Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE CHRONICLE
March 16, 2003
Volume 48, No. 11

A Lenten Dream

I've been thinking a lot about Lent lately, as you might expect, given the fact that Calvary hosts a daily Lenten Noonday Preaching Series in addition to organizing all the usual round of seasonal worship and Spirituality programs that happen here. Just like at the time of Christmas or Easter, our subconscious is permeated with the great themes of the Church year. Those ideas are in our minds, swirling around, no matter what else we may be doing at any given moment. Well, anyway, I think that's probably what accounts for the fact that the other night I had a very vivid and powerful dream. In this particular dream, I saw two figures-one was Buddha and the other was Jesus.

Buddha was sitting, legs crossed, in the shade of a tree, an enigmatic smile on his face, his eyes shut-radiating inner calm and peace.

Jesus was hanging on a cross. On his head was a crown of thorns and there was blood flowing from several wounds. His eyes were also closed but his face was contorted with pain and suffering.

I thought to myself: What could these two figures possibly have in common? Why are they here together? Now, I certainly realize that the source of all spiritual insight and truth is one and the same and presented to me in my dream were two incredibly gifted spokespersons for understanding the nature and purpose of God. But how differently, utterly dissimilar messages came from each of them.

As I pondered what the dream could mean, it came to me that both these two children of God had walked a totally different spiritual path to arrive at the same convergent destination.

The Buddha had learned to disengage completely from all the illusion and distraction of this world-to free his mind and heart from human desire. He had found spiritual
transformation through "distancing" from the world, avoiding what the rest of us think is real to discover a greater reality that lies beyond. He chose a solitary inner journey into the center of our being that nothing on this earth can touch.

Jesus walked a different road-one that caused him to embrace and engage all of the pain and suffering that the world has to offer, not to avoid anything, believing that only through accepting and surviving the very worst in life can we know God's power to overcome, redeem, and transform.

Distancing or Embracing. Which one is "right?" Is it Buddha or is it Jesus?

The answer that I found in my dream is that both are roads leading to the same
destination: the learning that each of us is on this earth for a short period of time in order to be transformed-to be moved from illusion to truth, from self-centeredness to generosity, from bondage to freedom. All of us are being made over. In moments of peace and tranquility we can find release and transcendence. In moments of pain and challenge we can gain the strength and confidence to keep moving forward.

The time of Lent is a time of reflection, letting go and taking on, discipline and devotion, meditation and action, both feeding and also fasting spiritually.

Two roads; one destination.

Faithfully, Bob Hansel

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