I think I’m through with writing books for awhile.
I’m not through with writing and teaching, and I’m not through with publishing Bible studies as books, but I can’t find any drive to pull together any more big studies on religion and faith right now. Instead, I’m going to invest more energy in active leadership, guiding this religion/faith into a wider human awareness. Meanwhile, I’d love it if someone else decided it was time to write some books. We really do need others involved in this; that’s the whole point of sharing your religion. If it’s good enough to catch the interest of others and help them find their own sense of peace with God, then at least some of them should contribute to the body of expression in writing. I’m not picking anyone for that task; I’m letting you know that God is already working on somebody somewhere in our parish and you should be ready to see some output with a different name on the cover.
So in the business of leadership, I need to help you all come up with ways to help folks on the outside find a doorway they would recognize as an entrance into this rich faith. We have no intention of trapping anyone, so leaving them to find their own door means they can just as easily take their toys and depart when it’s time for them to move on. We share what we have; we can’t share what we don’t have. Somehow it seems my blather to myself has helped others and a number of you hang around for a long time, so it seemed natural to give structure and call it a virtual parish.
The first order of business is reminding everyone that we don’t match the common definition of a “cult.” You can run a search and get a lot of different answers on how that word is defined. On the one hand, we are very different from the mainstream; we are quite unorthodox in many ways. Whether or not it’s a distortion of the original teachings of Christ will always be subject to debate. On the other hand, we deny being any kind of threat. At least in sociological terms, we don’t qualify as a cult. We don’t have any defined rituals; we don’t withdraw from society and build our own little world with secret symbolism. And I deny being the center of things; I openly invite folks to do their own thing and associate on very broad and open terms.
Indeed, my vision does not depend on others being involved, but it surely welcomes them. It’s what I consider the fundamental nature of moral shepherd-craft. To be honest, I’m lazy and would rather just keep to myself and do what I like to do. But I have to make noise or I’m not doing what I like to do. If my noise answers your need, you are welcome to hang around and absorb all you like. I’m lazy but I’m not a grouch, so if you hang around and bug me with your questions, I’m willing to try answering. The door is open and you can move both ways at your whim. That makes extra work for me, but that’s where the Father kicks in and makes me willing to do it that way. Nobody is trapped and I consciously avoid any of the manipulative strategies to keep people involved.
And God forbid I should ever sound like I’m leeching off your resources to support my lifestyle, particularly a lavish one. I consciously avoid anything that resembles panhandling and begging. If you donate anything, it’s because you have arrived at that sense of obligation on your own. And I’m quick to pass stuff on to others to avoid any entrapping accumulations of material property.
(Quick side-note: It’s a lot safer for me if you donate in kind, because the more money that passes through my PayPal account, the more risk there is I’ll have to file it as income on my taxes. The rules keep changing, and for the worse. I’m currently accumulating the PayPal balance for a good business grade laptop, so if you wish to contribute to some other project — like the mountain bike — make sure you let me know. If you have a laptop or bike that seems to fit my request, just let me know and we can arrange shipping. If you want my current bike once I have a mountain bike, again, let me know. And maybe some day we can talk about a better camera, but I’ve already said enough about mere material stuff. Stuff is just tools for serving and we need to keep the focus on serving.)
But if we have to take a label, “Christian Mysticism” isn’t just a mere label. It implies a lack of strong interest in materialism, among other things. It also should imply a lack of deep concern over a defining theology and structure. That sounds cultic to the mainstream, but I don’t want to waste too much time trying to defend against attacks. I’d rather portray a genuine mystical approach of not worrying too much about anything. But the label “Christian Mystic” is intentionally fuzzy and forces people to think and ask questions.
At that moment when someone asks, I have to gauge how to answer for the context. That means putting a little energy into the awareness of context. I have a small advantage in having been obliged to do public relations in the past, not to mention actually preaching to a diverse and cosmopolitan crowd of folks. I’ve taught in schools where the kids were not just Americans, but Canadians, UK, Israeli, Arab, Dutch and even a smattering of other European backgrounds. Their reactions and questions were very instructive in learning to widen my frame of reference. Still, I suppose I have to admit I don’t feel called to work outside the English language, so that carries some limitations of its own. (If you translate anything I write, you’ll take upon yourself the responsibility for reshaping the words to fit the different context.) The net result is that I strive to widen the context as much as possible within the linguistic and cultural expression that comes with the English language now. Frankly, the Internet itself has made that much easier, because it tends to commoditize cultural expression.
In the next few days I’m going to start posting with more focus on how we should attempt to explain what holds us together as a virtual parish, and what makes this religion different. What do we offer? Why does the world need another religion? That’s what we hope to answer. Please, as always, you have as much part as you want in this. I can’t answer the questions you don’t ask.
