We Need Each Other

Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call

    and understanding raise her voice? 

On the heights, beside the way,

    at the crossroads she takes her stand; 

beside the gates in front of the town,

    at the entrance of the portals she cries out:

“To you, O people, I call,

    and my cry is to all who live.

“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,

    the first of his acts of long ago.

Ages ago I was set up,

    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth,

    when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had been shaped,

    before the hills, I was brought forth,

when he had not yet made earth and fields

    or the world’s first bits of soil.

When he established the heavens, I was there;

    when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

when he made firm the skies above,

    when he established the fountains of the deep,

when he assigned to the sea its limit,

    so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

    then I was beside him, like a master worker 

and I was daily his delight,

    playing before him always, 

playing in his inhabited world

    and delighting in the human race.

The Gospel of Mary of Magdala translated by Karen King  2: 1-5

“... Will matter then be utterly destroyed or not?” The Savior replied, “Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature. Anyone with two ears able to hear should listen!”

I attended a worship and preaching conference virtually last month and was delighted that one of the speakers, Rev. Adrienne Thorne from Riverside Church in New York City spoke about the importance of embodiment in worship. To invite people to check in with their body. She invites congregants to an embodied practice each week before she preaches. She finds that people can be more present and heart centered. So, let’s try an embodied practice to prepare ourselves for the message today. 

The embodied practice I will offer goes quite nicely with some of what we learned in our exploration of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine last year and continue to do. It invites us to become more heart centered and present. To come from a place of heart rather than only our mind and head space. To connect to our whole selves and to one another. To settle our body, mind and whole self.

I’d like to offer you the practice of Heart Focused Breathing, a practice I have learned through my work with horses and developed by the Heart Math Institute. If you’ve been to my ranch at all to experience the partnership with horses, this will be a familiar practice to you. 

I invite you close your eyes or have a soft gaze on the ground. Allow yourself to focus on your breath. Now imagine that your heart is doing the breathing rather than your nose and lungs. Imagine that each breath flowing in and out of your body is coming in through your heart and flowing out through your heart. You might find it helpful to place a hand on your heart as you practice to help you focus.  It might also take a few moments to get the rhythm of your heart taking in each breath into your body. As you get the rhythm of taking in each breath into and then released from your heart you may start to notice that you are breathing a bit slower and deeper than you were. Allow yourself to sink into this practice and perhaps consciously breathe this way as we move through this sermon time. Allowing your heart to receive just as much as your brain. And feel free to open your eyes at any time. 

Thank you for trying something new.

I have allowed myself to ruminate on the 2 scripture passages and the theme of interdependence and the Divine Feminine for a few weeks now. You know me well by now and so I’m guessing it is no surprise to you that these themes are a huge part of my theology and way of being in the world. 

I found that almost every day for the last few weeks, the themes worked its way into my world. My social media feeds, Substack writings, newsletters I received in my email, in pastoral care encounters, in horse coaching and learning sessions, an online retreat with Mirabai Starr, and in spiritual direction sessions. She (The Divine Feminine) is in the news, outside our door, and in our community. I didn’t have to look hard, she was just there.

Today’s scripture from Proverbs is all about Lady Wisdom. It was in the lectionary; I didn’t handpick it – I love how our mischievous the Divine Feminine works. Raymond, go ahead about put up the slide. This is a painting by Vicki Schuck who I discovered online. This is her depiction of the Divine Feminine, Sophia, the feminine aspect of God that she imagines as she read Proverbs 8. I found it to be really moving and wanted to share it with you all today as we explore her. 

So, Lady Wisdom is in the book of Proverbs, this feminine aspect of God. Not hidden. Not told to be quiet. Not told she doesn’t belong or shouldn’t speak. Not a threat to the masculine. 

Instead, we hear that Lady Wisdom, this feminine aspect of God is right there in the beginning. Before anything else was created, she was first and even more than that, helped in the creation of the rest of everything as a master worker. Equal with the male aspect of God, in relationship, connected.

She raises her voice; she stands at the crossroads and the city gates. She is loud and proud, and her message is for everyone. She is intimately connected with the Creator, God. A beloved aspect of the Divine speaking the truth and playing, dancing and helping bring life from nothingness. She says she delights in the human race, suggesting an intimacy, an interconnectedness with all that is – people, plants, animals, water, literally everything. 

