The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Our Cosmic Mass at the Parliament of World Religions, continued |
Another response to our
recent Cosmic Mass at the POWR in Chicago came from an older man who came up to me afterwards, said this was his first TCM, and cried on my shoulders. |
Another came from Meshi, a serious practitioner of the Red Path of the Lakota people and a multi-year practitioner of the Sundance. He opened our TCM drumming Lakota Prayers to the Four Directions and ended it with a “Farewell” to the same spirits (“angels” if you are a Christian). He said to me, “Matt, now I know what you are doing.” Later, I asked him what he meant because I don’t really know what I am doing, I am simply following Spirit as I feel it is leading me. | “Singing Spiritual Warrior.” Drawing gifted to Matthew Fox. |
He said: “You are taking the sweat lodge and spreading it to a broader audience. There are four rounds to a sweat lodge after all, not unlike the four Paths to the Cosmic Mass.” A panel met the day after the Mass with some leaders of the TCM including Meshi and also Michelle Jordan, an African-American song leader and ordained minister of the Church of Religious Science. Skylar Wilson has been director of the TCM the past ten years and identifies as a Sufi and works as a wilderness and rites of passage leader. Mariko Middleton is active in the Order of the Sacred Earth and busy these days rediscovering the story of her people, the indigenous ones of Okinawa, whose history at the hands of the dominant Japanese culture is not unlike the history of indigenous peoples in the Americas and
elsewhere. |
Volunteers craft a flower of natural items for a Cosmic Mass altar. From Matthew Fox’s collection. | Ellen Kennedy led the spiral dance at the TCM and
also led a workshop on sacred dance. And Mary Plaster created the many large puppets of Earth, Sky, Water, Air and the small lit lanterns of various critters that brought festivity to the Mass. |
“Liturgy” means “the work of the people” and a Cosmic Mass is very much that. A variety of people with a variety of talents, from a variety of traditions but with one thing in common: A hunger to bring the experience of the Divine alive in ritual. |
See Matthew Fox, “Ritual: Where the Great Work of the Universe and the Work of the People Come Together,” in Fox, The Reinvention of Work, pp. 249-295.
Banner Image: Giant puppet representing the Sun, beside a
projected galaxy image at the Cosmic Mass, 2023 Parliament of World Religions. Puppet and photo by Mary Plaster. Published with permission. |
Queries for Contemplation Have you attended a Cosmic Mass? Indigenous rituals? Burning Man? A Mass at church? What does ritual do for you? What can it do for a community? Why does Malidoma Some say “there is no community without ritual.” |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our
website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is
sanctified by authentic “soul work.” “Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society” at an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, August 24, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and a speaker’s panel for brief Creation Spirituality presentations, music, songs, prayer, and refreshments in a free online and on-site Celebration of Matthew Fox's donation of papers
to the University of Colorado, Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder Libraries – Center for British & Irish Studies – 5th Floor Thursday, September 21, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT RSVP HERE for on-site attendance only. Virtual attendance link will be forthcoming. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about
the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. | |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
