We could comment prophetically on the scene around us. For example, the Civil Rights Movement — it’s not as if there were no real problems there, but they were never solved. Instead, new problems were introduced because, whatever it was the movement started out to be, it was quickly hijacked by elitists for their own power and profit.
And that so-called Antiwar Movement of the 1960s? The Hippies and Flower Children actually got in the way, and that was the way some elites planned it. A whole genre of music was cooked up and turned into a major business just to smother the real deal. Woodstock was not anti-establishment; it was just good old debauchery with funny outfits and loud music. And the people behind it were all from the families of American pro-war nobility.
Not that it really matters much, and that’s why we don’t waste much time talking about such things. We have the wisdom of God in our hearts enabling us to see that stuff, but that’s not why He gave it. A little closer to home is the story of how various new efforts to restore ancient faith have also been hijacked and turned into religious entertainment empires.
So today we have this highly materialistic Prosperity Gospel like a ball and chain around the necks of those who discovered something they thought had been long lost. You can hardly get folks to talk about miracles and visions without getting a big does of “God gimme.” People pray in unknown tongues only so they can have a thrill and get stuff. One of those worries that lurks around the edges of my soul is that our discovery of heart-led communion with Creation will be hijacked the same way.
Why do you suppose the Father granted us this rediscovery of the heart-mind? It’s not to keep it hidden away in the underbrush. Yes, we all will need a certain measure of time away from this noisy shallow world around us, but Jesus climbed mountains to meet with His Father precisely because there was someone down at the bottom of those mountains who needed that revelation brought down to them.
We absorb the mighty gifts of grace and mercy precisely so we can shine the light into a darkened world. If we don’t bring that peace back into the tumult, then we might as well die now and get out of the way. Our mission is His glory in this world. That’s the whole point of reawakening the ancient traditions of trusting our hearts to know God.
Give your attention to your calling and let God worry about the consequences. Seek to awaken the full wisdom of knowing from your heart, but make sure you don’t get lost in all the joy and wonder for yourself. And don’t just shove it into someone else’s face and then run away. The power to commune with Creation is the power to stick around and mediate between Creation and some lost soul who may have an awful long way to come back to sanity. God has been so very patient with me; how can I not pass that forward? Some of you know personally that I’m not just preaching things I won’t do. I’ll keep working with you until God says otherwise; I am not a quitter, but I’ll cut my losses when my heart says so.
And some of you have turned around some really bad situations in your own life. For this, I bow my busted knees to the Father and give thanks. Keep those stories coming; I need to hear them.
Fun quasi-fact about Woodstock: all of the artists were on the same label. Infer from that what you may.
I tried Googling it for confirmation but it’s sketchy.
It wasn’t so much the same label as it was the same group of managers. I knew this some years ago but recently ran across a delightful but highly detailed and extensive rehash of the story in some 16 chapters. It’s the Laurel Canyon/Frank Zappa thing with supporting roles from Jim Morrison, John Phillips, Crosby and Stills, etc. Most of these guys were actually big gun owners and authoritarians.