I am currently looking at the way of the cross. It is a terrifying and exciting study. Terrifying to my flesh, and exciting to my spirit! The cross is the altar. From our perspective, this is the place of daily death into His power over death. The daily, hourly, bringing the unworthy sacrifice of my flesh, to His worthy sacrifice of his-ie bringing myself to His action over death. In His energy, i am accepted and renewed, or reconciled. In His already and ongoing power, i overcome daily the desires of the flesh, by entering His killing of them. I cannot be in myself a worthy sacrifice, but I can enter His, and by so doing have my old nature killed once more. This is part of the way and power of the cross! Even the desire to do good in overcoming my own sin, must be killed. I cannot offer my own sacrifice for sin, He has already done this, and I must enter in, and put that fleshly desire to do good or evil or even to not bother Him, to death. The way of the cross, or the patterns in it, are terrifying for us all, and there is absolutely no other way to get to union with God.

In the book of Revelation, each of His Churches has a unique identity, and is dealt with individually. There is a complexity of identity. The church is an amazingly complex creature or organism in Him. But does the church know what she looks like in His Mirror?

Restoring the true image of the church is part of His Healing of her imagination of herself. She must have a true image of herself, and her many faces, in order to live as whole. In order to do so, she must begin meeting God (who is Whole) in the area of her imagination, so He can truly cleanse her perception; not only that she might see the world accurately, but firstly herself. If she cannot read herself symbolically, she will not be able to “read the times” and know her role in them.

When we say she is salt and light, we are using symbols. She is also many other things which could be stated symbolically. For her to see herself in truth, she must continue to have her imagination sanctified in and through Christ.

Her perception of herself precedes what she is meant to do on earth; for what we do, flows out from who we are. If she does not have an accurate picture of who she is, how can she do her tasks on earth.

God said to Jeremiah, I knew you in the womb, THEREFORE, I called you as a prophet to the nations. His identity preceded his job or calling. The same is true for the whole church. The healing of her imagination of herself is essential for her to fully accomplish all the wondrous things she is meant to do as His Body.

Each of us is in this same process of getting a truer image of ourselves from God’s perspective. In order to do so, we must meet Him in our imaginations, and come closer to His. This is also true for the whole church.

The prophets saw the salvation plan. The 1st century received that plan. We see the second coming and restoration, by this same Spirit. We then move in this spiritual continuum.

We who live already in dawn’s light are living proof that what was seen through this light before us, was true, “having received our salvation”. The prophets saw by this same light, that the grace of salvation would come. It did! Now we can look on to His return and full restoration of all things.

This works in a similar way with the deposit of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing us of what is to come–the fulfillment of all things. The one who justified is also able to walk us out into the fullness of our callings. This one is He who we are already looking upon to get us through life. We are in a stream of progressive, time-specific blessing, God is unfolding His Story through. We are post salvation and heading towards a full restoration of all things, and then we are told a new heaven and earth…

We who stare through history in the spirit of Christ have a great hope of His further revelation. There is energy and life in this knowing. And there is a clear motivation for our daily lives.

It is possible in His Spirit to look through all of history as one long unfolding… The old testament prophets saw salvation, the first coming of Christ Jesus. We can now look on to His second incarnation–this hope purifies us, because it puts each of us in that pure and purifying metaphysical spiritual tunnel  of history. It places us in the light already glowing.

The prophets saw the spiritual continuum of God’s plan. They looked at the salvation chapter, they looked on the restoration of earth chapter–the new city, the new order between the nations (Isaiah 41). They looked on..and this contextualized their current moment in history–their daily setting. Seeing the stream of God’s story through history even going into the future, allowed them to live on the earth with wisdom. This is a prophet’s spirituality–to live consciously in God’s continuum.

Another way to look at this argument for morality is to say that because we can see what is coming, we should conduct our lives in view of that reality.

We ourselves look always towards…

this towards is our strength–what we are looking towards gives us hope, life, joy energy to behave on the earth…for already the dawn is here…

Already moving in, and drawing our guidance and life from, the bright morning star who is already rising in our hearts. That is the way of the prophets, and that is the way forward, and the source from which to live in our present situations.

Peter’s argument in his first letter is that everything is already looking towards, and participating in the dawning. The salvation light has already been given, and even as the prophets saw that light coming- having already received the spirit of Christ in them, by which they saw that future plan and action-so we having the Holy Spirit in us, can see the spiritual continuum–the stream of God’s plans. We can already be knowing that He is returning. We base our actions on earth, upon standing in this continuum. We act accordingly–in short, we live according to our amount of vision. It is because we have a clear view of what is to come, and we ourselves are living proof , and a continuation, of what came before us, that what is to come, is already pressing in on us. Peter’s basic argument in this epistle is that there is throughout history a spiritual continuum, and that if we live in this continuum, we will be able to make sense of our lives.

