I closed Sunday’s message with a brief clip from one of my favorite Disney movies, The Lion King. In the scene, young-lion-cub Simba has grown into young-adult Simba, but is so haunted by what he sees as his culpability in the death of his father that he remains disconnected from his tribe, his heritage, and his identity. At this point he meets Rafiki, a spiritual guru, who tells him his father is alive… and then leads him down a long, dark, winding pathway thru the woods to the edge of a deep pool, whereupon he invites Simba to look down to find his father. Simba looks, and is disappointed to see only his reflection… until Rafiki disturbs the waters and tells Simba to “look harder.” When Simba looks again, in his own reflection he also sees the image of his father. As the scene continues (which we didn’t show in worship), Simba’s father appears in the clouds above and tells Simba, “Remember who you are!”
That may be the principal goal of the spiritual journey - to remember who we are. I’m reminded of these words of wisdom from John Philip Newell in Echo of the Soul:
“The Gospel of Christ, which means the good news of Christ… is not given to tell us that we have failed, because we already know that about ourselves. That is not good news. It is given to tell us what we have forgotten, and that is who we are. Spirituality does not consist of being told what to do. It consists of being reminded of who we are. Only when we know who we are will we be clearer about what we should do. The grace of repentance is about turning around in our lives, but it is not about turning around in order to become someone other than ourselves. It is not about conforming to some exterior standard of truth and good behavior. Rather, it is about turning around in order to be restored to what is deepest in us. It is about becoming truly ourselves. The gift of grace reawakens our memory of Eden. It begins to open again within us the gateway to our true naturalness… The problem is not our human nature. The problem is our exile from true human nature. Christ restores us again to ourselves.”
The path thru the woods on the way to becoming soul-centered may be dark and winding, and the waters of the soul may at first glance appear shallow and revealing of nothing. But stir them. Peer deeply into them. The deeper image within us reflects the glory of the image in which we have all been made. Remember who you are!
Our prayer of reflection today: I am God’s child. I am in God, and God is in me.