Sunday, January 13, 2008

Gathering and Introduction of John Butler

This morning we welcome the Rev. John Beverly Butcher from California. Rev. Butcher is a student of Jesus of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala, and Lao Tsu of China. An Associate Fellow of the Jesus Seminar, Butcher is author of several books, including Telling the Untold Stories and The Tao of Jesus. Butcher is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of California and a minister of the Pescadero Community Church on the Pacific Coast near San Francisco.

A Reading of Thunder, Perfect Mind
Sophia is communicating with us, inviting us to come into Union with her and experience Perfect Mind.

I was sent forth from the power,and I have come to those who reflect upon me, and I have been found among those who seek after me. Look upon me, you who reflect upon me, and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves. Do not banish me from your sight.
Do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing. Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or anytime. Be on your guard! Do not be ignorant of me.
(The chanting begins:)
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the mother and the daughter.
I am the barren one and many are my sons. I am she whose wedding is great, and I have not taken a husband. I am the midwife, and I am she who does not bear. I am the solace, and I am the labor pains. I am the bride, and I am the bridegroom. I am begotten by my husband, and I am the mother of my father. I am the sister of my husband,and his my offspring. I am the slave of him who prepared me, and I am the ruler of my offspring. I am the staff of his power in his youth, and he is my rod of my old age.
I amt he Silence that is incomprehensible. I am the Idea whose remembrance is frequent. I am the Voice whose sound is manifold.
I am the Word whose appearance is multiple. I am the Utterance of my name.
For I am knowledge and I am ignorance.
I am shame and I am boldness.
I am shameless and I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and I am peace.
I am she who is weak and I am well in a pleasant place. I am senseless and I am wise.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere and I am the one who has been loved everywhere. I am the one whom they call Life, and you have called Death. I am the one whom they call Law and you have called Lawlessness. I am the one whom you have pursued, and I am the one whom you have seized. I am the one whom you have scattered, and you have gathered me together. I am the one before whom you have been ashamed, and you have been shameless to me.
I am she who does not keep festival, and I am she whose festivals are many.
I, I am godless, and I am the one whose God is great.
I am the one whom you have are refected upon, and you have scorned me.
I am unlearned, and you learn from me.
I am the one whom you have despised, and you reflect upon me
I am the one whom you have hidden from, and you appear to me.
I am an alien and I am a citizen.
I am the substance and I am the one who has no substance.
I am control and I am uncontrollable.
I am the union and I am the dissolution.
I am the abiding and I am the dissolving.
I am the below, and they come up to me.
I am the judgment and I am the acquittal.
I am sinless, and the root of sin derives from me.
I am lust in outward appearance, and I am interior self-control.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone and I am the speech which cannot be grasped. I am a mute who does not speak, and great is the multitude of my words.
I am she who cries out, and I am cast off upon the face of the earth. I prepare the bread and my mind within.
I am knowledge of my name.
I am the one who cries out, and I am the one who listens.
I am the Name of the Sound, and the Sound of the Name.

The Thunder, Perfect Mind (teaching portions omitted), George W. MacRae translation in the Nag Hammadi Library, third edition.
As to the place and date of coomposition of Thunder, we are left with no positive indications. The mention of Egypt in the text points toward an Egyptian milieu, perhaps Alexandria, but this remains hypothetical...The Greek original of Thunder might have been composed around the end of the second century or the beginning of the third.
Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Marvin Meyer, ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2007,page 370

Seminar Dialogue

Closing Prayer.

How Do You Pray?

Your eyes need to be closed or open
Or closed to go within and open to see with fresh perspective.
Your hands need to be held together or raised high and spread apart,
or simply raise one hand.
In your hands hold prayer beads, a rosary, someone else's hands,
or let your hands be empty.
Be connected
or detached.
Be sure you are standing, kneeling, squatting, touching your head to the floor,
or fully prostrate.
Follow a sequence of postures
or do not move at all.
Make sure you pray aloud
or in deep Silence
Use a language you know or an unknown tongue
or no language at all.
Stay very still
or move in rhythmic dancing.
Make sure you wear a veil or a camp,
or make sure your head in uncovered.
Be sure to wear shoes or sandals
or go barefoot.
Wear ordinary clothing, your Sunday best, special clothing, sacred vestments,
or nothing at all.
Pray when you are alone or with one or two other people.
or in a small group, or a large congregation
Pray in one place or while you are walking, signifying your sacred Journey,
or part of a pilgrimage with thousands of pilgrims.
Take holy food, share a symbolic meal,
or go fasting for awhile.
Pray when you are working, when you are making love,
and when you are doing Nothing at all.
Your mood should be filled with curiosity, thankfulness, and joy
or doubts, questions, penitence, and sorrow, or move beyond all feeling.
Let your praying open up all your senses
or shut them down completely.
Use strict celibacy to concentrate your energies
or release your full sexuality to express your soul.
Pray inside a building rich with symbolism
or one that is starkly plain,
Pray somewhere out in nature
or in the midst of heavy traffic.
Go up to the top of a mountain
or down into a deep canyon
Be out in the open where you can see for a long distance
or enter a cave,
Pray at a river bank or in the water
or into a desert place where there is no water for as far as you can see.
Make sure your body is very clean or covered with ashes.
Immerse yourself in water or in mud.
Follow the prayers in a book,
or let your prayers be on flags waving in the wind.
Pray in an orderly manner,
or spontaneously in your own words.
Pray whenever you have the impulse,
and when praying is the last thing you want to do.
Meditate on a story, a symbol, a mantra,
or empty your mind of all thought.
Make sure you believe there is a God
or that there is no God.
Be a theist, atheist, pantheist, panenetheist, agnostic,
or that the question of God makes no sense to you.
Allow yourself to say that you are uncertain
or resist all definitions of who you are and what you believe.
The point is pray to Something
or to Nothing at all.
Pray during war or during peace.
Pray in sickness and in health.
Pray when you have money or are deeply in debt or are barely breaking even.
Pray when you are very certain of your convictions.
Pray when you think the whole thing is just a bad joke.
Follow any or all of these practices with great care
or come to the conclusion that it is a total sham.
Do whatever it takes for you to know
that the natural state of human beings is Ecstatic Wonder.

John Beverley Butcher, Nov. 2006
inspired by the book Talking to God, Portrait of a World at Prayer, edited by John Battuso, Stone Creek Publications, 2006


We ask for your thoughts/comments to continue our Sunday conversation. Thank you.