Lunchtime Lift – A Weekday Spiritual Guide
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Have you ever looked in a mirror and thought, “That just can’t be right?”
Like – you look elongated or maybe a little more compact vertically, which also leads to a bigger wideness horizontally?
I’ve been in dressing rooms where things look amazing only to get it home and think, “in my mirror, it certainly doesn’t look like it did at the store.”
We have expectations that all mirrors reflect back the image in the same way. And if we look in one mirror, what we see back will be the exact same when we look in a different mirror.
But sometimes mirrors carry distortion. Perhaps it is based on the quality of the mirror, I’m not exactly sure how all that works. But, not all mirrors are the same.
At West Church, we are in a season of exploring what it means to be the church in today’s world. We are also exploring what it means to be West Church in this world, not just “any church”. We are discussing our new mission statement, “Real People. Doing Real Life. Sharing God’s Love in Real Ways”. And we are also revisiting our core values, reminding ourselves what it means to really “be” the body of Christ in our community and world.
And mirrors play a big part in this exploration.
To use the words of Richard Rohr, “The true and essential work of all religion is to help us recognize the divine image in everyone and everything. It is to mirror things correctly, deeply, and fully until all things know who they are.
A mirror reflects impartially, equally, effortlessly, spontaneously, and endlessly. It does not produce the image, nor does it filter it according to its perceptions or preferences.
Authentic mirroring can only call forth what is already there.”
Mirroring actually gives us a way of understanding Jesus the Christ.
It is as if there is a divine mirror that lives in each of us . . . “the mind of Christ.”
The Christ mirror knows us completely and loves us – ALL of us, and reflects that love back to us.
Our spiritual journey is understanding that mirror . . . understanding and seeing that love for what it is. A gift given to each of us – universal love and completeness. Then, we are called to mirror that same love to all humanity.
That is having the mind of Christ.
When you look in your mirror today, what do you see?
Do you see the love reflected back to you? Do you see acceptance and grace?
If not, what can you do so that you can see?
Because the mirror of Christ has no distortion. It reflects each of our inner beauty.
Grace and Peace,
Andrea
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