I found myself on the rooftop of the Calgary tower grasping tenaciously to the antennae mount. I looked around me and surveyed the panoramic view of downtown Calgary with the majestic Rocky Mountains in the background. The wind was chilly and breezy up here 626 feet above the busy traffic.
What on earth was I doing up here?
Suddenly a gust of wind caught me by surprise and I lost my grip. I started sliding down the long slope toward the edge. With my heart pounding and eyes wide, clawing futility at the smooth surface, I desperately looked for another handhold. I had to stop the slide and get back inside the safety of the building! There was nothing to grab.
Over the edge I went. Terrified, with a primal scream.
That’s always how I woke up from this recurring childhood nightmare. Suddenly wide awake with a racing heart and soaked in a cold sweat. I don’t know why I would continually have this nightmare, I just know that in that dream, it was very real. My body did not know that I was safe in bed. As far as it was concerned. I was about to die.
Science has shown us that our mental perceptions have a direct impact on the health of our bodies. Good and bad.
If you have the perception of fear, that you are in danger of any kind, (Not just eminent physical danger, but also economic, relational, existential danger, etc.) your adrenal gland will produce a hormone called “cortisol”. Prolonged exposure to cortisol in your body has been known to cause all sorts of physical maladies including suppressed immunity, weight gain, decreased libido, severe fatigue, muscle weakness, depression, loss of emotional control, cognitive difficulties, high blood pressure, bone loss, among other concerning problems.
If however your perception is that you are safe, loved and accepted and your life has meaning, your body will produce serotonin, dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin. These actually benefit your body and contribute to good physical health.
Imagine if you will, the mental stress of living most of your life in fear, with the perception that there is an invisible being who is all powerful and perfect, and that you came into existence tainted by sin and are unacceptable to this powerful invisible being.
What if you were told that somehow you were born, separated from the One who is existence?
From the get-go, you have been placed on the top of a terrifyingly tall tower and sliding helplessly down a slippery roof towards a drop off which only leads to an eternity of fiery torment with only a short time to find a handhold.
Fortunately for you, this all powerful being punished His son in your place and He took what you apparently deserved even though you were born this way just because He had to punish someone to regain His sense of honour. (If you find this logic to be unconvincing, weird and perhaps repugnant, don’t worry. Your not alone!) if you are lucky enough to live in a culture where you can hear this “gospel” message and believe correctly, you will go to a place called heaven when you die.
You won’t drop off the edge. But somehow you are supposed to be happy about this, despite the screams of everyone else who have gone over the edge and have no hope of being saved.
What about the Sentinelese people who have been isolated from the rest of civilization long before the time of Jesus? What about the child born in Pakistan to a Muslim family who will grow up worshiping the wrong god, “knowing” that Jesus is only a prophet? What about that childhood friend of mine who grew up sociologically disadvantaged, was turned off by this slanderous idea of what God is like, who turned to a life of crime as a young adult and was killed in a bad drug deal?
What about the vast majority of humans to ever walk on this earth?
All destined to be tortured forever with no hope of reprieve in a place called hell?
If this is reality, Einstein was wrong. The universe is not a friendly place.
God is not love.
Feel the cortisol coursing through your veins yet?
Did you know that there is a “gospel” that actually is good news?
In Colossians 1:15-22 Paul states: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
And you who were once estranged and hostile IN MIND, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him”
Paul tells us that everything which exists cannot be separated from God who is existence. The only perception of separation and estrangement we have ever had from the God who is LOVE has always been in our minds. Jesus who is the exact image of this invisible God simply came to demonstrate that we have always been loved, accepted, valued and forgiven.
We have been given permission to change our perception. We are invited to partake in what has always been ours. We have been given permission to exchange fear for love. Einstein was correct.
The universe is indeed a friendly place.
The message of the western stream of Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) which have both spread the nightmare of St. Augustine has not been good for our physical health. It has not been good for our mental health. It has not been good for our societal health. It has led to the dehumanizing of others who do not think like we do. It has perpetuated the recycling of retributive violence. It has sucked hope from our imagination and replaced it with a message that is as healthy for our minds as an E. coli tainted bag of chips would be to our bodies. It has not brought healing, but has led to widespread soul-sickness and despair.
What if there is a greater hope? What if we woke up from the nightmare of separation and existential danger and became aware that we are already in Christ and Christ is in all? What if we woke up to the realization that God has never been angry with us. What if we started living like each person shares the same value as Jesus Himself?
What if the gospel message means the restoration of the world in the here and now and that we have been invited to participate in making that a reality?
The gospel is the announcement that you have always been forgiven, loved and embraced by the maker of the universe. It is the invitation to wake up from the nightmare you have been living in and realize that you have always been safe in the arms of God.