{"id":170,"date":"2013-06-26T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christpathseminar\/?p=170"},"modified":"2013-06-27T23:47:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T03:47:02","slug":"christ-path-appeal-for-spiritual-but-not-religious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christpathseminar\/2013\/06\/christ-path-appeal-for-spiritual-but-not-religious\/","title":{"rendered":"But What Appeal Does the Christ Path Have for the Spiritual but Not Religious?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We\u2019ve heard some inquiries from people who are not walking a Christian or Christ-based path \u2013 who identify with other faith traditions, or call themselves \u201cspiritual but not religious,\u201d and who are skittish about a workshop identified with Christ in any context.<\/p>\n

So, we felt it would be good to have a planning team member share her experience as an Earth-based spiritual edgewalker who\u2019s clenched her teeth, swearing silently \u201cI will not bolt,\u00a0 I will not bolt\u201d <\/em>when she\u2019s heard ministers edging too close to standard-issue Christian doctrine, or scented the least whiff of proselytizing, and who shies away from\u00a0 theology and dogmatic constructs like poison ivy\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026and who, for years, has been seeking a way to bridge the psychological chasms between a \u201cheretical\u201d childhood vision of the Divine conscious oneness of creation, versus evangelical-charismatic teen and college years, versus a twentysomething near-vocation to the convent, versus an adult life drawn to Earth-based and indigenous spirituality, along the way witnessing\u00a0too many spiritual manipulations and abuses across too many denominations, and grieving helplessly over the injustices done to the First Peoples of the world as Western Civilization proceeds on its rapacious way, mowing down primeval cultures and ecosystems like blades of grass.<\/p>\n

That search finally found its fulfillment in the ancient\/post-modern Creation Spirituality teachings of theologian\/author\/activist Matthew Fox\u2026and particularly when he said that the Earth, women, GLBT people, people of color, and indigenous nations are being crucified on the cross of modern Christians\u2019 shadow-Christ. This priest, I knew in that moment,\u00a0<\/em>saw what others could not or would not. Two years later, I was managing his website and helping to promote his work.<\/p>\n

Even so, it was a stretch for me to attend the first in the newest series of trainings that he and author Andrew Harvey are co-directing, the Christ Path Seminar<\/a><\/strong>: was this just Christianity in a sneaky new wrapping, a new form of pious deception, I wondered? No \u2013 knowing the integrity that the two author\/educators demonstrate, that was surely impossible.<\/p>\n

It was a worthwhile and healing stretch, as it turned out, as I listened to them deconstructing the pop-Christ for a deeper, truer, more integral cosmic Awareness, and reframing Jesus from a schmaltzy BFF to a potent advocate for justice and compassion for all, and especially for the most vulnerable. I found myself reconnecting to my earlier, forgotten experiences of Jesus-connection, forgiving and integrating the see-sawing spiritual path of my past. Yes, I was (and am) still a solitary, Earth-based, spiritual edgewalker, but a door that had been shut in my soul was now ajar.<\/p>\n

So why am I sharing this?<\/p>\n

For the past six months, I\u2019ve been helping to promote the Christ Path Seminar\u2026.and this coming weekend, June 28-30, is the next workshop in the series, exploring the Cosmic Christ and Historical Jesus<\/a><\/strong>, with\u00a0 theologian Bruce Chilton as guest speaker. True to Doctors Fox and Harvey\u2019s teaching techniques, this weekend will engage us, on-site and online, in learning and practices for the mind, body and spirit:<\/p>\n