The Black Madonna: Mysterious Soul Companion

Beautiful. Wow. Fascinating. Refreshing. These are but a few of the words that came to mind as I read through Stephanie Georgieff's book The Black Madonna: Mysterious Soul Companion. I found that I was joining the author on a pilgrimage to explore the psychology, science, art, history, and theology in understanding what all these works of art known as the Black Madonna bring to the table. There were were so many new insights and refreshing statements made throughout this pilgrimage. In this literary journey Georgieff introduced a new idea to me that should be shared: That art is a method through which the spiritual world communicates to humanity. As I read those words I immediately thought, "well surely! If God can become incarnate as a human why wouldn't God use art to communicate to us as well now?"

As I continued on to travel through the pages, I could sense a desire to bring healing and The Kingdom of God to earth. I felt that this unearthing of the meanings and history of the Black Madonna led to more of a reason to love God, others, and the earth which we live on. I found that it was a reminder that society's ways of instant gratification and hedonistic self-indulgence is not the way that we were intended to live. Georgieff illustrates this perfectly when she expresses the truth in that, "If one fails to see in another being, or is even forbidden to recognize “The Christ in You,” one is capable of all sorts of immoral behavior." When we get caught up in the ways of society we can often overlook the Image of God that people were created in and if we cannot see that then we unfortunately will be more prone to treat them wrongly. She goes on later to express that, "Christ came to be the brother of humanity, to give humanity true freedom: through His deeds each human being is capable of becoming a working member in the community of the Divine, participating eventually as a partner in the Divine plan of creation. This new relationship is not one ruled from above by cosmic law, but one that is shared through truth and grace." Here again we see the importance of seeking first Christ's Kingdom and becoming co-creators and co-heirs with Christ once we choose that Way of Love and are adopted as God's Children.

As a Protestant reader I was drawn to what Georgieff had to stay about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I sometimes wonder if the Protestant Evangelical Church has done us a disservice by not talking about Mary or the Divine Femininity much.  I, for one, loved how the author compares Mary as a representation of The Church as the Bride of Christ. She does so by explaining that "The Song of Songs is an allegorical poem showing the deep love between the human soul and the Divine, the longing that the soul has for the Divine, along with the reciprocal desire that the Divine has for the human soul." This is a stance on Mary I have recently been contemplating that she, as the Theotokos, the Human Mother of God, is a representation of Church, humanity, ought to be. Her actions are ones that humanity should have as well. She literally carried Christ within Her and brought Him into the World and we are called to carry Christ within us and share His Good News to all in the World.

There is so much truth, beauty, and healing found within this book. We are reminded of ourselves, of humanity, by studying the Black Madonnas. The Black Madonnas connect us to humanity and remind us of the work we are called to do because they "have suffered, endured great harm, and yet they persist. They are a model for all the downtrodden, the lonely and abandoned. The Black Madonnas offer hope of survival and healing to those who mourn from the pain of racism. The Dark Virgins also offer healing image of the Divine to the racist person, that God can be presented with different face, and that different face is Holy." The Black Madonnas are often shown as having big hands that are pointing downward as if they are saying, "get to work and do something. Plant the seeds of the future." The Black Madonnas are wonderful works of art that are not meant to be worshiped, but I believe are meant to remind us of our callings as followers of the Way of Jesus the Christ. It is to remind us to spread the seeds of His love in the world, work towards reconciliation and the healing of nations which will come in its fullness on the day of Christ's return.

As the book itself ends, I would like to ask, "Who is the Black Madonna? We, humans, are the Black Madonna." How can we get to work and do something about what's wrong in the world today?

A Family of Families: A Review of "Forbidden Friendships."