Daniel’s spirituality was about meeting God through his imagination, and how God was dialoguing with and interpreting history. God’s conversation with him often occurred through symbolic language. If we think of the symbolic both as a metaphysical realm, and an aspect of communication–ie as part of what Reality is, as well as part of how God communicates; then we are comfortable with a God who wants to reveal Himself on every level of Reality, and in every aspect or level of communication. The symbolic realm is a part of how God represented Himself in Reality, and in us, for it is a part of who He is-and by extension what He created! And because of this, it is one of the “planes” in which He communicates Himself to us. If spirituality is indeed a relationship with a Living God, it is clear this is one aspect or dimension of this relationship. 

This is why I think we need to look at Daniel’s way as a model. For the church has largely lost contact with The God of the Imagination. In not being able to meet God in the symbolic, the imagination of the church has become impoverished, where it is no longer able to truly dialogue into culture in a dynamic way; no longer able to represent God in that conversation. As priests, the church is missing a huge part of her task, by ignoring or sublimating the imagination to the task of evangelism or decoration. The imagination of the church should be one of the most vibrant aspects of her communication out into the earth, and the heavens (if we believe Colossians, that part of her task is to bear witness into heaven!). Instead, she is most often silent  or not manifesting God in the realm of symbolic communications.

One reason for this is the lack of integration of the imagination into her leader’s spirituality or relationship with God. The intimacy with God of many leaders in the church is most often doctrinal or in the area of truth, and often also in genuine service to society; but what is missing is part of the way, and the life of Christ-the ministry from the imagination of God into the imaginations of people, cities and nations. 

For creativity is His Life pouring in with fresh and dynamic ways of seeing, beholding and hence perceiving accurately people, cities and nations. We are each meant to know this dimension of The Father. It is part of what we were given access to through the actions of Jesus on the cross. When that veil tore, it was to give us access to more of His Father, including His Imagination! And He did not die for a partial view. He wanted us to go further and know all the fullness!  The cross gives us permission to know The Father’s perception of things. And to not know how God sees is to miss a huge dimension of who He is!

The Bible itself could be said to be a symbolic communication from God. And then, even within this book, there are huge sections where the symbolic is foregrounded or highlighted-including the Psalms and of course the final book of the new testament. We are not without record of God’s symbolic communications into space and time. Still, so often the church does not truly value this aspect of who God is. God is symbolic, creative, and wants to be known and loved in this area of His Own being.

In our day, i believe God is restoring His Own imagination in the church and onto the earth, as a preparation for His Kingdom fully incarnating. And as the church,  we are becoming a living temple for His whole Presence (for He is undivided), and by nature a temple is symbolic; therefore many are coming to know Him, to encounter Him through the imagination. 

The church has tended to make the arts subservient to the gospel message-as if they were separate. But the arts are part of the gospel message, because God is one, and His Son is one, which means that His creativity is part of who He is, and so part of humankind meeting Him. 

There is a great delusion in the church around the arts. Often because it has borrowed the world’s understanding of the arts. For, in the world, art and science; imagination and mind are often separated and in opposition. But not so in God Himself. He is One, integrated-so His creativity informs and works in conjunction with His Thoughts and Mind. We are now without excuse as we live in and are called to bring the Kingdom into a global culture; we are without excuse to ignore this aspect of God’s Identity. And by extension to miss out on this part of our own!

How can we obey Christ in His command to disciple the nations, if we ignore their arts and culture. It is not as if God suddenly stops His Own Being when He approaches the symbolic dimension of humanity! He is One, and He wants to dialogue with the whole of His Creation, and to bring it into proper alignment with Himself through His Son. God does not draw back some part of Himself in this pursuit of knowing and being known,  So neither should we draw back when it comes to dialoguing with the cultural dimension of our cities and nations. For we are called to disciple the whole of each person, city, or nation, not just one aspect. To do this, we must know Him with the whole of ourselves.

The sublimation of the imagination in our relationships with God is actually a form of heresy. For it implies that God is not One. That He is somehow divided, and His Own Creativity is not an aspect of His Being. But, in addition, it divides or disintegrates our own image as well. For if we do not meet Him in and through our own creativity, then that whole dimension becomes dead or occupied by another force.

