ELIJAH

The other night, I found myself around a table with other Believers (not all of them were Christian and most certainly not Taoist) discussing those moments where we literally felt closest to ‘God’. Before we get too distracted, I know you want to know what a Taoist was doing in a Christian ‘Bible Study’ group. A quick answer is that I often read spiritual texts of other faith traditions and usually attend Sunday services at a Methodist Church simply because my understanding of Taoism does not prohibit me from exploring aspects of my own faith through the religious concepts and texts of other Eastern or Western religions.

In my view, God is just another name for Tao but crafted by early church leaders with skin and bones because the concept of a God that we can’t recognize from our own experience is difficult to grasp. For Taoists, we already accept that describing the Tao is impossible. But I am willing to consider that living the Tao, feeling close to that which I call my River of Serenity, can be compared with the experience described in the Hebrew Scriptures of Elijah as he ascended to the heavens into the arms of Yahweh. My Christian Pastor, Jim, calls those moments ‘Elijah moments’, moments we realize we are part of something much greater than ourselves, bringing us closer and closer to the Oneness Christians name God.

As we went round the table sharing our Elijah moments, I was reminded of a particular moment I had sometime last week as I caught up on Facebook. My son’s recent posts reflect the struggles he has had with what he considers very unChristian actions taking place all over the country as families and faith communities are torn apart and deportations of undocumented members of family and faith communities continue under the new administration. My son Daniel's post shared an article on one particularly heart-wrenching action which removed a parent from a family, the American-born children left without that parent’s guidance for perhaps forever as the parent was deported. Above the news article were three simple words ‘Lord have Mercy’’. Three very simple words that struck me with more impact than ever before.

I grew up in Missouri. I would often hear phrases like ‘Lord have Mercy’ or ‘Oh my God’ as a response to finding a snake in the basement window ell or a cockroach under the sink. They were an exclamation of distaste, a recitation without meaning, not really a request or even a preface to one. They were like the 10 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers I was routinely assigned to atone for my ‘sins’ in Catholic grade school. I was told that if I recited all 20 of these fixed verbalizations, my soul would be wiped clean. Kind of like if you brushed your teeth you certainly would have fewer cavities. I used to time myself during these recitations. Once I had it down to three minutes for all 20 recitations. To my young soul, it was the recitation that mattered. Otherwise, surely the priest would think of some other things I should do for atonement. Healing the sick, feeding the hungry – stuff that might actually make me a better person.

‘Lord have mercy’ has been part of the Christian Mass and services for so long, I think it, too, has become a recitation. This time, though, even though no words were actually spoken, in my head I clearly heard my son asking his God for guidance, for comfort in the gathering fear and chaos, for clarity on how the chaos could move him forward in his journey to his own River Jordan. This time, I clearly heard a prayer. And at that moment, after several days of feeling out of sync with the Tao, I felt myself move closer to my own River of Serenity. At that moment, my own son had become my Elijah, my opening to Oneness.

I figured out a long time ago that my role as a Teacher of Spirit had been far surpassed by my son’s growing faith and willingness to live that faith. The Student has become the Teacher and the Teacher has become the Student. And last week, I felt myself repeating those simple words, this time laden with meaning. “Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy on us all.”