I recently read the book “Forbidden Friendships:Retaking the Biblical Gift of Male-Female Friendship” by Joshua D. Jones and I found it to be an excellent resource on how we, as Christians with integrity, should respond to our culture; and I would greatly recommend it. Once I sat down and started it I kept being drawn to read more. I found this book to be an excellent look at male-female friendships and how for the sake of integrity we have lost the goodness that they bring to the table. I loved how he begins by addressing the boundaries we create for male-female relationships that cause male pastors to connect really well to males, but not to females and vice versa. It has good intentions, but has gone too far. There were so many rich quotes all throughout that I found the best way to review this book would be by looking at a few of them.

I would like to begin with the quote that I find summarizes most of the book in an excellent way. This is when Jones says, "We are now brothers and sisters. Christ’s work transforms the full spectrum of human relationships be they between race, class, age or gender.” Within the Church we need this reminder for the sake of integrity and equality. Paul tells us that we are neither male nor female, Jew or Gentile and so we need to stop letting our culture’s oversexualization prevent us from being the Church as brothers and sisters together. From the very beginning of the book there is this focus on how both males and females have something to bring to the table and by segregating them we do a disservice to each other and towards our mission to work towards God's Kingdom here on Earth. We are both made in the image of God, so we should work together to further the Kingdom and not separate.

“We are called to be the Family of God. But we often seem more like of a collection of families who fail to celebrate celibacy, deep friendships and opposite-gender relationships - other than marriage - of any sort. I don’t know of any man who has “too many” female friendships. I don’t know of any Christian woman who loves men “too much”." This quote shows us the importance of highlighting that we truly are meant to be a Family. We are meant to be brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, fathers, and mothers to those within the Church body. That is how a lot of healing takes place especially in broken families. We need to be a family to those coming to Christ from all paths of life.

I did find that it was worth noting that our current state within the church “is quite a sharp contrast to the second and third centuries in the Church when friendship was exalted and marriage belittled. Then it was celibate culture which dominated Christianity and married people struggled to fit in. Fortunately, early church leaders like John Chrysostom and Augustine (both celibates themselves) wrote on the sanctity of marriage and helped to save Christianity from becoming a singles club.” It appears we have bounced from one extreme to another and we, as the Church, need to find a middle ground. We need to both affirm celibacy and marriage as both good in the eyes of God and both ways to live within the Church Body.

Within the Church we need to be affirming, welcoming, and even encouraging to both paths of life: those who pursue marriage and those who pursue celibacy. Jones reminds us that, “When God’s Church accepts and affirms people in their celibacy (whether it is chosen or not) it is a sign to the world around us that God’s future Kingdom is breaking through among us now. It is a step towards living out relationships “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” This does not mean that a celibate life is superior to sex and a married life (as some in the past have thought) but it is a sign that another life force is present with us, enabling some individuals in our midst to live without those things." We need to realize we are in the “already and not yet” and stop just focusing on the “not yet.” We need to remember that the Crucifixion and Resurrection began the ushering in of the Kingdom and we need to already begin living like the Kingdom is breaking in...because it is!

In establishing this model of being a Family of God we should pursue this idea of anamchara that the author discusses. He talks about how we should have a “goal of mentoring someone” which would lead to having “a spiritual friend and co-worker in mission. A part of this large history of spiritual mentoring is represented by the Gaelic word anamchara or “soul friend”. An anamchara was one you intimately engaged with for the purpose of edification. Anamchara was often initiated when one of the two was a more mature, mentor figure. Even when it started as a mentorship, however, the goal was to grow up together into friendship in Christ.” Our goal is equal friendship within the family.

I have found overall this book to be a wonderful call towards embracing the Truth that we are called to become a Family of God and that within that we do not need to pursue marriage over celibacy or vice versa. We need to affirm both callings in life and find ways to be anamcharas to others within our world. It is also important to end this post with the reminder that the book ends with: Yes we were made for community, yes it is not good for “man to be alone”, but ultimately no person--spouse or friend--can truly ever satisfy the longing within our soul. The longing for our Creator, our Sustainer. That longing can only be fulfilled by the Trinitarian friendship that we will one day be whole with. So lets let our “true inter-gender friendship...be one of the most powerful apologetics for the gospel we can display in the 21st Century.”