grasp of figuring out the right way.  It is beyond theology and politics, gender and race.  It is beyond all of our pre-conceived notions and consumer wish lists.  It is beyond best intentions and plans.  

Jesus talked a lot about this in terms of the Kingdom of God.  And it seems like many of his stories and images pointed to one counterintuitive act -- trusting enough to let go, so that we might fall into the arms of Love.

When I think about starting a movement of house churches in Portland I can quickly go to “ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing.”  My strategic brain gets engaged and before you know it I have masterminded a whole new way of being church all by myself.

Thank God there is an equally compelling voice, my spiritual self, that repeats the trust mantra.  “Trust in me.  Trust in the unfolding.  Simply invite your friends to play in the field of possibilities. Gather together and listen deeply to wisdom and the way will be revealed.”

So when I find myself micromanaging my plan, I remind myself of the field -- a playful place of discovery and delight where I just have to show up and be present.  I am hoping others will want to meet me in this field as we practice listening together.  We could begin by listening to our stories and the stories of Jesus. And then we could extend our listening practice to our communities that long to be restored.

What is the preferred future that we long to be a part of?
How can we help to make that a reality?

I do trust in that unfolding, and I know that when my soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about. And so it begins...