 For, because we are created in His Image, to not know Him in this aspect of who we are, leaves us prey to either atrophy in this area, or occupation or possession by rebellious forces or spirits. Here is why, so many in the church will need deliverance in the area of their imaginations. For either they are still babes in this area, or they are possessed by alien influences in this area. The whole person is to be in dialogue and relationship with God. In short, it is very dangerous to only have the truth, and not the way and life of Christ in us!

Daniel represents a way out of a poverty of the imagination. He met God in and through his imagination. He knew God in His Symbolic Nature. So, He was able to interpret and communicate symbolically. Hence, his book, is an amazing mixture of history and symbol. The church still stumbles over it, for it has not fully understood over half of Daniel’s spirituality. Let us press on, so that we know God as Daniel did–as the uninterrupted Most High!

how symbols work, using Jesus conversation with Peter has an example:

Upon the rock of the truth about Jesus’ identity, the church is built. This is one of the meanings of Jesus statement when talking to Peter. Who Jesus really is, is the foundation of The True Church. He is the Messiah, sent from God.

Who do you say the son of MAN is? Peter, “The son of God.”

Blessed are you. Why? Because God The Father revealed it to Peter, not men.

The church  being a people who get things revealed from The Father, and who know the true Identity of Jesus.

In this passage, Jesus is revealing both His Own identity, and the church’s.

And the church’s identity is based on His Own.

There is a danger of worshiping “authority” itself rather than Jesus. Jesus is, it seems saying, all authority rest on who I am-the Son of God and the son of man together. So you see later in her history, the church ends up sort of worshiping the relic of even the physical seat of Peter, or his chair of authority. Seems like Jesus was sort of warning against this in this dialogue.

“and the Rock was Christ.”

This of course, is the Rock upon which people will stumble (ie, your view or vision of who Jesus is the unavoidable factor in life, because of the nature of Reality).  Paul also engages in symbolic interpretation.

This Jesus identity dialogue requires some symbolic interpretation. There are several layers of meaning going on. Was Jesus actually conferring His authority to Peter? He was clearly blessing him in specific ways, but was He saying that Peter was the foundation of the Church. I think not.

jonah is sinking into dark hued entanglement, with his God

forced to scope the base of subaquadic mountains, trapped beneath the sea, cloaked in gloom…and then there is this springing  prayer of Jesus, which erupts, as lava in the depths of the sea. In neonic blossoms unseen, this conducting of the infinite,  Jonah , with Jesus, dreams of the cross saying, though you slay me, I will trust.. This  prayer, enters every area of the water, forever.

That wet cool air which comes over mountain stones-as Gideon gazes over the fields
Of the enemy,
Was it as this Irish hillside in rain
in these forgotten spaces where G-d calls a man into
Threshing. This one was the self proclaimed least-from the lowest clan on earth.
Or so it seemed. As was Jeremiah; as was David; as was Benjamin-but this one
Gideon,
A man who needed a sign to know, so
Here appears the Angel of The Lord to bring fire from stone
And fire comes as on the ones scattered in the sun
Even their bones in disbelief
To which Ezekiel saw and spoke
Words of life to no one.

I am the son of no one
And we are marching to Zion
(a mountain, not unlike this)
The place where He is-any place where He is-
The celts call sacred.
But we have come to know that only He
Is Holy-that Pure is where He is.
And we worship after
the placement of His Foot-we remember that
Where He is moving we are

And I was named before my birth, called
Like this cool passing Irish hillside
Where once a man like Gideon stood
And believed.

The fleece went wet then dry
He wanted to be sure it was God
chasing off the marauders
Of His promised spaces.

So He asked, and blew his trumpet
And unified his people, and broke jars
With the stones of this hillside.
A great man not mentioned in faith’s list of fame
A thresher from the start
Who couldn’t believe
God had forgotten
What He said.
Nearby
Was it Patrick who, placing on his bejeweled belt
Leaned out over this valley as if
Over the mouth of a great dragon, saying
“I felt His Presence in these stones.”

And so we trace each twig back to Him
Each face becomes a friend
Each hillside a recollection
Each conversation turns towards Him
As each stone inherits a name
Which waits like this hillside to be
Spoken

This day, I will not stop tracing each thing
To its core, until I hear it-until the enemy scatters
And we know
Who is faithful to sustain.
Jesus, already the rocks tremble
And this hillside remembers
Whose it is.

God tells Solomon–the place where I put my Name-or Identity, i will also put My Eyes, and Heart; for I am One.

God’s Thought life, His Emotional life, and His Imagination all flow from His Identity, as the Great I am. They are not separate in Him.

“For, behold oh, Israel, the Lord your God is one”. The Shema, repeated daily, echoes this fact about God. That how He thinks, feels and sees are all connected and integrated in Him.