The context of a human life provides the Universal Spirit with a very particular instance in time and space that cannot be replicated. In Christuman, we look to a spiritual lineage, a golden chain of very personal instances in which this universal Ineffable is made manifest in the unique context of the daily lives and actions of soulful men and women. We look for a continuity of origo where the singularity of the one human amplifies the oneness of the god-everywhere-and-all knowing. Our way is not to distill our understanding of God to a unifying definition, rather ours is a way to instill the context of all that a human can be with all that the God is and was and is to come.
Benjamin and Teri Martin
Growing up, listening, reading, I found that even with my most definitely not-fundamentalist upbringing, it made me angry that people seemed determined to reduce the God-of-all-the-universes into a petty tyrant who cared about jots and tittles.
God cares only that we be who we are—that we perform the magnificent works we came here to do.
My transgressions are against myself—self-abandonments of me, shoddy workmanship in the manifesting of myself.
How can I atone? Simply by coming back to center—to Self, forgiving my own sin. The danger? People do forget the way back sometimes because...of severe rebellion or stupidity. But God has planted the seed of light in us and eternally sprinkles breadcrumbs on the path home.
Donna Leichtling
St. Vincent de Paul: 16-17C Catholic priest who worked among the poor in France and founded the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and the Congregation of the Mission
I have heard a new song—
a song for the worlds to be,
from the songs that have been
and will be eternally in our hearts
and when you hear it
You will know the Divine—all that is holy and all that is sacred—
You will belove the Divine—as God, as Yahweh, as Brahma, as Allah, as Buddha, as Tao.
You will know—there is a difference between God and religion.
You will know—there is a difference between religion
and church or synagogue or mosque or temple.
You will know—that the sacred is ineffable yet capable of touching each of us deeply.
You will know—that we were created creators in the image of the Creator;
for we create our own lives in the choices we make.
You will know—that you are an animal until you choose to become human.
You will know— that to choose to become human and then to become human is to become Divine.
All believed and all beloved.
It is the song of the Aristoi of God.
Benjamin Martin
On This Day…
Shinto festival honoring the Shen of winds, west, and autumn
We hold that “humankind is the paradox, the polarity, the symbiosis and the harmony of the physical (Earthly) and the spiritual (Divine).” Ours is a way that seeks transformation and so rather than resolve all contradictions, we attempt to create new beauty from the tension of the polarity. We seek an ongoing, living exchange of human and divine; a daily communion, a love affair extraordinaire. We seek a beloving extraordinaire—a beloving strong enough to draw humankind and god together in submission to the power of creation.
Teri Martin
H. G. Wells born 1866 in Bromley, England: novelist, historian, writer of political and social commentary; best known for his science fiction, died 1946
Works: The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau
Quotes: “Advertising is organized lying.” “Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.” “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”
O Beloved Spirit,
We hold to the worthiness of our lives—
that somehow our efforts will merit visitation,
that somehow our achievements will gain good favor,
that somehow true words and honest work will save.
And yet, in our hearts we feel, we know
our efforts, achievements, words, work,
bring us no closer.
Move us beyond the expectations attached to our deeds,
that we may purify the prayers we live.
Link us to faith first; that the outcomes of what we do
grow out of our love for what we cannot know.
The body without the breath is dead;
our works without the faith, stubbed off.
May our deeds be infilled with holy breath,
our only means to the gift of Spirit Holy.
In your Image, Amen.
Benjamin Martin
Upton Sinclair born 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland: writer known for his “muckraking” exposure of American industrial practices, died 1968
Works: The Jungle, Oil, King Coal
Quotes: “Fascism is capitalism plus murder.” “They use everything about the hog but the squeal.”
Donald Hall born 1928: Pulitzer Prize winner and Poet Laureate
Works: Oxcart Man, Essays After Eighty, Life Work
Quotes: “Contentment is work so engrossing that you do not know that you are working.” “Everything important always began from something trivial.”
