Returning After a Hiatus
Snippets from the International Association for Near-Death Studies Conference
My expected two-week hiatus from Substack turned into an unexpected two months. Between vacations, the conference, family responsibilities, and a bout of COVID, life happened. But the Enchanted Cosmos continues to unfold around us and revealing its presense is a joy. I am delighted to join you all again.
Part of my time away included being the moderator of a panel discussion last month at the annual conference of the "International Association for Near-Death Studies" in DC. The Panel was entitled, "Spiritual AND Religious: Bridging Mystical Experiences and Christianity." Many thanks to my co-presenters on the panel discussion: Graham Standish, Roberta Moore, and Walt Scotson.
My opening remarks:
"The title of this panel, “Spiritual AND Religious: Bridging Mystical Experiences and Christianity” is, as you might guess, a play on the words of those who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” Which is a perfectly fine thing to be, but I also think it is a legitimate critique of those of us who are religious to consider if sometimes we are not as spiritual as we believe ourselves to be. That Christianity too is often caught up in this post-enlightenment view of reality that only the material world is real. Oddly, even though our scriptures are founded on people having spiritual experiences, most Christians in the US are products of a Western perspective, which does not take such experiences seriously. This includes Christian clergy. There is often a disconnect.
"I know of many who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE) and Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STE) who have sadly not had the support of their religious institutions when trying to understand and integrate their experiences. I myself spent years as a minister hiding a part of myself because I feared my spiritual experiences wouldn’t be accepted. But I also felt the love and presence of God in worship and with the people. And this love and spirituality I DID experience in Christianity, made it worthwhile for me to stay. The non-acceptance of spiritual experience in churches is usually not done out of malice, but blindness. Because the truth is, most of the world is blind.
"And to the extent that experiences are not accepted, Christianity is the lesser for it. Religion is not God, nor is it divine; it is human-made. Religion is simply a tool which can be used poorly, or well, to help us access the Divine.
"As leaders in various Christian institutions, we on this panel are fortunate to know, and have experienced, profound spiritual depths in Christianity. We find that there is no disconnect between spiritual experiences and the teachings and miracles of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s been there since the beginning.
"As an example can be found In the Gospel of John where there is the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Which is understood as the first miracle of Jesus. [tell story of the wedding...]
"The wine-steward says, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples had faith in him.”
"Outside of the fun little first century etiquette lesson we get about wine, this passage shows what an impact this STE had on his disciples. Because each miracle of Jesus is an STE for those who are present. It is a transcendent experience which changes their lives. Christianity STARTED with spiritual experiences.
"We on this panel know that God has been using NDEs and STEs to lift up Christians, and others, for millennia, in order that all of us may know in our bones that God is Love and all is One. We know there are no outsiders and no one, regardless of their personal circumstances, their religion, or lack of it, is excluded from the loving arms of God’s embrace. Every single one of you in this room is profoundly precious to God. Period. We on this panel have personally experienced the fiery breath of the Holy Spirit which washes over us, and congregations, in worship and in service, inspiring the community to become greater than the sum of its parts. Christianity and mystical experiences are not separate, but intimately intertwined."
Christianity STARTED with spiritual experiences.
The second presentation I led at the conference was a solo one entitled, “How a Series of Mystical Experiences Called Me to the Priesthood, a Life of Joy With God, and Spiritual Service to Others,” in which I described the six primary STEs in my life.
During the question-and-answer period, someone expressed fear of speaking about spiritual experiences in mainline churches where they are generally not accepted. “How do you share your experience and not be looked at like you have three heads?” My off the cuff response:
“In a lot of the mainline churches, we tend to be very much in our heads. We’re very intellectual. We’re completely caught up in the post-enlightenment Newtonian vision of reality. At the same time, and this surprised me because I was really anxious the first time I started sharing this, I was like, “Oh my God, am I going to be tarred and feathered?” but in fact, people loved it! People are hungering for this. Think about you all. The fact that you are even here means that you are being fed and nurtured by this stuff. Believe me, the people sitting in the pews are as well. They are dying for this stuff. They just don’t necessarily know it. This is not to say there aren’t some people who are like, “Oh, you’re crazy.”…
If churches are in the business of people’s spiritual journeys, we need to be able to talk about spiritual experiences.”
“I would suggest trying to speak to your pastor if you’re comfortable with that person. You might find that they’re like, “I’m really moved by what you say. Let me tell you about something that happened to me.” Because what I have found when I go to churches, I’ve been holding back talking about this stuff, but about 10 years ago I just started putting it all out there, and preaching about it, and I can’t tell you how many people come up to me afterwards, when I speak about an experience, and whisper, “Let me tell you about this that just happened to me.” And I swear 50% of any church there are people who’ve experienced something, an NDE, an STE, something. Where they are like, “This is not normal, but it happened, and I’m really excited to find a place to talk about it.” When I talk to my fellow clergy about this, I say, “Don’t come to learn about this stuff in case somebody in your church has a spiritual experience. They’re already having them.”
“I’ll tell you one last story. A couple of churches ago, a gentleman came up to me, he was in his early 80s and he said, “I had an NDE 40 years ago, and I’ve never talked to anyone about it in church, and you made it safe for me to do so.” It was really liberating for him. I feel very strongly about this. If churches are in the business of people’s spiritual journeys, we need to be able to talk about spiritual experiences.”
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All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
Sephanie, I truly value your posts. Thoughtful, insightful, wise, generous-hearted, kind-spirited, and nurturing. They all bring me closer to God, the Creator of all that is. The bridges you are building will stand for generations because they have a solid foundation in Wisdom, which is Truth manifested on this earth. They have an equal foundation in Compassion, which is Love manifested on our earth.
You are truly one of the most intelligent and enlightened individual I've encountered, especially with the way you express your message and explaining the message between spiritualism and religion. Being young and 29, I don't see too many people anymore who's able to understand both sides. Ive been trying to express the connection between numbers and the divine and how the abstract world might be the realm of the spiritual connecting both physical and spiritual realities. Thank you for your work, it's truly inspiring and thank you so much. Looking forward to your future posts !