OUTLINE FOR OPEN CELLS
(Week of 1 /24 – 1/30, 2010)
Icky World 4
"The Mystic as Lovenic"
Subject - Most scholars agree that the tradition of mystic Christianity begins with and descends from the Gospel usually attributed to the Apostle John and the Christian community which sprang up around his viewpoint. While the synoptic (def. - taking a common view) Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are devoted to the historical-critical method, John's Gospel is powerfully symbolic and mystical. There are key differences between the historical/critical view of Christ and the symbolic and mystical view, differences which lead us from ritual to the vibrant development and practice of faith, hope and love displayed in practical application.
I. The mystic's path; following the footsteps of the Apostle of Love; the symbolic and mystical.
A. What is the essence of mysticism? It is simply "the spirituality of the direct experience of God." John exemplified his deep desire for this during Christ's life and after His death, burial and resurrection.
1. (John 21:20) "Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, 'Lord, who is the one who betrays You?'"
2. (1 John 1:2-3a " . . . the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."
B. The symbolic and the mystical cause us to look beyond what is readily seen and heard.
1. "We think that what is symbolic is not real. But symbolic is not opposed to real. Symbolic is opposed to meaningless. The symbolic takes human words, human persons, and human events and gives them wings so they can dare to talk about the divine - which, of course, is beyond human words." (Demetrius Dumm)
2. "The symbolic is very close to the mystical, which goes beyond the everyday part of life. Mysticism finds the presence of God everywhere. It's like turning the slats on a venetian blind, and suddenly you see beyond the facade. I think the reason the Gospel of John is so different from the other gospels is that the beloved disciple was a great mystic. This led him and his community into a deeper appreciation of the life and ministry and death and Resurrection of Jesus." (Demetrius Dumm)
II. Mystics are compelled to press beyond accepted norms in order to experience God in deeper ways.
A. (Demetrius Dumm) " . . . the ritual is dangerous in some ways . . . " (from a full quote)
B. (J.I. Packer) " . . . we are forbidden to become enslaved to human tradition, either secular or Christian . . . " (from a full quote)
C. (C.S. Lewis) "Discovering spirituality is like discovering you are in a boat. Mysticism is like pushing off from the dock . . . " (from a full quote)
D. (Mark 7:13) " . . . making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down . . . " (no effect/a-ku-ro'-o/to render void, deprive of force and authority)
III. What is the "safe port," the ultimate reality for which the mystic aims?
A. (John 10:30) "I and my Father are one." (Christian mysticism is about this transforming union.)
B. (John 17:21) " . . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You."
C. (Teresa of Avila) "Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which is to look out Christ's compassion to the world; Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which He is to bless men now."
D. (Mother Teresa) "Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus."