I have painted my home in visual altars –
Uncountable reflections of that which I call God.
Jesus, Mary, and the Saints
Shining faces of Shekinah’s grace.
My children – living beacons of my joy.
The family from whence I came
and to the grave where one day I will go.
Everywhere I look I’m reminded of
Who I am,
Who I love,
Who I choose to be,
and
The death that will one day
welcome me home.
(click on the images to learn more)
I’ve always struggled with the idea
that Jesus’ death and resurrection
opened the gates of heaven.
If we believe in the unconditionally loving God
about whom we were taught,
then to whom would those gates be closed?
As we sing our Alleluias
while closing our hearts to those
we don’t understand
or who believe differently,
then what good are our songs?
What are we celebrating
when we turn away from the poor,
reject the refugee,
and refuse care to those in need?
The purpose of the resurrection
is not so that “believers” might receive
their “get out of jail” card
while the rest suffer an eternity in hell.
Jesus’ rising simply proves that
Love is stronger than death.
The death that is made up of:
Prejudice and hatred.
Ignorance and greed.
Lust for power and pride.
And all the evils in between.
Love conquers it all.
But if we don’t know Love,
then Easter means nothing at all.
Copyright Lauri Ann Lumby
Starting April 10th
Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm central
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
John 20: 1, 11-18
(below is an excerpt from my online course Resurrecting the Magdalene)
Beyond our own personal reflections on the gospels, there are a few things we may be able to surmise from the texts, especially for our current purpose of understanding what might really have taken place during the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection.
“But what about Peter?” we might ask. He is named in both the gospel of Luke and the gospel of John. There is an easy explanation for Peter being named in Luke’s gospel. Scripture scholars tell us it is unlikely that the author of Luke was a direct follower of Jesus. Instead, Luke was most likely a follower of St. Paul, who actually never met Jesus personally. Paul (as Saul of Tarsus) was initially a persecutor of the followers of Jesus, himself ordering the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. Paul later had some sort of mystical experience through which he encountered the risen Christ and then became a champion for the Jesus cause. Paul likely gained his knowledge of the Jesus story from Peter and the other male disciples who presided over the first Christian community in Jerusalem, long after Mary Magdalene left the scene (more on that in the next lesson). By this time, it is likely that the Petrine (Peter) agenda had already been cemented within the Jerusalem community. Because Mary played such an integral part in the resurrection experience, she could not be omitted altogether, but her role was easily downplayed by having Peter, himself, witness to the empty tomb.
Then there is the gospel of John. John’s gospel is markedly different from any of the other gospels and seems to be of a genre unto itself – a gospel that is a theological reflection on the first 100 years of the Jesus movement and on some of the traditions, rituals, and practices that had already become part of the emerging Christian tradition. While one of the later gospels written, John’s gospel also possesses parts of the Mary Magdalene tradition that are not present (or are downplayed) in the other gospels including the Wedding at Cana, the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well and the Anointing at Bethany. In regards to the story of the resurrection, John’s gospel presents a study in contrasts. First, Mary goes to the tomb. She then runs to tell Peter, who comes to the tomb to see that it is empty. After Peter (and the unnamed disciple) departs Mary sticks around and has a direct and personal encounter with Jesus, who then tells her to go tell the other disciples.
The conflicting information in this gospel has confounded me for years, until I brought this reading into deep prayer and meditation. Through this approach, the answer became glaringly obvious. The gospel of John contains two separate stories of the resurrection account – one in which Mary is the witness, another where Peter is given privilege. It is my personal belief that the passage regarding Peter was inserted into the Mary story to suit the later Christian Church (second – third century) who sought to put forth a decidedly patriarchal and hierarchical agenda and who had already designated Peter (in tradition if not in fact) leader of the early Church and the first Pope (Historically, Peter never acted in any role similar to that of Pope. There is also doubt as to whether or not he actually made it as far as Rome). Within this agenda, there can be no room for a woman who was obviously commissioned to a leadership role by none other than Jesus, himself. But, don’t take my word for it. Go back and re-read the resurrection account from John and then decide for yourself.
Please enjoy this FREE recording of my presentation to the Co-Creator’s Convergence community on 2/1/2024:
It’s one thing to know about the teachings of Jesus. It is another thing to embody them.
For centuries, institutional religion has placed an almost exclusive emphasis on knowing about Jesus, about scripture, and about the teachings of the religion to which one belongs, while ignoring what Jesus himself modelled.
Knowing about something is limited to intellectual knowledge alone. One might be able to pass a written test on what Jesus said and taught. But can they live it?
More importantly, can they live it without having to be told, or because they’ve been threatened with damnation if they don’t. Actions that arise out of fear of threat, or because an outside perceived authority told us to are neither authentic nor sincere.
Embodiment transcends the limitations of doctrine and interpretations that have been handed down by an outside perceived authority. Embodiment clears the way for Love (God) to speak directly to our hearts, and in the way that is unique to each of us. Here we are able to access and live from the place of our own truth – not that which has been handed down by some outside perceived authority.
Jesus’ teachings were never meant to be intellectualized. His words were not meant to be blindly memorized and then spit out as proof that one is good at memorization. Instead, Jesus’ teachings were meant to be embodied in the same what that he embodied them.
Embodiment moves beyond the acquiring of knowledge, to the application of the teachings such that we are profoundly changed. In moving beyond knowledge to embodiment, we move away from the person that we were with our limited beliefs, conditioned fears, and unhealed wounds, and more and more toward Love. Love, in this instance is not an intellectual knowledge of, or idea about love. Instead, it is living as Love because we have turned Jesus’ teachings inward and have come to know, as Jesus did, ourselves as Love.
In the embodiment of Love, we move through life differently. We act, not because we are told or expected to, but because this is what Love wants from us. In embodiment, Love simply arises out of us naturally and without effort, because it is who we are and who we are meant to be.
How are you supporting yourself in being the embodiment of Love?
All of the online courses and trainings with Lauri Ann Lumby support you in embodiment. Utilizing mindfulness and creativity practices, you are supporting in moving beyond sheer knowledge, through transformation, and into the embodiment of each lesson. Check out the menu tabs above to learn more.
As much as Jesus’ teachings have been convoluted by institutional religion, I still consider Jesus to be my teacher, and find profound guidance and wisdom in his words – especially when understood through the lenses of scholarship and Love.
Scholarship provides us with knowledge of the times in which Jesus was living, the social and political environment in which he found himself, and the context in which the authors of scripture were writing. We cannot even begin to understand scripture without sound scholarship.
Love, as we understand it here, is our Source, our Cause, our Purpose, and our Mission – that which some have called God. When we allow ourselves to be fully open to Source/Love, we can see beyond the human constructs and conditioning that have turned Jesus’ words into the cause of division, prejudice, hatred, and pride.
The author of the Book of Proverbs was correct in acknowledging that “pride goeth before the fall (Prov 16:18).” It has been said that pride is the cause of our separation from God. More accurately, perhaps, we can understand pride as being that which has caused us to forget that we are Love, and in this forgetting, perceiving ourselves as being separate/rejected/forgotten by God. We might also understand pride as being the natural consequence of choosing the human condition and that it is out of pride that our original core spiritual wound arises, and it is out of that wound that all of our fears have arisen (See Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy for a deeper discussion on this).
Regardless of how we understand pride and its origin, the consequence remains the same. Pride is an obstacle to our knowledge and embodiment of Love.
Jesus spoke often of pride as an obstacle. Over and over and over, he admonished those in positions of perceived authority for their prideful behaviors. He called them out for drawing attention to themselves, lauding their religious or charitable actions, taking the seats of honor at banquets, putting themselves ahead of or over others, and for all the ways in which they made themselves appear special or better than others.
In contrast to Jesus’ warnings against prideful behaviors, he celebrated humility and acknowledged it as the greatest of human virtues. Over and over again, Jesus notes that “the last will be first,” meaning that it will be the humble who will remember their true nature, live as Love, and experience the contentment, peace, and joy that comes with that knowledge.
Jesus didn’t just preach humility. He embodied it. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians:
Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
Being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself,and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.Phil: 2: 6-8
Through Jesus’ spiritual journey, he came to understand himself as One with God and sought to support his companions in coming to understand the same truth. Remembering this Oneness is the “source of eternal life” and the “Kingdom of God” as Jesus explained.
Equality with God, however, was NOT something Jesus considered of himself, neither did he lead anyone down a path through which they might consider themselves equal to God. Instead, Jesus preached humility – the characteristics of which he described in detail through his teachings and provided by his example – echoed here by St. Paul.
Therefore, if Love is our intention, then humility must be our action.
In the Apocrapha of James (Nag Hammadi Library), Jesus makes a distinction between those who accompany him and those who pursue (follow) him:
“Instead of accompanying me, you pursued me.” – Jesus
Those who pursue (follow) are those Jesus identifies as:
In this Jesus is calling out a kind of co-dependency among those who pursue rather than accompany – looking for an outside perceived authority to do the work of salvation for them.
In contrast, those who accompany Jesus, are known for:
We are all pursuers at some point in our journey, but the ultimate goal, as it relates to Jesus, is to accompany him on that journey of inner salvation, and then being that salvation in the world so that others too might know the fullness of Love that they are and be that Love in the world.
PS: We don’t have to call ourselves Christian or proclaim Jesus Christ as “our personal Lord and savior” to apply his teachings, thus embodying our original nature as Love. The Love about which Jesus spoke is universal and meant for everyone regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or nationality.
As I write this at 9:46am on Saturday, October 28th, I just finished listening to my favorite online astrologer, Lori Lothian, deliver her “Saturn direct” reading for November. As it turns out, I was born with Saturn in Pisces – exactly where Saturn finds himself now. Repeating these cycles every 29 years or so, I am in the midst of my second Saturn return. I share this because it is relevant to where I find myself at this exact moment in my spiritual/vocational journey.
In 1993 when I experienced my first Saturn return, I had the “brick to the head” experience that launched me into seven years of ministry training and the discovery, activation, and deepening of my calling. All this was done with and in the Catholic Church.
In 2003 I left formal church ministry and took my work into the secular world. Since 2003 that work has evolved, unfolded, and taken on many external forms. My heart and my soul were rooted in the Jesus I had come to know and the Mary Magdalene that was his closest companion and the one who most fully understood his teachings and who was then sent forth to continue the mission of Love after Jesus’ death. Now I found myself, however, having to “sell” my work to a secular audience who might most accurately be called “spiritual but not religious.” The ways I attempted to market this work to a diverse audience were many, taking on many different names and forms. But only on the outside. While the packaging may have changed, the materials inside were the same:
Rooted in scripture. Grounded in contemplative practice. Defined by scholarship.
In the last several years, I have found all that I had attempted falling away. Piece by piece by broken piece, everything I had worked for in the past 30 years has died.
Or so it seemed.
I surrendered to the dying. I grieved the loss. I have spent more time in the VOID than anyone should have to spend. Empty. Nothing left to pursue. Nothing new to create. No visible paths. Nothing but the blackest of blackness where nothing remains but from which all of creation emerges.
Then last week something shifted. For the first time in 30 years I saw the whole truth of something that had been blocking my access to my full power. I saw it. I unhooked myself from it. I bore witness to the kickback (there’s always a kickback when we deprive something of the power we’d been giving it). I sat in the fullness of the liberation.
Then the floodgates opened and carried me right back to where I began (sort of). What came forth out of that return is a complete overhaul/return to the origin of my work along with a recognition – not of what I formerly wanted – but rather, what already is.
The Order of the Magdalene is already fully formed. The community has already been gathering. The formation was already whole in its original form. Why not own it and quit:
This is who I am and what I do. Period. Doing the work of Love as was exampled by Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Honoring the tradition from which I came. Recognizing the wisdom of scripture (canonical and non-canonical). Celebrating my own monastic calling. Embracing the gifts of contemplation. Remaining rooted in scholarship.
In short – keeping it real.
If you’re one who likes to keep it real – please check out The Order of the Magdalene 2023 Reboot. Back to where I belong.
And thank you for all those who have been with me throughout this crazy journey. I am grateful for you!
