I sent a Rilke quote that inspired me to two of my friends. My Jesus friends.

One didn’t replay but called me. One objected to Rilke’s approach to Jesus. He used a summary from AI to support his mild appreciation for Rilke’s brand of faith. “While much of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem resonates with biblical themes, certain elements diverge from a strictly biblical perspective.”

I think I diverge from a strictly biblical perspective as well.

Here’s another bit that threw me into a fit of laughter. “Rilke’s tone suggests a universalistic or mystical approach, where God’s interaction with humanity is assumed to be the same for everyone, regardless of faith.” Right.

Here’s the English version of what Pope Francis 2024 said, “But God is God for all. And if God is God for all, we are all sons and daughters of God.”

The bible, the church, even the Pope are distant cousins of God. Yes, I know there’s something about God’s presence here on Earth and the Vatican and all that, but for me, what Pope Francis said changed the entire game. He admitted, as far as I can tell, that all the other paths to god *might* also be valid.

If it’s God you seek, and God is truely unfathomable by your human heart and human mind, everything else is an abstraction. The church and the bible are certainly ways to seek, find, and worship God. If my church happens to eat magic mushrooms as part of their prayer, well, as long as we’re all chanting words to, for, and about God, don’t you think we could be doing it differently, but not wrong? If you take out the prohibition of the psilocybin, of course. That was a bad example.

Let’s take the Native Americans and their spiritual quest for vision, Mother Earth, and respect and honor for our ancestors, don’t you think the Indians are worshiping the same God? They were here long before Christ. How is their sacred nation simply denied by a more orthidox view of what is right and what is wrong. Like my friend’s objection to this Rilke passage.

Go to the Limits of Your Longing
by Rainer Maria Rilke

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.

How, in all of God’s creation, did my friend find any objection to this poem? It’s unfathomable to me. But so is my friend’s journey into massive wealth. I’m guessing he’s not upset by the incoming felon. His questioning is okay. His misunderstanding of “god is god” is less okay. He wants to argue about it.

I remember sharing a song I wrote 20 years ago with my objectionable friend. The basic premise for my song, “We Are One” had to do with my awakening spirituality as the result of becoming a father. I was singing about my child, about my faith in God, and about my joy. The line he objected to, “We are one, we are everyone.”

Jesus, the Pope, God, my friend, all are welcome to have their interpretations of faith, truth, and love. But, in the end, god is god. Worship, pray, celebrate as best you can. Don’t worry if you’re human version of God is not exactly like the church, the Bible, or the teachings of Jesus in the Bible. Don’t worry. I’m here to catch you up.

God

is

God

for

all.

Or, as I said in the song, “We are one.”

Read more Short-Short Stories from John