You see from the artists depiction that everything is intermingled, connected, vibrant, alive. This is the invitation Lady Wisdom is shouting at the gates and the crossroads. You matter, You belong, You are loved. Join hands, be in relationship

Some people call this feminine aspect of God, Lady Wisdom. Some call her Divine Feminine. Some call her Sophia. She was lost or hidden away as more patriarchal systems dominated. Some tried to destroy Her, but she wasn’t having it. Many are re-discovering her and finding rich meaning and a more full understanding of the Divine.

Joyce Rupp in her book A Star in My Heart says this. “If this is the first time you are meeting the divine feminine in the form of Sophia, you may be excited or you may be wary. Either way, I encourage you to be open and lay aside all expectations. Holy wisdom enters in unexpected ways, at unforeseen opportunities. All we have to do is keep the heart and mind available for her transforming movement. It has been my experience through the years that she brings us what is essential for our personal growth. It is for us to receive her gifts with confidence and a desire to grow even closer to the one who brings our being.” (page IX Preface)

She goes on to say, “I see it as the energy of the divine in each of us, connecting us to all of life. I am interconnected to all others because of the stream that runs deep within my spirit. In a mysterious way that I cannot understand, God's loving energy fills the Earth and bonds me to all who live. Likewise, I am bound and interconnected to all creatures and elements of the Earth because I, too, am made of matter and energy as they are.” (The Star in my Heart by Joyce Rupp p 18, 19)

An aspect of the Divine Feminine, of Sophia, is that there is no hierarchy, we are all equal. No one is better than, more useful than another. Rupp says, “Letting go of the better than approach to life has also influenced my relationships with people. It has helped me to approach persons from other cultures, races, ideas and philosophies with greater openness and reverence. I am more able to see that all are truly my sisters and brothers. I am united with them. Matter and energy connect us all. There is a vital bond that needs us.” 

Rupp goes on to describe what she calls “Sophia moments” that happen throughout the day. Those ordinary moments that happen and then she stops you in your tracks to notice and reflect. To ask what does this mean to me right now? What am I supposed to learn? How does this affect me? This tree, this bird, this plant, this person, this experience. That is what the Divine Feminine invites us to. Notice with all of ourselves, particularly our heart and senses, not just our mind.

A few weeks ago, I had this incredible experience, my own Sophia Moment, as I went out to feed the horses in the morning. A Meadowlark was singing on the power pole. Singing and singing as if she was calling to me. Singing only to me. She stopped me in my tracks. I stopped and listened. I was mesmerized by her song. In awe. And I thanked her for the beautiful moments we shared. This happened for days on end and each day I was awe struck. I finally heard that I needed to reflect and go deeper, that there was an invitation here for me. So I took my journal outside to a bench and invited Lady Wisdom, Sophia, to help me go deeper to understand her message for me. More meadowlarks came to sing. And then other birds too – hummingbirds, goldfinches, lark sparrows. It was otherworldly, holy, sacred. What flowed as I wrote was a poem, a message to my soul that continues to impact me today. I knew I was connected to all and there is no separation. 

It was one of those “Sophia moments” when the Divine Feminine aspect of God grabbed me and wouldn’t let go until I heard the message. This is how the Divine Feminine works. 

As I reflect on all this, I’m reminded of the theology of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I know many of you read The Book of Joy about the meeting and teachings of he and His Holiness The Dalai Lama. His theology intertwines his Christian lens with his African lens to create this theology based in Ubuntu, the philosophy that I am because We are. 

He taught, “we can be human only in…Community, in koinoia, in peace.” That is, the only way to make another person's determination of who one is make sense and remain properly intelligible to the two persons is to appeal to that which is beyond both of them.” (Reconciliation by Michael Battle, p 5). According to Tutu in his book God's Dream he says, “A self-sufficient human is subhuman. I have gifts that you do not have, so consequently, I am unique - you have gifts that I do not have, so you are unique. God has made us so that we will need each other. We are made for a delicate network of interdependence.”    (Reconciliation by Michael Battle, p 35)

This same theme is how the version of the Gospel of Mary starts since we are missing the first several pages. She asked Jesus a question and his response was, “Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature.” This is also found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he wrote about everyone having various gifts and not everyone is the same, but each is needed and valuable.

