The Wild Christ and the Sacred Wasteland

Teshuvah, Tikkun, and the Greening of Mitzrayim

A Praise Psalm of the Wild Christ

Behold the wild Christ no wall can hold, no throne oppress, no crown control.  
In him is freedom, the hope that cannot be chained or burdened.  
See the Christ as he dances in the wind.  
He plays in the branches of the trees and runs free through the streets.  
The wild Christ twirls through the borders, refusing to be contained.  
Hear his laughter in the sunrise and his joy in the flowers.  
Delight in his wonder in the field and celebrate his glory in the stars.  
He is the beating heart of all creation, who holds all in his eternal embrace.  
Run with him, arm in arm, through shadow and light, into glory of life everlasting.

He is the flicker of the candle struggling against the wind to burn.  
Christ falls to his knees in the bloody snow as hate pours out on the earth.  
He cries out with the wounded, and flips the tables in the temple, but doesn’t frighten the children.  
He is the stone that breaks the wave.  
He is the cave that shelters and the storm that rages.  
The rain of Christ nourishes the earth and fosters life.  
Christ’s breath is the wind that blows away the dead limbs and topples the overgrowth.  
His flames renew the land and free the seeds from their captivity.  
The wild Christ lives with the world, in the breath of all living.

The wild Christ is the flame that enlivens the heart, burning away fear, shame, and guilt.  
The ember of this flame is always with us, longing for the tinder to ignite.  
Once lit, this sacred heart scorches despair and devours cruelty to ashes.  
This is the heat of the sun on the sand and the rush of the waves on the shore.  
He grounds us in the life of the world and opens us to the blessings of all creation.  
His grace steadies us and loosens the ties that bind so we fly with the wings of the wind.  
Christ awakens us to the rhythm of Earth and calls us to the dance of life.  
In him, we recognize the image of God in everything we meet.  
He empowers us to stand with each other, in patience to restore life to the dry land.  
In Christ, we grow like a branch of the vine in the green wisdom and power, truly alive.

Let us courageously dance with the wild Christ, who guides like a cloud by day and a star by night.  
He shelters all under his cloud of unknowing, and shows the way through gentle encouragement.  
Together we dip our hands into the soils of life, tending the wounds, the land, and the fragile hopes of ourselves and others.  
We share our bread at the great banquet on the Holy Mountain with all.  
We wander with the wild Christ the world tending to the needs of all.  
In him, we protect this world and all within it with the waters of grace available everywhere at all times.  
Together, we graft ourselves into the vine of life.  
We all grow together, ever greening, into a healthy world, ever improving without end.

Blessed be the wild Christ, breathing through the soul of the world.  
In you, we find stillness and the courage to dance with life.  
As your great sun dawns over the world, life flourishes.  
We sing your praises with the stars and birds above and the earth with all her wonders.  
In your embrace, we rest in your glory, revive in your strength, and restore in your grace.  
Teach us to live with your wild freedom, so the world may be renewed and joy fill life.

Lent and the Discomfort of the Wasteland

Lent is an uncomfortable season for those of us who practice Creation Spirituality. It should not be, because it is the season of the Via Negativa and the Via Transformativa, where these two great paths join together to help us find our way in this world. That does not mean that the other paths are absent, but they play a smaller role here, as we learn to release and let go, to transform and to celebrate in this time of deep meditation.

Many of us want to stop practicing Lent. The world is full of so much suffering. Why should we take a period of every year to focus on it and to meditate on death and letting go? Because so many in the past have turned this into a season of guilt and shame, we have lost our way in the wasteland and no longer see the glory of God within it.

The world is full of suffering. In Creation Spirituality, we learn to let go, let be, and to let pain be pain. That does not mean that we accept that the pains of the world are necessary or that they need to be. Some can be changed, transformed, or prevented altogether. This is the great interplay between Path 2 and Path 4. In Path 2, we accept what is, and learn to accept what we cannot change. In Path 4, we take action to prevent harm and to bring the change that needs to be made. We cannot learn this powerful art if we keep ourselves out of the wasteland.

The Sacred Wasteland and the Driven-Back Greening

The wasteland is dry and has lost its greenness. It has been constricted and brought into the narrow place. Brambles cover the paths. Detritus clogs the rivers and the streams. The land is choked by what has not been let go and what has not been transformed. It cannot be renewed and refreshed until we enter into those dark places and find what needs to be changed.

We want the wasteland to be holy, it is already holy, but its holiness is unseen. This sacred wasteland is the land of the soul, the community, the culture, and the land when it is dominated by Mitzrayim and the greening Viriditas has been driven back. Driven back is a key phrase. It is still there, but has moved underground in the unseen places, waiting to blossom forth with new growth. Even in the narrow place of Mitzrayim, the wasteland is sacred, because life, truth, justice, and love abandon no one and no thing.

