Monday, April 27, 2015

Spiritual Evolution - sermon April 26

“Spiritual Evolution”
Rev. Alison Longstaff, April 26, 2015
Bath Church of the New Jerusalem
Originally preached April 19, 2015, at Creekside New Church, PA 
Jeremiah 15:15–21, Matthew 16:21–28; HS 3603:3

Heavenly Secrets 3603:3 “During the first stage [of regeneration] nothing more than memory is involved in knowing things in the Word and in knowing things of doctrine about faith. During this stage we believe we are good because we know many things from the Word and from doctrine, and are able to apply some of them not to our own life but to the lives of others.”(Emphasis mine) Emanuel Swedenborg

I am going to talk about the stages of the spiritual journey through the lenses of James Fowler, M. Scott Peck, and Emmanuel Swedenborg.  I hope I am going to illustrate how these stages are described in fine detail in the Bible, and just how many resources there are available to us already if we wish to understand this process better.  Finally, I hope to assure you that this tool is for personal use only.  Analysis of where someone else is on the inner spiritual journey is none of your business.  To the extent that you use this tool to compare yourself to others you need to put the tool down.  Where we are on the road is God’s business, and our only focus should be what our next step is.  Period.  Applying truth to others (not ourselves) is a sign of a very primitive version of spirituality.

In the realm of psychology, scholars have been researching and mapping stages of development since Jean Piaget began exploring children’s early cognitive development in the 1930s.  He discovered that children were not “dumb” or “wrong,” but that their perspective of reality was progressing along a normative, measurable pathway.  For a child to move from a more simplistic world view to one more sophisticated, it required “readiness,” and this happened of its own accord in its right time.

In my Psych undergrad at Bryn Athyn College I had the privilege of using some of Piaget’s tests with the kindergarten children.  With birthdays spanning approximately a year from the oldest to the youngest, these kids were just around the age where most of us commonly make the transition from one stage to the next.  During the test, some of the children answered clearly with the earlier stage perspective; some clearly with the later stage perspective.  But I remember the one or two student who would answer according to the first perception and then say, “Wait…” and their brow would be furrowed, and I could see them wrestling with the possibility that their answer might not be what they first expected.  They were standing on the edge of readiness to move into a more sophisticated way of viewing the world.

From my perspective, each child was “right,” because each child was seeing reality in an age-appropriate way. It wasn't for me to impose my “correct” world view upon them or push them somewhere they were not ready to be. I was simply measuring where they were.  It was fascinating.

The concept of there being normal developmental stages along which humans progress began to extend into many areas of psychological research.  We now have Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of morality and James Fowler’s stages of spirituality to guide us in our understanding of human development. I did a double take when I learned that there is a whole academic discipline called “The Psychology of Religion; I would have jumped disciplines right then if I had been able to do so and stay as an ordination track student.

But think about this. Psychologists have been mapping in increasingly fine detail what is required for a child to move from each stage of cognitive development to the next.  We now have many specific, almost laser-pointed therapies to aid children across developmental hurdles, thanks to decades of research.  The vast majority of us navigate these large developmental stages by ourselves without needing support.  But for those children who need a bit of help we have ever more pointed strategies and tools to help them along their educational and developmental paths.   

Just imagine if we could extrapolate this wisdom across disciplines to apply to human spiritual development.  Imagine if we could map in finer and finer detail what is required for each spiritual developmental leap such that spiritual practitioners could, if it was appropriate and welcomed, apply similar tools to aid the spiritual traveler across spiritual hurdles.

We do have one map already.

It was Rev. Dr. George Dole that introduced me to the idea that the Word of God—the Bible—isn't just “full of correspondences.”  He put forward that the Bible, as disjointed and edited and pieced-together as it is, contains the arc of our spiritual development from our spiritual awakening until the moment we enter the spiritual Holy City.  It took me awhile to comprehend how this could be, but ever since, the idea has grown and grown on me.  It works for me. You can take it how you like.

The more I have worked with this idea, the more it seems to me that the Bible is a manual full of reassurances about the way we simply are.  Not only does God know we will lose our way, God has described the many ways we will lose our way and the ways we will get back on track again and again.  The story of the Children of Israel turning back in fear the first time they approach the Holy Land isn't there so that we will know better and not do that too.  It is there because that is what we do.  All the elements in every story—every single spy, not just Caleb and Joshua—make up each person’s inner reality.  Sometimes a fearful turning back is what we choose, rather than a courageous plunge forward.  And so God lets us take another lap and try again, like a horse that has balked at a jump, or a soloist that has missed her entrance.

