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Mother & Child
Photography
We are made, says The Book of
Wisdom, “in the image of God’s own eternity (2:23).” Because
the Holy One dwells in us yet also beyond us, we are invited
to not render the world and each other opaque.
We are to live transparently.
To have an Incarnational lens. To perceive ourselves and each
other as Mary: As living tabernacles housing the divine; and
to be God-bearers of love and hope for the world. Moreover we
are to treat each child as Christ, and then be that child
ourselves: To follow the Way of Spiritual Childhood—of
relinquishing the notion of self-sufficiency. Entering
instead into utter self-abandonment and with trust into the
loving arms of God.
The mother and child in this
photograph live in a village near Lucknow, India. They along
with a whole village of men , women, and children are watching
an educational play about women’s rights and health need in
the home. The educational play is performed by Christian,
Hindu, and Muslim students who attend Isabella Thoburn Woman’s
College—a Methodist member of The Colleges and Universities of
The Anglican Communion.
As the chaplain and a religion
professor at Cornell—a liberal arts UMC college in Iowa, I
will take U.S. students to engage in service-learning among
people like this woman and child through Isabella Thoburn’s
Centers on AIDS and Empowerment of Women. This
service-learning is part of a “Not I but God in Me”
spirituality course on the “Divine within” traditions of
Christian mysticism and Hindu advaitic philosophy. We will
explore the consequences of cultivating this sacred awareness
not only for spiritual practices, but for daily living, work,
relationships, social justice, and servant leadership. |