Only when we enter the wasteland and realize that the wild Christ is dancing even here can we find the courage and the strength to do what must be done to restore life to the land. Because it is not gone. It lies sleeping, deep underground, waiting to be reawaken.

How the Green Land Became Mitzrayim

How did the lush green field become this dry, parched wasteland? Colonizers came and planted trees that drank too much water. They were not native to the land. They did not understand that they were taking too much. The colonizers did not care. They wanted their own comfort, their own ease. They wanted to increase their power and glory and show how much they could change the world on their own without cooperating with it. They denied the grace flowing in the rivers and carried on the winds, and built walls to keep others out. After all, they colonized this land, and anyone else who entered would surely colonize them as well. That fear bred mistrust, and so they hardened their hold on the land.

And so the once verdant field became the dry land, the narrow place, Mitzrayim. As the trees and the cities died because they could not sustain themselves in the land, they did not tear them down, they did not pull them out. They planted more, and they collected what they had. It was theirs and they would not let it go. Since the water found it hard to pass under their wall, they used these dead logs to dam the river so that what little trickle could get through, they could collect and save for themselves and deny to those on the other side of their walls.

They extracted all they could from the once living soil. When others saw the meagerness of the crops brought in, they pointed to them and said, “This is your shame. You are responsible for this. You did not tend this land as well as you could. We brought you shelter and protection and guarded you from all that would break in to steal, kill, and destroy.”

They cast their guilt on others, and in time they accepted it and claimed it as their own. They did not live in the palaces because they did not deserve to. They did not work hard enough, long enough. They did not give of their blood, sweat, and tears enough to earn, to be worthy of the glory of those who lived in the great houses.

All the while, the ground grew drier, the air staler. The masters of the house said, “Some have snuck in amongst you and they have robbed you of your glory. Hate them, despise them, tear them down, and you will have all that your heart desires.”

They turned the minds of the people from the basic needs of life, away from what they had taken from the land and those who live upon it. They stoked hatred and fear, and the hearts of the people grew cold.

This is how the verdant earth became the dry land of Mitzrayim, the narrow place that forgot how to live.

The wasteland is our holy land driven into dryness and brittleness by the colonizing powers of the power hungry, fearful, and greedy. This is our land. It has always been holy. It will always be sacred. It is time to drive out the colonizers so the land will grow green again.

The Wild Christ in the Wasteland

Throughout all of the anger, extraction, and rage, the wild Christ never stopped dancing through the land. Every sacrilege to the earth is a lash across his back. Every indignity is a slap across his face. He does not abandon his people, and everyone is his people.

As Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly” (Colossians 1:24), or to say that more clearly, “I am taking my turn in the sufferings that still remain, the sufferings experienced by Christ’s people because they are his.” These sufferings are the continuation of the passion of Christ. He suffers with the suffering. As Jesus says of the King of Glory on the Day of Judgment, “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:40).

Since the wild Christ is not contained by their walls, but is present in everyone and everything, whatever harm or blessing is done to anyone is done to Christ. Woe to those who abuse Christ in the world in the name of their own power, greed, and fear, and lamentations for those who do these things in Christ’s name.

“For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

Solidarity and the One Life

When we notice the presence of Christ dancing and suffering with us, a fresh solidarity arises in us. Solidarity is the shared commitment to stand with others, especially in times of struggle, and act together for their good as if their wellbeing were your own. Christ unifies us. “He is before all things, and in him all things are held together” (Colossians 1:17).

We are not talking about the Christ the church attempted to cage, but the Wild Christ who says, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16). This Wild Christ is the voice of Wisdom speaking in every tradition throughout the world.

The Wild Christ is the shepherd of the cosmos. All life is in his flock, and we are called to live in solidarity. This unison is the recognition of the One Life everywhere, the call to turn from our solitary lives into solidarity with all living. When we stand up together and aid one another, so much suffering will be relieved from the world.

Teshuvah, Viriditas, and Verdure

Once we realize this solidarity with the One Life through the Wild Christ, we realize we are in the wasteland. We may have been driven into the narrow place of Mitzrayim or we may have wandered off the green path. It can be healing to understand how we got here, but it is so much more important for us to find our way home.

This is true repentance, recognizing we have left the greening path of life and returning to it. Teshuvah is turning around and returning to the path. There is no room for guilt or shame. Those are fetters that hold us in the narrow place and keep us from walking back to the green lands of the soul.

Hildegard of Bingen called this viriditas: the divine greening power that makes life flourish. It is the spiritual vitality of God at work in creation, the Wild Christ in action. Viriditas is the force that brings growth, healing, and fresh energy to both the soul and the natural world.

For her, sin was dryness and brittleness, while viriditas was lushness and living sap. She saw the soul as a garden and that existence itself is green with God. The moment we see this viriditas, and begin to think of our wellness, we are gauging the Verdure of the soul.