According to Fowler and the Bible, we start out needing rules about how to “do religion right.” At that stage we excel at noticing all the other people who are breaking the rules, while being astonishingly blind to our own foibles. “Thank goodness I am not like all those critical, judgmental people!”

But over the course of our spiritual walk, as in the Biblical arc, we soften, and broaden, and learn. After a lot of loss and hardship, the message becomes gentler and more internalized.  There is a new quality in the Greek testament. Jesus tells us not to worry so much about the rules, but to look at our hearts and intentions.  As we move more and more deeply into a genuine walk with a living God, we are stretched and opened to new avenues and perspectives of wisdom. Yes, there is something inside each of us that cannot stand this new openness, which participates in the crucifixion of the new living Divine Human which has entered our story.  But there is also within us the parts of us who have remained as loyal as possible, and who experience the terrible loss.  Even this new, living, breathing spirituality needs to relinquish its earthly ties to fully mature. Jesus’ resurrection into a fully spiritual life enables us to continue our walk on toward the Holy City, where the gates are open in all directions and never close, to which all are invited, and in which all the nations will be healed. 

Step by step, with cycles that seem to repeat and repeat the same lesson over and over, the Bible describes every facet of every challenge we will face.  We don’t need to see how.  It just is in there. It describes the very journey our Lord and Savior walked because He walked the same path we must so that we never again need to walk it alone. Every step of every stage and sub-stage of human regeneration in right there for us in the Holy Word, and we are only just beginning to see how many ways it always has said what we have done, are doing, and are going to do, no matter where we are on the path.  It is God with us in a more intimate way than we have ever imagined.

When I suggested pursuing a doctorate taking Fowler’s and Peck’s and Swedenborg’s stages of faith and working on producing a guide for pastors and spiritual leaders (that could help them assess congregations and parishioners, so as to know what tools or materials would be most meaningful and supportive to that stage) my adviser got very nervous.

His primary concern was that such a body of work would primarily be used to judge people and box them into “stages” with some folks claiming a greater level of “spiritual evolution” than others. 

But superiority, comparison, and judging are all markers of the earliest stages of the journey.  To the extent that you are judging others, to that extent you are not very far into the loving phase of growth.  The higher angels wouldn't even consider judging the souls they help, they would simply get down to serving from use and love.  They would help and support with subtlety and respect, and with no sense of superiority. 

The psychometrists and psychologists who work with delayed children do not feel superiority or contempt toward the children.  It is not even on the radar.  The ones most likely to feel contempt are the other kids who are the same age or a grade or two ahead of the child in question.  Just be aware of that next time you are feeling judgmental—what does it say about you?  (Because judging is always about you anyway, not the one you are judging.)

Finally, after lots of personal work, one reaches a point where someone else’s location along the spiritual trek is utterly irrelevant. The goal is service. The absolute attitude is respect for the other’s spiritual well-being; and help is given in relationship and with respect.  

This topic has interested me a long time. I still might pursue finding fine-honed tools for aiding individuals and congregations over spiritual developmental hurdles. 

Meanwhile I am developing a simplified lining up Fowler’s Stages of Faith alongside Scot Pecks and Swedenborg’s.  It is a beginning exploration of the ways these different theories align.  James Fowler’s Stages of Faith have transformed my thinking.  It has explained a lot of things to me and given me a much gentler and more compassionate lens through which to view all the different religious voices and energies I encounter.  Copies of this tool are available from me.  Just ask and I will email it to you.

As you use this tool to speculate on where you might be, remember that we do a lot of forward and backward movement.  One part of us may be stuck in an earlier stage while another aspect of us might have moved along pretty far.  It is not black and white, and it is especially not for judging others.  Even if you suspect that someone you know is at an earlier stage than you are, that is none of your business.  That is in God’s hands and according to God’s timeline.  Your job and my job is to love each other the way God loves us, and to treat each person the way we would want to be treated.  I know I have always preferred patience and compassion and grace over judgment and contempt every time.

Stay safe out there, and be kind to each other.

Amen

The Readings
Genesis 12:1-4 (Holman Christian Standard)
The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.

Revelation 22 (portions, Living Bible blended with New King James)
And he pointed out to me a river of pure Water of Life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew Trees of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month; the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.
There shall be nothing in the city that is evil; for the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will be their light; and they shall reign forever and ever.
Then the angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true: 
“Pay attention, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to how he or she has given. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and Last. 
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let each one who hears them say the same, ‘Come.’ Let the thirsty one come—anyone who wants to; let that one come and drink the Water of Life freely. 
“He who has said all these things declares: Yes, I am coming quickly!”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen!

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