Learning from Gregory of Nazianzen

The great Architect of the universe conceived and produced a being endowed with both natures, the visible and the invisible; God created the human being, bringing its body forth from the pre-exiting matter which he animated with his own Spirit ... Thus in some way a new universe was born, small and great at one and the same time.  God set this ‘hybrid’ worshipper on earth to contemplate the visible world, and to be initiated into the invisible; to reign over earth’s creatures, and to obey orders from on high.  He crated a being at one earthly and heavenly, insecure and immortal, visible and invisible, halfway between greatness and nothingness, flesh and spirit at the same time ... an animal en route to another native land, and, most mysterious of all, made to resemble God by simple submission to the divine will. 

              -- Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 45, For Easter, 7 (PG 36, 850) 

TALK ABOUT IT: What are the implications of being a ‘hybrid’ creature at the intersection of divine and human natures?   

DO IT (INNER PRACTICE): Share your experience or attempts with “contemplating the visible world?”

DO IT (OUTER PRACTICE): Share your experience or attempts with “reigning over earth’s creatures”? 


LEARNING FROM GREGORY OF NAZIANZEN: CHURCH OF RECONCILIATION 

Quote from Cynthia Bourgeault

For at least five centuries, Christianity carried at its heart the knowledge of a spiritual path.  Grounded in its image of Jesus the Life-giver, its path was a middle way - not heroic individualism, or death mysticism, or exaggerated asceticism, but an invitation to become unified ones, in dynamic communion with Jesus, the Unified One.... What became of this path?.... In Jesus the Savior - the Rescuer - we have heroics, and an implicit negativity: one gets rescued out of something - in this case, out of sin and death.... As the distance between Christ and humanity grew steadily wider and more unbridgeable, the foundations of the spiritual path gradually eroded.... When the original imperative toward unity [dynamic communion of unified ones with the Unified One] or wholeness, was lost, and self-perfection was seen no longer as a proper human task but as an arrogant denial of human sinfulness, one can legitimately speak of a “Lost Christianity”.  ~ Cynthia Bourgeault, “The Gift of Life” 

TALK ABOUT IT: What is the Christian spiritual path? 

• Go to Facebook Page :: Episcopal Church of Reconciliation Questions of Faith
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
• Discuss :: Begin or join a discussion. 

DO IT (INNER PRACTICE): Becoming one with our longing to become one with Christ

• Go to Facebook Page :: Practicing Spirituality with Church of Reconciliation
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
• Share :: Share your experience of identifying and working with the longing within you to become one with the “Unified One”.  

DO IT (OUTER PRACTICE)::  Healing humanity 

• Go to Facebook Page :: Faith in Action with Church of Reconciliation 
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page. 
• Share:: How can we recognize and cultivate the dynamic communion of humanity with Jesus, the Unified One?

Quote from Father Thomas Hopko

Evagrios of Pontus, a fourth-century writer, wrote about this [forgiving oneself].  He said that there are in us many selves, really, but at base there are two: the real self, which is the Christ-self, and a legion of other selves, which are the Adamic selves.  What happens when we hear the word of grace is that we are split down the middle.  We don’t want grace because of the pain we have to face, the fears and so on.  But one of the things that happens - one of the lies of the Devil, so to speak - is the conviction that we are not worth it.  It is not for us.  We are to bad, worthless.  Then there comes a point, as Evagrios said, when the Christ-self needs to be convicted that “yes, I exist, and I am acceptable,” and so to have pity and mercy on those other selves.  - Father Thomas Hopko, “Living in Communion”

TALK ABOUT IT: Forgiving ourself = Our Christ-self having mercy on our other selves

• Go to Facebook Page :: Episcopal Church of Reconciliation Questions of Faith
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• Discuss :: Begin or join a discussion. 

DO IT (INNER PRACTICE): Receiving mercy from our Christ-self

• Go to Facebook Page :: Practicing Spirituality with Church of Reconciliation
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
• Share :: Share your experience of the practice (or attempts) of receiving mercy from your Christ self

DO IT (OUTER PRACTICE): Extending mercy from our Christ-self to others  

• Go to Facebook Page :: Faith in Action with Church of Reconciliation 
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page. 
• Share:: your experience of the practice of extending forgiveness to others from your Christ self 

Quote from Fr Symeon Burhold

No images of Fr Symeon
Burhold are available.
His article on "Divine
Energy" can be found
in "The Inner Journey:
Views from the
Christian Tradition".

The world is radiant with God’s presence, with divine energy. He is dynamically present in all things as their creator and all things participate in the divine energy to the extent that he acts upon them and they are patient to his touch. In Christian tradition, it is the human person who is most capable of this participation.  We are believed to be made in the image and likeness of God and, on the basis of the ancient axiom that knowledge and vision occur with likeness, the Church has affirmed that man can behold God with the eye of his soul, or heart.  So our heart's gaze can be fixed upon God.  To sin is literally to fall short of this vision of God and to deal with things merely as objects of our own gratification and convenience.  - Fr Symeon Burhold, "Divine Energy" 


TALK ABOUT IT: Sin as falling short of our capacity to behold God

• Go to Facebook Page :: Episcopal Church of Reconciliation Questions of Faith
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• Discuss :: Begin or join a discussion. 

DO IT (INNER PRACTICE): Beholding God

• Go to Facebook Page :: Practicing Spirituality with Church of Reconciliation
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
• Share :: Share your experience as you practice beholding God

DO IT (OUTER PRACTICE): Dealing with everything differently

• Go to Facebook Page :: Faith in Action with Church of Reconciliation
• Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page. 
• Share :: Share your experience as you practice dealing with things differently

Quote from Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Yom Kippur This Week 
  
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (At-One-ment, October 7^th at sundown) is the culmination of all this effort [of asking forgiveness from family and friends, and of honoring all creation as a manifestation of God]. We have made peace with our neighbor, peace with nature, and now it is time to make peace with God.  

For me, making peace with God is about remembering that God isn’t about salvation or damnation, reward or punishment. God is about reality, for God is reality. I make peace with God by realizing that life is wild, unpredictable, often horrifying, and yet always hopeful. I remind myself to not expect things to be other than they are, and to be thankful for all that they are. With this act of radical acceptance comes radical forgiveness, and, for me, this is what Yom Kippur is all about.  - Rabbi Rami Shapiro “Beyond Religion”, Jewish Fall holy Days, Tuesday, September 20 (blog address http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/)

TALK ABOUT IT: Yom Kippur ~ Making Peace with God 

1. Go to Facebook Page :: Episcopal Church of Reconciliation Questions of Faith
2. Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
3. Discuss :: Choose “Yom Kippur ~ Making Peace with God” to begin or join a discussion. 

DO IT: INNER PRACTICE: Radical Acceptance 

1. Go to Facebook Page :: Practicing Spirituality with Church of Reconciliation
2. Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page.
3. Share :: Choose “Radical Acceptance” to share your experience as you practice accepting God and life as it is.  

DO IT: OUTER PRACTICE: Radical Forgiveness 

1. Go to Facebook Page :: Faith in Action with Church of Reconciliation
2. Like :: Use the Like tab to like this page. 
3. Share :: Choose “Radical Forgiveness” to share your experience in practicing seeking and extending forgiveness.