Last week we examined how we can recognize the cruciform pattern that is found in all people and all things. It's as though every atom wants to retell a central story about how expansion and renewal and new life emerge from suffering, sacrifice and transformation.

I try and get at our deepest spiritual capacities using categories that very diverse people can all apprehend. I do this because my audience is not one dimensional. I strive to never use language that is tribal, sectarian, or exclusive. This is only one implication of the cruciform pattern.

Once you see the limitless ways that this story can be told, you would never want to imprison it into something like a religion, or institutional dogma, where you are required to only say things a certain way and where only certain expressions are considered valid. The writer of Hebrews said it this way; "Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity..." (Heb 6:1). It's always frustrated me how many in the church have a sort of Jesus bell that has to be rung or else anything you say is invalid. Some won't even read this post because the see the quote from Echhart and assume I've gone "New Age."

The implications of the cruciform pattern are endless. Thus, our experiences are as well. Once we diminish another person's experience with the transcendent, we have lost the most crucial aspect of all spirituality:  Humility. In fact certainty (pride) in one dimension means we are in opposition to our Maker. (1 Peter 5:5)

How do you know what another person is experiencing on their deepest spiritual journey? How can one group of people completely invalidate the experiences of others? We see this all the time in fundamental religions. Are we to believe that the way God calls to each of us should fit within a small set of circumstances? Should those circumstances be established by those with economic, social, religious, or racial power?

Each of us is following the pattern. It's unavoidable. All things follow the Christ pattern. Some don't call it as such. That's ok. As the saying goes; a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

It takes time and awareness to live out these implications. This week I posted a blog that received three times more views in one day than I had in any previous week. The subject was homosexuality. I think you can imagine the results, both good and bad. My position stems from the cruciform pattern, not tribal allegiance. Intolerance, hatred, and prejudice belong to those still waiting for renewal. They are in the middle of the story, not its end.

My hope for you is that you strive to work through the implications of your beliefs. We all have a VOICE inside of us. Do you think its your voice? Whose else could it be? What makes you so sure? Is it trustworthy? It it far off in the distance?

All these questions emerge from the cruciform pattern. Ask them. Examine your containers and your circumstances.  Watch what happens when you follow this pattern through the dark days of suffering and into the bright dawn of new life.

An amazing world awaits us.