Richard Rohr – The Wisdom Way (Part Four)

About this sermon

“The Wisdom Way: Scripture, Tradition, and Experience” was a week-long retreat held at the Center for Action and Contemplation for students from Fuller Seminary in April and May 2013. The week of teaching was designed with the goal of “understand[ing] scripture and tradition and experience in a critical way.” Ultimately, Father Richard Rohr and the Fuller students sought to develop a working definition of wisdom for those seeking contemplative spirituality. In this final session of day 1, Fr. Richard Rohr leads the Fuller Seminary students in a group reflection of the day’s teachings and contemplative practices. Fr. Richard teaches on what he means by “alternative orthodoxy,” noting that Christianity is not about just holding a system of beliefs but it’s about how you live. He argues that “the real sin of the world is superficiality: living on the surface of everything and missing the depth, the meaning, the grandeur, the Divine. It’s not really the hot sins that keep people from God.” Ultimately, he teaches, it is our failures that transform us. As Saint John of the Cross taught, we must accept our darkness and allow it to enlighten us in order to grow in faith. Necessary to this growth is both human intimacy and the experience of Divine intimacy because we need to be reminded of what love looks like: Fr. Richard reiterates his common line, “If you do not transform your pain you will transmit it.” The Church, Fr. Richard teaches, can be a container for this spiritual transformation to take place. He hypothesizes that the future of Christianity will grow to be more experiential and trinitarian in nature because “an authentic understanding of God as Trinitarian mystery, as giving and receiving, as God as relationship, really opens up the Christian gospel in a very healing, mystical way.” Christianity needs to move peoples’ operative image of God from Zeus and Santa Claus to the Trinitarian mystery that is more about self-emptying than about domination and control. Following the discussion, Paul Swanson leads the students in some contemplative and reflective practices. CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit introducing seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. Founded by Richard Rohr in 1987, our programs and resources are designed to help deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world. https://cac.org Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3QypRgu Learn more about Who We Are: https://bit.ly/3D8TtdU Learn more about What We Do: https://bit.ly/3qrYFGc Learn more about Richard Rohr: https://bit.ly/3ozYdmP Learn more about Contemplation: https://bit.ly/3wNojGF

Topics

• Wisdom