A Monthly Newsletter from Our Minister – Rev. Jim McKinley
As I’ve grown older, words I thought I knew have taken on new meaning. The new meanings reveal new understandings. The new light they cast gives life a different look; more often than not it’s a look that renews energy and restores hope. Religion itself is such a word. It has become my most expansive word of orientation, referencing no less than the all encompassing everything of life and love and mystery that I live in. In this light it becomes a word of excitement and reassurance, exploration and embrace, compass and comfort. It concerns itself very little with the institutional or oppositional understandings most commonly attributed to it. The meaning of religion I’m talking about can’t be squeezed into a boxed set of beliefs.
Another word that escapes the box to look out over broad vistas is this month’s Soul Matters theme, revelation. Here revelation is that “new image or insight [that] enables us to see the whole of life in ways that personally eluded us.” (Sharon D. Parks) It’s no longer a word that’s confined to the province of God or in church or from the minister; it comes from the composing, creative power of our imagination. The Transcendentalist of the mid 19th century emphasized that revelation is not sealed; meaning it is not limited to a book or an institution, but is everywhere. Revelation is open. It comes through our awareness and engagement with Life.
The Soul Matters materials ask: “What does it mean to be a people of revelation?” and answer: “We are called to be humble and open. Open to other perspectives. Open to new insights.” Listen, they say. “This is about Life speaking! To us! [with us and through us]. We are not the only ones doing the talking. Imagine that!” Listen, imagine and “ see the whole of life in ways that personally eluded” you. Buddhists capture the importance of being open and humble in the phrase “only don’t know.” Enlightenment is a moment of revelation: life seen in new light.
Imagination, Revelation, Enlightenment. New light and life. We are “nourished by abundant revelatory moments”. We are all creators as we participate in the creativity and creative energy of life. At this time in our history, perhaps more than ever, we need that creative energy and participation to shine new light on our approach to living. And yet here in our own beloved North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory recently cut funding to the liberal arts programs in the public universities. He believes there are too many degrees in liberal arts and he’s not going to fund something “that’s not going to get someone a job.” Jobs are jobs, so help people get them by creating more opportunities for job training, not by cutting back on opportunities to engage and excite imaginations. The world needs more than jobs, it needs to be nourished by the creative insights of revelatory moments in abundance.
May you be nourished: may revelation open to you and may this Easter and Passover and April springtime cast new light on your life, restore your energy and energize your hope. April is in bloom!