Verdure is the wellness of the soul and the world. It shows us how well viriditas flows through the person, place, or thing. It is cultivated through right relationship, mindfulness, joy, and peace. It is the wellbeing, the greenness, of being alive.

We cannot earn Verdure or explain it into existence. It is within everything. Once we recognize that we are in the narrow place of Mitzrayim, even when we have not wandered off the path, it is because we need to tend the garden of our soul so it can grow back verdurous and whole.

Verdure is our garden that grows alongside the river of viriditas. Viriditas is the green power, energy, wisdom of the universe that flows through and in all things. Verdure is our green wellness that we cultivate within our being.

The first step to restoring the land within us and around us is to clear the streams so they can flow freely.

Sin, Dead Faith, and Living Faith

The streams and rivers of viriditas are too often clogged with the dead logs of false beliefs and the detritus of guilt, shame, and mistaken actions that block the flow of this greening energy into our lives. As the waters dry up, the soul becomes narrow and brittle. Sometimes, our jobs and lives distract us from the things that nurture and rejuvenate us.

When we are distracted by the idea that sin is moral failure, we lose sight of what it actually is. Sin is missing the mark, wandering from the path, or clogging the flow. Sin is not just about morality, it is about robbing life of what it needs to live well. We do not like the word sin anymore because it has been corrupted by systems of false belief, domination, greed, and fear, but we need to call those things what they are, sin, and reclaim this word so it can do the work it needs to do.

Sin is whatever robs us of our verdurous state. When talking about eating food offered to idols, Paul reveals the true nature of sin: “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

“Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:17, 26).

Whatever is not of faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, and the proof of things not seen through our works, or else faith is dead, is sin, because dead faith is sin.

Dead faith is not deconstruction or changing our mind, it is saying that God is love and not acting in a loving way toward everyone and everything. It is saying that we return to God through repentance while building and cooperating with systems that say that people do not and cannot change.

Living faith is enacted and embodied. It builds right relationship through mindfulness, compassion, and equity, and then the soul and the world grow verdurous.

Tikkun and the Struggle for the World

Healing ourselves is the first step in restoring the world. This is tikkun. Tikkun is the Jewish idea of repairing and restoring the world through actions that heal what is broken and bring it closer to justice and wholeness.

As we heal ourselves, we see the false beliefs and harmful practices in our lives and where they came from in our culture and society. Teshuvah heals the self; tikkun heals the world. Many, if not most, of these false and harmful ideas and practices are also operating in society, culture, and government. We have to heal the world through the removal of them from our society.

This starts with us, acting with integrity as living agents in the world. As we build solidarity and community with one another, we target the laws, institutions, and ideas that are doing harm to society and the people in it. We have to change our culture and government to foster health, healing, and viriditas in all its actions.

The work is hard, and there will be push back, but “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Those spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places are not just demons, they are unclean spirits, which are the trauma that clouds thoughts and actions, and the ideas themselves. This is a war of ideas and cultures. One seeks life more abundantly, and the other seeks control, dominance, and the power of the few.

Until we stand up and push this wickedness back, it will continue to choke us and the world to keep us in the Mitzrayim, the narrow place.

Mustard Seed Faith, Coalition, and Patience

We cannot work this change on our own, but through collective action. This is why we need the solidarity we find in the Wild Christ, whether our allies use that language or not. Jesus said, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

If the faith of a person can move mountains, the faith of the people can move continents. We have to accept that we cannot do this work alone. We have to do it together.

Now, more than ever, people have recognized the evils of colonialism, authoritarianism, and the inflicting of trauma to get one’s way. This is the time to unite, build solidarity, and overthrow the powers of wickedness.

This work is slower than we want or need it to be, but it has to be. Rushing to action before we have built our coalitions will keep us from succeeding. Right now, we have to be patient, rooting ourselves in our solidarity and the viriditas of the Wild Christ so we will be so alive that people are drawn into the cause to bring liberation to everyone.

Waters from the Altar of the Heart and the Checkerboard Greening

Our bodies are the temples of the Living God. It is from the altars of our hearts that the waters of life will flow into the world to heal and restore the land. As we live in viriditas and cultivate this verdurous growth within us, the stronger the flow of the waters of life from each and every one of us. The deserts will rejoice at the return of the water, and the world will be healed.

Look up from the dry soil and dance with the Wild Christ through this wasteland so healing can flow. Heal yourself and where you stand, and return the flow to your wasteland. Connect to others so you can restore the land between you.

As we start this work, a checkerboard of verdurous land will spring back to life, and over time they will connect and bring life back to the land. The first buds of spring arise through the cold and the drought. The gentle rains of redemption will follow.

The more we practice our living faith, the more the world will sprout with new life.