With love,
Lauri
For the past 5000-10000 years (since the advent of hierarchy), we have been conditioned to believe that there is some outside force who:
Every tradition has its own names for these outside perceived authorities: guru, priest, savior, psychic, etc. For all these years, people have sought after these outside perceived authorities for guidance and direction in their lives, hoping for them to tell them what to do and how to live their lives. During this time, people have also sought after those who others have told them will save them (from whatever it is they need saving). For thousands of years, people have given their money, their soul, their devotion, and their worship to these outside perceived saviors when all along they have within them the vehicle and knowledge for their own salvation.
Jesus knew this. The Buddha knew this. Indigenous teachers knew this. And yet humanity has taken and twisted their messages in such a way as to further condition society’s addiction to outside saviors.
Jesus did not come to save us in the way we’ve been taught! He was not some divine sacrifice for humanity’s “sins.” (In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jesus is quoted as saying, “There is no sin.”) Jesus never said that we had to proclaim him our personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved. These are the hierarchy’s words used to enforce humanity’s obedience to the religion they created in Jesus’ name.
Instead, Jesus taught his companions how to access and take root in the salvation that was already present within them. He showed them how to unhinge from the hierarchical conditioning under which they had been enslaved. He supported them in finding the source of their own inner truth and to understand that this source (which Jesus called Love) is God within them.
It was for this that Jesus was killed. He spoke Truth to power, questioning the status quo, and challenging the culture of codependency that had been fostered by the self-appointed religious and political authorities who benefitted from those who feared them.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus, and others like him, presented a new (original) example of personally responsibility to our own Truth and to the Source of salvation within us. Today, we find ourselves at the threshold of the world they envisioned and where the fruits of their labors are finding their fulfillment. Here we are being given a profound choice: we can continue to remain enslaved by the guru mindset where our salvation and the path of our truth are only accessible through some outside perceived authority, or we can enter into the new world where we are our own guru – knowing that the Source of Truth is within us, and that this is the true path to salvation.
In other words: stop throwing your money and obedience to some external source of Truth and learn how to find the answers within.
People are often surprised to hear me talk about Jesus and even more surprised to learn that I teach about him. Actually, I don’t teach about Jesus, my teaching models his.
The Jesus I know may not be the same as the one you were taught about or the one whose teachings were twisted to fit the agenda of the patriarchal, hierarchical institution you belong to or were raised in.
The Jesus I know is Love – pure and simple. Love. In this Love there is no room for discrimination, bigotry, ignorance, or hatred. The Love that Jesus embodied does not judge, but treats each human being with dignity and respect, celebrating their unique giftedness and diversity while mindful of the woundedness they may carry. The Jesus I know embodied compassion and understanding, listened deeply, hearing the truth beyond the words, and seeing the truth beyond the illusion. This Jesus never sought to start a new religion, only to remind his own Jewish brothers and sisters of the Love that dwelled within them and of the Unity that existed beyond the division of religious dogma – the Truth their ancestors once knew but quickly forgot.
The Jesus I know is the Jesus before men hungry for power appropriated his name for their own political gain. The Jesus before politicians used his name to justify genocide. The Jesus before a Church was built in his name that then went on to commit horrors against those who refused to give up their own beliefs for a god made in Rome’s image, against innocent children, and against women and men who through the wisdom of nature and their ancestors had the power to help and heal. The Jesus before pulpit preachers attributed Jesus to their own fear-based message of hellfire and brimstone through which they could then exact pounds of flesh or coffers of coins from those willing to be manipulated by their words.
My Jesus is not Joel Olsteen’s Jesus, neither is he the Jesus used by the Church in which I was raised to claim themselves to be “the one true Church.” The Jesus I know didn’t die for our sins, but instead, died for the sake of the Truth of Oneness that he was called to teach (which in a way is dying for our sins). The Jesus I know came to heal the sick, liberate those imprisoned by their own unhealed wounds and conditioned fears. He came to open the eyes of those who refuse to see and the ears of those who prefer to turn a deaf ear to Love.
This is the Jesus I have come to know and if I speak of his name, this is the Jesus about whom I speak.
Oh yeah…..and the Jesus I know isn’t white.
Lauri Ann Lumby 