3 Minutes up the Street
You know something's up spiritually
...when a woman Minister you've always
wanted to know better....Rev Bonnie Tarwater
moves up the street with her
Church of Mary Magdalene
And dog house chapel!
You know something's up spiritually
...when Rev Bonnie commences a book group
for a book you've always wanted to read,
The Meaning of Mary Magdalene,
By the great, feminist Theologian, Cynthia Bourgeault.
Wow, I mean-3 minutes up the street.
I took tea and eggplant casserole
To welcome Bonnie & her husband Walt...
Rev Bonnie gave me back god....really!
I've long had a resistance to God (similarly to Jesus)...
Too many times at the stake, I think
As the Inquisition still runs terror through
My veins.
We're only on week two of the
Meaning of Mary Magdalene...
But two things are abundantly clear:
Magdalene was no whore
And Jesus was the first feminist Christian.
So, I can't say more right now about
How apparently Magdalene represents
The true inner spiritual journey-
The relational Self and Partnership-
The union of Male/Female,
Body/Spirit and all beings.
I can, however, tell you that at dinner
With Bonnie and Walt...We talked about god.
Tell me about the god you don't believe in
Rev Bonnie said.
Now there's a prompt.
No personified, white bearded punitive,
Finger pointing patriarch for me, I said.
Bonnie replied:
What about the impulse of creativity
That courses through all?
What about the truth of our
Interconnectedness with all living beings
And our mother Gaia?
What about love-
That magical mystery tour
Of the human heart-
That makes life worth living
Even when we can't create or connect?
Oh!
What if these energies
Which I experience.....
revere and cherish
are god?
Oh!
Now, that's something I can rest in....
The next morning Arturo said:
I can't go for "A god"
Or "The God",
But god energy...
That's something else.
Maybe, just maybe, it's
Time to receive this gift-
Of Bonnie and Walt,
Of a fresh and wondrous
Invitation to the Divine.
I mean really -
3 minutes up the street!
Penelope Young Andrade, 11.7.15