In this final reflection in this series on Wholiness, we explore how wholiness should transform the way we see and treat one another, and the kinds of communities we build together.
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To be human is to be an embodied creature and yet we can often have complicated relationships with our own bodies. Sometimes our religious traditions have given us negative attitudes toward our own bodies - seeing the body as the site of temptation or sin, seeing emotions as something to be suppressed, seeing sexuality as something to be suspicious of, or simply denying the ways our bodies tell us so much about what is going on for us at any given point in time. So a spirituality of wholiness must help us to move toward a more positive view of embodiment and our spiritual practices should help us move toward integration and wholeness, rather than reinforcing an unncessary splitting between what is spiritual and what is physical.
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Our society is defined by a kind of restlessness, and its a kind of restlessness that leaves us in a constant state of some kind of fatigue; the hyperactivity of 21st century Western life, the unlimited choices many of us experience, the explicit and implicit messages we receive about keeping up, about making it, about proving our worth through the things we produce and consume. So what does a spirituality of wholiness offer us in the midst of this? How and why does rest matter to our sense of self, to our relationships, and to the sense of our place in the world?
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In this episode we explore how wholiness is related to the self. Sometimes religion can be sold to us as needing a kind of self-rejection or the suppression of our selves – because then God can be sold to us as the cure. But our suggestion is spirituality at its best will help us become ‘more ourselves’ rather than less. This is not just good vibes religion – it is a deeply counter cultural narrative that invites us to begin with embracing the self rather than amplifying the inner critic. We also look at how this is not just an individualistic spirituality – to know (and to love) the self requires a grounding in the context of our relationships and connections with others, with those who have gone before us, and with the ground beneath our feet.
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In this reflection we explore the idea that all humans image the divine. This has implications for universal human dignity and value, for the affirming of our humanness as a good and beautiful thing, and for seeing the interconnectedness of all things - a call toward harmony and wholiness.
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This is the first in a series of 6 reflections on “Wholiness”. Here is an invitation to move away from a view of God as one who demands moral purity or perfection and who struggles to tolerate our presence, and instead toward a reframing of God and wholiness (in light of the story of Jesus) that moves us toward love, grace and acceptance of self and others.
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In July this year we co-hosted a seminar titled “What the Hell” - a re-examining of the origins and impact of the Christian belief in hell and divine judgement. Our beliefs about these things are often at the centre of our views about God and the purpose of life, and have a profound impact on the way we live and act in the world. In this seminar we ask the hard questions, examine the original context of the scriptural texts, discuss the variety of perspectives within the Christian tradition, and offer what we believe is a hopeful and life-giving way forward.
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“Jesus died and rose again to save us from our sins.” It’s a statement around which the Easter weekend often circles, but what does it mean? Perhaps Easter is not simply about how we secure our ticket on the train to heaven when we die, but there is something deeper going on inside the story that has to do with the disruption of power, ego, and control, and pushes us to reimagine love, humanness, the cosmos and our images of the divine. A story that has something to say to all of us, regardless of our affiliations, beliefs and ideologies.
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The seasons of Advent and Christmas centre around a biblical story full of intrigue and magic. It is so wide and full that every year we can find ourselves within its narrative in new and fresh ways; do we identify with the vulnerable nature of Mary’s experience, or the solidarity she has with her cousin Elizabeth? Does the story of Simeon capture our heart with hope and promise? Do we long to be overwhelmed like the shepherds were?
We have narrated the Christmas story in a fresh way for the benefit of our tamariki, but also invite everyone to enjoy the magic of the timeless and life changing tale regardless of their age and stage in life.
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