Brian’s Reflection: Friday, June 22, 2012

For it was not into my ear you whispered,

but into my heart.

It was not my lips you kissed,

but my soul.

Judy Garland. She died on this date,

1969, at 4 Cadogan Lane, a little mews

house in Chelsea, London, of an “acci-

dental” overdose of barbiturates, age 47.

I have no idea in what context Judy said these words.

It is a perfect metaphor for the relationship we long for with the Mystery we call “God”. Let’s be blunt here:  Christians have the combined Hebrew-Christian Scriptures from which to form a picture of the character and nature of “God”. There are some  -  tortured souls in my estimation  -  who have projected their guilt and their self-hatred onto “God” and onto “God’s” behaviour. But there are many blessed souls who have glimpsed “God” as the manifestation of their own hopes for their liberation and freedom to be beings of love, compassion, justice, peace, inclusion, and acceptance. I’m with them.

The “God” we have anthropomorphized  (i.e., created a human image of that best pictures our deepest inner longings for wholeness and holiness) is an amazing “God” … because (S)he reflects the deepest beauty of our humanity … and therefore the deepest wisdom of our sense of Self.

We humans are capable of imagining a relationship with another person that is characterized by Judy’s words: 

it was not into my ear you whispered,

but into my heart.

It was not my lips you kissed,

but my soul.

Should we find such a relationship, we know at our deepest core it is the embodiment of Love.

Jesus on the Cross is Christianity’s most profound symbol of that Love.

I know it’s possible, because I was gifted with Dennis ... just as the World was gifted with Jesus .. and through Him with a vision of the reality and truth of what we call “God” … by which we know our deepest identity.

Judy was a “tortured” human being, true … and yet  -  as is so often the case  -  it is thorough human weakness that the glory of “God” is revealed … and as well the wondrous beauty of a human person.

The “true God” whispers into our hearts and Her lips kiss our Soul.

Keep searching till you see this “God”.

Brian+