We need each other. We are connected. This is how we were created. We need the masculine and the feminine and everything in between. We need images of God that depict all aspects of the divine so that all feel loved and included. 

Humans are not meant to live alone, to be isolated. We were created to be with others, all of creation. We are individuals, yes, and we are connected to all others, and we need to belong. Our strength is in community, in our interconnectedness.

The myth of individualism is just that. A myth. We thrive when we are in community. It isn’t easy all the time that’s for sure. But we are created to be connected. People who are isolated experience higher levels of all kinds of illness and dis-ease. Studies show this over and over. I know you can think of at least one person and for some of you many, that helped you become the person you are today. That one teacher when you were a kid who saw you. The friends who propped you up. 

And we are intimately connected to all of nature. In that passage from the Gospel of Mary it doesn’t just say humans are interconnected, it says, “Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other.” Our nature is bound with the nature of dogs, cats, birds, bears, owls, the trees, the streams. One interconnected web of belonging. As Chief Si’ahl, Namesake of the City of Seattle said, “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

The other day Merlyn from Creativity Alive and I offered a Sound Bath with Horses at my ranch for a group of women who are in recovery from substance use disorder. Many of you have attended these Sound Bath events here, but when you experience it at my ranch you are surrounded by 4 horses at liberty able to move about as they feel moved. It is quite an experience. 

One woman stood off by herself as everyone was gathering. I stood with her and made a comment about needing to have a moment of quiet and she said yes, and we bonded about being introverts. The energy of the women was high and erratic. Once the Sound Bath began the energy in the paddock shifted to more settled. The horses held beautiful space behind the women, one fell asleep, the other horses so comfortable they went back to grazing, their version of harmony. 

One horse, Anu, who many of you know is blind, walked up to the back of the group a few minutes into the Sound Bath. He stood a moment and then ever so gently, took a step toward the quiet woman. She is the only one he approached during the event. She stood up and he put his head directly on her heart. She looked at me with startled eyes and I encouraged her to breathe. To allow him to be with her there. She allowed it for a few seconds which is what she could handle. She stroked his neck and teared up. She walked over to one of the leaders and asked for a hug. I’m guessing she isn’t one to tear up in front of others very often. She came back; he did the same thing again. And then she whispered to me, “I relapsed and almost died today. And the community took me back anyway. And this horse …” and her voice trailed off. 

He stood a moment longer and with his job complete, Anu walked away, she sat down. Later, I offered a coloring sheet with a horse on it and colored pencils for the women in case anyone wanted to process with art. She took a sheet, colored pencils and colored the horse to look similar to Anu. She wrote the most beautiful thank you note for us – “This saved my life literally. I’m gonna be grateful for the rest of time.” 

This is the Divine Feminine at work in tandem with a compassionate masculine God. This is interconnectedness. This is a “Sophia Moment.” The horses, the music, the birds, me, Merlyn, my dog Harley, the women gathered all formed this beautiful community and held each other. These women live together to support one another in their recovery from whatever substance use disorder they experience. We met them where they were. This woman allowed Anu, the music and us to hold her in her pain. It was the most transformative moment I have every experienced. It was holy and sacred, and Sophia/Holy Wisdom was present and part of it. 

With everything happening in this country and around the world, there are messages everywhere about disconnection, power over, hierarchy, not everyone belongs, some are better than others, the importance of productivity, domination, dominion over the planet, hustle culture and more. Yesterday a gunman assassinated a Minnesota State Senator and her husband and attempted to assassinate another Senator. And in spite of that or maybe because of it, around the country, in cities and small towns, millions of people gathered to protect Democracy and stand up for love and justice. All over the country and here in Boulder today the community comes together to celebrate Queer Pride. We can choose to be interconnected or disconnected. I hope you join me in choosing interconnectedness and love.

If we follow the invitation of the Divine Feminine and open our hearts as well as our minds, we hear and feel the tug in our heart for interconnectedness and caring for one another. To embrace both a masculine image and a feminine image. In simple ways, in extravagant ways. And it matters. 

How do you experience the Divine Feminine? Have you experienced Sophia Moments? How do you experience the interconnectedness of all?